What happens
Captain Phil Carney of the Scarlet Queen, a ship bound for an unknown destination, learns that his first officer, David Malone, has been found dead in a San Francisco hotel. Police Homicide Detective Castle questions Carney about Malone and about a fifty-thousand-dollar letter of credit deposited in Carney's name. Carney insists he knows nothing beyond seeing Malone that afternoon near the pier. A seaman named Gallagher offers to sign on and claims to have information about Malone's death. Carney follows a match folder to a North Beach bar where a woman named Helen Kern plays the organ, and his investigation leads him to a hotel room and a confrontation. This is the story so far.
San Francisco, California, in 1947, including the Embarcadero, North Beach, the Crown Hotel, the Gorgonia bar, and an apartment at the Bula Arms on Russian Hill.
Characters: Phil Carney, Castle, David Malone, Gallagher, Fontenstain, Helen Kern, Pritchard, Kang
Listen for: Listen for Castle's questioning of Carney about Malone, the letter of credit, and Gallagher's claim about Mr. Fox.
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.