Broadway's My Beat
"The Tom Keeler Murder Case"
Originally broadcast 09/22/51 

CAST
Detective Danny Clover
Dr. Fine
Randy Quantrio (owner of the Nixon Hotel)
Banker
Paul Marley (George Webber's partner)
Manager (of the Park Avenue Apartments)
Sergeant Gino Tartaglia
Peggy Webber (George Webber's sister)
Ralph Clay (Peggy's boyfriend)

 

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

F/X: Street sounds (car horns, etc.) until OUT

CLOVER: Broadway's my beat. From Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.

F/X: Street sounds OUT

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

ANNOUNCER: "Broadway's My Beat," with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: In autumn sunlight the September day trots out its promises for Broadway's consideration, displays them in doorways, in push carts, in gutters, decorates them with price tags, invites you to browse - don't touch", "buy - don't squeeze", and at cut rates of secondhand delights, the prices slashed down to any man's purse, the bold end of dreams. The vendors simper, the hawkers wink. Buy, kid. That's a winter sun on your shoulder and the day is short, so buy. And that's watchya' do, kid, because on Broadway there's no other choice.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: And at police headquarters, the September's day has arranged its wares of violence on your desk, stacked as to category, degree, grade. Because the day is still fresh, you put off the reaching for them, the touching of them, but it screams close to your ear. . . 

F/X: Phone rings TWICE

F/X: Picks up receiver

DR. FINE: In the morgue, Danny. Come down, I've got something of interest to you.

CLOVER: You walk the corridor to the room of the dead, through the swinging doors into a place without season, where all nights, all days are of equal length, where temperature is constant, where the wind is conditioned before it's let flow over death. Walk up to the man who waits for you. . . 

MUSIC OUT F/X: Rolling two bullets in hand

DR. FINE: A nervous twitch, Danny, to juggle things in my right hand. Maybe I'll be remembered for it.

CLOVER: What have we got, Dr. Fine.

DR. FINE: The man lying there. They found him in his bed last night, murdered.

F/X: Rolling two bullets in hand

DR. FINE: These that murdered him: two bullets. Look.

CLOVER: Yeah. A 22 and a 32. Wouldn't you say so, Doctor?

DR. FINE: That I wouldn't know. What is known is only one of these was needed to kill him. Either one. The man was wanted dead twice, Danny. He was killed twice. Two bullets, different size, twice dead.

CLOVER: You know who he was?

DR. FINE: When they brought him to me last night, there was a tag on him. A name, Tom Keeler, an address, The Nixon Hotel. Nothing else. No other word to the living about why such things has to happen.

CLOVER: You're sure, Doctor - 

DR. FINE: Yeah.

CLOVER: You're sure that the - 

DR. FINE: Each wound was a mortal wound, Danny. Each wound could - yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. You want these, huh?

CLOVER: Yeah.

F/X: Rolling two bullets in hand

DR. FINE: Take 'em.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: And that's the way my day began. And the ingredients of it were a medical examiner, a murdered man, and two bullets. In a room of no value except to the dead, except to those whose business is with death. Consider that briefly then push it away. Leave, go, get out, and hurry.

F/X: Footsteps

CLOVER: And in the corridor, find what you're looking for. The breath of air not controlled by a thermostat.

MUSIC UPAND UNDER

CLOVER: Then the walk down the hall. Turn over the two bullets to technical. Then outside in the squad car, the ride to West 35th Street and to the Nixon Hotel.

F/X: Door closes

F/X: Footsteps until OUT

F/X: Street sounds until OUT

CLOVER: To the five story brown stone that seemed to list from the pressure of the insurance housing project next door to it. Go in. Ring a bell.

F/X: Footsteps OUT

F/X: Hotel desk bell

CLOVER: Wait.

F/X: Door opens

F/X: Footsteps until OUT

CLOVER: Be greeted by the man in grey suspenders and no shirt.

MUSIC OUT

F/X: Footsteps OUT

QUANTRIO: Mornin'.

CLOVER: Good morning. I'm Danny Clover, police.

QUANTRIO: Randy Quantrio. Hi.

