Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Crime and Peter Chambers: The Missing Earring Murder (EP1450)

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Crime and Peter Chambers: The Missing Earring Murder (EP1450) · 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 Boiseida Ho. This is
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your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it to
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me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio
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Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com slash
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Radio Detectives. Well, before we do get started, I want to encourage
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you to pick up your copy of All I Needed to Know Learn from Colombo.
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In it, take a look at life lessons from seven great detectives of
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radio, literature and film, including Frank Raised in Holiday, Colombo and Nero
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Wolf, and I examined life lessons that can be learned from each of their
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careers. The book is available in the Kindle or Knook stores and you can
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access that title on all of my titles at store doc Great Detectives dot Net.
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Well, now it's time for Crime and Peter Chambers. The title of
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today's episode is The Missing Earring Murder. The original air ed eight June.
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The first nineteen fifty four Crime and Peter Chambers created by Henry Kane, transcribed
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then starring Dane Plot, private investigator, duly licensed and duly sworn Peter Chambers.
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You're a private eye. That's your business. Anything else that's for lass.
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You're strolling along Fifth Avenue on a beautiful spring afternoon and you stop at
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the window of Fitch's department store for a peak at the styles, and then
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suddenly she's there beside you, a tall blonde with curves and electric blonde with
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boltage. She looks undecided, seems as though she wants to say something,
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and well, maybe spring has gotten into you. So you start the ball
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rolling with a deathless piece of dialogue. Beautiful day, isn't it? Yes?
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Lovely? And whether it's perfect for strolling? Yes? May we stroll?
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Yes? Yes, of course. My name is Angela went with I'm
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Peter Chambers. We're going to call on my uncle, mister Chambers. We'll
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go there directly, if you don't mind. Uncle. She says, we're
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going to call on my uncle. Well, it's springtime in Manhattan and the
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squirrels are out. But if that's the way she wants it, she's far
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too beautiful to argue with. So you accompany her to Madison and in the
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elegant hotel, you're ride up to the Tower apartment and she nibbles with delicate
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knuckles on a thickly impressive door. My uncle isn't well. I don't want
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to wake him if he's sleeping. Uh. Do you have a key?
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Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Well, then let's
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use it. Huh, yes, yes I shall. Inside, you get
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a back view of an old guy snoozing by an open window. You can't
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see his hands there on his lap. Angela taps you, and you tiptoe
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behind her into another room. She sits down and crosses her legs, and
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you've got trouble keeping your eyes away from her knees, but you manage well.
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Do you have it? I beg your pardon? Did you bring it?
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Bring? What the ear ring? Earring? Where's my handbag? Handbag?
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Well? Here it is, Oh thank you. Here read this a
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clipping which I tore from personal column of the Times. Please read it out
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loud. All right. Let me see now, if the lady who lost
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an ear ring at the art student's ball Friday evening will meet me in front
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of Fitch's department store Tuesday afternoon between two and two thirty, I shall be
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happy to return. Now, do you understand? Yes, yes I do,
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And I'm terribly sorry, sorry, but why Look, look, miss
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Wentworth, I didn't insert that ad. You didn't but no, no,
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I just happened to be there, and well you were there. Well,
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conversation spring up. Oh it's funny, it's really funny. But I do
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think you ought to go now. She sort of starts you on your way.
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But on your way you get another look at the old man and suddenly
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you don't like it. He hasn't moved, and there's a white waxiness behind
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his ears, and you go near what is it, mister Chambers, he's
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dead. She passes out in the faint and you let her lie. You
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go around to the front of the old man and you take a look.
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He's got a gun in his hand and two bullet holes in his stomach.
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You're working at your trade now, and you work quickly and carefully. The
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room's in perfect order, absolutely no sign of a tussle. The old man
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still warm, hasn't been dead in hour. Then toward the middle of the
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room you see it, a round red spot that sort of blends in with
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the rusted color of the rug. You touch it. It's blood. Then
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you go back to the old man. You dig around in his pockets.
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You come up with a beautiful triangular emerald earring, and just then Angela Wentworth
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starts stirring. Oh easy, does it, miss Wentworth? Come on,
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come on, let me help you up. Oh my uncle, uncle,
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he's dead. He appears to have shot himself. No look, look,
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look, let's go back to the other room. Come on there, when
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you sit down, I'll use the phone operator Police headquarters, emergency. I
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only left him perhaps an hour ago. We I want to report a death.
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That's right to death. Five ninety eight Madison Avenue, a hotel,
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the tower apartment. All right, now this went with. There's nothing we
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can do but wait for the police. Oh it's terrible, terrible. Look
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I found this, this ear ring in your uncle's pocket. Thank you.
