Speaker 1: And now mystery thin.
Speaker 2: Come in Welcome.
Speaker 1: I'm E. G. Marshall.
Speaker 2: Most people look upon their own everyday lives as being
routine without much excitement, but that shouldn't stop anyone from
having an active imagination. This is why we make our
escape from the humdrum with stories of adventure, mystery and murder.
Another mental activity most people enjoy is fitting together the
pieces of a puzzle. The stranger the shapes, the more
challenging that puzzle becomes. Our present puzzle concerns a young
man who has called upon to use all his wits
in figure figuring out the whereabouts of a string of
deadly pearls.
Speaker 1: Now, it's absolutely essential, Keith, that you understand the importance
of this assignment. I believe I do, sir. If those
pearls aren't recovered and recovered soon, it's an established fact
that someone else will die. I understand. And no matter
what happens, no one on that island must have any
idea who you really are, what you're doing there. Check
you'd better be a good actor. I think I can
manage that. What do I have to lose? You could
lose your life.
Speaker 2: Our mystery drama, the Deadly Pearls was written especially for
the mystery theater by Elizabeth Pennell and stars Paul Hecht
and Kate Reid. Although the FBI and the Honolulu Police
were in on the case, because of certain peculiar circumstances,
it was important that the criminal be apprehended by a
private investigator. This hazardous assignment went to Keith Spencer, a
young man who had proved his physical courage in wartime service,
but other qualifications were required for the job, as explained
when Keith had his final briefing in San Francisco with
the head of the Gordon Investigating Service, Freid, we've.
Speaker 1: Given you a rough time these past few days. I didn't, Minzer,
only I am anxious to get going. You do type,
don't you for sure? Well, I'm afraid you'll have to
prove it. So let's do two things at once. Take
over this typewriter and I'll dictate some paragraphs. Okay, shoot,
and I Keith Spencer, unmarried, with no living relatives and
no dependence. From this day forward and until the completion
of this assignment, I have assumed the identity of Robert Keith, writer,
and under no circumstances will I reveal my true identity? True?
Is that all? Yeah, if you'll sign it? Sure, I
got a pen here. Oh I suppose you should have
signed a statement about your ability to play bridge. What
you did assure us that you play at least an
average game of contract? Was sure of it. I didn't
realize it was all that important. It could be crucial.
Our three suspects are avid bridge players when they can
find a fourth. Okay, and before I leave, let's go
over the basic facts once more. All right, The missing
pearls were cultured a single strand about twenty four inches,
so they'd hang down about twelve inches if someone was
wearing them. They don't sound very spectacling, Yeah, but they are.
Jonathan Colemyer, who bought them, was a partner in a
watch company which made radium dials, and somehow he managed
to have the pearls treated with radium so they would
glow in the dark. When he first thought up this scheme,
did he have an ulterior motive? Who knows? It was?
What happened later that we care about it. And you
don't think he started out as a murderer, Oh, that's
beside the point. He became one. And when he found
out how easy it was, he did it again three times.
A Clonian who did he bump off first? The first
woman he gave the pearls to was said to be
very frail. When she died in an accident, cole Meyer
was in a state of shock, so no one accused
him of complicity in her debt. Yeah, but apparently he
did retrieve whatever presence he'd given her. Oh yeah, he
was that type. Then he got married. He gave the
pearls to his bride, who wore them constantly. She loved
that string of pearls. How long did she last? A
radium be a slow death, but it caught up with
her after a while. And when she was dying, the
doctors suspected radium poisoning. So why didn't they nail her
husband right then? It never occurred to any wanted to
suspect the pearls. How could any smart murderer pull the
same stunt again? He fell in love with a young
and brainless beauty, just really liked her because he didn't
give her the pearls for a long time, not till
he retired and they moved to Hawaii. What did she
do to deserve such a present started playing around with
another man. I did it. Cole Meyer gave her the pearls.
She moved out, went off with the pearls and her
new boyfriend to a scarcely inhabited island, a small one,
well offshore from Oahu, And when she developed an unexplained malady,
the boyfriend left her big hearted guy. Well after her
death was an autopsy and this time no question radium poisoning.
