September 8, 2025 • 44 mins
CBS Radio Mystery Theater - Sting of Death
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Come in welcome. I'm me G Marshall. This time a mystery,
a puzzle, if you will, which I challenge you to solve.
As with all mysteries worthy of the name, each clue
will be honestly and plainly presented to you. And yet
(00:40):
unless I miss my guess, the answer to the puzzle
will elude you till the very end. We'll play a
game of wits, you and I, just for the fun
of it, and see who wins. Unhappily, one of the
characters you will meet lost.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I found the shrunken head on the pillow of my bed,
and that clock points to twelve.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That means I die at twelve.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Question is Elizabeth, dear twelve? What twelve? What twelve noon
or twelve midnight?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
The drum clock twelve o'clock noon.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Maybe you'll be dead on the stroke of twelve, Elizabeth,
and maybe you have to wait till midnight. Our mystery
drama Sting of Death was written especially for the Mystery
(01:49):
theater by George Lowther and stars William Prince. My first
move is to describe the huge, barn like living room
(02:09):
of the country home of Trevor Costain, explorer, adventurer, author
and the living room reflects the trophies of his travels.
On the north wall head dresses of native tribal chiefs
from all over the world. The south wall is covered
with the wards trophies, the west wall is hung with
(02:32):
native spears, shields, primitive weapons. And on the east wall,
above the huge fireplace, hangs a clock, a most bizarre clock.
The face is made of a Togarry war shield. Headhunters,
you know, the Tugarry. The hands of the clock are
(02:55):
made of well human thigh bones, and the hours from
one to twelve are marked by shrunken human heads. Well,
don't look so horrified. I told you that to Gary
were headhunters. And when I told you that, I gave
you your first important clue. See what you can do
(03:18):
with it, Liz, give me another drink.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Trevor the doctor.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I know, I know, but if I'm going to die,
I'm going to die happy. Dad the disease.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know what alcohol does to you because of it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I'm in enough pain Forry. Stop calling me Dad.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
He is your son in law. Father.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Don't remind me, Dicky, Liz that drink. Please some son
in law, some husband, an alcoholic who's put you through
purgatory since the day you married him.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
That's ended now.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I haven't had a drink since I joined AA five
weeks ago. I wish I could believe that you can't.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Oh, forry is your drink, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Oh father, you're not going to smoke too?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Did I say I was going to smoke?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Every time you pick up one of your pipes.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Don't worry, Jackie. Whatever disease hit me and borneo years ago,
just a whiff of tobacco sickens me. Give my right
arm to be able to smoke these pipes again. But
all I can do is polish them, clean them, pop
on them, never light them. It's a terrible way to live.
(04:28):
I'll be glad when I'm dead.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Oh don't say that, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You sound as if you will be sorry when I'm going, Liz,
I will be Why lie to me, Liz, Our marriage
has been anything but a happy one. We put each
other through the ringer of the way, our long haired
son in law, But Jackie threw one different kind of ringer.
That's all. Oh that's over, and now everything's over for me.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Oh father, please don't get up. If you want anything
else to jet.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Up and ease the fame. I just want to get
those pipe cleaners and the metal. Oh blest, he drops
your drink all over me.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I'm afraid.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Sorry, spasm of pain.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I'll make you another.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I'll have to change these pets.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Father, sit down, I'll get the pipe cleaners.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I can't do a thing for myself anymore. A thing, Jackie.
What about the divorce, Well, I've given for it.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Here here the pipe cleaners. I've given for a.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Another chance, wasted time. You know that it's.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Probably hopeless, But in common decency, I can't let him down.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
He depends on me. Father, a weekling. He's a weakling. Well,
some men are not Rodge Champion. He was a man
for you. I told you that your drink. Thanks, Roger
will be here tomorrow, Jackie. I'm gonna spend a few
days helping me straighten out my affairs. Why don't you
(06:04):
and he try to get together? See if you can
still hit it off? Fathers them what the devil?
Speaker 4 (06:13):
What the clock?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That head? Hundred clock over the fireplace? Look at it.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That's strange. One of those awful shrunken heads is missing.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
The one that marked the hour of seven? Father, What
happened to it.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You don't know. I just noticed it was missing this minute.
Look around, Seep, it's on the floor.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Oh, if it is, I just.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
As soon look around, I said, I can't. All right, dear,
all right, Jackie, you look and see if that was Forrie.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Something's happened.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I didn't look at this. Look at this. Look the
head off the clock. Oh what are you doing with that?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It was on the pillow of my bed.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Your pillow was just lying there, smack in the middle
of a pillow. Fory this summer kind of gag? Did
you take it off the clock?
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Why would I do a thing like that?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I don't know. But then I don't know why. You've
done a lot of things you've done, Dad, I tell you,
all right, all right, put it back on the clock.
The hour of seven. Yeah, sure, somebody's playing games, somebody
with a sixth sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And oh, oh, fry what father?
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Catch him?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
As walk get away, Teddy, Let me see? Is he
is he dead? Yes, drum clock in the.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Hall, it's seven o'clock. The shunken head the hour of seven.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Farry found it in his room on his pillow, and
now he's dead.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
What does it mean what.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yes, Oh, this is Freber Kastian. I see, Oh, yes,
well I want to be informed a minute, you find out, fine,
good bye?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Who is that at.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
The coroner's office? Have been bugging them all through the
night to tell me what killed that husband of yours?
And just want to let me know they're starting the
autopsy now? Oh Jackie, yes, father, we've never pulled any
punches with each other, you and me, so don't let's
(08:50):
pull any now. You're really sorry for he's dead?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
What a thing to ask?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
What's the answer?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I I don't know.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Marriage tofore he was purgatory, as you said last night,
but he he was starting a new life joining AA
And oh it isn't fair somehow.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Not to him maybe, but it's very fair to you.
What do you mean you can do what you should
have done in the first place. You sh marry Roger?
Speaker 5 (09:25):
Oh, father, you're taking an awful lot for granted.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
You love him, don't you? Yes?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I guess I do?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
But no, buts about it? When Roger gets here, Hey,
sounds like he's here. Come on, let's meet him at
the door.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Are you strong enough to walk?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Having a good day? Come on? Can't wait to see
him best. How a manager I ever had never took
any gut from me either. He didn't have to. He's
a fine man, Jackie, fine man.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Hi, Trevor, Jackie.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Good to see, Roge, you old son of a gun.
I can't tell you how good it is to who's this, Trevor, Jackie?
Meet Virginia my wife. You have no idea, no idea
(10:28):
at all. What killed for it? Whether they're doing the
autopsy now, Roger, coroner, doctor Dodd is a friend of mine.
You let me know what they come up with as
soon as they know. Help yourself to a drink, Roger,
thanks you, No, no, almost lunch time. I have to
limit myself. Can't even smoke, and with three months or
(10:52):
less to live, hell of a way to go out.
Oh hand me those pipe lingers, William, Yeah, here you are.
