Latest / Old Time Mystery Radio | Old Time Radio / Boston Blackie - "Mid - Air Diamond Theft" (1947)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: A chartered airplane carrying a million-dollar diamond becomes the scene
- 0:04Speaker 1: of a theft while the flight is still in the air.
- 0:07Speaker 1: That is the case for Boston Blackie in mid-air diamond theft,
- 0:11Speaker 1: with Richard Colmar as Blackie. Detective Jack Evans accompanies Mr.
- 0:17Speaker 1: Wilson and the diamond on its way to Mr. Blaine,
- 0:20Speaker 1: but before the plane can land, the pilot has lost consciousness.
- 0:24Speaker 1: Wilson is bound, and the diamond is gone. From October 22nd, 1947,
- 0:29Speaker 1: this is episode 145 of Boston Blackie. Here is the
- 0:31Speaker 1: original broadcast.
- 1:16Speaker 2: Come in. Mr. Wilson? Yes, come in, sir. Are you
- 1:20Speaker 2: from the detective agency?
- 1:21Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
- 1:22Speaker 2: Evans is the name.
- 1:22Speaker 4: Jack Evans. It's your service, sir.
- 1:24Speaker 2: I hope you're a good man, Evans.
- 1:26Speaker 3: No complaints so far, Mr.
- 1:27Speaker 2: Wilson. I'm sure there won't be any. You're not afraid
- 1:29Speaker 2: of airplanes, are you?
- 1:31Speaker 3: Well, I've been up a few times without disastrous results.
- 1:34Speaker 2: Well, I think this trip will be as uneventful as
- 1:36Speaker 2: an excursion. I've chartered a good plane and hired an
- 1:39Speaker 2: excellent pilot. Where are we going, sir? East. Oh, yeah?
- 1:42Speaker 5: But I've chartered the plane for the return trip, too,
- 1:44Speaker 5: so you won't be kept away from.
- 1:45Speaker 2: Home too long.
- 1:46Speaker 3: My wife's used to having me away for long stretches, Mr.
- 1:48Speaker 2: Wilson. When do we leave? In two hours. You have
- 1:51Speaker 2: a gun with you, of course? Oh, yes.
- 1:53Speaker 3: I wouldn't like you going on a job without it.
- 1:55Speaker 3: By the way, why all the precaution of taking me
- 1:57Speaker 3: as a bodyguard with you, Mr.
- 1:58Speaker 2: Wilson? Because of this, Mr. Evans. This diamond in my hand. Well,
- 2:04Speaker 2: it's a small diamond, isn't it? Small, Mr. Evans. Yes.
- 2:07Speaker 2: But it's worth a million dollars.
- 2:18Speaker 6: And now on to Dick Colmer as Boston Blackie. Enemy
- 2:22Speaker 6: to those who make him an enemy. Friend to those
- 2:25Speaker 6: who have no friend.
- 2:34Speaker 5: Tower to Flight 59. Proceed on Runway 6. Proceed on
- 2:38Speaker 5: Runway 6. Tower to Flight 59.
- 2:40Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 2:41Speaker 4: There's some crazy pilot coming in on Runway 6 unannounced.
- 2:46Speaker 2: I see him. Private cabin plane. Good night. It looks
- 2:49Speaker 2: like it's going to crack up, too.
- 2:50Speaker 5: Tower to Flight 59, hold it. Flight 59, hold it.
- 2:54Speaker 2: Try to talk that crazy pilot out of landing, Sam. Yeah.
- 2:57Speaker 2: And turn on the crash landing signal. I'm going to
- 3:00Speaker 2: have to. Here goes. Tower to Flight 59.
- 3:02Speaker 4: I'm going out and.
- 3:02Speaker 2: Help pick up the pieces. Tower to Flight 59, don't
- 3:05Speaker 2: land until we get to the signal.
- 3:07Speaker 5: Tower to Flight 59.
- 3:10Speaker 2: You crazy fool, you! Whoever taught you.
- 3:13Speaker 4: To land a plane?
- 3:21Speaker 2: You! You made it, you sap, but I don't know how. Hey,
- 3:25Speaker 2: what's the matter with you in there?
- 3:26Speaker 4: You could have crashed into that transport if we hadn't
- 3:29Speaker 4: seen you from the control tower.
- 3:31Speaker 2: Hey, pilot, what's the matter with you? Hey, you! Huh? Oh, I...
- 3:38Speaker 2: I got it down okay, huh?
- 3:39Speaker 4: You got it down, but not okay with us.
- 3:42Speaker 2: Sorry, mister, I sort of blacked out, I guess. Well,
- 3:44Speaker 2: you nearly checked out and took your two passengers with you. Hey,
- 3:47Speaker 2: what's the matter with them? Nothing, they're all right. Hey,
- 3:51Speaker 2: are they tied up? They sure are. I'm going in
- 3:54Speaker 2: the plane to see. My diamond. My diamond. What's this
- 4:00Speaker 2: guy moaning about? I don't know. Something about his diamond.
