Suspense.
And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, the master of mystery and adventure,
William N. Robeson.
A supermarket, you will agree, is a rather unlikely place for clandestine love, terror,
and murder.
But as constant listeners to suspense already know, anything can happen in the curious and
macabre imagination of James Poe.
And Mr. Poe has chosen an ordinary, everyday supermarket as the locale of his frightening
story, Never Steal a Butcher's Wife.
This truly chilling tale has only one happy aspect.
It serves as a vehicle for the return to the air after much too long in absence of one
of radio's finest actresses, Miss Kathy Lewis.
Listen then as Miss Lewis and William Conrad co-star in Never Steal a Butcher's Wife.
Now.
Never Steal a Butcher's Wife.
Co-starring Mr. William Conrad and Miss Kathy Lewis.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
It started the first day of the job.
I was clerk in the liquor department of this supermarket.
I hadn't been in Los Angeles but about a week.
My brother, when I left New York, had given me this letter to a friend of his, a guy who
owned a string of these supermarkets.
And this guy had this opening, liquor clerk, and comes following Monday, I'm at work.
It's one of those big places with hardly any clerks, you know.
You pushed a little cart around and you helped yourself.
You get out, you passed the cash register and the girl loaded your stuff and rang up
the price.
Well, that's where the trouble was, this girl at the check stand.
I hadn't noticed her until around noon and when I happened to look up, there she was
looking at me, just looking at me.
She must have been 50 feet away at least and with customers between us.
But it was like we were all alone, the two of us on a beach somewhere, an empty beach.
Just you and me, baby.
Hey.
Just you and me.
Hey.
What?
What's the matter?
Sleep on your feet?
What?
What'd you say?
You're the new guy, huh?
Oh yeah, I just started this morning.
I'm Nick Arnall.
I work the vegetables.
Oh, Harry Carr.
Pleased to meet you.
Yeah.
You got two bottles of cold beer?
Sure.
Hey, huh?
Only, uh, don't open them here by the counter, you know.
Hello?
I'll be right back with my lunch.
Uh, Nick.
What?
The, uh, gal over there by the cash register.
Mary?
Yeah, is that her name, Mary?
Yeah.
What about her?
Well, that's what I was wondering.
What about her?
Oh.
No soap.
She's married.
Are you kidding?
See that big guy over there with the knife?
Krauss, the butcher.
Yeah?
Ask him if I'm kidding.
Who's he?
Her husband.
Oh.
See?
I looked over at the butcher.
He was a funny-looking guy, a real creep.
He stood there sharpening a tremendous big cleaver, whistling to himself.
He wore rimless glasses with thick lenses so that his eyes looked like baseballs.
When he saw that I was looking at him, he nodded and went on whistling and stropping.
I looked over at her.
She was giving me the eye again.
When I closed at seven, the vegetable guys carted out the old stuff and the delicatessen
man put away his pickles and I checked the register, counted my slips, made out my entries.
And Krauss, the butcher, was still there packing and cleaning, putting stuff in that big refrigerator
room back at the counter.
But she had left.
So I got into my street coat and I walked out.
Hello?
She was standing looking at the shoe display a couple of doors down from the market.
I said hello.
Don't you say hello wherever it is you come from?
Well, sure.
Hello.
Taking the bus?
Mm-hmm.
Which way do you go?
Down to Western.
I'm going that way.
I'll drive you.
Oh, no, no, no.
I don't think you'd better.
What's the matter?
Well, I just wouldn't want to trouble you, that's all.
No trouble.
Well, I...
Come on.
I'm parked right here.
Well, what about Mr. Krauss?
He'll be there in an hour yet.
He takes the bus.
Oh.
Come on.
Don't be afraid.
Oh, I'm not afraid.
I just don't think...
Oh, come on.
Get in.
All day long, I'm pushing liquor at them and now they're pushing it back at me.
You're cute, Harry.
I mean it.
You're cute.
Yeah, well, so are you, baby.
You really think so?
Sure, baby.
Harry, let's get out of here.
Go someplace else.
Hey, I got to work in the morning.
Silly.
This is the morning.
It is.
Hey, uh, hey, Mac, what's the time?
Uh, almost 1.30.
You really think I'm cute, Harry?
Sure, baby.
It's late.
It's real late.
Don't worry, sugar.
Come on.
I'll take you home, huh?
I'll take you home.
Of course, I felt lousy the next morning.
I'm not much of a drinker, but she looked fresh as a daisy, smiling and joking with the
customers.
I avoided her all day.
I didn't like this setup.
I didn't like to think about what must have gone on between her and Cross when she got
in.
When I came out that night, there she was, waiting for me.
I tried to get away.
Harry.
But she said she had something very serious to talk over, and, well, the way she said
it, I got in the car again.
It was awful.
