Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - The LaMarr Matter - Ep 5
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Speaker 1: From Hollywood, it's time now for.
Speaker 2: Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 3: This is Larry Comstock, Johnny, at Tri-Mutual Insurance. You're out
at the Lamar home.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Larry.
Speaker 2: Police crime lab find out anything more about the stuff
from here they took in for examination?
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: Yes, they certainly did.
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 3: They found traces of that poison, pyrodameron, on the toothbrush
that Thomas Lamar was using just before he died.
Speaker 2: On the tooth... Are you kidding?
Speaker 4: Oh, no.
Speaker 5: No, indeed, John.
Speaker 1: Not a bit.
Speaker 2: There's a murder weapon for you. A toothbrush.
Speaker 1: A toothbrush?
Speaker 2: Larry, send the cops out here. I think I've just
about got this case sewed up.
Speaker 1: Tonight and every weekday night, Bob Bailey and the transcribed
adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account, America's
fabulous freelance insurance investigator.
Speaker 2: Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by Special Investigator
Johnny Dollar, location South Bend, Indiana, to the Universal Adjustment Bureau, Hartford, Connecticut.
The following is my final entry of expenses incurred during
investigation of the Lamar murder, and murder it most certainly was.
It was in La Jolla, California, during my so-called vacation...
that I met and, I must admit, kind of fell
for Vonnie Lamar. It was from La Jolla that I
flew her back to South Bend, Indiana, when we both
received news of her foster father's sudden death. All the
clues I'd been able to dig up seemed to point
to one Walter Marson, who had been Lamar's personal secretary
and who lived at the Lamar mansion. At his room
there in the house, I found the one book in
the world that described the poison, pyridamarin, that had killed
Thomas Rene Lamar. Poison derived from a pretty little yellow
flower once raised on an island near Greece. A flower
with sudden death in its pollen.
Speaker 4: Huh? You're Johnny Dollar, aren't you? Harrison the butler said
you were up here.
Speaker 2: And you must be Walter Marston.
Speaker 4: What, uh, what are you doing in my room?
Speaker 2: Let me ask the questions, Marston. Now, just a minute. Look, mister,
you may as well know it. I'm an insurance investigator.
Speaker 4: So Harrison said, but I don't believe it.
Speaker 2: Right here, my credentials.
Speaker 4: Uh-huh.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 4: I see, but I thought.
Speaker 2: You thought I was just a boyfriend that Vonnie Lamar
met in La Jolla and who just came back here
with her to comfort her over the loss of her father.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, that's right.
Speaker 2: Well, you were wrong, mister, or partly so. The main
reason I'm here is to find out who murdered Thomas
Lamar and why. And I think I found out.
Speaker 4: You have? Well, who, Mr.
Speaker 6: Dollar?
Speaker 2: Interesting book you've been reading here. Flora Exotica Mediterranea. Stolen
from the Central Library over in Chicago.
Speaker 7: Wasn't it?
Speaker 4: Well, yes... Yes, it was.
Speaker 2: Found a poison in it, didn't you, Marston? Pyridamarin. Deadly, quick,
and hard to trace. So rare that the chances were
pretty good it wouldn't even be recognized. But it was.
Where'd you get it, Walter?
Speaker 4: As you said, at the library.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the poison, the pyridamarin that killed Thomas Lamar.
Speaker 4: Oh, no, no, no.
Speaker 7: You're all wrong.
Speaker 2: Am I? Who besides Vonnie would benefit from the million
and a half insurance on Lamar's life?
Speaker 4: Well, what made you think that I'd be the one?
Speaker 2: I know you would, because I know you're married to Vonnie... No.
You tried to invigorate your way into Lamar's business, but
he wouldn't have it. All your chiseling and conniving and
phony stock transactions got you nowhere. So you did the
next thing you could think of. You got something on
Vonnie and forced her to marry you. So you thought
you'd at least be sure of a big hunk of
the insurance money over my dead body. Oh, no, look, Dollar,
maybe I was married to Vonnie, but... Sure, found out
about her big gambling debts, got her off the hook
by some fancy manipulation of her foster father's investments. No
doubt threatened to tell him all about it unless she
did marry you. and thereby guaranteed yourself a prosperous future. Oh,
and you timed the whole thing beautifully when she was
emotionally upset over the death of Mrs.
Speaker 4: Lamar.
Speaker 2: No, Dolly, you don't know what you're talking about. Couldn't
wait for him to die a natural death.
Speaker 4: Dolly.
Speaker 7: Mr.
Speaker 4: Dolly.
Speaker 2: Sure, go ahead, speak up and make it good.
Speaker 4: Well, I, uh, I was married to Vonnie. But I'm
not now. Sure. That's right.
Speaker 6: I did want a place in Lamar Metal Products, and I...