- 4:04Speaker 2: He's the guy who charted this plane. Hey, Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson.
- 4:09Speaker 2: He's coming too.
- 4:10Speaker 4: Now get those ropes off him while I untie this
- 4:12Speaker 4: other guy.
- 4:12Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. What's been going on in this plane anyhow?
- 4:15Speaker 2: I don't know. Told you I must have passed out.
- 4:18Speaker 2: I don't know how long either. Can't remember a thing. Hey,
- 4:21Speaker 2: there's a gun on this guy here. Yeah, I know.
- 4:24Speaker 2: He's a private detective or something. You mean he was
- 4:27Speaker 2: a private detective or something? He's not anything now. Except dead.
- 4:42Speaker 4: I've heard a lot of strange talk in this office
- 4:44Speaker 4: of mine, Mr.
- 4:44Speaker 2: Wilson.
- 4:45Speaker 4: But this is the strangest yet. You yourself charted the plane?
- 4:48Speaker 2: Yes, Inspector Faraday, and this is the pilot I hired,
- 4:51Speaker 2: Bob Johnson.
- 4:52Speaker 7: Don't ask me what happened, Inspector Faraday. I've been trying
- 4:55Speaker 7: to figure it out myself, and I just don't know.
- 4:57Speaker 2: This is the.
- 4:57Speaker 4: Craziest thing I ever heard. Three men are in a plane, 10,000
- 5:01Speaker 4: feet in the air. Two of them are knocked out
- 5:03Speaker 4: and tied. One of them dies, and nobody knows what happened. Well,
- 5:07Speaker 4: I know what happened. When he was a murderer.
- 5:09Speaker 2: And someone is a thief, Inspector Faraday. My diamond is missing.
- 5:12Speaker 2: My million-dollar diamond. Mr. Plain was going to pay a million.
- 5:15Speaker 4: I'm not interested in your diamond, Wilson. Or any Mr.
- 5:18Speaker 2: Plain.
- 5:19Speaker 4: I'm interested in who killed Jack Evans. And it was
- 5:21Speaker 4: probably either of you or both. Now, wait a minute.
- 5:25Speaker 4: Maybe there was somebody else on that plane.
- 5:27Speaker 7: Well, I'd like to say there was, Inspector. But there's
- 5:30Speaker 7: no room for a fourth in that plane of mine.
- 5:32Speaker 7: There was nobody else in the plane.
- 5:34Speaker 2: Can't we investigate the murder a little later and first
- 5:37Speaker 2: try to find my diamond?
- 5:38Speaker 4: We'll find the diamond. Don't worry.
- 5:40Speaker 2: But how? Where? The pilot doesn't have it. I don't
- 5:42Speaker 2: have it.
- 5:42Speaker 4: It wasn't anywhere on Jack Evans' body, and it's not
- 5:45Speaker 4: hidden anywhere.
- 5:45Speaker 2: In the plane.
- 5:46Speaker 4: Oh, it's one of those things again. Not only does
- 5:49Speaker 4: a guy get murdered in midair by the little man
- 5:51Speaker 4: who wasn't there, but a million-dollar diamond disappears in midair, too.
- 5:55Speaker 4: This is one of.
- 5:55Speaker 2: Those cases for your friend Boston Blackie, Inspector.
- 5:59Speaker 4: How do you know about Boston Blackie?
- 6:01Speaker 2: Well, everybody knows about Blackie.
- 6:03Speaker 4: Well, I don't need him. Don't either of you two
- 6:05Speaker 4: leave town till you get my permission. I'm going to
- 6:08Speaker 4: get to the bottom of this before I blow my top.
- 6:20Speaker 4: There's Johnson's plane over there, Matthews. Let's go have a
- 6:22Speaker 4: look at it.
- 6:23Speaker 2: Somebody's in it, Inspector Faraday. Listen, he's gunning the engine.
- 6:27Speaker 4: I know it. I know who it is, too. Johnson
- 6:30Speaker 4: must have thought I was kidding when I told him
- 6:31Speaker 4: not to leave town.
- 6:33Speaker 2: Hey, Johnson!
- 6:34Speaker 4: Johnson!
- 6:35Speaker 2: He's not here, Faraday.
- 6:36Speaker 4: Inspector, it's Blackie. The one guy I want to leave town. Blackie,
- 6:40Speaker 4: what are you doing here? Turn off that engine!
- 6:42Speaker 2: What did you say, Faraday? You know what I....
- 6:47Speaker 4: You know what I said. What are you doing here?
- 6:50Speaker 2: Working on the Jack Evans murder case and trying to
- 6:52Speaker 2: find Henry Wilson's diamond so I can deliver it to Mr. Blaine,
- 6:55Speaker 2: who ordered it from Wilson.
- 6:57Speaker 4: How do you know anything about Evans and Wilson and Blaine?
- 7:00Speaker 2: Wilson called the lawyer for help, and the lawyer phoned me.
