And now, another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
The story is Turnabout, written for suspense by J. Bennett.
The thing was done, consummated, sleep was now death,
and nothing had marked the transition.
Not a scream, not a gasp, nothing.
Nothing but the dull thud the gunbot had made when it came down once, twice, three times.
And then Walter Carlton went out of the night-filled room,
to silently as he'd come in, and went home.
Oh, it's you, sir.
Yes, Robert.
Do you enjoy the concert, sir?
Very much, Robert.
Make me a cocktail like a good fellow, and bring me a magazine.
Yes, Mr. Carlton.
He sipped his cocktail and lazily turned the pages of Esquire.
Stopped at a Hemingway story, read it, and liked it.
Turned a few more pages, then looked up and said,
Oh, Robert.
Yes, Mr. Carlton.
Pack my bags for me, will you?
I'm going on a trip in the morning.
Oh, you'll be away long, sir.
That all depends, Robert.
That all depends.
In the morning, he said goodbye to Robert at Grand Central Station,
then boarded the train and got off at the very first stop.
Went back to Grand Central Station, got into a phone booth,
and called up Martin Ross, the district attorney.
It's good to hear from you, Walter.
I've been rather busy, Martin.
You know how the stock market's been lately.
How about you?
Oh, pretty quiet until early this morning.
Yes?
Police found some down and outer in a furnished room on the west side.
It's called bashed in.
Oh, that's too bad.
Martin, I feel that I've been neglecting my friends,
so I'm inviting myself over for dinner tonight.
Why, certainly, Walter.
We'd be glad to have you.
Good.
And have Emily trot out that roast duck and wine sauce recipes of hers, huh?
Otherwise, I don't come.
Ha, ha, ha.
You'll have your roast duck.
Good.
Be here at seven, Walter.
At seven, Martin.
Oh, Walter, you certainly can spin yarn.
Just look at Billy.
His eyes are popping out.
Now, Billy, it's time you went to bed, dear.
But, Mother, it's just...
Oh, we let you stay up two extra hours, son.
All right.
Good night.
Good night, Mr. Carlton.
Oh, Billy.
Yes?
Why don't you call me Walter?
Uncle Walter, huh?
I think it's time you did.
Can I?
Of course.
Gosh.
Good night, Uncle Walter.
Good night, Billy.
Oh, this is ideal.
Rustic seclusion and get a mere 40 miles from the city.
Ideal.
Yes, it is.
I've always wanted this sort of life.
Gets a bit inconvenient, though, when a case pops up
and I have to be in town a lot.
Yes, that rooming house murder.
How are you progressing?
Well, I...
Emily doesn't like to hear about such things.
Oh, I understand.
Tell me anyway.
What?
Now, Walter.
How are you progressing?
Why are you so interested in this case?
Because I am the murderer.
The murderer?
Oh, Walter.
You're a car.
Meow.
What are you doing with that cat?
Meow.
Walter.
That gun.
Walter, where did you get a gun?
Walter, what are you going...
Martin, wasn't this the way that Todd Blake was killed?
Something blunt and hard brought down with force on the...
Meow.
Why, you...
You killed...
Oh!
I think now you believe that I murdered Blake.
Oh!
I'll be going up to bed now.
And perhaps I should tell you that I'm sharing Billy's room
tonight.
What?
Mm-hmm.
The door will be barricaded.
And the slightest effort on anyone's part to get in will...
Well, I'll leave it to your imagination.
Are you... you wouldn't, Martin.
No.
Martin, the first killing is the hardest.
Let me assure you that the transition from cat to child
is a very simple one to make.
See you in the morning.
I...
I can't eat, Martin.
Oh, you've got to, Emily.
You mustn't suspect.
Here they come.
Good morning, Martin.
Emily?
Good morning, Billy.
Gee, but I'm hungry.
Like a man-eating lion, huh, Billy?
Here, you sit next to me, huh?
But I always sit next to...
Can I, Mother?
Sure you can, Billy.
Can't you, Emily?
Yes.
Over here, Billy.
Over here.
Oh, Billy.
