Cloak and Dagger: Seeds of Doubt (A0034)

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio: Cloak and Dagger – “Seeds of Doubt”
Hosted by Adam Graham | Aired: November 8, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode features a suspenseful espionage drama from the classic radio series "Cloak and Dagger," titled “Seeds of Doubt.” Set in Nazi-occupied France during WWII, the story dives into black warfare, secret identities, and the psychological toll of spycraft. OSS agent Lieutenant Martin Ingalls must infiltrate Nazi intelligence operations by impersonating a fallen comrade and manipulating the affections of a Frenchwoman named Celeste Breton. The episode asks: When trust is a weapon, how do you know who the real enemy is?

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

1. Setting the Mission

• Opening Call to Danger – The show begins with a classic OSS question: “Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines, knowing you may never return alive?” (02:14)
• Backdrop – Post D-Day France, with the Battle of the Bulge raging; Allied morale is under threat as Nazi agents, disguised as American GIs, stir up dissent and plant seeds of doubt.

2. The Compromised Introduction

• Forged Note and Brutal Deception (03:27–07:15)
  • Ingalls must contact Celeste Breton, the fiancée of the late Paul Blanchard, by tricking her with a forged note, prompting emotional manipulation.
  • Quote: “What I did was pretty brutal. I know just how it must have been... She tottered toward the table and then slumped into a chair.” – Lt. Martin Ingalls (05:27)
  • Ingalls recruits Celeste under false pretenses, asking her to pose as his wife for operational cover.
  • Quote: “At first, that is. And then later as your husband.” (07:22)

3. Strategy and Resistance

• The OSS Ruse (08:47–11:26)
  • Ingalls explains the necessity of his scheme: using parties at Chateau Breton to flush out Nazi agents disguised as Americans.
  • Celeste resists, challenging the morality and personal cost of the operation:
    • “I do not care to be your wife.” – Celeste (11:03)
  • She’s ultimately pressured into cooperation through emotional blackmail regarding her late fiancé.

4. Suspicion, Dissent and Double Games

• Allied Troops and Rumor-Mongering (13:06–13:56)
  • OSS gatherings fail to identify Nazis; rumors swirl about Allied setbacks.
    • Quote: “If I’d arrested every guy I heard repeating a rumor, I’d have had half the GIs in Paris in the clink.” – Ingalls (14:10)
• Target: Corporal Alan Chester (14:38–16:12)
  • Ingalls is drawn to Corporal Chester, who charms Celeste but arouses suspicion due to linguistic slip-ups (referring to "kilometers" rather than "miles").
    • “In Indiana, they say miles. Only Europeans say kilometers.” – Ingalls (16:05)

5. Guilt, Jealousy, and Clues

• Jealousy and Distrust Flourish (16:12–22:09)
  • Ingalls’ suspicions affect his judgment; Celeste points out his personal motives may be clouding his mission.
  • The tension between professional duty and personal feelings grows, mirrored in their strained “marriage.”

6. The Sting and Its Fallout

• Hotel Stakeout – The Big Reveal (24:50–29:34)
  • Ingalls listens through a thin hotel wall as Celeste confesses their marriage is a sham to Chester, who, believing her, reveals himself as a Nazi agent.
    • Dramatic Moment: “All right, Celeste. You're right. I'm a member of the intelligence service of the Third Reich.” – Chester (27:29)
  • In the darkness and confusion, shots ring out. Celeste is accidentally killed.

7. Post-Mortem – Motives and Irony

• Aftermath and Tragedy (29:04–30:06)
  • Pierre Salon, a local ally, reveals he’d tipped Celeste off that Ingalls was listening, leading her to engineer Chester’s confession.
  • Ingalls realizes too late that Celeste was loyal, sacrificing herself to help his mission.
    • “Perhaps it was you she loved then, Lieutenant.” – Pierre (29:58)
    • “No, Pierre. It was France you loved.” – Ingalls (30:06)
• Resolution – Chester’s possession of codes leads to the round-up of embedded Nazi agents.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Celeste's Sacrifice:
  “And that is what, monsieur? Allowing me to pose as Paul. Letting everyone think I’m the man you met in Switzerland.” – Ingalls (08:13)
• Psychological Warfare Discussed:
  “Black warfare was Hitler’s first great weapon. Why do you think Poland, the Low Countries. Yes, even France collapsed so fast in 1940? Because the Nazis had agents behind the lines, fifth columnists doing the same thing then that they’re doing now.” – Ingalls (09:44)
• The Fatal Misunderstanding:
  “She lay dead where she had dropped.” – Ingalls (28:54)
• Regret and Reflection:
  "No. Pierre. It was France you [she] loved." – Ingalls (30:06)