- 7:03Speaker 2: No use searching Johnson's plane, Faraday. The diamond isn't here.
- 7:06Speaker 4: Blackie, I could have you arrested for meddling with this plane.
- 7:09Speaker 4: It's police property until I.
- 7:10Speaker 2: Until the case is solved, I know.
- 7:11Speaker 4: Yes.
- 7:12Speaker 2: But I'm going to help you solve it. I understand
- 7:14Speaker 2: the plane seemed to be in trouble when it came
- 7:16Speaker 2: in for a landing. Well, it wasn't engine trouble. I
- 7:19Speaker 2: just tested the motor, and it's okay.
- 7:21Speaker 4: Well, that's the only thing about this case that is okay.
- 7:24Speaker 2: Give me 24 hours and a few facts, Faraday, and
- 7:26Speaker 2: you'll not only have Evan's killer, but Wilson will have
- 7:28Speaker 2: his diamond. In 24 hours? Don't get excited, Inspector. The
- 7:34Speaker 2: only way to find out what happened up in the
- 7:36Speaker 2: air is to keep our feet on the ground.
- 7:49Speaker 4: Yes, Miss Jones?
- 7:50Speaker 2: Bob Johnson calling you, Mr. Blaine.
- 7:52Speaker 3: Oh, thank you.
- 7:54Speaker 2: Hello, Johnson. Hello, Blaine. How's the diamond business today? Fine.
- 7:58Speaker 4: How's the flying business?
- 8:00Speaker 2: Couldn't be better.
- 8:01Speaker 6: We sure have a lot of people baffled, don't we?
- 8:04Speaker 4: Yes, we certainly do.
- 8:06Speaker 8: Well, that was nice work, Johnson.
- 8:08Speaker 4: You did a good job.
- 8:08Speaker 2: Well, you made me a good proposition. You got the
- 8:11Speaker 2: diamond all right, huh?
- 8:12Speaker 4: Oh, yes, I have the diamond. Everything went just as
- 8:15Speaker 4: we planned.
- 8:16Speaker 2: Well, I didn't think we'd have much trouble. It was
- 8:18Speaker 2: too slick to miss. Did you take care of everything else, too?
- 8:22Speaker 4: Oh, yes, we have nothing to worry about except that.
- 8:25Speaker 8: Well, I wish that detective with Wilson hadn't been killed.
- 8:29Speaker 2: Yeah, same here, but that was an accident, Blaine, and
- 8:33Speaker 2: accidents will happen.
- 8:34Speaker 8: An accident can be called murder sometimes, too. The police
- 8:37Speaker 8: will try to find out who killed that fellow.
- 8:38Speaker 6: They'll have to find out what happened first, and what
- 8:42Speaker 6: happened to the diamond, who has it, and how he
- 8:44Speaker 6: got it.
- 8:45Speaker 2: And that's something they'll never do.
- 8:48Speaker 8: No, I don't suppose they will, Johnson.
- 8:51Speaker 2: Have you been questioned much? Oh, yeah. A cop named
- 8:54Speaker 2: Faraday threw a million questions at me. He's just about
- 8:58Speaker 2: gone crazy trying to figure anything out. I'll be down
- 9:01Speaker 2: to talk to you in a little while. Yeah, good.
- 9:03Speaker 4: So we're driving Faraday crazy, huh?
- 9:06Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 9:07Speaker 8: Apparently, we not only have Wilson's diamond, but we've got
- 9:10Speaker 8: Faraday's goat.
- 9:21Speaker 2: Hello. Hello, Mary. Guess who? What? It's you. Isn't it, Blackie?
- 9:26Speaker 2: Wait till I look and make sure. Yes, it's me.
- 9:29Speaker 2: What are you doing?
- 9:30Speaker 8: Well, I was waiting for your call.
- 9:32Speaker 2: And now that you've got it, you've got nothing to do. Mm-hmm.
- 9:35Speaker 2: Do you have time to meet me, Mary? Of course.
- 9:37Speaker 2: What's going on? You and I are going on to
- 9:40Speaker 2: a visit of a certain Mr. Blaine. He's the fellow
- 9:43Speaker 2: who ordered the diamond which was stolen from that fellow
- 9:45Speaker 2: Wilson on the mysterious plane trip.
- 9:47Speaker 1: Oh, why are we going to see him?
- 9:49Speaker 2: The most important reason is to see whether he can
- 9:51Speaker 2: throw a light on what happened to the diamond, because
- 9:54Speaker 2: that will tell us who killed the private detective. And
- 9:57Speaker 2: maybe tell us how all of that was accomplished while...
- 9:59Speaker 2: a plane was in the air, huh? Perhaps. Good enough
- 10:02Speaker 2: reason for your going to see Blaine? I know one
- 10:05Speaker 2: just as good.
- 10:06Speaker 4: What?
