- A jeweler whose shop is located near Mannix' detective agency is murdered, and in the crowd outside the murder scene, Mannix runs into Bill Chase, a buddy from his days in the Korean War. Chase tells Mannix he's in trouble and asks Mannix to visit the small mountain town where he serves as a fire ranger so he can tell Mannix about his situation. Within a short time of his arrival in the town, however, Mannix finds a deepening mystery, as he's shot at, injured falling down a hill, and learns that the woman who claims to be Chase's wife is a completely different woman.—aldanoli
- After a jeweler is murdered across the street from Joe Mannix's (Mike Connors) office, Joe runs into an old army buddy, Bill Chase (John Milford) in the crowd. At first, the friend doesn't recognize Joe, but soon remembers their military past and learns that Joe is now a detective. Claiming he needs his help, Chase invites Mannix up to his mountain home where he now works as a forest ranger. The next day, Mannix heads up to the mountains and, after stopping for gas and having a brief, tense encounter with the local sheriff, George Hale (Fred Beir) and the town physician, Dr. Stephen Harris (Eduard Franz), he arrives at Chase's cabin. A woman (Madlyn Rhue) greets him at the door and tells him her husband told her to expect Mannix. She tells him that Chase wanted Mannix to drive up to his fire watch post high in the mountains so they could talk, gives him a map and the keys to their jeep, and sends him on his way. As Mannix winds his way through the dusty mountain roads, he appears more and more confused by the directions he was given. Coming to a roadblock, he gets out of the jeep just as someone begins shooting at him with a rifle. Dodging bullets, Mannix takes a tumble down a steep hill and bruises some ribs. Escaping back to town, he is bandaged by Dr. Harris and questioned by a skeptical Sheriff Hale. Hale drives Mannix back to the Chase's cabin where they can talk with Mrs. Chase. After a knock at the door, a woman calls from upstairs for them to come inside. Only seeing a pair of legs coming down the stairs, Mannix is shocked to see that Mrs. Chase is a completely different woman than he met earlier! The real Mrs. Carol Chase (Beverlee McKinsey) refutes Mannix's claim that he was there earlier. She was out shopping and her husband has been at his fire watch post for several days--making it impossible for him to meet Mannix in Los Angeles the day before! Tom, the deputy (Art Metrano), comes in and informs them that the Chase's jeep was not where Mannix said he left it, but instead wrecked at the bottom of a canyon. As well, there were no road blocks set up on any of the mountain roads! The three of them call Chase on the radio to try to figure out why Joe is "lying." Chase plays dumb during the conversation, but repeats the phrase "Mayday" several times while talking to Mannix and tells him to stick around until he gets off duty. Mannix leaves and visits Dr. Harris to ask for information about finding the woman who claimed to be "Mrs. Chase" earlier that morning. Dr. Harris dismisses Mannix's inquiries. In the next scene, Carol Chase knocks on Mannix's motel room door. As she steps inside, Sheriff Hale is hiding in the trees. Carol apologies for being rude to and not believing Mannix earlier in the day. She admits to him that she was involved with Sheriff Hale before she married her husband. It was his jealous and possessive ways that had ended their relationship. Mannix asks whether there had been any problems or tensions between Hale and Chase because of the "Mayday" signal Chase had given on the radio earlier. Carol tells him that Chase calls in to the house on the radio every night at 11 o'clock and Mannix can come then. Before she leaves, Carol asks Mannix if Chase was alone and what kind of car he was driving when Mannix ran in to him in Los Angeles the day before. Mannix tells her Chase was alone and driving a yellow convertible. Later, Mannix drives to the Chase cabin and finds no one home. He calls Chase on the radio who admits to Mannix that he acted strangely earlier because his wife is in danger. He tells Mannix to bring Carol with him up to the fire watch tower. Mannix hears a car pulling up outside and, thinking it's Carol, checks outside and sees