Check out all of our podcasts at CrypticCountyPodcasts.com where you'll find shows like Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast and Odd Trails.
[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_04]: And now stay tuned for the program that has rated tops in popularity for a longer period of time
[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_04]: than any other west coast program in radio history. The Signal Oil Program, The Whistler.
[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_04]: Signal, the famous go farther gasoline,
[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_04]: invites you to sit back and enjoy another strange story by The Whistler.
[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_19]: I am The Whistler and I know many things for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden
[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_19]: in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadow. Yes, I know the nameless terrors
[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_04]: of which they dare not speak. And now for the Signal Oil Company, The Whistler's strange story.
[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Curiosity Killed a Cat
[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_01]: The Whistler, Old Time Radiocast, Andy Tate
[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_19]: Two people sit on an old wharf piled high with lobster traps, wooden buoys and fishnets.
[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_19]: But the dark half-puzzled eyes of the young man are not on those things,
[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_19]: nor on the distant masts of the fishing smacks and draggers scuttling into the harbor.
[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_19]: No, John Hawley sees only the sun-bleached prettiness of the woman opposite him,
[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_19]: and the sturdy lines of the trawler approaching the wharf.
[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_19]: Both the woman and the boat belong to Captain Daniel Bailey. Yes, John, that's what you're
[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_19]: thinking about, isn't it? Ever since you came home from the merchant marine to find your
[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_19]: childhood sweetheart married to a miserly old man, you thought how easy it should be to get
[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_19]: Captain Bailey's trawler, his gear, his house, his money and his wife. And taking a job with
[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_19]: a captain was only your first step. Favoring your bandaged finger, you pick up a brush and
[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_19]: paint a red stripe around the lobster buoy, the mark that tells the world it's not wise to tamper
[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_19]: with anything that belongs to Captain Daniel Bailey. Carrie glances nervously toward the
[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_11]: trawler and back. Guess it'd look kind of funny me going back to house now,
[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_11]: where the nautilus just landed. Yeah, Daniel sees you, Carrie.
[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_11]: There's old Matt Tuttle. He just waved. Daniel took Matt along to haul traps in your place.
[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Can't figure why they came back so early. Weather, probably. Oh, I counted on crushing my finger to
[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_03]: give us the whole day to get her, Carrie. You think Daniel guessed you did it on purpose?
[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_03]: So I could stay ashore with his wife? Are you crazy? Not crazy. The body has to live with my
[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_03]: husband and know how suspicious and mean he can be. I remember when we were kids, we used to
[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_03]: holler at him in the streets, call him a miser. And later I joined the Merchant Marine and while
[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm gone you haven't married the old coot. We're not kids any longer, John. I know, but
[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_11]: why did you do it, Carrie? I never had a house of my own. I never had anything.
[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Money or clothes. Oh, that's a good one. He hooked you and never even lost his bait. Captain
[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_03]: Daniel never spent a dime on you. No, he hasn't. And everybody knows he's been salting it away for years.
[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_11]: Carrie, don't you know where? No, but I told you he doesn't believe in back.
[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_03]: We knew where to lay our hands on that dough. Well?
[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_03]: I've been going out to haul lobster pots with him ever since he sprained his back, haven't I?
[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_11]: Accidents happen pretty easy at sea. Daniel's a violent man, John. He won't sit by. Listen,
[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_03]: Carrie, the day we find out where his money is you can get out your Sunday go-to meet and dress.
[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_02]: You always did look pretty in black. Give me your bar line to me, Matt. Here she comes, John.
[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, these are off now. Hi there, Captain Dan. Good haul today? Fair, no thanks to you, John.
[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_18]: Get that turn line out, Matt, and hop to it. Nice of you to come down to meet me, Carrie.
[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_11]: I was meant to net while John painted the buoys. Kind of figured you would. Suppose you get back to
[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_18]: the house now and see to supper. We got company. Figure I owe it to Matt for helping me out.
[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_18]: It's one way of getting out of paying him. Matt's a friend of mine, something you wouldn't
[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_18]: understand, John. Think maybe we should invite John to supper too, Carrie? Whatever you say,
[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_18]: seems like he needs somebody to help him nurse that crushed finger back to health. Right now,
[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_18]: if you don't mind, I got the barge on to help us sort lobsters. Oh, I'll bring him home to supper.
[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, you look right nice, Carrie. Quite a spell since you fixed yourself up like this.
[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_11]: Quite a spell since we had company. Where do you think you're off to now? Want to go up to
[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_11]: the attic for a minute? Supper's ready, Dan. Matt and John are all ready to sit down. It seems to me
[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_11]: every time I call you for supper, you decide to go to the attic. Daniel likes to look at that old
[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_15]: sea chest he's got up there. At least wise wasn't in it. Maybe put a little more in it, eh, Daniel?
[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_03]: It seems like Matt's let the cat out of the bag about your private bank, Captain Dan. All right,
[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_18]: suppose I have got some money tucked away. Hard work's just as important as ever, John.
[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_15]: And that's what you're afraid of. Yeah, like all young people today,
[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_10]: want to start at the top. Don't say we're scrimping and slaving. I got you, Matt,
[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_10]: up at 430 in bed at eight all your life. I'd like to have some fun before I die.
[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_18]: You never used to complain about your lot, Carrie. Anything special on your mind?
[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_11]: I get fed up sometimes. I'll put the things on, you men sit down at the table.
[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, there's the horn starting. Guess I sniffed out the weather all right, eh, Matt?
[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_15]: Eh, Daniel. Sure glad we aren't aboard the Nautilus now.
[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Why not? She's got a good compass. You know these waters as well as the rest of us, Matt.
[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_15]: Eh, maybe so, John, but too many men have piled up on the inner reef just the same.
[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Eh, not if you know where you're going and how to get there.
[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Never heard you sound so almighty sure of yourself, John.
[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, it's a question of knowing all there is to know about a subject, Captain Daniel.
[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Navigation or anything else. Like, like maybe there's just one thing holding you up and you
[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_03]: find the answer to what you didn't know and you're all set.
[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know as I exactly get the drift all that, John. You understand him, Carrie?
[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_09]: I think so, Daniel.
[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_15]: Daniel's mind is on putting all that folding money in his sea chest.
[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_18]: No, no. I'm thinking more of the fog closing in, Matt.
[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_15]: Eh, can't very well forget it with that foghorn sounding like it was calling the body to his doom.
[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_15]: Know what the foghorn always makes me think of?
[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Sure, Matt. Makes you think of death.
[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_15]: Yes, sir. Yeah, it does, it does. How'd you know, John?
[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I guess you might say it makes me think of the same thing.
[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_04]: At this point in The Whistler, I usually bring you a message about signal products.
[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_04]: But tonight at this season of Goodwill Toward Men,
[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_04]: I'd like to reserve these valuable seconds for a little later in the program
[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_04]: in order to have time to bring you a message about one of your neighbors.
[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_04]: A message which I hope will serve to further strengthen the bond of
[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_04]: understanding and friendship between you and him.
[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_19]: Well, John, it was quite a shot coming home from several years in the Merchant Marine
[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_19]: to find your childhood sweetheart married to Captain Daniel Bailey, wasn't it?
[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_19]: But you're certain Carrie still loves you, aren't you?