- 10:07Speaker 2: I'm going to be with you. How much longer will
- 10:18Speaker 2: it be before I can see Mr. Blaine? Well, any
- 10:19Speaker 2: minute now, I'm sure, sir. Well, I hope so. Mary,
- 10:23Speaker 2: you don't have to wait with me if you don't
- 10:25Speaker 2: want to. I don't mind, Blackie. I don't have an
- 10:27Speaker 2: appointment for three hours. Oh, maybe this is Mr. Blaine
- 10:29Speaker 2: saying he'll see you. Yes, Mr.
- 10:31Speaker 8: Blaine.
- 10:32Speaker 4: I don't see that fellow Blackie now, Miss Jones. Yes, Mr.
- 10:34Speaker 2: Blaine.
- 10:35Speaker 4: Oh, sir.
- 10:36Speaker 2: Mr. Blaine will see you now. I'll go right in. Oh,
- 10:38Speaker 2: thank you. Come on, Mary. Are you sure you don't
- 10:40Speaker 2: want me to wait outside? I don't see why you should.
- 10:44Speaker 2: Come in, Dick. Come in. Come in. Mr. Blaine? That's right. Mr. Blaine,
- 10:48Speaker 2: Miss Wesley. Miss Wesley, Mr. Blaine.
- 10:50Speaker 3: How do you do? How do you do, Mr.
- 10:52Speaker 2: Blaine?
- 10:52Speaker 8: I wasn't expecting a beautiful young woman when Miss Jones
- 10:56Speaker 8: said Boston Blackie was here to see me.
- 10:58Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, kind sir. No one ever knows what
- 11:01Speaker 2: to expect from Boston Blackie. Oh, I think Mr. Blaine
- 11:04Speaker 2: has a vague idea of why I'm here. Oh, no, Blackie,
- 11:07Speaker 2: I don't. Oh, I thought perhaps you'd have heard from
- 11:10Speaker 2: Henry Wilson's lawyer. No.
- 11:13Speaker 8: But I expect to hear from Henry Wilson any minute now.
- 11:16Speaker 2: How do you happen to know about Wilson? Oh, you
- 11:18Speaker 2: might say I'm working for him, Mr. Blaine. Oh, yes?
- 11:20Speaker 2: Trying to find out who murdered his bodyguard and stole
- 11:23Speaker 2: his million-dollar diamond.
- 11:24Speaker 4: I read about that in the papers.
- 11:27Speaker 2: Too bad. I understand from Wilson that he was bringing
- 11:30Speaker 2: it here to show you. Yes, he was. It was
- 11:32Speaker 2: a small diamond, Mr. Blaine. Why was it worth so
- 11:35Speaker 2: much money?
- 11:36Speaker 8: Because it's the one diamond I need to complete a
- 11:39Speaker 8: match set that I can sell for a million dollars.
- 11:41Speaker 8: That's a very peculiar cut that can't be duplicated. Without
- 11:44Speaker 8: that diamond, the set will not be bought by a
- 11:46Speaker 8: certain party.
- 11:47Speaker 2: I see. Who besides you knew that Wilson was flying
- 11:51Speaker 2: that diamond here?
- 11:52Speaker 4: No one that I know of, but.
- 11:55Speaker 2: The walls have ears.
- 11:57Speaker 8: News might have leaked out or someone might have been
- 11:59Speaker 8: listening in when I made arrangements on the phone with Wilson.
- 12:01Speaker 2: You arranged for the chartered plane of Wilson?
- 12:03Speaker 8: I told Wilson where he could charter a plane, yeah.
- 12:06Speaker 2: And where he could get a bodyguard?
- 12:07Speaker 8: That's right, Blackie. Where's the diamond?
- 12:10Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe the same place Evans' killer is,
- 12:12Speaker 2: still somewhere up there in the clouds. But you said
- 12:15Speaker 2: something interesting a second ago.
- 12:17Speaker 4: I did?
- 12:18Speaker 2: About somebody listening in on your calls. I'm going to
- 12:22Speaker 2: talk to your secretary.
- 12:24Speaker 8: Miss Jones has been my secretary for five years, and
- 12:26Speaker 8: I've never had any reason to mistrust her.
- 12:28Speaker 2: Oh, now, Blackie, that girl looks so sweet and innocent.
- 12:31Speaker 2: It's the sweet and innocent ones who sometimes are the
- 12:33Speaker 2: guilty ones, Mary. Call her in here a minute, will you, Mr. Blaine?
- 12:36Speaker 2: I'd like to talk to her.
- 12:37Speaker 8: Of course.
- 12:38Speaker 2: You mean look at her, don't you? Now, Mary. Miss Jones.
- 12:44Speaker 2: Miss Jones. Maybe she left her desk for a minute.
- 12:48Speaker 4: She never does that without telling me.
- 12:49Speaker 3: Not so mad with her. Miss Jones.
