Originally Aired: November 11, 1948
Suspense #314, "Muddy Track," Harry Clark is flat broke and nursing a Coke in a bar when he meets Brandy, a woman with connections to the local bookie, Augie Persian. Before the night is over, Persian offers Harry an easy job answering phones in an apartment, paying five percent of the take from his illegal betting operation. The setup seems almost too good to be true, and Harry's instincts tell him to walk away, but desperation wins out. Working from apartment 3B, supposedly rented by a woman named Eleanor Grayson, Harry spends his first morning taking bets and admiring a photo of a smiling woman by the telephone.
When Harry finally takes a break to search the kitchen for coffee, he discovers why Persian was so eager to hire him. Brandy lies dead on the kitchen floor, her blonde hair matted with blood. Harry realizes he's been set up as the perfect fall guy, positioned at a murder scene with his fingerprints all over the apartment. Now he must figure out who killed Brandy and why Persian wanted him to take the fall.