A clang of something metallic falling to the floor jerked their attention back. Sigmund Archer had vanished. The handcuffs that had been on his wrists were on the floor.
"I caught it out of the corner of my eye," one of the two detectives said. "He became sort of transparent like he was made of glass, and vanished."
"And," Trowbridge said dryly, "he could have done it at any time since he came in here."
The phone shrilled with startling suddenness. It was Trowbridge who recovered from the paralysis of surprise first. He took two quick strides to the phone and scooped it up.
"Yes," he said curtly. Then, "Okay, stand by down there. Don't let him out if he goes back down." He dropped the phone and looked at the others. Fred Stone just entered the elevator, " he said quietly.
The knock at the door was three regularly spaced polite raps. Every eye in the room was fixed intently on the shadowy movements on the frosted glass that accompanied the knocking.
It was Trowbridge who went to the door, motioning Jan back.
Jan looked at Paula desperately, then took a deep breath. Paula, eyes round, turned from him back to the door as Trowbridge twisted the knob.
After he had twisted the knob Trowbridge seemed to hesitate a second. Then he jerked the door open and reached out, seizing the startled Fred Stone by the arm and jerking him off balance, propelling him into the room.
"Fred!" Jan said swiftly. "You're going to be killed!"
But the hurtling figure of Fred Stone had vanished before their eyes, leaving Trowbridge with a stupid surprise on his face as he looked at his empty fingers.
"Now you've done it!" Jan said. "You scared the wits out of him with that stupid play."
"Maybe he'll be back," Trowbridge said, still looking at his hand peculiarly.
"Be back?" Jan echoed angrily. "Don't you remember what he said just before he died? That he wished he had waited to hear what I was trying to say to him? He won't be back. He's gone back in time to attend that lecture and ask his questions--and be killed."
"I guess you're right," Trowbridge said, shaking his hand jerkily as if it was asleep. "So there's no use sticking around here any longer." He gave his two subordinates a significant look and went to the door.
He opened it and stood to one side while they went out. His eyes were on Jan, sympathetically. Jan was glaring at him, so angry he was speechless.
"I wouldn't bother about it too much if I were you, Jan," he said kindly. "Remember you have a secret you'd die rather than reveal. A scientific secret that could conceivably do a lot of damage in the wrong hands--now or two hundred years from now. Me, I probably wouldn't understand it if you told it to me. One thing I do know though is cops. Being one myself I can tell one a mile off." A grin flashed across his face as he backed out of the door. He closed it until only his face and part of his body were visible. "You see, Jan," he said softly, "Sigmund Archer was a cop."
He withdrew his head. The door closed softly.
About the Author
Roger Phillips Graham (1909-1965) was an American science fiction writer who most often wrote under the name Rog Phillips, but also used other names, including A. R. Steber , Craig Browning , Robert Arnette , John Wiley , Melva Rogers , Gerald Vance , Inez McGowan , Mallory Storm , Franklin Bahl , Drew Ames , Sanandana Kumara , Roger Graham , Charles Lee, Peter Worth , Milton Mann , Roger P. Graham. He is most associated with Amazing Stories and is best known for short fiction. He was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1959.