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It's the maid of the one I lost. What was it doing in your
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uncle's pocket? That clipping? The person said they would return the lost one
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if I could identify it. So I brought the mate here to uncle with
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him, and intended to bring the finder here with me, show him the
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mate to the earring, which would be perfect identifications. Valuably, each earring
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is insured for twenty thousand dollars. But look, mister Chambers may I please
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call somebody. Well, sure, what do you want to call? Oliver
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Hartford? My brother in law. He's married to my sister. He came
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here with my uncle. They live way up in New Hampshire, all of
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them. What about you? I live here in the city. May I
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call Oliver? All right? Right here this hotel, one of the downstairs
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Suitetsuh, let's call him. Would you connect me with mister Hartford? Please?
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They are thank you. Hello, Ollie, come up to uncle sweet
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quickly please. The guy shows Oliver Hartford, big, young and brawnie.
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He sort of takes over in the comfort apartment for a sister in law.
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And presently there's an onslaught of cops, medical examiner, fingerprint men, and
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the works and boss man of the works. Your good friend, Detective Lieutenant
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Louis Parker, looking a little harassed today, but working with his usual competence.
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And then after they're all done and the medical examiner has made his report
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and the body has been taken out, Parker takes you aside and you fill
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them in on your end of the deal. Well, they got me working
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today. I got three unfinished cases. Now this thing pops up. It
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never rains. Medical examiner says, suicide. The girl's identified the Gardners.
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The old man's em he says time at death two o'clock door was locked.
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We else had keys, nobody but the old man. He lent his to
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the girl. She was with you when the thing happened. Yes, suicide,
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period. Boy, I am busy today. Let me go in and
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talk to those two, the relatives, and I'll beat it out of here.
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Sure, Louis, let me go toe to them, all right,
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then miss Wentworth, mister Hartford. Oh, by the way, mister Chambers
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here is a private detective and one of the best. So just in case
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you're not satisfied with the way the police may be held. Well, we're
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perfectly satisfied, Lieutenant, of course. All right. Then let's get some
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of the facts out of the way. Name it deceased. Robert Wentworth,
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a rich man, ex oil man, worth many millions, retired widower.
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Yes, it's only two living relatives, his nieces, Miss Angelo went Worth.
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Of course, my wife Marie Wentworth Hartford. Where's your wife now?
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Why she's at home up in New Hampshire. See, I came in with
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uncle Robert last week. Okay. Medical examiner says, suicide, and every
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external item points to suicide. Time to o'clock? Where were you at two
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o'clock, Miss DoD in my room napping? And you miss Wentworth with mister
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Chambers on Fifth Avenue near Fitch's department. I'll corroborate that, Lieutenant. Thank
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you, mister Changers. We're very welcome. Yeah, all right, all
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right, all right, my head. Now this suicide thing, would mister
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Wentworth be disposed to suicide one of the time? Now, please, one
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at a time, you, miss Wentworth, Well, Lieutenant, my uncle
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was very ill. He was here for an operation. The doctors gave him
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very little chance. Did he know that he had this very little chance?
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Yes, of course he knew it better than any of us. Yeah,
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seems to be clean cut, no loose ends, mister Hartford, Yes,
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sir, would you accompany me downtown? I need a member of the family,
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many little items of why, Yes, of course, lieutenant, of
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course. And so you're alone again with miss Angela went with you take her
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home to a cute little apartment on East thirty fourth and there, Thank you,
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mister Chambers. You've been very kind, not at all. Look,
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Angela, ours was a well chance acquaintance. But there's no reason why I
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should end there, no no reason at all. I I like you very
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much, mister Chambers, and I like you. Look. A lawyer was
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mentioned back. There was that the only person your uncle would want to see
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to arrange his affairs. No, there was another, and much more important,
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Algernon Sacco. He's business advised. He has an office down on Pine
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Street. Buyinarmous Wentworth. I'll be in touch with you, yes, please
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do Now. Here's a brand new wrinkle, Algernon Sacho. Crooked as a
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country road, a big operator and a shrewd one. You tangle with him
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a few times, but that was way back before he acquired respectability and a
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few rich clients. An old cackle voice guy, but smart as a brand
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new whip. So you're down on Pine Street, old stone and steel,
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no pines, no pines at all. Yeah, who do you wish to
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see? Mister Sacho? And tell him I'm the hurry. He's in a
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hurry with mister Sack. I'm in a hurry. Use other linter common of
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yours and tell them, Peter Chambers, just a minute, mister Sack of
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a gentleman here to see you, says he's in a heavy A. Mister
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Peter Chamber, What did you say, A, mister Peter Chamber? See
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what I mean? Baby, I'm a real VIP. Are you're right,
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mister Chambers? Well, well, good to see you again, my dear
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private operator Aljiman boy, I shall not mince as they say words to the
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point. Then be there, Robert Wentworth, Oh, excellent client, loaded
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twenty million dollars. Oh boy, are you going to be sad to hear
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this? Yeah? What, he's dead dead? You're a kidding. I
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never kid when it has to do with death. Now, look, I
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want the rundown this guy, and I want it fast and I want it
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all. Do you have a will? Hey? Yeah, well come on,
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come on, let's hear. We left his entire state to his two
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nieces, Angela and Marie. Wow, ten million dollars each. And who
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was the executive to this will be Algernon Sako. Pretty piece of change involved
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for Algeinon Sacke. Yes, now that he's dead, before he changed his
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will, I learned that pretty piece of change he commissions it bops up at
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bops. Wait a minute, Wait a minute. You just said before he
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changes will, did he have any intention of changing it. Well, what
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come on, look, Palell, it might be a motive here for murder.
