by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Hoping to square his debts before his retirement, Frank Patridge (Sidney Blackmer) talks his wife Mildred (Virginia Gregg) into a scheme to defraud the insurance company. Mildred will drop out of sight for seven years, at the end of which she will be declared legally dead so that Frank can collect her life insurance. During Mildred's disappearance, a diligent insurance detective (Robert Emhardt) dogs Mr. Partridge's trail, certain that Frank killed Mildred and buried her body somewhere. As it turns out, there is a "death in the family" by episode's end, but not in a manner that either Frank or Mildred could have possibly anticipated.