- 12:52Speaker 2: Miss Jones. I'll go out and talk to her. If
- 12:55Speaker 2: she's there, Blackie. She's here all right. Miss Jones, didn't
- 12:58Speaker 2: you hear that buzzer? Maybe she's hard of hearing, Blackie,
- 13:01Speaker 2: except when she's listening in on phone conversation. Could be. Look,
- 13:05Speaker 2: Miss Jones, I... Uh-oh. What's the matter, Blackie? Mary, did
- 13:11Speaker 2: you say maybe Miss Jones couldn't hear well? Yes. Well,
- 13:15Speaker 2: she isn't breathing well either. In fact, she's out of breath.
- 13:22Speaker 2: She's dead.
- 13:35Speaker 6: Now, back to Boston Blackie. A million-dollar diamond is being
- 13:45Speaker 6: flown across country in a chartered plane when apparently all
- 13:48Speaker 6: three occupants of the ship black out. When the pilot,
- 13:52Speaker 6: still in a daze, lands the plane, his two passengers
- 13:55Speaker 6: are tied up. and the diamond is missing. What's more,
- 13:59Speaker 6: one of the passengers is dead from a blow on
- 14:02Speaker 6: the head. Later, Boston Blackie visits Bill Blaine, the man
- 14:07Speaker 6: to whom the diamond was to have been sold. Blackie
- 14:10Speaker 6: suspects Blaine's secretary, Marilyn Jones, of perhaps being involved in
- 14:14Speaker 6: the mystery, but when he steps out of Blaine's office
- 14:17Speaker 6: to question her, she is dead.
- 14:21Speaker 2: As we return to our story, Blackie is in Inspector
- 14:23Speaker 2: Faraday's office.
- 14:25Speaker 4: You like this case, don't you, Blackie? It's impossible, so
- 14:28Speaker 4: you like it.
- 14:29Speaker 2: Well, that could account for my liking you, too, Inspector. No,
- 14:32Speaker 2: I'm impossible.
- 14:33Speaker 4: Look, do you know I could have you thrown out
- 14:34Speaker 4: of here? You're bothering me. I can't think while you're here,
- 14:37Speaker 4: so you're obstructing justice.
- 14:39Speaker 2: I'll be so sorry in the morning. Listen, Faraday, let's
- 14:41Speaker 2: get down to the facts. Three people, and only three,
- 14:44Speaker 2: were in that plane. Brilliant.
- 14:46Speaker 4: Positively brilliant. I don't know how you do it.
- 14:48Speaker 2: You're obstructing my logic, but unfortunately, that's no crime. Now,
- 14:53Speaker 2: get this. We know that the private detective didn't engineer
- 14:57Speaker 2: this gimmick because he's dead.
- 14:58Speaker 4: You continue to amaze me.
- 15:00Speaker 2: It couldn't be Wilson, the guy who owned the diamond.
- 15:02Speaker 2: He'd have no reason for stealing something that was already his. So,
- 15:06Speaker 2: who does that leave? It leaves me with you.
- 15:08Speaker 4: And don't think I'm not sorry about the whole thing.
- 15:10Speaker 4: I'll beat it, Blackie. Leave me alone.
- 15:11Speaker 2: Under normal circumstances, it would be a pleasure to leave
- 15:14Speaker 2: you alone, Inspector.
- 15:15Speaker 4: This circumstance is normal enough. It's just mixed up. And
- 15:19Speaker 4: you want to know something? When you're around, I'm mixed up, too.
- 15:21Speaker 2: Well, what's your excuse when I'm not here? Well, so long, Faraday.
- 15:25Speaker 2: I'm on my way. Good. I promise not to interfere
- 15:28Speaker 2: with you until this case is solved. That's better. You see,
- 15:31Speaker 2: I've got a phone call to make at the airport.
- 15:34Speaker 2: After I make it, maybe I'll know a little bit
- 15:36Speaker 2: more about this mystery. You know, instead of being up
- 15:40Speaker 2: in the air on this case, I'm going to find
- 15:43Speaker 2: out what happened in the air on that plane. Pretty
- 15:54Speaker 2: quiet up here in the control tower, ain't it, Joe?
- 15:56Speaker 4: Won't be in a couple of minutes when Flight 81
- 15:58Speaker 4: comes in from the west.
- 16:00Speaker 2: Take it easy. There'll be plenty to do in a...
- 16:02Speaker 2: I'll grab it.
- 16:04Speaker 4: Control tower.
- 16:05Speaker 2: Hello, this is Boston Blackie. You don't know me, but I...
- 16:07Speaker 2: Who don't know you? Everybody knows you, Blackie. Oh, thanks.
- 16:11Speaker 2: That's the nearest I ever got to somebody asking for
- 16:13Speaker 2: my autograph. What's on your mind, Blackie? First of all,
- 16:17Speaker 2: were you on the control tower when that private plane
- 16:19Speaker 2: came in yesterday? The one with the dead guy on it?
- 16:21Speaker 2: Sure I was. Why? Your report says that it came
- 16:24Speaker 2: in sideways and almost cracked up. I want to know
- 16:27Speaker 2: if anything else unusual happened with it.
- 16:29Speaker 4: Well, nothing at all, except it was supposed to have
- 16:31Speaker 4: come from the west, wasn't it?