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You mean, it's got its angles. But if it gets to the
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cops, it gets to the newspapers and all your background gets washed up.
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You can't use that, Algae, not the new respectable Algnon Saco. What
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do you want to know? Well, you know what the man says all
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the time, and the facts, pal of facts. He came in late
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last week and discussed changing his will. He felt that his nieces were well
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provided for. He was making up his mind to leave his entire estate to
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medical research like that. No, I did not, So what did you
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do about it? I got in touch with Aliba Hartford? After all,
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a change of will meant a loss to mister Hartford's wife of ten million dollars.
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And when your wife loses you, what did his Heartford do about it?
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I don't know. He was going to tackle the old man, see
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if he couldn't talk him out of it. Okay, Algae, thanks for
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the information. Keep respecting about Peter Chambers. You're working now. You're beginning
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to smell what you suspected murder. You get up to Angela Wentworth's place and
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she opens the door for you, and your eyes pop. She's wearing blue
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silk lounging pajamas and she has a pony of brandy in her hand. Blue
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silk lounging pajamas. They were born to be worn by Angela Wentworth. It's
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good to see you again, mister Chambers. Likewise, miss Wentworth, you
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seem to be rolling with the blow. Well, I've been thinking about it.
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Uncle Robert was an old man and very ill. Perhaps it was for
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the best. Look at the ball you attended when you lost your ear ring,
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James, Well, I'll take a rain check on it now, that
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ball you attended, who went with you? I mean, who was your
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escort? Oliver, my brother in law. Uncle insisted, I think I
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had one cocktail too many at that ball. That earring was gone before I
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realized it. Mister Chambers, mister Chambers, where are you going? You're
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going to pay a social call on Oliver heartst. You knock on his door
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and he opens and you pull your way in. It's the meeting of this
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must the matter with not saying nothing, just got no manners. I suppose
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get out of you. I'm going, but you are coming with me.
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I'm going with you where downtown police headquarters, and just what are we going
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to do there? I'm going to accuse you of murder. Oliver swings,
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you duck, you swing Oliver ducks, but he doesn't duck good enough.
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He goes down and out and as you finish the pivot of your swing,
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bear stands Detective Lieutenant Louis Parker in the doorway. Real nice form, Pete,
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you're starting to get your shoulders in. Thanks, Louis incidantly apologies to
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the private eye from whom from me, I'm not busy anymore. So the
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old guy was murdered, He wasn't a suicide, that's my Louis. He
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got finished with the press of business, had time to think. There's a
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spot of blood in the middle of the room. How come we find the
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old guy in the rocker by the window exactly. He was shot in the
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middle of the room, and then he was pulled over to the rocker.
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The gun was wiped and put into his hand. Furthermore downtown, a paraffintest
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shows the old guy never fired the gun, and that clinches figures, where
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have you been till now? Louis? Backtracking? After you saw that Sacho
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guy saw that Angela read that newspaper clipping. He took it to the ball.
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Aliver did Juel, and he stuffs a full of cocktails and clips the
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earring and sticks that phony ad in the paper so he can get her out
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of the way. Then he goes in to see the old man, bumps
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in with his own gun, fixes it for suicide and leaves. And the
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door locks on the clicker. So we got a locked room in the bug.
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Well, what's our next step, Louise Hell, we take this bump
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downtown. Let's get it back to consciousness. We take him downtown and see
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how he hanks under a bright white light. Oliver Hartford at headquarters, gets
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closeted with Detective Parker and a host of excellent interrogators. You wait across the
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street and Luke mccool's lonesome bar and grill. You sip on a stinger and
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you ponder it figures for about two hours. Brother, When cops know you've
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done it, and you're an amateur, you're a blustering wise guy for part
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of the way, but pretty soon you break wide open. Unless you're very
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smart or very stubborn, and you've got a feeling that Oliver may be very
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stubborn. So you're off and running and you're making tracks again for Angela Wentworth's
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place. Come in, come in, mister Chambers. You're becoming quite a
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regular visitor and I like it. You like it too, but you don't
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have the time. I offer brandy again, mister Chambers, and again I've
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got to refuse double rain check this time this Wentworth. Oh look look that
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ear ring? May I have it? The ear ring? Look you,
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Angela? Oh? Please do you can trust me with it? I had
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it once and I give it back to you. Remember, yes, but
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what please? Please let me have it and I'll return it to you.