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Host Commentary & Analysis

Adam Graham’s Reflections [32:13–35:10]

• Moral Ambiguity & Character Depth:
  • Adam notes Ingalls “got his mind off the mission, got distracted by personal feelings and as a result, she lost her life.”
  • Celeste’s ambiguous loyalty was played brilliantly by Alice Frost: “She gave a performance that had a lot of ambiguity and kept the audience guessing along with the lieutenant, while her character also had hidden depth.”
• Irony and Tragic Flaws:
  • The story’s irony: “the morale officer, whose job was to stop the spread of false propaganda in order to avoid undermining the American mission, believes lies, and ultimately undermines the mission.”
• Historical Context:
  • Adam appreciated the episode’s discussion on psychological warfare, suggesting its relevance to how Hitler’s propaganda undermined Allied unity.
  • The episode reverses the typical OSS story: Instead of a clean victory, personal failings and mistrust lead to tragedy.
• Final Thoughts:
  • Adam Graham is notably critical of the lieutenant's personal conduct and the mission's ethically dubious setup.

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 02:14 | OSS agent briefing / mission intro | | 03:27 | Ingalls’ deception of Celeste begins | | 07:22 | Ingalls proposes posing as Celeste’s husband | | 13:38 | Searching for the Nazi among the GIs at the chateau | | 14:38 | Suspicions of Corporal Alan Chester arise | | 16:05 | Key linguistic clue (“kilometers” vs. “miles”) | | 19:20 | Physical altercation in Paris alley | | 24:50 | Ingalls and Pierre plan hotel stakeout | | 27:30 | Chester confesses as a German agent | | 28:54 | Celeste’s death | | 29:58 | Pierre questions who Celeste loved – patriotism vs. romance | | 32:13 | Adam Graham’s host analysis begins |

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Tone & Style

• Dialogue is taut, suspenseful, with emotional undertones and a sense of tragic inevitability.
• The episode is reflective, acknowledging moral ambiguity and personal sacrifice in war.
• Host Adam Graham provides thoughtful, sometimes critical analysis, balancing nostalgia for classic radio with clear-eyed appraisal of story weaknesses and period attitudes.

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For New Listeners

This episode stands out for its high stakes, emotional resonance, and the way it blurs the lines between heroism, duty, and personal cost. It’s a gripping wartime drama — with all the twists, suspense, and heartbreak that marks the best of old-time radio.

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Transcript

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[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

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[Celeste Breton]

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[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

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[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

Welcome to the great adventurers of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment we are going to bring you this week's episode of Cloak and Dagger. But first I want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast, to please follow us using your favorite podcast software and today's program is brought to you in part by the financial support of our listeners. You can support the show on a one time basis at support.greatdetectives.net or by becoming one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 [e-mail] but now, from September 15, 1950, here is today's episode Seeds of Doubt.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines, knowing you may never return alive?

[Narrator]

What you have just heard is the question asked during the war to agents of the oss, ordinary citizens who do. This question answered yes.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

This is cloak and dagger.

[Narrator]

Black warfare, Espionage, international intrigue. These are the weapons of the oss. Tonight's story, Seeds of Doubt concerning an OSS agent who tracked down Nazis in American uniforms is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic Services. A story that can now be told.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I'm glad I wasn't there when Celeste got my message. If I had been, I might have called the whole deal off, found some other way to carry out my mission. What I did was Pretty brutal. I know just how it must have been. I gave the note to the baker's delivery boy, Henri. He must have driven the dilapidated old truck through those majestic iron gates of The Chateau Breton, 12 miles south of Paris, circled the huge house and come to a stop at the servants entrance. And perhaps it was Muriel herself, Celeste's personal maid, who answered the door. Pour, Mademoiselle.

[Celeste Breton]

Merci, monsieur. Pour vous, monsieur.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Merci, madame. And then Muriel began that long climb up the Celeste room, three flights of marble stairs, and then down the carpeted corridor to the fourth door on the right hand side.

[Pierre Salon]

Ma'.