At least you get some satisfaction from fooling around with
these old pipes of yours. Yes, kind of makes not
smoking a little easier, you know, Roger, you shocked me
(11:16):
when you arrived with a wife. How come I had
plans for you and Jackie.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I was in love with Jackie, yes.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
But when she married Farie, well that was that Jenny's
a wonderful girl, and she'll be a wonderful wife. Oh,
I'm sure speaking of Jackie in Virginia. They got to
be back from their walk soon. It's almost now. What
in blazes what is it the clock? Look at the clock?
(11:50):
A head's missing from twelve? Now what does this mean?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Well, probably nothing at all, Probably just fell.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Off, didn't us fall off? And don't bother looking for
it on the floor. Someone took that head off the clock, Roger.
And unless I miss my guess, it means someone else
is going to die.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
I can't believe that there's any significance.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Oh, father Roger, is something wrong?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Jackie? Your mother's still asleep in her room, worn out
after last night. Better get her down here.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Why what's happened?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
The head is missing from the clock again, this time
from the hour of twelve. Oh no, it means another death?
Well never mind, wake your mother up and tell her
to come down here with miss stare all of you.
I'll handle this. Father.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
When did you discover this head?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Now?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Seconds before you and Virginia came back from your walk.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Father, you don't think it can't mean another.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I'm afraid it could. Easy easy, Elizabeth trev She woke
up a minute ago to find this cider on the pillow.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
The shrunken head.
Speaker 7 (13:05):
Oh, mother, am I going to die? Is that what
it means that I'm going.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
To die the way for you?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Of course not twelve o'clock. My head is missing from
twelve o'clock. I'm going to die at twelve. I know
I'm going to die at twelve.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Question is twelve noon, twelve midnight?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Oh? I didn't think of that.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Well you'd better.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Oh how can you be so callous at that head,
that shrunken head?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You put it on my pillow?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
What it would be just like you to do something
crazy like this because.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You're you're sick, Trevor, nothing is sick.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I don't know how I killed Farry before our.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
Eyes, yours and mine, killed.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Him, but he did, and he's going to do it again.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It's time to me.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Take it, take it easy, Elizabethhew.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
When when is he going to do it?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That's the only question now, the only question that interests me. When, Trevor,
twelve noon, twelve midnight.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I don't mind.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Dying, but I can't bear not knowing.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
When to me, Trevor, tell me.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
A dramatic scene and and an intriguing one. Don't you
think if I were you, I wouldn't at this moment
be asking was for a murdered? And will Elizabeth meet
the same fate? But if for a was and she does,
how I'll return in a minute for act two. At
(15:31):
this moment, you have all the clues you need, in fact,
all the clues you're going to get, because that's all
there are to answer the riddle of how for a
Prescott died? And oh, let's face it, it is murder,
and who killed him? If it comes to that, who
will murder Elizabeth? And how? For surely she too is
(15:54):
going to die?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Nine? Ten, eleven, one.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Twelve, catcha just flying Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Oh I'm all right, Oh mother, Thank Heaven, you're alive.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
So you see, my dear Elizabeth, I didn't murder you after.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
All, Oh, only because you mean to prolong the agony.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Travel now I must wait till midnight.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Why what do you mean why you can simply leave?
Get out of here now.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Yes, mother, you can do that. I'll drive you to town.
You can stay at the motel, or if you want,
I'll take you to New York.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
You could know.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
But Elizabeth, if you're afraid of being murdered at midnight.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Then let it be at midnight.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Get it over with this.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
This is GE's crazy, you know, always talk about murder, you,
all of you. You're assuming Fariy was murdered when you
don't even know what he died of. For all you know,
he could simply have dropped dead, a heart attack, cerebral hemorrhage.
Why have you assumed, the three of you? You, Jackie, you, Trev,
you Elizabeth? Why have you assumed from the start that
(17:18):
Fariy was murdered?
Speaker 5 (17:19):
But if he wasn't, Roger, what's the meaning behind the
shrunken head?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
We discovered the head.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
Was missing from the hour of seven on that that
awful clock above the fireplace, and then Farry found it
on the pillow of his bed, and Farry died at exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Seven o'clock this time ahead is missing from twelve, and
it's on the pillow of my bed.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Where I found it when I woke up my lap.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Hello. Oh, hello Ed, doctor Dodd the coroner. I see
mm hmm, well how long will that take? Will you
let me know? Thanks? Ed? Thanks very much?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
What did doctor dot say?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Father Flori was murdered? The autopsy revealed poison in the
body tissues, what kind of poison that they don't know yet,
and sending a tissue sample to the New York Police
Lab to find out. No doubt about it now, though
Farr was murdered.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
As you will murder me at midnight.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Darling, Let's sit down a few minutes before we go back, Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Roger, I just had to get away from that awful
atmosphere in that house.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Look, sweetheart, I'll be more than happy to take you back.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
To New York and then come back by yourself.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Oh no, I'd be safe enough, I think from whom.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I'm not thinking of the murderer, sweetheart. I'm thinking of
the danger you'd be in, and i'd be in from
a very attractive and decidedly sexy Jacqueline.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I owe it to Trevor to help him all I
can with his records papers, lord knows what, help him
get them in order before he dies.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Roger, what are you make of all this? Who do
you think murdered trevorson in law?
Speaker 4 (19:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Could beat Trevor he hated Fariy, But then it could
be Jackie, she hated him too.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
What about missus cous Jane Elizabeth.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Hm, I know what you means. That shrunken head on
her pillow. She could have put it.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
There, a red herring, a blind hmm, something to throw
the police off the scent when they get here.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
The police will come again, you think.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Well, sure, I'd say.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
All they're waiting for is a toxicology report on whatever
poison killed Fari.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
And that can come any minute, any hour.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It's almost five. I get we've been gone at least
a couple of hours. I guess we'd better think of
getting back.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Jinny. You're sure I am. You don't want me to
take you back to New York.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Ah Ah, you're a brave little girl who deserves a kiss.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I'm a scared little girl. But don't let that stop.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
You don't tell me what to do, Jackie. If I
want to change my will, I'll change it. In fact,
my attorneys are changing it right now, both damn it.
Don't look at me as if I'd done some terrible thing,
do you? Or maybe you misunderstood me?
Speaker 5 (20:36):
No, I didn't misunderstand. You're cutting mother off and leaving
your fortune to me?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Why? Plain enough? I want to be sure you're financially
safe and secure.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Oh, no, father, there's more behind it than that.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
You know as well as I do. Mother would take
good care of me, share what she has with me.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Ugh, you don't know her like I know it.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Oh, I know her better than you. I've spent my
life with her. You've spent yours elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I'm an explorer or I was.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Oh, you could have spent more time with her.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I don't tolerate fools easily.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
We've got off the subject. What's your real reason for
changing the will?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
All right?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Let me tell you. You're still hoping I'll marry Roger Campion.
