Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre

Narrator: Last time on Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's presentation of Father Gilbert: Where The Heart Is.

Mrs. Mayhew: It's a letter from an American collector of some sort, Lori Peters. She says she's in the country for a short time and wants to see the Esselton Chalice.

Mr. Urquhart: What? Oh, I've heard of the Esselton Chalice all right. I always thought it was a Stonebridge myth.

Lori Peters: All I know is that Stanley Tomlinson was the vicar here at the time.

Mrs. Mayhew: Father Tomlinson had a son who still lives in Southhaven. He might know where the chalice is.

Arthur Tomlinson: In one night, I lost not only my parents but everything to do with them. So, I'm sure you can appreciate my lack of interest in your blasted chalice.

Father Gilbert: And what can I do for you, Special Agent Green?

Sydney Green: I see that you've been approached by a woman who currently goes by the name of Lori Peters.

Father Gilbert: Currently? She's had other names?

Mr. Urquhart: Hello? Who's down there?

Father Gilbert: Quickly, Father. They must have been hiding behind one of the crypts.

Mr. Urquhart: Oh, that's brilliant.

Father Gilbert: It's not brilliant, Mr. Urquhart. It's dark.

Mr. Urquhart: Let's hope it was the storm that put the lights out.

Father Gilbert: Well, only if the storm just locked the door on us too. Then we're trapped like rats.

Dave Arnold: Is he a priest or is he a detective? Father Gilbert used to be a detective inspector for Scotland Yard. Focus on the Family Radio Theatre presents the Father Gilbert Mysteries. These stories about detective-turned-Anglican priest Louis Gilbert blend suspense-filled action and soul-searching drama, plus the spectacular effects and sound quality you've come to expect from Radio Theatre. To get your copy, log on to our website at radiotheatre.org. That's radiotheatre.org.

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Mr. Drake: Oh, someone left the door unlocked last night. And the lights were left on. How odd. Father Gilbert? Mr. Urquhart?

Mr. Urquhart: Let us out of here! Open the door! Somebody let us out!

Mr. Drake: My word. Who is it? Who's there?

Father Gilbert: It's us. Will you please just open the door?

Mr. Drake: I would, but the key isn't in... Oh, wait. Here it is. Someone put it on the shelf. What on earth were you doing down there?

Father Gilbert: I don't want to talk about it. Hello? Who is that?

Sydney Green: Sydney Green, Special Agent of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at your service.

Father Gilbert: Not while I'm in the bath you aren't. What are you doing in my house?

Sydney Green: Oh, how are you? I knocked several times on the front door. It was unlocked, so I let myself in to make certain that you're all right.

Father Gilbert: I'm in the bath.

Sydney Green: Understood. I'll not interrupt.

Father Gilbert: But you have interrupted.

Sydney Green: Not to worry. I'll wait in the front room. Come down at your leisure.

Father Gilbert: Oh, that's kind of you. Blast. Oh, do make yourself at home.

Sydney Green: Oh, thank you, sir. Would you like some tea? It's freshly brewed.

Father Gilbert: Yeah, I'd love some. Thanks.

Sydney Green: I blame myself for what happened last night.

Father Gilbert: You know about it?

Sydney Green: I stopped by the church before coming here. Mrs. Mayhew was most helpful. There you are.

Father Gilbert: Thank you.

Sydney Green: I'll let you sugar your own. I understand you use an obscene amount.

Father Gilbert: How could you possibly know that?

Sydney Green: Better not to say. Now, about last night. I followed Lori Peters when she checked into the Stonebridge Cottage Bed and Breakfast at 5:47 PM. Had her dinner at the George and Dragon Pub, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, from 7:10 to approximately 8:30 PM. Then she returned to the bed and breakfast for the night at approximately 8:50 PM.

I watched the front of the establishment closely. Unfortunately, she must have slipped out the back. I can't tell you how foolish I feel.

Father Gilbert: No more foolish than I feel after spending an entire night in a dismally cold and wet crypt.

Sydney Green: Well, presumably sometime after 9:00, she went to the church.

Father Gilbert: I had a service there until a little after 9:00.

Sydney Green: She slipped in while you were conducting the service and was in the crypt looking for the Esselton Chalice when you happened upon her.

Father Gilbert: There were plenty of hiding places down there. Mr. Urquhart was telling me about a secret vault he discovered in the tower, which is when she made a dash for it and locked us in the crypt.