- 16:33Speaker 2: So I understand.
- 16:34Speaker 4: Well, it came in from the northeast, Blackie, and the
- 16:37Speaker 4: wind wasn't coming from that direction, so that wasn't the reason.
- 16:41Speaker 1: Oh?
- 16:41Speaker 2: Another thing. We got a complaint. A plane, probably the
- 16:44Speaker 2: one you're.
- 16:45Speaker 4: Asking about, was flying awfully low about 50 miles northeast
- 16:48Speaker 4: of here, a place called Holly Hills, just about a
- 16:50Speaker 4: half hour before that plane came bouncing in.
- 16:53Speaker 2: Oh, that's great. Thanks, pal. That plane coming from the
- 16:56Speaker 2: west to ride from the northeast, huh? Yeah. Maybe it
- 16:58Speaker 2: wasn't on the beam, but believe me, I am now.
- 17:05Speaker 5: Hey, Blackie, you got a light?
- 17:11Speaker 2: Sure, Matthews. Anything to help out the police force? Here
- 17:14Speaker 2: you are. One light. By courtesy of my last birthday.
- 17:18Speaker 2: And my birthday present. That's right, Mary. Burns, Blackie. Now
- 17:24Speaker 2: we go on looking, huh? Yes, we've covered most of
- 17:27Speaker 2: Holly Hills with that metal detector you brought Matthews, but
- 17:30Speaker 2: so far, no results. You sure Mr. Blaine owns this estate, Blackie? Positive, Mary.
- 17:34Speaker 2: I checked. And this estate is 50 miles northeast of
- 17:37Speaker 2: the airport. That checks with the tip a fellow in
- 17:39Speaker 2: the control tower gave me. This adds up too well
- 17:42Speaker 2: to be wrong. Bring that metal detector over here, Matthews,
- 17:45Speaker 2: and let's try going down this side of the hedge, huh?
- 17:47Speaker 2: Better be along here somewhere, Blackie. We've covered just about
- 17:50Speaker 2: all there is of Blaine's estate. Oh, what if he
- 17:53Speaker 2: didn't bury it on his own property? Mary, don't make
- 17:55Speaker 2: this case any tougher than it is. No. Ready to
- 17:58Speaker 2: go down this side of the hedge, Matthews? Sure, Blackie.
- 18:01Speaker 4: You sure this was Inspector Faraday's idea?
- 18:03Speaker 2: It's a good idea, isn't it? Well, yeah, but... Then
- 18:06Speaker 2: it doesn't matter who suggested it, as long as we
- 18:08Speaker 2: find what we're looking for. How will we know when
- 18:11Speaker 2: we found it, Blackie? The metal detector will buzz when
- 18:14Speaker 2: Matthew swings the indicator over metal buried in the ground.
- 18:17Speaker 4: If there's any metal buried in the ground, out here
- 18:20Speaker 4: we go.
- 18:20Speaker 2: Hey, I've got my fingers crossed. Let's just hope the
- 18:23Speaker 2: indicator crosses metal, Mary. It's just crossed something, Blackie. Good.
- 18:30Speaker 2: Exactly what I expected. The ground there, it looks as
- 18:33Speaker 2: if it's been dug up. And filled in again. Maybe
- 18:36Speaker 2: I haven't been lugging this shovel around for nothing. Want
- 18:39Speaker 2: some help, Blackie? No, thanks, Matthews. Brown salt. You must
- 18:44Speaker 2: come up and dig in my flower boxes sometime, Blackie. Thanks, Mary. Uh-oh.
- 18:50Speaker 2: It's something. Rang the bell, huh? Uh-huh. It's what I'm
- 18:53Speaker 2: looking for. Oh, say, give me a hand lifting this
- 18:58Speaker 2: thing out, will you, Matthews? Oh, sure, Blackie. Hey, what
- 19:03Speaker 2: in the world is that, Blackie? It's what I was
- 19:06Speaker 2: looking for, Mary. And it tells me everything I want
- 19:09Speaker 2: to know.
- 19:17Speaker 7: Now, look, Blaine, I came here to your house to
- 19:20Speaker 7: tell you I want more dough than you're giving me.
- 19:22Speaker 2: I deserve it. I took all the risks. What risks, Johnson?
- 19:26Speaker 8: There aren't any risks.
- 19:27Speaker 2: No?
- 19:28Speaker 7: That detective with Wilson got killed, and I'll take the
- 19:31Speaker 7: rap for it if we get found out.
- 19:33Speaker 2: Who's going to find us out? Somebody will, laughing boy.
- 19:37Speaker 2: Laughing boy?
- 19:38Speaker 7: Now listen, your secretary knew all about.
- 19:41Speaker 2: Us, didn't she? Sure, but she's dead.
- 19:43Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, she's dead, thanks to me. And that's another
- 19:46Speaker 7: reason I want more dough. I didn't expect to kill
- 19:49Speaker 7: anyone on this.