CLOVER: You had a little trouble here last night, didn't ya'?

QUANTRIO: Oh, just a mess of it.

CLOVER: Did you know the man who was killed?

QUANTRIO: You mean Tom, huh?

CLOVER: That's right, Tom Keeler.

QUANTRIO: Whadaya' mean 'know him'?

CLOVER: Uh, talked to him, have a beer with him.

QUANTRIO: Said hiya to him. That's about the extent of my to do with him.

CLOVER: How about visitors. Did he have any?

QUANTRIO: Look at the sign over my shoulder, Mr. Clover. Mr. Clover. . . I know some Clovers down in Selma, Alabama. You any kin to any Clovers - 

CLOVER: No, no, no.

QUANTRIO: Oh. Look at the sign over my shoulder: N-O Visitors. No Visitors.

CLOVER: And you think just because the sign is there, Tom Keeler didn't have any visitors?

QUANTRIO: Oh, no, I don't, Mister. We got a sign in each and every room, says no smokin' in bed, and in the last year we had three mattress fires. So, what I'm sayin' is I never seen anybody sneak past this desk that I said to myself, "There's a Tom Keeler visitor."

CLOVER: What else about Keeler?

QUANTRIO: Oh, he got mail this mornin', maybe I oughta tell ya' that.

CLOVER: Yeah, maybe you should.

QUANTRIO: I'm going to. Fresh mail that come this mornin'. Here. The letter.

F/X: Opening envelope and taking letter out

CLOVER: Oh, thanks.

QUATNRIO: From the Great Northern National Bank.

CLOVER: So I see.

QUANTRIO: Please come in and talk to us with regards to your commercial account at your earliest convenience.

CLOVER: You read upside down, Mr. Quantrio?

QUANTRIO: I've lived in Baltimore.

CLOVER: Oh. Thank you Mr. Quantrio, thanks a lot.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: And for that, Randy Quantrio winked at me, laughed noiselessly at me.

QUANTRO: (LAUGHS)

CLOVER: Leaned against the mail rack, scratched his back with it. It wasn't the moment to intrude any longer on such private pleasures, so I left him.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: At the Great Northern National Bank, a guard, uniformed in tattle-tale grey, took my name, my business, walked down a marble aisle with them - and aisle lined with identical desks, identical faces behind them. Unerringly, the guard chose one - the right one. This was a shrewd guard. He muted his voice to the extracurricular business I had brought to the Great Northern, offered it to the man. The man considered it, digested it, and when he had it all in order, motioned me to the chair the guard had placed discretely close to him.

F/X: Typing

MUSIC OUT BANKER: (MUMBLING) How can we help you, Mr. Clover?

CLOVER: Man named Tom Keeler had a checking account here.

BANKER: We're aware of it, therefore - 

CLOVER: Then you know that he was murdered last night in a cheap hotel.

BANKER: We're aware of many things, Mr. Clover. Our research - 

CLOVER: I'm sorry, I can't hear you. What'd you say?

BANKER: I say that our research department makes a point of informing each of us here of any diverse matters. Matters that could even most remotely concern us.

CLOVER: Thank you.

BANKER: Beg your pardon?

CLOVER: I said thank you, because you let me hear what you had to say.

BANKER: Hm. I was appointed, Mr. Clover. Should any questions arise about the late Thomas Keeler, should any questions arise I would so answer the question. Your interrogation is what, Mr. Clover?

CLOVER: We down at headquarters think it's strange that Tom Keeler slept in a flop house when he had a - 

BANKER: Checking account with us?

CLOVER: Uh-huh.

BANKER: Philosophical question, Mr. Clover. Somewhat out of our province.

CLOVER: Pardon me? What?

BANKER: (CLEARS THROAT) I say that all we know of Thomas Keeler is that we were asked to transfer $50 weekly to his account, which we have done religiously until - 

CLVOER: Who asked you to do that?

BANKER: Counselor at Law, George Webber. You want his address, we should give it to you.

CLOVER: Thanks. You were saying you did this until. . . until what?