You're hoping that if I'm an heiress, the money will
help induce him to divorce Virginia.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
And marry me.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You said it, not me, Well you think.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
It, you must. I can't think of any other reason
for changing your will. Oh, father, Roger and I.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Are through with each other.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
If only you hadn't married Fari Damn.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Well, if you'd put a brake on your temper, you
wouldn't break so many of those pipes down.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
One of my best pipes, too, Well, I have to
send it for repair. I wish I could repair the
mess you've made. Of your life as easily. All right.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I made a mess of my life, but that's over.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Now Barrie's dead and that's over.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And I mean to keep you from making another. Now
you listen to me. Roger's the man for you, he
always has been. And why you didn't marry him years?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Oh why I wanted a husband I could live with,
be with, not a wanderer like you. I saw what
happened to Mother because of you, emptiness, loneliness, and I
made up my mind it would never happen to me.
Fariy was no bargain, as it turned out, but he
stayed at home, so does Roger.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Now run to you Safaris from an office in New York.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
That disease you picked up in Borneo, it's just making
you see things in a warped way, a distorted way.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
You're not yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
You think it's crazy of me to change my will.
It's crazy of me to hope that you'll persuade Roger
to get a divorce and marry you. That what I
want so much. The two people I love most in
this world should make it together. If I haven't got
a prayer it'll happen.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Well, it won't. I'm sorry, but it won't it will
I want. You can't always have what you want.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You're wrong. I always have and always will till the
day I die. Midnight, it's nearly midnight, Jackie, where's your mother?
Speaker 5 (23:43):
I told you she's locked herself in her room.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
And I told you I want her here in this
living room at midnight. Go get her.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
She won't unlock the door. She feels safer locked in
her room.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
If you won't go and get her. I will week
as I am. I'll go up there and break the
door down. I want her here.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
Give it another try, and Jackie, all right and tell
her I'll come up and break the door down, and
you go get that piece of fluff you married.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I want her here too. That little piece of fluff
I married is probably fast asleep, and trev I'm not
waking her. You will do as I've had a rough
time since we got here this morning. If I'd known
what we were heading into, I wouldn't have come, let alone.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Bring Jinny.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
She went to bed after dinner, and that's where she's
gonna stay all right.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
That's the one thing I always liked about you, Rat.
You never failed to stand up to me.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
You take a lot of standing up too, Not anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Tell me that rack of pipes, William, the one with
the churchwardens, churchwardens, Oh, the ones with a long stamp. Yes,
they're beautiful, trev they really are. Any practical reason for
the extra long stamp. I'm sure they cool and filter
the smoke longer the stem the better. Oh, you finally
(25:17):
decided to join us?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
You decided, Trevor. Why are you so determined.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
To have me here in this room at midnight?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Elizabeth? Why were you so determined to stay in yours?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
To put it plainly, so you couldn't kill me?
Speaker 1 (25:33):
You've eaten no dinner, You've had nothing to drink or
cut down.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
The chances of your poisoning me the way you poisoned Fi.
I locked myself in my room to cut the chances
down even further. But well, here I am. You wanted
me here in this room so you could murder me.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
And I'm sure that when the drunk clock strikes at
midnight you will how I don't know, but you will.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
It's never occurred to you. I suppose that I want
you here so I can protect you, protect me? Is
that so hard to believe?
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Very hard in fact impossible, well less than a minute
now at midnight. Roger, Yes, Lisabeth, good bye. I want
you to know that, like Trevor, I to have always
(26:48):
been very fond of you, respected you, hoped you and
Jackie would marry. But I also want you to know
that you couldn't have done better when married Virginia. She's
a fine girl, Roger, just the kind of wife you need. Goodbye, Roger.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
Elizabeth, you're sounding as if you were going to your.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Execution in a way that's what would be nonsense.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
You're not going to die.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
You're standing here in this room as healthy a woman
as I've ever seen you. We've let Fari's death overshadow everything,
warp are thinking, make us expect death. But look around you, Elizabeth,
where could you possibly find a a more homelike scene,
a scene in order to reflect contentment rather than anything
(27:36):
else content I've deaned? Look around the fire blazing in
the fireplace, Trevor polishing his pipe, the friendly warmth of
an old house where midnight.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Jackie, Mother, let me hold you, Mother.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
You're not going to die. You can't.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I know it, Elizabeth.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
This is nonsense.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Trevor I'm waiting.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
What do you mean waiting? Boy?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
You to kill me? Learn?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
If I murder you, Elizabeth, It'll be the neatest, bigger
the week.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Oh, mother, I tried to catch her, but no, no, Jackie,
stand back, let me.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
She's dead.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
But hew o, one moment she was alive. In the
next Roger, what killed her?
Speaker 6 (28:48):
What killed fri? What?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
What? How do you know? Have you figured it all out?
As I told you? You have all the clues I have,
and I've figured it out well, I think I have.
I'll be back shortly for act three. Now Elizabeth Costayne
(29:30):
is dead, mysteriously struck down instantly killed as her son
in law Forrest Prescott was only the day before. Now
the following morning, in the guest room occupied by Roger
and Virginia Campion.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
No, no, Virginia, I've made up my mind. We're leaving.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Not if you plan to take me to New York
and then return here.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
I won't be coming back.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I never expected anything like this when I agreed to
help Trevor straighten out his affairs.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Oh but Roger, you're such old friends.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I'm not so sure of that. Jenny to Trevor Costainne's friend.
You have to be friends on his terms. Oh he
likes me, Sure, he values my friendship up to a point.
But that's because I always did the job he wanted
done and I never crossed him.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
He must have been a hard man to live with.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
He hasn't changed any even with a even with his
death only a few weeks months away, He's still demanding
and getting what he wants.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
He's still riding rough shadow everyone in his path.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I have got a strong suspicion that that's why Fari
and Elizabeth were murdered.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
They got in Trevor's way.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Can you really think of that?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I'm almost sure of it. Now there are only four
of us left in this house. Now there's you and me,
and Jackie and Trevor. You and I certainly aren't murderers.
And Jackie wouldn't kill a gnat if she could avoided. No, No,
it's got to be Trevor. What I can't figure out
is how he killed them. What's that? Well?
Speaker 3 (30:55):
I thought all the police had left.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
That's the last car heading out of the driveway. Now,
come on, Ginny, let's get these bags packed. I want
to be heading out of that driveway too, and just
as soon as possible.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Father, father, will you please stop polishing that damn pipe
and listen to me?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
What do you want? Jackie?
Speaker 5 (31:24):
The police have just left. I wondered if you'd like
a cup of coffee, give me a drink. No, you're
not supposed to know what I'm not supposed to do.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
All right, whatever you.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Say, and hand me those pipe cleaners.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Here you are. Here's good drink.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Thanks, good good. I'll miss this final Scott's when I'm gone.
