Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Pat Novak: The Geranium Plant (EP1318)

Transcript

Pat Novak: The Geranium Plant (EP1318) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:14
Welcome to the Great Attactives of Old Time Radio from Noise, Idaho. This
0:21
is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
0:25
to me Box thirteen at Great Attractives dot net, follow us on Twitter Radio
0:30
Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com Slash
0:37
Radio Detectives. Before we do get started, I want to encourage you to
0:42
pick up your copy of Slime Incorporated. It is available as a paperback.
0:47
It's available as an ebook in both the iBookstore, the Nookstore, and the
0:53
Kindlestore. And if there's some other ebook format you use, you can go
0:58
buy smash words dot com and pet up your copy. And actually it's smash
1:03
Words. You can get the book for fifty percent off when you use code
1:07
SSW fifty through July thirty. First, it's my first detective novel and it's
1:15
a mix of old a news style and I think you will enjoy it.
1:19
So I do encourage you to pick up your copy of Slime Incorporated. Well,
1:25
now it is time for today's episode of Pat Novak for Hire The Geranium
1:32
Plant. Sure, I'm Pat Novak for Hire. That's sort the sign out
2:09
in front of my office says Pat Novak for hire. Oh, there are
2:14
a lot of ways to put it, but it's easier if you've left your
2:16
slip show right from the beginning, because down in the waterfront in San Francisco,
2:21
you've got to do a lot of things to make a living. Otherwise
2:23
it's like being a CPA and a charity ward. I rent boats and do
2:29
anything else that'll keep a bum. Lawyer and beer and broadcloth works out all
2:34
right. You'll make a few bucks if you don't forget. There are only
2:38
two questions you can ask anybody down here, when and how much. Even
2:42
then, you got to watch out unless you like your trouble without a chaser.
2:46
I found that out Monday night. I close shop and I walk down
2:50
the street to the Noonan's Bar. It really isn't a bar, just a
2:53
couple of stools with a bottle opener and a jukebox full of Irish tenors.
2:58
But it's good enough to give you a shove down the road. It must
3:01
have been about eleven. I was sitting at one end of the place by
3:05
myself, sorting out mistakes and spending a half dollar on the bar, So
3:08
I don't know when she came in but she came in. I remember that?
3:23
Does it always come up head? If you're lucky? For you?
3:27
If you're that lucky, you'd have dollar bills to do it with. Look,
3:30
I'm low on chatter. Why don't you get on the counter and talk
3:31
to the racy said, I'd rather buy you a drink. Nowton's a social
3:36
clamoring. He's going to throw you out. You buy me one man,
3:38
and I'm broke to strangers. Now that winds up the conversation. See you
3:40
later. We'll talk this today. I went to your office, but they
3:44
said you were over here. I want to hire you, mister Nobek.
3:46
If you've got a name to go with a figure, it won't fit in
3:50
your file. I want you for three hours work tomorrow afternoon. Can you
3:53
do it? I said yes, it might be too tough. There's a
3:55
flower stand at the corner of Post and Kearney. I want you to go
4:00
to that stand tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock. Pack up a geranium to this
4:02
address. I'm too big for a Western Union boy. Are you too big
4:06
for fifty dollars? No, must be a pretty geranium at those prices.
4:11
Some people love nature, mister Nobak, do you care. No, I
4:15
know a guy who likes parents. You go to the stand and tell them
4:16
you want the plant. Take us straight to the address I gave you important.
4:20
Don't let it out of your hands. For fifty bucks, I life
4:24
like we're married. I better give you the money. Now you're eager.
4:27
Suppose I don't deliver. I've found you tonight, I can do it again.
4:30
Well, where do I get in touch with you? You don't,
4:33
it's Novak. This is the last time over the course. They'll take got
4:38
good luck now. Yeah, I'm way past midnight already. Suppose something goes
4:42
wrong tomorrow, and it's very simple, mister Novak, you won't have to
4:46
send for flowers good night. I watched her as she turned and walked out
4:59
the door. Or She was wearing a flowered print dress, and as she
5:01
walked, the roses kept getting mixed up with the daisies. She walked with
5:05
a nice, friendly movement, like the trap door on a gallows. As
5:10
she reached the door, she turned and smiled once, as if she knew
5:13
the fifty bucks was just for laughs. I stooped up the door before anybody
5:16
could see it, because at noon's everybody gets broke. In one motion.
