 Suspense. Suspense is compounded of mystery and intrigue and dangerous adventure. Stories calculated to intrigue you, to stir your nerves. Tonight, for instance, as we begin, you may want to ask yourself, how could a young lady, a bride, walk out on a balcony alone and vanish? Completely vanish. We trust that while you were wondering how and why it was done, we shall keep you in suspense. For suspense, tonight CBS presents The Bride Banishes by John Dixon Carr. Italy in springtime. Italy as we used to know it before the jackal struck and the island of Capri, 20 miles out across the bay of Naples. Blue water a dazzle under the sun, behind through the bone white beaches and the suvious dull purple in a heat haze. A head as the little steamer from Naples chugs out across the bay rises Capri. Olive trees and white roads and vineyards above the cliffs. Could young Americans find a better place to spend their honeymoon? While the guitars sing and the warm winds blow and the little steamer carries them. Well, Mrs. Courtney. Well, Mr. Courtney. I can't keep it up, Lucy. I'm going to break down and ask if you're happy. Oh, I'll break down too. I want to walk up to everybody I meet and say, we, just like that. What I want to do is turn somersaults myself all along this deck here. I want to say, I've been married to Tom Courtney for practically two weeks and now we're going to have a villa at Capri for a month. Oh, Tom, I ought to be the happiest woman in the world. Only... You shivered. What's wrong? Well, ever since we got aboard this ship, people have been staring at me. I can't blame you for that, dear. No, no. I mean in a funny way and muttering. Even your American friend. What's his name? Uh, Granger? Mr. Granger. When you introduced him to me at Naples, I thought his eyes were going to pop out. Be careful. He's standing over by the rail now. Oh. He lives at Capri. I like to see him wearing that white ten-gallon hat in Sinclair. Before Granger made money in oil wells, he was a real old-fashioned cow puncher. And he's proud of it. Good fellow, too. He's too polite to say anything, but he keeps looking around at me, just the same as the rest of them do. Well, Tom, they... they look scared. You know, Lucy, this isn't the time to start imagining things. I know. Well, maybe I'm just so happy I'm afraid it can't last. Oh, don't say that. But wouldn't it be pretty awful if something did happen and we weren't together any longer? Wait a minute. Hasn't this ship stopped? Yes. Well, it is Capri ahead of us, isn't it? It can't be anything else. That seems a funny place to stop. No sign of a harbor. Only rocks and little great cliffs. Oh, Mr. Granger. Mr. Granger. Yes, young fella? You happen to know why we're stopping here? Oh, yes, that's amazing, son. We're stopping so that you and your good lady and anybody else who's curious can get a look at the blue grotto. The blue grotto, of course. Now, just shave your eyes with your hand, ma'am. You see that tiny little arch under the cliff? Yes. And all the little white row boats are coming out towards us? Yes. Now, when the first boat comes alongside, you climb down that iron ladder and get in. The boat will rowy out and through the arch into the grotto. It's a great, big, dark cavern. The water in there looks as though it's lit up underneath with blue fire. Would you like to go out and see it, Lucy? Oh, I'd love to. But let me give you a little tip, though. The current's pretty fast out there. You'll go shooting under that arch like 60. Are we likely to upset? Oh, no, no. But the arch isn't as high as your head. When you see it coming, lie back flat in the boat. That is, unless you want your block, not sure. Oh, thanks, Mr. Granger. We'll remember. Come along, Lucy. Easy on the ladder, Lucy. Don't look brown yet. Oh, I'm all right, darling. And just as good a swimmer as you are. I'm in the boat now. Take one more step. Steady. Now, there you are. Now, turn around, facing the boatman and sit down here beside him. What's the matter with the boatman? Easy, man. Do you want to upset us? Sit down. Oh, come back, yes. Come back? Well, I've never been here before in my life. Push off, man. Start rowing. The other boats are piling up behind you. Oh, come back. Start rowing, can't you? And Ali