Sydney Green: Then it's safe to assume she recovered the chalice and any other artifacts from the tower and has disappeared.

Father Gilbert: I wouldn't assume that at all. If Lori Peters ran to the vault in the tower, she wouldn't have found anything there. Mr. Urquhart assures me that it was empty.

Sydney Green: And you trust him?

Father Gilbert: Of course I do.

Sydney Green: Might he not be the sort to take the chalice for himself?

Father Gilbert: You are as suspicious as Lori Peters.

Sydney Green: It comes with the job.

Father Gilbert: Hello? Oh, yes, Mrs. Mayhew. Is she? Well, that is a surprise. Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes. Thank you.

Sydney Green: Something significant?

Father Gilbert: Lori Peters is waiting for me at the church.

Sydney Green: She's a smooth one, all right.

Father Gilbert: Look, is there anything in particular that you want me to do?

Sydney Green: Play it cool, but keep a watchful eye from a distance.

Father Gilbert: Not too distant, I hope. Well, Miss Peters, I'm very surprised to see you here.

Lori Peters: I'm sorry. I know I should have phoned first, but I'm so curious about the crypt.

Father Gilbert: Oh, are you? After last night, I would have thought your curiosity was satisfied.

Lori Peters: Last night? What are you talking about?

Father Gilbert: I think you know very well, which is why I'm so surprised to see you now. It takes a lot of nerve to lock me and Mr. Urquhart in the crypt and then return the next morning feigning innocence. But what else can you do since the chalice wasn't in the tower?

Lori Peters: In the tower? Father Gilbert, I promise that I don't know what you're talking about.

Father Gilbert: Oh, well, let's talk about what you do know then. I'd like some clear answers about your interest in the chalice.

Lori Peters: I told you.

Father Gilbert: I know what you told me. What I want to know now is the name of the person you're working for. Who hired you?

Lori Peters: I'm sorry, but that's confidential. He's a wealthy client, and he doesn't want anyone to know his name.

Father Gilbert: All right, we'll leave that for the moment. Why does this anonymous client want to find this chalice? He wouldn't go to all this trouble for a few color photographs and an autograph from me.

Lori Peters: What my benefactor hopes to do is to persuade you to sell the chalice to him once it's found. He wants it for his collection. I'm authorized to offer you a lot of money for it, certainly enough to restore your tower.

Father Gilbert: So it's worth that much to him, is it?

Lori Peters: Yes. Now have you finished your interrogation? Honestly, you're more like a cop than a priest.

Father Gilbert: Well, an overnight stay in damp places brings that out in me.

Lori Peters: Am I cleared, or am I still a suspect?

Father Gilbert: You're on probation.

Lori Peters: Okay, fine. But now let me tell you a few things I'm concerned about. If someone locked you in the crypt and I didn't do it, then that means someone else is looking for the chalice.

Father Gilbert: Like who?

Lori Peters: Another collector. Maybe someone posing as an art expert or silversmith or a detective or a policeman.

Father Gilbert: Yeah, you'll have to be more specific.

Lori Peters: More specific? Then you have been approached. Oh, I should have known. Let me think. Who'd be following me? Richard Collier. No, he's retired. Morris Bishop. No, he's in jail. Sydney Green? Not Sydney Green. Scoundrel.

What ruse did he take this time? Was he an art expert, or did he pretend to be some kind of detective?

Father Gilbert: I haven't admitted meeting Sydney Green.

Lori Peters: But you have, haven't you? Of course you have. He's always one step behind me. But you better watch out for him, Father. Green is a private investigator for some of the top antiques pirates in this country.

Father Gilbert: Well, that's very interesting, and I'll keep it in mind if our paths happen to cross.

Lori Peters: You sure play things close to the vest.

Father Gilbert: Close to the vestments, I think you'll find.

Mr. Drake: Father Gilbert. Oh, sorry. I didn't know Miss Peters was still here. I thought you'd have had her arrested by now.

Father Gilbert: Miss Peters denies any wrongdoing. For the time being, she's on probation while we continue to search for the chalice.

Mr. Drake: Oh, we're going to keep looking?

Father Gilbert: Oh, with so many people making such a fuss over it, how can I refuse?

Lori Peters: And the money will help your tower.

Mr. Drake: Then you'll be interested in this announcement I found in one of the old church papers from 1940. It was right after the start of the Blitz. Here, read it for yourself.

