Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) s01e06 Episode Script
Firefall
Remember the penny arcades that used to be so much fun when you were a kid? For a handful of coins, you could test your strength, your skill at a pinball machine.
Those arcades were a lot of things to a lot ofkids, but there was one particular arcade that represented something special for me.
It was here that began one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.
September 3, 1:00 a.
m.
Rabino's Arcade was a little different than the one you might remember.
It was a regular bagman's drop, a narcotics pickup and sometimes a center for cleaning up old business.
Frankie Markoff, convicted arsonist, was cleaned up.
Ryder Bond, musical prodigy at 14, internationally respected conductor at 40.
A gifted man with a nearly fatal devotion to punctuality.
September 7, 6:40 p.
m.
The Lake Shore apartment of George Mason, first violinist and concertmaster of the Great Lakes Symphony.
Mr.
Mason was trying for his customary preconcert nap.
No.
No, it's all right, Randolph.
No! Randolph! Randolph, no! I picked up Mason's death on my police radio.
It sounded enough like news to take me off my current assignment in the hope that I could beat the local paparazzi to the scene.
Unfortunately, some of them have police band radios too.
Kolchak, I.
N.
S.
As you know, we can't issue any statement until there's a preliminary investigation.
I have witnesses to question.
Until then, anything I told you would be speculation.
How about speculating, Sergeant? It's my opinion, Kolchak, that we clear the room.
Well, what did the witnesses see? That's the idea behind my questioning them.
What happened to Mason? Isn't it obvious? The guy was smoking in bed.
I didn't see any ashtrays.
That's his problem.
Mrs.
Sherman? Mrs.
Sherman, I'm Sergeant Mayer.
Oh.
The time was exactly I always take Randolph out for his nighty-night stroll from 6:30 to 7:00.
Well, that's sounds like an awfully long time for such a tiny little dog.
Is he con-Well, I mean, does he have blockage problems? Kolchak.
Yes.
- But he's much better.
- Yes.
Well, have you tried mineral oil? That sometimes helps.
Now, Kolchak- I wouldn't try anything without talking it over with the vet.
Turner? Turner! A little exercise might help too.
Get Kolchak out of here.
Well, now, Turner- Turner- Turner, you're hurting my arm.
That's police brutality.
Wait a minute- You said you saw somebody leave this apartment.
Did you recognize him? Yes, as a matter of fact, I did recognize him.
All right, all right.
Wait- Oh, uh- Mrs.
Sherman, do you remember me? I was with Sergeant Mayer.
He certainly takes a dim view of you.
Well, he's a little dimwitted anyway.
We disagree about a lot of things.
He hates dogs, and I adore the little tykes.
The gentleman that you saw outside the hall here, outside of Mr.
Mason's apartment- Who was he? Oh, if anybody adores the symphony as I do, they'll certainly recognize Ryder Bond.
Ryder Bond.
The conductor of the symphony.
Well, as a matter of fact, I didn't recognize Mr.
Bond at first.
Isn't Mr.
Bond conducting a concert this evening? Prokofiev, I believe.
Prokofiev.
Yes.
I would suggest a couple of crushed aspirin into a bowl of warm milk.
Oh, thank you.
Yes, of course, Mrs.
Sherman.
A tie-in with Ryder Bond, wunderkind of the musical world? Maybe there was some meat on the bones of this story after all.
But I didn't have much time.
I knew that Mayer and the cops would be along soon.
Yes? Carl Kolchak, I.
N.
S.
Could I have a moment of your time, Mr.
Bond? George Mason, sir, is dead.
What did you say? You're lying.
I don't believe you.
Philip! No, unfortunately it's true, sir.
He was found in his apartment burned to death.
It's terrible.
I'm sorry.
Philip! Didn't you get the message? Did George check in? No, sir, and his apartment doesn't answer either.
I've been trying- Thank you.
How did it happen? The police say it was accidental, sir.
Good Lord.
Good Lord! George was not only a good friend, he was one of the mainstays of my orchestra.
He was the concertmaster.
Who's going to play the scherzo? Why wasn't I notified? You will be, sir.
The police are right behind me.
I'd just like to ask you and this charming young lady a question, if I may.
Were you with Mr.
Bond at 6:30 this evening? Silence, Felicia! She only speaks French.
It's none of your business where I've been or at what time.
Now, please get out of here, Mr.
- Kolchak.
Kolchak.
If you don't get out of here, I'm gonna have you thrown out.
Is everything all right? No! The phone message sounded urgent.
What phone message? The one I gave you in the orchestra pit 15 minutes ago.
That's impossible.
I've been in this dressing room for two hours.
Did anybody see you give Mr.
Bond that message? Yes.
The entire orchestra.
Really? Oh, yes! Sergeant Mayer, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine.
Mr.
Bond, Mr.
Mayer.
Mr.
Mayer, Mr.
Bond.
Where's Miss Cowles? Out sick.
Oh.
Well, who's gonna do the puzzles? Me.
Page one? Oh, Carl, come on! I need that story.
Our subscribers are waiting.
What are you daydreaming about? That bed George Mason died in was only charred with the outline of a man.
That whole apartment should have gone up in flames.
It's very puzzling.
Well, be puzzled on your own time.
I need that story.
It's not just the way that Mason died.
It's the way that Ryder- Oh, come on! Get on it! All right! I'll get on it! It's a little hard to get excited about a small-time homeowner fraud.
"Small-time"? You'd feel a lot differently if you had your own home and you were made promises, and you had to sign blank contracts, and you wound up with half-finished work.
You got taken.
What is it? Storm windows? Roofing? Aluminum siding? What? Fumigating.
Fumigating! Oh, come on, Carl.
Write the story.
Forget about Mason and Ryder Bond.
Forget about Ryder Bond? You might as well forget about Bach, Beethoven and Bernstein.
Well, them I've forgotten about.
But Ryder Bond's on a witness statement.
He was seen leaving Mason's apartment.
If we have a story connected with Bond, remember, I have a musical background.
I play the French horn.
Yeah, well, I would have guessed that.
Get out and get that material right after lunch.
For now, write! Write.
Write.
Write.
Smite.
Tight.
Blight? September 8, Patterson Towers Apartments.
Miss Felicia Porter, Sorbonne graduate and international music groupie, stepped out to improve her tan.
The sun that day was hot, but not hot enough to cause what eventually happened.