One consolation though, Roger always enjoyed it too, And it'll
all be his when I've kicked the bucket.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
You you willed it to him, your supply of Scotch.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
No, no, of course not. I meant all of this
will be his.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
And I don't understand you said you willed everything to me.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Well I did. Maybe I shouldn't have said this will
all be Rogers. I should have said yours and rogers
naturally after you're married, married father.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
I I told you yesterday I'm not marrying Roger. For
one thing, I don't love him anymore and he doesn't
love me. And for another, he's happily married to Virginia.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
For as long as she lives, as long as she lives,
as long as Oh, come in, Roger, come in, Trav, Jackie.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Did you and Jenny get any sleep?
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Not much? Dozed an hour or so.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
How about some coffee?
Speaker 4 (33:03):
That's a good idea.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
And what would you like for breakfast?
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Just coffee, you'll be okay.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
And what about Ginny?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Coffee will be enough for her too. We want to
get an early start back to New York. Back to
New York. You haven't even started on my paper, my record,
I know, trip, But but what ty if I'd known
what I was walking into when I came here, and
known what I was walking Ginny into, I'd never have come.
(33:32):
Oh yes, you would. You never disobeyed me, stood up
to me. Yes, when the tips are down, you did
what you were told. I was your second in command then,
and that was years ago. Oh not so many too,
but busy, busy years, Trip. I've got my own business now,
my own life to live, and to be plain, I
(33:55):
don't take orders from anybody anymore. Why you ungreat just
a minute, Trev. I was more than willing to come
here and spend as much time as it took to
straighten out your affairs. I felt I owed you that
the least you willed me the least maybe, But what
I don't owe you was putting my life or Jinny's
(34:17):
on the line for you.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
You mean Far's death.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Mother's Who's next. I've got a feeling that no one
is safe in his house, A feeling or a suspicion,
same thing, Trev. Not exactly. Feeling There may be another
death is one thing. Suspecting who might be behind the
deaths is another. You suspect me, don't you, Yes, Trev,
(34:50):
I do well. I guess the time has come to
tell you that your suspicion is correct. One correct you
you did kill Oh you suspected me too, But it's impossible.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
You hardly have strength enough left to stand on your
feet to walk a few steps.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Oh I'm weak, all right, but not as weak as
I pretended. See then you you were able to take
the shrunken heads from that clock and put one on
Fori's pillow and the other aunt Elizabeths.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
But even so, I still don't see how you how
you killed them exactly on the hour fi at seven,
mother at midnight?
Speaker 4 (35:43):
How did you manage that? True?
Speaker 1 (35:46):
My little secret?
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Some sort of slow acting poison, A poison that you
were able to time to.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
The minute, but a small matter. All that matters to
me now is that you Roger, Mary, you're out of
your head.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
Father, Father. You're sick right now. You're overly tired, you're exhausted,
you're a little mixed up.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Say it, you said it yesterday, say it again? Crazy
but saying or crazy. The two of you will do
as I wish. Obey my final order. No way travel.
I love Virginia. I'm married to Virginia. I'll stay married
(36:35):
to Virginia. You can't very well stay married to a corpse, Raj.
Now what do you mean by that? Why? No more
than what is stated in the marriage vows till death
do us part, and death is going to do just
that in a few short minutes. When I kill Virginia
(37:00):
as I kill Fory and Elizabeth twelve you've gone crazy,
Ginny and I are getting out of here and fast.
Don't move what I said, don't move, try and I'll
kill you where you stand and be warned. Roger, I
can do it. Jackie, Yes, get Virginia. Bring her here. Father,
(37:25):
do as I order. You do? You want him to
die now before your eyes, Jackie.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
No, I'd better do what he wants or he will
kill you.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Roger. Get her in here, Jackie, no need.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
I'm here, Ginny.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
I heard every word he said. He will kill you,
Roger unless.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
You let him kill me.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Let me kill you. He can't prevent me.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
What I mean is it's my death you want, not his.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
I don't know how you do it, but go ahead
and do it.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Kill me, Jinny, you're out of your mind.
Speaker 7 (38:07):
I love you too much to see you die.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Answer that, Jackie.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Hello, Yes, Doctor DoD, it's for you.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Father. You talk to him. I can't at the moment.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Oh, father, can't come to the phone, Doctor Dodd. Could
you give me? Oh see, yes, yes, I'll tell him.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Well.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
The poison that killed FORI and mother too, I guess
the New York Police identified it karri karrari.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
So that's how you did it.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
What is kari?
Speaker 1 (38:50):
It's a poison used by New Guinea headhunters to kill
their victims, kill them instantly with darts, thorns, dipped in stuff,
shot through blowguns.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Yes, but how could fuck? Oh? Good lord, oh lord.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
The pipes, the pipes. You've sat there polishing and cleaning,
blowing through the stems to clear them, you said, But
blowing a poisoned.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Dart through them when you wanted to.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
The stem of a pipe makes an excellent blowgun, especially
the very long stem of a churchwarden like this one,
and the thorn inside this stem. A thorn dipped in
crary kills instantly, Virginia. Yes, doesn't hurt, Virginia. All you
(39:50):
feel is a little sting when the thorn breaks the skin.
Second later you'll be dead. Roger, I warn you drop it, Trevor,
drop that pipe stem or blow gone, or whatever you
call it. I don't see any funny you standing there
(40:11):
holding that mass I war spear over your head, ready
to throw it. You look a little silly rut. You're
not exactly the mess I wore your type.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
I know how to throw one of these things, and
you know I do.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
You've seen me do it in that It is those
mass I spears fascinated you. But you practiced every day,
got quite good too, but not good enough to put
that spear through me. Before I blow this dart into
your wife, not you.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
I'm not going to throw it into you. I'm gonna
throw it into her.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Me killed, Jackie, You leave me no choice, Trevor, you
love your daughter. You love her more than anything anyone
on this earth. Kill and I'll kill her. You haven't
the guts.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Try me, Jackie, take that pipe stem away from him.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Give it to me.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Father, take it. I know when I'm licked. What are
you doing calling the police? All things considered, Trevor, the
quicker you have taken into custody the better. If you
want to move really fast, call the Morgue.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
The Morgue.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I gave Jackie the pipe stem, but I kept the thorn.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
Father.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
No police headquarters.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
This is Roger Campian. I'm calling from the home of
Trevor Costaine. You better send someone out here. Why no,
it's not another murder suicide. You'll admit I did play
(42:11):
fair with you. From the very beginning of this mystery.
You had all the clues, all of them, including the
shrunken heads, the new Guinea headhunters who you might have
known you was KIAI, and a clue that gave everything away,
Trevor Costain's absorbing interest in his pipes. When E. G.
(42:33):
Marshall plays fair, he plays fair. I'll be back shortly.
I hope you enjoyed our mystery. I certainly enjoyed playing
(42:54):
a little game with you, because that's what all mysteries are,
you know, a game of wits. Oh sure, I have
the advantage I know the answer before I start. But
in fairness to you, whenever I bring you a mystery,
I'll make sure you have all the clues from the start.
After that, it's up to you entirely. Our cast included
(43:18):
William Prince, Tony Roberts, Maryonseldis, and Martha Greenhouse. The entire
production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
This is E. G.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant dreams.