Oh why didn't the police move in and confiscate the
pearl There were no pearls to be found. Isn't it
possible that coal Meyer had been there in gott it?
No way coal Meyer committed suicide without returning to the
island without a confession about what he'd done. Good lord, No,
he was a respected business man. Now you think the
pearls are still on the island, We're sure of it.
But more than that, Keith, we've narrowed down to three
people who lived nearest the cottage where the last victim died.
So my job then is to make friends with these
three people and find out quietly which one of them
has the deadly pearls. You make it sound too easy.
Each of these people is highly eccentric, the few people
who come and go from that island are under constant surveillance,
including me. Naturally, the pearls were usually kept in a
narrow box. It looked like an ordinary jeweler's box, but
it was made of lead. Protection against the radium, of course,
means it would be heavier than most boxes that size. Well,
that makes it seem more elegant. The boxes covered with
purple velvet and lined with satin our original. It won't
look much different from any jewel box you've ever seen.
I can't help thinking how useful a Geiger counter would be.
That's totally out of the question. When you bring a
Geiger near a suspected object, it starts ticking. You're sure,
I know, no gadgets to make life easier, just your
own ingenuity, and it'd better be damn good. Well, there's
not much more I can say except to wish you luck.
I did my homework, and the more I read about
those three characters on the island, the more curious I
was to meet them. The Honolulu police cleared me, and
then I was completely on my own. With a photograph
of the cottage and a map that showed how to
find it. I was given a putt butt stock with
a supply of canned goods, stowed the typewriter and duffel bag,
and at last I was off. It was a cloudless
day and I found the beaching cove on the island
without any trouble. You couldn't see the cottage from the beach,
but I knew how to follow directions. Plugging my big
canvas bag, I headed up a steep and winding path
and there it was a neat modern cottage with an
enormous deck, from which there must be quite a spectacular view.
But I had a spectacular view myself just then, because
on that deck was a dazzling blonde, obviously sunbathing. She
sprang to her feet in all her glory, and I
would have been speechless, except I knew I couldn't be.
Oh this is the Colemyer Cottage, isn't it?
Speaker 3: What business is that of yours?
Speaker 1: I'm the new tenant. This place is not for red No,
well that's right, not anymore. I've signed the papers. It's
mine for at least a year.
Speaker 3: Who are you?
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, how rude of me not to introduce me?
I saif I'm Robert Keith, a writer in search of
a quiet place to hang a typewride.
Speaker 3: I don't believe you. The last thing we need around
here is a writer.
Speaker 1: Lady, I am planning to live here.
Speaker 3: Not if I can help it.
Speaker 1: Okay, I've answered your questions. How about answering one for me?
Who are you out.
Speaker 3: Of your business? Since you claim the house as yours?
I'll see you open the door.
Speaker 1: Just what I was about to do. I understand it
takes two keys, and here they are, both of them.
Speaker 3: Where'd you get those keys?
Speaker 1: Now? Do you believe me?
Speaker 3: Big deal? You opened the door, and now I know
who you are. You're a policeman. They sent you here
to spy on us. Well, I'm not going to stand
for it.
Speaker 4: The supply boat comes around tomorrow, I'll send a message
back to my lawyer. No Penny Anti Flunky is going
to be spying on me.
Speaker 1: I assure you I'm not want to.
Speaker 4: Unpack your things, Robert Keith, because tomorrow, Really, miss Missus Wash,
this is Barbara Walsh, and you'll find that I have
protection against people like you.
Speaker 1: The gorgeously sun tanned Missus Walsh slipped her feet into sandals,
picked up her beach towel from the deck and started
along the path which led from the north side of
the cottage. You must understand that during our entire conversation,
Barbara Walsh was completely in the buck, no bikini, nothing
except around her neck and dangling in long loops over
her well formed body. Not pearls, but necklaces made of
those decorative native seeds strung together, ropes and ropes of them.
