- Fred Archer is blackmailed by Kim Lane, who winds up dead. Albert Sanders, Perry's derelict client, is charged with the murder. Perry depends on Kim's friend, Inez Kaylor, to assist in the defense, but she double-crosses him at every turn.
- Frederic Archer III exits a dance club to meet with dancer Kim Lane outside in a car to confirm a payoff. That night a drunk Kim tells her roommate how she will enjoy her new life based on her new found knowledge. The next day Inez asks their boss Martha Rayburn at work if she has seen Archer as Kim is missing. As she leaves Archer enters in a panic asking for help. Later, the police arrest Albert Sanders for robbing Archer. Perry decides to pick up the derelict's case pro bono knowing his history. However, when Kim Lane is found dead, the charge is upgraded to murder. Rayburn says she was with Archer during the robbery but Paul finds the hostess Inez who says she was fired by Rayburn at the club at the same she was with Archer. Inez agrees to return from Las Vegas to testify but disappears outside the courtroom. Paul tracks her down but she escapes so Perry and Della trail her to her apartment in Las Vegas. There Joe Gibbs takes a postcard to Kim from Universal Models at gunpoint. Perry has Della do some sleuthing at the agency as he tries to put the pieces together.—Anonymous
- At the Danceland Ballroom (where men pay to dance with hostesses), bouncer Larry Coles (Mike Mason) is ejecting derelict Albert Sanders (Fred Sherman) as building owner Frederic Archer (Les Tremayne) heads for the parking lot for a meeting with ex-girlfriend Kim Lane (Betty Utey). Fred tells her she can pick up the money at 5 PM tomorrow, at the apartment, and says there's now nothing between them. "Nothing but money," says Kim. Later that night, Inez Kaylor (Karen Sharpe), finds her drunk roommate and fellow hostess Kim contemplating future prosperity. Inez calls being a hostess "The best way I know to get a massage to music," but she does enjoy the occasional overseas modeling assignments that come with the job. Kim says that's part of the operation, and that when Inez figures out what she's talking about, she'll have security. The next day, Danceland boss Martha Rayburn (June Vincent) asks Inez why she's trying to see Fred, who's just the club's landlord. Inez replies that Kim is missing, and Fred might know about it, as they had been dating. Martha responds that Fred is a happily married man. Inez repeats some of Kim's disconnected comments from the night before, and Martha tells her to forget about it and get back to work. Just as she exits Martha's office, Fred enters it. Inez lingers near the closed door long enough to hear him tell Martha that while he was stopped at a red light, someone came up and robbed him at gunpoint.
The following morning, the police come to Albert's trailer, roust him out of bed, and arrest for robbing Archer. Perry comes to him in jail and says he'll defend him pro bono, as he's aware of Albert's problems. Eight years earlier, Albert was driving 36 hours straight to be on time for a new job. He fell asleep at the wheel, and his wife and two children were killed in the resulting accident. When Perry meets Fred and Martha, he asks why they didn't report the robbery, which was in fact reported by a chance witness. Martha lies, claiming that she wasn't feeling well at Danceland and Fred agreed to drive her home. When the robbery occurred, she wasn't up to dealing with the police, so convinced Fred to forget about it and take her home.
Perry and Paul don't have much success getting more information from Danceland employees. However, Paul mentions that Larry the bouncer heard from Inez that she'd been fired by Martha, in the club, at a time after the robbery. Inez has moved to Las Vegas, so Paul dispatches his man Ralph Faulkner (Gil Frye) to find her. Later, in a hallway of the court building, Ralph brings Inez to Paul and leaves. She's quite willing to help catch Martha in a lie. Paul goes into the courtroom to tell Perry, and the second he's out of sight a tough customer who later turns out to be Joe Gibbs (Ned Wever) approaches Inez. In court, Martha has just testified for A.D.A. Walsh (John Alvin) that she recognizes Albert as the robber. On cross-examination Perry sets up the confrontation with Inez, but when Paul goes back to retrieve her, she's vanished. Perry gets a recess until the following Monday.
Lt. Tragg drops by Perry's office and announces that Kim's body has been found, and a search under Albert's trailer uncovered her purse and jewelry. Now that it's a murder case, Burger will be prosecuting personally. Paul finds Inez, but now she's completely unwilling to cooperate, so Paul serves her with a subpoena. She fakes taking an overdose of sleeping pills to distract him, then goes through a window, down a fire escape, and drives off. Perry wants to look around Inez's apartment, and to make this legal he buys up a contract under which Kim had made a time purchase of a mink, which Inez now has. She took it out of state, which triggers the right of the seller (or his assignee, Perry) to enter her premises to repossess the merchandise.
