And now, a tale well calculated to keep you in...
...suspense.
In a moment, Act One of The Next Murder, starring Joseph Julian and Lawson Zerby,
and written especially for suspense, by Joseph Cochran.
This first portion of suspense is brought to you by the makers of alpine cigarettes.
What's it like to smoke an alpine?
Well, it's like a sky full of clouds racing along with the wind.
That's what it's like to smoke an alpine.
Alpine has a freshness about it like morning dew, a light, lively, downright exuberant kind of taste.
There's something more than smoking with an alpine cigarette.
If this sounds good to you, try alpine filter cigarettes.
Music
Mind if I sit down?
No, no, sit down.
That the late edition you're reading?
Uh, yeah, yeah.
Well, it was a terrible thing, that murder over in Springdale.
Oh, awful.
I just don't understand how anybody could do a thing like that.
Oh, nobody does. Not even the one who did it.
Well, there's got to be a reason.
Or a man.
One pork chop with mash.
The poor dead girl wasn't pretty. She had no men friends. She was too poor for robbery.
Uh, would you like some dessert?
Yeah, um, coconut custard pie, beautiful, and a fresh cup of coffee.
And you, sir?
Uh, no, I'm finished. Thanks.
Say, are you a detective?
Ha ha, hardly.
How come you're so interested in the murder?
Oh, murder's a hobby of mine.
Well, look, we're out of coconut custard. I brought coconut cream. Coconut cream, okay?
Yeah, that's fine.
Hey, look, I wasn't trying to be fresh just now when I called you beautiful.
I don't know your name, though. I just called you beautiful.
Ha ha, that's all right. It's a lot better in hey you.
Hey you, waitress!
Well, yes, sir.
Hey, you're not interested in her, are you?
Ah, I like the kid of Milan.
She's not pretty.
Oh, and if pretty, everybody gives them the rush.
Homely girl appreciates a little attention.
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see.
Well, I'm shoving off. Thanks for letting me share your counter space.
Not at all.
Night.
Night.
Gee, tell your friend thanks for the nice tip.
He's not my friend. I don't even know him. He just sat here with me.
Oh.
Say, I know it's short notice, but would you like to go to a movie with me when you're through here?
Oh, I couldn't, but thanks.
Some other night?
Oh, I'll think about it.
Hey, thanks. Thanks a lot.
Good night, beautiful.
Night.
You think about that movie real hard.
Outside the rain that had been coming down hard when I entered the town, there was now a light drizzle.
He was standing there under the yawning.
I felt I had to say something.
Hi.
Rain's about stopped, huh?
Yeah.
You, uh, particularly interested in the weather?
Huh?
Oh, no, no, no.
I think, Ray, it's just something that I hate.
Something to say, you mean?
Yeah.
To cover up what's really on your mind?
What's on your mind?
Well, I was wondering. Haven't we met before?
No. I don't think so.
And yet, you know, I get the feeling...
A feeling maybe there's some sort of a bond between us?
Yeah. Yeah, something like that.
You know, in there, when I looked up and I saw you staring at me...
Oh, sorry. I'm not usually rude, but now you understand why.
No, no, I don't.
I don't know what to make of it. It's funny.
Maybe we met somewhere. Maybe we brushed against each other in some crowd.
Have you been in a crowd recently?
Uh, see, I was in one the other day over at Springdale.
Yeah, yeah, Springdale.
That's where that unfortunate girl was strangled.
Yeah. You didn't happen to be in Springdale recently.
Yeah, it is strange.
When you saw me looking at you, I was thinking of Springdale.
What I was thinking at that exact moment.
Yeah, how do you account for that?
I look up, I see a man looking at me.
You were both thinking of the same thing.
I wasn't thinking only of the Springdale murder.
I don't follow you. What...
I was thinking of the next murder, too.
The next murder.
I looked at the guy hard. I saw he was serious.
I wanted to get away from him as fast as I could.
And yet, I wanted to stay. I wanted to know what was on his mind.
At the same time, I didn't want to know.
I started away, and then I turned back.
You were a stranger in town.
I blew in two days ago. How about you?
Oh, I got in this afternoon.
Why are you stopping?
Don't have a room yet.
Are you broke?
Not broke. I'm badly bent.