I thought I could get it by showing Mr. Lamar
how clever I was. Well, instead of throwing me out,
he gave me another chance. I'll be forever grateful to him.
It was a turning point.
Speaker 4: In my life.
Speaker 6: I give you my word, Mr. Dollar, I've done nothing
since that time that's been anything but completely honest and
above board.
Speaker 2: Pretty speech.
Speaker 4: No, no, it's true. It's true, I swear it.
Speaker 2: Nevertheless, you married Vonnie in the hope that... We're divorced!
Speaker 4: You're what? That was the only honorable thing I could do.
Speaker 6: Would you like to see the final papers? Vonnie mailed
them to me from Reno before she went to La Jolla.
Speaker 2: You mean she... Yeah, let me see them.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 1: My desk.
Speaker 2: Don't try to pull a gun out of there, Marston.
Speaker 5: You.
Speaker 4: still don't believe me, do you? Here they are. Hmm.
Speaker 5: Hmm.
Speaker 2: Then would you like to tell me who did murder
Thomas Lamar?
Speaker 4: I wish to heaven I knew.
Speaker 6: That's why I got this book, hoping to find some
clue as to where the pirate Dameron might have come from.
Speaker 2: But you sneaked this book out of the library.
Speaker 4: Because I was afraid of the very kind of suspicion
that you've shown.
Speaker 2: Want to know something? I'm still showing it.
Speaker 4: And I tell you you're wrong. Ask Vonnie. She'll tell you.
Speaker 2: Where is she? Harrison said you two had gone out
together to make arrangements for the funeral.
Speaker 6: Yes, we did, and we came back together. But when
Harrison told her that you were here to see her, she... Well,
she said she'd be back in a few minutes.
Speaker 2: Where did she go?
Speaker 4: Oh, she's still in the house somewhere, I think.
Speaker 2: Marston, just what is your relationship with Vonnie now?
Speaker 6: Well, there never was any love between us. Our marriage
was only on paper.
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: The foster daughter of the man to whom I owe
so much. It's my duty to do what I can
for her.
Speaker 4: In spite of her.
Speaker 2: Whatever what?
Speaker 4: Oh, even to the end, we kept from him any
knowledge of her dissipations. Drinking and gambling.
Speaker 2: I thought that was all over.
Speaker 7: Oh, no.
Speaker 6: She's more deeply in debt now than she's ever been.
I'm thankful Mr. Lamar died without going.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll be.
Speaker 4: But with the insurance, of course, you'll be able to
pay off some.
Speaker 2: Marston, you're a dirty rat, and your accusation isn't very well-fabled.
Speaker 4: Are you trying to say that I'm accusing Vonnie of the... Murder.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 6: Mr.
Speaker 4: Dollar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, go on.
Speaker 4: This book.
Speaker 6: According to this, the plant from which Pyrodameron is derived
is now extinct.
Speaker 2: Unless somebody, somewhere, managed to salvage some seeds that were
then planted.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 6: Ruffera purpuris calendus, found only on a small Grecian island.
Speaker 4: I wonder if Dimitri would know about it.
Speaker 2: Dimitri? What's this sudden switch? Who's Dimitri?
Speaker 4: He's the old gardener. He's here on the estate.
Speaker 2: Come on, Marcin, and bring that book. Before going out
to the gardener's cottage, I asked Harrison where Vonnie had gone,
and he told us he only knew that she was
somewhere in the grounds, that her car was still in
the driveway. I phoned Larry Comstock again, but he'd left
his office, presumably to come out here. And I called
the man I'd talked to earlier at the library. Of
course I can.
Speaker 5: As I told you before, I keep a very close
check on the books in that section. Let me see now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: Yes, Flora Exotica Mediterranean has only been out four or
five times in the past several years. Once to a Mr. Thomas.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Thomas Hanley.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 5: To a Mr. Ralph Cummings, Miss LaVonne Lamar, and.
Speaker 2: That's enough.
Speaker 7: Thanks.
Speaker 2: I tried not to show Marston how I felt as
we walked out to the cottage of Dimitri, the old gardener.
Speaker 7: Could be nothing too nice for Mr. Lamar. So I
always try to keep things nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can see.
Speaker 4: Dimitri, Mr.
Speaker 6: Dollar's here to investigate the circumstances of Mr.
Speaker 4: Lamar's death. Investigate?
Speaker 7: Oh, yes. I hope you find who do this terrible
thing to.
Speaker 4: Such a fine.
Speaker 2: Well, I want you to look at this book.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 2: Did you ever see a flower like that?
Speaker 4: Oh, yes. Yes?
Speaker 5: Where?
Speaker 7: In old country. In Greece it used to be, but
no more.
Speaker 2: You never saw it in this country?
Speaker 4: No, yes. Well, which is it?
Speaker 7: I should not say, because in old country is against
the law. I don't know why.
Speaker 4: Well, I do.