Perry and Della go to the Vegas apartment, but Inez isn't there. They are let in by Mr. Wickett (George Cisar), who, after being sufficiently tipped, leaves them alone. They find a postcard from the Universal Modeling Agency, telling Kim to report for a new job on the 20th of the month. As Della is checking out the bathroom, Joe enters with his key, draws a gun, and takes the postcard. Della gets a look at him, but is herself unseen. Back in L.A., Della applies for a job at UMA and is told by Marge (Robin Raymond), the company secretary, to wait for the boss. Christine (Jacqueline Holt), a model, enters and reports her return from abroad. After Christine leaves and Marge briefly steps out, Della gets a quick chance to snoop through UMA's contact information. She manages to look innocent when the door to the boss's office opens and out steps Joe. He's favorably impressed by her potential as a model, until she says she's married. Pointing out that the UMA ad said "unattached models only," Joe shows her the door.
In court, Della tells Perry that the UMA records she saw listed the Danceland Ballroom as the phone number for most of the models. She also identifies Joe as the man who pulled a gun on Perry in Las Vegas. She notices that Martha's purse is just like one that Christine had when she was at UMA. Perry says that he's seen one like it too. He resumes his cross-examination of Martha, and she testifies that she doesn't believe in handing out gifts or bonuses to her hostesses. Asked about her purse, she says that it was design for her and has to be specially ordered. Perry points out that the purse that the police found matched it exactly, so Martha has to contradict herself and say that she gave such a purse to Kim. In Perry's office, Paul brings in Kim's purse, but he'll need to get it back to his police contact in an hour. Perry finds a secret compartment behind a mirror built into the purse. It contains traces of white powder, which Perry tastes. He notices the manufacturer's tag, and tells Della to go shopping.
In court, Perry shows Martha a bag and asks "What if I told you it belonged to Kim Lane?" Burger is furious, but the judge (Fay Roope) lets Perry continue. He makes Martha open the compartment behind the mirror and observe traces of white powder. Perry says it has the taste of heroin, and recommends that the D.A. investigate her and Fred for drug smuggling.Perry tells Martha that he can subpoena UMA records and the purses of all the models. He warns her that by sticking to her story regarding the robbery, she can increase her risk from years in prison as a drug smuggler to the gas chamber as an accomplice to murder. She admits that she was lying to help Fred, because the witness who reported the crime had seen a woman in the car. He failed to notice that the woman was dead - it was Kim, but Fred didn't kill her. He paid blackmail to her at the apartment used for their trysts, then told her to clear out. As she was packing, he went out for cigarettes, and returned to find her dead. He decided to drive off with her body and dump it.
Joe's testimony about the smuggling operations is rather matter-of-fact. The secret compartments of the purses were loaded and unloaded while the models were being photographed, so they were unaware of the smuggling. Perry says that a model who did figure it out would be in a great position to demand blackmail. Joe insists that none ever did, not even Kim. After all, she got her $5,000 from Fred to keep her from revealing their amour to his family. Perry has the court stenographer (Charles Zacha Jr.) read back the relevant part of Martha's testimony, and there was no mention of an exact amount of money. The only reason Joe knew it was because he killed Kim for it. The judge dismisses the case, and Perry shows Burger that he hadn't stolen state's evidence (and he doesn't mention "borrowing" it) - he was bluffing Martha with a copy bag that Della had obtained, containing not heroin but flour.
In Perry's office, Della wonders who was the actual robber, and Perry says he'll turn up sooner or later. The fact that the robber threw Fred's wallet in the same general area as Joe threw Kim's purse and jewelry was just a coincidence. Paul enters, announcing that a job at a record shop is all arranged for Albert. It should be good for him, as he likes listening to music. The police have found Inez and she's OK. She wants to go to business school, so Paul is taking her out so he can recommend a good one. He claims he used to be a teacher at one of the best. Perry says he was the track coach - any gal he couldn't catch in three laps around the desk is ready for the business world. (This is a reference to an old cliché, mainly seen in cartoons drawn before the 1970s, about a lecherous boss chasing his secretary around and around his desk.)
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