Minute 049: 1635 Palm Terrace

The Rocketeer Minute Podcast

Summary

FBI agents Wooly and Fitch are in the darkened airfield office of Bigelow. The office has been completely overturned, with files and papers scattered everywhere.

Wooly is trying to make out what’s under the desk. “Gimme some light, Fitch,” says Wooly. Fitch turns on the desk lamp. Bigelow’s body is folded in half, his shoed foot resting next to his left ear.

Wooly jumps away with a start. “Mother of mercy!” whispers Wooly.

“He’s been folded in half!” says Fitch, touching his fedora.

“It looks like he was writing something,” says Wooly. Wooly picks up a pad of paper and tries to make out the impression left by the writing.

“Sixteen — Thirty Five…” he begins.

The scene shifts to a paper from the same pad, but with the words written clearly in pencil. “… Palm Terrace” finishes Lothar as he reads the address. Lothar crumples the paper, revealing a mailbox with that address on it. Lothar walks up to the front porch.

Inside, Peevy is consulting tables and graphs from engineering books as he plots out a schematic of the rocket pack. The Rocketeer helmet is sharing room on the table. “Thrust is 128… inches per second…” Peevy says to himself, and then looks up when he hears a squeak from the front porch steps. “Cliff?” he calls out. A shadow passes on the front porch.

There are more squeaks. Peevy looks around, and grabs a ball peen hammer.

Lothar’s huge hand tightens around the door knob.

Just then, Cliff rides up on his motorcycle. He comes to a halt in the driveway.

In This Minute
Ed Lauter as Fitch
James Handy as Wooly
Jon Polito as Bigelow
Alan Arkin as Peevy
Tiny Ron as Lothar
Bill Campbell as Cliff Secord