Now listen, I got an idea. I got a good-sized room.
I can sneak you in without the clerk knowing it.
How do you manage it?
There's a side door. I'll slip the bolt, and you can come up the back stairs.
You're sure it won't inconvenience you?
Well, if it'll make you feel any better, you can pay half the rent.
All right, then I accept.
We can talk there.
Yeah. Talk.
We have a lot in common, you and I.
I gave him the room number, and I went in first.
I unlocked the door, and then went up to my room and waited.
He was up in less than five minutes.
You bolted the side door?
Yeah. Yeah.
Good. Now remember to talk low.
I don't want the clerk to know you're here.
Well, we don't even know each other's names.
Cotter. John Cotter.
Fred Spahn.
Cotter and Spahn. Or Smith and Jones.
You're pretty sharp if I see that.
You're not so slow yourself.
You know, I still can't get over how we met.
It's one in a thousand coincidences.
No, no Spahn. No coincidence.
We were bound to meet.
We have similar interests, like murder.
You seem to know a lot about murder.
I've read everything I could get my hands on.
What interests you about murder?
The motive.
Why? Why does one person kill another?
Why? Money? Rage? Jealousy?
Ah, the obvious doesn't interest me.
I'm talking about the hidden motive.
Half the people who commit murder can't give the motive.
You're more interested in the murderer than the victim?
Definitely.
Look, let's get off this.
Spiritually you're dead, and the foul, withering lot of murder has entered your mind, devouring your will to live.
Well, look, you take that girl over at Springdale.
Let's take the girl in Seattle.
Or the one in Boston, similar to the...
Seattle? There was one in Seattle?
Yeah, it was in the papers.
Two weeks after the Boston murder, there was one in Buffalo.
Then a month later, in Pittsburgh. Then the last, in Springdale.
By meaning what?
One murder suggests another, especially when there's so much alike.
You think there's going to be another murder?
But killers do at large, Fred.
Well, maybe there was more than one killer.
My point exactly.
Oh, you're crazy.
The girl at Springdale was strangled with a man's necktie.
Will you guys not go to the wagon and let me go to the safe?
As long as we always come back to the same thing.
Why? Why does he do it?
You always come back to it.
A man can't help what he does.
That's not a flattering admission.
You know, sometimes your talk is too far out for me.
What you're saying is you have no will of your own.
You can't help what you do.
I got lots of willpower. I make my own world.
You haven't any dessert?
Only all I want to be.
No, no, thank you, no.
How about you? Good-looking?
No, nothing for me.
Hey, what's your name?
Amy.
Why?
I'm going to take you to the movies tonight.
I want to know your name.
What time are you through here?
Well, I'm through at nine, but...
Would you like to make a second show if you're interested?
Well, yeah, I'd like to.
I could go for a movie after slinging hash in a beaner.
I mean, get the fountain in the square.
Yeah, well, I ain't said I'm going to go.
You ain't said you wouldn't.
Carter and I left the diner and went back to the room.
He was drizzling again.
He was getting on my nerves.
I made up my mind to tell him he's got a blow in the morning.
We didn't talk much.
He took out a tablet and started to write.
I sat there thinking of Amy.
Every now and then taking a look at my watch.
He must have been a mind reader.
All of a sudden he put down his pen and he said to me,
Spong, you going to keep your appointment without waitress?
What? With Amy?
Why, sure, why not?
Ah, what's the matter?
Always starts out the same way.
You feel sorry for these homely girls.
No friends, not two brides, beaten.
You feel more sorry for them than for yourself.
And it ends up the same way.
You know so much. You ought to write a book.
I have.
All but the last chapter.
That's what you're working on?
Yeah.
Have been for ten years.
About murder?
Every last word.
I'd like to read it.
Perhaps you can when it's finished.
Well, if it takes you ten years to write one chapter, I don't think...
Well, the last chapter will be finished soon, I think.
Right now I can forecast that out of the 100 cases I have on file 90
we'll get at it in the next five years,
provided, of course, they are not caught before.
How are you going to arrest the man you think will commit a crime five years from now?
My friend, you'll put your finger on it.
On what?
Look.
A man can't be arrested until he commits a crime.
