The Shadow - Murder Incorporated

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The shadow knows. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. The Shadow, the serious character who aids the forces of law and order, is in reality Lamont Cranston, wealthy young man about town. The Shadow uses his hypnotic power to cloud men's minds so that they cannot see him. Cranston's friend and companion, the lovely Margot Lane, is the only person who knows to whom the unseen voice of the Shadow belongs. Today's story, Murder Incorporated. Are you Mr. Conrad? Yes, I'm Mr. Conrad. Come on, get in, please. Thank you. You must be Mr. Pasquale. Yes, that's right. Sorry I wasn't at the station when your train came in, Mr. Conrad. Bad night. I had a hard time getting down the mountain. You know, I was beginning to think perhaps I misunderstood your instructions. Well, I wouldn't have had you come out on a night like this, but I'm having a bit of a celebration tomorrow, and I'd like to have the piano with you. Quite all right, Mr. Pasquale. Musical instruments are like humans to me. I never fail to respond to a call. I see. My house is about two miles up the mountain. I'm afraid you're going to find it rather a lonely place. Oh, no, no, indeed. I won't mind at all. I hope you've come prepared to spend the night, Mr. Conrad. The night? Yes. You see, there are no trains until morning. Oh, yes, of course. You know, I hadn't thought of that. I was rather stupid of me. I should have warned you, but it hadn't occurred to me that perhaps somebody might be expecting you home. Oh, no. No, indeed. I have no folks. There's nobody to expect me, Mr. Pascal. Nobody to expect you. Well, you'll not be missed, eh? Oh, no, no, indeed, Mr. Pascal. I shall not be missed. Hey, it's a bleak and dismal night, isn't it? Yes, a bleak and dismal night. I can't stand it, I tell you. Sit down, Nelson. The police is driving me nuts. Take it easy. The scowl will be up here any minute. I can't stand it anymore. Wallace, I'm going. Don't be a fool. Shut up and listen. What's the matter? I think I hear Pascal on the stairs. Ah, you're batty. That's a floor squeaking. You'll hardly hear anything in this old house. Yeah. It is a joint, all right. Give you the creep. Just a kind of a hideout Pascal pick. Even a ghost be afraid of haunting. What? Oh, Pascal. Hey, boss, we thought you... Sorry, gentlemen. Say, Pascal, what's the big idea? You call us here to talk over a scheme to clean up a couple of hundred thousand. Quiet, please. I don't want my guests below to know I have guests about. Why do you have a piano tuner here when we have business to talk over? Because, gentlemen, the piano tuner is the business I have to talk over. What do you mean? Yes. In just a few moments... He will drop dead. What? Drop dead? Well, rather, I should say I'll permit him to kill himself. But his death will have all the appearances of a natural demise. The actual cause will be impossible to detect. Well, how are you going to do it? Follow me, gentlemen. Where are you taking us to? Through this door. Hey. Hey. What is this? This, gentlemen, is my laboratory. For the past two years, I've devoted myself to research and experimentation in this room on a chemical that could kill and yet leave no trace. You mean a secret poison? I'll explain. After I perfected my chemical, I next had to devise the best means for its use. Yes. You see this match? Yeah? The head of this match has been dipped into my secret formula. Yeah? So downstairs, I've placed some cigars in a package containing the treated matches beside our guest. In a little while, he'll light a cigar. So what? Then, gentlemen, you'll have the positive proof that my labors have been crowned with success. Pascal, when it comes to anything in a chemical line, you're a cop. But I don't get it. How does this thing pay off? Gentlemen, we all know that the world is full of maladjusted people. Men and women tied to each other by force of circumstances. Go ahead. So isn't it reasonable to suppose that one party to these unfortunate associations would welcome the means by which he or she would be rid of the other? Oh, I get it. It's an insurance shake. It sounds swell to me. But how are you going to contact these clients? Have you figured that out? Perfectly. When people are in trouble, they go to one of three men. A doctor, a lawyer, a mind reader. Those professions will be represented by the three of us. You're going to hang out the old shingle again. The offices of Dr. Bruno Pascal are already selected. It'll be my job to impress the prospective client with the physical necessity of escape. What's my trick? As the master of the occult, you shall visualize the way out for them. The legal and material aspects will be your responsibility, Nelson. Yes. You will see that our clients carry the proper amount of insurance. Okay. When the mind of the client is conditioned to accept murder as a solution to a problem, then we shall provide the means to what will truly be the end. The matches. The matches. Listen, that piano stopped. At last. Maybe the old guy's taking time off for a smoke. We'll see. All right, all right. How long's it going