Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Will and the Way Matter (EP5045)

The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas - Adam Graham|Old Time Radio Detective Host

In this episode of 'Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar,' freelance insurance investigator Johnny Dollar investigates a disputed will involving the late Avery Nicolette. The case centers on conflicting

Key takeaways

• The will was altered after being signed and witnessed, with Louis Marino's name added posthumously.
• Red Burr's reputation for exaggeration makes him an unreliable narrator, but his fear of assassination suggests genuine danger.

Main topics

• Insurance fraud
• Will forgery

Notable quotes

"The part that Red Barrett claims was added to is... To my best and oldest friend, Lloyd Barrett, I bequeath the whole of my estate..." - Mr. Robbins reading the will.

Conclusion

Johnny Dollar uncovers a conspiracy involving a forged will and staged accidents to eliminate witnesses and

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:28) Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. But first, I want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast, to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. Now, from July 19th, 1959, here is The Will and Away Matter. Speaker 4 (2:42) brings you Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar. For the Greater Southwest Insurance Company, attention of Jake Hessler, Kingman, Arizona office. Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the will and away matter. Speaker 4 (3:28) Expense account item one, 154.50, plane transportation from Hartford to New York to Las Vegas, Nevada. Item two, 50 bucks deposit on a rental car. Instead of driving directly south to Lake Mojave Resort, I took Highway 93 to Kingman, Arizona. I went straight to Jake Hessler's insurance office on East Palm Drive. Speaker 2 (3:47) Johnny Dollar. Well, sit down, Johnny. Tell me all about you. Ah, thanks, Jake. Speaker 4 (3:54) Well, I suppose you're here on account of Avery Nicolette's insurance. That's right. Wrote his policy myself. Ten thousand straight lines. And the beneficiary? Speaker 2 (4:01) He'll Speaker 4 (4:02) be named in his will. He's the way the policy read. Well, isn't that rather unusual? Speaker 2 (4:07) He's highly irregular. There's Speaker 4 (4:09) a Speaker 2 (4:09) bit of doing with him, but that was what he wanted and that's what he got. And it's made us a lot of trouble. How, Speaker 4 (4:15) Jake? Speaker 2 (4:15) Now, first of all, after he died, nobody knew what he'd even made out of with. All right, Speaker 4 (4:19) then. That is until some old character from old Lake Mojave come along and showed us where he'd hidden it. There in that house he was renting. That was Red Burr. That's right, Lloyd Burr. He called himself Red. I understand he was a very good friend of Nicolette's. Speaker 2 (4:32) Only real friend he ever had, I guess. They Speaker 4 (4:34) used to do some prospecting or cattle raising or something together. And Red was named to get everything Avery had except insurance. What was there besides the insurance? Oh, his clothes, money. How much money? A couple of thousand dollars he had in the bank. Now, look, about that will. Johnny, we were glad enough to have him sign it for us, and it was okay. A holographic will, but okay. But when Red claimed that Edgar was leaving everything to him, only the will said Speaker 2 (5:04) otherwise. Red called me on the Speaker 4 (5:06) phone, Speaker 2 (5:06) Jake. Yeah, he threatened to do that. And he told me that will has been tampered with. That's what he told us, only it wasn't done. And if you don't believe me, you can ask the police and the lawyer about it, and you ask them gentle. What do you mean by that? Well, they got so fed up with Red having no grounds to substantiate his claim, well, they told him if he didn't stop lying about it and bothering them, they'd throw him in the clean. Oh, Speaker 4 (5:31) Jake, I know Red. I know him well. I know that now and then he might stretch the truth a bit about some of his experiences. The place that he's been, about the big fish over there in Mojave that he knows what I've heard. Johnny, Speaker 2 (5:42) that's the very reason... But there is a malicious bone in this whole party. Speaker 4 (5:46) And I refuse to believe that he'd ever lie or try to pull a fast one for $10,000 or $10 million. Yeah, but Johnny... Now, who is supposed to get his insurance? A fellow named Louis Marino. Who's Louis Marino? Well, according to Mrs. Turner... Oh, jeez. Mrs. Mary Turner. She was a kind of a nurse and housekeeper for Avery the past few months. Really? Not so much. And according to her... Speaker 3 (6:06) Well, she didn't know much about this Marino, but she'd heard Avery Speaker 4 (6:09) mention him once or twice that he lived up in Vegas. Of course, she saw his name in the willow and she witnessed it. Who else witnessed that willow? Old Tim Henson? What does he say about it? Well, Tim got killed about three months back one night in April. Got drunk and run his car off the highway down towards Moodle. He's no help. Where will I find this Mrs. Turner? Still at the house Avery was in. And she swears that Marino was mentioned in the willow right from the beginning, huh? Yeah, but your friend Speaker 3 (6:34) Red Barry... Okay, Jake, I'll see you later. You going over to see her? Speaker 4 (6:38) First, I think I'd better talk to Red over at Lake Mojave Resort and get myself a room for the night. Speaker 3 (6:43) Ask me, Johnny. You're just wasting your time and your money. Speaker 4 (6:47) Oh? My money? Mm-hmm. I'm on an insurance case, remember? So? I'm on the expense account. What? Sure. With your company footing the bill. Now, Johnny... See you later, Jake. Speaker 4 (7:04) It was after dark when I reached the Lake Mojave Resort. And yeah, Fred was waiting for me in his comfortable motel room. We got right down to cases. And I tell you, Johnny, that when Avery showed me that will, there was never any Speaker 2 (7:20) such a name as Louie Marino on it. And that was Speaker 4 (7:23) a Speaker 2 (7:23) couple of months ago. On his birthday, May 11th. I'd taken him a couple of nice dates to celebrate. Speaker 4 (7:29) Now, what was this about your being tripped? Threatened? Well, that's what you implied to me over the phone. Well, now, wait a minute. Were you just stretching things a bit to make sure I'd come out here? Speaker 2 (7:43) Now, Speaker 4 (7:44) John... Yeah, I should have known it was something like that. No, sir. Oh, that is... Well, Speaker 2 (7:49) if you could have seen Reno's face when I told that lawyer, the surrogate, that somebody had meddled with Avery's widow, and when I Speaker 4 (7:57) said I was going to stand for you... Oh, Reg, you old