5:20
I left a few minutes later, and I went home to bed. I
5:25
dreamed real good on fifty bucks, so I felt good. The next afternoon
5:29
when I got to the corner of Post and Kearney, the flower stand was
5:31
there all right, and I leaned against the storefront to watch the guy for
5:34
a while. Maybe I should have known then, because right away I got
5:38
the idea he didn't know what he was doing. But you can say that
5:41
for a lot of senators. So I let it ride. And when the
5:44
Jewish store clock across the street said two o'clock, I walked up to him.
5:50
Can I do something for you? Yeah? Give me a geranium plant?
5:54
What kind do you want? A big one? It's small one.
5:56
I don't care. It's two o'clock. I'll take that kind you want the
5:59
geranium? Look, it's gonna get dark. You got that long to argue,
6:02
here's the one you want? Then you say so you want to wrap
6:04
it? No, it's all right. You carry it that way. I'm
6:06
gonna look real funny walking around with a handful of geranium. Why do you
6:10
want one? Then? I see you don't feel like talking about it.
6:15
No, just take it and be happy. Yeah, how much. Nothing
6:17
doesn't cause a thing. Set yourself. You won't make much dough that way,
6:21
and make even less talking to you. Just take the plant and be
6:24
careful. How do you know what I'm gonna do with a geranium? I
6:28
don't, mister. Some people eat them. Just be careful and goodbye.
6:35
All the way things were going, Post Street began to look like the main
6:39
Dragon Casablanca. I watched the guy fumble around with a customer for a minute,
6:43
and then I crossed the street and started up toward Union Square. The
6:46
cop gave me a kind of a funny look when he saw the geranium.
6:48
He smiled as if he thought I had a pair of dancing sandals in my
6:51
coat pocket. About halfway up the block, I stopped to look in an
6:56
art store. Right then I noticed the guy with a cane for the first
6:59
time. He was standing near me looking in the other window. It was
7:03
a little guy and kind of wrinkled and bumping. His skin looked like a
7:06
cucumber full of powder. I started up the street and pulled in at a
7:11
bookstore. He stopped too, and I knew he was following me. When
7:15
I got to Stockton, I turned left and walked toward Geary Street. Halfway
7:19
down is a low street called Maiden Lane. Oh it sounds gentle, but
7:24
so does Vesuvius when you say it fast. I just started across when a
7:28
black mash pulled away from the curb. Some dead relative must have put in
7:30
a good word for me. Hey over here, Hey pull them over,
7:38
Hey over here. You are right, mister, Yeah, yeah, i'll
7:44
do. I guess you're lucky you're not dead. Yeah, we're all that
7:47
way. Give me a hand with you. Oh thanks. That car came
7:54
out of there and hit you on purpose. You're lucky you're not dead,
7:58
all right. I owed a house of free this lady here took down the
8:01
license number you wanted. Yeah. Thanks, You sure you're all right?
8:07
Yeah, I'm a slow bleeder. I dropped the plant. Somewhere around here
8:13
is this bedding? Yeah, that's it. Thanks, didn't even hurt the
8:16
plant. That's something, you know. When I saw that car come out
8:20
of there and hit you, you know what I thought about you. That
8:26
fella's lucky he's not dead. Yeah yeah, hm. Well I looked around,
8:43
but the little guy with a cane had disappeared. As I crossed Union
8:46
Square. I kept looking around, but he was gone. Well, I
8:50
tried to forget about it, but I couldn't get it out of my mind,
8:52
kept coming back and showing up again, like a bad reputation. Why
8:56
had the guy started to follow me and then stopped so suddenly? And how
9:01
about that guy in the car and that fifty dollars geranium? Well, I
9:05
got a cab over at the Saint Francis stand and I rode out to the
9:07
address that the girl gave me. On the way, I looked at the
9:11
flower. From what I could see, it was just a geranium planted in
9:15
a little wooden box, like all the rest of them, that bloom,
9:18
done evenly, with buds that looked too nervous to come out, like a
9:20
debutante with thick ankles. Well, the cab pullt up at the address.
