Suspense.
The thrill of the night time, the hushed voice and the prowling step, the stir of nerves
at the ticking of the clock, the rescue that might be too late, the crime that is almost
committed, mystery and intrigue and dangerous adventures.
We invite you to enjoy stories that keep you in suspense.
Can a man stake his life against $25,000?
Can another and clever man track him down like a hunter, stalking his prey and kill
him within five hours?
Can you make a bet with death and win?
For Suspense, tonight we present Will You Make a Bet with Death by John Dixon Carr.
On the island on a summer day, there's the beach bright colored with bathing suits.
There's the boardwalk, all straw hats and summer dressings.
There's the Ferris wheel and the rollercoaster.
There is all humanity, eating hot dogs and having a good time.
And over there beyond that souvenir shop is the haunted mill.
You get into a little boat.
You float through a narrow tunnel into the dark while witches scream.
But that fools nobody, does it?
There couldn't be any real terror.
Could there?
While the bands are playing and the crowd goes by and...
Ladies and gentlemen, a unique attraction.
It hurts me to see you stand there and miss this.
Only ten cents, one dime, the tenth part of a dollar to go through the old haunted mill
and get the thrill of your life.
An overstatement if you ask me.
One ticket please.
Did you say one ticket, lady?
That's right, one ticket.
What's the thrill?
A big point, lady.
I said what's the thrill?
The girls who come here with their boyfriends don't have to ask that.
Ten cents please, this way and mine the gate.
Step right up, ladies and gentlemen.
Get your ticket for the old haunted mill where ghosts will walk and...
Give me some tickets.
Hurry.
Just a minute, young fellow.
I know you want to get into the old haunted mill, but there's plenty of time.
How many tickets?
I don't know.
You better give me ten.
Ten tickets?
Do you hear that, ladies and gentlemen?
Here's a young fellow who likes the old haunted mill so much.
He buys ten tickets.
Don't call everybody's attention.
Listen, I've got a better idea.
Whatever boat comes after mine...
Yeah?
I'll give you an extra dollar to send that boat through empty.
What's the matter, son?
The cops ain't happy, are they?
No, no, no, no.
It's nothing like that.
Will you do it?
Well, money talks, young fellow.
Okay, go ahead.
Isn't there an empty boat here?
Well, really?
You've got such a great objection to riding in the same boat with me.
Oh, I...
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean that at all.
Don't misunderstand.
Then you'd better get in if you want to go.
This boat's starting to move.
Yeah, I...
I better sit down.
You certainly had.
Look, here I...
I want to apologize.
That's quite unnecessary.
This place is rather childish anyway, isn't it?
Yes, isn't it?
But I've seen everything else, so I may as well see this.
Here we go in the dark.
What was that?
One of the ghosts, I imagine, from a machine.
It sounded like him laughing.
There isn't anybody in the boat behind us, is there?
I can't see.
It's pitch dark.
Listen, Miss...
Miss...
My name is Andrews, Betty Andrews,
if it's customary to exchange names in a place like this.
Mine's Penderel, Bob Penderel.
Did you say Penderel?
Yes.
Do you know it?
Oh, no, no, not exactly.
It's an unusual name, that's all.
I... I don't want you to think I'm out of my mind,
though I very nearly am.
But I've got five hours to go.
Just five hours.
At the end of that time, either I'll have won $25,000 or...
or else...
Or else?
Or else I'll be dead.
You know, I wish I'd kept you away from this boat.
There's nothing to get alarmed about.
For you.
I can't tell you much, but I had to tell somebody that
or I'd have started yelling.
There's just one other thing.
Is there?
In these places, they've usually got little dim-lighted rooms along the way.
Yes, ghosts and things.
Exhibits. Yes.
Well, when we come to one,
I'm going to get out of this boat and hide there.
Just don't get alarmed,
and don't tell anybody when you go out.
Why should you do that?
I think I see a light ahead.
There is a light, but...
Dim, too.
That's all but the good.
It's...
Yes?
We're coming around the corner.
Look, I'm going to have company when I get off.
A waxed dead man on a pile of straw.
I hope I can stand these noises.
Goodbye, Betty Andrews.
I wish we'd met at a different time.
Mine, the boat!
Here! What are you doing?
Getting off, too!
Don't be an idiot. What's the idea?
You'll need looking after Mr. Penderel.
