 Family Theatre presents Ricardo Montalban and Bill Williams. From Hollywood, the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theatre presents Now You See Him, starring Bill Williams. And now, here is your host, Ricardo Montalban. Family Theatre's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families and peace for the world. Family Theatre urges you to pray, pray together, as a family. And now to our transcribed drama, Now You See Him, starring Bill Williams as Pete. Although there is no truth in the following story, and we offer it only as a fanciful venture into the improbable, the strange disappearance of Dr. Emmett Stack, as Heron described, could take place tomorrow, without violating one physical law of the universe. Lieutenant Kemper Robbery. Oh, yes, sir. Right away, Captain. You know, I've been very patient with you these last weeks, you know that? I know that. You're a lieutenant of detectives. One of the white-haired boys. Well, let me tell you, since this Dr. Stack disappeared after those robberies, you'd do nothing but stand by the water cooler looking like a man in shock. Well, supposing I told you I am in shock, or pretty close to it. And I'd say you ought to close this private detective agency you're running on the city's time, and tell me what you know. I'm not sure what I know. I'm not sure at all. Well, then what do you think you know? Where Dr. Stack is? I hope you're kidding. I'm not kidding at all. We have been scouring the city and the county and the state for this guy, and you were... I think I can take you to within 50 feet of where he is, but it might not do any good. It's just a guess, but I'd say 50 feet would cover it. Pete, when's your vacation coming up? Sure, sure. Go ahead, laugh. I'm not laughing. I think Stack is still in Van Rootens. The jewelry store? That's also just a guess. But it's warm in there and no elements, no weather. Well, we went over the whole place. We went over with a comb. Where could he hide? I don't think he's hiding. I think he's trapped. And if he's alive, I think he knows it. I got the first inkling of what Dr. Stack was up to last March when you sent Sergeant Gomez and me out to his house to check on Vincent, his lab assistant. Yes? Mrs. Stack? Well, I'm Mrs. Stack. I'm Lieutenant Kemper, Police Department. This is Sergeant Gomez. Hello? How do you do? May we come in, please? Well, of course. Is something wrong? We'd like to speak to your husband if he's in. Well, he's busy just now. He's working in his laboratory out behind the garage. I can tell him on the house phone if it's really important. It is. Do you happen to know Mrs. Stack if Mr. Vincent is with him? Why, yes, Sergeant. They've both been down there since about three this afternoon, just after lunch. Ralph, can I speak to Emmett, please? It's an emergency. Well, there are two gentlemen here from the Police Department. They'd like to see him. Well, all right. No, I don't think they'll mind. Yes, I'll tell them. They're just finishing up some tests. Do you mind waiting a few minutes? Not at all. Your husband's on the staff at State Tech, isn't he? Well, he was, but this last year he's been working independently. He was given a grant by the Maynard Foundation. He must be doing some very important work. Well, I seem to think so. Is that humming sound coming from down in his lab? Yes, it's some kind of power supply, I think. I don't know too much about it. Pretty hard to take an afternoon nap with that kind of thing going on. You get used to it after a while. Mrs. Stack, how long is Ralph Vincent been working for your husband? About six months, I'd say. Would you know how he happened to hire him? I think he was recommended by someone at the university. Why? Just curious. He seemed to be pretty good at his job. I'm sure he is, or Emmet wouldn't keep him on. Oh, Emmet, this is Lieutenant... Uh, Kemper. Oh, of course. Excuse me. How do you do? Uh, Dr. Stack, Sergeant Gomez. Good evening, Doctor. Sergeant, my assistant, Mr. Vincent, glad to know you. Mr. Vincent? What can I do for you gentlemen? Just a few questions we'd like to ask you. About what? Privately. Very well. Come on into the den. Beth, why don't you put on some coffee? All right. Want me to lock up, Doctor? Yes, Ralph. You might as well. Well? It's about the man who's working for you, Doctor. Ralph Vincent. I thought so. You know his background? Of course I know his background. Why do you suppose I hired him? We were just going to ask you. I should think the police would have better things to do than go around hounding a man who... We're not hounding anybody, Doctor. Ralph has paid his debt to society. He served his time, and now I think he