Over here, Billy.
Or I can keep a good eye on you, in case there are any tigers about.
Billy, eat your food.
Yes, Mother.
Oh, Billy.
Yes?
Billy, I'll bet my eggs are better than yours.
Emily, they're made exactly as I always eat them.
You're a great hostess.
Billy, how about tasting them for me?
Water, you're not going...
Here you are, Billy.
Take the spoon, partner.
Sure, Uncle Walter.
Now eat.
Billy, no!
Mother, you hit the spoon from my mouth.
Why?
Yes, Emily.
Why?
It's nine-thirty, Martin.
Aren't you going to your office?
No.
I think you'd better.
I want you to go through your daily routine as though I were not here.
I'm not leaving my wife and child alone with you.
Do what you want with me, but I'm not going.
Get into your coat, Martin.
Emily or Billy will be in this house at all times.
And the first bad move you make will be their last.
How long do you think you can get away with this?
Until justice is done.
Justice?
Until the murderer is brought to the bar of justice and made to pay the supreme penalty.
What are you talking about, anyway?
You'll be enlightened in due time.
Now get to your office, and be sure you remember what I said about bad moves.
What is it, Cobb?
I just got something on the Blake case.
We've been pumping Swenson to janitor.
He's the one who discovered the body.
So?
Unless Blake wasn't too nice a guy.
He and Swenson didn't get along.
They got into a fistfight one day, and then...
Hey, you're not even listening to me.
I'm listening.
Well, Chief, I think you should hold Swenson for more questioning.
Let him go.
Now, Chief, let me spell this out for you.
Swenson is the one who finds Blake dead.
He says he went up to ask about the rent.
Well, it's pretty convenient that rent day fell on that morning, isn't it?
Yes, convenient.
Yeah.
Claims he knocked on the door, got no answer, so he takes out his passkey and goes in.
Story smells too pat for me.
He thought of everything.
What'd you say?
Oh, nothing.
Nothing.
Let Swenson go.
Oh, but Chief, we ought...
Oh, okay.
You're the boss.
Ha ha ha!
And then what happened, Uncle Walter?
Well, and then the Maharaja said,
Sahib, it is time for little boys to go upstairs to bed.
Aw!
Go ahead.
I'll be up later and we'll build the fort again.
You promise?
Promise.
Now, say good night to Mother and Dad.
Good night, Mother.
Good night, Billy.
Good night, Dad.
Good night.
Martin, do you know that Emily hates me?
Tell him, Emily.
Why don't you let him alone?
Walter, what happened?
Emily thought she'd become brave.
Tried to dash a cup of tea into my face,
hoping that would give her a chance
to grab my gun from my shoulder holster.
Emily!
Stop it, Walter!
Unfortunately, I was too quick for her.
I sent Billy out of the house on an errand
and took the hot tea kettle and...
That's why she's wearing a long sleeve dress, Martin.
What?
Roll up your sleeve, Emily, and show him your arm.
Oh, I'll kill you! I'll kill you!
No, no, Martin!
Tell me, let me go!
No, it's no use, Martin!
It's no use!
I think you'd better listen to her.
It really is no use.
In just a moment, we will return for the concluding act of...
Suspense.
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Music
Martin, I'd like to speak to you.
What do you want?
You're disappointing me.
What do you mean?
By not bringing the murderer to justice,
I'm getting impatient.
You're the only murderer I can bring to justice.
You're wrong.
Swenson could be the man.
Walter, I swear...
It should be simple to steamroller a jury into a verdict,
build fact upon fact, invent some.
Should be simple for one so competent as you.
Never.
Never is a long time, Martin.
Death is also a long time.
I won't do it.
Martin, listen to me.
A number of years ago, before I met you, I had a wife.
I was quite in love with her.
Todd Blake wrecked my marriage.
He was never any good.
I swore then and there that when the time was ripe, I'd kill him.
You waited all these years?
Waited and planned. Every little detail.
I'm not sending an innocent man to the chair.
Then I advise you to pick up that phone
and inform the police that I'm the murderer.
What?
