Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Philip Marlowe: The Ebony Link (EP1427)

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Philip Marlowe: The Ebony Link (EP1427) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
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to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at
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Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com
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slash Radio Detectives. Before we get started, this program is brought to you
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by the financial support of our listeners. Thank you so much for your support.
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You can support the show what support Great Detectives dot neit. You can
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also mail a check to Adam Graham peel box one five none one three Boise
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alohol eight three seven one five. Well, now it's time for today's episode
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of the Adventures of Philip Marlow. Original aired eight May twenty eighth of nineteen
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forty nine, and the title is the Ebony Link. Listen to me and
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never forget it. Crime is a sucker's road, and those who travel had
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wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave. There's no other
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end, but they never learn. It was ugly from the start. This
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time it's just black mail that mushrooms didn't murder, and all because of wild
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artists on a hilltop, A man in a wheelchair and a red head manicurists
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were held two tight together. I won small lebny Link from the pen of
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Raymond Chandler, outstanding author of Mister Rae, comes his most famous character and
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crime's most deadly enemy. As we present the Adventures of Philip Marlin now with
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Gerald Moore starred as Philip Marlowe, we bring you tonight's exciting story, The
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Ebony Link. I'd spent a dismal day tracking down another wise guy. He
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thought he could see fast money over the sights of her forty five that ended
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up like they all do. It was flat on his face in an alley.
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His life, dripping into a sewer was what he deserved. The only
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feeling I got from it was that I wanted a bad bed. So I
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went home, And when I stepped out of the elevator and started down the
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hall, I knew I'd have to postpone it because leaning on my door bell
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was a redhead who looked very good from a distance, because she lost ground
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with every step I took. Because the closer I got, the more or
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I saw of a mouth shaped by indecision. Advised, if we're nothing but
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mass carret casuness and shallow green, flashy clothes that carried the kind of bog
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and basement label you can't tear off. Good evening looking for me? Yeah,
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you're a private detective named Marlow. I am my name. Have a
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chair, Miss Johnson? Thanks? What's your difficulty, Miss Johnson? Oh
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it's not me, it's my sister rot in Santa Barbara. Can you go
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there right away? A twelve see if you road. Maybe you should tell
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me what it's all about. Huh, Well, she loaned a gentleman friend
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of her some money. Okay, okay, that's enough of the sister act.
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Baby, what's the gag? Okay, I don't think I understand.
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Number one, there's no eight twelve on Cview Road. It runs into the
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ocean at the six hundred block. I know I used to live there.
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Number two when picking a phony name, Johnson is the second most popular in
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the book. And number three, baby me, hiring out as a patsy
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of any kind is lousy for my business. So you better pick him up.
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Oh no, I mean it, so no. Shoot if you follow
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me, okay, kid, just don't slam the door on your way out.
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She backed out. Fast, pulling the door closed as she went,
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and I gave her five seconds head start, and then looked in time to
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see the top of her hat disappearing down the stairs. But before I could
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follow her, the elevator gates slid open, and a dapper man with a
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square face I had seen somewhere before. I hailed me. Certainly, go
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ahead, I found you, sir, remember me, Ramsey, mister Ivan
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pack chop. Oh, yeah, he wants to see you, sir.
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Is a terry urgent. Yeah but I well, okay, Ramsey. Who's
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mister Pack now waiting downstairs in the car? Sir, I'll show you.
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We tried your office first, but it was locked. I was afraid you
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might have gone out of town. You aren't going, no hope and no
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no. But it was close by the way. How is mister Pack these
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days still confined to his wheelchair? Yes, sir, but he gets around
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fairly well with Hay to help him. Of course, what's the matter,
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mister Morlow looking for someone? Not exactly Ramsey chances actually ducked out the back
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way and still running. Oh, I beg your pardon, sir. This
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way mister Mollow here we are, Hello, Ivan, just found you,
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or just drive around the block Ramsey, he said it was hurting. It's
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really that bad. Yes, it is. Roll off the glass there,
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Marlow. It's best if even Ramsey doesn't hear this. Okay, that's it
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the Marlow. I'm being blackmailed again. Huh. It happened six months ago
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for ten thousand. This time it's fifty thousand. Brother, What they get,
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Anya Evan, what's the lever? The lever is that I happen to
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love my wife Leona, that I happen to feel it's my duty as a
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husband to protect our reputation and shield her from heartbreak. I still don't get
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it. Wellow, I tell you this because you're the only person I can
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trust. Leona spent a year in prison back East when she was a kid.
