Star of Midnight Page #2

of Clay dalzell, dear.

Oh, yes.

How do you do?

Oh, how do you do,

Mr. Burton?

Oh, no, my dear. I divorced

Mr. Burton four years ago.

Since then,

I've been Mrs. crandell and...

Oh, I'm so sorry,

Mr. crandell.

No. I'm now Mrs. classon.

This is Mr. classon.

Oh.

Don't be embarrassed,

Mr. dalzell.

I run into that sort of thing

all the time.

Well...

That dalzell

never turned a hair.

Why should he?

That's Roger classon, the

Chicago lawyer, and his wife.

Well?

She and dalzell were once... Oh.

We're at king Charles.

Do look us up.

I'll do that.

Good night.

Good night, Jerry.

Good night.

Good night, Mr. crasson...

Uh, clandell. Uh...

All right?

Very good, sir.

I'll tell Mr. kinland

you're here.

Thank you.

You dalzell?

Yeah.

I'm Jimmy kinland.

How do you do?

What's on your mind?

Miss mantin asked me

to get some letters from you.

Beat it.

When I get the letters.

Beat it, I said,

while you're still healthy.

Very well.

Oh, uh, by the way...

There was something funny

that I wanted to ask you about.

In 1929, you made

A total-gross income-tax return

of $65,000.

What's that to you?

But you were given one check

alone for $120,000.

Actual total-gross income...

$970,000.

How many pennies

am I off the exact figure?

Radio is awfully loud.

I want it that way.

Oh.

Where did you pick up

that tax deal?

From the man

who paid you the $120,000.

The canceled check

is in my safety-deposit vault,

Where the police will find it

if anything happens to me.

That check

is six years old.

Why'd you hold out

till now?

I'm not a federal man.

How much do you want?

The letters.

There's lots of things we

don't like that we have to take.

The reason I'm alive today

Is because I'm smart enough

to know when to take it.

Here you are.

Thank you.

Good night.

Oh, wait a minute.

What about the check?

Oh, I'll keep that,

if you don't mind.

You can trust me.

It ain't exactly business,

is it?

Strictly business.

That check is the lock

That keeps the mantin matter

a closed book.

And we closed it

just in time.

I have to stop tennant

From printing a story

about you and the lady.

He's too nosy, that guy.

Maybe he ought to be

rubbed out.

Isn't that sort of thing,

uh, against the law?

Flash

from the news-radio bureau.

The prince theater tonight

was thrown into confusion

At the end of the first act

When Mary Smith,

the star of "midnight,"

Suddenly disappeared.

We will now return you to

Nick price and his orchestra.

Well, there's a story

for tennant.

The mysterious Mary Smith

disappeared,

Or kidnapped, maybe. What

do you know about that?

I don't know anything

about it!

Now, I was here all night,

and I can prove it!

My friend, the question

was purely academic.

Good night.

Sleep tight.

Swayne.

Swayne, I want a drink.

Swayne...

There's someone at the door.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. dalzell.

I'll attend to it immediately. "

Dal, I found her!

I found her!

Good.

But it's a worse mess than ever.

She's disappeared again.

My boy, you're not in love

with a girl.

You've fallen

for a card trick.

But you don't understand.

Alice is Mary Smith.

And you're mahatma Gandhi,

and there's the Brandy.

How's that? But she is, dal! She is!

I realized it the moment

she stood on the stage.

The minute I saw her,

I shouted, "Alice!"

That must have helped

the show along. She see you?

Well, she must have.

She got all upset.

She had to start her number

over again. No, thanks.

I waited till after the act was over,

and then I rushed backstage to see her.

She'd already gone, huh?

Yes. People were chasing

each other around...

Detectives, newspaperman.

Then someone spotted me

As the fella that had shouted,

"Alice," so I beat it.

Timothy, I can't work out

a Jigsaw puzzle

If you're going to keep some

of the pieces in your pocket.

What do you mean?

I mean

that you haven't told me

All you know

or at least suspect

About her disappearance

from Chicago.

Now, how about it?

Do I get the other pieces?

Well, I...

Could anyone

have followed you?

I don't know.

Perhaps you better go

into my den and wait.

Right.

Ah, brother tennant.

Where's winthrop?

Well, if it's

off the record,

He was at the prince theater

seeing "midnight. "

There isn't anyone

seeing "midnight. "

The Smith girl has disappeared. No.

Disappeared

and given me

The greatest story

a newspaperman ever had.

Have a drink.

Thanks.

How's this for a setup?

The show's going on,

lights blazing, music blaring,

The girls dancing

their heads off.

Smith makes her entrance.

A guy in the third row

jumps up and yells, "Alice!"

Smith almost drops

in her tracks.

She has to start

all over again.

A guy races up the aisle and through

the lobby, and I'm right behind him.

And what's more...

I stay right behind him.

I tell you, dalzell,

this is sheer drama.

That girl

had to wear a mask.

Then it wasn't

just publicity?

No. In your wildest dreams, you

could never imagine the real reason.

This is the story of the year,

and I'm cracking it.

Well, that's swell,

but where do I come in?

I'm gonna play ball

with you, dalzell,

And I want you to play ball

with me.

I'll tell you

everything I know,

But you've got to do

the same.

Yes, but I don't know

anything.

Okay,

I'll take a chance.

Look, I trailed this guy

and picked up plenty.

Mary Smith

is not really Mary Smith.

Her name's Alice markham.

She comes from

a little jerkwater town in Ohio.

She disappeared from Chicago

about a year ago

Just as completely

as she did tonight.

Tennant, I apologize.

You're good.

Where'd you pick up

all this?

That's nothing.

I found out

The greatest double cross

that's ever been pulled.

This guy

was pretending to...

Tim.

Tim?

Stick 'em up!

Higher!

Turn around!

What's the matter, sir?

Where have you been?

To the theater, sir.

Come in here.

What's happened, sir?

Tommy tennant's been shot.

Some Brandy, swayne.

Never mind, swayne.

Uh, get me

police headquarters, please.

Are you hurt, sir?

Only grazed, I think.

Who did it?

I don't know.

Uh, let me have, uh,

inspector doremus, please.

"Acme arch supporters

will give tired feet new life

"And take away that pain

almost immediately,

Or your money back. "

Inspector doremus.

Huh?

Murder?

What's that address?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now, listen,

don't touch a thing.

I'll be right over.

Can you picture that?

Tommy tennant's been plugged.

Tommy tennant?

Yeah.

Fulton, I want you to go

to Tommy tennant's office

At the star,

start pumping his secretary,

And find out

everything you can about him

Since he cut

his first tooth.

He's been bumped off.

Franklin, you go with him.

Your job is to find out

where he was

And what he did every minute

of the day until the murder.

Brady and Jones, you're to snoop

around tennant's apartment,

See what you can see.

Now, beat it, all of you.

Wait a minute.

Lewis, cleary, you're to come

with me to Clay dalzell's.

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