to take? Why don't he light it? Why don't he do. That's it, gentlemen. Yeah, come on, let's go. Little Mr. Conrad in the rain. There, gentlemen. Look down. The piano tuner is dead. And a new enterprise is born. She was just sitting there smoking and all of a sudden she kind of gasped for breath and toppled over dead. Never said a word or anything. He died real peaceful, just like Miss Cigarette was. It was such an easy death. You do nothing, ma'am. Just give him the matches. He does it himself. That's all there is to it. You haven't a thing to worry about. Well, well, well, Lamont. What are you doing, planting flowers or building a house? I've never seen so many tools and implements in my life. No cracks, Margo. John, my gardener, didn't come to work this morning. I have to get these rose bushes in. Now, let me see. Was it four bushes one foot apart or one bush four feet apart? I wouldn't have missed this for the world. Lamar, what are you doing now? I'm digging a hole to put the rose bushes in. Why must it be three feet deep? Well, they're big rose bushes. If you strike oil, let me know, will you? Margo, please, how can I concentrate? Let me see. Does this burlap come off or does it stay on? I have a suggestion. Yeah? If that bush doesn't grow in that hole, you can always put some concrete around the edges and. Use it for a swimming pool. That's very helpful. Ow! These bushes have thorns. Tomorrow I have another suggestion. Fine, fine, fine. Let's go over and find out what happened to John before you ruin the garden and yourself as well. Who is it? Oh, Mr. Cranston. Good evening, Miss Graham. Hello, Miss Lane. Hello, Miss Graham. Is John home? Why, yes, sir, he is. Well, he didn't report for work this morning. We thought perhaps he might not be well. Matter of fact, Miss Lane, he's sick in bed. Oh, I thought so. May I go up and see him? Well, I don't think you'd better. The doctor says he wasn't to see anybody. Well, it must be serious. John was always so healthy. He's complained to me before, Mr. Cranston. You see, it's his heart. Yes, his heart's been pretty bad lately. Mrs. Graham, John called you. Oh, did he? Oh, Alice. Tell Mr. Cranston I'd like to see him. I'll go right up. Mr. Cranston. Come along, Margo. Yes, Lamont. Don't worry, Mrs. Graham. We won't stay with him long. Well, I won't go up. I've got to call the doctor. Lamont. Yes, Margo. Isn't Mrs. Graham a terribly nervous woman? Yes, very. Then I suppose it's understandable under the circumstances. Yes, I suppose so. Ah, here we are. This is the room. Well, hello, John. Oh, hello, Mr. Cranston, Miss Lane. Hello, John. I asked my wife to send for you, sir. You asked Mrs. Graham to send for me? Yes, sir. But your wife. Please, Margo. Tell me something about this illness, John. It's your heart, isn't it? Yes, sir. That's as if I'm going to be like those gladiolas we planted last spring. Fine one day and dead the next. Oh, John. And me, who's never had an acre of pain in my whole life before, sir. I see. Well, John, you said... you sent for me because you wanted to talk to me. Yes, sir. It's about my wife. You know how little women know about money matters. Yes? I don't want nobody to talk about it until I'm leaving. You see, sir, as luck would have it, I just took out a new insurance policy. Yes? It's much bigger than any I've carried before, but I'm glad I did it now. She won't have to worry. Well, John, how did you happen to increase your insurance? Why, it was that doctor my wife's been going to. He sure gave me some good sound advice. Yes. He suggested you take out more insurance? Yes. I see. Now, John... I don't want you to worry about anything. I'll see that your wife is well advised. You just take things easy. I knew I could depend on you, sir. I miss the garden. I'm sure you do, John. Those bleeding heart shoots. They should be trimmed down right away. I'll take care of them for you, John. Might be a good idea to bed them down. Frost. It'll be coming soon. Certainly will. John, what's the name of the doctor who advised you to increase your insurance, huh? I said, John, what's the name of the doctor... Lamont. John. John. Margot. Yes, Lamont. He's dead. Well, Lamont, how do I look? Does my costume make me look like the poor, harassed housewife? Quite, Margot. But I'm afraid you're going to an awful lot of trouble for nothing. I don't think so, Lamont. We know now that it's this Dr. Pascal who's been treating Mrs. Graham for a long time. He's the one who advised John to increase his insurance. Well, that might have been advice sincerely offered. But how do you explain Mrs. Graham's conduct? If you mean what I think you mean, Margot... You're just about accusing that poor little woman of murdering her husband. But I'll play along with you. You're going to Dr. Pascal as a patient? Yes. I see. Well, I'm a nervous case. You know what I mean. Married, nervous. Oh, you mean married, nervous. Uh-huh, I see. Well, you should have a name. Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Let's see, let's see. Belden, Mrs. Belden, how's that, eh? Too good. I'd rather you save the characterizing until you see the doctor. Okay, okay. Oh, say, suppose you have to produce a husband. Oh, very simple in that case. You'll be my husband, Lamont. Now, let's get going. Mrs. Belden may have a date with destiny. Come on, fellas, let's get to our business. How do we stand with Mrs. Graham? Get the insurance check tomorrow. You know, we almost bungled that job. Yeah? How? Effective matches. Mrs. Graham told me that it took hours for her husband to die. We must be more careful in the future. Now, there's my buzzer. You gentlemen wait in the next room. You wouldn't be ashamed of Wallace and me, would you? Do I have to answer that? Oh, no. Okay, Pascal. There are cigars and matches on the table. Help yourself. No, I carry my own matches. Wise guy. Well, how do you do? You wish to see me? Yeah, are you Dr. Pascal? Yes, I am Dr. Pascal. Oh, I... Well, come right in, please. Thanks. Now, sit down here. Yes, sir. Now then, what's your trouble? Well, doctor, I. I haven't been able to sleep nights for a long time. I got until I wake up with a start just as soon as I go to sleep. Oh, now, don't be nervous, dear lady. But tell me, how did you happen to come to me? I saw your name on the door. Oh, you just happened in, is that it? Yes, sir. Where do you live? On Charles Street. Oh, that's quite a distance from here. You passed a lot of doctors on the way. Well, I... I got a cousin living in this neighborhood. Oh. I come up here pretty near every day. I see. And what is the name? My cousin? Yours. Oh, mine, huh? Belden. Married, I suppose? Yes, sir. Would you sit under this light, please? Yes, sir. Gee. Instead of blinding me. Now, don't be nervous. Now, Mrs. Belden, I am not in the strict sense a medical man. I don't use medicines, drugs to affect cures. You see, most ailments are external. They spring from a cause outside the person affected. You, for example, are an obvious nervous case. Oh, I get terrible nervous sometimes. Now, that ailment does not necessarily come from inside you. It's the result of a condition which you are constantly in contact with. It might be an unhappy marriage. It might be. Would that cause it, doctor? An unhappy marriage? Oh, very likely. I have had women come to me who were on the verge of insanity. Oh, gosh. Now, of course, I'm not saying that that's so in your case. You may be very happily married. Well, no, doctor, I ain't. I don't get along with my husband very well. Oh, now, that's too bad. Too bad, Mrs. Belton. Gee, can I close my eyes for a minute? That light. Well, I'll turn it off. There. Now, it'll be a long time before I'll permit myself to arrive at a definite conclusion on your case, Mrs. Belton. However, if your husband should be the cause of your trouble, you can easily correct it. Yeah, how? By simply ridding yourself of the cause. By ridding myself of... Oh, there ain't much chance of that. My husband never gave me a divorce. Well, you just leave your case in my hands. And you'll be taken care of, yes. at four. Yeah, went there at four. That's right. We'll go into your case more thoroughly at that time. Thanks, Doctor. Appreciate that very much. Oh, that's quite all right. Good day, Mrs. Belden. Goodbye, Doctor. All right for it to come out now? Oh, yes, yes. It's all right. You heard the interview? Yeah, we sure did. That prospect's certainly ripe for plucking. Looks like an easy few thousand dollars for her. That's the trouble. It looks too easy. What do you mean? You think she's a phony? Possibly. If she is, she's not in this alone. We've got to play along. I want to know who's in on it with her. What can we do? I'm going to send her to you, Nelson. I want you to size her up. If you should confirm my suspicions, then I'll have her bring her husband here. For what? He's probably a plant. If he is, then we can nip the thing quickly and completely. How? By a process of swift elimination. There it is, Lamont. Pascal's office is in that little frame house beside the grocery store. Ah, it's a modest enough place. Why do you suppose he wants to see me? Well, they probably want to condition your mind for a big insurance policy. Just as they did your gardener, John Graham. Margo, you seem to think Pascal has several confederates. Yes. Well, there's that lawyer he sent me to, Nelson. Then there's a mind reader by the name of Wallace. But remember, Margo, all of these deaths have been certified as natural. How do you suppose they bring about these deaths? Well, I haven't progressed that far in their confidence yet. But it's coming, I'm sure. Margo, I do hope you're right about this affair. But now I think I'd better go in alone first and pour my own impression of Dr. Pascal. But he asked me to come with my husband. Well, I'll tell him I'm to meet you in his office. And you come in after I've been there about five minutes. Well, all right, if you think that's best. I'll walk on. You stay here in the car, Margo. All right, Lamont. And don't forget, Margo, give me five minutes leeway. Yes, Lamont. There's no mistake about it, I tell you, Pascal. I knew there was something familiar about her face. Then I remembered where I'd seen her. I went down to the newspaper office and dug up this issue of the paper. That's her picture, all right, Nelson. Margot