And if we must hide, I suppose this is as good a place as any.
I won't have it.
Quick, quick! There'll be more boats along.
Over behind that dead man on the straw. He'll hide us. Hurry!
Well...
Now, Mr. Penderel, in the queerest place I ever get into,
please tell me what this is all about.
I can't tell you.
You said it yourself.
If you don't tell somebody, you'll go crazy.
Maybe you're right.
It's against the strict terms of the bet.
But this is the last day,
and I tell you I can't hold out any longer.
You'd better slow your voice, or the boat will come.
I wonder...
I wonder if you ever heard of my stepfather, John Destry.
Yes?
I imagine everybody has.
He's a millionaire, and I'm not.
I'm just a chemist, an analytical chemist.
Not very successful.
If I'd had time, if I'd had money,
I might have worked out a process that would have...
Well, I think it would have helped him in the war.
But he's got money.
Yes, he's got money.
Well, my mother died years ago.
This Destry's a big, white-haired, fine-looking fella.
You'd think butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
He's got an apartment in the East 60s, secretary,
I never met her, ballot, cook, that kind of thing.
Well, he used to invite me there. I wouldn't go.
Then he got hold of a book I had to have,
a German work on chemicals.
So I went.
After dinner, and that study of his, over the brandy.
Oh, my dear Robert, you're quite welcome to the book.
Don't mention it.
Oh, what do you think of this brandy, by the way?
It's excellent, thanks.
Yes, yes, I thought you'd like it.
And now that we're all relaxed, comfortable after dinner,
tell me something.
Yes, Mr. Destry?
You hate me, don't you?
Frankly, I do. And I always have.
Good, good.
Then you'll be relieved to hear I've always felt the same about you.
But tell me something else.
Did you ever know me to break my word?
No, I never did. I'll give you that.
I asked you, Robert, because I want to make a little bet with you.
That is, if you have the nerve, which I doubt.
Well, I'm afraid I can't afford to make bets.
You were always careless with money, Robert.
Well, I've been thrifty.
I saw that when your mother was alive.
But you can afford to make this bet.
Look here, in my desk.
Well?
Twenty-five thousand dollars, Robert.
Twenty-five thousand dollars in five one hundred dollar bills.
And what would I have to bet against that?
Your life.
My life?
There's the money in the drawer. Look at it.
What wouldn't you give for that money?
What wouldn't you give to have it for this precious work of yours
that you're so fond of and that you've failed in miserably?
So far I've failed, yes.
Oh, I've had a fairly good life as lives go.
My heart isn't as good as it might be, but the doctors say I've...
I'll last a little while yet.
But before I go, there's one pleasure,
one little exquisite thrill for me to experience.
I want to commit a murder.
Yes, I said a murder.
My bet is that I can kill you within six months
and that you can't stop me.
And that I'll never be punished for it.
What do you say?
Yes or no?
I believe you mean that.
Of course I mean it.
And just how would you propose to kill me?
Ah, that would be telling.
You know, if I had time to think this thing over...
There's no thinking it over.
Now, yes or no?
Yes.
You must need the money badly, Robert.
I do need it.
But oddly enough, Mr. Destry, that isn't why I'm doing this.
No?
No.
I want to show you you can't play the Lord Almighty and get away with it.
Are you challenging me?
Yes.
You don't think I can do it?
I know you can't.
We mustn't get excited, Robert.
There will be conditions to the bet, you understand?
What conditions?
First of all, you'll never mention this matter to anyone.
All right. That seems fair enough.
You'll remain within the city limits of New York for six months.
You'll spend at least one hour of every day walking the open streets alone.
All right.
You'll spend at least one hour every evening in your own room, alone.
I may come to see you, or I may not.
Trying to scare me already, are you?
Finally, you'll write out a little note and give it to me.
There's pen and paper on the desk in front of you.
Write it now.
Let's hear what I have to write before I do anything like that.
You will write?
I am a failure.
You can't stop harping on that, can you?
I am a failure, and this was the only way out.
I wouldn't have done it otherwise.
A suicide note?
Yes. I intend to use it when I, uh, operate.
And if I won't write it?
Then there's no bet.
All right. I'll do it.
It's now, uh, let's see, nine o'clock on the night of January the 10th.
If you're alive and not in a madhouse...
Does that go into the bargain, too?
