idn't fade away, rise, drop into the floor, or take any time
vanishing. He simply stopped being there.
[Illustration: _He just wasn't there any more._]
The police searched his room in the nearby Vanderbilt Arms Hotel. They
turned a portrait of the missing math professor to the newspapers to
publish. Arbright University offered a reward of one hundred dollars to
anyone who had seen him.
The police also found a savings pass book in his room. It had a balance
of three thousand eight hundred and forty dollars, which had been built
up to that figure by steady monthly deposits over a period of years. It
also had a withdrawal of three hundred and twenty dollars two days
before the disappearance. They were sure they were on the path to a
motive. This avenue of exploration came to an abrupt end with the
discovery that he had traded in his last year's car on a new one, and
that sum had been necessary to complete the deal.
After the third day the blackboard had been erased and the classroom
released for its regular classes. Police enthusiasm dropped to the norm
of what they called legwork. Finding out who the missing man's
acquaintances and friends were, calling on them and talking to them in
the hopes of picking up something they could go on.
They passed Martin Grant by because they had heard from him in their
initial work. In fact, he had been a little too present for their
tastes.
After ten days they dropped the case from the active blotter. The
University, seeing that there was little likelihood of having to shell
out the reward money, increased it to five hundred dollars.
But Martin Grant continued to ponder over a conversation he himself had
had with John Henderson during a dinner six weeks to the day before his
old friend had vanished. He remembered his own words...
* * * * *
"... and so you see, John, by following this trail, I've arrived at a
theory that has to do with the basic nature of the universe--of all
reality. Yet things don't behave as they would if my theory were
operating."
John Henderson frowned into space, disturbed. Visibly disturbed. Martin
watched him with a twinkle in his eyes.
"You must have gone off the track on it somewhere, Martin," John said
suddenly, as though trying more to convince himself than his listener.
Martin shook his head with slow positiveness. "You followed every step.
We spent four hours on it." He took pity on his friend. "Don't
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