But when they get here, they'll find Emily, Billy,
and probably you, quite dead.
Don't you see, you fool, that if I'm to go,
then I'll go pulling the house down with me.
This is District Attorney Ross speaking.
Have John Swenson picked up and booked for the murder of Todd Blake.
You're doing very well, Martin. Extremely well.
Why don't you let us alone?
But I'm complimenting him, Emily.
All the newspapers praise Martin's presentation of his case in court.
Why must you go?
Motive.
A bitter personal grudge.
Weapon. A hammer in Swenson's tool chest.
Fact upon fact.
Excellent, excellent. Stop it, stop it.
I'm sorry, Martin.
I was merely commending your legal ability to build fact upon fact.
You know, there's a brilliant example of that
in Dostoyevsky's crime and punishment.
Raskolnikov had a conscience.
You're right.
Therein Dostoyevsky's hero and I differ.
Raskolnikov had a conscience.
While I, the will to live.
Therefore, John Swenson must die.
The defendant will rise and approach the bar.
John Swenson,
after a trial by jury of your peers under due process of law,
you have been found guilty of murder in the first degree.
And are hereby sentenced to die in the electric chair on midnight
of February the 3rd in the year 1900.
Hello, Martin.
You're home early.
Nothing much to do at the office.
Of course.
Now, let me search you before you enter.
Normal procedure, you know.
Go ahead.
You can come in now.
Emily.
What is it, Martin?
He's gone up to sleep now.
Yes.
Emily, there's a gun in the driveway hedge.
I hid it there before I came in this evening.
Martin.
I'm going out to get it.
When he gets up in the morning, somehow or other I'll kill you.
Don't go out there, please.
I'm not standing for any more.
I'm getting that gun.
No, no, Martin.
He's too smart for it.
This time I'm smarter.
He's upstairs with Billy.
He won't even know I've gone out of the house.
He'll know.
Walter always knows.
I'm taking that chance.
I'm getting...
Please, Martin.
Hello, Martin.
Wolder.
Yes, Martin.
Thought I'd come out for some air, so I opened the window quietly, not to disturb Billy's
sleep, slipped down the porch roof and into the garden.
I think I did it better than Douglas Fairbanks ever did in the movies, don't you?
You've got the gun.
I have.
You fool.
I watch every move you make.
From the instant you step out of your car until you're in the house, every day I do it.
Take off your shirt.
Why?
Then I'll rip it off.
Now I have something prepared for you.
A piece of rubber hose.
Exactly.
It doesn't tear or bruise the skin, but it will do an effective job.
Oh.
You're a fool.
You want things this way?
Good.
Get up.
Come on, get up.
That's it.
Now, get on to the house.
Go ahead.
You feel as though your back and ribs are broken.
It's hard to breathe.
Did it pay you, fool?
In a few more days, I'll be out of your life for good.
Now get into the house.
Get in.
My, Martin!
Oh, everything.
Oh, my darling.
I'll take him upstairs.
Phone his office in the morning and tell them that the district attorney won't be in for a few days.
He has a cold.
Hello, Chief.
It's good to see you back in the office again.
Hello, Cobb.
How's your cold, Peter?
Cold?
Oh, yes, yes, it's better.
You look all worn out.
I'm all right.
In case getting you down, it gets the works tonight, you know.
I said I'm all right.
Oh, you can't fool me, Chief.
Been with you long enough to know how you feel whenever you have to send somebody to the chair.
You're too good a guy for this grind.
I'm a good guy, eh, Cobb?
None better.
Oh, Swenson's mother's in town.
What?
Yeah, seems she got wind of what's happening.
She was up to visit, Swenson.
Yes?
Been trying to see you, but I had the boys shoo her away.
Nice little old lady, about 80 or so.
I'll feel sorry for her.
I don't want to see her.
I don't want to.
Sure, sure, Chief, I understand.
Oh, you understand nothing.
You...
Oh, I'm sorry, Cobb.
My nerves are shot.
I'm going home.
Take it easy, fellow, huh?
Cobb.
Hmm?
I want to tell you something.
I...
It's no use.