9:24
It was a rooming house out on Clay Street, and the note I had
9:28
said third floor rears. So I went up there and knocked. There was
9:31
no answer. So I went in, expecting to find anything, anything,
9:35
but what I did find Hello, go away, go away, leave me
9:45
alone. She closed her eyes and stopped talking. She was so sick it
9:50
showed like a switch light in the cave. Her complexion was pasty, in
9:52
the color of a November sky. She had no expression on her face,
9:56
just thin lips drawn so tightly. The rims were white. Oh, she
10:01
wasn't ready to quit yet, but you could tell she'd been papering the house
10:03
for years, and you wouldn't want a better She was gonna last about as
10:07
long as a warm snowflanket. Was easy to tell. You got a bad
10:13
coffee. You need some sun. I need more than that. Yeah,
10:18
I guess you do. Relax. I'm not the welcome angel. I just
10:26
brought you some flowers. Is it a joke? Somebody I don't know?
10:28
A lady with me? It's a fifty dollars hustle. You're a flower,
10:31
so you work out the right answer. Go away, go away? Please?
10:37
You want the flowers? You brought them from me? Didn't you leap
10:43
them and go away? It was just a geranium. I'm going to leave
10:46
it on the table. Why'd they send you? My reason was fifty bucks?
10:52
You come to hurt me. I don't know what You're ready. Oh
10:56
I'm too tired. You couldn't I heard my couch. Thank you for coming,
11:07
Thank you for your kindness. Sure, that's what it is. You're
11:11
welcome. That's all she said. And that's all that happened in that little
11:24
room up on Clay Street. Wasn't much and it wasn't enough to worry you.
11:28
But for some reason I felt like a man in quicksand complaining about his
11:31
height. When I left there, I took a car down a market street
11:35
and I had dinner. Well, I didn't go right because I kept thinking
11:39
about this afternoon and last night. Who did she mean by they? And
11:43
where did all these people fit together? The guy with the king, the
11:46
gall it gave me the fifty bucks in the little chair about a maiden lane.
11:50
Well, I tried to forget about it, but it wasn't easy.
11:54
I was like trying to change a typewriter ribbon with mittens on. After dinner,
11:58
I went home. I was about eight, and when I got in
12:01
the apartment it was dark. Before I had a chance to put on the
12:03
light, I knew somebody was in the bedroom. I walked over to the
12:07
door. In the dim light, it looked like a wallrus in pants,
12:09
but it turned out to be Inspector Helman from Homicide. Oh Novac, I
12:13
just dropped in for a chat. You always chat with your hand in a
12:16
bureau drawer. It's RESTful. I've been looking over your stuff. Is this
12:20
a social caller of yacht stealing or your ben Novak? What do you care?
12:24
Helman? All right, I'll tell you where I've been, in a
12:26
third floor room out in Clay Street. I left one this afternoon. It's
12:28
the same on. Your fingerprints are all over the joint. I'll bet you
12:31
checked everywhere. What were you doing out there delivering flowers? Is that your
12:35
best trying, Novak? It's the best I'm gonna do for you. If
12:37
you don't like a check with a woman out there, I brought her flowers
12:39
and left flug woman a one on the couch, a black haired girl with
12:41
a half dead look. You're wrong twice, Huh. There's no girl out
12:45
there unless he's tattooed on the guy's chest. And that guy doesn't have a
12:48
half dead look. It's better than that all the way. That's right.
12:52
He's dead enough to pray for. Will that do? Hellman's sleeved so full
13:05
of fat, I didn't expect anything else up there. He flipped on the
13:07
light and I could see he was real pleased with himself. He was smiling
13:11
like a guy who's just found his partner. Bidding no trump with thirteen spades,
13:16
He sat down on the bed and unbuttoned his coat. Part of his
13:20
stomach oozed out and hung over his belt like a nineteen ten lamp shade.