Ryder? Did you know Miss Porter personally? Just saw her around.
She lived a few floors below us.
We were coming up here for a swim when we- when we heard- Screams.
It was awful.
I was in 'Nam, and I never saw anything that bad.
Was she completely burned when you got out here? Was there ever any talk about Miss Porter, like excessive drinking or anything? You police always think the worst of people.
I never heard anything like that.
It's just that she did smoke.
It is possible when she dropped the match in the chaise, she could have been too drunk to get up when the fire started.
Do you know anybody else that saw the fire, anybody else I can talk to? What's the problem? Is there someone else? Well, when we first ran out here Janis thought she saw a man standing over there, but- It was just a flash.
I guess it was my nerves.
I mean, how could he have gotten off the roof? - What do you mean, a flash? - Like out of the corner of your eye.
He was there, and then gone.
What did he look like? It was an optical illusion.
I don't know.
All right, Kolchak.
You wanna report? Report.
You wanna do police work, apply to the academy.
Was he about 40, handsome, had a beard, distinguished-looking? Yes, I guess he might have been.
All right, that's it.
Harmel, Mr.
Kolchak is going downstairs.
Help him.
- I got every right to be here.
- But not to interfere with police work.
What are we saying here? That Felicia Porter dropped a match on this cushion and it burst into flames? - That's right.
- Why didn't the entire cushion go up? Why didn't it burn? The only thing that's burned is where the body was touching.
If we think there's any reason to worry about that, we'll ask the arson squad.
- Well, start worrying.
There's reason.
- Harmel, get him out of here.
You're a 20-year veteran, Kolchak.
What is the matter with your head? It's a smear.
You're practically accusing a man of murder.
Ryder Bond, almost a god to some of the wealthiest, most powerful people in Chicago.
God? I didn't think about that.
Maybe he's starting those fires by hurling thunderbolts.
That is a rotten thing to say.
Bond is a consummate artist, a genius.
All right, Ron, fine, fine.
This isn't your story.
Where's your assigned story? Nobody told you to write these slanders! That's right.
Can we please hold this hysteria down to a fever pitch? We could be crushed like bugs for printing these allegations.
"After perfunctory questioning by police, Mr.
Bond was allowed to leave the recording studio and return to his home.
'" "Perfunctory"? "Allowed"? Should they beat the conductor of the Great Lakes Symphony with rubber hoses? He was seen at two scenes of the accident by eyewitnesses.
Other eyewitnesses, reliable ones, have stated that Bond was with them when the accidents happened.
And one eyewitness, Miss Felicia Porter, is no longer felicitous, nor is she alive.
She is currently inhabiting an urn.
That is an allegation of murder, which implies motive! In a case where the police have just about ruled out foul play.
Well, why don't they rule something in? That's all I'm asking.
That's all I want! That's all you were asking.
Now, wait- Now, just look! If we have to devote any time to these tragic burnings, I'll have Ron write up some profiles, eulogies on the victims.
I have something on file.
Yes, but short and sweet, Updyke.
Don't hand me any Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Now, just one minute, Tony- Kolchak- When you get back to the swindle and fraud stories, write about how you're employed here, which is one of the biggest swindles in memory! Tony! You listen- What did you say, Kolchak? Where are you going? Kolchak, come back here! Now, that item will never see the inside of the neighborhood department store.
Too bad, too, because it's a nice idea.
Comes already trimmed.
But if you happen to be standing too close when the spark hits, then it trims your eyebrows.
Mr.
Cardinale, what would it take to completely burn up a human body in, oh, say, 10, 15 seconds? I suppose a couple thousand degrees.
Is there a substance that a person could get their hands on that could completely burn up a human being in that length of time, that quickly? Well, the army has a few things that could set fire to the ice in your highball.
What are they? What they are is not available to the public.
- For obvious reasons.
- But a person could get them? The kind of burning that you're talking about, sounds to me like somebody might- just might have some kind of a military chemical.
Lf, like you say, the body is burnt but the surroundings are not, either somebody does have some kind of super hotfoot juice, or something's happening that I don't know about.
- But- - And I would like to know about that.
September 9, 5:30 p.
m.
I was faced with two equally unpleasant possibilities.
One, some sort ofhorrible freak note was being played in the brain of Ryder Bond and he was setting fire to his fellow man, or two, to paraphrase Mr.
Cardinale, something inexplicable was happening that perhaps I really did want to know about.
Unfortunately, a reporter is paid to find out things whether he wants to know about them or not.
As I was to be taught once again, there are nicer ways to make a living.
Far nicer.
I'd come to confront Mr.
Bond because no one else seemed to want to.
He was slated to give a matinee concert but was now unaccountably making an unscheduled appearance in the car of Philip Randolf Rourke, treasurer and business manager of the Great Lakes Symphony Association.
Get under the hood! There's two men trapped inside of there! Listen- Please, sir, move along.
Ryder Bond was in that car! Well, he's lucky he's not in it now.
George Mason, Felicia Porter, and now Philip Rourke- the third flame in a steadily growing, grisly candelabra.
I fully expected to find a fourth, but there was absolutely no trace of Ryder Bond in that vehicle.
I was starting to think I shouldn't have canceled my appointment with the eye doctor.
Obviously you've got every right to slam the door in my face.
But there are some questions that nobody seems to want to answer, or even ask.
Well, first let me say how sorry I am about Miss Porter.
It's a tragedy, a terrible, terrible tragedy.
I'm sure that words can't really express the grief that you must feel.
Yes.
Well, I'm glad to see that you are maintaining your equanimity.
Last time we met you seemed very upset, with even less reason than you have now.
Mr.
Bond? Mr.
Bond? Sir? The academicians at the university smiled tolerantly when I told them my problems.
They said perhaps I thought I had seen a doppelganger, the destructive ghost of someone dead who takes on the appearance of one who is alive- Ryder Bond, in this case.
They recommended a good psychoanalyst and gave me a mass ofbooks to read on the subject.
Obviously, none of the professors had ever seen a room explode around them for no earthly reason.
Books are fine if you want to know the sociological reasons for legends or a lot of other intellectual double-talk, but there's nothing like a girl with the instincts of a Gypsy.
In fact, there's nothing quite like a Gypsy girl.
Yes, yes, you should definitely redo the dining room.
But not in gold.
In blue.
And you should stay with traditional furniture.