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But that's nothing to be ashamed of all your life, I know,
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I know. Take it easy. I'm sorry, bluntly. I can't afford
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to throw that much money away. On the other hand, if I don't
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pay, they threatened to expose Leona as a jail bird. She couldn't stand
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that, Mala. I know she ran away the first time this happened.
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He said, she wouldn't be that kind of burden to me. If she
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finds out about this new demand, she may do something. Even I'm more
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desperate. Black males always tough. Who's doing it? I don't know,
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it's more. All we have to go on is this letter. Let's say,
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Yeah, it's got an LA postmark. The stationary is a high grade
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that doesn't match. That cheap envelope on the top of the page has been
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cut off. See yeah, strange backhand too. Huh Hey, hey,
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this demand's a payoff by twelve thirty to night. Why don't you give me
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more time? I just got the letter this afternoon. Yeah, look,
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Marlowe, I realize what you're up against. Try try. Will you find
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out who wrote that letter? I have two alternatives. Pay him, We'll
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kill him, but I'm no killer. I'll pay if I have to.
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But maybe with luck and your help, we can find a soft spot in
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his armor. What do you say, Well, I'll try. Don't take
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any bed, Simon, I haven't said he'd be in his office all night.
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Then drop me off at home, where I get in my own car,
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hold around a big gray Sedan in the driveway, and hold a small
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sample of the Black Males stationary into the police lab. There I got a
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break. Boys had it classified and thirty minutes and after another thirty handed me
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the names of two business houses and twelve hotels in the city who used it.
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It's too many to check in the time allowed, so I called Ivan
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pack and started down the list. He stopped me at the fourth hotel,
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which was the Beverly Crest, with a word that his wife, leowner,
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had spent a lot of time and money shopping in the hotel's exclusive arcade.
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So I drove out to the Beverly Crest, watching a big gray sedan in
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my rear view mirror most of the way. But in the hotel I killed
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another hour drawing blanks, even at the writing room, blodders, until on
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the way out I got another break. The beauty shop was closing for the
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night, and inside, slipping a coat over her manicurist uniform, was a
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redhead, the same redhead who had tried to sacktrack me to Santa Barbara.
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I followed her out of the hotel, and once she got around at the
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back, I stopped it. What do you want? I got curious about
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your sister. Sister, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't
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have a sister, and I never saw you before in my life. Wishful
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thinking. Baby. You can talk here over a desk at police headquarters.
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But you're going to talk, how which is it? All right? Okay,
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Marlo, Sure I'll talk. I got a sister in Santa Barbara,
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all right. She's a mermaid. She comes up once a year a fish
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for sea golden. She wanted you to bait the hook. Come on,
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come on, straighten it out. You're smack in the middle of a lot
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of trouble and it's getting deeper fast. For leieve no, I'm not boys
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guy. You're in the middle. In fact, you got trouble right behind
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your saying. By the time I got entangled from the ash can, so
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I could see was the back of a big gray sedan taking a corner so
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fast. I only caught the last three numbers of his tag four forty.
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But as I stood up and dusted myself off, I saw something black and
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shiny. It was a five sided ebony cuffling I dropped in my pocket.
