Another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
Have you ever received a letter threatening your life?
And if you did, what did you do about it?
Well, let's find out what Dr. Fraser did as we listened to
Crank Letter, written for suspense by Walter Black.
Dr. Fraser speaking.
Hi Doc, Paul Newman over at Homicide.
Oh, you believe in telepathy, Lieutenant?
Big pardon?
Well, I was just about to pick up the phone to call you.
Oh, well I guess the department must have notified you, huh?
Notified me about what?
My uniphysical checkup, is that what you meant?
No, no, you see, I got a letter and I wanted to talk to you about it.
Could I drop in later today?
Well sure, if you want, but can't it wait until I come by for my checkup?
Save you a trip.
Well, I guess it can wait.
Let me see, can you come in at four today?
Yes, I can. I'll see you then, Doc.
Oh, Lieutenant.
Yes?
Now the outer door will be locked, so just call out and I'll let you in.
You can put your shirt back on now, Lieutenant.
Okay, well what's the verdict?
Oh, you're, you're as sound as a pre-war dollar.
Although if I were you, I'd take off a couple of pounds around the middle.
Well, I keep telling myself I will, but when it comes to my wife's cooking, I,
oh, I got all the willpower of a jellyfish.
All right, Doc, now it's your turn. You mentioned a letter.
Yes, yes, here, read it.
You quacks are all alike, murderers.
Honest people aren't safe from butchers like you.
If the law won't punish you, I will be avenged.
Well, she went to a lot of trouble, didn't she?
Cut out all the letters from the magazine.
She?
Reads like a woman. Could be a man, of course.
I suppose you've handled this, haven't you?
You mean fingerprints?
Yes, I guess so. I didn't know what it was, of course.
Well, it doesn't matter, Doc. She probably wore gloves.
I wouldn't worry too much about it.
You wouldn't worry about it? No, no, it's not addressed to you.
No, no, no, take it easy. I only meant...
Well, we get hundreds of poison pen stuff like this every year.
99% of them turn out to be crank letters.
And the other 1% lieutenant, what do they turn out to be?
You know of anyone who might have a grudge against you, Doctor?
No.
There's no reason at all for anyone to hate you, is that right?
Well, there's no rational reason, no.
I said no reason at all.
Well, it...
Well, it isn't really a reason.
Let me be the judge, huh?
Well, all right, it happened last week.
I was performing an operation on an elderly patient in his seventies.
His heart failed on the table.
Everything possible was done for him, but it wasn't any use. He died.
Anyway, it's been on my mind. I feel terrible about it.
Guilty? No, no, why should I feel guilty?
It happens sometimes, no reason.
Just asking, Doctor.
The man who died, what was his name?
Gilbert. Joseph Gilbert.
Any relatives?
He lived with a son.
Name?
Well, I don't...
Oh, wait a minute, I probably have it on his records.
Yeah, here it is.
Frederick Gilbert, 210 South Oak Lane.
You ever meet him?
Yes, once.
What's he like?
He's big and burly.
He...
He what?
Well, it was after his father died he threatened to hit me.
He had to be restrained by some hospital attendants.
You think he wrote this letter?
Nope, I think it's just what I said it was, a crank letter.
Feeding you up sounds more like his type.
I'm pretty sure it'll turn out to be just another crank.
Yeah?
Excuse me, Lieutenant, but there's a Dr. Donald Frazier outside, says he has to see you.
Says it's important.
Okay, send him in, Evans.
Yes, sir. You can go on in.
Yeah, okay, thank you.
I'm sorry to bother you, Lieutenant, but...
Ah, it's no bother at all, Doc. What's on your mind?
This came in the morning mail.
Well, go on, read it.
All right, all right, why don't you sit down and relax?
Relax?
I'm too nervous, if you must know.
Now suit yourself.
You killed him. You and I know it even if nobody else does. Your turn is next.
Well, is that all you can say?
A cheap grade of paper and no signature. You killed him.
You think this refers to that patient of yours?