However, should your path cross that of a lying reporter, don't tell him anything, particularly about any robberies you may have seen.
He will quote you and then, mysteriously, police will arrive at your door.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I didn't understand any of that.
Maria, I told you I cut that out of the article, but my bureau chief put it back in.
You've got your problems, I've got mine.
Look at these tea stains.
I got you off the hook with the cops, didn't I? Yes.
Yeah.
Now I've come to ask you a favor in return.
I think I'm tangled up with a ghost.
I think that the ghost is trying to kill me.
And from what I've read, I understand-well, I think- Don't laugh.
I think it's a doppelganger.
She laughed.
I can't help it.
I'm sorry.
It's funny.
I'm really serious.
Do you know anything about these kind of things? Oh, well, it's a malicious and lost spirit of a dead person who's trying to wear down a living human being and take over his body, someone he envies and- What spirit would envy you? No, no, it's not me, it's- Well, it's somebody else.
Oh, so you started nosing around, and now it wants to kill you.
That's what I want to find out.
It's that true? I mean, is it possible? You know, Kolchak, I have a friend.
He's a doctor.
Yeah? And Lou's always complaining because his friends want free advice.
Gypsies have the same problem.
Aw, Maria.
You're really turning into a very commercial person.
You know that? Well, anyway, my grandmother had another name for that kind of a spirit.
But in essence it's the same thing.
She claimed that it was anyway.
But then again, she claimed that tight pants made someone sterile.
You haven't been sleeping, have you? No, I've been too terrified.
So, what they say in the books is true, huh? The spirit can only take final control of your friend's body when he goes to sleep.
And it'll kill you too the minute you doze off.
You mean, the moment that I go to sleep I'm a dead man? Absolutely I think.
That's terrific.
I'm exhausted right now.
Listen, a spirit can't operate on sanctified ground, right? Then go find yourself a church and flake out.
That's great.
I never would have thought of that.
What do I do afterwards? How do I get rid of this doppelganger? How do I eliminate him? I don't really know.
You have to do something about finding out whose spirit it is.
You have to get the earthly remains.
You have to try to force the body and the soul together- Don't be vague, Maria.
I gotta know specifically, exactly.
I don't know exactly.
I'd have to ask my grandmother.
Well? My grandmother's living in a nursing home in Winnetka.
When she starts talking, she never lets go.
I'll have to hear about her bunions and her stomach and- Maria, will you just go up and ask her? I'll come back.
All right.
For $200.
Two hundred doll- Maria, all I've got is five bucks for dinner.
It's just terrible to be broke and superstitious at the same time.
You don't trust me, right? All right, I'll get it for you.
In 48 hours.
Or I put a Gypsy curse on you.
You wouldn't do that to me.
I wouldn't, but my brother Vincent would, and Vincent hates to be taken away from his karate studio.
Oh.
Well, that kind of a curse I understand.
I thought you would.
Is that you again? Why do you keep disappearing? Who are you? Kolchak.
Who were you expecting? I'm never quite sure anymore.
I seem to have developed a rather exotic form of schizophrenia.
I keep seeing myself.
I'm never really sure it's me.
Well, I'm not sure it's you either.
I'm really not sure whether I'm speaking to Mr.
Bond or to the doppelganger.
The doppelganger? It's a ghost who wants to take over your body, Mr.
Bond.
Oh, really? How charming.
I prefer that to madness.
Now, how do I get it over with? That's very simple.
You simply go to sleep.
Splendid idea! I couldn't sleep all last night thinking about Felicia and Mason.
They were your closest friends.
The doppelganger killed them.
And Chopin is gonna play his concerto tonight.
I'm very serious.
It's going to take over your body and soul the moment you fall asleep.
It comes from the song of the same name.
This is ridiculous.
Ridiculous? Okay.
Would you like a list of people that went up with so-called instantaneous- spontaneous combustion? Ottawa, Illinois.
A man and a woman burned up in 1885.
- That was eons ago.
Can you prove it? - All right.
You want some later dates? Sure.
How about this one? Level Cross, North Carolina, 1953.
Hmm? Two of them in 1956.
One in Venetia, California, and one in Honolulu.
Oh, that was a very good year.
One in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and another one in 1959, right over here in Rockford, Illinois.
All of them- Pffht! Gone.
And you're doing this all for a newspaper story.
Well, partly.
I'm really more interested in saving my own skin.
I have a feeling that doppelganger is hanging around here and knows I'm helping you.
Oh, really? Really.
Finally, Bond realized I was telling the truth and agreed to let me take him to a place where he could sleep in safety.
On the way there we went over his every move the day the doppelganger killed Mason.
Bond remembered cutting through the funeral procession on the way to rehearsal.
It was there the spirit latched onto him.
Going north on Lake Shore Drive takes you to only one cemetery.
Possibly I could find out who was buried there that day.
"Sierra Nevada.
" Nevada.
"N.
" "M.
" What a mess.
What are you doing? I have been slaving over those drawers trying to get them in systematic order.
Who told you to? What are you looking for? Markoff.
Markoff! Mark off what? Frankie Markoff.
He was listed as having been buried by the Old Park Cemetery about the third of this month.
"D" for death, "O" for obituaries.
"For obituaries.
" Don't you read the Teletype, Uptight? There was an article in there about his death, some gangland hit.
Try "M" for murder, "H" for homicide.
Mind if I start with "A" all over again? Uh-huh-Aha! Franklin Markoff.
Yeah.
"Gunned down.
No witnesses.
Convicted arsonist.
" Arsonist.
"A" for arson? Mm-hmm.
Uptight, have you never heard of the Dewey decimal system? Frankie was a good provider, but you couldn't say he was exactly burning with ambition.
Do you know what your husband did for a living, Mrs.
Markoff? He never said.
Frankie was what they call a private person.
I never really got to know him too well.
How long were you married to him? Six years.
Frankie did night work, and I saw him mostly when he was lying in bed.
You can't get to know a person like that.
He didn't talk a lot.
I don't think he had anything to say.
Did he have any interests that you know of? One.
His son.
No, music.
Frankie loved music.
Classy music.
He went to concerts.
He even played in a band once.
Really? Mm-hmm.
They called themselves the Trustees.
He was with them five years.
You wanna see his horn? Anyways, a couple of times at night, when he was playing his records real loud, I looked in and saw him standing in the room, waving a stick in the air like he was leading a band.