[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_19]: And you tell yourself that things will soon be much different,
[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_19]: especially now that you've made sure where the old miser keeps all his money.
[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_19]: In an old iron sea chest in the attic.
[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_19]: It's a cold and black Monday morning, two hours before dawn,
[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_19]: as you walk into the cheerful beam of light coming from the Bailey kitchen window.
[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_19]: Carrie is there getting her husband's breakfast.
[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_19]: And you know she's thinking the same thing you are.
[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_19]: How easy it is for accidents to happen at sea,
[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_19]: especially when there's a reason and a will to help them along.
[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_19]: Then as you open the back door, you stumble over the sea chest.
[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, I hope you didn't hurt your toe on that chest, John.
[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_18]: Be too bad if it kept you on land too, like that crushed finger did.
[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_10]: It's your fault for leaving it there, Daniel.
[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_10]: I can't see why you brought it down in the first place.
[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_18]: I figure I'm storing it aboard the boat.
[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_18]: Get your mug up, John. Let's cast off.
[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, Captain, it's your wife's coffee,
[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_03]: not your 25 bucks a week that gets me up at this unholy hour
[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_03]: to go out and haul traps with you.
[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_18]: You know, I guess there was something about Carrie that interested you.
[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_18]: Her coffee, huh?
[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_18]: Consider that a flattering remark, Carrie?
[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_11]: I'm considering the work I got ahead of me, Daniel.
[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_11]: Sooner you two get yourselves and that chest out of my kitchen, the happier I'll be.
[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, that chest looks good and solid, Captain Daniel.
[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, yeah. They made things to last in my father's day.
[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_18]: I always thought a lot of that chest.
[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_11]: Do you really think it'll be safe on the boat, Daniel?
[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, an old, old sea chest, why not, Carrie?
[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_18]: I got a feeling it's better stowed away in a locker where I can keep my eye on it.
[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_18]: Good sturdy lock there.
[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_18]: Fine workmanship.
[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_18]: Hey, put that chest down.
[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_09]: It was only hefty, Daniel.
[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I was figuring on carrying it to the boat for you, Carrie.
[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_18]: Will you keep your hands off things that don't belong to you?
[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_18]: Now you sweep down that coffee while I get a couple of lobster
[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_18]: traps out of the shed if you're so anxious to carry something.
[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_18]: All right, all right, all right, Captain. You don't need to get sore.
[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_18]: You know, there's an old saying, John. Maybe you heard it.
[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_18]: Curiosity killed a cat.
[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_18]: Makes a lot of sense.
[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Now where he keeps the keys of that chest, Carrie?
[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_10]: One in the key ring or the other. Here's Jack.
[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_03]: All in gets to be hot work if we take his coat off before he went out in the door.
[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_03]: He might have a chance.
[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_09]: Maybe he took the money out, hid it somewhere else.
[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Not from the way he's acting.
[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_09]: He suspects it, John.
[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_09]: That's why he's moving the chest to the boat.
[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_09]: Listen, the cabin's always locked except when he's on board.
[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_09]: He keeps that key on his ring too.
[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Don't you worry.
[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_03]: When I'm ready, Carrie, Captain Danil won't have things his way at all.
[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_19]: You wonder about Captain Danil as he shoulders the chest and walks behind
[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_19]: you down to the wharf where you board the Nautilus.
[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_19]: It's interesting to see that he can't wait to get out of the harbor before
[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_19]: locking the chest in the big locker on the starboard side, isn't it, John?
[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_19]: Of course, it's probably coincident that he suggests you both haul traps from the same dory
[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_19]: when you reach the outer shoals and that he never once takes his jacket off,
[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_19]: even when pulling up the heavy crate.
[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_19]: It makes you wonder if he knows you plan to kill him.
[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_19]: But you've got to wait for the right moment, don't you?
[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_19]: And two days later, you think that time has come
[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_19]: when Danil's about to climb up over the side of the trawler from the dory riding below.
[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_19]: As you stand over him on the deck...
[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Careful of your back, Captain.
[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_18]: Let me give you a hand up.
[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_18]: No, no, not yet.
[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_18]: Let me get the dory a mite closer, John.
[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_18]: Wouldn't want to fall between her and the Nautilus.
[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Come on, get a hold of my hand.
[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_03]: I'll hang on to you.
[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_18]: Say, would you look who's coming in to view?
[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_18]: Ahoy there, Matt!
[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_02]: What's Matt's motorboat doing out here beyond the reef?
[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought he took a shallow of water.
[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_18]: He changed his lobster traps the day before yesterday.
[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_18]: That's funny.
[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_18]: I wonder why.
[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_18]: Because I suggested it, John.
[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_18]: Now you can give me a hand up.
[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_19]: That evening when you explained to Carrie that you failed,
[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_19]: there's something almost like contempt in her eyes, isn't there, John?
[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_19]: So you make up your mind tomorrow will be the day no matter what.
[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_19]: And by noontime, it looks as though Matt Tuttle was a blessing in disguise at that.
[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_19]: You finished your haul when Captain Danville decides to give Matt a hand with his.
[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_19]: You watch the captain set out alone in the dory.
[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_19]: Then you go quickly below to the cabin where you saw him throw his jacket on the bunk.
[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_19]: When he comes back, you'll have the sea chest open and the money in your pocket.
[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_19]: And there'll be no more hide and seek, no more waiting for the right setup.
[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_19]: You'll kill him in the cabin out of sight of Matthew's prying eyes.
[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_19]: Later, there'll be ways of getting rid of the body.
[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_19]: Eagerly, you pick up his jacket.
[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_19]: And as your hand goes into the side pocket...
[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_18]: I'll take my jacket, if you don't mind.
[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Captain Danville, I noticed you forgot your jacket.
[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_18]: You think so?
[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_18]: Toss it here.
[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_18]: Then take the Nautilus and head back to port.
[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_18]: I'll be going back with Matt.
[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_18]: He's expecting me.
[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_18]: So I wouldn't try anything if I was you.
[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Why, of course not, Captain.
[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_18]: By the way, I won't be needing you anymore, John.
[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_18]: I worked out a deal with Matt.
[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_18]: He's gonna help me.
[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_18]: Oh?
[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_18]: You intend to pay me for a full week?
[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_18]: Not if you don't work it.
[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_18]: Tomorrow's Friday.
[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_18]: You want to make it your last day?
[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_18]: You think of any reason why I shouldn't?
[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_18]: Maybe.
[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_18]: Now I got my keys, John.
[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_18]: I'll be going.
[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_18]: Just you better remember what I said about curiosity killing a cat.
[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_19]: You've failed again, haven't you, John?
[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_19]: You tell yourself Captain Danville wouldn't be alive now
[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_19]: if he hadn't caught you by surprise.
[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_19]: If it hadn't been that Matt was expecting him.
[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_19]: The next morning, you skip your mug of strong black coffee in Carrie's kitchen
[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_19]: and go directly to the trawler to wait for Captain Danville.
[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_19]: This is your last chance.
[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_19]: And you're afraid to let Carrie see the little fears and doubts
[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_19]: crawling in your desperate mind.
[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_19]: When the captain arrives, his mood is as cold and heavy and silent
[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_19]: as the fog which hangs over land and sea.
[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_19]: But just as you're about to cast off.