Speaker 2: Robert Keith may have thought he was prepared for anything,
but this introduction to his new home was an unsettling
experience he hadn't counted on. He has now had a
most revealing look at one of the three suspects. We'll
be there for his encounter with the others. When we
returned shortly with that, two knew Robert Keith found the
cottage very much to his liking. He had expected something
rather dark and sinister, but one wall of the living
room had a big picture window, and in the bedroom
there was a slanting skylight directly over the bed. It
was certainly no place to hide, and Keith realized that
whatever he did could be watched at close range if
anyone cared about what he was doing. He spent the
first evening getting settled, and after a late supper of
can goods, he turned in for the night. At about
three o'clock in the morning, he was sleeping soundly when.
Speaker 1: What the devil? Hey, hey, who's out there? Well, bless
my soul, Now, would you mind pointing that gun in
another direction? Not until I find out what's are up to?
I was sound asleep. I am living here. No one
lives in this house. Put up your head. I'll put
down your gun. Would you say? I am a man
of honor, Colonel George Medicines the name Army retired and
no one sets foot on this island without reporting to me. Yeah, well,
I was sorry. I didn't know that, colonel, And if
you'll come in, I'll show you my credentials. What the
hell's that is? Is there someone else out there? No? No,
for any minutes. I'll check you out later. Right now,
I recommend you go back to bed. There's a wild
ball under the deck and I aim to get him.
When the sun came up, it was another cloudless day,
and after breakfast, I decided to pay a visit, not
eager to encounter either the gun happy colonel or the
wild eyed lady with no clothes. It seemed wise to
seek a formal introduction to the third Island resident. The
path to her property was overgrown with luxuriant shrubbery, but
it opened up into an area dotted with palm trees.
Surrounding a small stone house. Squatting in the midst of
a flower bed was a gnome of a woman wearing
one of those loose garments the Hawaiians call moo moos.
Speaker 3: I wondered when you were coming.
Speaker 1: You were you were expecting me?
Speaker 3: Of course you're the writer who's moved into the death cottage.
Speaker 1: I moved into the water.
Speaker 3: Oh surely the rental agent told you that the three
former tenants died there.
Speaker 1: I think you're just trying to frighten me. I don't
scare easily.
Speaker 3: I'm very sure of yourself, aren't you, mister Keith?
Speaker 1: Oh you know my name. Well, since we're going to
be neighbors, perhaps you'll tell me.
Speaker 3: I am not a babcock and if you'll help me up,
we'll go to my porch where the coffee is parking.
Speaker 1: I assisted Miss Babcock to her feet. The aging body
was stooped and slow moving, and her hands were badly crippled,
yet she used them capably to pour the coffee when
we were seated at a wicker table on her porch.
Speaker 3: Oh, yes, mister Keith, I've lived on this island for
a long time. That house was just a shack when
the poor man, a writer like yourself, was stabbed to
death in a ghastly pool of blood. The cottage was
rebuilt before an unfortunate woman was strangled there, and then
it was fixed up with all that glass to let
the sun in. But nothing could save the last dear lady,
who simply wasted away.
Speaker 1: Well, he was hoping I'll have better luck.
Speaker 3: That depends. When were you born, mister Keith.
Speaker 1: You mean what year? No?
Speaker 3: No, no, no, the date, the day hour?
Speaker 1: Oh, I was born in August, fourteenth of August. Oh,
you sound disappointed.
Speaker 3: You certainly don't look like Leo the Lion, and I
would have thought that a writer.
Speaker 1: But no matter.
Speaker 3: There may be other factors. You belong to the northern
sign of the zodiac, the middle point of the magnet
of the fire triplicity?
Speaker 1: Is that a fact?
Speaker 3: Or you'd better not laugh at me, mister Keith. I'll
tell you right now that you and I are destined
to be enemies. You belong with Sagittarius, Libra or ares.
Speaker 1: Come on, miss Babcock, I'm really not so bad. Now
tell me about your sign.
Speaker 3: I'm Gemini, the positive people of the air triplicity.
Speaker 1: You mean you mean air and fired or.
Speaker 3: Mixed dangerously, mister Keith, very dangerously. Your sign is governed
by the sun, and your gems are Knelian and Sardonyx.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't know a Sardonics if I stumbled over one.
Speaker 3: My governing planet is Mercury. Emeralds, moonstones, and pearls are
my sign, and I have a very special affinity for pearls.
