August 24, 2025 • 42 mins
CBS Radio Mystery Theater was a noteworthy attempt to revive in American radio dramas like Inner Sanctum (1941-1952) and Suspense (1942-1962). Radio dramas were widely considered "dead" 12 years prior to this series. CBS Radio Mystery Theater, or simply Mystery Theater, was created by Inner Sanctum creator Himan Brown and ran on CBS from 1974-1982. The show, much like older radio dramas, was introduced by a host (E.G. Marshall in this program), who steers us through the creaking door to start the episode. Many voices from the golden age of radio were featured, including Richard Widmark, Bret Morrison, Agnes Moorehead and many more.
Hope you enjoy this episode of Mystery Theater! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
Hope you enjoy this episode of Mystery Theater! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Come in welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm e. G.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Marshall.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of
a wren. Ordinarily this proposition would be only of interest
to wren's and not to all wren's either, just those tiny,
puny birds who.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Have an eagle's mentality.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, Fate plays her ironic little jokes on us all,
and sometimes the smallest.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
People can get the biggest Ideas the.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Purana, a fish that's half the size of your little
finger is more than a match for the whale, which
could be twice the size of your house. Mystery drama
How to Kill Rudy was written especially for the Mystery
theater by Sam Dan and stars Paul Hecht. It is
(01:09):
sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and Anheuser Busch Incorporated.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Brewer is a Budweis.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'll be back shortly with that one. The nutritionist will
say you are what you eat. There may be some
validity to that, but isn't it also true that you
(01:38):
are what you read? The ideas, the principles that govern
your life.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Where did they come from? Did you just create them
out of nothing?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Or did you read about them somewhere?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So many books do not end. On the last page,
they go on.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And on, forever and ever. Already, good morning, Lieutenant Foster. Well,
now you're gonna call me Lieutenant Foster, I'll have to
call you, mister slay maker. I thought we'd become friends
by now. Joe, Rudy, I appreciate your efforts to help me,
(02:19):
But come on, Rudy, you'll feel better after you tell her.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And why can't we just leave things away?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
They are I killed them. I admit I killed them.
I'm willing to pay.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
For killing them.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Meanwhile, there are plenty of other crimes you could be
concerned with. Oh, killy, one of those warnings.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I can see that. I drop by after lunch. Hey,
and and I can bring you Oh yeah, yeah, there's a.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
New book out by mace Hacker. Sure he writes the
best murder mysteries in the world.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Don't you read it? Now?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Tell you the truth. After a hard day's homicide, my
case runs to stay him a person.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, well, that's too bad.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Mace Hacker is truly a giant of literature. This is
the last book. It's been published posthumously. I'll pick up
the booklore your rodee. I could also bring you some
of the critical essays of valatl Farm.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
No, thank you. I prefer mace Hacker.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I saw that, Lieutenant, I saw that patronizing smile.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
If you are a literary.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Snob, just let me tell you something, Lieutenant. If you'd
read mace Hacker, you'd see, you'd know beyond all shadow
but doubt why I killed him. You'd realize what destiny is.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Destiny.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
This is the story I'll never tell you or anyone else,
my story, my very own story, as written by Destiny
in the form of mace Hacker. To begin with, life
was pleasant. Some would have found a placid, but not I.
(04:10):
I had Ramona, the loveliest woman in the world.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
For my wife.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Oh, I had no idea. It was so late.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Oh it's all right.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
No, it's not all right. My wife should make her
husband's breakfast before he leaves. Oh.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
All I ever want is coffee. That's easy enough.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
No, you want more than coffee.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And my job.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Dear dear star missed my bus.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Rudy Darling is so kind, so patient, so understanding.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I can see you're sleepy. You just go back to bed.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Huh, Darling, You're so good to me.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I love you, Ramona, and I love you. Where would
I be without you? Unless miss the bus?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Jack Jessep glowers at me if I come in late,
glowers I've had me o thing, although recently it's taking
it coming in late himself.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Is that so? Yeah? Some days he doesn't get into
ten thirty eleven o'clock.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Something ought to be done about that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
What he's the boss darling from Besides, the less I see.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Of him, the more work I can get done.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
You're just too nice for your own good.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
But I can't finish my coffee, have to run.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's how it was at home with my wonderful Ramona.
Of course, at the office things were well. I didn't
have an easy time of it because Jack Jessop was
not an easy man to work for. Rodie. Why did
we did on this North Side project? How could you
be so? I mean, the biggest job in time we
(05:38):
did him? Jack, I don't want to hear any excuses now, Jack, Look,
the time for matter is you're losing.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Your grip If you read the morning paper?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Ah, yes, what else are we missing out on?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Did you look at the paper off.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
A crime out lot?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I'm sitting here talking business. Show me a newspaper at me?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
What do I care who made it.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Hold the North Side Project is on the front page. Yeah, sure,
it's making history. What are we getting out of it?
We're getting out of it with our lives. It's bankrupt,
it's is it folded? All the contractors are stuck and
let me see the bank. Hum well, sure, what did
(06:14):
anybody expect? You know that gang that's in there. They've
been involved in one shady deal atter another. I'll see
if their city hall connections keep them out of jail
this time. What I can here the minute I heard
who was in it? Keep away from that North Side project?
Isn't that what I always said?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's what you always said.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
As I recalled, you suggested preparing a bed, didn't you.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, let this be a lesson.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Look behind the corporation. Doesn't this prove it?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, yeah, sure it does.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That's Jack Jesseph, owner of Jesseph and Company, electrical contractor,
is the most difficult man to work for.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But these days a job is a job.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Why do you put up with him?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Darling?
Speaker 5 (07:01):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I have a rather pacific temperament, as you know, Ramona.
But still, besides I understand it. You see, he was.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
An All American football player.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
At college he was a hero, a celebrated.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Man of importance.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Afterward, well, there are what are known as triumphs of
the flesh.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Triumphs of the flesh. What an odd phrase. Wherever did
you get it?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
I read it somewhere.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Oh, and I know where mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
No.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I know it's fashionable to make fun of mace Hacker,
but he's insights.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yes, we were discussing.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Triumphs of the flesh.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah, well these were the triumphs Jack Jessup knew
very well.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
He graduated, grew older, and then the.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Body no longer ruled supreme went into his father in
law's business and enterprise. He simply cannot understand.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
You do all the world.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well, yeah, he knows that and resents it.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
You should be told, in no uncertained term.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It doesn't matter, darling. Believe me, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And it didn't. I was happy.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I didn't mind my job. It was just an interlude.
The important part of my life was the time I
spent with Ramona and reading Mace Hacker. Hacker is, without
a doubt, the most prolific writer in the world. A
new novel comes out almost every month, and each one
is better than the last? Why, I ask myself? Am
(08:40):
I so enthralled by mace Hacker? Look? I do have taste,
and he deals in sex or violence? Well so to Shakespeare,
for that matter. But mace Hacker, when his language is
so explicit, nothing is left to your imagination. Was a
mystery until one evening I found the answer. I was
(09:05):
rereading an old mace Hacker and suddenly, Ramona, what is it, Rudy?
