And now, another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
When a man stops by at your place of business for a little collection,
it's usually because somebody is collecting from him.
Well, let's find out who that collector is,
as we bring you Lieutenant Langer's last collection by George Bamber in just one minute.
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Well, Bruno.
Lieutenant Langer.
It's been a long time.
I thought you had been transferred.
I was, Bruno. I was.
Then what are you doing in town?
Let's just say I came to look up an old friend.
About what?
A personal matter.
Maybe we better go in the back.
Very well.
Looks like you're doing all right for yourself. Now...
Oh, I repair a few watches, make a few dollars on small loans.
Now, what is it you wanted to see me about?
You know, Bruno, life in the sticks is bad.
It's easy to get in a jam out there.
Come to the point. What is it you want?
$2,000.
What?
You heard me.
I won't pay.
Oh, yes, you will.
Bruno, you've already got two previous convictions
at receiver of stolen goods.
One more ought to send you away for a long, long time.
Maybe until the day you die.
But I have done nothing.
I've been straight since the time you let me go.
I paid you $1,000 then, and you said you would forget about it.
You would give me another chance.
That was then. This is now.
But I'm clean. You've got no evidence.
Bruno, how hard do you think it would be
to plant some gems on a convicted fence?
Then I will fight.
I will tell the judge everything I know about the bribe I paid.
Then it would be your word against mine,
a cop against a convicted diamond cutter.
But from what I heard, your word isn't so good anymore.
That's why you were transferred from special duty downtown.
All they had were suspicions.
They couldn't prove anything on me.
Maybe I'm just the man they're looking for.
Listen, you...
Please, Langer, for myself I am not asking.
I'm an old man.
Money does not mean much to me anymore.
It's my daughter.
She writes me from California.
She wants me to come and live with them.
I thought if I took a little nest egg,
maybe I could give it to them,
maybe help to set them up in a little business.
Come on.
Please.
I've worked so hard to go straight.
It hasn't been easy.
Give me this chance.
Listen, you think you've got troubles.
The kind of trouble I'm in,
if I don't have $2,000 by tomorrow morning,
I might just as well forget about breathing.
Now get me the money.
All right, all right.
Only once a man is paid, you should leave him alone.
Here you are.
One, two, three, four, five,
1,000, seven, eight, nine, $2,000.
And $200 traveling expenses.
I won't pay.
$300 for being reluctant.
Properly.
Now look, you little runt.
Help.
You keep playing hard to get,
and I'll tear you apart with my bare hands.
Please.
Now are you going to give me the money
and keep your mouth shut,
or do I have to get rough?
Yes, yes, yes.
Just put me down.
Huh?
What's the matter with you?
Nothing.
Get the money.
All right, all right.
Here, here you are.
One, two, three.
Now leave me alone.
Something, something is the matter with you.
What is it?
It's nothing.
I'll be all right.
Maybe you better sit down a minute.
Sit till you, till you feel better.
What, and have you robbed me if I pass out?
I'd rather take my chances on the street.
Out, out of my store, leech.
Worse than a leech.
I tried to help you when you called me names.
Is there nothing left inside you?
No, no, no decency, nothing.
This is a tough world, Bruno.
Dog eat dog.
Out of my store, dog.
Worse than a dog.
You with your hundred dollar coat and brown sage shoes.
Out of my store.
My only wish is that you should drop dead right before my eyes.
Out.
With pleasure, you little crook.
It's bad.
I can tell it's bad this time.
I'll be all right.
Just take it easy.
Just take it slow and easy.
It's happened before.
And I was all right.
Just keep walking.
Take it slow till I get to the avenue to call a cab.
It's getting worse.
Feels like a hot bar inside my chest.
Red hot.
No.
I've got to stop and rest.
Lean up against something.
There.
That's better.
My left arm feels numb.
Now, now my leg.
I can't move them.
They're dead.
I can't move at all.
I can't walk.
Help.
Somebody help.
Please.
Well, of course I knew full well what she was referring to, but do you think she'd admit it?
Please help.
What?
Please help me.
I'm a very sick man.
Paul, don't go near him. Can't you see he's drunk?
Please.
Look at him. He can hardly talk. He's so drunk.
Sick.
Heart.
Don't let him touch you. He's falling.
Falling down. Drunk.
It's disgusting.
You'd think the police would do something about this neighborhood.