(44:00):
Yeah five
Come in welcome. I'm me G Marshall. This time a mystery,
a puzzle, if you will, which I challenge you to solve.
As with all mysteries worthy of the name, each clue
will be honestly and plainly presented to you. And yet
(00:40):
unless I miss my guess, the answer to the puzzle
will elude you till the very end. We'll play a
game of wits, you and I, just for the fun
of it, and see who wins. Unhappily, one of the
characters you will meet lost.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I found the shrunken head on the pillow of my bed,
and that clock points to twelve.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That means I die at twelve.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Question is Elizabeth, dear twelve? What twelve? What twelve noon
or twelve midnight?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
The drum clock twelve o'clock noon.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Maybe you'll be dead on the stroke of twelve, Elizabeth,
and maybe you have to wait till midnight. Our mystery
drama Sting of Death was written especially for the Mystery
(01:49):
theater by George Lowther and stars William Prince. My first
move is to describe the huge, barn like living room
(02:09):
of the country home of Trevor Costain, explorer, adventurer, author
and the living room reflects the trophies of his travels.
On the north wall head dresses of native tribal chiefs
from all over the world. The south wall is covered
with the wards trophies, the west wall is hung with
(02:32):
native spears, shields, primitive weapons. And on the east wall,
above the huge fireplace, hangs a clock, a most bizarre clock.
The face is made of a Togarry war shield. Headhunters,
you know, the Tugarry. The hands of the clock are
(02:55):
made of well human thigh bones, and the hours from
one to twelve are marked by shrunken human heads. Well,
don't look so horrified. I told you that to Gary
were headhunters. And when I told you that, I gave
you your first important clue. See what you can do
(03:18):
with it, Liz, give me another drink.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Trevor the doctor.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I know, I know, but if I'm going to die,
I'm going to die happy. Dad the disease.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know what alcohol does to you because of it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I'm in enough pain Forry. Stop calling me Dad.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
He is your son in law. Father.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Don't remind me, Dicky, Liz that drink. Please some son
in law, some husband, an alcoholic who's put you through
purgatory since the day you married him.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
That's ended now.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I haven't had a drink since I joined AA five
weeks ago. I wish I could believe that you can't.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Oh, forry is your drink, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Oh father, you're not going to smoke too?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Did I say I was going to smoke?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Every time you pick up one of your pipes.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Don't worry, Jackie. Whatever disease hit me and borneo years ago,
just a whiff of tobacco sickens me. Give my right
arm to be able to smoke these pipes again. But
all I can do is polish them, clean them, pop
on them, never light them. It's a terrible way to live.
(04:28):
I'll be glad when I'm dead.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Oh don't say that, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You sound as if you will be sorry when I'm going, Liz,
I will be Why lie to me, Liz, Our marriage
has been anything but a happy one. We put each
other through the ringer of the way, our long haired
son in law, But Jackie threw one different kind of ringer.
That's all. Oh that's over, and now everything's over for me.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Oh father, please don't get up. If you want anything
else to jet.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Up and ease the fame. I just want to get
those pipe cleaners and the metal. Oh blest, he drops
your drink all over me.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I'm afraid.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Sorry, spasm of pain.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I'll make you another.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I'll have to change these pets.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Father, sit down, I'll get the pipe cleaners.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I can't do a thing for myself anymore. A thing, Jackie.
What about the divorce, Well, I've given for it.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Here here the pipe cleaners. I've given for a.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Another chance, wasted time. You know that it's.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Probably hopeless, But in common decency, I can't let him down.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
He depends on me. Father, a weekling. He's a weakling. Well,
some men are not Rodge Champion. He was a man
for you. I told you that your drink. Thanks, Roger
will be here tomorrow, Jackie. I'm gonna spend a few
days helping me straighten out my affairs. Why don't you
(06:04):
and he try to get together? See if you can
still hit it off? Fathers them what the devil?
Speaker 4 (06:13):
What the clock?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That head? Hundred clock over the fireplace? Look at it.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That's strange. One of those awful shrunken heads is missing.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
The one that marked the hour of seven? Father, What
happened to it.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You don't know. I just noticed it was missing this minute.
Look around, Seep, it's on the floor.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Oh, if it is, I just.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
As soon look around, I said, I can't. All right, dear,
all right, Jackie, you look and see if that was Forrie.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Something's happened.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I didn't look at this. Look at this. Look the
head off the clock. Oh what are you doing with that?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It was on the pillow of my bed.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Your pillow was just lying there, smack in the middle
of a pillow. Fory this summer kind of gag? Did
you take it off the clock?
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Why would I do a thing like that?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I don't know. But then I don't know why. You've
done a lot of things you've done, Dad, I tell you,
all right, all right, put it back on the clock.
The hour of seven. Yeah, sure, somebody's playing games, somebody
with a sixth sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And oh, oh, fry what father?
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Catch him?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
As walk get away, Teddy, Let me see? Is he
is he dead? Yes, drum clock in the.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Hall, it's seven o'clock. The shunken head the hour of seven.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Farry found it in his room on his pillow, and
now he's dead.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
What does it mean what.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yes, Oh, this is Freber Kastian. I see, Oh, yes,
well I want to be informed a minute, you find out, fine,
good bye?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Who is that at.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
The coroner's office? Have been bugging them all through the
night to tell me what killed that husband of yours?
And just want to let me know they're starting the
autopsy now? Oh Jackie, yes, father, we've never pulled any
punches with each other, you and me, so don't let's
(08:50):
pull any now. You're really sorry for he's dead?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
What a thing to ask?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
What's the answer?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I I don't know.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Marriage tofore he was purgatory, as you said last night,
but he he was starting a new life joining AA
And oh it isn't fair somehow.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Not to him maybe, but it's very fair to you.
What do you mean you can do what you should
have done in the first place. You sh marry Roger?
Speaker 5 (09:25):
Oh, father, you're taking an awful lot for granted.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
You love him, don't you? Yes?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I guess I do?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
But no, buts about it? When Roger gets here, Hey,
sounds like he's here. Come on, let's meet him at
the door.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Are you strong enough to walk?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Having a good day? Come on? Can't wait to see
him best. How a manager I ever had never took
any gut from me either. He didn't have to. He's
a fine man, Jackie, fine man.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Hi, Trevor, Jackie.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Good to see, Roge, you old son of a gun.
I can't tell you how good it is to who's this, Trevor, Jackie?
Meet Virginia my wife. You have no idea, no idea
(10:28):
at all. What killed for it? Whether they're doing the
autopsy now, Roger, coroner, doctor Dodd is a friend of mine.
You let me know what they come up with as
soon as they know. Help yourself to a drink, Roger,
thanks you, No, no, almost lunch time. I have to
limit myself. Can't even smoke, and with three months or
(10:52):
less to live, hell of a way to go out.
Oh hand me those pipe lingers, William, Yeah, here you are.