Subato, faster. He can't take his eyes off us. I wish he'd watch out where he's rowing. Oh, come to live at the Villa Bortese, yes. Tom, how does he know that? He's the lady. She is a moth dead. Dead? Of course she's not dead. What are you talking about? She never come to Capri before? Never. Then I tell you, she will disappear just like the other one. Disappear? I arrest my orders, and I tell you. Tom, aren't we moving rather fast? Yes, that's the entrance to the grotto ahead. I tell you, there was a lady so much like you alone, carpeting back, oh, it scared me. Look, old man, I don't want to teach you your business, but you've got your back to that grotto. Take this lady back where she comes from. Do not take her to the Villa Bortese. Down as he flat on your back, don't! I am sorry. I almost make you get hurt. You know you nearly got your own head not done. Excuse me, Nor. I am used to it. Now, I will row you round the blue grotto. I think I like it much, Tom. Neither do I. Dark, except for that blue light under the water. Oh, transparent. You can see the fishes swimming. The gentleman of both men. This lady who disappeared from the Villa Bortese. Two, three years ago, she disappeared. You say she looked exactly like my wife? See, Signore, she was going to be married. She was trying on a, what do you call, her wedding dress. Her mother and sisters, they were in the room with her. She walked out on a balcony over the sea. You know what I mean on a balcony over the sea? And nobody ever hear of her again. You mean, she jumped over into the sea? Well, a young girl going to be married. Kill herself. No, no, no, no. Then what did happen? Well, at the back of her, I do not know. But sometimes they say, you can meet her ghost in here. She float just under the water, you can see her and turn over and over. And the wedding veil is still round her face. Tom, let's get out of here. But you want to go, yes? Lucy, if this fellow's stringing us along. He's not stringing us along. Then somebody ought to know what this means. If we've inherited a haunted balcony where people disappear like soap bubbles, I say it's too much. Let's get back to our ship and talk to Granger. Yes, both men, take us back. Didn't anybody else go to the blue grotto? Well, ma'am, no. Not after they saw you go. It's all right. We've just heard the story, Mr. Granger. Oh, I ought to have told you about it myself. All the way out here, I've been cussing myself and thinking what a nornery old badger I am for not telling you when I first met your Naples. The girl did vanish then. By a first-rate miracle, yes. A broad daylight and within 20 feet of her mother and sisters. You don't look like a man who'd believe in miracles, Mr. Granger. Oh, I'm not, son. I'm just telling you what happened. But why is everybody so excited? Somebody must have thrown her off the balcony. Josephine Adams was all alone on a balcony 40 feet up a cliff, smooth as glass. She didn't fall. She wasn't thrown because there was no sound of a splash. And she didn't come back from the balcony because her mother and sisters were in front of the only door. Yet within 15 seconds, 15 seconds, mind you, she just vanished. You believe that? Sure, I believe it, son. Well, it's a fact. Did you know the girl's family? Oh, very well. We've got a real English-speaking colony here. Oh, by the way, in about a half a minute now, I'm going to show you your new home. Oh, can we see it here on the ship? Oh, sure you can, ma'am. It's on the edge of the cliff. Dr. Davis' house is on one side of it, and my shack's on the other. Uh, that's why I want to ask you a question. Of course. Ask anything you like. Well, I'm an old-stager, ma'am, and I'm not exactly up to the high-toned society around here, but do you... Do you trust me? Yes, I think so. Well, then, promise me something. A leisure with somebody you do trust. Keep away from that balcony. Do you honestly think there's danger or... I don't know, sir. If I did, I wouldn't have to talk this way. Sounds like a dog barking. I thought I heard it before. What is? A big police dog. He's been led by a very handsome woman, if you ask me. Oh, Lord, here she is again. Oh, the Countess. She lives in our colony. She looks like an American. You take your eyes off her, Tom Cortley. She isn't