Now, my tables predict a crime,
but they are powerless to stop a single homicide.
Tell me, Carter, did your charts tell you that there would be a murder in Springdale?
Well, that would be truthful.
No, they didn't.
Why not?
Because that one...
I committed myself.
I just sat there and looked at it.
He looked sane enough.
By that I mean, you put his picture alongside half a dozen others somewhere,
there was nothing to pick him out for.
But I definitely was going to blow the joint.
The rent was coming due.
I moved out when he was asleep and let him hold the bank.
But first I had to meet Amy.
I went to the square.
She wasn't in sight.
I waited.
Hey.
I bet you thought I'd sped you up.
I got a customer just before closing.
Boy, I thought he'd never finish.
Look, Amy, we just met.
I'm moving on tomorrow.
Instead of the movie, maybe we could walk along that lake in the park
and get acquainted, huh?
I don't know if I should.
I just met you.
Movies make believe.
You and me, we're real people.
I like someone to talk to.
I bet you do, too.
Yeah, I sure do.
You know, I'm really just dying to talk to someone.
You just don't know what it's like sitting in that one little room all by myself.
Yeah.
Sure, let's walk.
I guess you're just like me, huh?
Anyway, I think I know you, Amy.
I think I understand you.
You're leaving town tomorrow, huh?
Yeah.
That's always the way.
Yeah, and maybe you're going someplace yourself, Amy.
Only you don't know it yet.
The sign said, No One Permitted in the Park after 9.30 p.m.
The place was deserted.
Amy and I walked about halfway around the lake.
It stopped raining.
It was still cloudy with the moon breaking through every now and then.
I was getting kind of excited.
My collar began tightening.
Hey, what is it?
The collar is choking me.
Oh, I hear your necktie is too tight.
Let me loosen it.
That's better.
Hey, why don't you take it off?
Here.
Here, I'll carry it.
One day I'd look and a man'd sigh.
A man'd sigh around my neck.
What's the matter, Amy?
I'm tired and cold.
I've got to get up early in the morning.
I'm going.
You've been reading the papers, haven't you?
No, not me.
I never read papers.
They're filled with terrible things about people being killed.
About people getting killed with a necktie?
I must have blacked out.
When I came out of it, I was stretched out under a tree.
I probably ran into it and knocked myself out.
I got up.
My shirt was open at the collar and my tie was gone.
I started to look for it, but something kept buzzing at the back of my head telling me to get out of the park.
I hurried to the hotel.
When I left the hotel, I went down the back stairs and I left the door on both of them so I was able to get to my room without the clerk seeing me.
Then I had to get into my room without anyone hearing me.
Cuddle was asleep, his face to the wall.
I could hear the guy next door snoring.
I gathered my things and I stuffed them into the suitcase.
I went to the sink to get my toothbrush and shaving gear.
My razor was gone.
I looked around and I saw something glint on the floor.
I reached down to pick it up.
It was my razor and my fingers got all wet and sticky.
I jumped back up and I stuffed them over his chair.
God, cold and sticky.
What's it doing on my razor?
Say, what's going on in here?
I warned you guys.
Where's the light switch?
I came to this dump to get some sleep.
If you two guys...
Hey.
What's the...
What's the matter?
What are you doing with that razor?
I just came in.
I picked it up.
There's blood on your hand.
Hey, you in the bed.
Wake up.
Wake up!
I want to know what's going on in here.
What's the matter with him?
I'm telling you, I just came in.
Yeah, well, it looks to me as if you were just getting ready to leave.
Get out of my way.
Charlie!
Charlie!
Oh, no, you don't.
Just stay right where you are.
Charlie!
Come on over here!
Charlie, get out of here!
Charlie!
So you never saw this guy caught up before?
You meet him in the square, you get to talking to him,
then you sneak him into your room.
Why?
He was broke.
He didn't have a place to sleep.
You felt sorry for him?
Yeah, I guess I did.
So sorry you cut his throat?
I didn't do it!
That's your suitcase that's packed, isn't it?
Yes.
You going someplace?
I just wanted to get away from him.
Why?
Because he's nuts.
All he did was talk about people who didn't want to live, about murder.
He wrote a whole book about it.
All about guys who were going to kill someone some day.
Or some night?