It's getting so. I hate to walk through it anymore.
Nothing but drunks and juvenile delinquents.
Come on, Paul. Just let him lie there until he's sober.
In just a moment, we will return for the second act of...
Suspense.
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You all right, mister?
No. My heart.
I'm sick.
What's the matter with him, Chino?
I don't know. I think he's got a heart attack or something.
Help me. Please help me.
What you gonna do, Chino?
I don't know.
Please.
Look, he passed out.
Yeah.
Oh, come on. Give me a hand.
What you gonna do, Chino?
What you think we're gonna do? We're gonna help him.
Now, come on. Lift.
Take him downstairs to the clubhouse where he can lay down.
Oh, man. He's heavy.
Yeah.
He must weigh a ton.
Look, get your head under his arm and lift.
Yeah, all right.
Watch these stairs.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Easy now. Don't let him slip.
I got him.
All right. All right. Now hold the door.
Yeah, I got to open this one.
All right. Here.
All right. Let him down on this couch.
Hey, watch his head.
Yeah.
Boy, he weighs more like a whale than a man.
Yeah.
What you gonna do now, Chino? Call a cop?
Yeah, I guess so.
Get his wallet so I can see who he is.
Yeah, okay.
Hey, look at all this money.
Give it here.
How much you think there is?
I don't know.
Must be two grand at least.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, $2,300.
Well, what are you gonna do now, Chino?
I don't know.
Just think of what we could do with two grand.
Yeah.
Hey, we could own this town.
Yeah.
Yeah, what are we gonna do with him?
I don't know.
Let me think.
What's it say inside his wallet?
Nuts.
Oh, what's it say?
He's a cop.
How do you like that for all the last few months?
What are you gonna do now?
I don't know.
Well, for crying out loud, will you let me think?
Boy, I hate to give back all that money.
Yeah, we could maybe buy a car or...
I got it.
What?
We're gonna get rid of him.
Now, look, Chino, I ain't gonna get mixed up with nothing,
especially with no cop.
This ain't murder, listen.
Now, we strip his clothes and dress him in any old junk we find in the trash,
make him look like a bum.
Then let somebody else pick him up.
Yeah, but this is a cop.
I ain't gonna have nothing to do with no cop.
They'll recognize him.
Ah, they won't. You seen his wallet?
Yeah, look, it says he's attached to downtown someplace.
Now, that's the beauty of the thing.
When the cops in this precinct pick him up,
they think he's just a wino.
Maybe he falls to death during the night.
Yeah, but, Chino, that's murder.
No, it ain't.
We picked him off the street now, didn't we?
We got a right to put him back there.
We ain't doing nothing for him or against him.
Besides, look at him, he's half dead.
They left me out here to die, like a bum lying in the alley.
I don't want to die that way.
Please don't let me die that way.
Look at the snow coming down.
Soft, white flakes melt against my face.
So beautiful.
I don't want to die.
There's a street down there.
I can see it.
If I could only get to the street,
somebody would see me.
Nobody will see me here.
Maybe, maybe if I tried to crawl.
No, no, no, I can't do that.
If I try to do any more, it'll kill me for sure.
I can feel it in my chest.
It's all area hot and numb.
If I try any more, I'll tear it wide open.
What was that?
A bomb going through the trash.
Help.
Please help.
Help.
What's the matter, Mac?
Help.
You had a little too much.
You got down and you couldn't get up.
Please help me.
I'm sick.
Why, you're sick?
I know all about that, Mac.
Sick?
You talk about sick.
I remember one time...
Help.
Help.
All right, all right, all right.
Glad to help a pal.
You too.
You're heavy.
I can't do much more than jump against this wall.
It's too heavy.
There.
Oh.
Ain't much, but at least your face is out of the gutter.
You got a better slant on the world now.
Yeah, I know, I know.
Don't look like much, does it, the world?
But that's all we have.
We've got to make the best of it.
Yes, make the best of it.
You wouldn't happen to have a little drop of water, would you?
Just a taste?
Oh, please.
Well, you are the most ungrateful jack I ever did see.
A man goes through all the trouble of pulling you out of the gutter
and you won't even share the wealth, which I see.
A bottle sticking out of your coat pocket, plain as day.
I'm so scared.
Please help.
Take care.
All right, all right.
God helps those who help themselves, if they tell us down at the mission.
Please, please, I'm very sick.