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As I went inside the hotel again, five to a bell hop got me
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in. The manicurist's real name Ria Fleming, but even a ten spot failed
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to raise her address. So I called my client again, tried Rhea's name
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on him. That missed. I asked permission to go and see Leona about
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it. That got me sixty seconds of argument, ten of dead silence,
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and finally, are very reluctant, okay from eitherm Twenty minutes later, I
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pulled up at ninety four Camden Drive in front of a house sprawling in Spanish
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that was home do I Haven and Leona Pack and the delicate dark girl with
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the shy gray eyes and went to the door was Leona herself. Yes,
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I'm a Philip Marlow and the Sequoia credited justice missus Pack and told you patronize
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a manicurist, Miss Riha Fleming at the Beverly Crest Hotel. Why, yes,
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occasionally is anything wrong? Oh no, no, nothing serious, It's
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all may I coumen? Oh of course, I'd like to ask you a
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few questions about miss Fleming. Well, I really don't know her very well.
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Oh I understand that, but you might know where she lives, for
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instance, huh, Well, I did happen to drop her off one evening
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in the corner of Sunset and Mariposa, I think, won't you sit down?
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Missus? H Where did she live before she came to Los Angeles?
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I have no idea. You don't well do you happen to know? If
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she writes in a heavy the angular backhand? Mister Marlin, may I see
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your credential? Why? Of course? If you wish, no, don't
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bother. It happened again, hasn't it. Iven's received another letter and I'm
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oh, are you really private detective working for Ivan? Oh? That's a
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cheap trick, I admitted, But we wanted to keep this from you,
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leoner. I won't let it happen. Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
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listen to me. Ivan's doing everything possible to stop this business. Not
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give us a chance. You're running away now. It would be the worst
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thing you could do to it. It's so terribly unfair. We're on your
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side, don't you understand that? And you're in a position to help us
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if you will. Marlow, is it real? Fleming? Now? She's
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in on it, but not alone. She doesn't have the brains, but
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the weather is behind it. Belongs to this ebony cuffling. I haven't see
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it before, Leona, thank her? No, no, I haven't it's
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too bad? Well do you happen to know anybody would drive a big gray
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Sadan The license number ends in four point forty. There might be Bruce Morocheck,
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moro check who's he? An artist? I even hired to do a
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portrait of me pictures and finished. Yet it may never be. Bruce's too
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temperamental and exacting. Why did you ask about him, Marlow? Because I've
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been tailed grace of Dan since I first started in this message. I couldn't
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be Bruce. I'm sure of that. Now we'll see And Leona, until
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you hear from me again, promise you won't do anything rash. Where are
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you going to? Al Mala? Put some pressure on Riya fleming A characters
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all the sterling qualities of mud Pie, and I think she'll crack just as
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easily. So long, Leona, I'll call you. In spite of what
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Leona had said, I still thought there might be more to Bruce Morocheck than
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ever got on canvas. When I was out of the house and halfway to
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my car, I knew might have a chance to find out because across the
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street a door flew open on a big gray Sadan better than six feet of
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swarthy but a handsome man climbed out and rushed toward me. It wasn't the
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lock of black wavy hair that dangled dashingly over one eye, but the fact
11:56
that his hands were curled the very large fists me a definite dem or us
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feeling about him in the closer he got the most certain I was that I'd
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have to let him have it first. When he got within rich I did
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just that, and think you that whatever chance to try this? How long
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have you had on that polo shirts pick up all day? Confound you.
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But you don't have to knock me down to find that out, you idiot.
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I was fast to that way, and I'm not through yet. You've
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attaging me all night, and I don't like it. How come you wouldn't
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understand crying? Come on, I haven't got a sign all right. Until
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yesterday, I was working on a portrait of missus pet. Yeah, she's
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an exquisite subject, but I quit because it it became impossible. She's being
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so upset by something or someone she doesn't even look like the same person from
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one day to the next. And that's supposed to explain why I've been telling
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me all over town. I told you you wouldn't understand. A portrait artist
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is not only a painting isn't It must be a psychologist, a doctor,
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even a detective if necessary, when his subject's beauty is being destroyed before his
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eye. Oh, come on, it's true. So I followed mister pet
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to you and you to the Beverly Crest Hotel because you are up to something.