BANKER: Till two weeks ago. Possibly two weeks and the fraction of a day. Mr. Webber asked us to discontinue his generosity.

CLOVER: Why?

BANKER: I suggest that it's a personal matter concerning Mr. Webber. Why trouble him with it?

CLOVER: What? What? I'm sorry, I - 

BANKER: I said that I - 

CLOVER: Never mind. Probably wasn't important.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: And go to the Park Avenue Apartments of George Webber, be told by the person at the desk that Mr. Webber is not at home. Perhaps at his office, the person suggested. And be handed a slip of paper with the office address in handwriting with "I's" dotted with small circles. "Webber & Marley," the slip said. "Attorneys, Finance Building, Suite 12. Go there.

F/X: Door opening

F/X: Chime

CLOVER: Go through a door and past the beam of an electric eye, wade through a carpet to a desk and an olive-skinned girl with tight black hair. Offer your name, show your credentials, be told Mr. Webber is out. Would you see his partner, Mr. Paul Marley? You would. You're nodded past another door.

F/X: Door opening

CLOVER: And another beam. And to a slender young man who is waiting for in front of a wall lined with every law book ever written. Be chaperoned by him through yet another door.

F/X: Door opening

CLOVER: There he was. Paul Marley. Partner to George Webber, impeccable in morning coat, striped pants, and an army discharge button in his lapel.

MUSIC OUT

MARLEY: That'll be all, Robertson.

F/X: Door closing

MARLEY: Now, sit down, please, Mr. . . 

CLOVER: Uh, Clover.

MARLEY: Clover. Please sit down.

CLOVER: Thank you.

MARLEY: The information you gave out there says that you're a policeman.

CLOVER: That's right.

MARLEY: And this is about what sir? What can I do for you?

CLOVER: It's about a man named Tom Keeler.

MARLEY: Keeler. . . Keeler. . . ?

CLOVER: The man found murdered last night.

MARLEY: Yes.

CLOVER: Shot twice with different caliber bullets. Either one fatal.

MARLEY: Yes. Is all this a matter of legal advice for the police department? You want to know if a man was shot by two people and each - 

CLOVER: That's not it at all. Tom Keeler, it seems, was supported by your partner.

MARLEY: By Mr. Webber?

CLOVER: That's right. Each week, $50 was drawn on Mr. Webber's account and deposited in favor of Tom Keeler.

MARLEY: Uh, surely - 

CLOVER: There's no mistake. That's the way it was.

MARLEY: But I know Mr. Webber so well. His affairs. Everything.

CLOVER: Where is he?

MARLEY: On Fire Island since the day before yesterday. He has a place there. I'm pretty sure he went there. 

CLOVER: A little out of season for Fire Island, isn't it?

MARLEY: Oh, I don't think so.

CLOVER: The end of September?

MARLEY: Mr. Webber goes there all year-round. Whenever.

CLOVER: Whenever what?

MARLEY: Whenever he's disturbed. He has the idea the sea, the strand, the loneliness of it. Personally, I don't know - 

CLOVER: What was Mr. Webber disturbed about?

MARLEY: Oh, he has a sister, Peggy. She's just twenty, so you can imagine.

CLOVER: No, I can't.

MARLEY: Beautiful girl of twenty, rich, and you can't imagine?

CLOVER: Look, Mr. Marley - 

MARLEY: My partner was constantly arguing with her. We're a conservative firm, Mr. Clover. Individually, both Mr. Webber and myself - 

CLOVER: What's that got to do with Peggy?

MARLEY: Peggy Webber is headstrong.

CLOVER: How?

MARLEY: I take my partner's word for it that she's headstrong. Therefore - 

CLOVER: And they argued - Peggy and her brother. What about?

MARLEY: I have no idea.

CLOVER: And he went to Fire Island to recuperate.

MARLEY: One way of saying it. Anything else, Mr. Clover?

CLOVER: No.