Oh, that's good.
That's what I needed, something to fight the cold.
How about you?
Do you care for a snark?
No, doctor, please, please get a doctor.
You don't need no doctor.
What, you need a drink?
Are you sure you don't have any more on you?
Oh, please, please, doctor.
Now, wait a minute.
Don't you go passing out on me.
You'd...
Well, maybe I just better have a look.
I've known to hold out on your friends before.
Nothing.
Not a dime.
Not even a cigarette butt, even.
Well, if we had something we could pawn, we could get you more with that.
But you don't even have a cigarette lighter on you.
Nothing.
Not a thing.
Wait a minute.
Those shoes.
Those are mighty fine-looking shoes you got there, buddy.
I know a place where I could get 50 cents for these shoes, maybe even a buck.
What are you doing?
Where are you going?
Oh, don't you worry.
I'll be right back.
I've got a bottle for these.
I'll be right back.
We share and share alike.
Please, please come back.
I'm closed in here.
Oh, now come on, Brun.
I brought you a fine pair of shoes.
What will you give me for them, huh?
Quarter, take it or leave it.
Get out.
They're closed.
Quarter?
Look at these.
These are fine shoes.
I paid $30 for them.
No.
You never bought a pair of shoes in your...
Where did you get these brown suede shoes?
What do you mean, where did I get them?
They're mine.
They're mine.
Come on, now.
I won't turn you in.
You just tell me where you got them.
Yeah, well, what's it worth to you?
50 cents for the shoes.
And a dollar for the information.
A dollar for both.
I promise you won't turn me in.
I promise.
Well, I took them off a guy in the alley out back.
Trick, here's your money.
Now show me where.
Well, so we meet again, Lieutenant Langer.
Only this time you aren't so full of orders and throwing your weight around, huh?
My only regret is that you don't still have the money you borrowed from me.
Help.
Please help me.
I should help you after what you've done to me.
That's very funny, Lieutenant Langer.
Very funny.
Bruno, please, please help me.
I've seen you start out, Langer, from an honest rookie to a cop on the take.
And then you move downtown and God knows how many people's lives you made miserable while
you were assigned down there.
Not that I have lived such a pure life myself, but at least I have been trying to go straight,
trying to change.
Please, Bruno, please one more chance.
One more chance for what?
To come back and hold me up any time you want to?
What do you think I am, stupid?
Better I should see you die by inches than help you by racing my little finger.
For all the good you have done, me or anybody else.
What have you got there, Bruno?
Oh, Officer Hilden, I didn't hear you come up.
I saw you from the light of your back door.
I thought maybe you were having some trouble.
No, no trouble.
But I'm afraid this man is, though.
Edwino?
His trouble can't be cured.
Just leave him there to sleep it off.
He'll be all right by morning.
I think you had better call an ambulance.
He looks like a very sick man.
He looks like a pretty drunk man, Bruno.
Go on home.
He'll be all right.
Why no more trouble from the woods?
I don't think he's drunk.
I think he is sick.
He's drunk, I tell you.
You can see by just looking at him.
Please, Hilden, this man is sick.
He has had a heart attack.
If something isn't done quickly, he will die.
How do you know that?
He's a friend of mine.
I hear you're leaving us soon, Bruno.
Yes, tomorrow I take the plane for California.
I'm getting out of the business for good.
Well, I want to wish you luck.
And I want you to know I'll miss having you in the neighborhood.
It's been a big help to me around the neighborhood.
If it's only doing something, if nobody did nothing, what would the world be?
I want to thank you, just the same.
That's all right.
You've been a good rookie, Hilden.
I know you'll make a fine policeman.
And I want to tell you how sorry I was about that friend of yours.
I'm sorry we couldn't get him to the hospital in time.
That's all right, Officer Hilden.
Maybe things worked out for the best.
After all.
Suspense.
You've been listening to Lieutenant Langer's Last Collection, written for suspense by George Bamber.
In a moment, the names of our players and a word about next week's story of suspense.
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Music
Heard in tonight's story were Frank Millan as Lieutenant Langer and Murray Forbes as Bruno.
Others in our cast were Frank Thomas, Jr., Ginger Jones, Jack Grimes, Ian Martin, and William Mason.
Listen again next week when we return with Sleeping is for Children by Eugene Francis and Ralph Bell.
Another tale well calculated to keep you in suspense on CBS Radio.