Thank you very much, Mrs.
Markoff.
You've been very helpful.
There's not much to tell.
I'm sorry Frankie wasn't more exciting.
Oh, he's exciting, all right.
Uh- Oh! I had to see the place where Frankie Markoff was murdered.
If Markoff were the doppelganger, this was the last place he could remember.
Before this, in place or time, he had no identity.
I knew Frankie Markoff.
I been all over it with the cops.
You a cop? Do I look like a cop? Do I? I'm a reporter.
That's not much of an improvement.
- Were you here the night that Frankie was murdered? - Me? I was having dinner over to my sister's, chief.
- Then who was watching the store? - Ah, tragic about Frankie.
He was theJim Thorpe of pinball.
He could murder any game.
Aces High, Swinger, Gridiron- I mean, the man had fingers like a flipper.
I don't want to know who killed him.
I'm not interested in that at all.
All I want to know is exactly where it happened.
That's all I want to know.
Well there goes dinner.
Okay.
Now the bullets hit him right over here.
One, two, three.
Not a sound out of him.
Hits the machine, falls over on the floor.
See? You can still see the chalk marks.
Yeah? Where? - Right there.
See? Chalk marks? - Oh, yeah.
Hey.
Four Square.
You know, it was on this machine that Frankie set the house record.
Sixty-six consecutive games.
Boy, it's ironic.
Here today, tilt tomorrow.
Jackpot.
I'll be more than happy to loan you some money, Mr.
Kolchak, no questions asked.
I need it.
I need it today.
Otherwise, some Gypsy gentlemen are going to use my kidneys as kettledrums.
Alcohol or gambling? My cousin Ernest could be of a great help and comfort.
Thank you, Monique, but I don't need the services of a rabbi.
I bought some information, and I have to pay for it.
Could you take this to Miss Marian H- Mary- Mar- Maria Hargrove at the Little Romany Tearoom for me, huh? Little Romany Tearoom? Good morning, Monique.
Good morning, Mr.
Vincenzo.
Good morning, Ron.
Good morning.
Wouldn't it behoove you to wear some fresh clothes when you come in here? You do represent I.
N.
S.
Before the public, you know.
What are you doing in my desk? Where are your caffeine pills, Ron? I've been up for 52 hours straight, and if I nod off I'm a dead man.
Tequila, wasn't it? I once overdid it at a fraternity party.
Same thing happened to me.
Terrible nightmares when I fell asleep.
Pills, Ron! Upper right-hand drawer.
Upper right-hand- Oh, yes.
Kolchak! I've never seen you like this before.
Pick him up.
What's the matter? You sick? Shall we call a doctor? I've been marked for death by the doppelganger.
Unless I can get the ghost back into the body, I'm gonna burn up.
He does have a temperature.
What's a doppelganger? What body? What are you talking about? Frankie Markoff, the doppelganger.
Carl, go home and get some sleep.
No, I can't go home, Tony.
Listen, Tony, this is an incredible story.
If something happens to me- Carl, forget all this.
Forget all the pressures.
Just go home and get some sleep.
I can't go home, Tony.
All right, come in the office, lie down on the sofa, get some rest and then you can finish up the swindle series.
I talked to a Gypsy lady this morning- last night- Get his feet.
She told me the doppelganger is going to take over Bond's body and kill me.
If he believes in this, then perhaps he does need a little help.
- You want to help me, Ron? - Yes, Carl, I do.
Oh, Ron, that's terrific of you.
You can come out tonight and help me dig up Frankie Markoff s body from the graveyard.
Nobody's going to the cemetery to dig up any body.
Now you just get some sleep.
That's the only way we're gonna be able to save Ryder Bond.
- Would you like me to make some fresh- - Shh! Yes? Hello.
Oh, uh, no, Father, you can't talk to him right now.
Yes! Yes! I have got to talk to him.
Hello, Father.
What? No! I'll be right there.
Carl? Kolchak! What happened to the petty cash? Ryder, listen to me carefully.
I'm your doctor.
We've been through difficult things before, but we've done them together by being reasonable, by listening to reason.
You are near complete physical exhaustion.
You've been hallucinating.
Well, then we're both having the same hallucinations.
Now, you're not taking him anywhere he doesn't want to go.
Oh, God.
There he is again.
He keeps staring at me.
He makes noises.
He won't let me sleep.
Oh, Lord, Lord, he's creeping into my skin.
Mr.
Bond is not well.
If you try to keep him here, you could be in legal jeopardy.
- Uh-huh.
You got a warrant for his arrest? - No.
Did he create any kind of a crime? No.
If they take you outta here, they're gonna put you in a hospital.
Then they're gonna give you a sedative.
You know what that means? That's just what he's waiting for.
Come on, Kolchak.
Who's waiting? For what? A doppel- - Forget it.
- Nothing.
More delusions.
He is just exhausted.
He needs a confined rest.
Confined rest.
You hear that? You hear that? Now make up your mind.
Come to a decision.
I'm going to stay.
Sergeant, can't you do something? I'm sorry, Doctor.
If he doesn't want to go, there's nothing we can do.
Very well.
I'll be available when you've thought this out, Ryder.
Let's go.
Turn around.
Don't look at it no more.
Don't look at it.
Just lie down and go to sleep.
Lie down and sleep.
It's all right.
Sleep.
Go to sleep.
Go to sleep.
I wasn't getting any sleep, but at least Ryder was.
By the time it was dark, I could barely keep my eyes open, and I had a lot to do.
Grave robbery and body snatching are still punishable crimes in Chicago, so I had to do it by myself.
Get an order to exhume Markoff from the coroner's office? Not with what I had in mind.
Finally I had gotten down to the casket.
Listen to me, Markoff.
This is your body here.
You are dead.
You are not Ryder Bond.
You will never be Ryder Bond.
Leave Ryder Bond alone.
Return to your own body.
Leave Ryder Bond alone! Return to your body! Return to your body, Markoff! And rest in peace forevermore! Now, wait a minute! I got nothing to do with that in there! Believe me! Hey! Give me a hand here! Well, at least I won't have to worry about the doppelganger any longer.
He's back in his own body and will probably be cremated.
Which is really rather sweet, poetic justice for Frankie Markoff.
My only worry now is to find Tony Vincenzo to try to raise bail.
They've got me hooked on some stupid arson charge.
But it's Tony's night to play cards, and I don't know where he is.