Now what else can I think?
Look, I'm not... I'm not normally a very excitable person, Lieutenant, but this has got me...
Scared?
Yes, scared. Can you understand that or... or don't policemen ever get scared?
Sure we do, often. Send Evans in.
And what am I supposed to do? Now walk out of here and go about my business, is that it?
I'm scared, Neiman. I'm scared sick. Now does that penetrate?
I want protection and don't give me any more of this crank letter routine either.
This thing is genuine. I can feel it.
I think you're right, Don.
Look, why don't you sit down?
I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to blow up at you.
It's all right, forget it.
Let's go on in, Evans.
This is Dr. Fraser. Don, this is Detective Evans.
How do you do?
Evans, you're off desk duty as of now. Until further notice, you're assigned to the doctor.
You'll pick him up every morning when he leaves his apartment.
You'll go out on calls with him, accompany him to the hospital.
I'll work, you got it?
Yes, sir.
And every night you take him back home and wait until he locks his door.
Yes, sir. What am I supposed to be looking for, Lieutenant?
Your guess is as good as mine. Just make sure the doctor stays healthy.
Yes, sir.
You are taking this seriously, aren't you, Paul?
I am, Donald. Real serious.
In just a moment, we will return for the second act of...
Suspense.
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Get Fitch dandruff remover shampoo today.
We was at the hospital from 2.35 to 7.15. Then we went to eat, went to a movie.
Not a bad one either, Lieutenant. The one at the palace. You seen it?
Never mind that.
No, sir.
We got back to the apartment at 11.08. I checked it out like always. He locked the door behind me.
I picked him up again at 8.10 this morning and I just come from his office.
Office door locked?
Oh, yes, sir. I make sure of that. He says some of his patients complain about it, but he locks it.
Nothing out of the way?
No, sir.
Lieutenant Neiman.
It's Don Frazier, Paul. I got another one.
Another letter? Read it.
You haven't got much more time, murderer. You know how to kill. How well will you die?
You've got to do something, Paul.
Take it easy. We're doing our best, Doc. This just came in the mail?
No. No, I found it on my desk when I got to the office.
I'll be there in five minutes, Doc. Come on, Evans, let's go.
All right, doctor. Now let's see what we've got. Your outer door wasn't tampered with. Neither were the windows or the catches.
The building superintendent has been in. The cleaning woman was out sick, so she wasn't even here last night.
Now you're absolutely certain the door was locked when you left last night and locked when you got here this morning?
I was with him, Lieutenant. It was locked all right.
Uh-huh. And yet there was the letter right on your desk. How did it get there?
What was... Paul, I... I should have mentioned this before, but I didn't think it was important.
What?
I lost my key ring last month.
You what?
Now it was only missing two days, and then somebody returned it through the mail. It had my name on it.
Now ain't that just Jim Peachy Dan?
Well, I'm sorry. I didn't think it meant anything.
Evans, call the station. I want that man Gilbert brought in. Let's find out about Gilbert once and for all.
You have to keep that light shining in my eyes.
We don't have to, but we're going to. We like to see who we're talking to, even when they're as ugly as you.
I'd like to get you out from behind that badge, Bustin. Hear you say that?
Anytime at all.
All right, Gilbert. Let's go back over that story of yours.
You gave my man the slip after he tailed you home last night. Where'd you go?
I told you.
Tell him again.
I went bowling.
You always leave by the back door when you go bowling?
What, do you think I'm a kid or something? I knew you had a tail on me. Am I supposed to write him a letter if I feel like going out?
Why not? You've been writing Dr. Frazier letters.
I ain't writing nobody nothing. How many times I have to tell you?
Turn off the light.
What?
You heard me. And get that clock out of here. It's making me jumpy.
Yes, sir.
That's pretty rough about your dad, Gilbert, tying on the operating table like that.
Of course, who's to say whose fault it was? Accidents will happen.
Listen, my old man had the Constitution of Anox. It was no accident that killed him.
You think Frazier did it on purpose?
