- Janice Wainwright is a dedicated secretary to Morley Theilman who becomes concerned when she learns he is being blackmailed. Perry advises her to follow through with her instructions but it results in her being charged with his murder.
- Janice Wainwright has been Morley Theilman's secretary for several years now and, when she finds a blackmail note in his waste paper basket, she seeks Perry's advice. Theilman asked her to put a locked suitcase in a locker at the bus station and she wants to know if she can open it to confirm her suspicions. Perry agrees and they find $100,000 in $20 bills inside. The case eventually disappears from the locker and Theilman is found dead in a subdivision he had been building with business partner, Cole Troy. When Perry tries to find Janice, it appears that she disappeared. Paul finds her in Las Vegas where they find her meeting Theilman's first wife and her brother at the rail station. Cole says he saw a shapely woman following Morley near his office who could be Janice, Morley's wife Agnes, or even his ex-wife Carlotta, who has changed her appearance. Janice is charged with his murder and Perry defends her but her defense is extremely weak.—garykmcd
- Lately, Morley Theilman (George N. Neise) has been busy dictating to his secretary Janice Wainwright (Elaine Devry) letters to stockholders, requesting their support in a struggle for control of the company. One day, Janice comes to Perry's office bearing a suitcase and a note she found, formed from cut-and-pasted printed words: "Get money. Instructions on telephone. Failure will be fatal." There's also an envelope with the return address A. B. Vidal, General Delivery. Janice thinks her boss is being blackmailed and asks Perry if they can look in the suitcase, which she bought for Morley and therefore has the spare key. Perry takes a $1 retainer from her and has her open it. It's full of $20 bills - Della estimates the total at around $100,000. Perry has Janice and Della record the serial numbers of some of the bills, then both take the suitcase to a locker at Union Station, then mail the locker key to Vidal, as Morley had instructed Janice. They do all this with no problem, but the next day Janice calls Perry and says Morley has vanished. Perry and Paul go to Union Station and find that the locker is now empty, despite Paul mentioning that no one has picked up the letter for Vidal. Law student and Perry's gopher David Gideon (Karl Held) arrives and says that he couldn't find Janice at home or her office.
Perry visits Morley's wife Agnes (Barbara Lawrence), who says she also saw the envelope and note from Vidal in Morley's coat pocket. She didn't ask him about it, because Morley divorced his first wife for being too nosy and possessive. Morley left for Bakersfield at 3 PM to see former partner Cole Troy (Our Miss Brooks' Robert Rockwell). Paul visits Cole, who says he and Morley developed a subdivision near Palmdale that didn't do well, so they closed it a year ago. Right after he left around 9 PM, Cole happened to look out his office window and saw not only Morley walking to his car, but a woman following him. It was dark, so what he saw was more like a shadow, but his attention was drawn because she was a "pretty young thing".
Back in L.A., Paul tells Perry that his man in Las Vegas has spotted Janice at the railroad station, waiting for the train from L.A. Perry and Della fly to Vegas, arriving at the station just ahead of the train. Della pays a cabbie $20 to wait for them. They spot Janice, who has just greeted arriving passengers Carlotta Theilman (Dorothy Green), Morley's first wife, and Carlotta's brother Henry Battle (Ray Hemphill). Janice makes the introductions, and since they need to get to their hotel, Della leads them to the cab she has waiting. Janice explains that right after the last time she spoke with Perry, she got a call from Morley, who told her not to tell anyone anything about him. He also sent her money to pay Perry, which she handed to him, and let her spend the day at the beauty parlor prior to going to Las Vegas. Lt. Tragg arrives in the company of LVMPD Lt. Sophia (John Dennis) and announces that Morley has been murdered. Perry begins to warn Janice not to say anything without his permission, but Sophia interrupts him, saying that Perry isn't licensed to practice law in Nevada. Tragg insincerely says "Sorry" to Perry as he and Sophia take Janice away. Later, Perry finds Carlotta, who explains that she insisted on a face-to-face meeting with Morley, who wanted her votes as a stockholder, because she hoped to win him back. They chose to meet in Vegas to preserve secrecy. Tragg and Sophia appear, and Sophia says his car will take Perry back to the airport. Tragg apologizes, once again not trying very hard to suppress his satisfaction.