[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_19]: Dano!
[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_11]: Dano!
[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_18]: Carrie, what do you want?
[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_11]: I've decided.
[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, I'm counting on stormy weather when the fog lifts, Carrie.
[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_18]: But if you want, you're free to come aboard.
[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_11]: Breeze has sprung up, Dano.
[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_18]: Barometer's fallen too.
[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, it's time to make our haul anyway.
[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_18]: We may catch it on the way back.
[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_18]: Want me to take the wheel, Captain?
[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_18]: No, the less you have to do with this boat, the better.
[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, look, Captain, I know it looked bad yesterday,
[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_02]: but when I picked up your jacket, it was natural.
[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, I forgot all about that.
[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_18]: I got other things on my mind.
[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_18]: I reckon we all have.
[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_11]: You mean the storm, Dano?
[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_11]: There'll be danger, will there, coming back?
[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_18]: You know, you sound a mite worried, Carrie.
[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_18]: Mind if I ask why?
[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_11]: No reason at all, Dano.
[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, as long as I'm at the wheel,
[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_18]: well, maybe she'd feel safer, Johnny,
[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_18]: if you was to explain that you can navigate these waters as good as me.
[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_18]: Sure I can, Captain, but...
[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_18]: Funny thing, you know, I don't remember your worrying
[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_18]: about my getting home safe before, Carrie.
[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_18]: I suppose it's different when you're along yourself.
[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_18]: Guess that's it, eh?
[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_11]: Of course.
[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_11]: I'm going on deck for a breath of air.
[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_11]: Long as Dano insists on staying at the wheel, John,
[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_11]: I don't see why you have to stay in the cabin.
[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_10]: Why wait till we reach the lobster grounds, John?
[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_10]: Why not now?
[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_03]: These are fishing waters, Carrie.
[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Don't you see those other boats off there?
[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_03]: You think they're blind?
[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_10]: Still trying to put it off, aren't you?
[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Another half hour and we'll be there, Carrie.
[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_11]: If the weather turns bad, can we get back without him?
[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_03]: I've done it a hundred times.
[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I know these waters like the palm of my hand.
[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Look, Carrie, when we're almost there,
[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I'll slip up behind him while he's still got his attention on the wheel.
[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_11]: I'll be watching to see you do this time.
[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_11]: No mistakes.
[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_11]: It's got to be over before Matt Tuttle's boat gets there.
[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_19]: For a half hour, there's no sound but the steady chugging of the engine.
[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_19]: And then suddenly it stops.
[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_19]: Dead ahead is the first of Captain Daniel's lobster bulls.
[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_19]: Carrie hands you the piece of lead pipe you dropped.
[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_19]: There's no turning back now, is there, John?
[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_19]: Holding the weapon in back of you,
[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_19]: you silently open the cabin door and step inside.
[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_19]: Captain Daniel isn't there.
[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_19]: He's tied the wheel to a set course.
[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_19]: And before you can turn...
[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_18]: You can drop that lead pipe, John.
[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_18]: I wouldn't want to shoot a man in the back.
[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_18]: Now I'll let you and me step out on deck with Carrie.
[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_18]: Look, look, Captain, I don't know what you're thinking, but...
[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_18]: Thinking!
[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_18]: For a whole week, I've been trying to keep myself from being killed
[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_18]: and at the same time give you a chance to tip your hand.
[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_18]: It would have been one or the other if you weren't so yellow.
[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_11]: Why you let me come along today, Daniel?
[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_18]: I wondered if you wouldn't take a hand sooner or later, Carrie.
[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_18]: You came along to give this young fellow some nerve.
[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_18]: What are you going to do?
[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_18]: Might kill you, John.
[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_18]: Don't like that, eh?
[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, I've always been a law-abiding man.
[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_18]: I figure the sheriff will know what to do about attempted murder.
[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_11]: What about me, Daniel?
[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_18]: You...
[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_18]: You love this weak-kneed squirt, Carrie.
[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_11]: Yes, Daniel, I always have.
[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_18]: Then by thunder, you can stand right alongside him in court.
[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_18]: Huh, there's Matt's boat coming in.
[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_18]: We'll take him aboard.
[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_11]: What does Matt Tuttle know about this, Daniel?
[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_18]: Nothing up till now.
[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_18]: I don't wash my dirty linen in public.
[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_18]: Not much you don't, you tight-fisted penny-pinching old...
[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_18]: Old miser, huh?
[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_18]: Maybe, John, but it appears to me your craving to get your hands on money beats mine all hollow.
[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_18]: What do you mean?
[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, you know, the way both of you perked up when Matt mentioned
[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_18]: my old sea chest that night.
[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_18]: Well, it was a sight to see.
[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_18]: Right then's when I knew.
[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_18]: Right then's when I decided to move it here on board.
[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_11]: A man as mean and suspicious as you would be hard to fool.
[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_18]: My money was the bait I hooked you two on.
[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_18]: That sea chest was like a bait bag bulging with herring
[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_18]: and it pulled you into my trap like a couple of greedy lobsters.
[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_18]: So all the time you were...
[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_18]: Giving you a rope to hang yourself.
[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_18]: And now let's have no more talk.
[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_18]: We'll anchor and wait for Matt.
[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_18]: You get up toward, John.
[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_18]: Be ready to drop that anchor over the side and I'll come along.
[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_18]: Just in hope you'll give me cause to shoot you the way I'd like.
[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_19]: And so, John, with Captain Danil's revolver pointed squarely at your back,
[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_19]: you move carefully before him up onto the slippery bow.
[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_19]: He keeps his distance.
[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_19]: He's not giving you a chance to turn on him, is he, John?
[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_19]: Balancing yourself, you squat over the heavy anchor and move the line toward the chopper.
[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_19]: Then you notice something.
[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_19]: As old Daniel stops walking, watches for the right spot to drop anchor,
[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_19]: he steps into a loop of the anchor rope.
[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_19]: This gives you an opportunity you hadn't expected.
[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_19]: With one move, you shove the anchor over
[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_19]: and the rope tightens around Danil's leg, pulling him overboard and into the sea.
[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_15]: Oh, now there, Carrie.
[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_15]: John and me searched as long as we could.
[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_15]: Danil's gone.
[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_15]: There's nothing more we can do.
[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_09]: Thank you, Matt.
[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_09]: I...
[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_09]: I...
[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_15]: Don't try to say nothing now.
[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_15]: And you, John, you better get out of those wet clothes.
[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_15]: It was a mighty fine thing you did, going right over the side to ask him like that.
[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_03]: I couldn't reach him, Matt.
[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_03]: I think he got untangled from the anchor line, all right,
[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_03]: but he must have been in bad shape.
[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Probably hit his head as he went over.
[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_15]: Eh, try not to think of it anymore.
[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_15]: Lucky I happened along when I did go.
[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_09]: Oh, you were a big help, Matt.
[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_15]: Ain't just what I mean, Carrie.
[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_15]: There was something preying on Danil's mind.
[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_15]: Some said he was worried about you two.
[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_15]: Well, now look here, Matt.
[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_15]: I wasn't one of them, John.
[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_15]: Jumping catfish, I've known you kids ever since.
[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_15]: You were knee-high to a grasshopper.