At least you get some satisfaction from fooling around with
these old pipes of yours. Yes, kind of makes not
smoking a little easier, you know, Roger, you shocked me
(11:16):
when you arrived with a wife. How come I had
plans for you and Jackie.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I was in love with Jackie, yes.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
But when she married Farie, well that was that Jenny's
a wonderful girl, and she'll be a wonderful wife. Oh,
I'm sure speaking of Jackie in Virginia. They got to
be back from their walk soon. It's almost now. What
in blazes what is it the clock? Look at the clock?
(11:50):
A head's missing from twelve? Now what does this mean?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Well, probably nothing at all, Probably just fell.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Off, didn't us fall off? And don't bother looking for
it on the floor. Someone took that head off the clock, Roger.
And unless I miss my guess, it means someone else
is going to die.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
I can't believe that there's any significance.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Oh, father Roger, is something wrong?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Jackie? Your mother's still asleep in her room, worn out
after last night. Better get her down here.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Why what's happened?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
The head is missing from the clock again, this time
from the hour of twelve. Oh no, it means another death?
Well never mind, wake your mother up and tell her
to come down here with miss stare all of you.
I'll handle this. Father.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
When did you discover this head?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Now?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Seconds before you and Virginia came back from your walk.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Father, you don't think it can't mean another.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I'm afraid it could. Easy easy, Elizabeth trev She woke
up a minute ago to find this cider on the pillow.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
The shrunken head.
Speaker 7 (13:05):
Oh, mother, am I going to die? Is that what
it means that I'm going.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
To die the way for you?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Of course not twelve o'clock. My head is missing from
twelve o'clock. I'm going to die at twelve. I know
I'm going to die at twelve.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Question is twelve noon, twelve midnight?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Oh? I didn't think of that.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Well you'd better.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Oh how can you be so callous at that head,
that shrunken head?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You put it on my pillow?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
What it would be just like you to do something
crazy like this because.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You're you're sick, Trevor, nothing is sick.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I don't know how I killed Farry before our.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
Eyes, yours and mine, killed.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Him, but he did, and he's going to do it again.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It's time to me.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Take it, take it easy, Elizabethhew.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
When when is he going to do it?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That's the only question now, the only question that interests me. When, Trevor,
twelve noon, twelve midnight.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I don't mind.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Dying, but I can't bear not knowing.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
When to me, Trevor, tell me.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
A dramatic scene and and an intriguing one. Don't you
think if I were you, I wouldn't at this moment
be asking was for a murdered? And will Elizabeth meet
the same fate? But if for a was and she does,
how I'll return in a minute for act two. At
(15:31):
this moment, you have all the clues you need, in fact,
all the clues you're going to get, because that's all
there are to answer the riddle of how for a
Prescott died? And oh, let's face it, it is murder,
and who killed him? If it comes to that, who
will murder Elizabeth? And how? For surely she too is
(15:54):
going to die?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Nine? Ten, eleven, one.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Twelve, catcha just flying Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Oh I'm all right, Oh mother, Thank Heaven, you're alive.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
So you see, my dear Elizabeth, I didn't murder you after.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
All, Oh, only because you mean to prolong the agony.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Travel now I must wait till midnight.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Why what do you mean why you can simply leave?
Get out of here now.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Yes, mother, you can do that. I'll drive you to town.
You can stay at the motel, or if you want,
I'll take you to New York.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
You could know.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
But Elizabeth, if you're afraid of being murdered at midnight.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Then let it be at midnight.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Get it over with this.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
This is GE's crazy, you know, always talk about murder, you,
all of you. You're assuming Fariy was murdered when you
don't even know what he died of. For all you know,
he could simply have dropped dead, a heart attack, cerebral hemorrhage.
Why have you assumed, the three of you? You, Jackie, you, Trev,
you Elizabeth? Why have you assumed from the start that
(17:18):
Fariy was murdered?
Speaker 5 (17:19):
But if he wasn't, Roger, what's the meaning behind the
shrunken head?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
We discovered the head.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
Was missing from the hour of seven on that that
awful clock above the fireplace, and then Farry found it
on the pillow of his bed, and Farry died at exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Seven o'clock this time ahead is missing from twelve, and
it's on the pillow of my bed.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Where I found it when I woke up my lap.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Hello. Oh, hello Ed, doctor Dodd the coroner. I see
mm hmm, well how long will that take? Will you
let me know? Thanks? Ed? Thanks very much?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
What did doctor dot say?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Father Flori was murdered? The autopsy revealed poison in the
body tissues, what kind of poison that they don't know yet,
and sending a tissue sample to the New York Police
Lab to find out. No doubt about it now, though
Farr was murdered.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
As you will murder me at midnight.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Darling, Let's sit down a few minutes before we go back, Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Roger, I just had to get away from that awful
atmosphere in that house.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Look, sweetheart, I'll be more than happy to take you back.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
To New York and then come back by yourself.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Oh no, I'd be safe enough, I think from whom.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I'm not thinking of the murderer, sweetheart. I'm thinking of
the danger you'd be in, and i'd be in from
a very attractive and decidedly sexy Jacqueline.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I owe it to Trevor to help him all I
can with his records papers, lord knows what, help him
get them in order before he dies.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Roger, what are you make of all this? Who do
you think murdered trevorson in law?
Speaker 4 (19:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Could beat Trevor he hated Fariy, But then it could
be Jackie, she hated him too.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
What about missus cous Jane Elizabeth.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Hm, I know what you means. That shrunken head on
her pillow. She could have put it.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
There, a red herring, a blind hmm, something to throw
the police off the scent when they get here.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
The police will come again, you think.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Well, sure, I'd say.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
All they're waiting for is a toxicology report on whatever
poison killed Fari.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
And that can come any minute, any hour.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It's almost five. I get we've been gone at least
a couple of hours. I guess we'd better think of
getting back.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Jinny. You're sure I am. You don't want me to
take you back to New York.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Ah Ah, you're a brave little girl who deserves a kiss.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I'm a scared little girl. But don't let that stop.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
You don't tell me what to do, Jackie. If I
want to change my will, I'll change it. In fact,
my attorneys are changing it right now, both damn it.
Don't look at me as if I'd done some terrible thing,
do you? Or maybe you misunderstood me?
Speaker 5 (20:36):
No, I didn't misunderstand. You're cutting mother off and leaving
your fortune to me?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Why? Plain enough? I want to be sure you're financially
safe and secure.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Oh, no, father, there's more behind it than that.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
You know as well as I do. Mother would take
good care of me, share what she has with me.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Ugh, you don't know her like I know it.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Oh, I know her better than you. I've spent my
life with her. You've spent yours elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I'm an explorer or I was.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Oh, you could have spent more time with her.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I don't tolerate fools easily.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
We've got off the subject. What's your real reason for
changing the will?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
All right?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Let me tell you. You're still hoping I'll marry Roger Campion.