Really, you don't know?
Yeah, yeah.
I guess it's tough.
You just wouldn't believe some of the things.
Yeah.
Look, Mary, I...
He's crazy jealous.
Huh?
What?
What does he know about me?
What did you tell him?
Well, I got in this morning, and there he was.
He said, where have you been?
I said, what's it to you, Andy?
I call him Andy.
Drives him crazy.
He said, I'm going to the
hospital, Andy.
He said, don't you think you can fool me?
And then he started to cry and talk real crazy.
Look, Mary, maybe we better not see each other again.
Don't be silly.
He doesn't know who you are, who it is.
Yeah, but he could find out.
Not unless I told him.
What?
You wouldn't do that.
Of course not, baby.
As long as you're good to me.
Next night I stayed in the market after work.
I was scared.
I did inventory.
I counted bottles.
I cleaned the refrigerator.
I changed the water in the soft drinks cooler.
I just kept busy.
And across the market, Krauss was moving around, cleaning up.
After a while he took off his apron and he came over.
Hello, Mr. Krauss.
Give me a bottle of beer.
Well, yeah, sure thing.
All right to drink it here?
Well, sure, where we're closed, aren't we?
Yeah.
Here, here's an opener for you.
Thanks.
You're working late.
Well, you know how it is.
Nothing to do, evenings?
No.
Oh, I'm new out here.
You know, it takes time to make friends.
Yeah.
Listen, do you know my wife?
Yeah, you know her?
What, she... isn't she the one who checks the groceries?
Yeah.
Oh, you know, very nice looking lady.
Yeah.
Listen, have you noticed anything funny going on there?
Funny?
I think somebody's playing around with her and I want to find out who.
Listen, have you noticed anything?
I mean, some guy who shoots a breeze, was there something like that?
No.
Then will you do me a favor?
Sure.
What?
Keep your eyes open.
Yeah, I will, Mr. Krauss.
I promise you.
I'll find the guy.
I'll find out who he is if it takes a year and when I do, I'll kill him.
Good night.
And now...
Co-starring William Conrad and Kathy Lewis act two of Never Steal a Butcher's Wife.
Well, the next day was tough, real tough, with Mary looking over at me every now and
then giving me those big eyes and Krauss looking over and raising his eyebrows.
Do I know who it is yet?
Me making a long face and shaking my head.
And then Nick, the vegetable man, comes over.
I see you didn't understand what I told you the other day, huh?
What?
What's that, Nick?
About Mary.
I told you she was a married woman.
What are you talking about?
I see you, the both of you, coming out of a bar the other morning.
You're nuts.
I'll pull the hard face with me, Harry.
I got to tip Krauss off to what's going on.
Look, Nick, Nick, be a good guy, will you?
Be a good guy?
I'm telling you, you better be a good guy and leave the butcher's wife alone if you
know what's good for you.
I will, Nick, I will.
I got no use for her.
You better not, she'll get what's coming to you.
Sure, sure, Nick, sure thing.
I meant it.
I had no use for her, but this was a broad you couldn't shake.
That night she was waiting for me after work outside the market and she wouldn't listen
to reason.
But baby, you can't pull out until I'm ready to let you out.
Stop being silly and get in the car.
Look, can't you understand?
I don't want any trouble.
There won't be any if you're smart.
Come on, baby.
Let's go have some fun.
Look, Mary, please.
What is it?
What?
Oh, hello, Nick.
I warned you.
Oh, look, Nick, you got it wrong.
Harry?
What is all this?
You shut up.
Don't you talk to me like that.
I'll talk to you like I please.
Cheat, two-timer, tramp.
Harry, hit him, Harry.
But I didn't hit him because all of a sudden I knew what I had to do and I knew that I
had to do it fast.
Harry?
Where are you going, baby?
I didn't turn.
Nick was still standing there beside the car.
I went back into the market.
Mr. Cross?
Yeah?
I found out.
What?
I found out who it is.
Who?
Nick.
The vegetable man?
Yeah.
The vegetable man.
I never did like him.
I never did.
I got out of there then and I took a fifth of bourbon home with me.
No dinner.
I just lay there on the bed for about three hours talking to myself.
Then finally my mind was made up and I started to pack.
I was broke but I didn't care.
I'd have to skip out on my rent but I didn't matter.
I didn't care.
I just wanted out from Cross, from Mary, from Nick.
I couldn't walk out and leave Nick on the spot even if he was a snooping little rat.
So I wrote a note to Cross.
I said, I did it, Cross.
Don't blame anybody else.
Then I took a note, my bag and the key to the market and I tiptoed out of the Roman
house.
I caught a bus and I went to the market.
The boulevard was deserted.
I looked in through the glass door.
Back of the place up high there was a red neon beer sign that blinked on and off, on
and off.