[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_15]: But Danil, rest his soul, he had one of them suspicious minds.
[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_09]: I don't think you should talk like that.
[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_15]: But there might have been...
[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_15]: Well, talk about his death, Carrie.
[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_15]: Lucky my boat was close enough so as I can swear nobody was near him when he fell over.
[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_15]: You got me to prove to folks it was an accident.
[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_15]: Well, I gotta get back to my motorboat.
[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_15]: She don't ride a storm like this boat, eh, John?
[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_15]: Hey, here she comes.
[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_15]: I'll close your cabin door, Ty.
[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_11]: By the time Matt gets through talking to folks, you'll be a hero, John.
[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_03]: What a break!
[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Soon as he gets out of the way, we start back, eh?
[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Then we'll get that sea chest out of the locker and have a look at it.
[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_03]: He called it a bait bag.
[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Bulging with herring, Carrie.
[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_03]: To tempt a couple of greedy lobsters, John.
[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Only this time, baby.
[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_03]: You and me are the ones that got away!
[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_04]: Now, friends, for that message I mentioned earlier.
[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_04]: That message about one of your neighbors.
[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_04]: This neighbor is someone who often doesn't get a chance to spend as much time as he'd like to
[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_04]: getting acquainted with you.
[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Because he feels you'd rather have him concentrate on serving you promptly and efficiently.
[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Checking your tires, your radiator, your oil, your batteries.
[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_04]: He's your signal dealer, of course.
[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_04]: But who is he, really?
[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, as you know, signal dealers are independent dealers.
[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_04]: That means each signal dealer has invested his own money in his own business.
[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_04]: So naturally, being a small businessman, he knows what's made America great.
[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_04]: He's a strong believer in America.
[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_04]: The kind of citizen you can be proud to do business with.
[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_04]: Secondly, before deciding to go into business for himself, he, like most signal dealers,
[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_04]: probably had long experience servicing automobiles.
[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_04]: Experience which can be valuable in making your car run better and last longer.
[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_04]: Moreover, each signal dealer realizes that his income and success depend upon pleasing
[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_04]: you so well, you'll want to deal with him regularly.
[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_04]: That's why your signal dealer tries to give such thorough, such conscientious service.
[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_04]: If all this adds up to the kind of serviceman you'd like to have looking after your car,
[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_04]: then here's a suggestion.
[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_04]: Sometime soon, before Christmas, stop at the signal dealer's nearest youth and exchange
[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_04]: some little friendly words, such as how you enjoy this radio program, or the chuckle you
[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_04]: get out of the cartoons on signal billboards, or even the weather.
[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_04]: You'll be making that dealer's Christmas a much, much merrier one.
[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_04]: And you'll be getting even better acquainted with a good fellow American who is in business
[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_04]: there to serve you.
[00:25:40] [SPEAKER_19]: It was easier than you had dared hope, wasn't it, John?
[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_19]: Captain Daniel's foot caught in the anchor line that dragged him overboard to his death.
[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_19]: And your diving in after him took care of the rest, didn't it?
[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_19]: And you're perfectly safe because Matt Tuttle saw the accident, will even swear you risked
[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_19]: your life to rescue Captain Daniel.
[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_19]: You head the Nautilus back toward port, leave Carrie at the wheel, get the captain's sea
[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_19]: chest and rejoin Carrie.
[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_19]: The storm is increasing in fury, so you place the chest on the chart stand by the compass
[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_19]: and take the wheel.
[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_19]: But soon your curiosity overcomes you.
[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_19]: You turn the wheel over to Carrie again and start to open the chest.
[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Just a few twists of the blade and...
[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_03]: Carrie?
[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_11]: What, John?
[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_03]: That bellboy, it sounds to port.
[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_03]: You'd be to stab it.
[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_11]: Keeping the compass just like it said.
[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_03]: I see.
[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, well, when rain cuts your visibility, you get to imagining all sorts of things about
[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_03]: the rain.
[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_09]: Get on with the chest, why don't you?
[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, a lot broke.
[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_03]: The lid's kind of stiff, but I'm getting it.
[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Carrie, give me that wheel!
[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_02]: What are you doing, John?
[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_02]: You're turning us off our course!
[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_02]: You mean I'm trying to?
[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_02]: What are you talking about?
[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_02]: We're too close to that reef.
[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_02]: The wind and current are against us.
[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_02]: We're being pushed under the rocks.
[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Any second, Carrie...
[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_11]: But you said our course was north!
[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_11]: It was!
[00:26:58] [SPEAKER_02]: When I put that iron chest on the chart stand, it affected our compass.
[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_02]: We're headed right onto the inner reef.
[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_02]: If I hadn't been so excited about the money, I'd have remembered that chest with that iron.
[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Look, the chest is empty!
[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Empty?
[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, except for if your old chart stood for yourself.
[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's what that scheming Captain Danil was up to.
[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_02]: He knew we were dying of curiosity about that old sea chest, and he knew it was empty.
[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_18]: Where is his money, John?
[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Thou will never know!
[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Let that whistle be your signal for the Signal Oil program,
[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_04]: The Whistler, each Sunday night at this time.
[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_04]: Signal Oil Company has asked me to remind you.
[00:27:58] [SPEAKER_04]: During this busy pre-holiday season, it's especially important to drive at sensible speed,
[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_04]: be courteous, and obey traffic regulations,
[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_04]: so that some avoidable accident doesn't mar your Merry Christmas.
[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_04]: The Whistler
[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Featured in tonight's story were Bill Foreman as The Whistler, Lamont Johnson, Peggy Weber,
[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_04]: Griff Barnett, and Charles Seal.
[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_04]: The Whistler was produced and directed by George W. Allen, with story by Jack Kelsey,
[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_04]: music by Wilbur Hatch, and was transmitted overseas by the Armed Forces Radio Service.
[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_04]: The Whistler is entirely fictional, and all characters portrayed on The Whistler are also
[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_04]: fictional. Any similarity of names or resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_04]: Remember to tune in at the same time next Sunday, when the Signal Oil Company will bring you
[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_04]: another strange story by The Whistler, entitled Christmas Gift, in which a nice girl pays a high
[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_04]: price for a single mistake, and then receives an unexpected Christmas gift.
[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_04]: Marvin Miller speaking for the Signal Oil Company.
[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_04]: Stay tuned now for our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden,
[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_04]: which follows immediately over most of these stations. This is the CBS Radio Network.
[00:29:29] [SPEAKER_04]: And now stay tuned for the mystery program that is unique among all mystery programs,
[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_04]: because even when you know who is guilty, you always receive a startling surprise at the
[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_04]: curtain. In the Signal Oil Program, The Whistler.
[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_04]: Signal, the famous go-farther gasoline,
[00:29:59] [SPEAKER_04]: invites you to sit back and enjoy another strange story by The Whistler.
[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_19]: I am the whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night.
[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_19]: I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows.
[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_19]: Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak.
[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_04]: And now for the Signal Oil Company, The Whistler's strange story, A Rose for Pamela.
[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_19]: The concert was progressing successfully, brilliantly, as Denise Barrett listened closely.