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I wonder know what it is. Naturally, it wasn't you put a
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slug on me at the hotel? Huh the butt? The slug slug?
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Ah, No, no, no, I saw you walk around to the
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back. But the time I got there, a car was driving off.
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I thought you were in it. So I tried to follow, but I
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lost it. Yeah, and I came up here. Well, let me
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tell you something more. Check your own good and your subjects. If you're
13:18
on the level, go home. And if you're not on a level,
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brother, you better get out of town while you still can. Good night.
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I looked back just before I turned the corner, and Morocheck was still
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standing where I left him. So I drove out the sunset and down a
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Mariposa where I parked and started walking. And why it was more than an
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hour ringing doorbells, interviewing kids, husbands, and homemakers, and running down
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false leeds before I finally found the mailbox label Rea Fleming Rear a brown stuckle
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two blocks south. I hacked my ways through the underbrush, hugging in the
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front house to have converted guest cards in the back number eighty eight eleven.
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I didn't bother knock. I just walked in. Hey, darling, I
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was beginning to think you'd never get get out, get out of here.
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On screen, I scream louder, who's the boyfriend you're expecting? Rayah,
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I don't have a boyfriend. Wasn't your grandfather that piled me up at the
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hotel tonight? Baby? It's your last chance? Who was it? I
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don't seem to recall the incident you refer tomorrow. I wasn't shirk. You're
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in a rotten blackmailing game right up your earrings and what's more, your extortion.
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Let I went through the mails. You get that. That's a federal
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wrap. You can't beat it. I'm gonna see that you don't because I'm
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sick and tired of fooling with you. You're too stupid to realize when you're
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late. I didn't know that, marlow Who are you calling, Pops?
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Of course, I'm through. I'm putting you out of circulation right now.
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Oh wait, don't do that. I'll tell you who's with me? Okay
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it? No I care, Riya come back here, you fool. Real
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holy smoke, real? Who was who did this? Gee? I didn't
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figure to go this far. I just didn't realize. I no, I
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guess you didn't. Baby One down and one to go in just a moment,
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the second act of Philip Marlowe. But first, if you like the
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weather here, cloudy with threats, torret with action, showers of trouble later
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tonight and tomorrow, you'll find more of the same on Sundays when Danny Clover
15:31
and Sam Spade go into action. Danny Clover is the thoroughly human, fast
15:35
thinking detective of Broadway as my beat, and Sam Spade is the well,
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who else but the Sam Spade of Dashall Hammett's fertile, ingenious brain. On
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most of these same CBS stations tomorrow, you'll find Danny Clover prowling the Great
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White Way late in the afternoon, and Sam Spade on the hunt in the
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evening. Now with our star Gerald Moore, we returned to the second act
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of Philip Marlowe and tonight story, the Ebony Link. As Ria Fleming's face
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relaxed and dead, the gaping frightened people who make up every street scene began
16:18
together, and as each newcomer timidly edged forward and then caught his breath at
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the sight of the dead girl, and in a small, tight voice asked,
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whoever was standing next to him would have happened? Only one thought kept
16:30
running through my mind. Leona's blacknailer and the murder of Rear were one and
16:34
the same. So, leaving my card with an old, toothless video who
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demanded to know why I was running away before the police arrived, I piled
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into my car and headed for Ivan Pack's office on a Breyer. I pulled
16:45
to a stop just as a chauffeur named Ramsey darted out of the building and
16:48
into the family limousine parked at the curve and pulled away fast. But since
16:52
Pack was the man I wanted to see, I dismissed the thought of an
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un sumary chase, went to the door and knocked. Five minutes went by
16:57
before my client wheeled them off out Hi an inner cubby hole and opened up
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and another five. Well, I brought him up to date, blow by
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blow the Redhead's spolent death, including murdered Marlow. Yeah, my money,
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the news fits whoever she's working for? Who is also the party to drop
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me in the alley behind the Beverly Crest Hotel and this ebony cup Lincoln doing
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it? Ever seen it before? Why? No? No? I haven't
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you sure, Ivan, Sure it wasn't once holding a lot of fancy shirt
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together for one mister Morochek, maybe Bruce for by him Marlow, because he's
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been tagging me all night. Say tell me, Ivan, how well do
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you know him? I met him about six or seven months ago at my
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club. I don't remember who introduced us. Yeah, well that fits a
17:37
blackmail started just about that time. Now look, just to make it a
17:41
little tighter all the way around. You can't recall who recommended him to you?
