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Ellery: (Chuckling) Bored, Nikki?

Nikki: Well... Ordinarily I wouldn’t mind sitting in a parked car with you on a dark street in East Flatbush, waiting for goodness knows what, if you’d only pay a little attention to me.

Ellery: (Chuckling) I can’t pay attention to you and Mr. Mouse’s East Flatbush dwelling at one and the same time, Nikki.

Nikki: Don’t I know it! But why are we watching it, Ellery?

Ellery: I don’t exactly know. Sam Buckley, the sports writer and commentator, phoned and begged me to pinch-hit for him tonight until he could get here. He’s late.

Nikki: You’ve got more begging friends... (Darkly.) The Mouse! Any relation to Mickey?

Ellery: (Grimly) From what Sam Buckley said... I think not. (A car is heard roaring up, and a screech of brakes.) This must be Buckley now. (A car door opens in the street.) Sam?

Buckley: (From the street) Knew I could count on you, Ellery! Open this door and let me into your car. (Buckley gets in. He is startled by Nikki.) Who’s this—?

Nikki: Don’t faint, Mr. Buckley. It’s only me.

Buckley: Whew! (Tensely) Ellery, you’ve been watching Mousie’s house across the street all evening?

Ellery: Faithfully, Sam.

Nikki: And can Mr. Queen watch! The original Argus.

Buckley: (Eagerly) Mousie have any visitors?

Ellery: A grand total of four, Sam.

Buckley: Four! Was Johnnie Kilgore one of ’em? You know Johnnie — knocked out Rocky Logan in jig-time the other night?

Nikki: What a man. Those muscles... Simply Tarzan.

Ellery: Kilgore was the first visitor, Sam.

Buckley: (Groaning) I told Johnnie not to come here tonight!

Ellery: What’s this all about, Sam?

Buckley: Mousie’s a small-time Broadway hanger-on, cheap gambler, tin sport. Kilgore got into trouble as a kid a few years ago. Mousie got wise, and he’s been shaking the poor kid down. Johnnie appealed to me to help him.

Ellery: And does this prize-fighter merit your help, Sam?

Buckley: Yes, Ellery. Johnnie Kilgore’s shooting straight now, and he’s worked hard in the fight racket. He deserves a break.

Nikki: Then Mr. Queen won’t be able to resist — not Mr. Queen!

Buckley: Here’s my plan, Ellery. Mousie’s yellow. You’ve got a rep in this town. I want you to put the fear of God into that blackmailing rodent!

Ellery: Sounds like a delightful assignment. But why has Mousie been having other visitors, Sam? I recognized two besides Kilgore — the jockey, Peewee Robbin, and Slats Mayo, the baseball pitcher.

Nikki: And I recognized Mr. Mouse’s fourth visitor tonight, Mr. Buckley — it was Dotty Dale.

Buckley: Dot Dale! The swimming and diving champ?

Nikki: The gal they call the greatest woman sports star since Helen Wills and Sonja Henie.

Buckley: (Softly) So Dotty’s caught by the Mouse, too. I wonder what he’s got on her.

Ellery: She arrived a few minutes ago, Sam. She’s still inside the house.

Nikki: Sh! There’s Dotty Dale now! Just coming out!

Ellery: Miss Dale’s in a great hurry, isn’t she? (The woman athlete gets into her car and races off.) Coast is clear! (They get out of Ellery’s car and begin to cross the street.)

Buckley: (Grimly) They must have all come here tonight to pay Mousie off. You’ll have to talk to that rat like the Pied Piper, Ellery.

Ellery: Nikki. Better go back to my car, and wait for us.

Buckley: There’s no telling what a cornered rat will do.

Nikki: With two great big he-men to protect me? Not on your life! (They reach the house.) Front door’s ajar. (Ellery pushes the door, and they enter.)

Ellery: Miss Dale didn’t close it. And it’s dark in here.

Buckley: (Calling) Mousie! Mousie? (Pause.) Mousie! (Pause.) Funny...

Nikki: (Nervously) What’s funny, Mr. Buckley?

Buckley: Ought to be a light-switch in the hall here somewhere... Here it is. (Click.) What the—!

Ellery: Lights don’t work! Fuse blown.

Nikki: Isn’t that a dim light down there? — I suppose it’s at the other end of this hall.

Ellery: It’s flickering... must be a candle in a room at that end of the hallway. Nikki, stay here at the front door. Don’t move! (Nikki: “I won’t!”) Come on, Sam. (Buckley and Ellery stumble along in the dark.)

Buckley: Confound this black hole. (He gasps.) Ellery! What’s that on the floor? — lying across the threshold? (He cries out.) It’s Mousie!

Nikki: (From the hall.) What’s the matter there?

Buckley: (Calling) Stay there, Miss Porter! Where you are!

Ellery: Stabbed in the chest... ugh... what a mess...

Buckley: Is he... Ellery, is he...

Ellery: Buckley, get to a phone and call my father at Police Headquarters. This man’s been murdered!

Scene 8: Mousie’s House

(There is a great hubbub of detectives.)

Velie: Qui-et! (Hubbub continues.) Silence, you mutts! (It grows quiet.) Homicide Squad! More like ol’ women. Go ahead, Inspector.

Inspector: So you and Nikki saw this man they called the Mouse, or Mousie, come home alone. (Ellery and Nikki agree.) During the course of the evening you spotted four visitors — Johnnie Kilgore, the fighter; Peewee Robbin, the jockey; Slats Mayo, the ballplayer; and Dotty Dale, the woman swimmer, in just that order? (Ellery and Nikki agree) Each one stayed just a few minutes — right? Now let’s get the physical set-up. Velie, how about the windows?

Velie: All locked on the inside, Inspector, includin’ cellar an’ attic. No signs of tampering.

Inspector: Doors?

Velie: Ditto on the doors, exceptin’ the front one.

Ellery: And Nikki and I had the front door under constant observation from the time Mousie entered this house alive, dad, until we entered it to find him dead.