MARLEY: Then please, these documents here, if you don't mind.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER 

CLOVER: And get in touch with the authorities at Fire Island, check on the whereabouts of Mr. George Webber, and wait. And an hour later, a phone call. Mr. Webber is not on Fire Island. Mr. Webber's place there is deserted. From the looks of it, hasn't been inhabited for over a month. So come up with a conclusion: Mr. George Webber was missing. Put out an all points bulletin on him. And go back to his Park Avenue Apartment. Make a request of the management.

MUSIC OUT

MANAGER: We're always glad to accommodate, the, uh, police.

CLOVER: Then, uh, let's go, shall we?

MANAGER: Of course. Mr. Webber's apartment, right this way, down the hall. Although, I'd like to know why we should intrude.

CLOVER: Don't worry about it.

MANAGER: Yes sir.

CLOVER: Open the door.

MANAGER: Of course.

F/X: Key in door then door opening

MANAGER: And, here we are.

CLOVER: Yeah, we are, aren't we?

MANAGER: What? What did you say? What did you say, Mr. Clover? I didn't - oh!

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: It stopped both of us, the management and myself. It was a sight that only needed one glance, and the details were there forever. The free-shaped coffee table and the grotesquerie of the man spread beside it. The tracery of blood that stopped abruptly.

MANAGER: Mr Webber! That's Mr. Webber!

CLOVER: The penknife, bone handled, and cheap, in his heart, to be remembered. Details in the death of George Webber.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

ANNOUNCER: You're listening to Broadway is My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. There will be a slight pause as we think of an adjective to describe Mario Lanza. . . Sorry, guess there just isn't one adjective to describe a guy who sings just as well in the popular range as in the classics. But here's a suggestion. On CBS radio tomorrow night over most of these same stations, don't miss Mario Lanza's all-request show, and more of the same by lovely Giselle McKensie and Ray Sinatra's music.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

F/X: Street sounds until OUT

When the night slips out of Broadway's fingers and the false dawn blurs the shadows, Broadway stands bewildered. A carnival is run down. Only the stragglers walk it, with their step without pattern, like their dreams. And the color of their loneliness is the darkened neon, the last glow of a cigarette butt, and pavement grey. And the walk it. They never know Broadway's closed for the night.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: And somehow or another, whether it deserves it or not, the world gets to be nine o'clock in the morning. Then there's a place for everybody. It's daytime, breakfast time, work time, make a dollar time. Or as Sergeant Gino Tartaglia said it. . . 

MUSIC OUT

TARTAGLIA: Lend me a dollar, Danny.

CLOVER: Oh, sure, Gino.

F/X: Rustling a dollar bill

CLOVER: Here.

TARTAGLIA: Thank you. The reason for this transaction, Danny, is - 

CLOVER: No, you don't have to explain it.

TARTAGLIA: I want to, I want to.

CLOVER: (SIGHING) Go right ahead.

TARTAGLIA: Thank you. Mrs. Tartaglia forgot to tuck my dollar into my lunch box today, as is her wont, for the little things a man during the day. She just phoned me and confessed her dereliction of duty in this matter.

CLOVER: Gino - 

TARTAGLIA: She said to ask Danny for it, and tomorrow she will tuck in two dollars so that you will not go hungry.

CLOVER: Tell Mrs. T not to worry about it.

TARTAGLIA: Roger wilco. And now, Danny, to the chores of the day. Knife which did George Webber in was of the variety which can be purchased at our leading hardware stores for the nominal sum of $1.98. Practically untraceable. Prints, wiped clean.

CLOVER: Go on.

TARTAGLIA: Well, that's about the sum and substance of the intelligence which has been shunted from the downstairs to the here, Danny. As of now. However - 

CLOVER: Yeah.

TARTAGLIA: A young lady is in the ante-room, and wants ta' see ya'.

CLOVER: Who is she?

TARTAGLIA: A Miss Peggy Webber, sister of the most latterly deceased.

CLOVER: Get her.

F/X: Footsteps

F/X: Door opening

TARTAGLIA: This way to see Danny Clover.

F/X: Footsteps

CLOVER: Uh, sit down Miss Webber. Uh, that'll be all, Gino.

F/X: Door closes

CLOVER: I'm glad ya' came, Miss Webber. Your name's right here on my calendar to see today.