13:22
He lit a cigarette, and then he began to run his tongue over a
13:26
set of teeth that looked more like old man the ompigs than teeth. He
13:30
blew smoking, looked about his appetizing as a piece of squid pie. Must
13:33
have been a short argument, Novak, The corner says, the guy checked
13:37
out in a hurry. What else does the corner saying, it was good
13:39
poison? You buy only the best, no bad. Don't stub your toe,
13:43
Helman. I went up there to deliver a geranium plant. So far
13:45
you got a good case. The guy was poisoned with a spring needle hidden
13:48
in that geranium box. Who was he? He didn't say, and there
13:52
wasn't any identification. Do you want to help? I don't know, Helman.
13:54
When I was there, we were doing Camille. Some ghost woman was
13:58
dying on the couch by inches. It was her ro check we did.
14:01
The room was rented ten days ago by a man named George Langley, the
14:05
landlady says, there's never been a woman in the room. That's what all
14:07
landladies say. Wake up, Helman. I stood there and watched her shake
14:09
like a dustmak for ten minutes. You can follow up on her and then
14:11
check that FLOORA stand at Kearney and post what do I check for bull wavels.
14:15
He's the guy that gave me that geranium plan. We'll check and I
14:18
want you down at headquarters by midnight tonight. Novak. You can talk to
14:22
yourself till then after that you talk to us. I'll make it up from
14:24
here on. Helman. You don't like it the other way, suit yourself,
14:26
Novak, you know when you're due. In the meantime, we'll find
14:31
out what we can. I can't wait that long, Heilman. You couldn't
14:33
find a tractor on the back porch. I'd hang if I waited for your
14:35
boys. That's what you're gonna do. And at midnight you can dangle as
14:37
high I want. I don't mind, as long as my feet are on
14:39
the same level as your head. When Helman left, I sat down to
14:50
try to piece things together. I knew everything was there if I could just
14:54
shove it into place. It was like trying to swap an egg beer for
14:58
a mixed master. I was i' pretty sure there was something about the geranium
15:01
plant. I should remember one little thing that threw everything else out of focus.
15:07
Well, I finally gave I was fifty bucks ahead and one murder wrapped
15:11
behind. It depends on how you like your fund. Fifty bucks is all
15:15
right, but the pleasure is limited, like giving somebody a hot foot in
15:18
an ammunition doll. If I was going to drag the town, I needed
15:20
help. So I look at the only honest guy I know, a next
15:24
doctor and a boozer with the name of Jack o' madigan. Oh he's all
15:28
right for a guy I thinks people with steady hands are lazy. I finally
15:31
found him in a little tenseil joined on Mason Street. Was high class for
15:35
the neighborhood. The smoke was only a week old, and they had a
15:37
cigarette girl, a long leggied biscuit that wanted around trying to sell a sour
15:43
smile at sweet prices. Jacko was down at the end of the bar,
15:46
rolling some olives back and forth. The rhythm was fine, Ah, Petchi,
15:50
you're just in time to help me off the wagon A stout clash for
15:54
mister nov I want to talk to you, Jacko, old Patchie, confidentially,
15:58
I hate my I just drink him for the vitamins. Everybody should have
16:03
a few vegetables, and I have chosen knowledgs. Look, I'm in trouble,
16:07
Jacko. Will you sober up and talk? I could do that easily.
16:10
I've done it two or three times and it's no trick at all.
16:14
But I refuse because it's a vulgar display of willpower. Will you stop,
16:17
Jacko? You know, Patchy, there are only two things that could cause
16:21
my downfall, whiskey or women. I'm not particular. You find a nice
16:26
old widow and I'll quit this all right, all right, some plumpole party
16:30
with a memory as vivid as my own, preferably somebody rich enough to convince
16:34
me the limes in her face weren't put there by warrant. Stop it,
16:38
will you, Patsy. I'll allow you to motivate my descent, but I
16:44
will not permit you to bring it to a halt. I apologize for interrupting.
16:49
God. Well, do you know about flowers? I think they're pretty
16:53
on a woman's shoulder. But I suppose that's mixed devotion. Why I'm going
16:57
to need your help, Jacko. It's a dead guy out on Clay Street
17:00
in Helman's campaigning for me. How do the flowers fit in a geranium plant?