You're hoping that if I'm an heiress, the money will
help induce him to divorce Virginia.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
And marry me.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You said it, not me, Well you think.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
It, you must. I can't think of any other reason
for changing your will. Oh, father, Roger and I.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Are through with each other.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
If only you hadn't married Fari Damn.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Well, if you'd put a brake on your temper, you
wouldn't break so many of those pipes down.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
One of my best pipes, too, Well, I have to
send it for repair. I wish I could repair the
mess you've made. Of your life as easily. All right.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I made a mess of my life, but that's over.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Now Barrie's dead and that's over.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And I mean to keep you from making another. Now
you listen to me. Roger's the man for you, he
always has been. And why you didn't marry him years?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Oh why I wanted a husband I could live with,
be with, not a wanderer like you. I saw what
happened to Mother because of you, emptiness, loneliness, and I
made up my mind it would never happen to me.
Fariy was no bargain, as it turned out, but he
stayed at home, so does Roger.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Now run to you Safaris from an office in New York.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
That disease you picked up in Borneo, it's just making
you see things in a warped way, a distorted way.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
You're not yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
You think it's crazy of me to change my will.
It's crazy of me to hope that you'll persuade Roger
to get a divorce and marry you. That what I
want so much. The two people I love most in
this world should make it together. If I haven't got
a prayer it'll happen.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Well, it won't. I'm sorry, but it won't it will
I want. You can't always have what you want.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You're wrong. I always have and always will till the
day I die. Midnight, it's nearly midnight, Jackie, where's your mother?
Speaker 5 (23:43):
I told you she's locked herself in her room.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
And I told you I want her here in this
living room at midnight. Go get her.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
She won't unlock the door. She feels safer locked in
her room.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
If you won't go and get her. I will week
as I am. I'll go up there and break the
door down. I want her here.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
Give it another try, and Jackie, all right and tell
her I'll come up and break the door down, and
you go get that piece of fluff you married.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I want her here too. That little piece of fluff
I married is probably fast asleep, and trev I'm not
waking her. You will do as I've had a rough
time since we got here this morning. If I'd known
what we were heading into, I wouldn't have come, let alone.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Bring Jinny.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
She went to bed after dinner, and that's where she's
gonna stay all right.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
That's the one thing I always liked about you, Rat.
You never failed to stand up to me.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
You take a lot of standing up too, Not anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Tell me that rack of pipes, William, the one with
the churchwardens, churchwardens, Oh, the ones with a long stamp. Yes,
they're beautiful, trev they really are. Any practical reason for
the extra long stamp. I'm sure they cool and filter
the smoke longer the stem the better. Oh, you finally
(25:17):
decided to join us?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
You decided, Trevor. Why are you so determined.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
To have me here in this room at midnight?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Elizabeth? Why were you so determined to stay in yours?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
To put it plainly, so you couldn't kill me?
Speaker 1 (25:33):
You've eaten no dinner, You've had nothing to drink or
cut down.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
The chances of your poisoning me the way you poisoned Fi.
I locked myself in my room to cut the chances
down even further. But well, here I am. You wanted
me here in this room so you could murder me.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
And I'm sure that when the drunk clock strikes at
midnight you will how I don't know, but you will.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
It's never occurred to you. I suppose that I want
you here so I can protect you, protect me? Is
that so hard to believe?
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Very hard in fact impossible, well less than a minute
now at midnight. Roger, Yes, Lisabeth, good bye. I want
you to know that, like Trevor, I to have always
(26:48):
been very fond of you, respected you, hoped you and
Jackie would marry. But I also want you to know
that you couldn't have done better when married Virginia. She's
a fine girl, Roger, just the kind of wife you need. Goodbye, Roger.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
Elizabeth, you're sounding as if you were going to your.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Execution in a way that's what would be nonsense.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
You're not going to die.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
You're standing here in this room as healthy a woman
as I've ever seen you. We've let Fari's death overshadow everything,
warp are thinking, make us expect death. But look around you, Elizabeth,
where could you possibly find a a more homelike scene,
a scene in order to reflect contentment rather than anything
(27:36):
else content I've deaned? Look around the fire blazing in
the fireplace, Trevor polishing his pipe, the friendly warmth of
an old house where midnight.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Jackie, Mother, let me hold you, Mother.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
You're not going to die. You can't.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I know it, Elizabeth.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
This is nonsense.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Trevor I'm waiting.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
What do you mean waiting? Boy?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
You to kill me? Learn?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
If I murder you, Elizabeth, It'll be the neatest, bigger
the week.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Oh, mother, I tried to catch her, but no, no, Jackie,
stand back, let me.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
She's dead.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
But hew o, one moment she was alive. In the
next Roger, what killed her?
Speaker 6 (28:48):
What killed fri? What?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
What? How do you know? Have you figured it all out?
As I told you? You have all the clues I have,
and I've figured it out well, I think I have.
I'll be back shortly for act three. Now Elizabeth Costayne
(29:30):
is dead, mysteriously struck down instantly killed as her son
in law Forrest Prescott was only the day before. Now
the following morning, in the guest room occupied by Roger
and Virginia Campion.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
No, no, Virginia, I've made up my mind. We're leaving.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Not if you plan to take me to New York
and then return here.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
I won't be coming back.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I never expected anything like this when I agreed to
help Trevor straighten out his affairs.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Oh but Roger, you're such old friends.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I'm not so sure of that. Jenny to Trevor Costainne's friend.
You have to be friends on his terms. Oh he
likes me, Sure, he values my friendship up to a point.
But that's because I always did the job he wanted
done and I never crossed him.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
He must have been a hard man to live with.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
He hasn't changed any even with a even with his
death only a few weeks months away, He's still demanding
and getting what he wants.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
He's still riding rough shadow everyone in his path.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I have got a strong suspicion that that's why Fari
and Elizabeth were murdered.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
They got in Trevor's way.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Can you really think of that?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I'm almost sure of it. Now there are only four
of us left in this house. Now there's you and me,
and Jackie and Trevor. You and I certainly aren't murderers.
And Jackie wouldn't kill a gnat if she could avoided. No, No,
it's got to be Trevor. What I can't figure out
is how he killed them. What's that? Well?
Speaker 3 (30:55):
I thought all the police had left.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
That's the last car heading out of the driveway. Now,
come on, Ginny, let's get these bags packed. I want
to be heading out of that driveway too, and just
as soon as possible.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Father, father, will you please stop polishing that damn pipe
and listen to me?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
What do you want? Jackie?
Speaker 5 (31:24):
The police have just left. I wondered if you'd like
a cup of coffee, give me a drink. No, you're
not supposed to know what I'm not supposed to do.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
All right, whatever you.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Say, and hand me those pipe cleaners.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Here you are. Here's good drink.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Thanks, good good. I'll miss this final Scott's when I'm gone.