[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_19]: The young artist had perfect command of the keyboard at her fingertips,
[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_19]: and the quiet inspired audience watching. This was because like her famous father,
[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_19]: the late Thomas Barrett, she loved music. It was a part of her. And she felt no more nervousness
[00:31:28] [SPEAKER_19]: than he might have had at the height of his brilliant career as one of the world's most
[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_19]: celebrated pianists. Pamela Barrett might have felt differently, however, if she knew what was
[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_19]: in the heart and mind of Denise Barrett, her young and attractive stepmother. Pamela's touch
[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_19]: might not have been so fine, so sure, if she had the knowledge of Denise's cold calculated plan for
[00:31:52] [SPEAKER_19]: murder. It was a plan that began some time back, wasn't it, Denise? At an even more innocent affair,
[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_19]: an impromptu concert at a pleasant social gathering, friends of yours and of Pamela.
[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_19]: As usual, you watched admiringly as Pamela played for her friends, softly, beautifully.
[00:32:32] [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, Pamela, darling, it was beautiful, wonderful. Thank you, Denise. All of you,
[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_06]: thanks so much. She's ready now. Oh, you must arrange a debut for her, Denise. I should say
[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_08]: so. Oh, you hear them, darling. It's what I've been telling you repeatedly, you mustn't let
[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_08]: anything interfere with your music. Nothing will, Denise. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to...
[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_12]: You've done a marvelous job as a guardian, Denise. Her father would have been proud. Yes,
[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_12]: it's a shame Thomas Barrett couldn't be here. Oh, yes, he would have loved to hear his daughter
[00:32:58] [SPEAKER_06]: play tonight. Yes, yes, it's our only regret. Oh, now, dear, I'm sorry I mentioned that. Oh,
[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_08]: it's all right. Just the excitement, the thrill of hearing her play, so much like, like Thomas himself.
[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_19]: Yes, Denise, so much like Thomas Barrett himself, your late husband. The thought is still on your
[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_19]: mind as you excuse yourself, leave your guest discussing the way you've managed Pamela,
[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_19]: brought her along, guided her career and affairs so efficiently. And on the terrace, you're
[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_19]: congratulated again by a guest who has remained in the background, Marty Drake, attorney for the
[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_19]: estate of your late husband, Thomas Barrett. It was very good, Denise, very good. The girl does
[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_17]: have talent, doesn't she? Uh-huh. You think she meant that about not letting anything interfere
[00:33:54] [SPEAKER_17]: with her career? I hope so. So do I. You ought to make sure, you know, a young girl in love that way.
[00:34:01] [SPEAKER_08]: I've managed her pretty well until now, Marty, and she has faith in you, both personally and as an
[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_08]: attorney. She told me the other afternoon she was glad you were handling the estate. Oh, sure.
[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_17]: I was just thinking her father's brilliant career ended by an accident. Would be dreadful if anything
[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_17]: had to end the daughter's too. Please, Marty. Sorry. Like I said, just thinking. Marty, it would be terrible if...
[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_17]: If... You couldn't handle it? Couldn't talk her out of marrying Richard Matthews? Oh, but I can, I must.
[00:34:37] [SPEAKER_17]: You can say that again, baby. Her marriage would put us both in a position of having to account for the
[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_17]: hundred thousand dollars we've managed to remove from the estate. A hundred thousand? Is it that
[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_17]: much, Marty? We've lived well, Denise, very well, since Thomas fell over that cliff a year ago. But a
[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_17]: hundred thousand, Marty, that's... That's the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony.
[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_17]: You'd better go to work on Pamela. I will, tomorrow. Thought you might like a cocktail, Mrs. Barrett,
[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_08]: there? Oh, yes, yes. Thank you, Alma. Thank you. I could use one very nicely. Oh, Alma,
[00:35:16] [SPEAKER_08]: would you tell Pamela there's another number I'd like her to play? Liss Liedenstraum. Oh, I'm sorry,
[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_06]: ma'am. She told me to tell you she's gone out. There was a phone call. Not Richard Matthews? Yes,
[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_17]: ma'am. Richard Matthews. Well, and you tell me not to worry. Marty, we're going to have trouble. So is
[00:35:36] [SPEAKER_17]: Pamela. How do you mean? We won't have much choice, Denise, if your lovely stepdaughter persists in
[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_17]: marrying. There might be only one way to stop it. Yes, one way. And this time you will do the
[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_17]: stopping. If you don't, baby, you won't be around to spend any more of Pamela's money. You'll be on
[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_08]: the inside looking out. Oh, no, Marty. I'll stop her. And if you don't? If I don't, it's like you
[00:36:04] [SPEAKER_08]: say, another accident, another tragic loss in the Barrett family and the music world.
[00:36:26] [SPEAKER_04]: Throughout the seven Pacific coast states, from Canada to Mexico, motorists call Signal the go
[00:36:32] [SPEAKER_04]: farther gasoline. Now, naturally, we're mighty proud of Signal's good mileage, which has built
[00:36:38] [SPEAKER_04]: that reputation. But equally important to you as a motorist is the way Signal gives you such good
[00:36:43] [SPEAKER_04]: mileage. You see, today's Signal helps your engine run so efficiently, you save gasoline three ways.
[00:36:50] [SPEAKER_04]: One, you save gasoline with Signal's quick starting. Two, you save gasoline with Signal's
[00:36:55] [SPEAKER_04]: smooth, obedient pickup, free from balking and hesitation. Three, you save gasoline with Signal's
[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_04]: lively power that gets you into high gear fast, helps you stay there with a minimum of shifting
[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_04]: on hills or in traffic. Well, considering the number of times a day you start your car,
[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_04]: accelerate and shift gears, even a little gasoline saved each time soon adds up to a big saving.
[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_04]: So there in a nutshell, friends, is why motorists call Signal the go farther gasoline.
[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Why not treat your car to Signal and go farther? As Marty indicated, Pamela must be dealt with
[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_19]: firmly, decisively. Her romantic inclinations toward Richard Matthews must come to an abrupt halt.
[00:37:56] [SPEAKER_19]: Yes, because with marriage, Pamela would be in a position to explore the nefarious financial
[00:38:01] [SPEAKER_19]: dealings in which you and Marty have engaged with the funds from the estate. Also, Pamela might have
[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_19]: reason to suspect the grim fact that her father, Thomas Barrett, might have died by other than
[00:38:13] [SPEAKER_19]: accidental means. You lose little time in facing the situation squarely, Denise.
[00:38:19] [SPEAKER_19]: As the following afternoon, you hurry down the long corridor toward the music room,
[00:38:23] [SPEAKER_19]: determined to talk to her. However, as you pass the study, the maid steps in the view.
[00:38:29] [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. About Mr. Barrett's curio collection. Miss Pamela said she didn't want
[00:38:35] [SPEAKER_08]: anything touched. I told her that you... Oh, now really. I don't see why she insists on keeping
[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_08]: those awful things around. Spears, poison darts, those vials of South African poisons,
[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_08]: snake venom, all those things. Her father's man... I can't imagine what Mr. Barrett had in mind
[00:38:51] [SPEAKER_08]: bringing those horrible things back with him after that South African tour. I just can't.
[00:38:57] [SPEAKER_08]: Poison. They make me shiver. Oh, well. Never mind, Alma. I'll talk to Pamela again later.
[00:39:05] [SPEAKER_08]: Very good, ma'am.
[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_08]: You play Chopin nearly as well as your father did, Pamela.
