Deep into Darkness

Originally Aired: July 22, 1948 Suspense #299, "Deep into Darkness," stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Ken Matthews, an ex-convict struggling to rebuild his life in New York City after serving seven years in Joliet Penitentiary for manslaughter. Released early for good behavior, Ken follows the warden's advice to start fresh in a new city, but quickly discovers that his criminal record makes finding legitimate work nearly impossible. Desperate and down to his last few dollars, he makes a fateful purchase: a gun. His reasons remain unclear even to himself, but the weight of the weapon in his pocket mirrors the dead-end existence he's living. Everything changes in a shocking instant when Ken spots a man emerging from a chauffeur-driven car on a New York street. The man is Lee Burke, impossibly alive and well, despite being the very person Ken was convicted of killing seven years earlier. As Ken watches Burke walk into a bank, his mind reels with the implications. The wheels start spinning as he relives the night of the crime, remembering fragments of his past life in Chicago and a woman named Lila who danced in a cheap nightclub.