So I think I'll just spend a nice, good night's sleep- In the slammer.
Those arcades were a lot of things to a lot ofkids, but there was one particular arcade that represented something special for me.
It was here that began one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.
September 3, 1:00 a.
m.
Rabino's Arcade was a little different than the one you might remember.
It was a regular bagman's drop, a narcotics pickup and sometimes a center for cleaning up old business.
Frankie Markoff, convicted arsonist, was cleaned up.
Ryder Bond, musical prodigy at 14, internationally respected conductor at 40.
A gifted man with a nearly fatal devotion to punctuality.
September 7, 6:40 p.
m.
The Lake Shore apartment of George Mason, first violinist and concertmaster of the Great Lakes Symphony.
Mr.
Mason was trying for his customary preconcert nap.
No.
No, it's all right, Randolph.
No! Randolph! Randolph, no! I picked up Mason's death on my police radio.
It sounded enough like news to take me off my current assignment in the hope that I could beat the local paparazzi to the scene.
Unfortunately, some of them have police band radios too.
Kolchak, I.
N.
S.
As you know, we can't issue any statement until there's a preliminary investigation.
I have witnesses to question.
Until then, anything I told you would be speculation.
How about speculating, Sergeant? It's my opinion, Kolchak, that we clear the room.
Well, what did the witnesses see? That's the idea behind my questioning them.
What happened to Mason? Isn't it obvious? The guy was smoking in bed.
I didn't see any ashtrays.
That's his problem.
Mrs.
Sherman? Mrs.
Sherman, I'm Sergeant Mayer.
Oh.
The time was exactly I always take Randolph out for his nighty-night stroll from 6:30 to 7:00.
Well, that's sounds like an awfully long time for such a tiny little dog.
Is he con-Well, I mean, does he have blockage problems? Kolchak.
Yes.
- But he's much better.
- Yes.
Well, have you tried mineral oil? That sometimes helps.
Now, Kolchak- I wouldn't try anything without talking it over with the vet.
Turner? Turner! A little exercise might help too.
Get Kolchak out of here.
Well, now, Turner- Turner- Turner, you're hurting my arm.
That's police brutality.
Wait a minute- You said you saw somebody leave this apartment.
Did you recognize him? Yes, as a matter of fact, I did recognize him.
All right, all right.
Wait- Oh, uh- Mrs.
Sherman, do you remember me? I was with Sergeant Mayer.
He certainly takes a dim view of you.
Well, he's a little dimwitted anyway.
We disagree about a lot of things.
He hates dogs, and I adore the little tykes.
The gentleman that you saw outside the hall here, outside of Mr.
Mason's apartment- Who was he? Oh, if anybody adores the symphony as I do, they'll certainly recognize Ryder Bond.
Ryder Bond.
The conductor of the symphony.
Well, as a matter of fact, I didn't recognize Mr.
Bond at first.
Isn't Mr.
Bond conducting a concert this evening? Prokofiev, I believe.
Prokofiev.
Yes.
I would suggest a couple of crushed aspirin into a bowl of warm milk.
Oh, thank you.
Yes, of course, Mrs.
Sherman.
A tie-in with Ryder Bond, wunderkind of the musical world? Maybe there was some meat on the bones of this story after all.
But I didn't have much time.
I knew that Mayer and the cops would be along soon.
Yes? Carl Kolchak, I.
N.
S.
Could I have a moment of your time, Mr.
Bond? George Mason, sir, is dead.
What did you say? You're lying.
I don't believe you.
Philip! No, unfortunately it's true, sir.
He was found in his apartment burned to death.
It's terrible.
I'm sorry.
Philip! Didn't you get the message? Did George check in? No, sir, and his apartment doesn't answer either.
I've been trying- Thank you.
How did it happen? The police say it was accidental, sir.
Good Lord.
Good Lord! George was not only a good friend, he was one of the mainstays of my orchestra.
He was the concertmaster.
Who's going to play the scherzo? Why wasn't I notified? You will be, sir.
The police are right behind me.
I'd just like to ask you and this charming young lady a question, if I may.
Were you with Mr.
Bond at 6:30 this evening? Silence, Felicia! She only speaks French.
It's none of your business where I've been or at what time.
Now, please get out of here, Mr.
- Kolchak.
Kolchak.
If you don't get out of here, I'm gonna have you thrown out.
Is everything all right? No! The phone message sounded urgent.
What phone message? The one I gave you in the orchestra pit 15 minutes ago.
That's impossible.
I've been in this dressing room for two hours.
Did anybody see you give Mr.
Bond that message? Yes.
The entire orchestra.
Really? Oh, yes! Sergeant Mayer, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine.
Mr.
Bond, Mr.
Mayer.
Mr.
Mayer, Mr.
Bond.
Where's Miss Cowles? Out sick.
Oh.
Well, who's gonna do the puzzles? Me.
Page one? Oh, Carl, come on! I need that story.
Our subscribers are waiting.
What are you daydreaming about? That bed George Mason died in was only charred with the outline of a man.
That whole apartment should have gone up in flames.
It's very puzzling.
Well, be puzzled on your own time.
I need that story.
It's not just the way that Mason died.
It's the way that Ryder- Oh, come on! Get on it! All right! I'll get on it! It's a little hard to get excited about a small-time homeowner fraud.
"Small-time"? You'd feel a lot differently if you had your own home and you were made promises, and you had to sign blank contracts, and you wound up with half-finished work.
You got taken.
What is it? Storm windows? Roofing? Aluminum siding? What? Fumigating.
Fumigating! Oh, come on, Carl.
Write the story.
Forget about Mason and Ryder Bond.
Forget about Ryder Bond? You might as well forget about Bach, Beethoven and Bernstein.
Well, them I've forgotten about.
But Ryder Bond's on a witness statement.
He was seen leaving Mason's apartment.
If we have a story connected with Bond, remember, I have a musical background.
I play the French horn.
Yeah, well, I would have guessed that.
Get out and get that material right after lunch.
For now, write! Write.
Write.
Write.
Smite.
Tight.
Blight? September 8, Patterson Towers Apartments.
Miss Felicia Porter, Sorbonne graduate and international music groupie, stepped out to improve her tan.
The sun that day was hot, but not hot enough to cause what eventually happened.
Ryder? Did you know Miss Porter personally? Just saw her around.
She lived a few floors below us.