Do you remember reading about the man who murdered those
three women?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Darling? Why do you bring up such a gruesome subject.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
What was his name?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I'm sure I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
His name was George, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yes, yes, it was George.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And the three girls.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
One was Felicia, the other was Prudence, and the third
was Charity.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Very good, So you remember too, No I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
How could I remember?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Well? It was in the papers only last month.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, this crime is a triple murderer came to light
last month. Correct, Yes, yeah, this is an old mace
Hacker novel published seven years ago. The murderers are described
here minutely.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, a story of a man who murders three women?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
What's so special about that? It tells exactly how he
murdered the women, why he murdered them, and their names.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
There must be an explanation.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Ramona Darling, he predicted these murders some seven years ago.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's uncannon.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I'll say it again. There must be an explanation.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
There was when I found it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Everything mace Hacker wrote happened years afterwards, years after a
particular book was published and forgotten. I checked through.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
All my old mace Hackers.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I went back almost twenty years, and sure enough, all
of them had come true, and all the murderers and
all the victims had the exact same first names as
they bore in the mace Hacker story.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
It was. It was a fantastic discovery.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Somehow, somehow, mace Hacker could foretell the future.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
My story, Lieutenant.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, the story I'll never tell you or anyone else,
began on the day of the building contractor's annual golf tournament.
I'm a rather indifferent golfer, myself poor. Actually, the jack
insists that I play in the same force him, because he,
being a scratch golfer, has an opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
To feel superior.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Keep your head down, Rudy, if you're bending that elbow,
don't sway. Ah, well, what do you expect in the rough? Again? Listen,
you were lucky you hit the ball at all, wild fellas,
we may as well help Rudy find his ball. Do
(12:01):
you see any signs of it, mister Staymaker.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I don't believe so, mister Taller, I think we'll ever.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Find that ball.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Put a new one.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
In play, and just slowing up the game.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I didn't know.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Hurry, no, hurry.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
It's such a lovely day. I'd rather sit under tree
like this one here and just read.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, yeah, so would I.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
As a matter of fact, I wish I could sneak
back to the locker room and get my favorite book
and all.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
What's that.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
The latest Mace Hacker Mystery, The Triumphs of the Flesh.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Hey, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Why am I you a mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
From way back? I've read all one hundred and forty
Mace Hacker mystery.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Ha, ha, hundred and forty on one. No, I think
you're mistaken, mister Taller. Oh no, no, no, I'm sure
I'm quite drunk. If you read your jacket on the
latest Mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Book, it says the one hundred.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And fortieth grade I know it says that, but it
happens to be wrong. You see, this particular publisher has
brought out one.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Hundred and forty. But that's his only publisher.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
The very first Mace Hacker was called I know what
it was called, Death is a lonely Woman. I'm sorry,
but that's not so, mister Tallow. I don't like to boast,
but I can name all one hundred and forty of
Mace Hacker's book. I'm sure you care, my boy, But
there is one other book, his very first. It was
(13:34):
with another publisher, long since defunct.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I've never heard of it.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
A few people have.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
A fantastic book, Cleo.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
What was it called?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
By the name of it is Rudy Jack and Ramona.
All right, we have mister Rudy Slaymaker, a dedicated man
of mystery writer Mace Hacker. And why because Rudy is
(14:04):
convinced that Hacker's stories are all prophecies of murders that
will occur in the future. Hacker even names his fictional
characters after the real life ones who will one day
make his tale come true. You only have a few
moments intermission until I return with that two Rudy's slay
(14:34):
Maker is fourty years old, quiet shy, even retiring, a
man who sincerely believes in turning the other cheek. He
is convinced that a soft answer turneth away wrath. Rudy Slaymaker,
who despite his rather threatening last name, is really a
man of peace, has just received an intimation that he
(14:57):
is about to be involved in a murder. What did
you say The name of that book was mister Tower,
Rudy Jack and Ramona. That's impossible, possible.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Why is it impossible?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Because because it was mace Hacker's very first published work,
A rather small time publisher went out of business shortly afterward,
and then mace Hacker caught on with a present firm.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Where he's been ever since.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Rudy Jack, what is the book about?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I've never read it. I've only heard about it. However,
I would assume one of them kills the other.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Two in June.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Where can I get a copy.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Or I don't think you can. The books out of
print and the publisher is out of business.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Rudy Jack and Ramona.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It's probably the only cast of carriages that didn't come true.
What do you mean, well, you call yourself a Mace
Hacker fan, and you asked that you know what I mean?
After he writes the book somewhere that story really comes true,
same names everything, Well, do you remember any murder cases
(16:09):
involving three people named Rudy, Jack and Ramona. Oh, Jack
and Ramona. I'm Rudy, My boss is Jack, my wife
is Rema. I felt a cold, chilled how must spine?
(16:30):
I didn't know what to do. One of us was
a killer? Of which one I must find a book?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I must.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I wanted all the secondhand bookshops. I wrote away to
the company that specialize in finding rare books.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And then one day.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
After considerable trouble and quite a bit of expense.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Darling, there's a package for you.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh what's in it?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I didn't open it. I think it's a book, A
book and address reads Bookfinders Incorporated.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Oh yeah, let me see that.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I grabbed the package, ran into my dead and closed
the door behind me, and tore away the wrapping paper.
And there it was the book, a book that was
almost twenty five years old. Rudy, Jack and Ramona, A
Murder Mystery by Mace Packer, the.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Very first Mace.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Hacker ever written. I sat down, turned to the first page,
and began to read. Rudy was boiling water for his
coffee when Ramona walked into the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Oh, dear, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It was so late.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
It's all right, No, it's not all right.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
A wife should make her husband's breakfast.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Paul, I ever want is coffee.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Now you want more than coffee, and.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
It's my job, the dearest, I'll miss my bus.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
White blood foes. I look at the printed page. That
was the dialogue. Those were the.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Actual words that passed between Ramona and me on any
given morning. And here, here, Mace Hacker had written.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
It all down.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Twenty five years ago. Why thank would have been twelve
years before Ramona and I.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Were even married.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I closed the book.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I was afraid to go on. What would be on
the next page. I didn't want to find out. I
didn't want to know.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
But that was a resolve I could never keep never,
And so I turned the page.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
The dialogue was still familiar.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Mustn't miss the bus. Jack flowers at me if.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I come in lay flowers that mean old thing.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Although recently he's taken the coming in made himself.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
You're just too nice for your own good darling.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Can't even finish my coffee. Have to run.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
There.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
The page came to an end.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
What would I find on the next page.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I took a deep breath and turned.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Ramona watched him hurry down the street to the corner
bus stop. He and the bus arrived simultaneously. He stepped
on board and was gone. She smiled. Her hand strayed
to the telephone. She lifted it and began to.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Dial Hello, Hello, Jack, Darling, he's gone.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yes, yes, he just got on his bus. Oh, yes,
that is as fast as you can.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You know I do, Darling.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
I let the book fall to the floor.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I couldn't believe my eyes. I could not accept what.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I had just seen in black and white. Ramona, my Ramona.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
It couldn't be true.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
It couldn't.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I picked up a book again.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I had to read that scene between the two of them,
the scene I knew would have to begin on the
next page. She knew it would take him no more
than ten minutes to arrive at the apartment. She sat calmly,
quietly controlling her excitement. Finally, the doorbell rang. She raced
(20:52):
across the roof through the door open that I wish
for to go away, Ramona, Darling.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I want that more than anything in the whole worry.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yes, I know, so do why but how would we live?
