What happens
Archie Gold, a lonely window display man at Greg's department store, talks to his mannequins, especially one he calls Esther after the store's bookkeeper, whom he admires but who has rejected him. When Esther overhears him and laughs, Archie kills her and dresses her corpse in a window display, sleeping on a cozy kitten mattress. The inner sanctum host introduces the story with Lipton tea and the lead actor Carl Swenson, and the original air date is September 25, 1945.
Greg's department store and a rooming house in a city, 1940s
Characters: Archie Gold, Esther Newman, Mr. Greg, Frank, Mr. Hughes
Listen for: Archie's conversations with his mannequins, and the moment Esther overhears him at the store.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.