PEGGY: I knew you'd wanna question me about George.

CLOVER: How did you hear about his death?

PEGGY: I was home. The late news on the radio. You see I didn't live with my brother. We didn't get along.

CLOVER: Oh?

PEGGY: Gonna be a lot simpler now with him gone. I'll wear a black dress like this one for a month and call it a decent interval of mourning.

CLOVER: It's not any concern of mine, Miss Webber, but - 

PEGGY: Oh, it's entirely your concern Mr. Clover. Your position demands that you locate people who would have motives for murdering my brother. I would.

CLOVER: Did you kill him?

PEGGY: A few of my friends and I got together some time ago. For kicks. We were going to try things together, you know? Just for kicks. Black magic. Well I spent the first ten days of my memberships sticking pins into my brother's picture, and all that happened is that he got a sty on his eye. Outside of that I never harmed a hair on his head.

CLOVER: Why all this hate, Miss Webber?

PEGGY: Simply this. I love a boy. I told George about him. George got red, then blue, red again, then a lovely color I never saw before. He found out who the boy was. Ruined him.

CLOVER: Who is the boy?

PEGGY: Ralph Clay. Now runs a bowling alley on 3rd.

CLOVER: Uh, one more thing. Do you know a man named Tom Keeler?

PEGGY: Not offhand. Why?

CLOVER: Oh, never mind. Leave your address with Sergeant Tartaglia, Miss Webber, and thank you very much.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

F/X: Bowling

CLOVER: You Ralph Clay?

CLAY: (OUT OF BREATH) Huh? Oh, hello. Yeah, that's me. Till my dying day. You walked in on an empty hall, Mister. Feel real sorry about it.

CLOVER: Oh, don't be. This way we can have a long talk.

CLAY: Shall we? Wait a minute, I wanna take care of this thing coming up. Kingpin, seven pin. Challenge. What do you think?

CLOVER: Go ahead.

CLAY: Watch me.

F/X: Bowling

CLAY: Yeah, yeah. Never say go ahead to me in that tone, Mister. Not on that shot. My quirk, each day I live for it.

CLOVER: Something Peggy Webber said. It sent me to you.

CLAY: Peggy. The girl had class. She tell you I killed her brother?

CLOVER: I got the impression she was in love with you.

CLAY: Pity, the girl. She lives in ancient history, at a time where she loved, and I loved back. But ancient history. Under the bridge.

CLOVER: Peggy did something to you?

CLAY: She had a brother. Now did, I read. It stopped me for a breath on the way to the sports page.

CLOVER: George Webber did something to you?

CLAY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm a man who likes to talk about it. My daily nourishment.

CLOVER: Share it with me?

CLAY: Sure. Georgey-Porgey Webber didn't like how his sister used to put her hand in mine, so he marked me lousy.

CLOVER: How?

CLAY: Standing before you, Mr. Police, is a boy who once thought he was a lawyer. Cap in hand he went to Georgey, his soon-to-be brother-in-law, and asked for a job, keep it in the family. Georgey smiled, shook his head no. And with words and music he told me he'd spoil me from any job I took from anyone he knew.

CLOVER: Because you loved his sister?

CLAY: I was second in my class in law school. You want to invent other reasons?

CLOVER: Why hate Peggy for it?

CLAY: Things like that run in the blood. I don't stick around till it comes out in Peggy and slaps me in the head.

CLOVER: Then that gives you a motive for having killed Webber.

CLAY: Ain't that a lucky one.

CLOVER: Tom Keeler, what'd you have for him?

CLAY: Keeler?

CLOVER: A man who got killed in a fleabag, a man Webber supported until - 

CLOVER: Why is he called Uncle?

CLAY: Peggy calls him Uncle because he was her confessor, her hero. Everything that ate Peggy, she brought to good ol' Uncle Tom.

CLOVER: Not to her brother.

CLAY: Who goes to a man like that except to kill him? I give you something to ponder, Mr. Police?

CLOVER: Yeah, you did.

CLAY: I'm glad. Makes me wanna live through another day.

