Once again, Decoder Ring Theater presents another page from the casebook of that Master of Mystery,

that's Sultan of Sleothing, Martin Bracknell's immortal detective Black Jack Justice,

starring Christopher Mott as Jack and Andrea Lyons as Trixie Dixon Girl Detective.

The name's Harthorn.

Frederick Josiah Hathorn.

But only my mother calls me that.

And only when she's angry, which is most of the time.

My friends, they call me Fred, or sometimes Freddy, or sometimes Freddy

the finger, or sometimes tubby, which isn't really fair because I'm mostly just big-boned,

mostly. The funny thing is the law. On those occasions in which I am unable to avoid them, which happens from time to time,

even to the best of us. But on those occasions, the law calls me Mr. Hothorn, which sounds awful

nice. You got to admit, even if they don't really mean anything by it. The strange thing is, sometimes you get more respect out of people that don't even like you.

And you get the most out of people that don't know you at all.

Or maybe that's just me.

My point is that friends can be kind of a mixed to blessing, which is a fine way of saying

they're a pain in the you know where,

but you'd sure be sunk without him.

Take my old pal, Blackjack, Justice.

He's a detective, but it's okay.

He's the private kind.

They call him Blackjack

on account of back before the war

...