Loretta's father would fire me in a minute.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I know, and I'm content with what we can have,
even if it's only a stolen hour.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Mm mm. You know, I didn't know you turn out
to be like.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
This, Like what.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Soft sweet understanding Jack?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
What are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I should divorce Loretta and you should divorce Rudy. Rudy
should marry Loretta and I should marry you. Yes, Loretta
and Rudy are made for each other. Two sticks in
the mudle don't like to do anything, go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
But that can't happen, Darling.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yes, I know.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
And you should be returning to the office.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I know. Hm.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Rudy talks about it sometimes, he says, he says, he
colors for you when your father in law happens to
drop by. Father in law gets very upset when you're
not around.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yes, I'm aware of that, and I hate to go
to that office. You know something. Rudy scares me, He
scares you. M I give him a hard time, but
it's Sony in self defense. It's just he knows so
much about a contacting business, and I know so little.
(22:28):
I couldn't care less. Listen, maybe we should get divorced,
and you.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
And I would never give me a divorce. He doesn't
believe in it. Besides telling you're absolutely unfit for any
work at all. In six months, you'd hate yourself and
you'd hate me.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yes, I guess you're right, but we have now.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
It isn't.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Isn't enough, but it's.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Better than nothing. Now, Doc, you better get back to
the office.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Those were the next three pages of dialogue. Is that
the way things have been going? When I was out
of the house, I refused to believe it. I read
the book in my desk and I went into the
dining Mam Ramona had just started serving our dinner.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
I made you those brusthel spouts you like so much, darling.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Oh yeah, is something wrong?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Oh? What should be wrong? Well?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
I don't know, dying. It just seems to me.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
That you're all right.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
You seem very upset, very nervous.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I'm not aware of it.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Did you have a hard day?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I don't know, harder than usual?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Was Jack just a troublesome again? Honestly, Rudy's darling and
much yourself tonight bothering me.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
What was I going to tell her? So I was
determined to get to the bottom of this thing.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
So I decided that tomorrow morning, after I got on
the bus, I would just get off a few blocks
away and come back and catch them.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
So that's exactly what I did.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I boarded the bus, got off after it turned the corner,
waited about half an hour.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Then I went back to the apartment.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I opened the door very carefully, quietly. I could hear
music on the radio.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And suddenly, Rudy, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (24:49):
What am I doing? Homer?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I heard the door and I couldn't imagine her.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I forgot something.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Oh I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I better get it. It's in the bedroom. Oh yeah,
in the bedroom. She wasn't there.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Nobody was in there or anywhere else either. So what
did that mean?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
It meant mass hacker was wrong, but Jack Josep wasn't
coming here. Mornings after I left, but my relief.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Was short lived. That night, I finally got all my
courage together and got out the book. This time, I
was determined to read it through.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
If he was seeing her here at the house, I
had to find out.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Why hadn't I caught them at it? I soon got
the answer.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
According to the book, when Rudy left that morning, Ramona.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Had a premonition.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
She couldn't explain it, but she was a woman who
lived by the psyche, and so she refused to ignore it.
She died of Jack's number once again.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Jack, Darling, Yes, he just left. But don't come here now. No, no, no,
please don't come here. Yes, my darling, I want to
see you more than anything in the world. But I
have this feeling, this terrible feeling. No, no, meet me
(26:25):
for lunch, Yes, the usual place, yes, darling. At twelve, she.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Hung up the phone.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
She knew something was wrong, terribly wrong, something that could destroy.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
All of them, but she couldn't put a finger on it.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
At twelve o'clock, she arrived at the Little east Side
restaurant where they had spent so many happy hours, dying.
What's wrong with Rudy?
Speaker 3 (26:51):
What about he knows Jack?
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He knows? How much does he know?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
He knows about us? And he knows everything? Are you
sure I had this kind of mission? I can't account
for it, but I can't disregard it either. I told
you not to come. Well, a half hour after he left,
he came back. He wanted he came back to the apartment.
(27:16):
Why he said he'd forgotten something. Oh maybe he did, No, Jack, No,
you know he didn't. He came back expecting to find
us together.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Oh what are we going to do?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
We'll have to stop seeing each other. Oh no, we
can't for a while.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Not now, we can't.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And the Redd's going out of the coast to spend
a few weeks with the Rat. I planned for us
to use that time.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
No, Darling, but Rudy, suspects and all.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I can't let Rudy come returners Rudy, except I'll kill
him for No, don't say that.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It wouldn't solve the problem. The Reddit would be alive,
he wouldn't able to marry.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Has got to be some way to kill Rudy, some safe,
foolproof way.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
That probably is, But the problem is to find.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
It, just like that, just as cold blooded as that.
There's got to be a way to kill Rudy, his
safe foolproof way.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
That's how mace Hacker has been talking in his book.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And here I am reading all this in a twenty
five year old detective novel. As if it's all happening
to some fictional character, but it's.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Going to happen to me.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I'm Rudy, and Ramona is Ramona, my wife, and Jack
is Jack Joseph my boss. Well, it looks as if
our hero, if he is a hero, could.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Very likely be in soup.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
However, Rudy has an advantage. Rudy knows something that evidently
Jack and Ramona are unaware of.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Rudy has a copy of the.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Script to this little scheme, assuming of course, that a
it's a scheme and there's a script.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I'll be back in just.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
A few moments with Act three the nineteenth. Our story
thus far concerns Rudy Slaymaker, who is in a prison
(29:40):
cell where a homicide detective is urging him to make
a confession. Well, Rudy isn't paying very much attention. Rudy
is reviewing the events in his mind, and as Rudy
relives them, he is convinced no one.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Would ever believe him. He may be right. It was
out in the open.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
They realized I knew about their affair and that they
would have to find an opportunity to kill me. And
since all this had been carefully plotted out some twenty
five years ago by Mace Hacker. All I had to
do was to continue reading about it in Hacker's book Rudy,
Jack and Ramona.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Hum.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
You think that's easy.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Suppose someone handed you a book and said, here is
the story of the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Would you be anxious to read it?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I would have thrown the book away, but I had
to read it because because my life depended on it.
