What happens
Lydia Haskell orders a bronze casket for herself and tells the undertaker it is for her, to be held for three weeks. Her fragile, unstable sister Ellie lives with her in a large house on the edge of town, and the two women's bitter history and shared secrets come to the surface. A policeman calls at the house to ask why a woman would buy her own casket, and his questions unsettle them both. Suspense, broadcast in 1944, presents the sisters' tale with Ida Lupino as Lydia and Agnes Moorehead as Ellie. The episode is sponsored by Roma Wine.
A three-story frame house on the outskirts of a small town, and a local undertaker's showroom.
Characters: Lydia Haskell, Ellie, Undertaker, Policeman
Listen for: The stairwell scene in which Lydia coaxes Ellie to look down it, and the closing exchange between Lydia and the policeman.
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.