Mr and Mrs Elder arrive at their newly purchased home, Stormont Station, only to find the previous tenant, Jerome Keddle, threatening them off the premises under the mad supposition that they're after his gold. Wright, the local police sergeant, arrives to confront Jerome about a number of other complaints he has received about his behaviour. Through a violent temper, deranged distrust and eerie habit of howling into the night, Jerome makes himself the subject of manifold murderous intentions over the course of the evening. That same night he is murdered.
Wright is summoned back and proceeds to interrogate all of those who had an appearance at Stormont Station in the preceding hours. He unveils multiple planned or threatened murders, but no confessions of the crime itself. All the while the investigation goes on, the dead man's voice is intermittently heard wailing out in the night. Pressure builds and the murderer strikes again, this time slipping the poison that had been meant for Jerome into the policemen's and witness's coffee. Fortunately the substance is discovered before anyone is harmed. At this point Esma, Jerome's wife, points out that the voice has been nearing closer each time. The characters gather in the hall in trepidation and, just as it seems that Jerome (or his ghost) might burst through the door, Strom, the Keddle's neighbour and Esma's lover, confesses his guilt. The disembodied voice is revealed as a device employed by Esma to draw out the murderer, and Strom admits he acted to give Esma an escape from her abusive relationship with her husband.
Characters
ESMA KEDDLE
JIM ELDER
ENID – Jim's wife
CRISBY – Esma's nephew
SGT. WRIGHT – a police sergeant
MRS MAXWELL
JEROME KEDDLE
DAYNE STROM
EDDY QUILTON
TROOPER GORDON