Speaker 1: Missus Walsh had obviously passed along word of my arrival,
which was why the colonel had come trying to flush
me out, and the reason Miss Babcock knew my name
and occupation. So that afternoon I became a spy hidden
in the underbrush with binoculars train on the three of
them walking along the beach. I was darn sure they
were planning some strategy to get me evicted. Then Colonel
Madison left the two ladies and headed up the trail
toward my house. I went quickly to the typewriter and
pretended to be busily at work. Oh no, mister Keith,
I hope I'm not disturbing you. Beautiful day, isn't it, yes, sir,
that it is? How are you? Colonel? Could be better?
I'm sorry of her last night. I wouldn't want you
to think we're not hospitable around her. Do you mind
if I sit down? Please? Please do? I was beginning to
feel like an outcast. I gather you've met the ladies.
They didn't exactly give me a warm welcome. Oh, pay
no attention, batty old babcock won't be a problem. She's
usually off in outer space, you know, jogging to the stars.
I gather she's hipped on astrology. Mad is a hatter,
even though she does play a good game of bridge.
You say you're also acquainted with the Barbara Walsh If
you mean? Have I had a good look at her?
You're darn right studying, isn't it you said it? Tell me, colonel,
what's a woman like that doing all by herself way
out here? But if this were a British colony, I'd
say she's a remittance woman. She's been paid to stay away,
being paid very well. The big man in her life
is of mafia type they nabbed him. My guess is
the family is afraid she'll talk unless she's kept well
out of the way until he's released from Joel. What's
the info? No drug traffic I think I don't know,
dealing in stolen goods. Let's talk about you, mister Keith.
You write a fellow's interest me. What's your special subject?
I'm a novelist. Science fiction sometimes were mostly light stuff.
Know anything about pearls? No, not much. How would you
like to come over to the other side of the
island and watch the pearl divers? Pearl divers here? Oh well,
it's not like Salon or the surlu Sea, but they
go through the motions here twice a week during the season.
Occasionally they come up with a creditable pearl. Come along
if you want to, I'd like that very much. Fine. Oh,
where are some stout walking shoes and I'll pick you up.
About about an hour the colonel arrived in his old
army uniform, carrying a sturdy walking stick. We started off
on a barely marked trail, and I marveled at the
beauty of the place, with its lush flowers and brightly
colored birds. Not that way, mister Keith, we take a
sharp turn over here, go up the hills just a minute.
This island must be more populated than I thought. I
hear music. Oh, it's just Barbara Walsh with her radio
gang chares it on all day long. That or a stereo.
Come along. Get ready for a steep climb. The path
went straight up, and I had to scramble to keep
the Colonel from getting too far ahead. But quite suddenly
all the lush greenery ended and we came out on
a rocky promontory overlooking the sea. Eh, we made it.
That's quite a view. Hey. Now you see those small
birt's way out there. Yeah, those are the oyster fishermen.
The flat bottomed boats are dragging knits. Huh. And from
those kayak looking things you may be able to see
the young men diving. Won't they come closer to shore? No?
Not not much close up. It's too treacherous for the
tides who are running as high as they are today.
Go on out on that big rock so you can
get a better look. Is it steady, Oh, like Gibraltar.
Go on, mister Keith, out further, held me Afred. Watch
A step is to kick merciful happen. Now help me, colonel,
we help me. Hang on, cheap, hang on, try to
get a foot on. Here he grab my walking stick.
I grabbed the stick because I had to, even though
I knew it was the same stick that had been
pushed into the middle of my back just a moment before.
I'll say, you're a brave man, Keith. I like the
way you handled yourself back there on the rocks. I
wouldn't say I had much alternative. It was all the
fault of your shoes, mister Keith. That's what it was.
I warned you to wear walking shoes. I say, mister Keith,
why don't we stop by to see Barbara right now?
Why not? We need to drink, and she has a
good liquor as a blade. I think I'd better get
back and tend to these scratches. Just take a look
at my clothes. I'm in no condition to go visiting.
And as Jewish, I leave it in at the foot
of this hill. And oh, yes, yes, I've been meaning
to ask you, Keith. Do you play bridge? Well I'm
not the world's best, but yes I play. Oh I
spread I'm rather out of practice. Well, Heaven's no, so
we let's say my house Friday evening, come for supper
around seven. Thank you dear me, mister Keith, you did
get scratched up. Your hands are still bleeding. Perhaps I
should go with you. I'll be all right. Yes, well,
I'm off in to tell the ladies the good news.