has as much right as anyone else to a decent job and a chance to make something of himself. No question there, Doctor. It just seems funny his landing a job like this, something he has no qualifications for. He has more than you think. As a physicist? Of course not. I don't need that kind of an assistant, even if I could afford one. But Ralph's a good precision machinist. He has a fair understanding of electricity, and he's not afraid of work. Do you have any idea where he was around 9.30 tonight? I know exactly where he was, down in the lab, with me. We've been there most of the day. This is pretty serious, Doctor. If he wasn't there and you're trying to cover up for him, I'm not trying to cover up a single thing. We've been working there together since just after lunch. Read him the report, Joe. At 9.36 tonight, a burglary was reported by the firm of our pens and Rogers Jewelers 206 Front Street. Jewelery valued at $18,000 was taken from the premises. No evidence of breaking and entering was found, but a man tentatively identified as Ralph Vincent, a former convict with a record of similar burglaries, was seen in the vicinity at the time of the crime. That's nonsense. Who was it that claims to have seen him? A night watchman. He chose Vincent's picture out of a dozen mug shots. Well, then if I were you, I'd check very carefully into the watchman's background. We're doing that. Because he's lying. Ralph's been here with me all evening. I'm still not sure what originally gave me the idea that Dr. Stack himself was behind the robberies. But remember that day a few weeks later after the custom job when you called Joe and me in here and took us over the coals? Look, you're going to have to give this Vincent idea up and start fresh. He's not your man. He's our best bet so far. Forget him. What about the watchman on the art pens robbery? Well, he's singing a different tune. He's not sure at all it was Vincent now. And on the two subsequent jobs there haven't been any witnesses in any way Vincent had an ironclad alibi each time. I'm not so sure I consider Dr. Stack's word an ironclad alibi. Pete, the man is a respected scientist. We have no reason to assume that he... Sir, speaking. No, just a minute. For you, Pete. Hello? Yes, this is Lieutenant Kemper. That's right. I'm the officer that called. I see. Well, thank you. Thank you very much, sir. Bye. Well, I've got a motive for you. A motive for what? For respected scientists to go around holding up jewelry stores. That was one of the administrators of the Maynard Foundation. Stack's grant runs out in two months and they're not going to renew it. So that makes him a crook? I'm just saying it's a reason why he might be. What you seem to forget, Peter, my boy, is that you started out trying to hang this job on Vincent. I'm still trying to. And why would he go around heisting jewels to help Stack finance his research? Why would he cut the dock in it all? Maybe in exchange for the alibi Stack gives him. Oh, that's pretty thin. You know, Pete, there's one thing about these robberies that makes me wonder if maybe we're not barking up the wrong tree. Yeah? No breaking and entering. All the jobs have an inside look to them. No broken windows, no pride locks. That's the point I was just about to make. Vincent might have a contact in one of those places, but not all three. It's just too much to swallow. Who's ever doing it is getting a lot of cooperation. Admit it. And they're all one-man jobs. That's still no proof they're done by the same man. I think this is where we're going off. So let's have it my way. Forget about Vincent and Stack and start looking for another angle. Well, we did just that. On the taxpayers' time, Joe and I followed orders and left Vincent and Dr. Stack alone. But after hours, well, we figured the way we entertained ourselves was our own business. It took a week of waiting, seven nights sitting in the hills behind Stack's laboratory before we finally got the break we were after. Hey, Pete. Yeah? Likes just went out in the lab. Anyone come out here? No. Sit tight. What kind of experiments is Stack working on anyway? You ever heard of a thing called the Lorenz Transformation? Yeah, no. It's a series of mathematical equations worked out by a Dutch physicist. Well, if it's a arithmetic, forget the question. Keep down. Someone just opened the door. Yeah, it's Vincent. Isn't Stack with him? I don't see him. He's locking the door from the outside. Well, the dock must still be there where we saw him go in together. And how come Vincent's locking him in and why are the lights out? There he goes around the other side of the building. I don't get this at all. Maybe Stack's in some