The Windy City Six

Originally Aired: February 8, 1951

Suspense #415, "The Windy City Six," takes listeners back to the Roaring Twenties, where drummer Carstairs "Rimshot" Hamilton finds himself in dangerous territory. Playing with his jazz band at Crazy Jack Fisher's speakeasy, Ham can't keep his eyes off a beautiful girl named Cora, despite warnings from her menacing companions, Bull Hurley and Red Rocks Farrell, who threaten him to stay away. When a police raid turns deadly and Ham witnesses a vicious murder in the hallway, he flees into the snowy night, vowing to leave the speakeasy life behind. But Cora appears on his doorstep with a summons he can't refuse: Farrell and Hurley want the Windy City Six to play at their mountain hideaway for a holiday party.

As Ham drives Cora through the deepening snow toward the isolated location, romantic tension builds between them. Cora trembles with fear beneath a blanket, and Ham suggests they run away together. She's clearly trapped in a dangerous world, and Ham realizes too late that something is terribly wrong. The journey to the mountain estate promises to bring the young drummer face-to-face with the killer he saw—and deadly consequences he never imagined.