Other works by Rog Phillips
So Shall Ye Reap
These Are My Children
Vacation in Shasta
Atom War
The Mutants
Battle of the Gods
Dual Personality
The House
The Uninvited Jest
The Despoilers
High Ears
And Eve Was
The Venusian (by Craig Browning)
Armageddon (by Craig Browning)
Tillie (by Craig Browning)
Brainstorm (by Alexander Blade)
Hate
Twice to Die
The Supernal Note
Starship from Sirius
The Cube Root of Conquest
The Unthinking Destroyer
The Form of Hunger (by Craig Browning)
The Runaround (by Craig Browning)
Window to the Future (by Peter Worth)
The Robot and the Pearly Gates (by Peter Worth)
I Died Tomorrow (by Peter Worth)
Unforseen (by Roger P. Graham)
Lunar Holiday (by Peter Worth)
The Can Opener
M'Bong-Ah
Quite Logical
She
Unthinkable
The Shortcut
The Robot Men of Bubble City
The Awakening
The Tangential Semanticist
Incompatible
Matrix
Planet of the Dead
Beyond the Matrix of Time
The Miracle of Elmer Wilde
Seven Come A-Lovin' (by Craig Browning)
Lorelei Street (by Craig Browning)
The Exteroceptor Deceptor (by Craig Browning)
The Friendly Wolf (by Craig Browning)
Goddess of the Volcano (by Craig Browning)
Spawn of Darkness (by Craig Browning)
Two Against Venus (by Craig Browning)
Vial of Immortality (by Craig Browning)
Victims of the Vortex (by Clinton Ames)
Read It and Weep! (by Peter Worth)
Warrior Queen of Mars (by Alexander Blade)
Slaves of the Crystal Brain (by William Carter Sawtelle)
Null F (by Peter Worth)
This Time
To Give Them Welcome (by Melva Rogers)
The Pranksters
Typewriter from the Future (by Peter Worth)
Detour from Tomorrow
The Fatal Technicality
Live in an Orbit and Love It! (by Craig Browning)
The Face Beyond the Veil (by Franklin Bahl)
The Lost Bomb
The Mental Assassins (by Gregg Conrad)
"If You Were Me . . ."
Holes in My Head
Weapon from the Stars
A Man Named Mars (by A. R. Steber)
One for the Robot - Two for the Same . . .
Love My Robot
Rescue Beacon (by Craig Browning)
Bubastis of Egupt (by Craig Browning)
A Matter of Stupidity (by Robert Arnette)
The Master Ego (by Peter Worth)
Courtesy Call (by A. R. Steber)
Empire of Evil (by Robert Arnette)
"You'll Die Yesterday!"
Secret of the Flaming Ring (by P. F. Costello)
In What Dark Mind
Vampire of the Deep
The Man from Mars
Who Sows the Wind . . .
The Imitators (by Peter Worth)
The President Will See You . . .
Remember Not to Die!
"Step Out of Your Body, Please!"
Checkmate for Aradjo
The Unfinished Equation (by Robert Arnette)
Moon of Twelve Gods (by Robert Arnette)
No Greater Wisdom
The Visitors
The Old Martians
A More Potent Weapon
The World of Whispering Wings
Destiny Uncertain
The Man Who Lived Twice
Black Angels Have No Wings
All the Answers
Adam's First Wife
I'll See You in My Dreams
It's in the Cards
“It's Like This”
Visitor from Darkness
The Sorceress
Frontiers Beyond the Sun (by Mallory Storm)
Ye of Little Faith
The Menace
The Lady Killer (by Franklin Bahl)
Your Funeral Is Waiting
The Lost Ego
The Phantom Truck Driver
The Cyberene
Pariah
From This Dark Mind
Go Visit Your Grave
The Cosmic Junkman
Repeat Performance
The Devil's Dollhouse
Assignment to Life (by Sanandana Kumara)
The Kid With the Beautiful Hands ( by Melva Rogers)
Earthbound (by Charles Lee)
. . . Lest Ye Be Judged (by Sanandana Kumara)
Mistress of the Kama-Loka (by Peter Worth)
Ming Cha (by Milton Mann)
In the Twinkling of an Eye (by Sanandana Kumara)
The Holy Man (by Sanandana Kumara)
What Is to Be. . . (by Melva Rogers)
The Golden Kitten (by Charles Lee)
God Is in the Mountain (by Peter Worth)
Am I My Dark Brother's Keeper (by Sanandana Kumara)
A Handful of Sand
Teach Me to Kill
Homestead
Executioner No. 43
Game Preserve
Truckstop
The Cosmic Trap (by Gerald Vance)
World of Traitors
Captain Peabody
Lefty Baker's Nuthouse
Venusian, Get Out!
It's Better Not to Know
Ground Leave Incident
Refeuling Station
Prophecy, Inc.
Services, Incorporated
Space Is for Suckers (by P. F. Costello)
Jason's Secret
In This Dark Mind (by Inez McGowan)
The Yellow Pill
Rat in the Skull
Unto the Nth Generation
The Gallery
The Creeper in the Dream
Keepers in Space
The Only One That Lived
Camouflage
The Lurker