kind of trouble. Vincent might have sapped him or tied him up in there. How do you like that? He's driving off in Stack's car. Got your key collection? Yeah, right here. Limber him up, boy. We're going in that lab. I think this one's got a key. Good boy. Inside. It's pretty black in here. Let me have your light. Yeah, here. Thanks. Hmm. No sign of the dock, huh? Nothing. How about that wall locker? Jacket? A pair of tennis shoes. That's all. Well, he's not here, partner. Figure that one out. There wasn't much to the place. At first glance, it didn't seem to have any more equipment than you'd find in the average high school physics laboratory. But there are a few exceptions. The small wind tunnel, for example, with a blower at one end. Electric hook up connected to the horizontal revolving disc. And lastly, the big microscope and the set of what looked like watchmaker's instruments. It still leaves us in the cold about where the dock is. Bring the light over here a little closer. Hmm. What's this look like to you? Wooden matches, little pieces of them. You look more like balsa wood to me. You mean that model airplane stuff? Hey, look. Look at the back of the table. Some pieces of thread. Some more of that balsa stuff. All tied together. Hey, look. When you unwind this, it's like a tiny model of those rope ladders you see on a ship. Yeah, a Jacob's ladder. How do you figure this kind of doodling ties up to big equations like the dock's supposed to be working on? A tiny rope ladder and watchmaker's tools. I don't know. It could, but it's pretty crazy. But it could to the arithmetic? Yeah. And maybe even the robberies. The thing I was telling you about, the Lorenz transformation, it's a mathematical formula that was used to work out a lot of the theories of relativity. The fourth dimension, that whole business. Man, where'd you get all this? Reading up on Dr. Stack and the work he's doing. I've been at it a couple of weeks now. You're going to lose me if you get in the Einstein. I couldn't walk five feet in that direction. But the Lorenz formula, what it proves is that as a thing moves faster, it gets smaller. I dug out that much anyhow. I'm kidding. Is that so in the books? This is a new thought, huh? It goes back quite a few years. Lots of people are working on it. Of course, when they say moves faster, they mean a lot faster, up around the speed of light. Which is what? 186,000 miles a second. Boy, you're full of news tonight. You asked me, I told you. You're trying to say Stack's got it worked out how to move something around that fast? Well, this is where it gets a little muddy. The way the scientists explain it, speed is relative. Like a thing can be moving fast in relation to one thing and seem to be standing still in relation to another. Like two kids riding along side by side on bicycles. They can reach out and shake hands as if they were standing still, but they're not. I keep going. Well, if you could paddle fast enough to get up around the speed of light, they'd get smaller and smaller. They wouldn't look that way to each other, but they would to us. Like I said, it's relative. Yeah, you better go back and finish that book. I finished it. Now, I tell you, this stuff works. There's no telling what a smart guy like the doctor could do with it. Uh-oh. Probably from up in the house. Mrs. Stack. You think she's in on this, too? It doesn't look like it. If she knew where they were, she wouldn't be calling down here. What are you gonna do? Take a chance. Hello? No, Mrs. Stack. It isn't Ralph. It's Lieutenant Kemper. I wondered if you'd come down here. We'd like to talk to you. Mrs. Stack took a good deal of calming down. Even after she got over the shock of finding us rummaging through a husband's laboratory, she still couldn't believe he was implicated in any wrongdoing. Although she had no explanation of where he might be or why he would have gone out without telling her. So we sat down to wait the three of us in the darkened laboratory. About 1130, we heard a car pull up outside, and a few moments later, a key turned in the laboratory door. All right, Vincent. What? Get him up. You heard him mack up in the air. What is this? Where's come Joe? Ralph, where's Emmett? Mrs. Stack, I... Where is he? What have you done with him? Take it easy, Mrs. Stack. We'll find out. You guys got a warrant to do this? Yeah, we got a warrant. See it? Five fingers full, all doubled up. Tough guy. You're under suspicion of a felony, Vincent. We don't need a warrant. Wallet, pocket knife, bottle of capsules, some change. And that's it. Where's Dr. Stack? I don't know. What's the felony? You'll find out when we book you. Where's the doc? I told you, I