Suicide To Murder Part One - A Sydney Chase Mystery

0:00 Speaker 1: If you are enjoying these shows, let us know by hitting that like button and subscribe to the channel. And if you have a comment, feel free to leave one of those as well, if you dare. When you sleep, you enter into another world. Beyond that world lies the doorway to nightmare. Nightmare. Come in. Welcome. I'm your host through the doorway to nightmare. While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes, It was Poe who created the deductive reasoning of a private detective. Although Poe was not as prolific as the royal, his armchair detective was no match.

1:20 Speaker 2: There has to be some kind of a connection.

1:23 Speaker 3: Did you ever stop to think that maybe we're dealing with an ordinary run-of-the-mill psychopath?

1:30 Speaker 2: You better hope not, Ferraro.

1:32 Speaker 3: He's bound to slip up sometime. And when he does, I'll be there to catch him.

1:38 Speaker 2: I wouldn't count on it.

1:43 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, The Casebook of Sidney Chase, was written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and Crimson McKenzie and stars Crimson McKenzie and Winslow Swan. It is sponsored in part by Swanage Press. I'll be back shortly. with Act One. The world of detective fiction is rather broad and has been around for many years. From the logical, deductive reasoning of Holmes to the hard-boiled Mike Hammer Private detectives come in all shapes, sizes, and even sexes.

2:41 Speaker 4: Yes, I'm Dr. Alexander McDougal, friend and confidant of Sidney Chase. And yes, I know why you have sought me out. You wish to hear the true facts of the case. Well, you've definitely come to the right person.

2:59 Speaker 1: You see....

3:02 Speaker 4: I was there the entire way, so I can give you the honest truth. Of course, you probably already know Sidney Chase, a brilliant detective who left the police force after her husband passed away. I was his doctor, you see, and became friends with the both of them. When she decided to enter the private sector, I told her that I thought it might actually do her a world of good. As for the case that you are referring to, well, it was our usual Wednesday chess game, and I went to her apartment.

3:46 Speaker 2: You're a little late, Alex.

3:48 Speaker 4: Oh, I had to stop and see a patient on my way here. Wait a minute. How did you know I was coming?

3:55 Speaker 2: It's quite obvious, Alex. I notice the scuff marks on your shoes and the small nick on your cheek where you cut yourself shaving. I also can see a small smudge of yellow, which appears to be egg that you spit on your jacket. In a hurry?

4:09 Speaker 4: But how in the world does that tell you I was coming here?

4:14 Speaker 2: Elementary, my dear Alex. It's Wednesday. You always come here on Wednesday to play chess.

4:20 Speaker 4: Oh, I'm sorry. I... I guess I forgot what day it was. Only momentarily.

4:28 Speaker 2: It's okay, Alex. Even I have lapses of memory sometimes. So, how is the patient?

4:34 Speaker 1: What patient?

4:35 Speaker 2: The one you saw before coming here? Remember? Nothing serious, I hope.

4:40 Speaker 1: Oh, yes.

4:41 Speaker 4: No, just changing a bandage.

4:44 Speaker 2: Well, come in.

4:46 Speaker 4: Well, any interesting cases come up?

4:50 Speaker 2: You mean besides the lost dogs and purloined jewelry that fell behind a dresser and was eventually found? No, nothing yet. I'm beginning to wonder if I ever should have became a private detective.

5:01 Speaker 4: I'm sure that something will turn up that will pique your interest. Besides, you've only had your license for three months. You can't expect cases to fall out of the sky.

5:14 Speaker 2: It would be nice if one were to knock at the door, at least. Would you get the door while I fix us something to drink? Your usual?

5:24 Speaker 4: Oh, yes. That's fine.

5:31 Speaker 3: Mr.

5:31 Speaker 5: Sidney Chase?

5:33 Speaker 4: No, I'm afraid not. But Sidney is here. Won't you come in? Sidney, I believe that you have a client.

5:43 Speaker 2: Hello. What can I do for you?