[Celeste Breton]

Am. Selle. Entrez, entrez. Maria.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Celeste was probably reading. She always was in those days. There was a way of passing time while she waited for some word from my friend Paul Blanchard.

[Celeste Breton]

A message, Mamzelle. A message? From whom, Marielle? I do not know. It was all so mysterious. A beggar's truck was at the door and a bonnie. Never mind. Give it to me. Voila, Mamzel. Who? That handwriting, Mamzel. It is not. Not fonda be cared. Oh, mon Dieu. Well, then. Then it is. It is Paul. My pearl is here in Paris. He is waiting for me in the cafe in Montparnasse. Oh, le bon Dieu. I was afraid he was dead.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

That's how it must have been. And all the while I sat in a dingy little room in the back of the Cafe de Trois Charles, drinking cognac, feeling like a dog, waiting. I waited about an hour.

[Announcer]

And then.

[Celeste Breton]

Paul. Oh, Paul.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Mademoiselle Breton.

[Celeste Breton]

Oh, you are not Paul.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

No.

[Celeste Breton]

Where is he?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Mademoiselle, I was a friend of Paul Blanchard.

[Celeste Breton]

Is he very spoil?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Mademoiselle, answer me. Very well. Paul is dead. Like I say, it was brutal. But is there any way of saying it that isn't brutal? She tottered toward the table and then slumped into a chair.

[Celeste Breton]

Dead.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Her face was deathly white. And yet it was still the loveliest face I'd ever seen.

[Celeste Breton]

But this note, it is false handwriting.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, a forgery, Mademoiselle. The OSS is well equipped to forge any man's handwriting.

[Celeste Breton]

The oss? Oh, I begin to understand.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

You are a Lieutenant Martin Ingalls, Morale Office, oss And you deliberately told. That's right. I had to see you, but I couldn't come to the chateau. And I knew you wouldn't ignore a note like that.

[Celeste Breton]

I see. I will aid you for this, Lieutenant, as long as I.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

That'll be rather awkward, considering our future relationship.

[Celeste Breton]

We shall have no future Relationship?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

You and I. I think we will. I've come to Paris to take Paul's place.

[Celeste Breton]

Take his place?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Yes. As your fiance. At first, that is. And then later as your husband. She sat down again slowly and listened in stony silence as I told her how I'd met her fiance in North Africa. I told her how he'd describe me, and then how he described their swift, frenzied courtship in Geneva just before Paul joined the Free French Forces. Then I told her how he died.

[Celeste Breton]

Paul loved France.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Yes. And he told me once that you loved her, too. And that's why I'm sure you won't refuse to make your own sacrifice for her.

[Celeste Breton]

And that is what, monsieur?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Allowing me to pose as Paul. Letting everyone think I'm the man you met in Switzerland.

[Celeste Breton]

How do you know you could pose as Paul? That someone might not recognize you?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

The OSS has made sure that it will be perfectly safe. You see, Paul's father was a government official in Madagascar for 20 years before the war. Paul visited France only once. And that was the age of eight. And from that age until he met you in Switzerland, he hadn't set foot in you. So, you see, no one would know the difference.

[Celeste Breton]

I would know it, of course.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

That would be your sacrifice.

[Celeste Breton]

And I. Would France benefit by my suffering?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I couldn't blame her for putting it like that. But I wasn't exactly flattered. I tried to explain my mission. D Day was six months behind us, and most of France had been liberated. But now there was Bastogne, the Battle of the Bulge, Von Rundstedt's big offensive. And black warfare is a game too can play. Morale, or the lack of it can help decide a war. The OSS knew that and so did the Nazis. And that's why there are German agents floating around Paris doing their best to plant seeds of doubt and to destroy Allied morale.

[Celeste Breton]

Nazis here in Paris? But how is it they are not curved?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, that's my job. It's not going to be easy because most of them are in GI uniforms.

[Celeste Breton]

Impossible.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Why? We send agents behind German lines, they send them behind ours. Black warfare was Hitler's first great weapon. Why do you think Poland, the Low Countries. Yes, even France collapsed so fast in 1940 because the Nazis had agents behind the lines. Fifth columnists doing the same thing then that they're doing now.

[Celeste Breton]

But that was in 1930.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

The war isn't over yet, mademoiselle. Far from it. And the longer these Nazi agents operate in Paris, the longer the war is going to last. Now, that's why it's important that the OSS smoke them out, and fast.