We were coming up here for a swim when we- when we heard- Screams.
It was awful.
I was in 'Nam, and I never saw anything that bad.
Was she completely burned when you got out here? Was there ever any talk about Miss Porter, like excessive drinking or anything? You police always think the worst of people.
I never heard anything like that.
It's just that she did smoke.
It is possible when she dropped the match in the chaise, she could have been too drunk to get up when the fire started.
Do you know anybody else that saw the fire, anybody else I can talk to? What's the problem? Is there someone else? Well, when we first ran out here Janis thought she saw a man standing over there, but- It was just a flash.
I guess it was my nerves.
I mean, how could he have gotten off the roof? - What do you mean, a flash? - Like out of the corner of your eye.
He was there, and then gone.
What did he look like? It was an optical illusion.
I don't know.
All right, Kolchak.
You wanna report? Report.
You wanna do police work, apply to the academy.
Was he about 40, handsome, had a beard, distinguished-looking? Yes, I guess he might have been.
All right, that's it.
Harmel, Mr.
Kolchak is going downstairs.
Help him.
- I got every right to be here.
- But not to interfere with police work.
What are we saying here? That Felicia Porter dropped a match on this cushion and it burst into flames? - That's right.
- Why didn't the entire cushion go up? Why didn't it burn? The only thing that's burned is where the body was touching.
If we think there's any reason to worry about that, we'll ask the arson squad.
- Well, start worrying.
There's reason.
- Harmel, get him out of here.
You're a 20-year veteran, Kolchak.
What is the matter with your head? It's a smear.
You're practically accusing a man of murder.
Ryder Bond, almost a god to some of the wealthiest, most powerful people in Chicago.
God? I didn't think about that.
Maybe he's starting those fires by hurling thunderbolts.
That is a rotten thing to say.
Bond is a consummate artist, a genius.
All right, Ron, fine, fine.
This isn't your story.
Where's your assigned story? Nobody told you to write these slanders! That's right.
Can we please hold this hysteria down to a fever pitch? We could be crushed like bugs for printing these allegations.
"After perfunctory questioning by police, Mr.
Bond was allowed to leave the recording studio and return to his home.
'" "Perfunctory"? "Allowed"? Should they beat the conductor of the Great Lakes Symphony with rubber hoses? He was seen at two scenes of the accident by eyewitnesses.
Other eyewitnesses, reliable ones, have stated that Bond was with them when the accidents happened.
And one eyewitness, Miss Felicia Porter, is no longer felicitous, nor is she alive.
She is currently inhabiting an urn.
That is an allegation of murder, which implies motive! In a case where the police have just about ruled out foul play.
Well, why don't they rule something in? That's all I'm asking.
That's all I want! That's all you were asking.
Now, wait- Now, just look! If we have to devote any time to these tragic burnings, I'll have Ron write up some profiles, eulogies on the victims.
I have something on file.
Yes, but short and sweet, Updyke.
Don't hand me any Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Now, just one minute, Tony- Kolchak- When you get back to the swindle and fraud stories, write about how you're employed here, which is one of the biggest swindles in memory! Tony! You listen- What did you say, Kolchak? Where are you going? Kolchak, come back here! Now, that item will never see the inside of the neighborhood department store.
Too bad, too, because it's a nice idea.
Comes already trimmed.
But if you happen to be standing too close when the spark hits, then it trims your eyebrows.
Mr.
Cardinale, what would it take to completely burn up a human body in, oh, say, 10, 15 seconds? I suppose a couple thousand degrees.
Is there a substance that a person could get their hands on that could completely burn up a human being in that length of time, that quickly? Well, the army has a few things that could set fire to the ice in your highball.
What are they? What they are is not available to the public.
- For obvious reasons.
- But a person could get them? The kind of burning that you're talking about, sounds to me like somebody might- just might have some kind of a military chemical.
Lf, like you say, the body is burnt but the surroundings are not, either somebody does have some kind of super hotfoot juice, or something's happening that I don't know about.
- But- - And I would like to know about that.
September 9, 5:30 p.
m.
I was faced with two equally unpleasant possibilities.
One, some sort ofhorrible freak note was being played in the brain of Ryder Bond and he was setting fire to his fellow man, or two, to paraphrase Mr.
Cardinale, something inexplicable was happening that perhaps I really did want to know about.
Unfortunately, a reporter is paid to find out things whether he wants to know about them or not.
As I was to be taught once again, there are nicer ways to make a living.
Far nicer.
I'd come to confront Mr.
Bond because no one else seemed to want to.
He was slated to give a matinee concert but was now unaccountably making an unscheduled appearance in the car of Philip Randolf Rourke, treasurer and business manager of the Great Lakes Symphony Association.
Get under the hood! There's two men trapped inside of there! Listen- Please, sir, move along.
Ryder Bond was in that car! Well, he's lucky he's not in it now.
George Mason, Felicia Porter, and now Philip Rourke- the third flame in a steadily growing, grisly candelabra.
I fully expected to find a fourth, but there was absolutely no trace of Ryder Bond in that vehicle.
I was starting to think I shouldn't have canceled my appointment with the eye doctor.
Obviously you've got every right to slam the door in my face.
But there are some questions that nobody seems to want to answer, or even ask.
Well, first let me say how sorry I am about Miss Porter.
It's a tragedy, a terrible, terrible tragedy.
I'm sure that words can't really express the grief that you must feel.
Yes.
Well, I'm glad to see that you are maintaining your equanimity.
Last time we met you seemed very upset, with even less reason than you have now.
Mr.
Bond? Mr.
Bond? Sir? The academicians at the university smiled tolerantly when I told them my problems.
They said perhaps I thought I had seen a doppelganger, the destructive ghost of someone dead who takes on the appearance of one who is alive- Ryder Bond, in this case.
They recommended a good psychoanalyst and gave me a mass ofbooks to read on the subject.
Obviously, none of the professors had ever seen a room explode around them for no earthly reason.
Books are fine if you want to know the sociological reasons for legends or a lot of other intellectual double-talk, but there's nothing like a girl with the instincts of a Gypsy.
In fact, there's nothing quite like a Gypsy girl.
Yes, yes, you should definitely redo the dining room.
But not in gold.
In blue.
And you should stay with traditional furniture.
However, should your path cross that of a lying reporter, don't tell him anything, particularly about any robberies you may have seen.