don't know. We saw you both coming here around six o'clock. You left alone at 830, and he's not here. Now where is he? He left ahead of me. Not out that door, he didn't. And that's the only one. Ralph, no matter what kind of trouble you're in, I'll help you, but please tell us... Mrs. Stack, I don't know. But he was here with you. He left. That's all I can tell you. What are you doing, copper? Just looking at this bottle of capsules. Any objection? No. Now go ahead. Look all you want. Did you find something, Pete? Something odd, anyhow. There's only one capsule in the inn. The rest of the bottle is filled up with cotton. Is that the felony? Shut up. Also, the capsule's empty. There's a pinhole poked in each end of it and half a dozen more in the bottle cap. Oh, Lieutenant, while you're standing here talking about capsules and bottles, my husband... All right, Mrs. Stack. Joe? Yeah? Take her up to the house. Call downtown and file a missing person's report on the doctor. Yes, sir. Mr. Vincent and I will be along in a moment. All right, Lieutenant. Start pushing. I've had it before. Not from me. I don't figure you're going to be much different. You light it up like a Christmas tree when I told Joe to file that missing person's report. Did I? You birds are all the same. You think every cop's a muscle head. So I light it up. What's that going to get me? Five to ten? Well, you won't find Stack. Don't you think I know that? No, I don't think you do. You stood for six months at that man's elbow and watched him work. What looked like a miracle. I know that much. And then he got desperate for money, and you got an idea, a nice double-crossing idea. Prove something. Guess yourself blue on the face, but try to prove something. Do you? I'll do for a study. This bottle with the empty capsule in it. Yeah? You think I don't know why it's empty? Well, you know the rest. There was nothing we could book Vincent on. So we never even brought him in. Next morning, we got the report from Van Rootens about the robbery. But by then, Vincent had cleared out after wrecking all the equipment in the Doc's lab. And you figure he still got those jewels they heistened? I don't know. By now, he may have even gotten rid of them. Look, if they've been friends... I said gotten rid of them. Thrown away, tossed in the river. But between the four jobs, it was over $100,000 worth. Who tossed that away? A man who didn't want a risk getting caught and facing a murder charge. You think Vincent killed the doctor? No. I think he just abandoned him. But it might come down to the same thing if we could prove intent and recover the body. But you don't think so. I doubt it. It's been two weeks, and that time a man could starve to death. Okay, Pete, I'm ready for anything. What's your theory? Dr. Stack had worked out a way to reduce things in size by somehow reproducing the same conditions they'd be under if they were moving at a speed that approaches the velocity of light. And then what? He probably tried it on a lot of things, even living things. I think that's why the big microscope was there, to study their behavior. And finally, he must have tried it on himself. If he did, how small do you think he'd get? From the evidence we found, I'd say about half an inch high. Pete... Look, if you're going to ask me how I feel or when my vacation is coming up, I'll stop right now and go back and fill out some forms. I was just going to ask. What evidence? Can I use your phone? Sure. 602, please. Joe? Pete. I'm in Captain Surf's office. Would you get that box out of my desk and the letters and bring them down here? Fine. You bet. Look, Pete, I'm, uh... I'm not laughing, but what good would it do a guy to be only half an inch tall if he was trying to rob a jewelry store? After it was closed, he could get into it through an air vent, cracking a window, or even a keyhole. And then how does he get the loot out? That's what the evidence shows. You admitted these had to be inside jobs. Well, I'll tell you frankly, Pete, I can't admit much of anything about this. It's too bug house. Okay. But it's the only way you can explain about half a dozen other things that are even more bug house. Like what? Like what happened to Dr. Stack the night Joe and I saw him go into his lab and not come out. You figure Vincent carried him out. In the capsule in the bottle with the air holes poked in the top. Uh, half an inch high? You got a better answer? Okay. What's the other five things? Make it just one. Vincent, seen by that watchman near the Arpennes Place just after the first robbery. With Dr. Stack in his pocket. Try for another explanation. See what you come up with. Don't get hot. I'm just asking. Come