[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_08]: You're still angry with me, aren't you? Well, I don't blame you, really. I should have told you
[00:39:31] [SPEAKER_08]: the reasons I thought it best that you postpone your marriage to Richard for a year or two.
[00:39:35] [SPEAKER_05]: The main reason is that you enjoy telling me I can't do things, isn't it, Minnie?
[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_08]: You think I'm very unfair, don't you, dear? Aren't you? I don't think so.
[00:39:46] [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, Pamela, I know how hard it's been for you since your father died.
[00:39:50] [SPEAKER_08]: It's been hard on me, too. I loved him very much. And I've just been trying to keep a promise I made
[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_08]: to him about you. I guess I've gone at it very badly. Promise? What was the promise?
[00:40:08] [SPEAKER_08]: I promised him I'd see to it that you followed in his footsteps. Became a great concert pianist.
[00:40:14] [SPEAKER_08]: You did? Yes, dear, I did. Dad asked you to? Yes. He wanted you to make your debut at Civic Hall
[00:40:21] [SPEAKER_08]: on your 19th birthday. That's scarcely two weeks away. Yes, it is. But I made all the arrangements
[00:40:27] [SPEAKER_08]: some time ago. And that's why I was so shocked when you said you wanted to give up your music
[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_08]: and marry Richard. And why I was so emphatic in saying I wouldn't let you. My career meant a lot
[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_08]: to Dad, didn't it? Pamela, you're awfully young to get married. Why not wait for a couple of years
[00:40:43] [SPEAKER_08]: and in the meantime go ahead with everything just as your father planned? I guess it would have made
[00:40:48] [SPEAKER_05]: him happy. No, of course it would. All right, Denise, I'll try to go on with my career. You'll always be
[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_08]: glad, darling. You may feel bad now about postponing your marriage to Richard, but
[00:40:58] [SPEAKER_05]: well, after you get started on your career... Denise, you must have misunderstood. I said I'd continue
[00:41:03] [SPEAKER_05]: with my music, but I didn't say I changed my mind about marrying Richard. But you can't marry him.
[00:41:08] [SPEAKER_05]: You wouldn't have time for both. Look, Denise, legally I'm old enough to be married with or
[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_05]: without your consent, even if you are still guardian of my money. If I decide to marry Richard,
[00:41:19] [SPEAKER_05]: there's nothing you can do to stop it. Remember that. Nothing.
[00:41:32] [SPEAKER_19]: You've failed, haven't you, Denise? That look on Pamela's face. You've seen it before on her father's
[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_19]: face. The man you married with so much more than love in mind. Yes, Denise, to gain control again
[00:41:45] [SPEAKER_19]: is another step necessary, a more drastic one, but something more in your line. You've always
[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_19]: managed with men easier than with women. And later that week out at the swimming pool, you call on
[00:41:58] [SPEAKER_19]: all the strength of your considerable feminine powers to turn the tide for you. Win Richard away
[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_07]: from Pamela. Morning, Richard. Morning, Mrs. Barrett. How's the water? Oh, warm and wonderful. Here, give me a hand,
[00:42:13] [SPEAKER_08]: will you? Oh, sure. There we are. Thanks. Now to get this cap off. Oh, it was such a beautiful morning, I just
[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_08]: couldn't resist the pool. Hand me the towel, will you? Oh, yeah, here we are. Oh, thank you. Pamela around?
[00:42:32] [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, she had some shopping to do. That's why I asked you over. I uh, I want to talk to you alone.
[00:42:39] [SPEAKER_08]: Sit down, Richard. All right. Pamela tells me you're quite a musician. Yeah, she's prejudiced.
[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_08]: You uh, you like Pamela very much, don't you? I love her. Enough to put her welfare above your happiness?
[00:42:55] [SPEAKER_08]: Of course. Well then, don't let her think about getting married until she's reached the place in
[00:43:00] [SPEAKER_08]: the music world her father planned for her. Why couldn't she do both? She just couldn't, that's all.
[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_14]: Hundreds of women have combined marriage with a career, rather successfully too. Oh, perhaps, but
[00:43:11] [SPEAKER_08]: not Pamela. She's different. Her life shouldn't be complicated with emotional disturbance. Her
[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_08]: thoughts should be only of her music. And uh, you are rather distracting, Richard. Oh now, really Mrs. Barrett?
[00:43:27] [SPEAKER_08]: You make it sound... Denise, please. All right, Denise. Uh, did it ever occur to you that the uh,
[00:43:36] [SPEAKER_08]: well, the things Pamela sees in you are obvious to other women too? No, I never thought much about it, Mrs. Barrett.
[00:43:46] [SPEAKER_08]: Denise? You know, Pamela is such a child, naive and all. But you and I, Richard, we're the same kind.
[00:43:57] [SPEAKER_08]: I knew it from the first time I saw you. Remember, Richard, Pamela's first concert
[00:44:01] [SPEAKER_08]: the afternoon you brought her the first rose? I remember. You seemed a little surprised when we
[00:44:08] [SPEAKER_14]: were introduced. Uh, yes, I suppose I was. I didn't expect Pamela's stepmother to be so...
[00:44:15] [SPEAKER_14]: So what, Richard? Well, young and uh, so attractive. How nice of you to say that, darling.
[00:44:24] [SPEAKER_08]: You, you really think me attractive? Yes, very. My, we are getting along well, aren't we, Richard?
[00:44:33] [SPEAKER_08]: I, I think we should get to know more of one another, don't you? Uh-huh. Well,
[00:44:41] [SPEAKER_08]: there's no time like the present, is there? Whatever you say, Denise.
[00:44:59] [SPEAKER_19]: He's falling into the trap, isn't he, Denise? Soon you'll be able to twist him around your
[00:45:04] [SPEAKER_19]: little finger. Yes, you're confident that when you're through with Richard, he'll have forgotten
[00:45:09] [SPEAKER_19]: that Pamela ever existed. You sit there at the edge of the pool with Richard for over an hour.
[00:45:14] [SPEAKER_19]: Then when he's gone, you hurry to the telephone and call Marty. So you charmed the boy, huh? What
[00:45:19] [SPEAKER_08]: did he tell you? Well, it isn't what I told him, it's what I left unsaid, Marty. That's what counts.
[00:45:24] [SPEAKER_08]: I'm certain he thinks I'm quite mad about him, and he's very interested. You say he'd keep that
[00:45:28] [SPEAKER_08]: little rendezvous? Oh, of course not, and I didn't ask him to. I merely mentioned that I'd be dining
[00:45:33] [SPEAKER_08]: alone tomorrow night at that quaint little cafe overlooking the sea, and how I loved it there,
[00:45:38] [SPEAKER_08]: the soft music, the candlelight. Think he'll show up? How could he turn it down? Don't worry, Marty.
[00:45:44] [SPEAKER_01]: After tomorrow night, all our worries will be over. Promptly at seven the following night,
[00:45:59] [SPEAKER_19]: you enter Schiavini's, that quaint little cafe on the beach. The head waiter steers you to a secluded
[00:46:04] [SPEAKER_19]: table near the large window overlooking the sea, and there in the candlelight you sip a martini,
[00:46:11] [SPEAKER_19]: wait for Richard to show up. Suddenly you're aware of someone standing at your elbow.
