Burt Payne, ten percent owner of the Los Angeles Wildcats professional football team, is a drunk gambler who takes pleasure in taking down his employees or his wealthy wife, who owns the rest of the team, a peg or two. On a return trip by train from a road game, Payne tells one employee that he will fire him on return to L.A. At a train stop, his wife refuses to let him sell his stake in the team to a potential buyer. Payne's wife, Ellen, is desperate to contact Perry Mason about something, so she calls him from a pay phone at a stop, but due to the train's imminent departure, runs out of time. Back on the train, she is told by a representative of Harvey Skeen that he is on the train with $100,000 to close a deal for her husband's share of the team. Meanwhile, Perry is left with an open line wondering what she wants. He arrives at the train station to meet her, finding there has been a fire in one of the train cars, and Burt Payne is dead. Ellen is charged with her husband's murder, but there are several people who would benefit from his death as Perry defends her in court.
—garykmcd