- 19:50Speaker 2: job. No one asked you to do any killing. No?
- 19:53Speaker 8: No.
- 19:54Speaker 7: Private Dick was an accident, but I had to kill
- 19:56Speaker 7: your secretary. When I came to see you, she told
- 19:59Speaker 7: me she knew all about us. She listened in when
- 20:02Speaker 7: you phoned me and when we made the plans to
- 20:03Speaker 7: steal a diamond. She wanted 50% of the profits to
- 20:06Speaker 7: keep her mouth shut.
- 20:07Speaker 8: We could have made a deal with her.
- 20:09Speaker 2: I gave her the only safe deal. Now, Blaine, I
- 20:11Speaker 2: want more dough.
- 20:13Speaker 8: Look, Johnson, you're being fairly paid, and there's nothing to
- 20:15Speaker 8: worry about from the police. No one can figure out
- 20:17Speaker 8: who killed Evans and Miss Jones or who has the
- 20:19Speaker 8: diamond or how it disappeared. We're completely in the clear.
- 20:21Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad you think... Am I in a correction, Blaine? Blackie!
- 20:24Speaker 2: You're right, Blaine, when you told me in your office
- 20:27Speaker 2: that the walls have ears. But so do I, and
- 20:31Speaker 2: I like what I just heard. Now, do you and
- 20:33Speaker 2: Johnson here want to come quietly, or shall we be
- 20:36Speaker 2: noisy about it? I'll take care of this guy, Blaine.
- 20:38Speaker 2: He's just my size. Why, Johnson, you... Ah, nice work, Blaine.
- 20:50Speaker 2: I think you cracked his head with that smoke.
- 20:53Speaker 8: A gun butt is harder than any man's head, Johnson.
- 20:55Speaker 2: Well, we used the gun butt on him. When do
- 20:59Speaker 2: we use the other end of it?
- 21:00Speaker 4: Not here.
- 21:01Speaker 2: When he wakes up.
- 21:01Speaker 8: We'll take him for a ride in my car.
- 21:03Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 21:04Speaker 8: And then he'll stay awake.
- 21:05Speaker 4: Yeah?
- 21:06Speaker 2: For a little while before.
- 21:07Speaker 8: He goes to sleep permanently.
- 21:09Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 21:21Speaker 2: Gently, boys, gently.
- 21:23Speaker 3: Why don't you stop?
- 21:24Speaker 2: Oh, this blackie's awful heavy, Mr.
- 21:26Speaker 3: Blaine.
- 21:27Speaker 2: How much longer do we have to carry him? Just
- 21:29Speaker 2: to my car.
- 21:30Speaker 8: It's only a little way down the road.
- 21:32Speaker 2: Gentlemen, I'm not heavy. It's those ropes that you got
- 21:35Speaker 2: me tied up with. Just carry me once around the park,
- 21:39Speaker 2: and then I'll dismiss you. You made one mistake, you know. Yeah? Why, Skye?
- 21:45Speaker 2: You left my fingers free. When you get me to
- 21:47Speaker 2: the car, I can communicate with anybody passing by using
- 21:50Speaker 2: the sign language.
- 21:51Speaker 3: Some sense of humor.
- 21:53Speaker 8: Okay, Johnson, here we are.
- 21:54Speaker 2: Stop him. Hey, don't!
- 21:55Speaker 7: You know, for a minute, Blackie, I thought you'd bounce.
- 22:00Speaker 2: You mean I didn't? Well, Mr. Blaine, here we are.
- 22:03Speaker 2: What goes now?
- 22:04Speaker 8: Put him on the floor on the back of the car,
- 22:06Speaker 8: drive the car out to the airport, and take care
- 22:07Speaker 8: of Mr. Boston Blackie because he's too nosy. How did
- 22:11Speaker 8: you find out about us, Blackie?
- 22:12Speaker 2: A little bird told me, an owl. Awfully wise, you know.
- 22:16Speaker 2: Put him in the car.
- 22:17Speaker 4: I'm getting tired of his talk.
- 22:18Speaker 2: Here, lift. Right. Up. Close the car door. Yes.
- 22:23Speaker 4: There.
- 22:24Speaker 2: Now, help me throw him in the back. Hey, take
- 22:26Speaker 2: it easy. I'm fragile. Throw him in. In he goes.
- 22:28Speaker 2: You ought to be happy. You can still feel pain.
- 22:33Speaker 2: Come on, boss. In the front. All right.
- 22:36Speaker 8: Too bad you can't enjoy the scenery from back there, Blackie.
- 22:39Speaker 2: I can see it now from the floor. Pretty rug
- 22:43Speaker 2: you threw me on here.
- 22:44Speaker 7: If I'd known you were going to land on top
- 22:46Speaker 7: of it, I'd have loaded it with nails.
- 22:47Speaker 2: Temper, temper. Ah, shut up. Let's go, Blaine. So, you know,
- 22:54Speaker 2: this job sure called for a lot of killing, Blaine.