[Celeste Breton]

But I. I do not see why. Why it should be necessary for you to.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

To become your husband. Well, because then I'd be the master of Chateau Breton. And what could be more natural for a wealthy Frenchman and his wife, out of. Out of gratitude to the Americans, than to throw open their home to lonely GIs in Paris? You mean parties, mademoiselle? Cocktail parties, dinners, dances.

[Celeste Breton]

Whatever might attract the GIs and the German agents, right?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

It's at affairs like that, they do their work. They spread rumors and lies, stir up dissension, and it wouldn't take me long to spot them.

[Celeste Breton]

It is a very clever scheme, Lieutenant. There is only one thing wrong with it. I do not care to be your wife.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

It would be a strictly impersonal arrangement and just as soon as my job is done.

[Celeste Breton]

No. It is out of the question.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Very well, Mamzel. I'm sorry. Paul was wrong. Wrong about you. That was another dirty trick playing on her memory of Paul, her love for him. But it worked. In a half hour, we were engaged. Do you, Celeste Breton, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?

[Celeste Breton]

I do.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

And do you, Paul Blanchard, take this woman to be your. Not one of the Paris blue bloods who crowded into the church suspected that the headquarters colonel wasn't real. A minister. And I guess I was the only one who wished he were. After the ceremony, Celeste and I drove out to the chateau and settled down to housekeeping.

[Celeste Breton]

Yes. Who is he?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Your husband.

[Celeste Breton]

Well, what is it you want, Lieutenant?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, I just got back from the uso. I announced our first open house for Saturday. Looks like we're gonna have quite a mob.

[Celeste Breton]

We should be ready for them.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

You don't mind my stepping in? We can talk about it.

[Celeste Breton]

But we just did talk about it, no?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Yeah. Yes, I guess we did.

[Celeste Breton]

Then good night, Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

And that was married life at the Chateau Breton. A good thing our series of parties did start then. Took my mind off other things. It looked like every Joe in the European theater attended those parties. The champagne flowed, the canapes vanished. Each clambake was a bigger success than the one before it. Except I didn't spot any Nazi agents. Yes, there were plenty of rumors. Sure. That's one thing an army always has plenty of.

[Narrator]

I tell you, I hear we're getting.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Our brains beat out at bestone. This man's war ain't over yet, pal. A guy was telling me the other day how the brass snap food. Thinks it can't break like A guy was saying the other day, if Hitler.

[Narrator]

Wants to negotiate, let's negotiate and get it over with so we can go home.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

I heard Hitler's got a secret weapon, bacteriological stuff. He's just waiting for the right time to use it.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

If I'd arrested every guy I heard repeating a rumor, I'd have had half the GIs in Paris in the clink. The guy I was looking for was a guy who did all the talking. The other day I knew he was one of the guys lounging in the living room or sprawled on the patio or loafing in the gardens. Yes, but which one? For several days, I didn't get anywhere. And then I noticed Corporal Alan Chester.

[Celeste Breton]

Corporal, how are you?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I might never have paid any attention to him if he hadn't paid so much attention to Celeste. Every time I looked up, they had their heads together and Celeste was smiling. And the time I found them sitting on a bench in the garden, she was actually laughing.

[Celeste Breton]

Oh, hello, Paul.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, if it was a good story, you're going to have to tell it again, Corporal.

[Celeste Breton]

It was a very good story. You have met my husband, haven't you? Hello. This is Corporal Chesterpoint.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

We've met so many times, it's getting embarrassing. I've already apologized to your wife, monsieur, for wearing out my welcome.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

No apologies necessary.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

My only excuse is I can't stay away. Your chateau is the first place I felt at ease since I left home.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Where is home, Corporal?

[Corporal Alan Chester]

Lafayette, Indiana.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Lafayette? Well, an American town with a great French name.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

That's right. Maybe that's why I feel like I found a second home right here, 20 kilometers from Paris.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

It wasn't much to go on. Just a word that didn't ring quite true. I took Celeste aside and asked her about it.

[Celeste Breton]

Alan Shasta. You think he might be. You are a fool, Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Maybe. But I still want to know why he said kilometers. In Indiana, they say miles.

[Celeste Breton]

Perhaps if I told you he was a Harvard graduate.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

They say miles at Harvard, too. Only Europeans say kilometers.

[Celeste Breton]

And because of that, you suspect him of being a Nazi agent? Upset. He is the most charming of all the men who have come here.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I noticed you thought so.