17:04
The guy was pouring with a needle in the box. I took the
17:07
plant up there to a woman. Clumsy approach. Why a geranium plant?
17:11
It's a mixed up story. I got hired in Nounan's barda pick it up
17:15
this afternoon at Post and Kearney. I got gum shoot all the way up
17:18
Post Street and hit by a car. It made in the lane. You
17:19
look vamped when you've walked in. I took it out to this address and
17:22
I gave it to a dying woman. Now she's disappeared and Helman's after me
17:26
for the dead guy on her floor. I need some help, Jacko.
17:30
I gotta find a way out of this. Well. You passed up a
17:33
golden opportunity when that car hit you. That's one of the places you come
17:36
in. Now here's the license. I want you to hop down and check
17:38
the registration. Will you? What is? Find out? Who runs that
17:41
flower stand at the corner of Post and Kearney. Now I have to get
17:45
back in time. I can check tonight tag by my place. I'll either
17:48
be there, I'll leave a message. Where are you going to find a
17:51
woman? She's like the peculiar way to handle a crisis. Well, I
17:55
gotta find the gal that started me out on this. Perhaps, gy,
17:56
I wish you'd forget about women, and I wish you'd for you get about
18:00
whisky. Yes, we both have our problems, except I enjoyed one safeguard
18:06
that you don't. At least I could look at the label and tell how
18:10
old it is. Good night lover. But I got out of there and
18:22
I went by nownman's place. I asked him if he knew the girl in
18:26
there last night. He said, after forty five. A man forgets about
18:30
a woman's face. So I checked that lead off and started on the other
18:33
girl. I hit all the cab stands out near Clay Street, and I
18:36
finally found a hack that picked her up. Was about four o'clock. He
18:40
said she had lug eg and rode over to Janet Street on Telegraph Hill,
18:44
but he couldn't remember the address at the best rates in town, so I
18:47
checked off that one too. From here on it was gonna be a rough
18:51
ride. I didn't know where to dig. I might as well have been
18:52
out looking for a stick with one end. I I could try one more
18:56
thing. I went by to search the Clay Street joint. It was a
19:00
dirty room, and a geranium hadn't helped. It was a sweet odor and
19:03
a thick dusty cloud all over the place. Was like going to sleep in
19:07
a bag of an old vacuum cleaner. There wasn't anything there that could help.
19:11
And on my way out I heard footsteps. I snapped off the light
19:15
and waited. The door opened slowly. I couldn't see her face, but
19:18
I knew it was the girl from the Newness. Turn on the light and
19:22
you'll see your friends. Well, mister Novak, shut out. Let's talk
19:29
in here. Why don't we drop our gymnasium and get some fresh air.
19:32
We can start with your name. It's easy, say your piece, mister
19:36
Novak. I've run out of fifty dollar bills. Yeah, that's the way
19:38
it is with my patience, who killed a guy I don't know, Patsy.
19:41
I can narrow it down to one county for you, but after that
19:45
you'll have to do your own sorting. The police think I did it.
19:47
If you did, you look big enough to carry the load. I don't
19:49
care, Patsy. I'm not gonna weep. I've got about three tears left.
19:52
And he isn't high enough on the list of rate one. Who was
19:56
he? But how'd you find out he was dead? It's generally a dirty
19:57
rib in the washbowl. His name was Charles Dawd. Don't worry about him.
20:02
There's a small time guy's at the fast news. Well, I'm gonna
20:03
worry about him because homicide's worried about him. Then worry and a calmly Patsy,
20:08
you do it that way, I'll help set out. Now, Look,
20:11
lady, you better help out or I'll lose your teeth for you.
20:15
Patsy to everything. I guess who runs that flower stand. It wouldn't help
20:21
when he gave you that geranium. There was nothing wrong for fifty bucks.