Father Gilbert: Let's see. Father Tomlinson...

Mr. Drake: Father Tomlinson welcomes all of his parishioners to make use of his vault to keep their things for safekeeping, if indeed the Germans ever come.

Father Gilbert: I see. Items are...

Mr. Drake: Items are to be brought to the vicarage on the next Sunday after the Evensong service.

Father Gilbert: Yeah, I'm glad I read it for myself.

Mr. Drake: Don't you see, Father?

Father Gilbert: Not with your finger in the way.

Mr. Drake: Oh, pardon. Why would Father Tomlinson ask his parishioners to take their things to the vicarage?

Lori Peters: I get what you mean. If the vault was underneath the church, then he would have had them bring everything here. The secret vault must be at the vicarage.

Mr. Drake: Oh, but the original vicarage was bombed out. There isn't anything left of it except for a shell of the building, and it's now overgrown.

Lori Peters: Surely it's worth a look anyway. Father Gilbert?

Father Gilbert: All right, let's see what we can find. This is amazing. I never would have seen it tucked away back here if I hadn't been looking for it.

Mr. Drake: These woods have been untouched since the war. The city council is decidedly anti-development.

Lori Peters: Isn't it dangerous to leave a building like this standing? Shouldn't it have been knocked down?

Father Gilbert: This is England, Miss Peters. We don't knock our old buildings down as quickly as you Americans do.

Lori Peters: Oh, that's right. You let the Germans do it for you with bombs.

Father Gilbert: That's one to you. Now let's see if we can sort out the layout of this place. Mind that beam.

Lori Peters: Thank you.

Father Gilbert: It's going to be quite a trick finding anything in this rubble with stuff growing over everything.

Lori Peters: What's wrong?

Father Gilbert: I'm all right. Stupid tree root. I once had a great aunt and uncle who lived in a house like this.

I seem to recall there was a hatch in the kitchen leading down to a coal cellar, and they'd deliver it down a chute on the outside, and then my great uncle would go down the ladder and hoist the coal up through a sort of chimney-type hole, like a dumbwaiter in a hotel.

Lori Peters: Like that one over there?

Father Gilbert: Exactly.

Lori Peters: Were the coal cellars used strictly for coal, or were they large enough to store other things?

Father Gilbert: Well, I suppose people could have used them for more than coal. I'm going to need a shovel if I'm going to find a hatch under all this moss. I'll go and get one from the church.

Lori Peters: Yeah, we may need a flashlight, too.

Father Gilbert: Right. Bingo!

Lori Peters: Eureka then. I don't know what you say over here.

Father Gilbert: Oh, we behave with quiet dignity. Hand me the torch, please.

Lori Peters: Torch?

Father Gilbert: The flashlight. Oh, brilliant. We've found it. Oh, excellent.

Lori Peters: Quiet dignity. Now the trick is going to be getting this thing up.

Lori Peters: Do you get any brute strength with that quiet dignity?

Father Gilbert: Oh, don't be clever. Just give me a hand. All right. That wasn't too bad, was it?

Lori Peters: I'm going to need a month with my chiropractor.

Father Gilbert: There's a ladder. You wait here.

Lori Peters: I want to come with you.

Father Gilbert: Oh, yeah? Who will go for help if it has a sudden urge to cave in?

Lori Peters: I'll wait here.

Father Gilbert: Good idea. This ladder isn't very stable. The wood is rotten. Now let's see.

Lori Peters: Do you see anything?

Father Gilbert: A meager amount of coal, but doesn't look like the bomb did much damage. And there's an old chair, a vanity mirror, and... oh.

Lori Peters: Oh? What oh?

Father Gilbert: Well, I'll be... it's a vault.

Lori Peters: A vault? Like a real vault?

Father Gilbert: It's a hole in the wall with a metal door on it. It's as if Tomlinson put a safe in the wall.

Lori Peters: If it's a safe, does that mean it has a combination lock?

Father Gilbert: A combination lock, yeah, but it's broken. I'll try the handle.

Lori Peters: I want to come down.

Father Gilbert: No, no, no. I don't fancy being stuck underground for another night. If there's anything interesting, I'll bring it up. Right. There, that does it.

Lori Peters: Well?

Father Gilbert: Well, it's a box of some sort. Actually, it's more like a small trunk.

Lori Peters: Big enough to hold a chalice?