- 22:57Speaker 2: The price goes up each time.
- 22:59Speaker 8: Now, you can't complain to me about this one, Johnson.
- 23:01Speaker 8: You're in on this as much as I am.
- 23:03Speaker 2: We'll talk about that some other time. Comfortable back there, Blackie? Oh, very. Johnson,
- 23:09Speaker 2: do you smell smoke? Huh? Yeah, a little. Well, maybe
- 23:14Speaker 2: we just passed a bonfire or something. Smoke's coming from
- 23:17Speaker 2: back here, kiddies. Hey, Blaine, look, Blackie's untied. Blackie, how
- 23:22Speaker 2: did you get out of those ropes? I'll write you
- 23:23Speaker 2: a letter. And don't look around here to find out
- 23:25Speaker 2: what made that fire. I've got to find out. Look out, Blaine,
- 23:28Speaker 2: we're heading for a tree. I can't stop it. Okay,
- 23:33Speaker 2: both of you, don't move. I can't move very well.
- 23:36Speaker 2: That steering wheel got me in the chest. Fractured that
- 23:39Speaker 2: laugh of yours. I can see that. Good thing. It's
- 23:42Speaker 2: getting rather annoying. But the crash did give me a break.
- 23:46Speaker 2: Let me lean over and borrow this gun of yours.
- 23:49Speaker 7: How did you get out of those ropes, Blackie?
- 23:51Speaker 2: I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my
- 23:54Speaker 2: little cigarette lighter. You see, you left my fingers free.
- 23:58Speaker 2: I reached the lighter, snapped it on, and burned the ropes.
- 24:01Speaker 2: But the fire's out now. Let's go down to headquarters
- 24:04Speaker 2: and see if Faraday's in. If you're a good boy, Faraday,
- 24:16Speaker 2: I'll tell you exactly what the story is on this case,
- 24:18Speaker 2: with gestures.
- 24:19Speaker 4: What happens if I'm a bad boy, Blackie?
- 24:21Speaker 2: No gestures. Now, listen. I found out that the plane,
- 24:25Speaker 2: which was supposed to have come from the west, came
- 24:28Speaker 2: into the airport from the northeast. Why?
- 24:30Speaker 4: It's his story, and he asked me questions.
- 24:33Speaker 2: Because it was supposed to come in from that direction,
- 24:36Speaker 2: and it was supposed to fly low over Holly Hills,
- 24:38Speaker 2: and it did. Mm-hmm.
- 24:40Speaker 4: Send the pilot, Johnson, a fan letter.
- 24:42Speaker 2: I'll send him a fan letter because that's where you
- 24:44Speaker 2: just put him. I'm using. Listen, Faraday, I used the
- 24:48Speaker 2: police department's metal detector on Blaine's estate in Holly Hills
- 24:51Speaker 2: and I found something he buried. You know what it was?
- 24:54Speaker 4: A bone. He's really part dog.
- 24:56Speaker 2: It was an oxygen tank and mask. Bob Johnson flew
- 25:01Speaker 2: his plane high enough to make Wilson and Jack Evans
- 25:04Speaker 2: black out, but he didn't pass out because he used
- 25:06Speaker 2: an oxygen mask. Only he didn't want it found on
- 25:09Speaker 2: the plane when he landed, so he ducked it over
- 25:12Speaker 2: Holly Hills by arrangement.
- 25:14Speaker 4: And Blaine found it by arrangement and buried it.
- 25:16Speaker 2: But I found it where he buried it because I
- 25:19Speaker 2: suspected that's exactly what he'd done. The only way that
- 25:23Speaker 2: air fantasy could have been accomplished, actually. The pilot, Johnson,
- 25:28Speaker 2: didn't black out at all. He went back in the
- 25:30Speaker 2: plane to remove the diamond from Wilson, only Jack Evans
- 25:33Speaker 2: was still conscious and saw him. So Johnson had to
- 25:36Speaker 2: kill him. The diamond was dropped with the oxygen mask
- 25:40Speaker 2: on Blaine's estate.
- 25:41Speaker 4: But not buried with it. We picked up the diamond
- 25:44Speaker 4: in Blaine's safe after you brought him and Johnson into headquarters.
- 25:48Speaker 4: That ends that, I guess. Thanks for your help, Blackie.
- 25:51Speaker 2: You're perfectly welcome, Inspector. Here, let me light that cigarette
- 25:55Speaker 2: for you.
- 25:57Speaker 4: Why use that cigarette lighter? Those darn things never work. Hmm.
- 26:02Speaker 2: I guess they're like a certain police inspector. Never work.
- 26:07Speaker 2: until there's something important to do.
- 26:18Speaker 1: That was Boston Blackie in Midair Diamond Theft. Until the
- 26:21Speaker 1: next mystery broadcast, good night, and thank you for joining us.
- 26:25Speaker 1: Follow Old Time Mystery Radio for more classic mystery and
- 26:29Speaker 1: detective broadcasts.