5:45 Speaker 1: I'm sorry.

5:47 Speaker 5: You're Sidney Chase, right?

5:49 Speaker 2: Well, well, I.

5:51 Speaker 5: Why don't.

5:53 Speaker 2: You have a seat and tell me why you are here?

5:56 Speaker 4: Would you care for a drink? No, no, I.

5:59 Speaker 2: Why don't we start with your name? My what? Your name?

6:05 Speaker 5: Oh, my name is Charles Sheffield. Charlie, for short.

6:11 Speaker 2: Okay, Charlie. What can I do for you?

6:14 Speaker 5: Well, I'm not sure.

6:17 Speaker 3: You see.

6:18 Speaker 5: The police have already closed the case.

6:21 Speaker 2: What case is that?

6:22 Speaker 4: Donnie.

6:23 Speaker 5: Donnie Appleton. You see, he's dead.

6:26 Speaker 2: Then there really isn't a case.

6:29 Speaker 5: No, you don't understand. I'm sorry. I guess I'm not making myself very clear.

6:35 Speaker 4: Why don't you start by telling us who Donnie Appleton is?

6:41 Speaker 2: Oh, forgive me. This is my friend, Dr. Alexander McDougal.

6:45 Speaker 4: Oh, Sidney, please. It's McDougal, if you don't mind.

6:50 Speaker 2: Believe me, you can get more medical help from Google than the good doctor here.

6:55 Speaker 1: Oh, really?

6:57 Speaker 2: I'm just teasing, Alex. Please, Mr. Sheffield, continue.

7:01 Speaker 5: Donnie was my neighbor in the apartment building over on Stanfield. He moved in about six months ago, and we met in the elevator. We found out that we both had similar interests, and we became friends.

7:15 Speaker 4: Well, what did Donnie do for a living?

7:17 Speaker 5: He was a cartoonist. Satire, mostly. Along the lines of The Far Side or Mad Magazine. Pretty funny stuff, too.

7:25 Speaker 2: Did he make a good living doing that?

7:27 Speaker 5: Well, that's just it. He was about to.

7:31 Speaker 2: What do you mean?

7:32 Speaker 5: He had just signed with a publishing firm who had gotten him a deal with a national newspaper chain. His cartoon was to premiere next week in the Sunday edition of about a hundred papers, with more signing on. He even showed me the advance check for ten thousand dollars that he had received.

7:51 Speaker 4: Quite an impressive sum of money for drawing cartoons.

7:55 Speaker 5: That's what I had said. So it came as quite a shock when the police determined that he had committed suicide.

8:01 Speaker 2: Suicide? Was he having some problems with other areas of his life?

8:06 Speaker 5: Not that I'm aware of. Both of his parents had passed away, and he had no other family. He dated, but only sporadically, and never the same girl twice. He said that he was waiting for someone special to come along.

8:21 Speaker 4: Were there perhaps some other financial problems that he talked about?

8:26 Speaker 5: Well, if there were, he never discussed them with me.

8:29 Speaker 2: So, what would you like for me to do?

8:32 Speaker 5: I don't think that it was suicide. I think that he was murdered.

8:36 Speaker 3: Aww.

8:37 Speaker 2: Do you remember who the lead detective was on the case?

8:40 Speaker 5: Uh, someone named, uh, Anthony something.

8:44 Speaker 2: Anthony something? It wouldn't have to be Anthony Ferraro, would it?

8:51 Speaker 5: Yes, that was it.

8:52 Speaker 2: Then it doesn't surprise me that he concluded it to be a suicide. By the way, how did your friend die?

8:59 Speaker 4: I found him.

9:00 Speaker 5: Hanging from the chandelier in his apartment. We were supposed to go to the ball game that evening. When I knocked on the door, it opened and I saw him.

9:09 Speaker 2: So it possibly could have been suicide.

9:12 Speaker 5: I still think it was murder.

9:17 Speaker 4: So, Sydney, what now?

9:21 Speaker 2: Oh, I'm definitely gonna look into it. Especially since old Ferrari closed the case.