20:22
I had to be something wrong. It wasn't full of poison. I know
20:26
it was in there, and it wasn't poison. Somebody made a switch up
20:27
here. What happened to the girl? I don't know. Wheah, you're
20:32
gonna use up all that nice energy. Look Sis, you can haul in
20:36
those long legs and give me some answers. I'm gonna haul them in long
20:38
enough to ask a few questions. My turn. Now, Passy back over
20:42
toward the door. You can talk on your way. You look good with
20:45
the gun. You made a deal with George. I want to hear about
20:48
it so that I don't even know George. If he's got a part,
20:49
you just dealed him in. I'm too old for Perry tales. Passy,
20:52
George got to you and found out about that geranium box. It couldn't have
20:55
happened any other way. Sorry, lady. Remember you had nothing to me,
20:57
no back. You're fifty bucks with him, So you're fifty bucks.
21:00
I'll spend you fast, so easy. You're gonna break open a scene.
21:03
I don't know your boy, George, and I can forget you too.
21:04
You can do it while you're talking. I came a long way, Passy,
21:07
too far to toss it over for a mail or a bum. You're
21:10
just a passing pair of pants to me, and I'll throw your way pastes
21:11
and a lot of gum. Now's your chance, baby, Come on,
21:15
shoulder, relax, You're not gonna have one in a minute. Come on,
21:18
drom it now, reach down for that gun, and I'll jam.
21:21
You're in a basement faster than a ton of coal. All right, now,
21:26
let's hear your talk. I would passy, but you're not listening.
21:49
That's what happens when you don't watch the door. Somebody falls in love with
21:52
the back of your head. I didn't even have a chance to see who
21:56
hit me. I don't know what good it would have done, unless you're
21:57
the kind of a guy who keeps us wrap book on those things. When
22:02
I woke up, I had company. He was taking a nap too,
22:04
only his was gonna last longer. It was the little guy with a cane.
22:07
He tailed me right to the end. He was lying there with his
22:11
mouth open and a bunch of paint gums showing as if he were trying to
22:12
pick up a few bucks with a toothpaste ad. I was still grogging him.
22:17
I couldn't see around the room, but I could hear a slow,
22:19
steady squeaking sound. I turned my head and Helman was sitting in a rocking
22:25
chair. He looked as happy as a choir boy on Christmas Eve. You
22:29
have a good sleep, mill Van, Oh, why don't they move the
22:33
morgue down? Here. Yeah, I guess you ran out a poison.
22:37
Why don't you go away? Helman? Oh? Maybe? Eh. I
22:41
don't know your wife anything, so I always said, who's the guy?
22:44
I don't know? You look chummy when I got here, I don't know
22:45
Helman. He followed me all over Post Street this afternoon. Check him yourself,
22:48
I did. There's nothing on him. I'll bet his gold fillings are
22:52
gone now. Your trial run was a guy named Charles Doud. I know.
22:56
He was arrested in nineteen forty two on suspicion of Espiona. She's in
22:59
business again. A whole bunch of them are, and the kicker has something
23:02
to do with that geranium plant. What bunch? He's dead guys and a
23:04
lot of others on the same schedule. It's that geranium plant. It all
23:07
started at Posting Kearney. You better check that Flora's stamp. Don't you ever
23:10
get tired? Novak? Huh we checked the flora stand at post in Kearney.
23:14
The answer is no. Did you talk to the guy No, because
23:15
there is no flora stand at Posting Kearney. A crazy Helman. I got
23:18
a geranium plant there this afternoon. There's no Flora's stand up posting Kearney.
23:22
If you got a gerrini, it was grown out of a crack on the
23:25
sidewalk. I left Helman standing there over the dead man. The little guy
23:36
was looking up at Helman with a doe board. Looked like an usher in
23:37
a burlasue house. I was sure now there was something about that geranium I'd
23:41
missed. If I could find the string and pull up the whole thing in
23:44
unravel The questions were piling up, and there was only one answer. Who
23:48
got to that box and made a switch. Well, it was close to
23:51
eleven when I got back to my apartment. Jocko was in the kitchen working
23:53
on an experiment. Ah, Perchie, I'm drinking ger memory. I'm making
23:59
up for booze with extra sentiment. What'd you find out? You were mixed
24:03
up? There is no flower standard Kearney in post now. Look, I've
24:07
been through all at once. It was posting Kearney. I couldn't have made
24:10
a mistake. Anybody can confuse a street. It can be done easily.