So from the book I continue. Ramona slay Maker led
a double life with brilliance and flair. She was Jack
Jessop's ardent lover, and she was also Rudy's Slaymaker's wife.
(30:57):
Then one afternoon, the bell rang. She opened the door.
Her eyes grew wide with fights. Ramona Darning shouldn't come here.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I know who do He suspects you could do something desperate.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
I just had to see you before I left.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Where are you going to the coast? Loretta?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
What about Loretta?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
She's dead? Oh my yes, she was thrown from a
horse at Heaven this morning.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Oh oh, I am sorry.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I had to see you.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I'm on my way to the airport, but I had
to stop here first, Ramona. Ramona, I can't pretend to
be overcome by grief, Darling. For years, it's been nothing
between Loretta and me. So now I've got to tell
you that we've got to start planning, planning, planning.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
What.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Oh, come on, you know very well what.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
We'll have to find a way to kill him.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yes, you see that means you'll be a widow. I'm
a widower. My father in law can have no objection
to our marriage. Believe I think it's logical for us
to get together, and you'll be an excellent mother to
his grandchildren.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
What we're doing is wrong, Jack, It's murder.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
My darling.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's the only way we can find happiness.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I looked up from the book. Finally, the plot was.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Arranged to kill Rudy to kill me. That was the
way Mace Hacker had written it. It had worked out
for Hacker because he could kill off Loretta, Jack's wife.
But in real life Jack's wife, Loretta was still very
much alive, and as long as she was alive, there
was no point in there trying to kill me. And
(32:38):
then one day I was at the office, the telephone ring.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
It was Loretta's father.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yes, sir, I don't want.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
To be the one who breakfast a cat. But I
think I have very bad news. What is it, sir?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
It's Loretta, the writer, Poor Jack. I know how much
you made him.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
It's very bad.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Tell him Loretta's dead. She's I'm riding in the horse.
Theretta was dead, Jack's wife dead.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Had happened? That the way was clear to kill me,
that I would soon be dead. I read the rest
of the book as quickly as I could.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
How clearly mace Hacker wrote it down. He likes to
go for walks at night near the river where it's deserted.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I keep telling him how foolish she is.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Well, right near the old bridge, there's a clump of
birch trees. I'll be waiting there when he comes by.
How should you know, I'll take his wallet, watching his
ring so it looked like by That's.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
What he said me careful, Dolly.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Of course, my dear. Next time he goes out walking,
call me. Now I knew what I had to do.
I had to see mace Hacker. I had to talk
to mace Hacker. But I ran into trouble. Nobody seemed
no mace Hacker. Nobody had an address. There had to
be something, some line on mace Hacker that the publishers.
(34:24):
They maintained a stony silence. But I knew how to
break through. That fifty bucks invested and the right people
can bring you all sorts of useful information. And so
in a few days I found myself in a modest
apartment building and a small neat plate on.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
The door read m Hacker. I rang the bell and.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
An incredibly old lady answered the door. Yes, I am
looking for mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Go away, please, it's it's a matter of life and death.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
That means nothing to me.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Please you must let me see mace Hacker. You can't
turn me down.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Very well, come in.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Thank you. Okay, I can't tell you how grateful I am.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Tell mister Hacker. I won't take too much of his time.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Mace Hacker has little enough to spare.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Oh I'll wait. Oh what for a mace Hacker?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
I am mace Hacker. You yes, but.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I am a woman.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Does that mean anything? But I speak quickly.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I have no time to waste.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
All right, I tell me who is mace Hacker?
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I am.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
No?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
But who are you?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I mean?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Do you have the gift of prophecy?
Speaker 3 (36:05):
I have a gift. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
You write stories about murder, and years later they come true.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Yes, even the people's names.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Now, how do you account for How do you account
for it?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
If I came here for answers, not questions, there are
no answers.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
There are only questions.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Twenty five years ago you wrote a book, a.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Book called Rudy Jack and Ramona did about me.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It's about me, my boss and my wife.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
How did you know about us?
Speaker 1 (36:48):
How I mean even the words we speak to each
other in private?
Speaker 4 (36:51):
How did you know?
Speaker 6 (36:52):
I'm very I usually nap about this.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
How did you know never.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Been so tired, so sleepy?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Tell me first, tell me good bye?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
No, rude, no, don't go to sleep. Tell me what
I must do.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
I've already told you. It's in the book. In the book, Oh,
the book.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Mays Hacker closed her eyes and never opened them again.
I went home.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Read the rest of the book, and I found the
little twenty two caliber pistol I kept in a desk drawer,
made sure the clip was filled. I put the gun
in my pocket, and I went into the living room
where Ramona was sitting.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Hello, Darling, a lovely night. I think I'll go for
a walk at this hour. Well, there's a bright moon.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Would you like to come?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
No, dear, I have a slight cold.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Uh. Well, I oill be long.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Don't walk too far, and please, dear, do be careful.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yes, yes, I would be very careful. I headed for
the clump of trees near the bridge. I'd get there
before he would. She couldn't call before I left the house,
and that was just the head.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Start I needed.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I arrived at the bridge, I hid behind the trees
and I waited. I waited until I heard the sound
the footsteps.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
I waited till he came into view, till he was
almost upon me, and then.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
I fired the little crystol barked like an angry dog
in the night. He fell on his face in an
ungainly spry.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
He was dead before he hit the ground. So much
for Jack. Jessup.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
And now I must finish the story the way mace
Hacker had commanded me to finish. I walked home, slowly,
very slowly. I opened the door, and when she saw
my face, a look of terror.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Came into her eyes. Surprised to see me, Ramona.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Why should I be surprised?
Speaker 1 (39:52):
It wasn't supposed to work out this way, was it?
Speaker 3 (39:56):
I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
I'm sure you do. What are you doing with that?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
What do people usually do when I've gone dog?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Don't ready know? Have you gone crazy?
Speaker 4 (40:06):
Goodbye?
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Darling?
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Why why you had your friend Jack tried to kill me?
Speaker 1 (40:12):
You told him I'm gone for a walk, but I.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Saw him first.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
I killed him first, and now you I don't know
any Your affair with Jack is over?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
What he.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Really?
Speaker 4 (40:32):
Hello?
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Killing me? But nothing? Nothing? Don't lie nothing? Why would
I have a fair.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
He should not have died with a lie on your lips?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yes, Roddy, did you take all the figures on the
marine project? Jack? Hello? Rode, this is Jack Jack Jessen Rodee?
Are you okay?
Speaker 1 (41:17):
You see?
Speaker 4 (41:19):
I killed her because I thought.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
That she was.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
But it was wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
From that man who was there by the bridge, I
guess it wasn't Jack, which means she didn't tip them off.
And I guess I guess they.
Speaker 4 (41:39):
Weren't having an affair of it.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
According to Mace.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Hackett, uh ready ready to make a statement, Lieutenant, he
had never believed me. You'll be surprised some of the
stories I hear. You never heard a story like this one?
