What happens
At Ocean City amusement park, Tom Dwyer and his friend Ben Duffy ride the roller coaster, and afterward a man is found dead in a car that was empty when it left the platform. Tom, a private detective, notices that the dead man had been strangled and begins questioning people connected to him, including a young woman named Sheila Kennedy. The series is Suspense, first broadcast on January 6, 1944, and the play stars Alan Ladd. The story follows Tom as he pursues the case, which leads him to a bulletproof automobile exhibit and a rumor about hidden money from an old robbery.
Ocean City amusement park, Ocean City, and nearby Hollywood-era radio stage
Characters: Tom Dwyer, Ben Duffy, Sheila Kennedy, Chief Haines, McGuire, Harry, Professor Richard Elliston Brighton, Ted Martin
Listen for: Pay attention to the clue about the empty last seat on the roller coaster and to how Tom links the dead man to the bulletproof car exhibit.
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.