[Celeste Breton]

Did you, Lieutenant? Then maybe that is the reason you suspect him.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I admitted she might have something there. I admitted it to myself. That it is not to Celeste. An hour later, a jeep with four gis in it rolled through the gates of the chateau. And One of the GIs was Corporal Alan Chester. And 30 seconds later, I was behind the wheel of Celeste's little Jaguar following the jeep, dust was falling and the road to Paris was lined with traffic. And it wasn't too hard to keep a few cars behind the jeep. Seeing without being seen in town. The jeep pulled up and front of a cafe on the Boulevard St. Germain. And Corporal Chester climbed out and waved goodbye to the other three. Luckily it was a gloomy joint. He walked straight across the dance floor. I hugged the walls moving in the same direction. He didn't stop at the bar. He. He didn't sit down at a table. He headed straight for a back door. He opened it and he went out. I gave him 10 seconds. Then I went out the back door too. It was an alley and as dark as only a Paris alley can be. So dark I thought. There was only one guy leaning against the building.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

Pardon, Monsieur Escapos of cigarette.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I dug into my pocket for a cigarette. That's when I knew that there were two guys. I whirled around. The second one was standing behind me and there was something in his hand that looked like a blackjack. My fist shot out quick connected, but number one was on me. Then with a hold that hurt. I broke away and I let him have it. And that's when I found out what it was the other man held. That looked like a blackjack. It was a blackjack. I hit the cobblestone for a moment. I saw number two standing over me and heard a girl singing far away. And I didn't see or hear anything more for a long time. It was dawn when I climbed up to the third floor of the chateau. If Celeste was sleeping, she woke up plenty fast. And if she had to get into that shimmery housecoat she wore, she must have done it in record time.

[Celeste Breton]

Lieutenant. My dear, you look terrible.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I didn't tell her that she looked wonderful. I didn't ask her if I could come in either. I just walked past her and I sat down on the van. I told her what had happened in the alley off the Boulevard Saint Germain. But all the time I talked, I was thinking of something else. That we were alone. She was very beautiful.

[Celeste Breton]

And so now of course, you are quite certain that Corporal Chester is a Germany agent.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, that's how it adds up, doesn't it?

[Celeste Breton]

Perhaps I am not so good at figures. These men may have been thieves. They took your money in his pa.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, that doesn't prove anything. Well, that could have been a cover up.

[Celeste Breton]

But why would Corporal Chester have wanted you beaten up?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

What, to stop me from tailing him. Now that cafe may be a regular hangout. And miss Boys May hang around outside to take care of any shadows who show up.

[Celeste Breton]

Ah, then you think he did not know you were following him tonight, huh?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, his boys may have reported that they slugged a guy in the alley, but they can't be sure who I was, even that I was tailing him.

[Celeste Breton]

I see.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I look that funny?

[Celeste Breton]

No. I am just thinking what a fool you are, Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Strange, I was thinking the same thing myself.

[Celeste Breton]

What do you mean?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

A man who has a wife as lovely as you doesn't even kiss her. He is a fool, isn't he?

[Celeste Breton]

He would be even more of a fool if he tried. Have you forgotten that bargain? A strictly impersonal relationship, you said.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I said it? When you said you'd be loyal to Paul Blanchard's memory.

[Celeste Breton]

When am I not being loyal?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I don't know. The way you smile at Alan Chester wouldn't suggest you are.

[Celeste Breton]

Oh, you do not like the way I smile at him?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I don't like it at all.

[Celeste Breton]

Then naturally you would not wish me to accept his invitation.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

What invitation?

[Celeste Breton]

That is why I call you a fool, Lieutenant. You think Alan hires men to keep anyone from finding out where he is staying. Why then is he so careless with me? Why does he invite me to his room? Why, that, of course, if I went, I could tell you where he is staying. Perhaps I could tell you a great deal more. If he is a Nazi agent, I would surely find it out. But you do not want me to go.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

You're to go whether I want it or not.

[Celeste Breton]

Oh, noble you are, Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

So she kept her date with Corporal Alan Chester, and I paced the rooms of the chateau and waited for her and suffered. It was dawn when she got back. Well, let's have the report.

[Celeste Breton]

The personal one, Lieutenant, or the impersonal one?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

The impersonal one is the only one that concerns me.