(42:14):
And neither did the jury, so they voted to put
mister Rudy Slaymaker.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Away for the rest of his life. The pity.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
He certainly thought it was self defense.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
For all we know, maybe it was.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
You just stayed there and I shall return in a
few moments. Our cast included Paul hect, Patricia Elliott, Ian
Martin and Ralph Bell. The entire production was under the
direction of
Come in welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm e. G.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Marshall.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of
a wren. Ordinarily this proposition would be only of interest
to wren's and not to all wren's either, just those tiny,
puny birds who.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Have an eagle's mentality.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, Fate plays her ironic little jokes on us all,
and sometimes the smallest.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
People can get the biggest Ideas the.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Purana, a fish that's half the size of your little
finger is more than a match for the whale, which
could be twice the size of your house. Mystery drama
How to Kill Rudy was written especially for the Mystery
theater by Sam Dan and stars Paul Hecht. It is
(01:09):
sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and Anheuser Busch Incorporated.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Brewer is a Budweis.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'll be back shortly with that one. The nutritionist will
say you are what you eat. There may be some
validity to that, but isn't it also true that you
(01:38):
are what you read? The ideas, the principles that govern
your life.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Where did they come from? Did you just create them
out of nothing?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Or did you read about them somewhere?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So many books do not end. On the last page,
they go on.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And on, forever and ever. Already, good morning, Lieutenant Foster. Well,
now you're gonna call me Lieutenant Foster, I'll have to
call you, mister slay maker. I thought we'd become friends
by now. Joe, Rudy, I appreciate your efforts to help me,
(02:19):
But come on, Rudy, you'll feel better after you tell her.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And why can't we just leave things away?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
They are I killed them. I admit I killed them.
I'm willing to pay.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
For killing them.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Meanwhile, there are plenty of other crimes you could be
concerned with. Oh, killy, one of those warnings.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I can see that. I drop by after lunch. Hey,
and and I can bring you Oh yeah, yeah, there's a.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
New book out by mace Hacker. Sure he writes the
best murder mysteries in the world.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Don't you read it? Now?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Tell you the truth. After a hard day's homicide, my
case runs to stay him a person.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, well, that's too bad.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Mace Hacker is truly a giant of literature. This is
the last book. It's been published posthumously. I'll pick up
the booklore your rodee. I could also bring you some
of the critical essays of valatl Farm.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
No, thank you. I prefer mace Hacker.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I saw that, Lieutenant, I saw that patronizing smile.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
If you are a literary.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Snob, just let me tell you something, Lieutenant. If you'd
read mace Hacker, you'd see, you'd know beyond all shadow
but doubt why I killed him. You'd realize what destiny is.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Destiny.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
This is the story I'll never tell you or anyone else,
my story, my very own story, as written by Destiny
in the form of mace Hacker. To begin with, life
was pleasant. Some would have found a placid, but not I.
(04:10):
I had Ramona, the loveliest woman in the world.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
For my wife.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Oh, I had no idea. It was so late.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Oh it's all right.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
No, it's not all right. My wife should make her
husband's breakfast before he leaves. Oh.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
All I ever want is coffee. That's easy enough.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
No, you want more than coffee.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And my job.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Dear dear star missed my bus.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Rudy Darling is so kind, so patient, so understanding.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I can see you're sleepy. You just go back to bed.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Huh, Darling, You're so good to me.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I love you, Ramona, and I love you. Where would
I be without you? Unless miss the bus?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Jack Jessep glowers at me if I come in late,
glowers I've had me o thing, although recently it's taking
it coming in late himself.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Is that so? Yeah? Some days he doesn't get into
ten thirty eleven o'clock.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Something ought to be done about that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
What he's the boss darling from Besides, the less I see.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Of him, the more work I can get done.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
You're just too nice for your own good.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
But I can't finish my coffee, have to run.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's how it was at home with my wonderful Ramona.
Of course, at the office things were well. I didn't
have an easy time of it because Jack Jessop was
not an easy man to work for. Rodie. Why did
we did on this North Side project? How could you
be so? I mean, the biggest job in time we
(05:38):
did him? Jack, I don't want to hear any excuses now, Jack, Look,
the time for matter is you're losing.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Your grip If you read the morning paper?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Ah, yes, what else are we missing out on?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Did you look at the paper off.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
A crime out lot?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I'm sitting here talking business. Show me a newspaper at me?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
What do I care who made it.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Hold the North Side Project is on the front page. Yeah, sure,
it's making history. What are we getting out of it?
We're getting out of it with our lives. It's bankrupt,
it's is it folded? All the contractors are stuck and
let me see the bank. Hum well, sure, what did
(06:14):
anybody expect? You know that gang that's in there. They've
been involved in one shady deal atter another. I'll see
if their city hall connections keep them out of jail
this time. What I can here the minute I heard
who was in it? Keep away from that North Side project?
Isn't that what I always said?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's what you always said.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
As I recalled, you suggested preparing a bed, didn't you.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, let this be a lesson.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Look behind the corporation. Doesn't this prove it?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, yeah, sure it does.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That's Jack Jesseph, owner of Jesseph and Company, electrical contractor,
is the most difficult man to work for.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But these days a job is a job.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Why do you put up with him?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Darling?
Speaker 5 (07:01):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I have a rather pacific temperament, as you know, Ramona.
But still, besides I understand it. You see, he was.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
An All American football player.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
At college he was a hero, a celebrated.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Man of importance.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Afterward, well, there are what are known as triumphs of
the flesh.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Triumphs of the flesh. What an odd phrase. Wherever did
you get it?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
I read it somewhere.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Oh, and I know where mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
No.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I know it's fashionable to make fun of mace Hacker,
but he's insights.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yes, we were discussing.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Triumphs of the flesh.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah, well these were the triumphs Jack Jessup knew
very well.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
He graduated, grew older, and then the.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Body no longer ruled supreme went into his father in
law's business and enterprise. He simply cannot understand.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
You do all the world.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well, yeah, he knows that and resents it.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
You should be told, in no uncertained term.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It doesn't matter, darling. Believe me, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And it didn't. I was happy.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I didn't mind my job. It was just an interlude.
The important part of my life was the time I
spent with Ramona and reading Mace Hacker. Hacker is, without
a doubt, the most prolific writer in the world. A
new novel comes out almost every month, and each one
is better than the last? Why, I ask myself? Am
(08:40):
I so enthralled by mace Hacker? Look? I do have taste,
and he deals in sex or violence? Well so to Shakespeare,
for that matter. But mace Hacker, when his language is
so explicit, nothing is left to your imagination. Was a
mystery until one evening I found the answer. I was
(09:05):
rereading an old mace Hacker and suddenly, Ramona, what is it, Rudy?