Yes. At nine o'clock on the night of June 10th, given those conditions,
you will receive $25,000.
Can't you hear the dice rattle, Robert?
You're playing with death now.
I know it.
Aren't you going to finish your brandy?
No, thank you.
Oh, then pour it back into the decanter.
You heard me.
Pour it back into the decanter.
If you were as careful as I am, you, uh, you wouldn't be where you are now.
That's right.
Always be thrifty.
I can promise you, by the way, that you'll always be perfectly safe,
as long as you're in this apartment.
But that's the only concession I make.
Oh, I notice your hands are steady at the moment.
I wonder what they'll be like a month from now.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
So you were fool enough to make a bet with John Destry.
Listen, Betty, I want to tell you what else happened the same night.
I got on a Fifth Avenue bus and started to look through that book that Destry gave me.
It was a book that I wanted about poisons.
Well, just as I opened it, I felt something sharp prick my fingers.
I looked down and my hands were covered with blood.
He had sewn safety razor blades in a line down the inside into the cover.
Oh, no.
A little white card fell out of the book, and I read it.
It said, see how easy it is to take you off guard.
Those razor blades aren't poisoned, but they might have been.
Take warning.
Betty, that was six months ago.
Six months less, five hours of careful, refined torture.
And now I've got only five hours to go.
What's he done in the meantime?
Nothing.
Nothing? I don't understand.
Nothing at all. That's the cleverness of it.
He's left me waiting, waiting, waiting.
Expecting something.
Expecting it every hour of the day or night.
Once at the laboratory where I work, I opened a box that I thought was full of chemical supply house.
And a Mexican tarantula, one of those furry spiders about as big as your fist, ran out across my hand.
It was a toy tarantula.
He enclosed a card asking whether I didn't admire it.
Bob, this can't go on.
I used to think I didn't have a nerve in my body.
I could hold a test tube at arm's length absolutely steady for minutes at a time.
Now look at me.
Don't, please, don't.
But the waiting's almost over now.
Walking the streets, wondering who's behind you.
Sitting alone at night, listening for every step on the stair.
He's got very little time left now, and he's got to do something.
The question is, what's he going to do?
Well, maybe he doesn't mean it.
Maybe he's only doing it to scare you.
Lose all that money?
Oh, you don't know my stepfather.
Listen.
Huh?
I, I don't hear anything.
That's just it.
There's no sound of running water.
The boats have stopped.
Then we're all by ourselves in here.
Or with him.
Yes.
Oh, Lord, how I wish I hadn't gotten you into this.
Oh, I'm all right.
Or at least I think I am.
I thought I saw him in the crowd outside, but I couldn't be sure.
I'm seeing him everywhere.
Now, Bob, just a minute.
Just tell me one more thing.
Did you ever see Mr. Destry, I mean, face to face, after that first night?
Oh, many times.
He came to see you?
He came to my laboratory once, yes, but mostly I went to see him.
And why?
Because it was the only place in the world I could feel safe.
He's promised that nothing should happen to you while you were in his apartment.
Don't you see it was part of a torture?
Night after night he'd invite me, and I'd go right up until last night.
Last night.
We were in that study of his with the devil masks on the walls.
And he was sitting behind the big mahogany desk.
My dear Robert, I am pleased and even touched to have you here on the last night before you...
Why don't you say die and get it over with?
Oh, well, let's not say die.
No.
The clergy contend that we never die.
We only change.
Now let that be a consolation for you.
Must you be going so early?
There's that one hour at home rule to our bet, if you remember.
I remember. You're keeping to the rules.
Yes, and I mean to beat you at this if it's the last thing I ever do.
The last thing I ever do.
That's an unfortunate choice of phrase, Robert.
My boy, you haven't a chance.
Something's going to happen to you within the next 24 hours when you least expect it.
Will you answer me one question?
If I choose.
Have you decided how you mean to kill me?
I decided that six months ago.
And you still think you can get away with it?
It's a method which has never been known to fail.
I give you my word of honor on that.
Is it... is it sudden?
Yes, and no.
Wouldn't you like to know what it is?
Good night, Mr. Destry. I think I'd better be leaving.
No, no, my dear boy, you mustn't go yet.
Sit down. Pour yourself a glass of brandy.
No, thanks.
Then perhaps you wouldn't mind pouring me a little.
My doctor allows brandy, though I'm forbidden spirits.