I unlocked the door and I went in and I locked the door behind me.
Place was eerie in the dark with that red light blinking on and off.
I went to the butcher counter first and I laid the note on the scale where he'd be sure
to see it.
Then I crossed over to the liquor department.
It was dark and I kept bumping into things and I thought, why am I acting like a criminal?
Then I turned the light on and the whole place was suddenly dazzling and it hurt my eyes.
I looked at the cash register.
I was just thinking about maybe taking a couple of bucks when the light went out.
I hadn't touched the switch.
There were other switches in the place but I didn't know where.
After that brightness the place seemed twice as dark with the red sign blinked on and off,
on and off.
And then I saw him, Krauss.
He was standing behind the meat counter at the scale.
He picked up the note and he read it.
I couldn't see his eyes, just the glasses.
And every time the light blinked they shone red, bright red like some sort of a terrible
toy.
And then he yanked a knife out of the rack on the chopping block and started toward me.
It was like a movie that you see one frame at a time.
Each time the light blinked on he wasn't where he'd been before.
But he was closer, closer.
And now, co-starring William Conrad and Kathy Lewis, Act Three of Never Steal a Butcher's
Wife.
I hid behind a tower of dog food boxes.
I could hear his squeaky shoes coming for me.
And then they stopped and there was another sound.
He'd taken off his shoes very quietly.
I bent and I took mine off.
And I began to tiptoe away.
And then I rounded a corner and there he was, not two feet away from me with his back to
me.
And I lost my balance and I put my hand out to study myself.
And the whole display went over and I ran.
And I was at the end of an aisle and there was a wall, the back wall.
And I turned and he was coming straight at me.
My hand touched something cold.
It was a bottle.
I grabbed it.
It was ammonia.
Krauss, you get back.
You get back, Krauss or I'll blind you.
Krauss, I warn you, I swear I will.
He stood there like a crazy giant, like a cyclops tearing at his eyes, the ammonia running down
his face.
But I didn't wait.
I ran past him, bumping him aside.
And I cut around the cash register and passed the delicatessen in the bakery to the door.
It was locked.
The key, I'd left it in the lock and it was gone.
Krauss kept coming, feeling his way along, moaning, silhouetted in the light that gleamed
like a tongue of flame on the knife that he'd held in his hand.
I slid behind the counter of the meat department.
Under my feet, the sawdust.
I bent and I scooped up a handful.
And he moved his head from side to side, trying nearsightedly to see me.
And then his head stopped moving, gouged sideways, using one eye to see me.
He came on and the knife held way back.
And I waited.
When I left the sawdust and I jumped to one side with my back up against the block and
he twisted and skidded in the sawdust and he fell.
And he was very still for a moment.
In the blinking light I saw the knife.
He'd fallen on it.
It was sticking in the middle of his chest.
And then, very slowly, he got to his feet, one hand over the place where the knife was.
And then he started toward me again.
He grabbed a cleaver from the chopping block and I backed away.
Behind me I felt a large cold handle, the door to the meat storage room, and I heaved
it open.
Inside it was cold, bitter cold, and it was dark.
At the center of the door was one small thick pane of glass.
It was clouded so I wiped it clear with my hand and I looked out.
And Krauss stood there, his face an inch from mine, looking in at me.
And then his eyes rolled back and his face went slack and he fell out of sight.
He was dead.
I was sure of it.
I fell around in the dark for the door handle but it wouldn't move.
I heaved and I tugged but it wouldn't move.
Oh, maybe another door, I thought.
Maybe there's another door out of this place.
And I began to search for it in the dark, feeling along the icy damp walls.
I walked into something cold and swung gently when I touched it.
Sight of beef.
But no door.
I moved on farther.
Another icy cold thing.
I'm crazy.
I know it.
I'm crazy.
This one feels as though it's wearing silk stockings.
So here I am.
It's awfully cold.
It's cold as a tomb.
Oh, the time goes slow.
While I'm waiting and waiting and waiting, I tell myself a whole story.
And again, it'll give me something to do, you know?
Something to think about.
But you see, it started that first day of the job.
I was clerking the liquor department at the supermarket.
I hadn't been to Los Angeles for a week.
But my brother, when I left New York, had given me this little friend of his.
The guy who owned a strong city market, and this guy owned a whole city.
Suspense.
In which William Conrad and Kathy Lewis co-starred in William N. Robeson's production of Never
Steal a Butcher's Wife, written by James Poe.
In a moment, the names of tonight's supporting players and the word about next week's story
of suspense.
Supporting Mr. Conrad and Ms. Lewis in Never Steal a Butcher's Wife, were Joe DeSantis
and Lou Merrill.
Listen.
Listen again next week, when we return with another tale well calculated to keep you in
suspense.
To hear America's favorite shows on the CBS Radio Network.