[00:46:17] [SPEAKER_13]: Good evening, Mrs. Barrett. Yes? Allow me. I am René Desmaux. May I sit down?
[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_08]: Just a moment, I don't... I'm from the Hollywood Escort Bureau. Escort Bureau?
[00:46:27] [SPEAKER_13]: Yes, Mr. Richard Matthews hired me. He said Mrs. Barrett hated to dine alone. Get out of my way,
[00:46:34] [SPEAKER_13]: now look lady, how about my fee? Collect your fee from Richard Matthews,
[00:46:39] [SPEAKER_08]: the man who hired you. He'll pay. Yes, he'll pay all right.
[00:46:54] [SPEAKER_17]: Denise, are you sure Richard sent that two-bit Romeo, the guy from the Escort Bureau? Oh,
[00:46:58] [SPEAKER_08]: of course, Marty, and of all the dirty shabby tricks. Worse than the one you tried to pull
[00:47:03] [SPEAKER_17]: on Pamela, baby. You must be losing your technique. Well, you won't think it's so funny when I tell you
[00:47:08] [SPEAKER_08]: that last night Pamela informed me she and Richard are planning to get married right after the
[00:47:12] [SPEAKER_08]: concert. What? I said they were planning, Marty, but the wedding will never take place. Well,
[00:47:17] [SPEAKER_17]: how are you going to stop it? Poison their cornflakes? Oh, don't be a fool. Poison? Yes,
[00:47:25] [SPEAKER_08]: poison, that's it, Marty. What are you going to do? The Barrett Curio collection, the poisons my
[00:47:30] [SPEAKER_08]: late husband picked up in South Africa. Some of them are fatal almost in a matter of minutes,
[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_17]: Marty. I can't imagine why a great musician like Thomas Barrett went in for a gruesome
[00:47:38] [SPEAKER_17]: like collecting poison. Surprise, you didn't dispose of them after his death. Oh, Pamela
[00:47:42] [SPEAKER_08]: wouldn't let me. Pamela wouldn't let me get rid of a thing. Now, very thoughtful of her. How very
[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_08]: thoughtful. Just a scratch from any one of those poisons and it's all over for little Pamela. All
[00:47:55] [SPEAKER_08]: right, but how are you going to do it? I don't know, Marty, but I'll think of something. I'll
[00:48:00] [SPEAKER_01]: think of something. Yes, and it's on your mind all that night, isn't it, Denise? You've got to find
[00:48:12] [SPEAKER_19]: a way to kill Pamela with one of the poisons from her father's collection, and somehow Richard must
[00:48:18] [SPEAKER_19]: be blamed. Just how you're going to do that isn't clear, not yet. Not until the following afternoon
[00:48:24] [SPEAKER_19]: when suddenly, quite by accident, you stumble on the answer. You're sitting in the library
[00:48:30] [SPEAKER_08]: when your maid walks into the room. Oh, Alma. Oh, yes, ma'am? Uh, there's some things I want sent to
[00:48:37] [SPEAKER_08]: the cleaners. If you'll come upstairs with me. Right away, ma'am. Where are you going with those
[00:48:42] [SPEAKER_06]: flowers? Well, Miss Pamela asked me to take them out of her room and put them in here.
[00:48:46] [SPEAKER_06]: Gardener picked them this morning. Aren't the roses beautiful? Yes, they are. They're quite
[00:48:53] [SPEAKER_08]: beautiful. Put them in that vase over there. I just, I just remembered I have something important to do.
[00:49:08] [SPEAKER_08]: The waves are really coming in tonight, aren't they? You know, Marty, I've been thinking. Oh? It's really
[00:49:15] [SPEAKER_08]: very simple. We poison Pamela with a rose, a rose from her darling Richard. I don't follow you,
[00:49:22] [SPEAKER_08]: Denise. Well, Richard always sends her a rose when she appears on the stage. It's become a superstition
[00:49:26] [SPEAKER_08]: she wouldn't appear without it. All right, so? I'll arrange to be at the door when the florist delivers
[00:49:31] [SPEAKER_08]: it. Now, they always wrap the stem of the rose with a very thin wire. I'll put several sharp
[00:49:37] [SPEAKER_08]: wires on it, Marty, and one of them right up through the rose, and all of them are specially treated.
[00:49:42] [SPEAKER_08]: One of those wires will be sure to scratch Pamela. But suppose... I'll pin the rose on her and arrange
[00:49:48] [SPEAKER_17]: it so she'll be certain to scratch herself. It'll never work. The police will be sure to find out.
[00:49:53] [SPEAKER_08]: Well, it'll make it all the better if they do. Richard sent her the rose, not me. He always does. Yes, but
[00:50:00] [SPEAKER_08]: the motive... why would he want her out of the way? Because he was madly in love with me, and he wanted
[00:50:06] [SPEAKER_08]: the Barrett fortune too. You see, he knew that with Pamela out of the way, all the money would go to me.
[00:50:14] [SPEAKER_08]: You know, that might work. And with you, the attorney for the Barrett estate, to back up my story,
[00:50:20] [SPEAKER_08]: it can't fail to work. Sure, it'll stand up, baby. And in another month, Marty, the Barrett fortune
[00:50:27] [SPEAKER_08]: will be all mine. Uh, ours, baby. All right, ours. However, I think I should warn you, Marty. Oh? Just in case
[00:50:37] [SPEAKER_08]: you get ideas about pushing me off a cliff and keeping all the money for yourself. Oh, now look,
[00:50:43] [SPEAKER_08]: we're getting married. Yes, I know. But I've taken the necessary precautions just the same, darling.
[00:50:48] [SPEAKER_08]: I've sent a letter to a friend of mine, a lawyer. That letter will be opened in the event of my death.
[00:50:54] [SPEAKER_08]: What are you driving at? It's all there in the letter, Marty. All the evidence the district attorney
[00:50:59] [SPEAKER_08]: will need. How you embezzled money from the Barrett estate, and the complete story of Thomas's death.
[00:51:06] [SPEAKER_08]: You see, I'd hate to have an accident happen to me, Marty. Fall off a cliff like he did. You don't
[00:51:14] [SPEAKER_17]: think I'd double cross you, Denise? I'm crazy about you. Oh, of course you are. But I just want to make
[00:51:19] [SPEAKER_08]: certain you don't have a change of heart. You might get to think that a half million dollars
[00:51:25] [SPEAKER_08]: looks better to you than I do. You see what I mean, darling?
[00:51:41] [SPEAKER_04]: How much does it cost per month? That's really the only accurate way to judge cost when buying
[00:51:47] [SPEAKER_04]: a new battery for your car. Here's what I mean. If a battery is guaranteed 30 months, that means 30
[00:51:54] [SPEAKER_04]: months is about the minimum life the manufacturer has built into that battery. So you divide the
[00:51:59] [SPEAKER_04]: total cost by 30 to find the cost per month. Well, judged on that basis, one of today's lowest cost
[00:52:05] [SPEAKER_04]: batteries is also one of today's most powerful, most trouble-free batteries. The new Signal Deluxe
[00:52:11] [SPEAKER_04]: battery. In fact, you enjoy up to 35 percent more power from a Signal Deluxe battery. That means
[00:52:17] [SPEAKER_04]: quicker starting, extra power for the many electrical gadgets on today's cars. But because
[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_04]: it's built to last up to two and one-half times as long as ordinary batteries, a full 30 months
[00:52:27] [SPEAKER_04]: on a service basis, a Signal Deluxe battery costs amazingly little per month. Even less when you
[00:52:33] [SPEAKER_04]: consider the generous trade-in allowance Signal dealers are now giving for old batteries, and easy
[00:52:38] [SPEAKER_04]: credit terms are available. So next time, get more for your battery dollars. More economy, more trouble-free
[00:52:45] [SPEAKER_04]: service. Next time, get a Signal Deluxe battery from a Signal service station.