24:14
I once confused two whole suburbs. Yeah alright. I boycotted a buy an
24:18
Alameda for months before I found out they gave me the mickey in San Carlos.
24:22
Now, look, I know what I did, Jacko. Maybe the
24:25
flower stand moved. Maybe it was never there before, but today it was
24:27
at Post and Kearney. How about that license number? The car is registered
24:33
in the name of George Langley. Who's he He rented the murdered room,
24:37
and who's mixed up in a switch on that geranium plant. What kind of
24:40
switch I don't know, but whatever it was, George did it. When
24:42
it left that stand, there was something else in it besides a poisoned needle.
24:45
Everybody know what. The girl and the little guy with a king,
24:48
probably the guy that drove that car, they switched planned now they chick.
24:52
Yeah, yeah, I guess it could have done that too. Huh was
24:55
the man with the cane behind you when you got hit by the car?
25:00
Think you're right, Jocko, he wasn't trying to kill you. In the
25:03
confusion, the man with the cane switched plants on you. Jacko, You're
25:06
an angel. I'm gonna do something for you someday. You already have.
25:10
I charged this bottle of whiskey to you. Yeah, no back talking.
25:15
I got news for you. Mine's good too. That poison needle plant was
25:18
engineered by the little guy with a cane. We identified him his fingerprints,
25:22
mantess been. His agent called George Langley. He was due any minute's up
25:26
on him, except he lived in a place up on Janet Street. So
25:30
it happened that way. That's where the other geranium is. Helman, you
25:32
better get up there before they ring down the curtain. That other plant's gonna
25:34
draw all the boys and girls. What does that prove nothing except you haven't
25:37
got any business bothering a flower unless you're a bee. Well, you never
25:48
know how the cards are gonna fall, But when it's a wild game,
25:51
like red Dog, whichever way they fall, it's gonna hurt. And the
25:53
last card's the one that breaks your back. So when Helman hung up,
25:57
I grabbed a cab and rushed out the Janet Stree. It's a little short
26:00
street draped down the side of Telegraph Hill like a torn ribbon. When Helman
26:04
pulled up at the top of the hill, I met him and we started
26:07
down at George Langley's address. Helman opened the front door, and as we
26:10
started in the bedroom, we ran into a traffic jam. I'm sorry,
26:14
hello, ev, This is Helman from homicide. I don't have time now
26:17
past that's all you got, baby, grab her bag there, Helman,
26:18
got you're crazy. Open our bag, Helman. That's what they're all after.
26:22
There's the geranium over by the window. Let's have that bag, lady.
26:25
You're all too grabby. I'll take it. Come on, Eavy.
26:27
Who's this guy? PEXI Hellman. He's the guy that sold me the flower
26:30
down at posting Kerney. I'm sorry you got mixed up, no bag,
26:33
but I'm short on regrets tonight. Give me the bag. Go easy.
26:36
We're gonna get into deep. You're in up to your nostrils. Now,
26:38
baby, the bag. I want that piece of paper. You don't need
26:41
a gun, Gerad. That's up to you. Wev you double cross me
26:42
and I'm too old for a new set of tricks. That's the way it
26:45
had to be, Gerrod. You can see that when George cut in,
26:48
there was nothing else to do. It was high man in, low man
26:49
out. And I want the bag. Stay away from me, Jerry,
26:52
give me time. I'll get far away. I'm gonna hang on to it.
26:55
Stay away, Jerry, I hear you, but that's hard. Baby,
27:02
give me a head you're gonna need more than that. Angel, help
27:07
me to the couch. Sure, come out there you are, Thanks,
27:12
Patsy, you didn't know me that. I can't take it back. Now,
27:18
how's do rod? He bleeds big. I wasn't so tired to laugh.
27:23
Laugh. No, I wouldn't do that. Angel. You're gonna be
27:26
there in time to hear the echo. What's in the bag? A formula?
27:33
The thing? Yeah, one of the things. What'd you say?