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And when I do, I've got a hunch i'll have the time for perhaps
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a brand you too. All right, mister Chambers, Here it is.
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And so you're back in Luke mccool's lonesome Bar and Grill across the street from
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headquarters, and you're trifling with stingers against when Parker shows up and he hangs
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her face in front of you. That's longer than a lover's kiss. Pete
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boy, we've got us at tata meaning who meaning that ali ahart for the
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tough boy that's tough. The guy killed Uncle Robert so that his wife could
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pick up ten minutes solid Samoa. And there's no one else, Lois,
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no one else could possibly have done it, nobody with motive. You're so
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right, boy, Angela. She was with you, Sacho, no question,
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he was in his office all day. You're the niece out of his
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wife. We've checked the cheese in the Hampshire, no question. We've got
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the right pigeon. We've got him right up to the breaking point. But
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he won't break pete on. I need is a gimmick, one little thing
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to shove him over, and I've got it for you, Lieutenant. That's
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what the crowbar that'll topple the rock. Only this crow bar is green,
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it's shiny, and it's worth twenty thousand bucks. Here. Look, hey,
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that's beauty. W'd you get there out of Oliver Hartford? Sweet?
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No, yeah, So Louis the lad take this ear ring and shove it
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down his throat. Gimme pearl. So you're alone once more, and you've
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got your fingers crossed. Psychologically it fits. But if it blows up,
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if you're going to be in the middle of the explosion, if it blows,
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it will blow all over you. But twenty minutes later park is back
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and he's beaming. He returns the earring and he claps you on the back.
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And a clap on the back from Parker is like a joke to the
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jaw from Marciano. Got him, got him, got him good, full
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confession. The work's broke him down completely. Oh now he's up the other
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alley pleading for Leniens. You checked him, Louise, I tricked him.
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No, not me, that's my pride. I'm a straight cop. I
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tricked nobody. I know, I know, so I had to trick you
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into tricking him. What are you talking about the emerald earring? What about
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it? It's the wrong one. It's the one out of Uncle's pocket,
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the mate to the one that disappeared, the wrong one. Well it where's
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the right one? Well it must be where psychologically it ought to be.
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Now you have the guy in the brink, Louis, there wasn't time to
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go looking for the right one. So I use the wrong earring for the
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right purpose and it worked. So now let's go find the right one.
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You accompany Parker and five of his best boys to Oliver Sweet and they give
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it a professional going over, and they come up with the ear ring inside
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a cake of soap. Amateurs are all alike. They think they discovered a
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brand new hiding place just because they thought of it. Parker gives them to
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you the pair. Go ahead, Kiddle, you return them. You may
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as well get something out of this glory at least. And so the private
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eye and proper tradition is back where he belongs. In the beautiful lady's apartment.
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He partakes of a bit of brandy, and then he presents her with
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a complete set of emerald earrings. Oh, mister Chambers, I don't know
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how to thank you. Think nothing of it, ma'am? A fee?
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Would you perhaps accept fee? No thanks, nothing as mundane as a fee.
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But I just don't know how to thank you. Well you think about
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an angela. Just sip your brandy and think, Come here, mister Chambers.
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Oh I'm coming man. I think I know what you mean. Something
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like this. Mm oh, mister Chambers, And there you've had. Crime
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and Peter Chambers. Dane Clark was starred as Peter Chambers. Crime and Peter
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Chambers Transcribed was created and written by Henry Kane, Others In the cast were
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Bill Zuckert heard as Lieutenant Parker, Joyce Gordon as Angela, and Bernard Grant
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as Oliver. It was directed by Fred Way. And this is Fred Collins
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inviting you to tune in next week, same time, same station for Dane
24:37
Clark in Crime and Peter Chambers. Crime and Peter Chambers has come to you
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through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Services,
26:21
except as different and spar except the sis. Welcome back. Well, the
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relationship between Peter Chambers and Parker continues to be the most ridiculously civil in Golden
27:18
Ajor Radio. I love the part where Parker even suggests that if the heerrors
27:25
are dissatisfied with the quality of the police investigation, they could hire Peter Chambers.
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You just can't get better advertising as a private detective, at least not
27:37
one in Pete Chambers line. All right, well, that'll do it for
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today. We'll be back tomorrow with the adventures of Philip Marlowe, and then
27:45
next week join us for Crime and Peter Chambers and the meantimes and your comments
27:51
to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot Net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio
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Detectives and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook, dot com.
28:00
Slash Radio Detectives from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Grahamson and off