Good news why, yes, yes, the good news that we
found a new bridge partner. And I might as well
warn you to bring our fat wallet. Our steaks are high.
After a shower and some soothing applications of witch Hazel
and ointments, I rested on the big bed under the skylight.
The front door was wide open for the benefit of
a magnificent sea breeze. Suddenly I was on the alert someone.
Someone was on the steps leading to the deck. Then
there were slow, heavy footfalls and the tap of the cane.
Speaker 4: Mister keys, mister Keys, are you all right?
Speaker 1: Why? Hello, miss Babcock, Yes, come in.
Speaker 4: I heard you'd had an accident, and I thought you
might not be able to fix your own supper. So
I've brought you some nice oyster stew.
Speaker 1: Oh that's very thoughtful of you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's one of my specialties.
Speaker 1: Just warm it down, thank you, Thank you, very much.
Sit down. Well, won't you share the stew with me?
Speaker 3: No? No, I've had my dinner. Let me see your injury.
Speaker 1: Are there nothing but scratches? I was lucky I.
Speaker 3: Could be serious, and you are not lucky, mister Keith.
I looked at the stars last night, and the heavens
do not bode well for anyone born under the sign
of Leo.
Speaker 1: But you see me alive and well. I could have
crashed all the way down those rocks and into the sea.
Speaker 3: Look out for more danger ahead. That was simply the
first warning.
Speaker 1: Miss Babcock knew what she was talking about, and it
had nothing to do with the stars. I heeded the
oyster stew and it was delicious, in fact, the best
I've ever tasted. But about an hour later I began
to feel drained of all energy. I thought it was
just a reaction from a rather strenuous day, and decided
the best thing to do was go to bed and
sleep it off. It was a tremendous effort to get undressed,
but I managed to drag myself partially clothed onto the
big bed in a prone position. I felt as though
I were being suffocated, and panic was setting in I'd
been poisoned, and no one was going to save my
life this time unless I did it for myself. Literally.
I crawled into the bathroom for the well stocked medicine kit,
as I was prepared with antidotes for poison, but time
was too short to figure out which one would be appropriate.
By now, my hands and feet were growing numb, and
breathing was getting more and more difficult. I mixed up
a heavy pink liquid in a glass of water, and
just before blacking out. I was very, very sick. When
I came to, I was lying on the bathroom floor,
weak but grateful to find I was still alive. Very
slowly I got to my feet and staggered toward the bedroom,
hoping at last to sleep off the effects of whatever
had been in that poisonous stew. But my whole body sagged,
and I knew i'd never make the bed, so I
eased myself down on a narrow couch in the living
room and fell instantly into a heavy slumber once again.
It must have been about three o'clock in the morning
when there was a sound which would have awakened the dead.
The skylight in the bedroom back flat against the wall
I waited for minutes that seemed like an eternity, no movement,
absolute silence. So I crept into the next room, armed
with a flashlight and cupping the beam, examined the bed.
It was a mass of shattered glass in the darkness.
Once more, I moved stealthily to the front door, opened
it without a sound, and stared into total blackness. Slowly
I raised the flashlight and then snapped it on full beam.
Pointing straight down the path, facing directly toward me, stood
the statuesque Missus Barbara Walsh fully closed a long dark cimonal,
and over her breasts hung a necklace of gems which
burst into life like Fourth of July sparklers.
Speaker 2: I must warn you not to jump to conclusions. If
you imagine that Missus Walsh was wearing the stolen pearls,
think again. Diamonds are the jewels that glitter when exposed
to light. A pearl is sometimes a gem of great value,
but it is not a precious stone, and one can
scarcely say that pearls sparkle while radium. Remember the dial
on your watch or bedside clock.
Speaker 1: Radium glows in the dark.
Speaker 2: We'll be back shortly with act three. Mercifully for Robert Keith,
the next two nights and three days were totally uneventful.
He dozed in the sun, occasionally pecked at the typewriter,
and did a great deal of thinking.