American. Married a Count Parchisi or something like that. Just call her Nelly. My dear Mr. Granger. Hello, Nelly. It's true. Everybody told me so, but I couldn't believe it until I saw her. She does look exactly like poor Josephine Evans. Just as small, just as dainty. Please. Is everybody trying to give me the jitters? Nelly, I want you to meet some friends of mine. Oh, you don't need to introduce me. I know who they are. You're the nice young couple who've taken that villa. I'm Nelly Leccese. Oh, yes. This is my dog, Tiberius, named after the wicked Roman emperor. You know who used to live at Capri? I must confess I'm terribly fascinated by wicked things. Aren't you, Mr. Cortley? Lucy, stop digging me in the ribs. I haven't done anything. No, and you're not going to. Tiberius seems to have taken quite a fancy to you, Mrs. Cortley. I've never known him to go to a stranger before. Well, I only wish I could borrow him. He might be a charm against... Oh, no, I don't know. We'll be at the harbor in a few minutes. Then you must let me drive you up to the villa. You won't be able to get any servants, I'm afraid, because they won't stay there. But you can camp out. Luke, this is it, huh? We're passing it now. Flare, on the cliff, where I'm pointing. Wait a minute. That must be some mistake. That's not the Villa Borghese. It sure is, son. That's a palace like all the other houses there. And I rented it furnished for about $25 a month. Can't you guess why you got it so cheap, son? If you take my advice, you'll turn around and go back to Naples by the next steamer. Harry Granger, don't be an idiot. Let's have some excitement. Let's have some excitement. Tom is beautiful. Too infinitely beautiful, if you ask me. There's the balcony. It's all right by daylight, son. Marvel and tapestries and whatnot. But at night, when you've got to put out the lights, you start thinking what happened. The moon over Capri makes a deathly daylight. You could see to read on that balcony if anyone went out there. Frosted glass doors open out on it from a big room on the ground floor. Two determinedly calm persons and a dog sit looking at each other. Lucy, stop it. Stop what? Stop looking over at that balcony. I'm sorry, darling. Why are we sitting here anyway? There's an outer room that's much more comfortable. It's like having a toothache, a very little toothache. I may be dense, Angel, but I don't follow you. You put your tongue against the tooth to see if it'll hurt. You know it will hurt, but you go on doing it just the same. That's us. Maybe you're right. Oh, Tom, did you ever think we'd have a lovely house like this? The house is all right, yes. Then they have to go and spoil everything. With this blasted Tommy right about... Tommy is jittery now as I was this afternoon. Even Tiberius is jittery. Yes, I guess I am. Easy, boy. Easy, easy. Well, there's whiskey on the table. They call it beaky here. With yourself a drink. In a minute, not just now. Lucy, there's nothing wrong with that balcony. Suppose you walked out there this minute. I've had a horrible longing to try it. Just because I know I shouldn't. Well, nothing could attack you. All you'd have to do would be yell. That'd bring Mr. Granger out on his balcony like a shot. And the neighbor on the other side of us would... Who is on the other side, by the way? A loony doctor. A what? A specialist in brain diseases. Dr. Davis, he's English. It's somebody in the other room. Easy, Tiberius. Easy. Tom, I'm afraid. It's all right, darling. You hold Tiberius as collar while I open the door. We don't want him to fly at anybody. We're going into the other room and stay there. Ready? Yes. Good evening, Mr. Cottney. Good evening, Mrs. Cottney. I'm no ghost, though you appear to regard me as one. I'm merely your neighbor, Dr. Rutherford Davis. Oh, yes, of course. Mr. Granger mentioned you. I trust you will pardon this intrusion. No one answered my knock, so I ventured to come in. It's no intrusion, Dr. Davis. We're a little disorganized here, that's all. Naturally. Mr. Cottney, I wish I could say welcome to Capri, but I have a very different message. If you value Mrs. Cottney's life, you'll go back to Naples immediately, sir. Not you, too. I do not say that as a ghost hunter, sir. I say it as a medical