The Night Stalker Page #3

suggested headline say?

The story makes it clear.

"Vampire Killer In Las Vegas"

- question mark. Do I misread?

The story makes it clear!

Well did I misread? Or did

you use the word "vampire"?

Some screwball who IMAGINES he's a vampire is

loose in Las vegas, and people ought to be told!

If there's a screwball running loose in Las

Vegas, his last name begins with a "K"...

I've already heard about the little

scene you had with the boys downtown.

No vampire stories. CLEAR?!

How about a special featurette

with a border of roses?

An interview with the two

girl victims, in heaven...

...with a celestial

choir in the background?

OUT!

Oh I'm sorry. I guess I fell asleep.

Uh... what were you saying?

Yeah... you do great things

for my masculine ego, ya know?

Well actually, I was saying that Vincenzo

has the news sense of a tree stump...

It's got to be one man. It's got to be.

Big. Strong. Psychotic.

Well you're certainly making me

very glad that I work nights...

Oh well I told you to quit

working nights... didn't I?

Kolchak.

I am forever in your debt, Bloom.

What was that?

The killer's done it again...

Oh no.

Only this time...

...he was seen.

I saw him standing over there.

I thought he was kissing her.

...and then he turned, and...

...she fell down...

over there by the car.

He must have followed her home.

Victim number four:

Mary Brandon

show girl

25, 5 feet 8 inches

tall, 125 luscious pounds

...less the weight of twelve

pints of blood, of course.

Well, it looks like Bela

Lugosi's struck again.

Knock it off. It's her daughter.

Oops.

I'm alright now.

Now the car he drove

away in:
Was it new?

No.

It was a few years old. I

think it was a marroon coupe.

I'll call it in.

- So Barney, may I... uh?

- Yeah. But take it easy.

Sorry, ma'am. Kolchak. The Daily News.

...that was your daughter?

My best contact in Las Vegas has always been Helen O'Brien.

She's the switchboard operator at the County Courthouse.

Hello adorable.

- You're a

sadist! - Mm-hmmn

Oh I could take it back...

Over my dead, plump body.

Listen you magnificent morsel,

The DMV is checking on the suspect's car. Now,

you couldn't help me in that area-could you?

Of course not.

Bribed again.

Kolchak?

Whoah, Bernie.

How'd ya like to see the killer's face?

Sherman Duffy of the Chicago Globe

once described a reporter as follows:

Socially, he fits in somewhere

between a hooker and a bartender.

Spirtually, he stands beside Galileo,

because he knows the world is round.

...not that it does much good, of

course, when his editor knows it's flat.

- Kolchak!

- Shelly Forbes has got to be his 5th victim!

Look at the way her dog was killed.

You never give up, do you?

What do you mean?

I mean this is unacceptable.

- Unaccept-? - Kolchak! I'm

very close to firing you.

...even though the owner of this paper has a soft

spot in his head for has-been big city reporters.

I am tired of your pressure, Kolchak.

I'm tired of the owner's pressure.

I'm tired from the

pressure all around me to

...blow this story up on the one hand,

and keep it under wraps on the other.

I am tired of being

the middle man, Kolchak.

Do you understand that?

CAN you understand that?!

What do you want, Vincenzo?

...a testimonial from Count Dracula?

Out. Get out?

What is this "out,

get out" game we play?

This nut THINKS he's a vampire!

He has killed four, maybe five women.

He has drained every drop of

blood from every one of them.

Now that is NEWS, Vincenzo,

NEWS. And we a NEWS paper!

We are supposed to print

news, not suppress it!

You know darn well why we're

soft-peddling this thing!

NO! Tell me why!

Could it be because

we have been TOLD to?

Kolchak, you are an idiot.

WORSE. You're irresponsible.

All these murders mean

to you is a by-line.

Well what the hell difference

does it matter what it means to me?

The point is that we are suppressing

news. We are witholding information.

Everybody in town knows what's going on.

The Police. The D.A.

The Coroner's Office.

Every reporter on every paper in

Las Vegas knows what's going on.

...the only people who

don't know are the PEOPLE.

At last you got the point, Kolchak.

The people in Las Vegas don't know.

Because the people of Las Vegas'd

come unglued if they did know.

Even more than they're coming

unglued already. Capisce?

Tuesday, May 25th, 7:30PM.

Helen O'Brien had told me that the

DMV'd come up with 16 possibles...

All but one had been eliminated.

...the car owner's name: Martin Luben.

Address on Spring Mountain road.

Name and address both phoney.

Name of salesman who sold car:

Fred Hurley.

So, I sets him a price...

But he don't say nuthin'... he

just stands there... lookin' at me.

Alright. No how'd ya find

out about this, Kolchak?

- Well a little bird told me about it,

but... - You get- KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.

- Yessir...

- Okay

Well, like I said, He just

stands there lookin' at me...

Then he tells me the price is too high.

300 Dollars too high.

...and then he keeps starin' at me, as if

darin' me to tell him the price is $1200.

- Is this the fella?

- Now stop doin' our job for us, Kolchak!

That's already been established.

Yeah, well ya see, I told

him... only he had a moustache.

Moustache? Yeah, well...

did you sell him the car?

Well, I sarted to say no...

But somethin' inside tells me,

"uh-uh, don't mess with this guy"...

I mean, He's a creep. With

them red eyes and that voice?

He's enough to keep a

guy from workin' nights!

All my life I've waited for a

story like this. All my life!

And when it finally comes,

I can't get it printed.

Do you know that the holes

in Mary Brandon's neck...

...were airbrushed out before

they printed the photographs?

Carl... if you keep

going on like this...

...you're gonna get fired again.

Let's see:
How many times has it been?

Uuhhh... twice in Washington,

3 times in New York,

twice in Chicago,

And once... or was it

twice? In Boston.

I'm becoming extinct in my own lifetime.

Homo Newshawkus:
Natural habitat,

a pool of sourmash bourbon.

You know I really oughta

light a candle to Ben Hecht?

Here.

You oughta quit your job you know.

...and you'll support me?

Well, I...

Aw c'mon, honey. I'm serious.

That weirdo's hit 5 girls,

and they were all nightworkers.

Five?

Yeah, five.

Yeah, yeah. A girl named

Shelly Forbes is missing,

...and I'll bet my bottom

dollar she's victim number 5.

Hey, you iron a shirt pretty good there.

Carl.

I've been doing some thinking...

What do you know about vampires?

Well, only that they wear dinner suits

and talk with marbles in their mouth...

Oh will you please be serious!

Watch my natural habitat, darlin'...

Open it.

"Everything You Always Wanted To Know

About Vampires, But Were Afraid To Ask."

No, you're going to look at it.

Come on... Why?

Well what if the

killer's a real vampire?

- Oh honey please...

- Well he's done everything that's in this book...

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