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Is just the right man to faintly on his picture? Can't you?
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No? I can't. But on the other hand, Marlow, neither can
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I recall having heard anything bad about him? Now, now look you say
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he's been following you all night? Close enough to do a timestep. What
17:56
are you getting at? Just this? Was he around the place where the
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girl was killed? Well my knowledge, no, but that shouldn't mean too
18:03
much because the murder happened after we had our little run in, so it
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naturally be careful about my seeing him. Well, besides, Ivan, he
18:11
was going to commit murder. So it's essentially'd arrive in the pot from eighty
18:12
eight eleven Mariposa without fans. Eighty eight eleven Mariposa. Mallow, Yeah,
18:18
but that's the address I just saw on a slip of paper in Ramsey's desk.
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There was a phone number two. Wait a minute, Joe chaffez Ria
18:23
Fleming's address. Yes, he got hold of my wheels. Yeah, it's
18:27
that fat desk there, just inside that partition, you know, Ivan.
18:30
When I pulled up outside here, I saw Ramsey leave. You know where
18:33
he was going? Yes, he was going to dinner. Unless he hasn't
18:37
eaten in five years, I don't think that's where he was going. He
18:38
lurched from the curb like it was on fire. Here, Mallow, the
18:41
top draw on the right called the bank, I said, yeah, eighty
18:47
eight eleven Mariposa, right, phone number, and nothing else except except this.
18:52
What did you find Marlow a cufflink, Ivan, twin to the one
18:56
in my pocket, and maybe a murderer who isn't named Marachek. You mean
19:00
Ramsey? Yeah, oh no, No, that couldn't be. Why not.
19:03
Ramsey's been here with me for the past two hours. So you mustn't
19:07
discount Mara check or anyone else just because of this cup link in the address
19:11
in that case, No, but I can include Ramsey along with the late
19:14
Miss Fleming is at least one accomplice on what's fast getting to be a very
19:17
elaborate setup. Ivan. Do you know where Marachek lives? Yes, at
19:21
his studio Lookout Mountain Road, just off Laura Kenyon Bullavara Kenyon. But I
19:23
don't know the exact address, but you ought to be able to get that
19:26
from Leona. Yeah. Well, I'll get in touch with you later,
19:30
Ivan, hul Leona, I listen hard. Did Bruce Marachek come up to
19:45
see you after I left? Yes? He did. What he say,
19:48
well, only that he'd collided with you on the stairs and that he wanted
19:51
to know who you were, what business you had with me? You tell
19:53
him, of course not, I wouldn't tell anybody anything about this. He
19:56
didn't like that. Huh No, As a matter of fact, that's the
19:59
reason he went home right away. Within five minutes. He said he was
20:03
going back to a studio on It'd be there all night if I needed any
20:04
protection. But why is it because of something you found out at Rhea's place?
20:08
No, it runs the other way. It's what I didn't find out.
20:11
She was murdered, Leona, she was real. Who could have done?