Speaker 2: Go on, Dimitri.
Speaker 7: But I keep many of my nice seeds anywhere.
Speaker 2: And some of them were for this flower?
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 5: Yes.
Speaker 7: You don't mind? It is very pretty flower.
Speaker 2: Did you ever plant any of them?
Speaker 7: Oh, no, no, not I.
Speaker 2: Somebody else?
Speaker 7: She was always so nice to me.
Speaker 5: Bonnie?
Speaker 2: Miss Lamar?
Speaker 7: Look, sir. She even sent me gift on her trip
last week.
Speaker 2: It's a meat tree.
Speaker 7: Look, look. You call it toilet case. See? It have
soap and toothbrush and comb.
Speaker 4: Dollar. Dollar. Dollar, look, look, that toothbrush.
Speaker 2: I am looking. The yellow stain on the bristles, the
same color as the flower on this deadly plant.
Speaker 7: So, so pretty.
Speaker 4: She sent her father one of these, too. Oh, Dollar,
I'm sick.
Speaker 7: You sick, poor man?
Speaker 2: So crude, so corny, and so obvious it would never
be noticed. And she was safely a couple of thousand
miles away beyond any possible suspicion when the... Dimitri, did
she plant any of these seeds you gave her?
Speaker 7: She often plant many kinds.
Speaker 5: Where?
Speaker 2: Show us.
Speaker 7: In the morning, maybe. It's getting pretty dark now.
Speaker 4: Now, now, now.
Speaker 2: Come on. Come on, Marston.
Speaker 7: You must not tell her I show you. She always
keep her little garden secret. She not even think I know.
She very sweet girl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very. But now... Oh, wait.
Speaker 7: She there now, cultivating.
Speaker 4: Cultivating?
Speaker 2: With a shovel? Dimitri, go back to your cottage and
stay there.
Speaker 7: Oh, you won't.
Speaker 2: Come on, Marston.
Speaker 4: She's... she's digging.
Speaker 5: Digging.
Speaker 2: And I think I know why.
Speaker 4: She sees us.
Speaker 3: Go back.
Speaker 6: Go away, both of you.
Speaker 2: Stay here. I want to talk to you, Vonnie. What
are you doing?
Speaker 5: What I'm doing is... I....
Speaker 7: I'm burying the little garden that was mine for Daddy.
Speaker 6: Little personal things, Johnny, that I grew with my own
hands for him alone.
Speaker 2: Now that he's gone, this would be only one more
bit of memory. Please, leave me, Johnny, to finish. Wait, Bonnie.
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 2: Before you turn under that little yellow flower. Here, I'll
show you. No, Johnny, don't touch it.
Speaker 4: Here. Here.
Speaker 2: Source of a poison called pyridamarin.
Speaker 1: How did you know? Here, look.
Speaker 4: Oh, no, you don't. I'll kill you, too. I'll kill you.
Speaker 6: Oh, no, Bonnie, no.
Speaker 4: Oh, Walter.
Speaker 7: Walter, help me.
Speaker 5: Help you, help you.
Speaker 1: Johnny was in love with me, but I turned him down,
and he came out here.
Speaker 2: Oh, good, Bonnie.
Speaker 4: I hate you.
Speaker 6: I hate you both.
Speaker 1: Everything would have been all right if you hadn't come along.
Speaker 4: I hate you.
Speaker 6: Listen, Johnny, a million dollars, a million and a half.
Speaker 2: You and I could.
Speaker 7: No, Johnny, please don't!
Speaker 5: Please!
Speaker 2: Believe me, this is one case I wish I'd never seen.
For sure, you, the company, are all right. You won't
have to pay off a million and a half in insurance.
Your gain. But me, I've lost something.
Speaker 4: Faith.
Speaker 2: Faith in.
I'm sick over the whole thing. Expense account, I'll add.
Speaker 4: That up later.
Speaker 2: Right now, I'm going out and get roaring.
Get some flowers. Some clean flowers. And just sit and
look at them. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 1: Now here's our star to tell you about next week's
exciting story.
Speaker 2: Next week, tell me, did you ever wake up from
a pleasant dream to find a smoking gun in your
hand and two bodies at your feet? Well, I have.
Join us next week, and I'll tell you about it.
Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 1: Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey, is transcribed in Hollywood.
It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone, who also
wrote this week's story. Heard in the cast were Virginia Gregg,
Lawrence Dobkin, Harry Bartell, Eric Snowden, Howard McNair, John Daner,
Gene Tatum, Joseph Kearns, Paul Richards, and Jack Moyles. Musical
supervision by Amerigo Moreno. Be sure to join us on
Monday night, same time and station, for another exciting story
of yours truly, Johnny Dollar, Roy Rowan speaking. © BF-WATCH
TV 2021.
Speaker 4: THE END
Speaker 5: THE END