Speaker 1: Keith looked forward.
Speaker 2: Eagerly to the evening of Bridge, and as he approached
the colonel's house for the first time, he found a charming,
sprawling building with a table set out of doors on
what the Hawaiians call a lanai. He was glad he
had purchased a colorful sports shirt in Honolulu, although it
paled beside the one Colonel Madison was wearing over his
wife's lacks. Even Miss Babcock looked festive in her flowered mumo.
Speaker 1: Hi ah, welcome, my boy, welcome.
Speaker 4: You're looking much better, mister Keith, he quite recovered.
Speaker 1: Thank you. This island air will cure.
Speaker 3: Anything, anything but my authrighteous. Where's Barbara?
Speaker 1: Oh is late? I suspect she's getting herself dicked out
ready for the kill.
Speaker 3: You expressed things so aptly, Colonel. If it's like old times,
Barbara will come prepared for murder at the Bridge table.
I'm speaking everybody, Oh.
Speaker 1: Barbara, Well, you've outdone yourself. Hey, dazzling, simply.
Speaker 3: Dais Colonel and Norah, Dear.
Speaker 1: I believe you've met mister Keith.
Speaker 3: My lawyer has verified that he exists.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad to hear that, mister Keith.
Speaker 3: You may have the right to live on this island.
But that doesn't mean that I have to love my neighbors.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, now, Barbara.
Speaker 4: However, since we have so little opportunity for social occasions,
I propose.
Speaker 3: We declare an armed truce.
Speaker 1: But I'm not at war with you. Missus walls see
for yourself.
Speaker 3: Peace for the evening.
Speaker 1: Dinner began with oysters on the half show, six enormous
oysters for each of us. And I should be interested
in your opinion of these Keiths, delivered by my favorite
fisherman fresh from the beds this morning.
Speaker 3: Colonel. Look, my horoscope said this would be a lucky day.
Speaker 1: We'll bless my soul.
Speaker 4: Noura has nothing on me. I found one too, but
I suspect you, Colonel. Come on, confess all.
Speaker 1: Right, I confess party favors. There's a pearl in every
iceter show.
Speaker 3: The rogue. I must say this is rather a good one.
Nice she Oh, I.
Speaker 4: Love them everyone they feel so good.
Speaker 1: I thought the surprise was just for the ladies, but
I see you included me. Very pretty colonel, let that
be the beginning of your collection. I hope you won't
mind if some of them are already pissed. You mean
a pearl like this one has been removed from a string. Yes,
that's right, part of my hobby. I seldom find a
string that meets my standards for matchings. I rematch them
and mix them. But come, let's finish our dinner so
we can get on to the battle.
Speaker 3: Right, I'll have to pass.
Speaker 1: I say, three no trump? Well four hearts?
Speaker 3: Five no trump? Barbara? Do you have a ring on
every finger? Only on eight? I wish I could wear them,
my poor crippled Oh shut up, Nora, you're just trying
to distract me. I have a contract to make.
Speaker 1: It was a cutthroat game, no question about it. Only
strangely we were quite evenly matched. We played three rubbers,
so I had my chance with each one as a partner.
By this time we were on a first name basis. Well,
that's it, and as usual, top honors go to the
ladies in points, which Barbara's first and Norah followed by Bob,
and as he's proper for a gracious host, I'm lost.
It'd take a minute to figure out who is what here.
Speaker 3: I think the prize should go to Robert and me
for that last small slam. I wouldn't have dreamed that
Leon and Gemini could work.
Speaker 4: So well together. And tell me, mister, I mean Robert,
never Bob. Isn't this some way you could find out
the owl of your birth?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 3: Rubbi?
Speaker 1: Well, if it will please you, miss Nora, I suppose
I could write and ask my mother, will you do that?
Speaker 3: It's very important.
Speaker 1: Speaking of my mother, You've all given me a very
good idea, but I'd like to send her.
Speaker 3: A present, A present for your mother.