man. May I sit down? Oh, of course, please do. Thank you. We seem to be forgetting our manners. Dr. Davis, will you have a drink? Oh, thank you. Perhaps a small whiskey? I'll get it, darling. You sit down and talk to Dr. Davis. You're not going back into that room alone. I'm only going to get the drinks, Tom. I promise to be good. And Tiberius can come with me. Can't you, Tiberius? Oh, I see you've borrowed Tiberius from the Countess Ducati. Yes, she was kind enough to offer him. Excuse me, I'll be back in a minute. Come on, Tiberius. Hi. I hope this is all right, doctor. No, sir. I'm not all right. Your wife is in very great danger. But why? Because of that balcony? No, because she looks exactly like the late Josephine Adams. I don't get it. Mr. Cottney, did you ever hear of paranoia? It's some kind of mental disease, isn't it? The paranoic begins by imagining that he or she is being persecuted by someone. First, he shares things. A voice in his brain whispers, you will be killed. You will be killed. He hears it in the tick of a clock, in the rattle of a train, in the footsteps on the street. There are holes in the walls through which his enemy is always watching. Invisible speaking tubes bring him messages. There are pains in his joints and nightmares of attempts to poison him. His brain bursts and he kills. He kills. He kills. Excuse me for speaking so strongly. But how does this affect us? Mr. Cottney, will you examine this sheet of paper? What is it? The fragment of a typewritten dowry. I found it on the cliffs months ago. Don't ask me who wrote it. But I know there's a criminal lunatic on this island. He imagined that poor, inoffensive Josephine Adams was his enemy. So he killed her. Killed her? How? I don't know. And what happened to the girl's body? I'm not a detective, sir. The body was carried out to sea, perhaps, or washed along the cliffs and into the blue grotto to be lost. But don't you understand the danger to your wife? You're not suggesting that to somebody's cracked brain, your wife is Josephine Adams? Create it all over again. It couldn't be done. It was done, my friend. Sounded like a dog howling. Mrs. Cottney is rather a long time in getting that whiskey. She wouldn't go near the balcony. She promised not to go out on the balcony. People do very perverse things, my friend, when they know they shouldn't. Lucy! Lucy! That seems to be Tiberius out on the balcony. I can't see anything else from here. She's gone! She's gone! She's... gone! An empty balcony. A howling dog. And a sea turned clear silver under the moon. Then, after the tumult and the shouting, there are other pictures. Don't you hear the noise of that motor launch with a half demented young man at the wheel? Three other familiar figures are gathered around him. Don't you recognize the brunette prettiness of Nellie Lucasa? And the white ten-gallon half of Harry Granger? And the neat, pointy beard of Dr. David. But what on earth is he going to do out here in this motorboat? I'd like to know that one myself. Listen, please! All of you! Easy, sir. We're with you. What time is it? Time? Yes. What time is it? It's past two in the morning, going on for three. Twelve hours. Then the tide ought to be just where it was this afternoon. What's the tide got to do with it? A whole lot. Somebody set a trap and made Lucy fall off that dock in here. I know it. Oh, that's absurd! If Lucy's been carried out to sea, there's nothing we can do about it. But if she's been carried along with the current and into the Blue Grotto... No, ma'am. You're not proposing to run this big launch under that arch after dark? Yes, doctor. That's just exactly it. Go on. Do it. I'll back you up. Let's have some excitement. This'll be exciting enough, I assure you. Mr. Courtney, have you got some wild hope of recovering your wife's body? I've even got a wild hope she may be alive. Lucy's a very strong swimmer. You're acting like a nerd, sir. Get set, everybody. I'm going to swing around. We're in the killer now. Better hold tight. I've got to duck my own head when we go through. Everybody else, squat down. It's my stupid test against this. Don't you understand, Mr. Courtney? Get ready! Here we go. Don't! There's no Blue Grotto. It's as black as pitch. My dear Nelly, I kept trying to