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.