9:29 Speaker 4: Oh, you don't think that Ferrero will mind?

9:32 Speaker 2: Of course he will. Which makes it all the more fun.

9:37 Speaker 4: Why do you call him Ferrari anyway?

9:42 Speaker 2: Because he jumps to a conclusion faster than a Ferrari goes from zero to sixty.

9:52 Speaker 1: Making a conclusion based on facts is the job of the detective on any case. However, sometimes... the facts can be misleading. I'll be back with Act 2. Act 2

10:21 Speaker 1: Sydney Chase, former detective for the police department and now a private detective, has taken on a case of an apparent suicide. She is currently entering her former workplace to discuss the case with Lieutenant Anthony Ferreiro.

10:40 Speaker 2: Hiya, Tony. Mind if I come in?

10:43 Speaker 1: Well, well, well.

10:46 Speaker 3: If it isn't the gum shoe. What brings you around? Wait, don't tell me. You have a case of homesickness, and you want your badge back.

10:54 Speaker 2: Not quite, Ferrari.

10:56 Speaker 3: That's Ferraro.

10:58 Speaker 2: Whatever.

10:58 Speaker 3: Look, Sidney, I know that we didn't exactly get along.

11:02 Speaker 2: Get along? Get along? You hated working with me. When the captain gave me the lead on the Mason homicide, you practically had kittens.

11:13 Speaker 3: Come on, Sidney. We solved the case, didn't we?

11:17 Speaker 2: After you had arrested the wrong man who had an airtight alibi.

11:21 Speaker 3: So I made a mistake. Sue me.

11:24 Speaker 2: The family almost did. Had it not been for me finding the real killer... Get out of my office! But that's water over the dam. I'm private now and won't get in your way anymore.

11:37 Speaker 3: Why do I think there's a but in that statement?

11:40 Speaker 2: What can you tell me about Donnie Appleton?

11:42 Speaker 3: That case is closed. I closed it myself. It was clearly a suicide. End of story.

11:48 Speaker 2: Then you won't mind me looking at the case file?

11:51 Speaker 3: Help yourself. You know where records is located. I'll even call down and have them pull it for you.

12:00 Speaker 4: Well, I know it isn't Wednesday. And here you have called me over. What was the big emergency?

12:08 Speaker 2: Look at this photo, Alex.

12:10 Speaker 4: Sydney, are these crime scene photos?

12:15 Speaker 2: Yes, they are.

12:16 Speaker 4: How were you able to get them out of the precinct station?

12:19 Speaker 2: The keeper of the files owed me a favor.

12:22 Speaker 4: Dare I ask?

12:23 Speaker 2: I kept his brother out of jail.

12:25 Speaker 4: Never mind, never mind. Now, what am I supposed to be looking at? Oh, come on, Alex.

12:30 Speaker 2: That would take all the fun out if I simply told you.

12:32 Speaker 4: I'm not very comfortable looking at a A hanging man?

12:39 Speaker 2: You used to be a coroner. How does that bother you?

12:43 Speaker 4: I saw them on a table as I was about to perform an autopsy. I didn't go and get them.

12:49 Speaker 2: Pretend he's on a table, then. Besides, it's not the body that you should be looking at.

12:55 Speaker 4: I'm still not quite sure... Wait a minute!

12:59 Speaker 2: Do you see it now?

13:01 Speaker 4: I think so.

13:02 Speaker 2: Tell me what you see.

13:03 Speaker 4: Well, it's what I don't see that has me confused.

13:06 Speaker 2: Exactly!

13:08 Speaker 4: Have you talked to Ferraro about this? Not yet.

13:11 Speaker 2: I have to get this file back to my friend in records in the morning. Then I will talk to Tony Ferrari.

13:18 Speaker 4: Oh, he's not going to like this.

13:20 Speaker 2: So what else is new? Oh!

13:30 Speaker 3: Well, Miss Chase, fancy seeing you again. Looking for the crown jewels?