[00:52:54] [SPEAKER_19]: It was easy to complete your plans for the murder of your stepdaughter, Pamela Barrett, wasn't it,
[00:52:59] [SPEAKER_19]: Denise? The single rose you knew Richard would send her arrived while Pamela was upstairs dressing
[00:53:04] [SPEAKER_19]: for the concert. It took you only a few moments to turn it into a deadly weapon. Then you went
[00:53:10] [SPEAKER_19]: to Pamela's room and carefully pinned it on her dress in such a way that she'd be certain to
[00:53:15] [SPEAKER_19]: scratch herself, and die by the poison you took from her late father's curio collection.
[00:53:21] [SPEAKER_19]: You lie down for a while, certain that you'll soon be in full control of the Barrett fortune.
[00:53:26] [SPEAKER_19]: You're calm and confident when Marty calls for you. Now as you sit beside him in the concert hall,
[00:53:32] [SPEAKER_19]: watching Pamela's performance, your eyes are fastened on the rose she's wearing.
[00:53:49] [SPEAKER_19]: But as the recital progresses, you become more and more tense. The fear that your plan has gone
[00:53:54] [SPEAKER_19]: wrong gradually comes over you. Something should have happened to Pamela long before this,
[00:53:59] [SPEAKER_19]: shouldn't it, Denise? And as her brilliant performance draws to a climax, you exchange
[00:54:05] [SPEAKER_16]: worried glances with Marty. Oh baby, what's gone wrong? I don't know, I don't know. I was afraid of
[00:54:10] [SPEAKER_08]: your idea from the start. It'll work, Marty, it's got to. Pardon me please, will you excuse me? Wonderful
[00:54:42] [SPEAKER_17]: wasn't she? Yes, great performance. Your father would have been proud of her. Excuse me. Pamela,
[00:54:51] [SPEAKER_06]: wonderful tonight. Yes, yes, where is she? Oh, she didn't come back to her dressing room, ran right
[00:54:56] [SPEAKER_06]: off the stage, left with Mr. Richard. What? Yes ma'am, she gave me this note for you.
[00:55:01] [SPEAKER_08]: What is it, Denise? My dear Denise, sorry to rush off like this, but Richard and I are driving to
[00:55:07] [SPEAKER_08]: Reno to be married. What? I know you don't approve, but I hope you can find it in your
[00:55:11] [SPEAKER_06]: heart to forgive us, love Pamela. Married? Miss Pamela getting married? Oh how wonderful,
[00:55:16] [SPEAKER_06]: ma'am. No wonder the poor child was so excited before she left for the concert. Marty,
[00:55:20] [SPEAKER_06]: I don't feel well. I feel a little pale myself. Yes ma'am, Miss Pamela was so nervous she could
[00:55:25] [SPEAKER_06]: hardly pin Mr. Richard's rose on her dress. I had to do it for her. What? Miss Pamela was so
[00:55:31] [SPEAKER_08]: excited that I... You pinned Mr. Richard's rose on it? Yes ma'am. But you couldn't have, I did it for
[00:55:36] [SPEAKER_08]: her. I took it at the door when it came and pinned it on her dress in her room. That's right, but I'm
[00:55:40] [SPEAKER_06]: talking about the artificial rose Mr. Richard brought later when he came to pick up Miss Pamela.
[00:55:45] [SPEAKER_06]: Artificial rose? Well you know the allergy she's developed recently. Her allergy for flowers? Yes,
[00:55:51] [SPEAKER_06]: I forgot. They make her sneeze. That's why Mr. Richard brought her the artificial rose, so she
[00:55:57] [SPEAKER_06]: wouldn't sneeze during the concert. Alma, what did you do with the real rose? Well Miss Pamela thought
[00:56:02] [SPEAKER_06]: it was too pretty to throw away, so she put it in your corsage just before she left with Mr. Richard.
[00:56:08] [SPEAKER_06]: My corsage? This is... Yes ma'am, the one you're wearing. Denise, your arm's bleeding. Oh my,
[00:56:15] [SPEAKER_06]: you must have scratched yourself. Scratch? Scratched myself? Oh yes, yes I have. What did you do there?
[00:56:21] [SPEAKER_06]: I don't know, it must have been... Oh Marty, I feel... Marty! Well what's the matter,
[00:56:28] [SPEAKER_06]: Manny? Something wrong? Marty, the poison! Call a doctor, you know how quick it is.
[00:56:34] [SPEAKER_06]: We'll help her, Mr. Martin. Denise! Denise!
[00:56:42] [SPEAKER_04]: Let that whistle be your signal for the Signal Oil Program, the whistler, each Sunday night at
[00:57:09] [SPEAKER_04]: the same time. Meantime, Signal Oil Company and the friendly independent dealers who help you
[00:57:15] [SPEAKER_04]: go farther with Signal Gasoline hope you'll remember. Regardless of what gasoline you use,
[00:57:22] [SPEAKER_04]: you'll enjoy more miles of happy driving if you drive at sensible speeds, obey traffic regulations,
[00:57:28] [SPEAKER_04]: and avoid taking chances. You may even save a life, possibly your own.
[00:57:47] [SPEAKER_04]: Featured in tonight's story were Bill Foreman as the whistler, Joe Gilbert, Barbara Eiler,
[00:57:52] [SPEAKER_04]: John Stevenson, Sarah Selby, Bob Bruce, and Roy Bilsbury with piano passages played by Jean
[00:57:57] [SPEAKER_04]: Lapique. The whistler was produced by George W. Allen and directed by Robert Hafter with story by
[00:58:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Nancy Cleveland, music by Wilbur Hatch, and was transmitted overseas by the Armed Forces Radio
[00:58:08] [SPEAKER_04]: Service. The whistler was entirely fictional and all characters portrayed on the whistler are also
[00:58:13] [SPEAKER_04]: fictional. Any similarity of names or resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
[00:58:19] [SPEAKER_04]: Remember to tune in at the same time next Sunday when the Signal Oil Company will bring you another
[00:58:23] [SPEAKER_04]: strange story by the whistler. Marvin Miller speaking for the Signal Oil Company. Stay tuned
[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_04]: now for our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden which follows immediately over most of these stations.
[00:58:36] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the CBS Radio Network. This has been a Cryptic County podcast. To check out our
[00:58:46] [SPEAKER_00]: other storytelling podcasts like Let's Not Meet and Odd Trails, go to crypticcountypodcasts.com.
[00:58:53] [SPEAKER_12]: We'll see you next time. You know what ought to happen next if this was a horror story?
[00:59:01] [SPEAKER_12]: That's what ought to happen next. It did.