I notice your hands are shaking quite a good deal.
They weren't like that six months ago, were they?
No, no. You were full of confidence then.
Oh, and it grieves me to see you waste tobacco
by lighting a cigarette and putting it out immediately.
Oh, it's no use lying to you.
But I'm going to beat you just the same.
You wouldn't like to back out now?
After what I've been through.
You'd still have your life.
I'll keep it, thanks.
That's very unwise of you, Robert.
Still, you must decide.
I was expecting my secretary a little later
to dictate some letters.
But now I think I'll leave her a message
that I've gone to bed and turn in myself.
Tomorrow is likely to prove an interesting day for both of us.
Here's your hat, here's your briefcase,
and let me wish you a fun, peaceful and happy good night.
That was last night, Betty.
I saw I had five hours to go.
It's less than four hours now.
If I can keep away from the old devil until nine o'clock.
I wish those boats would start running again.
Why?
Because it's almost as spooky in here as a real old mill.
I know.
Even that wax dummy on the straw.
Any minute now I'll...
You're expecting to see him move? So am I.
Now don't stand up.
It doesn't matter.
If the boats aren't running,
we can hear anybody who comes along.
I hope so.
Do you think Destry's got in?
Bobby can't have got in. He can't even be here.
Why not?
Because Mr. Destry told me.
Mr. Destry told you?
I'm his secretary.
You know, Betty Andrews,
I'm sorry it was you who did this.
Did what?
You can't guess, can you?
Oh, Bob, I didn't come here to trap you or spy on you.
If that's what you're thinking, I swear I didn't.
No.
You only got me to tell you the whole story and lose my bet.
I haven't heard a single word you said.
Bob, please believe that.
He didn't send you here, of course.
No, no.
And of course you never saw me at his apartment last night.
No, I swear I didn't.
I got there late. He'd gone to bed.
I didn't even take off my hat or gloves before I left again.
Don't you understand, Bob? I hate him too.
I want to see you beat him. You've got to beat him.
You mean that?
Look at me and see if I mean it.
Betty, I almost believe you.
You must believe me.
And?
Anything else?
We'd better hide behind that dead man, hurry.
Those boats have started up again.
I wish I could tell you, Betty, what that means to me.
Come on, come on, hurry.
Wait a minute, you two.
Stay just where you are.
Where's that voice coming from?
Along the tunnel, I think.
But it's not Destry's voice.
No, it's a man standing up in a boat.
He's coming around the corner. I can see him now.
Hurry.
The old haunted mill, eh?
My golly, if this ain't some place to make a pinch, I never heard of one.
What do you mean, make a pinch?
Just what I said.
Your name Robert Penderel?
Yes.
Who are you and what do you want?
Police headquarters.
You know, you ought to come along with me.
I want to see you over in New York.
About what?
I wouldn't know, lady, but it might be about the murder of John Destry.
Oh, no!
Did you say the murder of John Destry?
That's right.
Somebody poisoned him last night with mercury cyanide.
I wouldn't have got you at all, maybe, if the balker outside there
hadn't thought the cops were after you to start with.
Betty.
Yes, Bob?
He's beaten me.
He hasn't beaten you.
Oh, yes, he has.
And I know now the weapon Destry was going to use in killing me.
What weapon?
It never fails.
The electric chair.
You mustn't talk like that.
Don't you see?
He never once intended to kill me in the way I thought.
Are you coming quietly, Mr. Penderel?
Just a minute.
He's poisoned himself.
But he's left evidence to show I did it.
He's killing me the worst way possible.
He's won the bet.
The money doesn't matter now.
If I'm in the death house for murder,
what use have I got for all the money in the world?
Mr. Penderel, let me introduce myself.
My name's Mullen, Inspector Mullen.
It's a pleasure to meet you, Inspector.
It's a pleasure to be safe again.
I've had you brought here to my office for a little quiet talk.
You're in a jam, son.
And I want you to realize how bad it is.
You think I don't realize it?
John Destry was poisoned with mercury cyanide
administered in a glass of brandy.
And only my fingerprints were on the glass besides his own.
I can guess.
Mr. Destry's body was found this morning
lying behind the desk in the study.
There was an empty glass with traces of brandy and cyanide.
Now, we haven't had the full autopsy report,
but the smell of that stuff is pretty distinctive.