Like tonight around ten o'clock?
Tell me where you were tonight between nine thirty and ten thirty.
I was walking in the park.
I was walking with...
The park, huh?
Then what?
I walked...I walked the lab.
I was thinking about this guy.
I decided to slip out of the hotel without him knowing it and then leave town.
And so I came back to the hotel to pack.
Anyone see you come in?
I'm not sure.
What do you mean you're not sure?
You had to come through the lobby?
Wasn't the clerk there?
That's what I mean.
Sure he was there. He was at the desk, but maybe he was busy and he didn't see me.
Go on.
I came in.
God, I was dead.
I didn't kill him.
I no sooner got in when this fellow from the next door comes running in.
I must have woken them up when I came into the room.
I didn't hear you go out and I didn't hear you come in.
That crash woke me up out of a sound sleep.
The first I've had since you guys come here.
I came in and saw you holding the razor and there was blood on your fingers.
You've got to believe me.
The razor was on the floor.
I picked it up and I got the blood from it.
I had no reason to kill him.
All right, all right.
Let's go back to this walk in the park.
Can you prove you were there?
Well, I don't know.
People saw me.
What? What?
You were with someone?
No.
I was alone.
That's not what you started to say a minute ago before you changed your mind.
Who were you with?
Nobody.
Oh, look, Spong.
You're in a jam.
Right now you're the most likely suspect for the murder of Cotter
if you can prove you were in the park at the time you're in the clear.
Were you with a girl?
Come on, speak up.
We're broad-minded.
It's no crime to take a girl into the park, but it is to cut a throat.
I didn't kill him.
You'd have believed that if you weren't stalling about who was with you in the park.
Still not talking.
Okay.
We'll just book you for the murder of Cotter.
Then maybe whoever you were with will come forward.
Look, suppose I was with someone who didn't want to come forward.
Uh-huh.
Were you with a married woman who would get in a jam with her husband?
I didn't say that.
All I can say is you should be more careful who you take for a walk in the park.
Come on.
I'm booking you for the murder of Cotter.
You're making a mistake.
I'll apologize later.
The press will want to see you, so if you'd like to put on a necktie, that's all right with me.
The police were very interested in Cotter's book.
They took every scrap of paper they could find.
They asked me a lot of questions about it.
I didn't mind talking about Cotter and his crazy ideas.
I wanted them to know why I was running away from them.
They kept questioning me and filled me in the morning.
Then they let me sleep.
And they woke me up again.
Spong, I apologize.
Uh-huh.
What for?
You didn't kill Cotter.
That's what I've been trying to tell you.
Uh-huh.
We doped it out from that book.
He was his own case study 100.
He killed that girl at Springdale.
And he cut his own throat.
He was crazy.
Uh-huh.
What we're interested in now is case 99.
Huh?
Come on.
We're going for a walk.
Walk?
Walk where?
In the park.
I don't know.
I won't go.
We want you to retrace every step you took last night.
No, please don't make me go.
All right, all right.
All right, Spong.
You've told me what I wanted to know.
You see, we found Amy.
This is your necktie, isn't it?
Yeah.
Why did you kill her?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I liked her.
I was sorry for her.
I didn't plan to kill her.
Something I just did.
Uh-huh.
Just like Carter wrote it, case 99 will not be able to give any explanation for his action.
Suspense.
You've been listening to The Next Murderer starring Joseph Julian and Lawson Zerbe and written especially for suspense by Joseph Cochran.
So long.
Have a nice trip.
Don't forget your phone.
Planning your vacation or a weekend trip?
Well, long distance can be a big help.
You decide where you want to go, then just pick up your phone and call ahead for reservations.
Make sure of a good place to stay.
And while you're away, it's so easy to keep in touch with home by telephone.
Well, have a good trip and don't forget to phone.
Suspense is produced and directed by Fred Hendrickson, music supervision by Ethel Huber.
Heard in tonight's story were Elizabeth Lawrence, William Redfield, and Reynolds Osborne.
Sound patterns by Walter Otto.
This is Stuart Metz speaking.
Listen again next week when we return with Run Faster, written by Lois Landauer.
Another tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
Listen to Worldwide Sports with Chris Schenkel, Monday through Fridays on the CBS Radio Network.