Father Gilbert: A chalice and more. It's got a lock on it. It's heavy. It must be solid oak.

Lori Peters: Hurry, I want to see.

Father Gilbert: I'm doing my best. Look, I'll bring it up through the hatch, but you're going to have to pull it away so I can get through.

Lori Peters: All right, let's go. Right. Well done. You're a lot stronger than you look.

Sydney Green: Thank you, Father. Mr. Green. Uh-uh. Don't come any further up. I'd prefer you stay where you are.

Father Gilbert: If you insist.

Lori Peters: I'm sorry about this, Father.

Father Gilbert: I doubt it. So the two of you are in cahoots.

Sydney Green: Only by necessity. She does the preliminary legwork, and then when she gets in over her head, I have to come and rescue her.

Lori Peters: What are you talking about? I was never in over my head.

Sydney Green: You were on a wild goose chase with Tomlinson in the crypt at the church. If I hadn't gone in to look for myself, you'd have been fiddling around for hours.

Lori Peters: Oh, right. And you nearly got caught by Father Gilbert and that janitor man. That was smart.

Sydney Green: Nearly, but I didn't get caught, did I? And as a result, I eliminated the crypt and the tower from our search in one night. You'd have taken a week to do that.

Lori Peters: I would have learned the truth about them this morning, and I wouldn't have alienated Father Gilbert in the process. It's a wonder he didn't call the police on you with that stupid fake badge.

Sydney Green: It fooled him.

Father Gilbert: Actually, it didn't. I have friends who work with Customs and Excise. They'd never heard of you.

Lori Peters: You see? If you'd waited just a little longer, then we could have skipped that routine.

Sydney Green: It's effective. Not that you'd know what effective means.

Lori Peters: Oh, be quiet. You make me sick.

Sydney Green: Well, then you shouldn't have married me.

Father Gilbert: I do marriage counseling on Thursdays. Can we please get on with whatever you plan to do?

Sydney Green: Yes, of course. Sorry. You always make a scene in public.

Lori Peters: I do not. Just open the box so we can get out of here.

Sydney Green: Well, then hand me the shovel, my dear. There. What about him?

Lori Peters: What about him?

Sydney Green: Well, once we have the chalice, what are we supposed to do with him?

Lori Peters: You should have thought of that before you made your appearance. I told you to wait for me at the bed and breakfast.

Sydney Green: And let you mess this up? Not a chance.

Lori Peters: Then I don't care what you do. You make a decision for once. You're the one with the gun.

Sydney Green: You don't seriously think I'm going to shoot him?

Lori Peters: No, but you can tell him to go back down in the hole and we'll close the top on him.

Father Gilbert: Oh, you're not locking me in another cellar.

Lori Peters: Only for a few minutes. Then I'll run back to the church and tell Mrs. Mayhew and your janitor that you've fallen in and they'll come and rescue you. By then, we'll be gone.

Sydney Green: That's exactly what I was thinking.

Lori Peters: It was not, you liar.

Sydney Green: It was, right before you said it. I thought to myself, the box, please. I don't know how much longer this ladder will take my weight, and my patience can take this bickering. Right. Good. Open it. I am, I am.

Lori Peters: What is this? Junk. Nothing but junk.

Father Gilbert: What sort of junk?

Lori Peters: Photos and papers and diaries. Old 78 records and junk. It's all of Tomlinson's junk.

Sydney Green: But the chalice should be in here. All the clues pointed to it.

Lori Peters: That's right, you're a regular Sherlock Holmes to know that. Now do you see what you've done? We don't have the chalice, and you've blown our cover. What are we going to do?

Sydney Green: Move on to the next project, I suppose. Father, would you mind going back down now?

Father Gilbert: May I keep the torch?

Sydney Green: You may. And like I said, no hard feelings.

Father Gilbert: Oh, not at all. But remember these wise words.

Sydney Green: Yeah?

Father Gilbert: Your sins will find you out.

Sydney Green: Oh, yes, Father.

Father Gilbert: I hope you're pleased, Mr. Tomlinson.

Arthur Tomlinson: Pleased? I don't know what to say, Father Gilbert. This box is like a buried treasure to me. I've never seen these photographs before. You see? That's my mother. There's my father with the old tomcat he loved so much. What was its name? Grieves. Yeah, he called it Grieves. And all these letters.

Oh, yes. It looks as if they're the letters they wrote to one another when they were courting. Oh, here are my father's diaries.