Lane, prominent society girl. That's right. The man beside her in this picture, well, he's probably the one she's bringing here as her husband. Lamont Cranston, man about town. What are you going to do, Pascal? We can't take any chances, Nelson. They must be destroyed. Both of them. Uh-huh. Go ahead, Nelson. Through the door. It leads out the side entrance. Okay. Good luck, Pascal. Thank you. Oh. Well, how do you do? You wish to see me? Dr. Pascal? Yes. I'm Mr. Belden. Oh, Mr. Belden. Well, didn't your wife come with you? I expected her. I'm supposed to meet her here. Well, in that case, I guess you'll be along soon. My wife said you wanted to talk to me. Oh, it's nothing of great importance, Mr. Belden. I simply felt a man should know his wife's doctor. Well, how's that going to help her? Mr. Belden, your face looks familiar. I've seen you somewhere before. Yeah? Yeah. I ain't never seen you before. I'm sure I've seen you. Well, lots of people see me. I drive a cab. Oh, a cab driver, eh? Truly a man of our town, eh? Huh? Oh, yeah. I get around all right. Yes, I imagine you do. Oh, will you have a cigar with me, Mr. Belden? I smoke cigarettes. Oh, here, have one of mine. I got my own. Match, then? Thanks. You want a light? After you. Okay. Oh, that one must have been damp. Yeah, I guess so. Well, some matches you've got, believe me. Try the third. I'm sure you'll get results from that one. I hope so. Well, it's a buck. What's the matter, Mr. Cranston? Aren't you going to smoke with me? Dispatch. My, what an inglorious end for the glamorous man about town. Now, come along, Mr. Cranston. I have a room all ready for you. Ah, there's your wife. There we are. Now, you won't be alone long, Mr. Cranston. You'll be joined directly by the corpse of Margot Lane. Ah, Mrs. Belvin. Do come in. Thanks, Doctor. My husband here? Your husband? Oh, yes. He was supposed to come with you today. Well, make yourself comfortable. He hasn't arrived yet. Why, he. Well, now, in the meantime, I have something which I'm sure will interest you. A little picture a friend of mine cut out of the paper... Oh, I... Surprised, aren't you, Mrs. Belden? I was, too, when I saw it. I said, my, what a strange coincidence. This Margot Lane looks exactly like my Mrs. Belden. Yeah. Yeah, she does look like me. Now, wouldn't it really be amazing if Mr. Belden turned out to resemble this Lamont Cranston in the same picture? It could happen, you know. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Well, I'd better go and see what's keeping him. Oh, no, no, Mrs. Belden. He should be here directly. Be patient. Yes, sit down, please. There we are. Cigarette, Mrs. Belden? No, I don't. Oh, but you should. Good for the nerves. As your physician, I prescribe it. Here. I'll give you a light. Oh. What's the matter, Dr. Pascal? You dropped the matches. Quiet. Quiet. I didn't drop the matches. They were knocked from my hand. What was that? I heard a man's laugh. So you did, Doctor. Who spoke? Who are you? What are you? I am the factor you failed to reckon with when you embarked on your murder-for-profit enterprise. I am the shadow. The shadow? Yes, I've heard of you, but murder-for-profit? I don't know what you mean by that. You're responsible for the death of John Graham and many others. Why, this is nonsense. I never heard of a John Graham. No use bluffing, Pascal. I've already phoned the police to pick up your two henchmen, Nelson and Wallace. You're next. The police have no evidence against me. That's a lack I shall supply. I have some of your ingenious little matches. Matches? You lie. You can't. And I have proof that at least ten people died with a box of your matches beside them. I see. And you think you can stop me from leaving here? Try it. Very well. I'll call you. Don't let him go. Oh. Perhaps you're convinced now that it would be best to await the police quietly? Well, I suppose you're right. I've always believed that one should accept the inevitable in good grace. In fact, with nonchalance. I know of no better way to emulate that attitude than to have a smoke. Oscar, don't. Wait. Now, Mr. Shadow, your police shall find me waiting in supreme calm. I'm glad we're on our way home, Lamont. I feel as though I've been living in a land of the dead. That's very near to the truth, Margo. We were both pretty close to it. What will happen to Mrs. Graham and those other women who worked with Pascal in killing their husbands? The law will deal with them, dear. Lamont, how did you ever find out about those matches? Well, I learned that many of the people who died so mysteriously were found with an empty matchbox beside them. But that peculiar circumstance didn't crystallize in my mind until Pascal invited me to have a smoke. Well, why didn't the match kill you? Because I had palmed Pascal's match and lit one of my own. He thought he had me, though. Lamont. Yes? Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wouldn't what be wonderful? If you were only that clever at planting rose bushes. Who is the arch criminal who believes he can realize his base desires by outwitting the shadow? The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay. The shadow knows.