They tell me you're a chemist, Mr. Penderel.
That's right.
The boys find that eight grains of mercury cyanide
are missing from your laboratory.
Where he visited me a month ago.
And in your briefcase,
which you took away from his apartment last night...
He handed it to me. I remember.
...we found over a thousand dollars in cash.
Now, take a look at this note.
You ever see it before?
No.
Yes.
I wrote it.
You admit that?
Yes, yes, yes.
It says,
I was a failure and this was the only way out.
I wouldn't have done it otherwise.
Where did you find it?
Torn up in little bits.
You started to write a confession,
and then you couldn't face the consequences.
But you shouldn't have left the pieces behind.
You're infamate, my boy.
Unless...
Unless what?
I had to confess here and now,
and maybe we did a little deal about second-degree murder.
Oh, Inspector, why bother to string me along?
What do you mean, string you along?
There's no second-degree murder on a poison charge.
It's the death house or nothing.
He saw to that.
It's too bad you had to go and kill him, son.
Didn't you know he had an aneurysm?
A what?
Fatal heart disease.
He said that he had heart trouble, but...
Heart trouble?
His doctor says he couldn't have lived eight or ten months anyway.
And you might have got something in the will.
So that's why he did it.
Did what?
Killed himself.
You still stick to that crazy story you told the boy?
He's going to kill me, isn't he?
With 3,000 volts of electricity.
Inspector Mullen.
What are you doing here, Sergeant?
Didn't I say I wasn't to be disturbed?
All the same, Inspector. I thought I'd better do it.
There's a young lady here, Miss Betty Andrews.
I think you'd better see her.
I'll see her when I'm good and ready.
I think you'd better see her, Inspector.
We've just heard from Mr. Destry's lawyer.
Well?
He said that that young fellow there, Mr. Penderel,
inherits 25,000 bucks in Mr. Destry's new will.
Did you hear that, son?
Do you see what you'd have gotten if you hadn't gone and killed him?
He was keeping his promise, that's all.
The fine lot of good it'll do me now.
But look, Inspector, I've just talked to the medical examiner
and he says there's no poison in Mr. Destry's body.
Say that again?
There's no poison in the old man's body.
Somebody's kidding you.
An empty glass with the smell of mercury cyanide
and a dead man with a congested face behind the mask.
What did kill him then?
Well, if you'd like to listen to Miss Andrews, Inspector,
she's right here now.
I think you'd better listen, Inspector.
I've been trying to tell you all afternoon.
Go ahead, Miss Andrews.
I've been over and over it.
But until they got the medical report, nobody would listen.
Can you tell us what killed John Destry?
Yes. Poison killed him.
But the sergeant's just been saying there was no poison in the body.
Inspector, will you listen?
I was at Mr. Destry's apartment late last night.
Well, so what? You didn't kill him, did you?
The servant said he'd gone to bed.
So I looked into the study to see if there were any instructions.
Was Mr. Destry dead then?
I don't know.
I couldn't see his body because it was hidden behind the desk.
I didn't even learn he was dead until late this afternoon.
But I did see a full glass of brandy.
A full glass, did you say?
Yes. So I picked up the glass and poured the brandy back into the decanter.
That's what he always made us do.
And I didn't leave any fingerprints because I was still wearing my gloves.
And that was the same glass you later found empty.
But you still are not telling us what was the poison that killed John Destry?
It was the poison in his own system.
He worked out this plot to convict Bob Penderel.
Only just as he stretched out his hand to drink the cyanide...
Dr. I think I see it.
It was his last great hour.
He couldn't resist such gloating as he'd never known before.
That's it. His heart wouldn't stand it.
And he fell dead behind the desk.
And I think if you study the expression on his face,
you'll find he died laughing.
And so ends Will You Make a Bet with Death.
Tonight's story of suspense.
The part of Bob Penderel was played by Michael Fitzmorris.
The metty was played by Leslie Woods.
John Destry was played by Nicholas Joy.
And in supporting roles were Ted D'Corsia and Charles Slattery.
Again next Tuesday at 9.30 p.m. Eastern wartime.
A story dedicated to the thrill of the nighttime.
The hushed voice and the prowling step.
Another adventure in...suspense.
William Spear, the producer.
Mark Slobe, the director in the absence of John Deets.
And John Dixoncar, the author.
Our collaborators on...suspense.
This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.