13:36 Speaker 4: No.

13:37 Speaker 2: Just a side of spotted dick. I believe I just found it. Mmm, yummy. All jokes aside, I have some rather distressing news for you.

13:48 Speaker 1: No!

13:49 Speaker 3: They didn't give you your badge back, did they? Worse.

13:53 Speaker 2: You're going to have to reopen a case. The Donnie Appleton case, to be precise.

13:59 Speaker 1: Yes.

13:59 Speaker 3: I told you, Chase, that case was closed.

14:01 Speaker 2: I thought you told me to close my mouth.

14:03 Speaker 3: Ruled a suicide. I warned you that if you got in my way.

14:08 Speaker 2: If you had bothered to do just a little detective work, you would have seen that it is murder. Here, look at the crime scene photo.

14:17 Speaker 3: I've seen it. I was there.

14:19 Speaker 2: Look harder.

14:20 Speaker 3: I don't have to.

14:22 Speaker 2: Where's the chair?

14:23 Speaker 1: What chair?

14:24 Speaker 2: How do you think he got his neck in the rope? Usually when someone hangs themselves, they tend to use a chair or box to stand on. Where's the chair? He's just dangling from the rope. At least three foot above the floor. Did his ghost put the chair back at the table? Ooh, maybe the cleaning woman came in, completely ignored the dead body swaying by the chandelier, picked up the chair, put it back in place, and straightened up before she left.

14:48 Speaker 3: All right, you made your point. So what do you suggest I do about it?

14:53 Speaker 2: It's murder, Ferrari! Cold, calculated murder!

14:58 Speaker 3: Stop shouting!

14:59 Speaker 2: It's the only way to talk to you. Of course, the case is at least a week old, so there goes your suspects. If you even had any.

15:07 Speaker 3: Chase, get out of my office. I'll reopen the case, but you lay off.

15:19 Speaker 1: First Suicide First Suicide Now murder? Sidney Chase smiles as she leaves the lieutenant's office. Her brain is working hard as the thought of having an actual murder case intrigues her. You be intrigued as well as I return with Act 3 shortly. Private Detective Sidney Chase has been hired by Charles Sheffield to look into the death of his friend, Donnie Appleton. Suicide has now become murder.

16:11 Speaker 4: Well, Sidney, how are you planning to start your investigation?

16:15 Speaker 2: Well, I proved that it was murder. I talked with Charlie and he gave me a very short list of names of people that may or may not have known Donnie. So... What.

16:27 Speaker 4: Sort of motive would someone have for killing him and making it look like a suicide?

16:33 Speaker 2: That, dear Alex, is the million dollar question. With no family and no heirs to an estate, there really isn't a motive.

16:42 Speaker 4: Well, from what Charlie told us, he seemed to be a pretty easygoing man. You don't think that someone had it in for him.

16:50 Speaker 1: Do you?

16:51 Speaker 2: For what purpose? I could understand if he had a partner in this cartoon business, but he didn't.

16:57 Speaker 4: Are we sure about that? Charlie couldn't have known everything about the man. He had just met him six months ago.

17:06 Speaker 2: You're right about that.

17:07 Speaker 4: Maybe Charlie is the killer.

17:10 Speaker 2: Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Charlie would not have benefited from Donnie's death.

17:15 Speaker 4: That we know of.

17:18 Speaker 2: Besides, I checked on my client. He isn't hurting for money at all. He bought his apartment outright three years ago. His credit's good and all of his bills are paid up. So what would have been his motive?

17:32 Speaker 4: Now I suppose you're right. So where does that leave us?

17:37 Speaker 2: Right smack dab on square one and nothing. Sidney Chase?

17:51 Speaker 3: Sidney, meet me at 74 Parkside Road, apartment 4C.

17:56 Speaker 2: A date? Why, Tony, are you sweet on me?

18:01 Speaker 1: Dammit, Sidney.

18:03 Speaker 3: No, it's not a date.

18:04 Speaker 2: Then why should I come to 74 Parkside Road?