[Celeste Breton]

Maybe. Well, I found out nothing. And I am more certain than ever that there is nothing to find out.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Okay. Thank you. Well, maybe you'll try again some other night.

[Celeste Breton]

Tomorrow night. It is all arranged.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I see.

[Celeste Breton]

And I will give you the personal report too, Lieutenant, even though it does not concern you. I had a lovely time.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

It was the next night when I began to suspect her. I suppose I started even before she came home. I tried to look at things straight. And I asked myself if I were being taken for a ride. She walked in an hour later.

[Celeste Breton]

You are wasting precious time, Lieutenant. I still think Alan is just what he says he is. An American soldier on detached service in Paris. I have seen his orders.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Well, orders can be Faked.

[Celeste Breton]

Ah, Cesar. Then if you are still suspicious, I will keep another date with him tomorrow night.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I decided there'd better be three of us on that date. You told me that name of his hotel, an old and honorable one in the Rue de Vaux Girard. I slipped into its musty lobby early the next morning. An old man with bushy brows and a faintly familiar face eyed me as I approached the desk. I told him I was Paul Blanchard, the master of Chateau Breton.

[Pierre Salon]

If you say you are Paul Blanchard, monsieur, then you are Paul Blanchard.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Any reason to suppose I'm not?

[Pierre Salon]

Me? No, monsieur, none at all. Just as there was no reason during the Resistance to suppose that you were an OSS agent.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I remembered him then. He'd been in the marquee unit I'd worked with on a mission before D day. He was Pierre Salon, a patriot. It was a break and I knew that I was safe. Safe enough to tell him as much as necessary.

[Pierre Salon]

It shall be done, Lieutenant. This Corporal Chester is in room 613. Room 612 will be vacant all evening. Here's the key to a Lieutenant. The door between the two rooms will be unlocked. Unfortunately, the walls are paper thin.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Five minutes after Celeste had left that night, I was on the road to Paris. At the hotel, I went straight to room 612, let myself in. It was empty, pitch black. There was no sound from 6:13. Celeste and Corporal Chester had probably gone to a cafe first. It might be a long wait. It was a long wait and a hot one. The windows were closed. The room was stuffy. I stood there in the blackness and the sweat poured down my face. And the minutes ticked by. Then, at last, the door to 613 opened. I pressed my ear against the wall. Pierre was right about that, Walter. It was paper thin.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

I thought we'd never get up here, darling, where I could kiss you. I've been wanting to kiss you all evening.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

The sweat was rolling down my face harder than ever.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

I don't see how I'm ever going to be able to leave you, Celeste.

[Celeste Breton]

This is really our last meeting.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

I'm leaving Paris tomorrow morning.

[Celeste Breton]

It is very hard to face Alain.

[Pierre Salon]

Yeah.

[Celeste Breton]

If I were not married, if Paul were not really my husband.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

What's the use of saying that he is your husband?

[Celeste Breton]

But what if I tell you he is not? But if I confess it is all a sham and mockery.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I wasn't sweating anymore. Now I was so cold I shivered.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

I don't understand, Celeste. You mean he's only pretending to be your husband?

[Celeste Breton]

Marie. Only pretending but why? In order to trap you. He is an American, an officer in the oss. He thinks you are a nausea.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

The butt of my revolver was cold, too. My hand squeezed tight around it.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

Is this true, Celeste? He actually thinks I'm a German?

[Celeste Breton]

Yes. And I think so, too. I know you are, Celeste, but I don't care. I would not have told you my secret if I did. I love you.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

How long would you go on loving me if I were an enemy of France?

[Celeste Breton]

What is France to me? What is any country to any woman? I would love you no matter what you are.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

All right, Celeste.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

You're right.

[Corporal Alan Chester]

I'm a member of the intelligence service of the Third Reich.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

I twisted the knob, jerked open the door, and stepped into room 613.

[Celeste Breton]

Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Thank you for selling me out, Mademoiselle. You weren't a traitor. I might never have been sure about Corporal Chester with a lamp on the table, the only light in the room, and it stood behind him. As I spoke, a swift movement of his arms sent a crashing to the floor. Now there was darkness again, enveloping all three of us. We all moved. We changed our positions swiftly, silently. None of us could speak without tipping off where we were. Neither Chester nor I could fire for fear of missing. So we circled the room. We waited for our eyes to grow accustomed to the dark. And then. He must have thought he saw me. He missed me. The bullet struck something near the door, but the flash of his gun was all I needed. I fired. And then on the third shot. It wasn't until old Pierre Chalon opened the door and light from the hall flooded the room that I saw what the late Corporal Chester's bullet had hit. It mistaken Celeste for me. She lay dead where she had dropped.