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

CLOVER: Watch the bitter boy make his strike.

F/X: Bowling

CLAY: Yeah, yeah.

CLOVER: And consider the lie he'd flipped to you. The girl's lie that she didn't know Tom Keeler. And wonder over it. Jot it down in memory as a future conversation piece with Peggy Webber. And then remember a man who said he knew all about George Webber. Everything. Everything but the mention of Keeler's share in his partner's life. Go to him. Wait for him to finish his preening. .

MUSIC OUT

MARLEY: Got this little time machine for being on my toes, Mr. Clover. Hansom tid-bit, isn't it?

CLOVER: Yeah, yeah it is.

MARLEY: Seventeen jewels. Hamilton. All because I proved in court the chap's wife had been unfriendly to said chap. Look what Marley for settin' me free. To chum - 

CLOVER: What was there about Tom Keeler that shut your mouth about him?

MARLEY: My. . . my. . . my compliments, Mr. Clover. Brilliant strategy. Attach while the enemy celebrates minor victories. In tactics class at Ft. Mead we - 

CLOVER: You told me about Webber. Personal things about him. His sister. Why not about Tom Keeler?

MARLEY: It pained me. For George's sake - my deceased partner's sake. It pained me.

CLOVER: You'll show me where it hurts.

MARLEY: You think you'll be able to understand? Don't answer. It doesn't matter. Keeler was a derelict, a bum - a hungry shadow in George's closet. That's why George opened that account for him. To keep him from coming here to beg. George and I had a large investment here. The presence of Keeler - 

MARLEY: At my assistance. My council. It made quite a row the other day between Tom and George. I had to shoo people back to their desks.

CLOVER: You kill George Webber?

MARLEY: Attack, attack. I admire your method, Mr. Clover.

secretaries, the junior partners, all yours now. You kill Webber for that?

MARLEY: The death of my partner was a great loss to me, Mr. Clover. A personal loss.

F/X: Footsteps until OUT

MARLEY: Were it in my humble power to hunt down his assassins, I would dedicate my knowledge, my life, my - 

F/X: Footsteps OUT

F/X: Door slamming

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

F/X: Footsteps until OUT

MUSIC OUT

F/X: Door opens

DR. FINE: Yes? Uh, Danny. . . 

F/X: Footsteps OUT

DR. FINE: Something I can do for you?

check it for me.

DR. FINE: Gladly.

CLOVER: Get out the medical examiner's report on Tom Keeler.

F/X: Footsteps

F/X: Draw opening then closing

F/X: Footsteps

DR. FINE: Uh, here.

F/X: Paper rustling

DR. FINE: What do you want it for?

CLOVER: I want to put it side by side to this one I got on George Webber.

F/X: Paper rustling

DR. FINE: So?

CLOVER: What does it say?

DR. FINE: It says, uh, Webber died day before yesterday at approximately 6 P.M.

CLOVER: Uh-huh.

F/X: Paper rustling

CLOVER: And it says on this report that Keeler died about midnight on the same day. You know what that means, doctor?

DR. FINE: No, what?

CLOVER: There's a pencil on your desk. Figure it out.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

F/X: Doorbell

F/X: Door opens

PEGGY: Well, Mr. Clover. You used my address after all.

CLOVER: Mind if I come in Miss Webber?

PEGGY: This evening you can go as far as calling me Peggy. But ya' can't come in.

CLOVER: I'm afraid I'll hafta - 

PEGGY: You'll hafta force your way in? (LAUGHS) I could relish that - 

CLOVER: Peggy - 

PEGGY: But a friend's visiting with me.

CLOVER: Ralph Clay?

PEGGY: You said the password. If you know that, you might as well come in.

F/X: Door closes

PEGGY: Ralph! Come out, come out, wherever you are! Say hello to Mr. Clover, Ralph.

CLAY: You wanna ask Peggy questions.

CLOVER: You, too.

PEGGY: Goody, goody.

CLOVER: You lied to me, too, Peggy.

PEGGY: Because I'm a liar. Get Ralph a lot of trouble that way, don't I Ralph?

CLAY: Let's just listen to what the man has to say.