He will quote you and then, mysteriously, police will arrive at your door.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I didn't understand any of that.
Maria, I told you I cut that out of the article, but my bureau chief put it back in.
You've got your problems, I've got mine.
Look at these tea stains.
I got you off the hook with the cops, didn't I? Yes.
Yeah.
Now I've come to ask you a favor in return.
I think I'm tangled up with a ghost.
I think that the ghost is trying to kill me.
And from what I've read, I understand-well, I think- Don't laugh.
I think it's a doppelganger.
She laughed.
I can't help it.
I'm sorry.
It's funny.
I'm really serious.
Do you know anything about these kind of things? Oh, well, it's a malicious and lost spirit of a dead person who's trying to wear down a living human being and take over his body, someone he envies and- What spirit would envy you? No, no, it's not me, it's- Well, it's somebody else.
Oh, so you started nosing around, and now it wants to kill you.
That's what I want to find out.
It's that true? I mean, is it possible? You know, Kolchak, I have a friend.
He's a doctor.
Yeah? And Lou's always complaining because his friends want free advice.
Gypsies have the same problem.
Aw, Maria.
You're really turning into a very commercial person.
You know that? Well, anyway, my grandmother had another name for that kind of a spirit.
But in essence it's the same thing.
She claimed that it was anyway.
But then again, she claimed that tight pants made someone sterile.
You haven't been sleeping, have you? No, I've been too terrified.
So, what they say in the books is true, huh? The spirit can only take final control of your friend's body when he goes to sleep.
And it'll kill you too the minute you doze off.
You mean, the moment that I go to sleep I'm a dead man? Absolutely I think.
That's terrific.
I'm exhausted right now.
Listen, a spirit can't operate on sanctified ground, right? Then go find yourself a church and flake out.
That's great.
I never would have thought of that.
What do I do afterwards? How do I get rid of this doppelganger? How do I eliminate him? I don't really know.
You have to do something about finding out whose spirit it is.
You have to get the earthly remains.
You have to try to force the body and the soul together- Don't be vague, Maria.
I gotta know specifically, exactly.
I don't know exactly.
I'd have to ask my grandmother.
Well? My grandmother's living in a nursing home in Winnetka.
When she starts talking, she never lets go.
I'll have to hear about her bunions and her stomach and- Maria, will you just go up and ask her? I'll come back.
All right.
For $200.
Two hundred doll- Maria, all I've got is five bucks for dinner.
It's just terrible to be broke and superstitious at the same time.
You don't trust me, right? All right, I'll get it for you.
In 48 hours.
Or I put a Gypsy curse on you.
You wouldn't do that to me.
I wouldn't, but my brother Vincent would, and Vincent hates to be taken away from his karate studio.
Oh.
Well, that kind of a curse I understand.
I thought you would.
Is that you again? Why do you keep disappearing? Who are you? Kolchak.
Who were you expecting? I'm never quite sure anymore.
I seem to have developed a rather exotic form of schizophrenia.
I keep seeing myself.
I'm never really sure it's me.
Well, I'm not sure it's you either.
I'm really not sure whether I'm speaking to Mr.
Bond or to the doppelganger.
The doppelganger? It's a ghost who wants to take over your body, Mr.
Bond.
Oh, really? How charming.
I prefer that to madness.
Now, how do I get it over with? That's very simple.
You simply go to sleep.
Splendid idea! I couldn't sleep all last night thinking about Felicia and Mason.
They were your closest friends.
The doppelganger killed them.
And Chopin is gonna play his concerto tonight.
I'm very serious.
It's going to take over your body and soul the moment you fall asleep.
It comes from the song of the same name.
This is ridiculous.
Ridiculous? Okay.
Would you like a list of people that went up with so-called instantaneous- spontaneous combustion? Ottawa, Illinois.
A man and a woman burned up in 1885.
- That was eons ago.
Can you prove it? - All right.
You want some later dates? Sure.
How about this one? Level Cross, North Carolina, 1953.
Hmm? Two of them in 1956.
One in Venetia, California, and one in Honolulu.
Oh, that was a very good year.
One in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and another one in 1959, right over here in Rockford, Illinois.
All of them- Pffht! Gone.
And you're doing this all for a newspaper story.
Well, partly.
I'm really more interested in saving my own skin.
I have a feeling that doppelganger is hanging around here and knows I'm helping you.
Oh, really? Really.
Finally, Bond realized I was telling the truth and agreed to let me take him to a place where he could sleep in safety.
On the way there we went over his every move the day the doppelganger killed Mason.
Bond remembered cutting through the funeral procession on the way to rehearsal.
It was there the spirit latched onto him.
Going north on Lake Shore Drive takes you to only one cemetery.
Possibly I could find out who was buried there that day.
"Sierra Nevada.
" Nevada.
"N.
" "M.
" What a mess.
What are you doing? I have been slaving over those drawers trying to get them in systematic order.
Who told you to? What are you looking for? Markoff.
Markoff! Mark off what? Frankie Markoff.
He was listed as having been buried by the Old Park Cemetery about the third of this month.
"D" for death, "O" for obituaries.
"For obituaries.
" Don't you read the Teletype, Uptight? There was an article in there about his death, some gangland hit.
Try "M" for murder, "H" for homicide.
Mind if I start with "A" all over again? Uh-huh-Aha! Franklin Markoff.
Yeah.
"Gunned down.
No witnesses.
Convicted arsonist.
" Arsonist.
"A" for arson? Mm-hmm.
Uptight, have you never heard of the Dewey decimal system? Frankie was a good provider, but you couldn't say he was exactly burning with ambition.
Do you know what your husband did for a living, Mrs.
Markoff? He never said.
Frankie was what they call a private person.
I never really got to know him too well.
How long were you married to him? Six years.
Frankie did night work, and I saw him mostly when he was lying in bed.
You can't get to know a person like that.
He didn't talk a lot.
I don't think he had anything to say.
Did he have any interests that you know of? One.
His son.
No, music.
Frankie loved music.
Classy music.
He went to concerts.
He even played in a band once.
Really? Mm-hmm.
They called themselves the Trustees.
He was with them five years.
You wanna see his horn? Anyways, a couple of times at night, when he was playing his records real loud, I looked in and saw him standing in the room, waving a stick in the air like he was leading a band.
Thank you very much, Mrs.
Markoff.
You've been very helpful.
There's not much to tell.