Speaker 1: You'll think i'm sentimental. Many years ago, my dad gave
her a string of pearls as an anniversary present, and
they were her greatest treasure. It has been dead a
long time now, and she was heartbroken when the pearls
were stolen from her New York apartment. Oh well, we'll
say no more. I'll fix you up. How much do
you want to pay? But now, just a minute, Colonel,
I'm afraid you deal in merchandise that's too rich for
my blood. Talking about a simple string of cultured pearls
couple of hundred dollars. Now you're on the right track.
Speaker 3: Ridiculous. Excuse me, everybody, but I'm very tired. Time to
go home.
Speaker 1: I'll be happy to escort the ladies.
Speaker 3: Don't bother with me.
Speaker 4: Perhaps you're not aware that I've spent most of every
night wandering around the island alone.
Speaker 1: Oh, go with them, Barbara, will you'll have to help
me with the dishes.
Speaker 3: That does it.
Speaker 1: Walking with Nora Babcock was a tortuous business, and I
had a feeling she was in pain every step of
the way. And we lost sight of Barbara, although she
had an unsettling trick of appearing on the path, sometimes
in front of us, sometimes behind when we reached the
door of Nora's house.
Speaker 3: She's out there somewhere, and I don't want her to hear.
If you'll come to my house tomorrow afternoon, i'd like
to talk to you about those pearls.
Speaker 1: For your mother. Fine, what time around two o'clock. I
can't be seeing you.
Speaker 3: Good night, and now you may have the pleasure of
seeing me home.
Speaker 1: Oh uh, yeah, this is a pleasure and a surprise.
Speaker 3: You want to know what I have against you, don't you?
Speaker 1: I am curious.
Speaker 4: Well, come to my house for nightcap, and I'll tell you.
Speaker 1: What do you think of my pad exotic luxury.
Speaker 3: You writers have away with words. You don't fit the pattern.
Speaker 1: And what pattern is that?
Speaker 3: Novelists? I despise.
Speaker 1: Oh, come on, we're no different from anyone else.
Speaker 4: My husband was a woman hater who wrote about women
and knew nothing about them. Oh, that man crucified me
in his books. I know you're different. I could tell
from the way you talked about your mother. Come over here,
said on the couch. That's better. Hold my hand. You know,
you know it's been frantically dull around here.
Speaker 1: Pretty hands. But don't your fingers get tired under all
those rocks.
Speaker 3: Take the rings off. It'll make you feel any more comfortable.
Speaker 1: Let's see rubies, diamonds, sapphires. I suppose you'd never stoop
to wearing something as simple as a pearl.
Speaker 3: On the contrary, my most prized possession.
Speaker 4: I own a string of priceless pearls over there in
that velvet box.
Speaker 1: May I see that?
Speaker 4: I don't put them on display for just anybody. Oh,
if you're a good boy, show them to you.
Speaker 3: Here, let me freshen your drink.
Speaker 1: You have some faston eating things in this room. That Buddha,
for instance, it's carved from jade. And are these the
pearls you said you'd show them to me.
Speaker 3: It's locked and I have to get the key.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, Bob, I said, I'd show you the pearls
if you're a good boy, and I will to morrow morning,
after you spent the night.
Speaker 1: When I was having breakfast next morning in the sunshine
on my deck, Yes, I was alone. I had not
spent the night with Barbara Walsh. In my line of work,
it has to be business before pleasure. There was no
need to accept a bride. You see. When I picked
up that purple velvet jewel box, it was light as
a feather. But as I was saying while eating breakfast, well,
good morning, you're a late rise. I went to a
big party last night. Colonel. Come on, have a cup
of coffee. I brought you something. I don't pay any
attention to the looks of the box. The velvet's worn,
it's been around for a while. It's what's inside that counts.
I'd be glad to sell you the pearls open the
box beautiful. Well, these are not the ones we were
talking about last night. I mean this is a double
strand obviously far more expensively. I know, I know it
can be sold for several thousand dollars some day, but
my price to you still stay on. No, no, no, colonel,
I just can't accept it. My good man. I'm offering
you the kind of bargain that comes once in a lifetime,
but it'll never do for my mother. Don't you have
something else? Yes, of course I do. I thought I
owed you a favor. You owe me nothing. Please, Colonel,
if you'll let me go to your house, perhaps you
could show me another string. That would be I show
you nothing right now, Good mornings. The colonel stopped off,
and I knew I would have to change my approach
if I wanted to look at his collection. And I
think about that later, because my next appointment was with
Nora Badcock.