Do you remember reading about the man who murdered those
three women?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Darling? Why do you bring up such a gruesome subject.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
What was his name?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I'm sure I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
His name was George, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yes, yes, it was George.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And the three girls.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
One was Felicia, the other was Prudence, and the third
was Charity.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Very good, So you remember too, No I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
How could I remember?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Well? It was in the papers only last month.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, this crime is a triple murderer came to light
last month. Correct, Yes, yeah, this is an old mace
Hacker novel published seven years ago. The murderers are described
here minutely.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, a story of a man who murders three women?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
What's so special about that? It tells exactly how he
murdered the women, why he murdered them, and their names.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
There must be an explanation.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Ramona Darling, he predicted these murders some seven years ago.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's uncannon.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I'll say it again. There must be an explanation.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
There was when I found it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Everything mace Hacker wrote happened years afterwards, years after a
particular book was published and forgotten. I checked through.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
All my old mace Hackers.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I went back almost twenty years, and sure enough, all
of them had come true, and all the murderers and
all the victims had the exact same first names as
they bore in the mace Hacker story.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
It was. It was a fantastic discovery.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Somehow, somehow, mace Hacker could foretell the future.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
My story, Lieutenant.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, the story I'll never tell you or anyone else,
began on the day of the building contractor's annual golf tournament.
I'm a rather indifferent golfer, myself poor. Actually, the jack
insists that I play in the same force him, because he,
being a scratch golfer, has an opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
To feel superior.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Keep your head down, Rudy, if you're bending that elbow,
don't sway. Ah, well, what do you expect in the rough? Again? Listen,
you were lucky you hit the ball at all, wild fellas,
we may as well help Rudy find his ball. Do
(12:01):
you see any signs of it, mister Staymaker.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I don't believe so, mister Taller, I think we'll ever.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Find that ball.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Put a new one.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
In play, and just slowing up the game.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I didn't know.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Hurry, no, hurry.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
It's such a lovely day. I'd rather sit under tree
like this one here and just read.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, yeah, so would I.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
As a matter of fact, I wish I could sneak
back to the locker room and get my favorite book
and all.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
What's that.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
The latest Mace Hacker Mystery, The Triumphs of the Flesh.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Hey, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Why am I you a mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
From way back? I've read all one hundred and forty
Mace Hacker mystery.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Ha, ha, hundred and forty on one. No, I think
you're mistaken, mister Taller. Oh no, no, no, I'm sure
I'm quite drunk. If you read your jacket on the
latest Mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Book, it says the one hundred.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And fortieth grade I know it says that, but it
happens to be wrong. You see, this particular publisher has
brought out one.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Hundred and forty. But that's his only publisher.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
The very first Mace Hacker was called I know what
it was called, Death is a lonely Woman. I'm sorry,
but that's not so, mister Tallow. I don't like to boast,
but I can name all one hundred and forty of
Mace Hacker's book. I'm sure you care, my boy, But
there is one other book, his very first. It was
(13:34):
with another publisher, long since defunct.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I've never heard of it.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
A few people have.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
A fantastic book, Cleo.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
What was it called?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
By the name of it is Rudy Jack and Ramona.
All right, we have mister Rudy Slaymaker, a dedicated man
of mystery writer Mace Hacker. And why because Rudy is
(14:04):
convinced that Hacker's stories are all prophecies of murders that
will occur in the future. Hacker even names his fictional
characters after the real life ones who will one day
make his tale come true. You only have a few
moments intermission until I return with that two Rudy's slay
(14:34):
Maker is fourty years old, quiet shy, even retiring, a
man who sincerely believes in turning the other cheek. He
is convinced that a soft answer turneth away wrath. Rudy Slaymaker,
who despite his rather threatening last name, is really a
man of peace, has just received an intimation that he
(14:57):
is about to be involved in a murder. What did
you say The name of that book was mister Tower,
Rudy Jack and Ramona. That's impossible, possible.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Why is it impossible?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Because because it was mace Hacker's very first published work,
A rather small time publisher went out of business shortly afterward,
and then mace Hacker caught on with a present firm.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Where he's been ever since.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Rudy Jack, what is the book about?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I've never read it. I've only heard about it. However,
I would assume one of them kills the other.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Two in June.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Where can I get a copy.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Or I don't think you can. The books out of
print and the publisher is out of business.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Rudy Jack and Ramona.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It's probably the only cast of carriages that didn't come true.
What do you mean, well, you call yourself a Mace
Hacker fan, and you asked that you know what I mean?
After he writes the book somewhere that story really comes true,
same names everything, Well, do you remember any murder cases
(16:09):
involving three people named Rudy, Jack and Ramona. Oh, Jack
and Ramona. I'm Rudy, My boss is Jack, my wife
is Rema. I felt a cold, chilled how must spine?
(16:30):
I didn't know what to do. One of us was
a killer? Of which one I must find a book?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I must.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I wanted all the secondhand bookshops. I wrote away to
the company that specialize in finding rare books.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And then one day.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
After considerable trouble and quite a bit of expense.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Darling, there's a package for you.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh what's in it?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I didn't open it. I think it's a book, A
book and address reads Bookfinders Incorporated.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Oh yeah, let me see that.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I grabbed the package, ran into my dead and closed
the door behind me, and tore away the wrapping paper.
And there it was the book, a book that was
almost twenty five years old. Rudy, Jack and Ramona, A
Murder Mystery by Mace Packer, the.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Very first Mace.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Hacker ever written. I sat down, turned to the first page,
and began to read. Rudy was boiling water for his
coffee when Ramona walked into the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Oh, dear, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It was so late.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
It's all right, No, it's not all right.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
A wife should make her husband's breakfast.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Paul, I ever want is coffee.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Now you want more than coffee, and.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
It's my job, the dearest, I'll miss my bus.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
White blood foes. I look at the printed page. That
was the dialogue. Those were the.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Actual words that passed between Ramona and me on any
given morning. And here, here, Mace Hacker had written.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
It all down.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Twenty five years ago. Why thank would have been twelve
years before Ramona and I.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Were even married.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I closed the book.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I was afraid to go on. What would be on
the next page. I didn't want to find out. I
didn't want to know.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
But that was a resolve I could never keep never,
And so I turned the page.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
The dialogue was still familiar.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Mustn't miss the bus. Jack flowers at me if.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I come in lay flowers that mean old thing.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Although recently he's taken the coming in made himself.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
You're just too nice for your own good darling.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Can't even finish my coffee. Have to run.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
There.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
The page came to an end.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
What would I find on the next page.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I took a deep breath and turned.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Ramona watched him hurry down the street to the corner
bus stop. He and the bus arrived simultaneously. He stepped
on board and was gone. She smiled. Her hand strayed
to the telephone. She lifted it and began to.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Dial Hello, Hello, Jack, Darling, he's gone.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yes, yes, he just got on his bus. Oh, yes,
that is as fast as you can.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You know I do, Darling.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
I let the book fall to the floor.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I couldn't believe my eyes. I could not accept what.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I had just seen in black and white. Ramona, my Ramona.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
It couldn't be true.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
It couldn't.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I picked up a book again.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I had to read that scene between the two of them,
the scene I knew would have to begin on the
next page. She knew it would take him no more
than ten minutes to arrive at the apartment. She sat calmly,
quietly controlling her excitement. Finally, the doorbell rang. She raced
(20:52):
across the roof through the door open that I wish
for to go away, Ramona, Darling.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I want that more than anything in the whole worry.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yes, I know, so do why but how would we live?
