Paid Killer

Originally Aired: November 22, 1959 Gunsmoke #398, "Paid Killer," finds Marshal Matt Dillon facing a deadly threat when old Billy overhears a sinister conversation in the livery stable. Two men discuss a contract killing—one offering a thousand dollars in gold to have Dillon murdered, and the other accepting the job. Though Billy couldn't identify the voices in the darkness, Matt and Chester soon trace the money to Lawson Hale, a businessman whose schemes Matt has repeatedly thwarted. Now Hale has hired an unknown gunman, and the killer could be anyone among the strangers in Dodge. For two tense days, Matt refuses to hide, walking the moonlit streets despite Chester's protests and his own admission that waiting for an unseen assassin frays the nerves. When Matt confronts Hale at the Long Branch saloon and tries to goad him into making his own play, the cowardly schemer refuses to take the bait. That night, a muzzle flash from the shadows finally announces the killer's presence, but after one shot, the gunman vanishes into the darkness, leaving Matt to wonder when and where he'll strike next.