One consolation though, Roger always enjoyed it too, And it'll
all be his when I've kicked the bucket.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
You you willed it to him, your supply of Scotch.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
No, no, of course not. I meant all of this
will be his.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
And I don't understand you said you willed everything to me.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Well I did. Maybe I shouldn't have said this will
all be Rogers. I should have said yours and rogers
naturally after you're married, married father.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
I I told you yesterday I'm not marrying Roger. For
one thing, I don't love him anymore and he doesn't
love me. And for another, he's happily married to Virginia.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
For as long as she lives, as long as she lives,
as long as Oh, come in, Roger, come in, Trav, Jackie.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Did you and Jenny get any sleep?
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Not much? Dozed an hour or so.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
How about some coffee?
Speaker 4 (33:03):
That's a good idea.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
And what would you like for breakfast?
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Just coffee, you'll be okay.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
And what about Ginny?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Coffee will be enough for her too. We want to
get an early start back to New York. Back to
New York. You haven't even started on my paper, my record,
I know, trip, But but what ty if I'd known
what I was walking into when I came here, and
known what I was walking Ginny into, I'd never have come.
(33:32):
Oh yes, you would. You never disobeyed me, stood up
to me. Yes, when the tips are down, you did
what you were told. I was your second in command then,
and that was years ago. Oh not so many too,
but busy, busy years, Trip. I've got my own business now,
my own life to live, and to be plain, I
(33:55):
don't take orders from anybody anymore. Why you ungreat just
a minute, Trev. I was more than willing to come
here and spend as much time as it took to
straighten out your affairs. I felt I owed you that
the least you willed me the least maybe, But what
I don't owe you was putting my life or Jinny's
(34:17):
on the line for you.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
You mean Far's death.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Mother's Who's next. I've got a feeling that no one
is safe in his house, A feeling or a suspicion,
same thing, Trev. Not exactly. Feeling There may be another
death is one thing. Suspecting who might be behind the
deaths is another. You suspect me, don't you, Yes, Trev,
(34:50):
I do well. I guess the time has come to
tell you that your suspicion is correct. One correct you
you did kill Oh you suspected me too, But it's impossible.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
You hardly have strength enough left to stand on your
feet to walk a few steps.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Oh I'm weak, all right, but not as weak as
I pretended. See then you you were able to take
the shrunken heads from that clock and put one on
Fori's pillow and the other aunt Elizabeths.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
But even so, I still don't see how you how
you killed them exactly on the hour fi at seven,
mother at midnight?
Speaker 4 (35:43):
How did you manage that? True?
Speaker 1 (35:46):
My little secret?
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Some sort of slow acting poison, A poison that you
were able to time to.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
The minute, but a small matter. All that matters to
me now is that you Roger, Mary, you're out of
your head.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
Father, Father. You're sick right now. You're overly tired, you're exhausted,
you're a little mixed up.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Say it, you said it yesterday, say it again? Crazy
but saying or crazy. The two of you will do
as I wish. Obey my final order. No way travel.
I love Virginia. I'm married to Virginia. I'll stay married
(36:35):
to Virginia. You can't very well stay married to a corpse, Raj.
Now what do you mean by that? Why? No more
than what is stated in the marriage vows till death
do us part, and death is going to do just
that in a few short minutes. When I kill Virginia
(37:00):
as I kill Fory and Elizabeth twelve you've gone crazy,
Ginny and I are getting out of here and fast.
Don't move what I said, don't move, try and I'll
kill you where you stand and be warned. Roger, I
can do it. Jackie, Yes, get Virginia. Bring her here. Father,
(37:25):
do as I order. You do? You want him to
die now before your eyes, Jackie.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
No, I'd better do what he wants or he will
kill you.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Roger. Get her in here, Jackie, no need.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
I'm here, Ginny.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
I heard every word he said. He will kill you,
Roger unless.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
You let him kill me.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Let me kill you. He can't prevent me.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
What I mean is it's my death you want, not his.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
I don't know how you do it, but go ahead
and do it.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Kill me, Jinny, you're out of your mind.
Speaker 7 (38:07):
I love you too much to see you die.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Answer that, Jackie.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Hello, Yes, Doctor DoD, it's for you.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Father. You talk to him. I can't at the moment.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Oh, father, can't come to the phone, Doctor Dodd. Could
you give me? Oh see, yes, yes, I'll tell him.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Well.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
The poison that killed FORI and mother too, I guess
the New York Police identified it karri karrari.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
So that's how you did it.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
What is kari?
Speaker 1 (38:50):
It's a poison used by New Guinea headhunters to kill
their victims, kill them instantly with darts, thorns, dipped in stuff,
shot through blowguns.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Yes, but how could fuck? Oh? Good lord, oh lord.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
The pipes, the pipes. You've sat there polishing and cleaning,
blowing through the stems to clear them, you said, But
blowing a poisoned.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Dart through them when you wanted to.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
The stem of a pipe makes an excellent blowgun, especially
the very long stem of a churchwarden like this one,
and the thorn inside this stem. A thorn dipped in
crary kills instantly, Virginia. Yes, doesn't hurt, Virginia. All you
(39:50):
feel is a little sting when the thorn breaks the skin.
Second later you'll be dead. Roger, I warn you drop it, Trevor,
drop that pipe stem or blow gone, or whatever you
call it. I don't see any funny you standing there
(40:11):
holding that mass I war spear over your head, ready
to throw it. You look a little silly rut. You're
not exactly the mess I wore your type.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
I know how to throw one of these things, and
you know I do.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
You've seen me do it in that It is those
mass I spears fascinated you. But you practiced every day,
got quite good too, but not good enough to put
that spear through me. Before I blow this dart into
your wife, not you.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
I'm not going to throw it into you. I'm gonna
throw it into her.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Me killed, Jackie, You leave me no choice, Trevor, you
love your daughter. You love her more than anything anyone
on this earth. Kill and I'll kill her. You haven't
the guts.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Try me, Jackie, take that pipe stem away from him.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Give it to me.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Father, take it. I know when I'm licked. What are
you doing calling the police? All things considered, Trevor, the
quicker you have taken into custody the better. If you
want to move really fast, call the Morgue.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
The Morgue.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I gave Jackie the pipe stem, but I kept the thorn.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
Father.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
No police headquarters.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
This is Roger Campian. I'm calling from the home of
Trevor Costaine. You better send someone out here. Why no,
it's not another murder suicide. You'll admit I did play
(42:11):
fair with you. From the very beginning of this mystery.
You had all the clues, all of them, including the
shrunken heads, the new Guinea headhunters who you might have
known you was KIAI, and a clue that gave everything away,
Trevor Costain's absorbing interest in his pipes. When E. G.
(42:33):
Marshall plays fair, he plays fair. I'll be back shortly.
I hope you enjoyed our mystery. I certainly enjoyed playing
(42:54):
a little game with you, because that's what all mysteries are,
you know, a game of wits. Oh sure, I have
the advantage I know the answer before I start. But
in fairness to you, whenever I bring you a mystery,
I'll make sure you have all the clues from the start.
After that, it's up to you entirely. Our cast included
(43:18):
William Prince, Tony Roberts, Maryonseldis, and Martha Greenhouse. The entire
production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
This is E. G.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant dreams.
(44:00):
Yeah five
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