CLOVER: Your lie about Keeler, Peggy. You said you didn't know who he was.

PEGGY: I explained it to you, I'm a liar.

CLOVER: I found out who killed your brother, Peggy. I said I - 

CLAY: We heard you.

CLOVER: There were a lot of motives floating around, Peggy. Yours - 

CLAY: Leave her alone! She didn't kill her brother. I did.

PEGGY: Oh, cut it out, Ralph.

CLOVER: Peggy - 

PEGGY: Ralph had nothing to do with it! I did it.

CLAY: What's the matter with you, Peggy? You're crazy! You're a liar! You lie! That's why you're saying you killed your brother.

PEGGY: Ralph, Ralph, please - 

CLOVER: Neither one of you killed him. You thought Ralph did, Peggy, and Ralph - 

CLAY: What are ya' trin' to do to us, Clover? What are you doin', police methods tryin' to get us to play against each other?

CLOVER: Oh, take it easy, Ralph.

CLAY: Go on, take it easy, Ralph! Take it easy, Ralph! What are ya' tryin' to say? Talk, talk, talk!

CLOVER: Tom Keeler killed Peggy's brother.

PEGGY: Wha. . . ?

CLAY: Clover, so help me, I'll - 

CLOVER: Listen to me, both of you. CLAY: Clover!

PEGGY: Let him talk, Ralph!

CLOVER: Keeler killed him because his source of income was cut off. A man like Keeler could kill. A desperate man, a man who loved livelihood. A tramp who made a habit of living off someone else's generosity.

PEGGY: Ralph. . . Ralph, it's all my fault.

CLOVER: You found your brother dead, didn't you, Peggy?

PEGGY: Yes, and I - 

CLOVER: You thought Ralph did it.

PEGGY: Yes, I thought (SOBBING). . . Ralph!

CLAY: It's gonna be all right, baby.

CLOVER: Peggy went to her Uncle Tom like she always did when she was in trouble, told him Ralph had killed her brother. What did Tom Keeler say to you, Peggy?

PEGGY: He said. . . he said not to worry. Just not to worry!

CLOVER: Then he got in touch with you, huh, Ralph?

CLAY: Yeah. Yeah, he did. You know what he told me?

CLOVER: I think so.

CLAY: He told me Peggy killed her brother. He was the killer all the time. And I'm supposed to be a bright boy!

CLOVER: So he had each of you believing the other had killed George Webber. How much money did he want from each of you to protect the other?

CLAY: Oh, what difference does it make? It doesn't matter anymore.

CLOVER: Blackmail. That's why Tom Keeler's dead, too. Murdered.

CLAY: Yeah. You'll slap the cuffs on me for that one, Clover.

PEGGY: my uncle said he wanted everything I had to keep quiet about Ralph. So I went up to his hotel room when he was sleeping and shot him.

CLAY: No! No, Peggy, that's what I did!

CLOVER: That's whatchya' both did. To protect the other. Ya' both shot Tom Keeler.

PEGGY: (BEGINS CRYING HYSTERICALLY)

CLAY: Hey! Hey, Peggy!

PEGGY: (CONTINUES CRYING)

CLAY: (SCREAMING) Stop it! Stop it!

PEGGY: (CRYING)

CLAY: Peggy! Oh, Peggy!

MUSIC UP AND UNDER

F/X: Street sounds

CLOVER: There's a time on Broadway when the crowd gives up, goes home. The lights buzz fitfully - die. Then it's a street of dim moonlight and dark whispers, and the wind of the autumn night, the wind that scatters everything. Yesterday's headline, yesterday's dreams, yesterday's people. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway - my beat.

MUSIC OUT

ANNOUNCER: "Broadway is My Beat" stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover with Charles Calvert as Tartaglia and Jack Kruchin as Mugivan. The programs was produced and directed by Eliot Lewis with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's story, Lillan Biaf was heard as Peggy Webber, Anthony Barret as Ralph Clay, Paul Frees as Randy Quantrio, Bob Bruce as Mr. Chase, and Edgar Barrier as Paul Marley.