If I thought that, Frazier'd be his...
You really want to know what I think?
Yeah, I do.
My old man was a clinic patient. No dose. Slapped him on the table, cut him open.
If he lives, okay. If he dies, too bad.
Well, like I said, I don't blame you for wanting to get back at Frazier.
Now, who says...
I do.
You're our boy, Gilbert. You got the motive and you got the opportunity.
We got witnesses who heard you swear to get even with Frazier.
Listen, a guy says lots of things. That don't mean anything.
Tell it to the jury, Gilbert. You only got one chance, Mr. Copper, please.
I never wrote no letters.
Where have you hid the duplicate keys?
You'll find them sooner or later anyway.
Lieutenant Neiman.
This is my last warning, Lieutenant. Frazier hasn't got much time left.
Who's this?
You're his friend. Tell him to make his peace with God. If he can.
Wait a minute.
Calmadie, put a trace on this call.
If you've got anything against Dr. Frazier, why don't you come on in? We'll talk it over.
Give him my message, Lieutenant.
Hello? Hello?
I just don't get it. I was so sure Gilbert was the one.
You're in good company, Doc. We thought so too.
I didn't. I never did. He was just the only pigeon in sight.
Doc, tell me, this town you were born in, where you grew up, what's the name of it?
Haydenville.
Maybe the answer's back there.
But I left after high school. I never went back. I told you that.
I know, I know. What about your family?
Well, my father's dead. My mother lives with my aunt out in California.
Nobody else? Brothers, sisters, cousins?
Nobody else.
How come you never went back there?
I had no reason to. I'd made new friends in college and later in med school.
There weren't any close ties at home.
All right, Don, how about college? Medical school?
No, no, no. Nothing there either. Not that I was the most popular guy or anything like it, but I've...
Well, I've never gone around making enemies.
I wouldn't call a letter writer a bosom pal, exactly.
Hey, Lieutenant, maybe it's a patient. Maybe one of them's kind of cracked.
Now, look, none of my patients has any reason to wish me harm.
Old man Gilbert conked out on the operating table. Was there anybody else?
I'm not in the habit of either killing or wounding my patients, Evans.
Now, you can check my records if you like.
Okay, Doc, just ask.
Let's go, Evans.
I'll pick you up at the usual time, Doc, if I'm still around.
Okay, Doc, it's me, up and at them.
Hey, Doc, it's me, Evans. Let's get going. I like some breakfast.
Doc?
That smells like...
Hey, Doc! It's not locked!
That's gas! Hey, Doc!
In just a moment, we will return for the concluding act of...
Suspense.
Next time you refresh, enjoy a frosty, ice-cold Pepsi-Cola.
Sociability, Charlie.
All right, Kay, how's this?
Pepsi is light, refreshes without filling.
You like to refresh? Have a Pepsi right now.
We'll offer it to everybody, Charlie.
I will. Enjoy Pepsi at the fountain.
It's delicious at home, too.
Have one at lunch, or with a snack.
Charlie?
At the beach or at dinner.
Wherever you go, wherever you're going,
wherever you're thirsty, Pepsi is there.
It's here, too, in our Be Sociable song.
Be sociable, look smart,
Keep up to date with Pepsi,
Drink light, refreshing Pepsi,
Stay young and fair and dead and air,
Be sociable, have a Pepsi.
For the weekend, have plenty of Pepsi around.
Pick up an extra carton today.
See, Kay, I'm sociable.
With Pepsi, everyone is.
How is he, Lieutenant?
Doctor says he'll live.
Thank heavens for that.
You know something?
Frazier must have opened that door himself.
Even with duplicate keys, nobody could open it from outside after he shot the bull.
So?
So in a case as crazy as this, it's nice to have one solid fact to sink your teeth into.
Crazy is right.
No sign of a struggle, not a mark on him.
Yet there he is, stretched out on the couch
and every burner on the stove going full blast.
Lieutenant, I just thought of something.
Whoever the guy is, he's someone Frazier knows.