Speaker 3: Come in, Robert. Didn't we have a good time last night?
Speaker 1: You can be my bridge partner anytime.
Speaker 3: That's very sweet. I meant to ask you, how did
you like my oyster stew?
Speaker 1: Well? The taste was superb.
Speaker 3: But didn't it help you to go to sleep?
Speaker 1: Look a level with you, Miss b You put something.
Speaker 4: In that stewdent you Oh, the usual dash of chili
sawso and plenty of rich green No.
Speaker 1: I mean I mean something, something bad. I don't understand
that STU made me deathly ill.
Speaker 3: Why I wanted you to sleep well after your accidents.
So I did put in a drop or two of
my sedatives, the kind that helps me, from one of
those bottles. Perhaps it shouldn't have been combined with the seafood.
Speaker 1: Perhaps I thought you were trying to poison me.
Speaker 4: Could you have such thoughts about a poor old lady?
Speaker 1: I take them all back.
Speaker 3: When is your mother's birthday?
Speaker 1: It's in June, like yours.
Speaker 3: I knew it. I knew it. My pearls were a
present and nothing would please me more than giving them
to a Gemini.
Speaker 1: Well that's very generous of you, but I please.
Speaker 3: Get the pearls for me. Robert on that cabinet over there. Okay,
you'll find the box is rather heavy.
Speaker 1: You say, these pearls were given to you.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, by the dear lady who lived in your cottage.
Speaker 3: I don't care of a poor thing. And before she
died she gave me her dearest treasure. Open the box
and tell me what you think.
Speaker 1: I think they're perfect.
Speaker 3: Oh, you don't know the best part. These pearls have
a magical quality. Just wait until you see what happens
to them at night. Pick them up, examine them.
Speaker 1: I like the way they look against the satin.
Speaker 4: Oh, how I love them.
Speaker 1: No, Just when do you wear these pearls?
Speaker 3: Oh they're not for wearing, at least not for me.
I like to fondle them, and before my hands got
so so bad, I use them the way the Greeks.
Do you know worry beads. I've often taken them to
bed with me.
Speaker 1: These hands of yours, it's not my hands.
Speaker 3: You see how hard it is for me to get around.
Speaker 1: Yes, I know. Have you been to a doctor?
Speaker 4: Values I have my medicines, though they don't do much good.
Speaker 1: I know a fine doctor in Honolulu. I think he
can help you. Will you let me take you to him? Oh?
Speaker 3: I couldn't let you do that. Robert knocking the stars?
How many times have I told you? I've been warned
never to.
Speaker 1: Trust to Leo look Norah for reasons. I won't trouble
you with them. Then, of course I wouldn't want the
Colonel or Barbara to know I am not the person
I've pretended to be. Would it make any difference to
you if I told you I was actually born on
January the second?
Speaker 3: Why all the difference in the world.
Speaker 1: I should have known we.
Speaker 3: Were destined to be friends from the very beginning.
Speaker 1: Mister Keith, Yes, just Keith, that's my real first name.
Speaker 3: I'll go with you wherever you want me to go.
Speaker 1: Case closed.
Speaker 2: Miss Babcock's destiny was not written in the stars, even
though she went to her grave believing it was. The
deadly pearls were taken out of circulation, and ra Babcock
was given the best of care in a hospital where
they did what they could to ease the pain.
Speaker 1: During the short time she had left to live.
Speaker 2: It was thought best not to shatter her dream, so
she never knew that Keith Spencer was an orphan, or
that her treasured pearls had been anything but a comfort.
Speaker 1: I'll be back shortly.
Speaker 2: Keith Spencer found a good deal more on that island
than the missing pearls. He stepped into the lives of
three people whose philosophies did not agree with his, Yet
with each he had at least one point of mutual understanding.
Our mystery was solved with the apprehension of a victim
rather than a culprit. Our cast included Kate Reid, Paul Hect,
Grace Matthews and Court Benson. The entire production was under
the direction of Hyman Brown.
Speaker 1: This is e g.
Speaker 2: Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant dreams.