I'm sorry Frankie wasn't more exciting.
Oh, he's exciting, all right.
Uh- Oh! I had to see the place where Frankie Markoff was murdered.
If Markoff were the doppelganger, this was the last place he could remember.
Before this, in place or time, he had no identity.
I knew Frankie Markoff.
I been all over it with the cops.
You a cop? Do I look like a cop? Do I? I'm a reporter.
That's not much of an improvement.
- Were you here the night that Frankie was murdered? - Me? I was having dinner over to my sister's, chief.
- Then who was watching the store? - Ah, tragic about Frankie.
He was theJim Thorpe of pinball.
He could murder any game.
Aces High, Swinger, Gridiron- I mean, the man had fingers like a flipper.
I don't want to know who killed him.
I'm not interested in that at all.
All I want to know is exactly where it happened.
That's all I want to know.
Well there goes dinner.
Okay.
Now the bullets hit him right over here.
One, two, three.
Not a sound out of him.
Hits the machine, falls over on the floor.
See? You can still see the chalk marks.
Yeah? Where? - Right there.
See? Chalk marks? - Oh, yeah.
Hey.
Four Square.
You know, it was on this machine that Frankie set the house record.
Sixty-six consecutive games.
Boy, it's ironic.
Here today, tilt tomorrow.
Jackpot.
I'll be more than happy to loan you some money, Mr.
Kolchak, no questions asked.
I need it.
I need it today.
Otherwise, some Gypsy gentlemen are going to use my kidneys as kettledrums.
Alcohol or gambling? My cousin Ernest could be of a great help and comfort.
Thank you, Monique, but I don't need the services of a rabbi.
I bought some information, and I have to pay for it.
Could you take this to Miss Marian H- Mary- Mar- Maria Hargrove at the Little Romany Tearoom for me, huh? Little Romany Tearoom? Good morning, Monique.
Good morning, Mr.
Vincenzo.
Good morning, Ron.
Good morning.
Wouldn't it behoove you to wear some fresh clothes when you come in here? You do represent I.
N.
S.
Before the public, you know.
What are you doing in my desk? Where are your caffeine pills, Ron? I've been up for 52 hours straight, and if I nod off I'm a dead man.
Tequila, wasn't it? I once overdid it at a fraternity party.
Same thing happened to me.
Terrible nightmares when I fell asleep.
Pills, Ron! Upper right-hand drawer.
Upper right-hand- Oh, yes.
Kolchak! I've never seen you like this before.
Pick him up.
What's the matter? You sick? Shall we call a doctor? I've been marked for death by the doppelganger.
Unless I can get the ghost back into the body, I'm gonna burn up.
He does have a temperature.
What's a doppelganger? What body? What are you talking about? Frankie Markoff, the doppelganger.
Carl, go home and get some sleep.
No, I can't go home, Tony.
Listen, Tony, this is an incredible story.
If something happens to me- Carl, forget all this.
Forget all the pressures.
Just go home and get some sleep.
I can't go home, Tony.
All right, come in the office, lie down on the sofa, get some rest and then you can finish up the swindle series.
I talked to a Gypsy lady this morning- last night- Get his feet.
She told me the doppelganger is going to take over Bond's body and kill me.
If he believes in this, then perhaps he does need a little help.
- You want to help me, Ron? - Yes, Carl, I do.
Oh, Ron, that's terrific of you.
You can come out tonight and help me dig up Frankie Markoff s body from the graveyard.
Nobody's going to the cemetery to dig up any body.
Now you just get some sleep.
That's the only way we're gonna be able to save Ryder Bond.
- Would you like me to make some fresh- - Shh! Yes? Hello.
Oh, uh, no, Father, you can't talk to him right now.
Yes! Yes! I have got to talk to him.
Hello, Father.
What? No! I'll be right there.
Carl? Kolchak! What happened to the petty cash? Ryder, listen to me carefully.
I'm your doctor.
We've been through difficult things before, but we've done them together by being reasonable, by listening to reason.
You are near complete physical exhaustion.
You've been hallucinating.
Well, then we're both having the same hallucinations.
Now, you're not taking him anywhere he doesn't want to go.
Oh, God.
There he is again.
He keeps staring at me.
He makes noises.
He won't let me sleep.
Oh, Lord, Lord, he's creeping into my skin.
Mr.
Bond is not well.
If you try to keep him here, you could be in legal jeopardy.
- Uh-huh.
You got a warrant for his arrest? - No.
Did he create any kind of a crime? No.
If they take you outta here, they're gonna put you in a hospital.
Then they're gonna give you a sedative.
You know what that means? That's just what he's waiting for.
Come on, Kolchak.
Who's waiting? For what? A doppel- - Forget it.
- Nothing.
More delusions.
He is just exhausted.
He needs a confined rest.
Confined rest.
You hear that? You hear that? Now make up your mind.
Come to a decision.
I'm going to stay.
Sergeant, can't you do something? I'm sorry, Doctor.
If he doesn't want to go, there's nothing we can do.
Very well.
I'll be available when you've thought this out, Ryder.
Let's go.
Turn around.
Don't look at it no more.
Don't look at it.
Just lie down and go to sleep.
Lie down and sleep.
It's all right.
Sleep.
Go to sleep.
Go to sleep.
I wasn't getting any sleep, but at least Ryder was.
By the time it was dark, I could barely keep my eyes open, and I had a lot to do.
Grave robbery and body snatching are still punishable crimes in Chicago, so I had to do it by myself.
Get an order to exhume Markoff from the coroner's office? Not with what I had in mind.
Finally I had gotten down to the casket.
Listen to me, Markoff.
This is your body here.
You are dead.
You are not Ryder Bond.
You will never be Ryder Bond.
Leave Ryder Bond alone.
Return to your own body.
Leave Ryder Bond alone! Return to your body! Return to your body, Markoff! And rest in peace forevermore! Now, wait a minute! I got nothing to do with that in there! Believe me! Hey! Give me a hand here! Well, at least I won't have to worry about the doppelganger any longer.
He's back in his own body and will probably be cremated.
Which is really rather sweet, poetic justice for Frankie Markoff.
My only worry now is to find Tony Vincenzo to try to raise bail.
They've got me hooked on some stupid arson charge.
But it's Tony's night to play cards, and I don't know where he is.
So I think I'll just spend a nice, good night's sleep- In the slammer.