You don't open the door in the middle of the night to a stranger.
No kidding.
Well, it's something.
It's nothing.
Like everything else we got.
Go on back to the station, Evans.
But what about you?
I'm going to see Frazier as soon as they let me.
Doctor Frazier?
Don?
Can you hear me?
It's Neiman.
You're going to be all right, Don.
You hear me?
You're going to be all right.
He was lucky this time.
He won't be again.
What?
I should have turned the gas on earlier.
Doc, that voice, what are you trying...
Next time I'll use a gun.
That's the...
It was you on the phone, wasn't it, Doc?
It was me, Lieutenant.
What?
What's going on?
It's very simple.
I called you.
I wrote the letters.
I tried to kill him.
And I'll try again.
Only the next time...
All right.
It was you.
Who are you?
Donald Frazier.
But Doc...
Okay.
You're Donald Frazier.
Where do you live?
92 Main Street, Haydenville.
Haydenville.
Where do you work?
Mulholland's Meat Market.
After school and all day Saturday.
School?
What grade are you in?
I'm a junior in high school.
Why?
Just routine, Donald.
You have plans to go to college?
Sure.
I'm going to be a doctor.
You mind me asking why you're out to kill him?
He's responsible for Jamie's death.
So he has to pay for it.
My brother...
He's too...
I mean, he was two years younger than me.
How did he die?
He drowned.
I don't want to talk about it.
I have to know, Donald.
How did he die?
He got cramps.
He yelled.
He could have been saved, only...
Only he was too busy swimming to pay any attention.
By the time he looked around, it was too late.
And you blame him for that?
Yes.
He's got to pay.
Suppose it had been the other way around.
Would you blame Jamie?
You know how it is when you're swimming, you're having fun.
It's easy to forget about the guys with you.
He shouldn't have forgotten me.
No, but he didn't forget deliberately, did he?
No.
Will killing him bring Jamie back?
What are you asking me so many questions for?
Will it accomplish anything at all, Donald?
Maybe it'll give me some...
Peace.
Is that what you want most?
Yes.
Killing him will only make you feel worse.
You'll be a murderer then.
Is that what you want?
No.
You want to be a doctor.
That means saving lives, Donald.
Not taking them.
Start with him.
Give him back his life.
That's the only way for you to find peace.
You... you believe that?
The Bible says, judge not, lest ye be judged.
I don't think a guy like you could go through life with a secret like that on his conscience.
I just want some peace.
Then try it my way, Donald.
Forgive him.
He's suffered more than you'll ever know.
How do you know?
I'm his friend.
He's a very decent guy.
I wish you could know him as I do.
And what about Jamie?
If he could, I think he'd say the same thing.
He doesn't blame him.
It was an accident.
Try it my way, Donald.
Will you?
Donald?
I'll try.
Good boy.
Doc, can you hear me?
No.
Who is... who is... who is it?
Me, Paul Nieman.
How do you feel?
No.
Well, as...
as Evans would say...
Jim P. G. Dandy.
What happened?
You had an accident.
It's over and done with.
You're going to be okay.
I'm...
It's...
It's funny, Paul, but I...
I feel...
I don't know...
quite how to put it.
Like a big...
burdens off my back.
It's crazy, isn't it?
No, not at all.
Sure it is.
Whatever happened to me, I know...
I know it was no accident.
That letterwriter will try again.
No, he won't, Doc.
Because, you see...
we found him.
From now on...
I don't think you'll have any more trouble.
Suspense.
You've been listening to Crank Letter,
written for suspense by Walter Black.
In a moment, the names of our players
are the word about next week's story of...
Suspense.
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Heard in tonight's story were Lyle Sudrow
as Dr. Donald Fraser,
Les Damon as Lieutenant Neiman,
Phil Meader as the young Donald Fraser,
and Larry Haynes as Fred Gilbert.
Listen again next week when we return
with Lieutenant Langer's Last Collection
by George Bamber.
Another tale well calculated to keep you in
suspense
on CBS Radio.