18:07 Speaker 3: Look, Chase, I'm tired. Very tired. I took what you gave me on that Appleton case upstairs, and it was reopened.

18:15 Speaker 2: Well, that's one way to apologize.

18:19 Speaker 3: I'm not apologizing. Just get your ass down here.

18:22 Speaker 2: Again? Why should I?

18:24 Speaker 3: Because we've got another apparent suicide. Hanging victim. And no chair close by. Is that enough of a reason for you?

18:34 Speaker 3: Just make sure you get plenty of pictures. And I want the lab people in here pronto.

18:38 Speaker 2: Alright, Tony.

18:40 Speaker 3: Oh, you made it. And who is this?

18:43 Speaker 4: I'm Alex McDougal.

18:45 Speaker 2: He's my associate. I see you already cut the body down.

18:48 Speaker 3: Medical examiner hasn't arrived yet.

18:50 Speaker 2: Why don't you let Alex take a look? He is a doctor.

18:54 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah?

18:55 Speaker 4: Well, Doc, take a look. Well, it's been a while, but I will try. Okay, we have a white male, about 30. Contusion around the neck from what looks like a rope burn. Wait a minute... Lieutenant, this man was definitely murdered. Look here, where the rope burn is. You can see a second ligature mark across the neck. That is mechanical strangulation. This man was strangled first before he was hanged.

19:35 Speaker 3: Are you sure?

19:37 Speaker 4: Well, from just a first look, I would say yes.

19:40 Speaker 2: Tell the ME to let me know ASAP. If there are any defensive wounds to the body, run the fingernail cuttings for DNA. Everything. He may have tried to fight back.

19:49 Speaker 3: I do know how to do my job, Sidney.

19:52 Speaker 2: Who is he, anyway?

19:53 Speaker 4: Mr.

19:54 Speaker 3: Frank Marshall. Name ring a bell?

19:57 Speaker 2: I should say so.

19:58 Speaker 4: Um, excuse me, but I'm a little lost. Who is Frank Marshall?

20:03 Speaker 3: Oh, no one, really. Until yesterday, when he hit the lottery.

20:08 Speaker 2: And someone kills him today. You think that the murder of Donnie Appleton and Frank Marshall are connected?

20:21 Speaker 1: Sidney and Alex head back to her apartment to ponder over the two cases. You head back here when I return shortly. And now a preview of the conclusion of the casebook of Sidney Chase.

20:41 Speaker 2: I keep looking at the photos and nothing is just jumping out at me.

20:46 Speaker 4: You're tired, Sidney. Maybe you should just get some rest.

20:52 Speaker 2: No, Alex, look! I know that you're my friend and that you mean well, but this is driving me up the wall.

20:59 Speaker 4: Hararo isn't making much headway either.

21:02 Speaker 2: Does he ever. What really worries me is there's absolutely no connection with either of the victims.

21:08 Speaker 4: Why does that have you worried?

21:11 Speaker 2: Because it means we possibly have a serial killer on our hands. And there is no way of knowing when he or she will kill again.

21:38 Speaker 1: The writers of detective fiction are probably some of the greatest criminals that never were. They have to think up crimes for their detectives to solve. A rather fun way to make a living, don't you think? Our cast included Crimson McKenzie, Winslow Swan, Dave Arkapov, and Raven Adams. The entire production was under the direction of Winslow Swan, and the story was edited by Crimson McKenzie.

22:13 Speaker 2: So did you like the story today?

22:15 Speaker 4: Yes, I did.

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22:18 Speaker 4: I think I will.

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22:20 Speaker 4: I sure would.

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22:24 Speaker 4: Can I share it to all my friends?

22:25 Speaker 2: Would you please?

22:26 Speaker 4: Oh, thank you!

22:29 Speaker 1: Doorway to Nightmare is brought to you in part by Swanage Press. This is your host, inviting you to return with us through the doorway to nightmare for another adventure into the world of your terrifying imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully. Epilogue. The butler did it.