in. Come serve. Oh, come on in, Joe. This is the stuff you wanted, Pete. That's it. Just set it on the desk. This is just the way we picked this box up at the post office, Jack. Wrapped the way you see it. Returned to sender. It's been returned each time after each job. A pens, the next two stores and finally Van Rootens. Now here's the letter they used to send out ahead of it. They? Stack of Vincent. I'm not sure which they used a phony name on both ends. Mr. George Kellogg, Van Rootens Jewelers, 14 Chaucer Place. Read the body of the letter. Kellogg didn't have anything to do with it. He was just a way they used to get the box into the place. Here, sir. Mr. Waldo Tatum. That's a fake name, too. A former customer of yours will call for a package you will receive within the next few days. If for some reason you should fail to pick up this package by the 25th of this month, will you return it to your postman? The contents are insured and we have made arrangements to cover the return postage. Sincerely, Mr. Allen Bates. That's another fake name. Post Office Box 26. That's the one thing that ain't fake, captain. That's where I picked it up. This was their way of getting the equipment in and out of every place they were going to rob. They mailed it in and the company mailed it out. What equipment? Undo the wrapping and open the box. What is this stuff? What's it look like to you? Well, a lot of toys. They're not toys. I think that thing's a miniature hydraulic lift. A man about a half an inch high could operate it very easily. And that's a miniature tractor. And those little things are gasoline canes. Now, the way Joe and I have it doped out, they mailed in this equipment to the store they picked out to rob. Then, after he made himself small, Stack would have Vincent bring him to the place in the capsule. Somehow he'd get inside, cut open the string on this box and put the equipment to work and open the front door. Once Vincent was inside, it was easy. He'd emptied the showcases, repacked this box with the equipment, put Dr. Stack in the capsule and the little bottle he was carrying and leave locking the door behind him. And a day or so later, the box would be given back to the postman and who's the why, sir. Pretty neat, huh? And you think Vincent left Stack behind half an inch high on that last job at Van Rootens? He didn't come home with him that night two weeks ago. I saw the empty capsule. Where do you think the doc might be now? Like I said, one possibility is that he's still in Van Rootens. Oh, you think there's another? Well, now Joe and I were talking it over. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, Captain, how neat and tidy they keep those places. So? Well, it's kind of an unpleasant thought, but, well, unless Dr. Stack was real fast on his feet, will you spit it out one or the other of you? Let's face it, Captain. I'll face it. By now, he might be inside somebody's vacuum cleaner. This is Ricardo Montalván again. Just what is prayer? There are many answers, you know. It could be called the opening of our minds and hearts to God or calling for divine assistance, praising or blessing God is another definition many people use. Actually, though, prayer is nothing more than just talking to God. The form it might take doesn't alter its value as long as the prayer is sincere. How it is done is not nearly so important as that it be done for the very simple reason that God asked us to by giving us the Our Father, Our Lord's Prayer. And when you pray, whether you speak, think, shout, or sing your prayer, Family Theater recommends that you pray together as a family and that you make it a regular daily practice, perhaps a few minutes or seconds when the family has gathered for a meal for the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood Family Theater has brought you transcribed. Now you see him starring Bill Williams. Ricardo Montalván was your host. Others in our cast were Lou Krugman, Irene Tedrow, Herb Vigran, Fred Shields, and Barney Phillips. The script was written and directed by John T. Kelly with music composed and conducted by Henry Mancini. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program, by the mutual network which has responded to this need, and by the hundreds of stars of stage screen and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is George Crowell expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to join us next week when Family Theater will present Fair Exchange starring Bobby Driscoll. Gene Lockhart will be your host. Join us, won't you? Family Theater is broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. This is Mutual, the radio network for all America.