Loretta's father would fire me in a minute.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I know, and I'm content with what we can have,
even if it's only a stolen hour.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Mm mm. You know, I didn't know you turn out
to be like.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
This, Like what.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Soft sweet understanding Jack?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
What are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I should divorce Loretta and you should divorce Rudy. Rudy
should marry Loretta and I should marry you. Yes, Loretta
and Rudy are made for each other. Two sticks in
the mudle don't like to do anything, go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
But that can't happen, Darling.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yes, I know.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
And you should be returning to the office.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I know. Hm.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Rudy talks about it sometimes, he says, he says, he
colors for you when your father in law happens to
drop by. Father in law gets very upset when you're
not around.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yes, I'm aware of that, and I hate to go
to that office. You know something. Rudy scares me, He
scares you. M I give him a hard time, but
it's Sony in self defense. It's just he knows so
much about a contacting business, and I know so little.
(22:28):
I couldn't care less. Listen, maybe we should get divorced,
and you.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
And I would never give me a divorce. He doesn't
believe in it. Besides telling you're absolutely unfit for any
work at all. In six months, you'd hate yourself and
you'd hate me.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yes, I guess you're right, but we have now.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
It isn't.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Isn't enough, but it's.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Better than nothing. Now, Doc, you better get back to
the office.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Those were the next three pages of dialogue. Is that
the way things have been going? When I was out
of the house, I refused to believe it. I read
the book in my desk and I went into the
dining Mam Ramona had just started serving our dinner.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
I made you those brusthel spouts you like so much, darling.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Oh yeah, is something wrong?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Oh? What should be wrong? Well?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
I don't know, dying. It just seems to me.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
That you're all right.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
You seem very upset, very nervous.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I'm not aware of it.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Did you have a hard day?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I don't know, harder than usual?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Was Jack just a troublesome again? Honestly, Rudy's darling and
much yourself tonight bothering me.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
What was I going to tell her? So I was
determined to get to the bottom of this thing.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
So I decided that tomorrow morning, after I got on
the bus, I would just get off a few blocks
away and come back and catch them.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
So that's exactly what I did.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I boarded the bus, got off after it turned the corner,
waited about half an hour.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Then I went back to the apartment.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I opened the door very carefully, quietly. I could hear
music on the radio.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And suddenly, Rudy, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (24:49):
What am I doing? Homer?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I heard the door and I couldn't imagine her.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I forgot something.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Oh I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I better get it. It's in the bedroom. Oh yeah,
in the bedroom. She wasn't there.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Nobody was in there or anywhere else either. So what
did that mean?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
It meant mass hacker was wrong, but Jack Josep wasn't
coming here. Mornings after I left, but my relief.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Was short lived. That night, I finally got all my
courage together and got out the book. This time, I
was determined to read it through.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
If he was seeing her here at the house, I
had to find out.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Why hadn't I caught them at it? I soon got
the answer.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
According to the book, when Rudy left that morning, Ramona.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Had a premonition.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
She couldn't explain it, but she was a woman who
lived by the psyche, and so she refused to ignore it.
She died of Jack's number once again.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Jack, Darling, Yes, he just left. But don't come here now. No, no, no,
please don't come here. Yes, my darling, I want to
see you more than anything in the world. But I
have this feeling, this terrible feeling. No, no, meet me
(26:25):
for lunch, Yes, the usual place, yes, darling. At twelve, she.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Hung up the phone.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
She knew something was wrong, terribly wrong, something that could destroy.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
All of them, but she couldn't put a finger on it.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
At twelve o'clock, she arrived at the Little east Side
restaurant where they had spent so many happy hours, dying.
What's wrong with Rudy?
Speaker 3 (26:51):
What about he knows Jack?
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He knows? How much does he know?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
He knows about us? And he knows everything? Are you
sure I had this kind of mission? I can't account
for it, but I can't disregard it either. I told
you not to come. Well, a half hour after he left,
he came back. He wanted he came back to the apartment.
(27:16):
Why he said he'd forgotten something. Oh maybe he did, No, Jack, No,
you know he didn't. He came back expecting to find
us together.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Oh what are we going to do?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
We'll have to stop seeing each other. Oh no, we
can't for a while.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Not now, we can't.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And the Redd's going out of the coast to spend
a few weeks with the Rat. I planned for us
to use that time.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
No, Darling, but Rudy, suspects and all.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I can't let Rudy come returners Rudy, except I'll kill
him for No, don't say that.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It wouldn't solve the problem. The Reddit would be alive,
he wouldn't able to marry.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Has got to be some way to kill Rudy, some safe,
foolproof way.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
That probably is, But the problem is to find.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
It, just like that, just as cold blooded as that.
There's got to be a way to kill Rudy, his
safe foolproof way.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
That's how mace Hacker has been talking in his book.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And here I am reading all this in a twenty
five year old detective novel. As if it's all happening
to some fictional character, but it's.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Going to happen to me.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I'm Rudy, and Ramona is Ramona, my wife, and Jack
is Jack Joseph my boss. Well, it looks as if
our hero, if he is a hero, could.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Very likely be in soup.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
However, Rudy has an advantage. Rudy knows something that evidently
Jack and Ramona are unaware of.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Rudy has a copy of the.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Script to this little scheme, assuming of course, that a
it's a scheme and there's a script.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I'll be back in just.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
A few moments with Act three the nineteenth. Our story
thus far concerns Rudy Slaymaker, who is in a prison
(29:40):
cell where a homicide detective is urging him to make
a confession. Well, Rudy isn't paying very much attention. Rudy
is reviewing the events in his mind, and as Rudy
relives them, he is convinced no one.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Would ever believe him. He may be right. It was
out in the open.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
They realized I knew about their affair and that they
would have to find an opportunity to kill me. And
since all this had been carefully plotted out some twenty
five years ago by Mace Hacker. All I had to
do was to continue reading about it in Hacker's book Rudy,
Jack and Ramona.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Hum.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
You think that's easy.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Suppose someone handed you a book and said, here is
the story of the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Would you be anxious to read it?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I would have thrown the book away, but I had
to read it because because my life depended on it.
So from the book I continue. Ramona slay Maker led
a double life with brilliance and flair. She was Jack
Jessop's ardent lover, and she was also Rudy's Slaymaker's wife.
(30:57):
Then one afternoon, the bell rang. She opened the door.