27:41
I don't know, hel Man. She took it with her. Where does
27:42
that leave us? Short? One girl? She's in the apartment and on
27:45
her way up. Too hard to know that. How many more are there?
27:49
She's the big act. How do your friends look? Sweetheart? They
27:53
look They watched and you get sick. They didn't do anything about it,
28:02
and they sat around waiting for the last time some blood to try up.
28:06
You better go with Helman. Please take me when you have a chance.
28:08
Do you think, yeah, you're more than ready. Yes, I think
28:14
they're look wonderful. They let me work for years, They let me get
28:18
this way. Let they sent around to listen to my frank Well, I
28:45
don't know why, but Hellman was confused. He finally got the story off
28:49
the girl in a hospital bed. All five of them had worked together once
28:53
gathering government information, but when the big order came, double cross set in
28:57
like an epidemic. The a formula the dying girl had one half and the
29:02
other half was in that geranium plant. It came off the boat and went
29:06
to that phony flower stand. Evie and Gerard were afraid to deliver it themselves,
29:11
so they hired me to do it. The sick girl was in another
29:14
frame. She tipped off Langley and he worked at hit and Run with Dowd,
29:17
only he forgot to tell doub about the poison needle. When Dowd was
29:21
dead, the girl checked out for Langley's place. Between them, they had
29:23
the formula, but they got into beef, so she killed him. She
29:27
came back to plat a phony lead for Evie, and that's how I got
29:30
sapped. Ev tumbled and hitded for Langley's place. When she left, the
29:34
girl planted Langley next to me in that room, and then went back to
29:37
watch ev and Girard in that overtime match. I guess she was too sick
29:41
to care when we had the other well. Herman asked only one question,
29:47
how come five such bad people ever got together in one shuffle. I don't
29:49
know, except most people are full of a lot of good and a lot
29:53
of bad. The day we met him, all the bad was showing.
30:21
The Armed Forces Radio Service has just brought you Pat Novak or Hire, starring
30:26
Jack Webb. Pat Novak is produced by William P. Russo. Jack o'madagan
30:30
is played by Tudor Owen. Inspector Hellman is played by Raymond Burr. Music
30:36
was composed and conducted by Basil Adnam. Be with us again next week,
30:41
when over most of these same stations, we'll bring you Pat Novak or Hire.
30:47
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the Voice of Information
30:51
and Education. Welcome back. Well, this was probably one of Novak's more
31:15
sympathetic episodes in terms of his treatment of other people, which I guess does
31:18
say something about the show. This remains his great flaies, his ability to
31:26
earn a quick buck, even though everything suggests that it is going to be
31:32
a bad mistake that will carry severe consequences with him. Just can't seem to
31:37
resist that quick buck. Well, now we turn to listener comments and feedback,
31:41
and I have something special. I'm going to begin to do Joan in
31:48
Ontario wrote a or Toronto excuse me, wrote a review on Slim Incorporated,
31:56
but I could not read it online because because she'd written it in the iTunes
32:02
Canada store, and it was a very nice review. But it brought to
32:07
mind for me that some listeners in some of the foreign iTunes stores born too
32:15
the United States, I should say, may have written in reviews that I
32:19
totally missed and was not able to address. So we're going to start to
32:22
read a few of those from the Canadian store over the next week or so.
32:28
So I appreciate Joan helping to bring this to my attention. One listener
32:34
comments on the Nero Wolf podcast episodes, A wonderful learning tool for speakers of
32:43
English and English literature is a foreign language. Speed is perfect, while all
32:49
words, even slang, are crisp and finished. I'm glad you're able to
32:53
use that as a resource. And old computer guy comments regarding the app.
33:00
Adam has really put a lot of work into compiling these timeless programs. I
33:05
especially like Sherlock Holmes. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your
33:09
review. All right, Well, that will do it for today. We
33:14
will be back tomorrow with the Adventures of Philip Marlowe and join us back here
33:20
next Tuesday for another episode of Pat Novak for Hire. In the meantime,
33:24
sendra comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter,
33:29
Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot
33:34
com. Slash Radio Detectives from Boise, Idaho. This is your host,
33:37
Adam Grahamson and off