tell all of you. The Blue Grotto effect is caused by the sun's rays. There never is one except when the sun is out. Just how does our friend propose to find anything in here? Listen. Something got all over the side of the boat. I... I felt it move. Not the date girl, I trust. There's a hand here. A wet hand. Lucy! She's not alive. Mr. Granger, help me lift her up over the side. Easy, easy now. Don't ship the boat. Oh, Lucy. Lucy, are you all right? No, don't. Are you all right, Lucy? Can you hear me? All right, not in here. Couldn't swim out against current. I don't try to talk. Who's with you? Only our friends. Who's with you? Is the murderer with you? I was just wondering the same thing. To be shut up in the dark at three o'clock in the morning with a criminal lunatic. I spoke bad. Now, Lucy, don't hold me so tight. Let go, dear. I'll get the boat started and have you out of here in a second. Oh, I spoke bad. Only Dr. Davis. Tom, I got to tell you. I know how that girl, Josephine Adams, died. Has anybody here got some brandy? Or a flashlight? I have a flashlight, my friend. Will you allow me, as a medical man, to reach down on Mrs. Courtney? You better keep back with just a second, doctor. She's discoverable. Give me the flashlight, please. I walked into the other room. Nobody with me. All alone, except Hyperius. Yes, Lucy? Somebody called my name. From the balcony, I thought. Very softly. Did you recognize the voice? Yes. That's why I went. And you better start up this boat and get out of here. Don't pay any attention to the Lucy. Nobody can hurt your mouth. I went out in the balcony. The bright moonlight. Bright as day. But there was nobody there. Nobody on the balcony? No. I looked out over the sea. And then something came at me. Something flew out of the air and came at me. Just one moment. Before Mrs. Courtney goes on. Is anybody in this boat carrying a revolver? Not that I know of. Excuse my mentioning it. But I felt something. Metal. Like a revolver. A brush past my hand. There's only the flashlight. Excuse me, it was not a flashlight. Mr. Courtney's got the flashlight. Would you please let Lucy go on and finish? Lucy, you were on the balcony and something came at you. Yes. Like a snake. Sideways. Out of the air. It went over my head. Fastened from my neck. It was a rope. With a running noose in it. A rope? That's it. A rope. It was thrown from another balcony. Small and light. Like Josephine Adams. Pulled me sideways. And over the rail. I fell. I think I begin to understand. They couldn't see what happened to Josephine Adams. Frosted glass doors to the balcony. So they couldn't see. Take it easy now. You're perfectly safe. Is she perfectly safe? The murderer. Let her fall on the rope. But the rope was jerk tight. Long before she struck the water. That broke her neck. Then the murderer lowered her softly. So there wasn't any splash. And the current took her away rope and all. That's it. It would have happened to me. Only the rope must have slipped through the murderer's fingers. Through whose fingers? What did I tell you? Somebody in this boat has got to revolve. Who's overboard? Somebody went. Switch on that light, my friend. And shine it on the water. All right. There's your light. Look at it. Turning over and over. The water in the blue grotto is red now. Tom, stay close to me. It's all right, Lucy. I swear you're safe enough now. Did it shoot himself? Yes. Did who shoot himself? Who had a balcony exactly like ours on the house next door? Who began life as a cow puncher and would have known how to use a lasso? Yes. And knew Josephine Adams well. And got it into his maniac's head that Mrs. Courtney was Josephine Adams all over again. Harry Granger. Look. There's his 10 gallon hat floating away. And so ends the Bride Vanishes, a story of mysterious doings in the Isle of Capri. And tonight's story of... Suspense. Columbia presents these tales of mystery and intrigue and dangerous adventure for your relaxation and enjoyment. Next Tuesday there'll be another in this series. Same hour. 9.30 Eastern wartime. William Spear, the producer. John Deets, the director. Alexander Semler, the composer, conductor and John Dixon Carr, the author. Our collaborators on... Suspense. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.