20:17
Whether's blackmailing you? I am positive, But whether or not that's Mara
20:19
check, I don't know yet. Now, look what's the number of his
20:22
place on Lookout Mountain Road, Leona, come on fast one seven, one
20:25
seventy three, Thank you and goodbye. I was twenty minutes wriggling through the
20:34
thick Hollywood traffic to Laurel Canyon and another ten climbing Lookout Mountain Road, which
20:37
was an abrupt spiral of the cattam that belonged in the Alps. So when
20:41
I popped away from the day window with Ruth, there was number one seventy
20:45
three started up through the junior jungle that led to the front door. It
20:48
was exactly ten o'clock and considering the zest of my last meeting with the artist,
20:52
A good time for me to be careful. So when I knocked on
20:55
the heavy oak that showed splashes of yellow at the threshold, and I did
20:57
it to the barrel of my thirty eighth, but I got no answer.
21:00
I tried it again louder. It was then that Marachek replied, but not
21:04
as I had expected, because he was behind me, and his greeting was
21:07
a physticize of a cannon ball coming at the side of my head. Fast,
21:11
no, man, loyal, take your gun here, and if I
21:15
have to use it, I will no doubt it worked before. Eh,
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what are you talking about? Come on, bust to get off a checked
21:22
like a paint. Let's not waste each other's time, all right? Then
21:26
inside model where we can get to the point fast and in privacy. Gone.
21:30
The door is not locked, Detective. I don't know what you want
21:34
here, but I'm going to find out. Believe me, you can skip
21:37
the thumb screws n brand. I'll make it very plain for you. I
21:41
want to know why you think you can get away with a double header like
21:42
blackmailing Leona and murdering your own accomplice. Any comment yes, you're either stupid
21:48
or a raving maniac. You listen to me. Leona Packer is a good
21:52
friend of mine. Model, I'm very fond of her. I'm not going
21:53
to stand here and be accused of blackmailing her. And I suppose that talk
21:56
of murder at eighty eight eleven Mariposa also offends. It does. And until
22:00
you mentioned it, Model, I didn't even know Leona's trouble was blackmail.
22:04
And as for a murder, I said, that's something on a Mariposa.
22:07
I have been here painting since I last saw you, which who will swear
22:11
to nobody. But if you will step over here, you can see that
22:15
this trend, this is fresh, that the paint is still. It was
22:18
my chance. The second he got in front of his canvas, he forgot
22:21
he was holding my thirty eight in his hand, and as he talked,
22:22
he pointed with the barrel like was a paintbrush. When I was close to
22:26
him and my right foot was against one leg of the easy time was right.
22:30
You sat this fire white check now, since I'll also use this kind
22:34
if I have to get up right over there against that wall, come on
22:38
to get a chance to tell that story again. Bruce Boyd, but this
22:41
time the police and I, hey, hey, Murray, check what that
22:47
painting there? That's Leona? Right, of course that's Leona. Does it
22:52
look like a battleship? No comment? But also murra chick, it looks
22:56
like a lot more. And but that I mean the answer to who's both
22:57
the black mailer of Leona and Plumbing's killer? Now I think I know apologies
23:03
in Farewell Buster, nothing worse than a second. But mane, I don't
23:07
understand. Where are you going to Leona's place? Friend? Ramsey as due
23:11
there at the moment, and that made me murder again. So long Rambrandt.
23:19
Once I was off the mountain, back on the Laurel Canyon, then
23:22
open the sunset and pointed toward Beverly Hills and Leone's house on Camden Drive.
23:26
I kept my right foot heavy on the accelerator, in my mind working just
23:29
as fast, because no matter which way I added things, I was still
23:32
facing a lot on a little a few important points, shy of figuring the
23:36
whole deal. Five minutes later, when I was parked and walking toward the
23:38
door of number ninety four, nothing was any clearer. But then it didn't
23:42
seem to matter, because when I glanced in a side window as I reached
23:47
for the doorbell, I saw Leona sitting alone on the edge of the couch
23:49
like it was going to blow up any minute. Her face, which was
23:52
frozen in a half crazed expression of the condemned man watching his execution. A
23:56
shop and an axe told me that brother Ramsey was already present, probably out
24:00
of my view, at least a gun in his hand. But since I'd
24:03
gone this far and what I knew would be a very sorry case, I
24:07
decided to play a chin out and hands tight over thirty eight in pocket.