Her eyes grew wide with fights. Ramona Darning shouldn't come here.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I know who do He suspects you could do something desperate.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
I just had to see you before I left.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Where are you going to the coast? Loretta?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
What about Loretta?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
She's dead? Oh my yes, she was thrown from a
horse at Heaven this morning.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Oh oh, I am sorry.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I had to see you.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I'm on my way to the airport, but I had
to stop here first, Ramona. Ramona, I can't pretend to
be overcome by grief, Darling. For years, it's been nothing
between Loretta and me. So now I've got to tell
you that we've got to start planning, planning, planning.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
What.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Oh, come on, you know very well what.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
We'll have to find a way to kill him.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yes, you see that means you'll be a widow. I'm
a widower. My father in law can have no objection
to our marriage. Believe I think it's logical for us
to get together, and you'll be an excellent mother to
his grandchildren.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
What we're doing is wrong, Jack, It's murder.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
My darling.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's the only way we can find happiness.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I looked up from the book. Finally, the plot was.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Arranged to kill Rudy to kill me. That was the
way Mace Hacker had written it. It had worked out
for Hacker because he could kill off Loretta, Jack's wife.
But in real life Jack's wife, Loretta was still very
much alive, and as long as she was alive, there
was no point in there trying to kill me. And
(32:38):
then one day I was at the office, the telephone ring.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
It was Loretta's father.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yes, sir, I don't want.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
To be the one who breakfast a cat. But I
think I have very bad news. What is it, sir?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
It's Loretta, the writer, Poor Jack. I know how much
you made him.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
It's very bad.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Tell him Loretta's dead. She's I'm riding in the horse.
Theretta was dead, Jack's wife dead.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Had happened? That the way was clear to kill me,
that I would soon be dead. I read the rest
of the book as quickly as I could.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
How clearly mace Hacker wrote it down. He likes to
go for walks at night near the river where it's deserted.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I keep telling him how foolish she is.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Well, right near the old bridge, there's a clump of
birch trees. I'll be waiting there when he comes by.
How should you know, I'll take his wallet, watching his
ring so it looked like by That's.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
What he said me careful, Dolly.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Of course, my dear. Next time he goes out walking,
call me. Now I knew what I had to do.
I had to see mace Hacker. I had to talk
to mace Hacker. But I ran into trouble. Nobody seemed
no mace Hacker. Nobody had an address. There had to
be something, some line on mace Hacker that the publishers.
(34:24):
They maintained a stony silence. But I knew how to
break through. That fifty bucks invested and the right people
can bring you all sorts of useful information. And so
in a few days I found myself in a modest
apartment building and a small neat plate on.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
The door read m Hacker. I rang the bell and.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
An incredibly old lady answered the door. Yes, I am
looking for mace Hacker.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Go away, please, it's it's a matter of life and death.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
That means nothing to me.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Please you must let me see mace Hacker. You can't
turn me down.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Very well, come in.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Thank you. Okay, I can't tell you how grateful I am.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Tell mister Hacker. I won't take too much of his time.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Mace Hacker has little enough to spare.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Oh I'll wait. Oh what for a mace Hacker?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
I am mace Hacker. You yes, but.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I am a woman.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Does that mean anything? But I speak quickly.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I have no time to waste.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
All right, I tell me who is mace Hacker?
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I am.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
No?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
But who are you?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I mean?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Do you have the gift of prophecy?
Speaker 3 (36:05):
I have a gift. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
You write stories about murder, and years later they come true.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Yes, even the people's names.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Now, how do you account for How do you account
for it?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
If I came here for answers, not questions, there are
no answers.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
There are only questions.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Twenty five years ago you wrote a book, a.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Book called Rudy Jack and Ramona did about me.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It's about me, my boss and my wife.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
How did you know about us?
Speaker 1 (36:48):
How I mean even the words we speak to each
other in private?
Speaker 4 (36:51):
How did you know?
Speaker 6 (36:52):
I'm very I usually nap about this.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
How did you know never.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Been so tired, so sleepy?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Tell me first, tell me good bye?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
No, rude, no, don't go to sleep. Tell me what
I must do.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
I've already told you. It's in the book. In the book, Oh,
the book.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Mays Hacker closed her eyes and never opened them again.
I went home.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Read the rest of the book, and I found the
little twenty two caliber pistol I kept in a desk drawer,
made sure the clip was filled. I put the gun
in my pocket, and I went into the living room
where Ramona was sitting.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Hello, Darling, a lovely night. I think I'll go for
a walk at this hour. Well, there's a bright moon.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Would you like to come?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
No, dear, I have a slight cold.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Uh. Well, I oill be long.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Don't walk too far, and please, dear, do be careful.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yes, yes, I would be very careful. I headed for
the clump of trees near the bridge. I'd get there
before he would. She couldn't call before I left the house,
and that was just the head.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Start I needed.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I arrived at the bridge, I hid behind the trees
and I waited. I waited until I heard the sound
the footsteps.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
I waited till he came into view, till he was
almost upon me, and then.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
I fired the little crystol barked like an angry dog
in the night. He fell on his face in an
ungainly spry.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
He was dead before he hit the ground. So much
for Jack. Jessup.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
And now I must finish the story the way mace
Hacker had commanded me to finish. I walked home, slowly,
very slowly. I opened the door, and when she saw
my face, a look of terror.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Came into her eyes. Surprised to see me, Ramona.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Why should I be surprised?
Speaker 1 (39:52):
It wasn't supposed to work out this way, was it?
Speaker 3 (39:56):
I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
I'm sure you do. What are you doing with that?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
What do people usually do when I've gone dog?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Don't ready know? Have you gone crazy?
Speaker 4 (40:06):
Goodbye?
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Darling?
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Why why you had your friend Jack tried to kill me?
Speaker 1 (40:12):
You told him I'm gone for a walk, but I.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Saw him first.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
I killed him first, and now you I don't know
any Your affair with Jack is over?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
What he.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Really?
Speaker 4 (40:32):
Hello?
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Killing me? But nothing? Nothing? Don't lie nothing? Why would
I have a fair.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
He should not have died with a lie on your lips?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yes, Roddy, did you take all the figures on the
marine project? Jack? Hello? Rode, this is Jack Jack Jessen Rodee?
Are you okay?
Speaker 1 (41:17):
You see?
Speaker 4 (41:19):
I killed her because I thought.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
That she was.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
But it was wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
From that man who was there by the bridge, I
guess it wasn't Jack, which means she didn't tip them off.
And I guess I guess they.
Speaker 4 (41:39):
Weren't having an affair of it.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
According to Mace.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Hackett, uh ready ready to make a statement, Lieutenant, he
had never believed me. You'll be surprised some of the
stories I hear. You never heard a story like this one?
(42:14):
And neither did the jury, so they voted to put
mister Rudy Slaymaker.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Away for the rest of his life. The pity.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
He certainly thought it was self defense.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
For all we know, maybe it was.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
You just stayed there and I shall return in a
few moments. Our cast included Paul hect, Patricia Elliott, Ian
Martin and Ralph Bell. The entire production was under the
direction of
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