The Nathan Gayles Matter

Originally Aired: November 17, 1953Johnny Dollar #189, "The Nathan Gayles Matter,"Johnny Dollar investigates the murder of Nathan Gayles, a New York police lieutenant shot in his own garage. Sergeant Bill Kemper believes the killer is a hood named Bancroft, whom Gayles had been pursuing relentlessly. On the day of the murder, Gayles told Kemper he was meeting with a stoolie named Virgil Cummins to obtain damaging evidence against Bancroft. When Kemper arrived at the Gayles home, he found the lieutenant dead and Cummins was later discovered strangled in his room. The only witness, a neighbor named George Fisher, initially identified Bancroft from police mugshots but later changed his story after viewing a lineup.Dollar meets with the victim's widow, Evelyn Gayles, who was celebrating their seventh anniversary the day her husband was killed. She mentions that Fisher has been avoiding her, clearly terrified despite having four children of his own. When Dollar attempts to question Fisher, his wife refuses to cooperate, stating the family has been bothered too much. With the key witness too frightened to identify Bancroft and the suspect's girlfriend providing an alibi, Dollar faces the challenge of breaking through a wall of fear to solve the case.