[Pierre Salon]

Ah, c' est homage, Lieutenant. C' est homage. In this war, even the innocent must die.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

The innocent. He was a traitor, Pierre.

[Pierre Salon]

No, no, no, Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

She deserved to die just as much as that rat over there.

[Pierre Salon]

But if that is so, then I should not have told her. Lieutenant, I am sorry.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

You told her what?

[Pierre Salon]

She passed by the desk. I thought she was working with you. You did not.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Yes, yes, but what did you say to her?

[Pierre Salon]

I said, all is well, Mamzel.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

What?

[Pierre Salon]

The lieutenant has arrived. He is in room 612.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Good Lord. Then she knew all the time. Then the only possible reason why she would have told him who I was. Was. Was to persuade him to confess who he was. She'd have been crazy to say what she did otherwise, knowing that I was listening.

[Pierre Salon]

Then she did not betray you?

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

No. Pierre. No. She didn't betray me.

[Pierre Salon]

Perhaps it was you she loved then, Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

No, Pierre. It was France you love. The rest was easy. In Corporal Chester's room he found a list of names and codes. We broke the code before dawn the next morning. By that night, we had every Nazi agent in GI uniform corralled.

[Narrator]

And once again, the report of another OSS agent closes with the words mission accomplished. Listen again next week to another true adventure from the files of the OSS.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

On cloak and dagger.

[Announcer]

Heard in tonight's Cloak and Dagger adventure. As Lieutenant Ingalls was Chuck Webster, Celeste Alice Frost, Corporal Alan Chester, Joseph Julian. Others were Carl Weber, Evelyn Juster, Jerry Jarrett, Louis Soren, Horace Bram and Anna Karen. The script was written by Ken Field and music was under the direction of John Gart. Sound effects by Manny Siegel and John Powers. Engineering by Don Abbott. Tonight's OSS adventure was based on the book Cloak and Dagger by Corey ford and Alistair McBain. This program was produced by Louis G. Cowan and Alfred Hollander under the direction and supervision of Sherman Marks. Three chimes mean good times on NBC.

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[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

Welcome back. Probably not the OSS's best moment. It it's a case where the lieutenant got his mind off the mission, got distracted by personal feelings and as a result she lost her life. And I think that she picked up on the fact that he was distracted, that he was letting personal feelings get in and behaving in a way that he promised not to. And so she distrusted him and he was not doing a whole lot to hide how he felt. So it was all rather obvious. I don't think he ever stood a chance with her, particularly after the method of introduction, which even given the explanation of him not wanting to be seen at her place, there had to be a better way than that. This is an American Occupied series. As it was, things started off with a lot of suspicion and distrust and he only confirmed her reasons to be distrustful. It's a bit ironic that the morale officer whose job was to stop the spread of false propaganda in order to avoid undermining the American mission, believes, lies, and ultimately undermines the mission. On a more positive note, you get a really good performance from Alice Frost. She gave a performance that had a lot of ambiguity and kept the audience guessing along with the lieutenant, while her character also had hidden depth. And looking back, you can understand her actions when you fully understand what was going on in the story. I also thought the discussion of the role black warfare and psychological propaganda by Hitler in preparation for Conquest was fascinating, even more so as the Allied advance was continuing. And this episode of course, is a bit of a reversal of the typical OSS story. All right, well, listener comments and feedback now. Over on Spotify, mechanic66 wrote regarding the episode War of Words. Good one. And regarding the episode the Black Radio, Mark says thank you over on YouTube. Well, thanks so much. Appreciate your kind comments. Now it's time to thank our Patreon Supporter of the Day and I want to go ahead and thank Mark. Mark has been one of our patreon supporters since January 2016, currently supporting the podcast at the cadet level of $2 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support Mark, and that will do it for today.

[Lieutenant Martin Ingalls]

Thank you.

[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And if you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel and mark the notification bell. We'll be back next Saturday with another episode of Cloak and Dagger, but join us on both the Great Detectives and Great Adventurers feed for an episode of Advice Adventure ahead. In the meantime, do send your comments to box13greatdetives.net from Boise, Idaho, this is your host Adam Graham, signing off.

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