24:11
Oh were there? It's me, Leona Marlow. Oh one minute, Mallow,
24:18
I look aside. I had a bad one though alone. Yes,
24:22
yes, come in, won't you have been expecting you? Yeah? Well
24:26
I just left Mara check le owner. I was wrong about him being your
24:30
black matter. I mean, of course you were. That's what I tried
24:32
to tell you on the phone. Phil, What finally convinced you a picture?
24:37
You mind? If I sit down? I've been doing a lot of
24:37
running around tonight. Of course, what picked your Phil? Oh? The
24:45
one he did of you? I can't say much for it, though,
24:48
No, it isn't too good, is it? But how to tell me
24:52
the boy genius, wasn't it? Yes? I'm interested, Oh you should
24:56
be, Leona. It was a blush you had on, remember a white
25:00
one with cuflings, coupling ebony ones like this when I showed you when I
25:07
was getting earlier, When you said you didn't recognize the one out of the
25:11
set, you must have given Ramsey as a president after Bruce Morrochek was through
25:14
patting your picture, the one that says the blackmailer of mister Ivan Pack is
25:18
you missus Ivan Pack? No, and you kill Ria Fleming too? No,
25:21
No, you're wrong, mama. Why would I kill Rena for the
25:22
same reason you didnied recognizing the cufling. You didn't want me to get to
25:26
Ramsey, so you killed Ria before she could name him when I was at
25:29
the cottage. And then you still couldn't get me to Ramsey because if I
25:30
pressured him enough, I'd have to find out his game was cutting it on
25:33
you because he knew you were blackmailing yourself. I heard enough. You're smart,
25:37
model, very smart. But how do you think you're going to prove
25:40
all this all? Right? Ramsey? Figured you kill his girlfriend Ria would
25:44
send him flying up here in Mardan's office made a bigger cut, or maybe
25:47
all of the fifty grand. Now that you've graduated to blackmail a murder,
25:49
I've been waiting and watching him, hasn't Leona, He must be daddy in
25:55
this probably in this room, and that you find a way. How really
26:03
he's there? Mallow be either Colt. I called iven Pack and told me
26:21
we wouldn't have to pay the blackmail money and why There was a long silence
26:25
before he said goodbye, and I went to the police headquarters, where an
26:27
uncomfortable hour and a half went by before homicide was satisfied, and then had
26:32
signed a complete confession. So by the time I got over to my client's
26:36
office on Lobrea, where I knew I had to go, it was almost
26:37
twelve thirty, the hour originally set for the pail, and I was inside
26:42
and sitting next to the man in the wheelchair, whose watered eyes never left
26:45
my face. It was exactly that, straight up and down. A little
26:49
clock in the corner of the room said, so well, Mallow, I
26:55
just saved fifty thousand dollars, didn't I Maybe a little more than that,
26:59
Ivan, maybe unhappiness for years to come. Huh. Yes, yes,
27:03
I suppose Leona wanted two things Ivan your dough and Bruce Morocheck. She didn't
27:07
get either one. The ten grands you paid the first time in the money
27:11
she was going to get tonight would be a bait to catch a starving artist.
27:15
I was wrong about him. He wasn't interested except as an artist,
27:18
and your chawfriend, your wife's manicurist, neue enough between them to try to
27:21
get a piece of that dough themselves. Yes, I owe you a lot,
27:23
Mala. After all, I just said I saved fifty thousand dollars,
27:29
didn't I, even though I lost a wife. Good night, Mala,
27:34
I've talked to you tomorrow. Sure night, Evan. Outside the night air
27:48
was clear, almost cold, how good against my face. So when I
27:55
got to where my car was parked, I didn't get in right away,
27:56
but stood next to it thought about Ivan. Two people he trusted most,
28:02
his wife and his chauffeur, one already dead, the other son would be.