Well?
Oh, it's nothing, Cobb.
Are you expecting anybody, Martin?
No.
You, Emily?
No.
Answer it, Emily.
Yes.
And Emily, a few more hours and you'll be rid of me forever.
Remember that.
Yes.
Tell me what the Maharaja said, Uncle Walter.
Of course, Billy.
Now, when the Maharaja started speaking, I took out my gun, as I'm doing now...
Water.
...merely telling the child a story, Martin, the story which may have a tragic ending.
So, Billy, the Maharaja said to me, Sahib, I have never seen such shooting in my born days.
Why, that tiger was a full mile away from you and yet...
A mile?
Yes, that's right, Billy.
I was riding along on my elephant, Punda, when I saw, dim in the distance, the fierce
form of the man-eating tiger.
Gee!
I unslung my rifle and started to adjust the sights when...
Yes, Emily?
It's Swenson's mother.
What?
What does she want, Emily?
To speak to Martin.
She won't go away.
I won't talk with her.
I don't want to see her.
Of course you won't talk with her, Martin.
The way you are tonight, your tongue's likely to go off like a half-cocked gun.
She never saw you, so I'll substitute for you.
I don't want to see her, I tell you.
Relax, Martin.
Just as soon as you know Swenson's beyond saving, you'll be yourself again.
In time, you'll forget he ever lived.
Where is she, Emily?
In the living room.
Come along.
Uncle Walter, you didn't finish the story.
I'll finish it, Billy.
All right, Emily, just let me look over your shoulder into the room.
And now I'll holster my gun and we'll go in.
And Mr. Ross?
Yes.
I'll just close the door, Mrs. Swenson, so we won't be disturbed.
This is Mrs. Ross.
Now, what can I do for you, madam?
Mr. Ross, isn't there something you would do for my son?
No, nothing, Mrs. Swenson.
But he's a good man, he did no wrong.
That he's good, I have no doubt at all, but he made a mistake.
Surely, madam, one must pay for one's mistakes.
But he is a good man, he did no wrong.
To kill is wrong.
The Bible tells you that.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
He's a good man.
He did not kill.
But the law says that he did.
You threw sand into the eyes of the law.
My son did not kill.
I only followed the truth, madam.
You can save my son.
I can't.
Believe me, if I could, nothing would stand in my way.
Then it's no use.
Go back to the city, madam.
May you find comfort for your grief.
I walked the road from the station with little hope.
I'll go back on it with no hope.
Time will heal, it always does.
Time will not heal me.
I'll go down to the grave with my sorrow.
Please, Mrs. Swenson.
I'll wipe my tears away and go.
Oh, I can't find my handkerchief in my pocketbook.
The tears blind my eyes.
Here, let me help you.
Bet I find this in my pocketbook.
Put down that gun.
An eye for an eye.
Put it down.
I'm not Ross.
Mrs. Swenson, you killed him.
An eye for an eye.
You know what you've done.
Emily.
She had a gun hidden in her purse.
Mrs. Swenson, listen to me.
You've saved your son, do you hear?
Oh, you don't know what you've done.
Emily, I'm phoning the person.
Yes, yes, Mrs. Swenson, everything's going to be all right now.
You didn't kill the district attorney.
Oh, Mrs. Swenson, my husband will see to it that...
Uncle Walter.
Billy.
Billy, come away from him.
Uncle Walter.
Billy, he's dead.
Please, child.
Uncle Walter.
Uncle Walter, you didn't finish the story.
Suspense.
You've been listening to Turnabout, written for suspense by J. Bennett.
In a moment, the names of our players and a word about next week's story of suspense.
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Heard in tonight's story were Leonard Stone as Walter Carlton, Melville Ruick as Martin Ross,
and Ginger Jones as Emily Ross.
Others heard in the cast were Peter Laser, Larry Haynes, Katherine Emmett,
Neil Fitzgerald, and Raymond Edward Johnson.
Listen again next week when we return with End of the Road,
written for suspense by Alan Sloan from a story by Eliezer Lipsky.
Another tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
On CBS Radio.