Returning to the office, Perry and Paul review the evidence. Morley was shot in the bedroom of a model home that doubled as an office for the failed development near Palmdale. He was staying there overnight after leaving Bakersfield. Agnes' maiden name was Agnes B. Vidal (although as a dancer she used the stage name Day Dawns). Paul and Perry agree that Agnes wouldn't have used her own name if she had sent the blackmail note. Paul explains that the police found car tracks at the model home that could have only been made that night, when the ground was soft from rain. The treads match Morley's car, which is still there - and Janice's. He suspects that Janice was the "shapely shadow" described by Cole. Della mentions that the police have subpoenaed their recording of serial numbers from the $20 bills, thanks to Janice having told them everything she knew.
At the trial, Burger calls a sequence of witnesses to establish the circumstantial evidence. Perry challenges the autopsy surgeon (John Zaremba) about his time-of-death estimate of 12 to 5 AM, made after examining the body at 7:30 PM. The M.E. reluctantly admits he wrote a journal article in which he said that estimates made after a delay of 6 or more hours are uncertain. A bookkeeper (James T. Callahan) for the company says the $100,000 came from a separate fund for Morley's personal use, one not managed by the accounting department, but only by Morley and Janice. He also says that he saw Morley kiss his secretary on multiple occasions. While cross-examining Cole, Perry ridicules his account of watching the "shapely shadow" following Morley. Cole can't make up his mind whether he was looking in between the woman he found so attractive and Morley, or alternating his gaze between them, and by the end he seems thoroughly confused. Perry can't shake the certainty of a cabby (Ollie O'Toole) who testifies that Della gave him a $20 bill that matches one of the serial numbers from the suitcase. Tragg testifies that he was able to reproduce the blackmail note using words from the L.A. Chronicle and L.A. Bulletin of the relevant date. A newsdealer (Bill McLean) testifies that he sold copies of those papers to Janice - twice.
During a recess, Janice tells Perry that Morley told her to buy those papers. She thinks the case is going well, citing how he made people in court laugh at Cole's "shapely shadow". However, Perry says the D.A. has a strong circumstantial case that can only be explained away by a dead man, or Janice. He mentions that although someone could have taken Janice's car during the day, while she was at the beauty parlor, that would be impossible at night, when it was in a locked parking garage - and the evidence of the tire tracks require it to have been at the model home at night. However, she's terrified of going on the witness stand, certain that she'll be unconvincing. As she leaves, Perry seems fixated on the photos of the model home.
Back in court, Perry cross-examines Carlotta, who's unsure about whether she might have given that cabby a twenty. However, she immediately recognizes the name A. B. Vidal as being that of the man who called her about her stock, which ended in her insisting on seeing Morley in person, to which he agreed. A messenger brought her an envelope with money to reimburse her for her travel expenses - all in twenties. Burger rests his case. Perry also rests, without presenting any evidence. Burger sputters for a moment, since he's unprepared to make his first summation, and finally waives it. Perry makes his summation, first reminding the jury of the "beyond a reasonable doubt" criterion for conviction. He presents an interpretation that hinges on Morley having faked the entire blackmail plot in order to disguise actions he was taking in his fight to retain control of the company. The murderer took advantage of this, and confused the time of death and framed Janice simply by stealing the car in the day and hosing down the ground to soften it, as if he'd been there at night. As evidence, he shows them one of the model home photos, blown up to show a new hose on the house, which had been unoccupied during the year between the failure of the development and Morley's visit. Claiming this is a reasonable hypothesis, Perry says he expects an acquittal.
Burger begins his final summation by calling Perry's theory poppycock. He points out that water at the model home was turned off. Perry immediately objects to the D.A. presenting as fact something not in evidence, and moves for a mistrial. Burger insists if permitted, he could produce a witness from the water company to testify, and Perry surprises the judge (Willis Bouchey) by agreeing to withdraw his motion. Unfortunately for the D.A.'s case, the water company official (Olan Soule, more often seen on Mason as a court clerk) testifies that the water was turned back on just before the murder - at the request of one Cole B. Troy. Cole confesses to the murder.
Back at the office, Janice gives Perry a thank-you kiss. Della and Perry explain that Cole was practically stealing the whole company from Morley, who had no idea and even confided his secret plans to Cole. Cole followed Morley to Palmdale, where they had an argument that turned deadly. The "shapely shadow" was pure invention. Paul doesn't understand how Janice could have spent an entire day at the beauty parlor, so he wants to take her to dinner so she can explain. However, Henry (Carlotta's brother) arrives - he's there for his date with Janice. Della tells Paul "And that explains that."
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