Father Gilbert: I brought something else for you. Just one moment. There we are. A little surprise.

Arthur Tomlinson: A record player?

Father Gilbert: Well, it's an antique I've had for years, but I never had anything to play on it. I brought it for those old 78s of your parents. You'll want to listen to them, I'm sure. Now, let's see if it works. At least it did. All right, shall we give one a try?

Arthur Tomlinson: Yes, yes. Now this one. Oh, yes, now this is a good one. Oh, my. I remember that song from when I was a boy. My parents would listen to it of an evening when we sat in the front room. I played with a couple of wooden toys on the rug between my father's favorite chair, where he'd be sitting and reading, and the sofa where my mother knitted. This song. They would play. Sometimes they would both sing. It all comes back to me now. I'm so sorry.

Father Gilbert: It's all right, Mr. Tomlinson. Let's just sit and listen, shall we?

Mr. Drake: So, Lori Peters and Sydney Green were caught by the police.

Father Gilbert: Well, they tried to get on a plane in Southhaven, and they're in custody now. Chief Inspector McCauley would like me to give a statement this afternoon.

Mr. Drake: Yeah, that was easy. They weren't the cleverest con artists I've ever met.

Father Gilbert: They certainly weren't, especially when one considers how close they actually came to the chalice.

Mr. Drake: What do you mean?

Father Gilbert: I found it for you.

Mr. Drake: You what? But how? You do astonish me, Gilbert. You used to be a detective.

Father Gilbert: Yes, and well, if someone came to you and said he'd put something valuable in a vault, what kind of vault would you assume he was talking about?

Mr. Drake: I'd assume he was talking about a bank vault, of course.

Mr. Fellows: If you would be so kind, Mr. Fellows. Well, as you know, Stonebridge Bank has had a long and happy relationship with St. Mark's Church. I knew we had some items that have been here for as long as I've been the manager, but I never thought to inquire what they were.

When Mr. Drake phoned the other day, I had to do some checking, but I eventually found this box in the vault.

Mr. Drake: Well, it's certainly average-looking. But how did you know, Bill?

Father Gilbert: I asked the oldest member of your congregation, Mrs. Williams. She vaguely remembered something about the chalice and thought that her uncle had something to do with it. Her uncle was manager of Stonebridge Bank during the war and established a safe deposit box in the vault here.

All right, Mr. Fellows, I'll serve as a legal witness while Father Gilbert opens the box.

Mr. Drake: Legal witness?

Father Gilbert: Well, if there's anything valuable in there, you want it recorded and signed in triplicate if necessary. If you'd do the honors, Father.

Mr. Drake: All right. Oh. You call out the contents, please.

Father Gilbert: All right. Well, this looks to me like a silver chalice with a gold band and diamonds.

Mr. Drake: One Esselton Chalice.

Father Gilbert: One serving tray in the same style.

Mr. Drake: Right.

Father Gilbert: A flagon in the same style.

Mr. Drake: Uh-huh.

Father Gilbert: A communion plate in the same style.

Mr. Drake: Right. They must be worth a fortune. You could probably restore one or two towers with the money you'd get.

Father Gilbert: I probably could. But I won't try. Let's put them away.

Mr. Drake: What?

Father Gilbert: Oh, we'll find the money for the tower one way or another. It's in God's hands. And when the tower is restored and the church is properly equipped, this chalice and the rest of the silverware will be put on display again. They belong to St. Mark's, and here they should stay.

Mr. Drake: Then the legends are true. The chalice does have miraculous powers.

Father Gilbert: It does?

Mr. Drake: I can think of nothing less than a miracle to get you to stop worrying about how you're going to pay for that tower.

Father Gilbert: Well, it's true. In the grand scheme, there are more important things than a church tower. Good day, gentlemen.

Dave Arnold: Father Gilbert: Where The Heart Is was written and directed by Paul McCusker. Sound design and mix was by Duane Harms, and music was composed by John Campbell.

Our cast included Adrian Plass as Father Gilbert, Bernard Cribbins as Drake, June Whitfield as Mrs. Mayhew, Gordon Reid as Mr. Urquhart, Donald Sinden as Arthur Tomlinson, Katie Kelgren as Lori Peters, Dennis Lill as Sydney Green, and Robert Meadwell as Mr. Fellows. And I'm Dave Arnold, your producer and host for Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Thanks for listening.