28:08
I reached into my pocket for a cigarette and came out and stayed with
28:12
the cufflink, the ebony cufflin jet black clear through. I dropped it into
28:21
the gutter where it belongs, then got into my car and went home.
28:42
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe created by Raymond Chandler, star Gerald Moore and are
28:48
produced and directed by Norman McDonald. Script is by Meldon la Robert Mitchell and
28:52
Gene Levitt. Featured in the cast were Edgar Barrier, Gene Bates, Larry
28:56
Dobkin, Georgia Ellis, and Ron Brogan. The special music by Richard o'urunt.
29:04
Be sure and be with us again next week, when Philip Marlowe says,
29:08
I was hired to find a thief, and I did one thousand miles
29:12
from home, But first I found a hammi othello, a lush with a
29:17
luger, and a fresh corpse in the closet, all because the only woman
29:22
in sight wouldn't play fair. There's gold in them trills. When just a
29:37
little bit later tonight, sing It Again comes along, offering a grand prize
29:41
of fifty two thousand dollars to some lucky CBS listener. Phone calls will be
29:45
going out to listeners from coast to coast asking for answers to the merry Tuneful
29:48
riddle songs, which, if you solve one correctly. It gives you a
29:52
chance at the Fabulous Fatom Voice Award tonight. It's twenty seven thousand and wonderful
29:59
prizes if you can tell who the Fatom is, plus twenty five thousand in
30:03
cash if you can answer one more question about him. So stay tuned to
30:07
CBS for Sing It Again, which comes along later tonight, and for Gangbusters,
30:12
which follows immediately over most of these same CBS network stations. This is
30:18
Roy Rowan speaking. This is CBS the Columbia Broadcasting System. Welcome back.
30:37
Well, this was a solid episode. I love the reaction of the client
30:42
in this case. Too often when people find out a spouse was a murderer
30:51
or planning to kill them or was murdered themselves, the reaction is this kind
30:56
of a bloise. That's how he tried to kill you? Really, and
31:00
Marlow, how did you stumble onto the solution to the case? This one,
31:07
I think was a little bit more human and realistic. He still got
31:11
those questions in, but the reaction was a bit more human and fit with
31:18
the concept of the story. I thought the Couplinks clue was a nice clever
31:26
one and it definitely threw us off the trail because we typically associate that as
31:33
a male accessory, so we're not even going to consider the possibility that it
31:40
was a woman's wearing the couplinks. This episode also featured the debut and kind
31:47
of first draft of the Philip Marlowe General opening, and in some ways it's
31:52
one of the more iconic openings in radio. And the big shock is that
31:56
we don't even hear the first attempt at it until thirty some episodes in.
32:02
And it's a little odd too, because Gerald Moore reads it in a very
32:06
soft voice. But as I said, this is the first attempt and we're
32:09
going to see a few changes in openings over the next few weeks as they
32:15
work out the exact sound and phrasing of the opening line, but the gist
32:22
is the same and I love it as an opening. It does a great
32:24
job of setting the tone. Also, one other thing I noticed here is
32:29
Philip Marlow's big failing as a detective. It came to me that, at
32:37
least in the radio version, it is the inability to avoid telling people his
32:44
business, and sometimes if the client is a murderer, that's kind of understandable.
32:49
In this case, he told it to the wife of the client.
32:52
So I'm to a point now where when marlow says that he tells someone he's
32:58
going to visit somebody and they end up dead, I'm immediately suspicious of the
33:04
person he told. He's got to stop doing that. Well, we'll see
33:07
if he does anyway. Well, that will do it for today. We'll
33:09
be back tomorrow with Nick Harter and then be sure and be with us next
33:15
Wednesday for another episode of the Adventures of Philip Marlowe. In the meantime,
33:20
send you comments to Box thirteen at Great Detactives dot net, follow us on
33:23
Twitter, Radio Attactives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook
33:28
dot com. Slash Radio Detectives from Boise, Adaho. This is your host,
33:31
Adam Grahamson and Off