Sheriff Hale and Deputy Tom pulling into the driveway. Chase responds to this by telling Mannix that he doesn't trust Hale--that he's crazy--and Mannix should get out of there quickly. The sheriff and deputy ring the doorbell just as Mannix escapes out the back door. As he runs away from the cabin, he discovers Carol lying dead in a nearby stream! He calls out to the sheriff to come help. When Hale discovers that Carol is dead, he punches Mannix and then shoots at him as he tries to escape. Mannix reaches Dr. Harris' office and asks whether he's figured out who the first "Mrs. Chase" was that he saw that morning. Dr. Harris tells him that it was Laura Giles (Madlyn Rhue), a friend of the Chases who also drives a yellow convertible--but Mannix can't get to her house without a car. Suddenly, Sheriff Hale pounds on the door and, as Mannix hides, tells Dr. Harris that Carol has been murdered. Hale says that Mannix was the one who murdered Carol and then ran away. After the sheriff leaves, Dr. Harris pulls a gun on Mannix and tells him to explain what happened. When Mannix tells him, the doctor admits that he realized during a conversation they'd had while fishing on the lake the day before that Hale was obsessed with Carol Chase and what could have been if they had gotten married and had a family. Mannix convinces Dr. Harris that he's got to talk with Laura Giles, so the doctor gives him his car keys and directs him to Pineville Lodge. There, Mannix finds the yellow convertible and heads inside Laura Giles waiting for him. She is crying and claims she wishes she had been killed instead of Carol. Laura tells Mannix that Hale had said that if he couldn't have Carol, no one would. She's afraid the sheriff will discover she helped Chase sneak away from his fire watch, drive down the mountain in her car, and go to Los Angeles to follow him. Chase believed that Hale and Carol were meeting there. Hale was trying to convince Carol to divorce Chase and marry him--and knowing this highly upset Chase. When Carol told Chase that Hale wanted her to get a divorce, Chase knew that Hale was unstable and what he might do if he couldn't have her. Mannix figures out that Hale killed Carol when she rejected him, blamed Mannix, and may be going after Chase to kill him. Laura tells Mannix that Chase had her send him up to the fire watch tower the day before so that Hale wouldn't see him at the house--and that she'd done all of this because she was the Chases' friend. The two of them take off for the fire watch tower to save Chase. Meanwhile, Deputy Tom gets a phone call with a tip that Mannix is heading to Chase at the tower. Grabbing a rifle, Sheriff Hale takes off after them. Mannix and Laura arrive at the tower and run up the steps to a grateful Chase. Citing that his relief will arrive in an hour, Chase is relieved that he'll be able to pick up Carol and they'll all be able to get off the mountain! They have to tell Chase that Carol is dead. Devastated, he laments Hale's destroying his marriage and grabs his rifle to exact his revenge. Mannix draws his gun and takes the rifle away from Chase, explaining that Hale was never in Los Angeles but instead with Dr. Harris, so Chase needed to tell Mannix the truth. After a few nervous glances between Chase and Laura, Mannix puts the story together that Chase had been in Los Angeles to steal jewels from Kessler (Hal K. Dawson), the jeweler whose shop was across the street from Mannix's office. Chase admits that Mannix wound up being the one person who could prove that Chase was not at his fire watch post, but rather in Los Angeles--and that's why he lured him up to the mountains so he could shoot and kill him. Mannix had ruined his one chance to "get off this lousy hill and live like a man!" "With Laura," Mannix added, "is that why you killed Carol?" They claimed they didn't want to kill Carol, they just wanted to be alone. As Joe opens the tower door and suggests they all go tell Sheriff Hale the story, Hale drives up with his rifle cocked and ready. He yells for Mannix to drop the gun and, in the surprise of the moment, Chase turns around and knocks the gun out of Mannix's hand. The begin to fight on the edge of a cliff as Laura looks on, aghast. Chase punches Mannix and runs back up into the tower. As Sheriff Hale tells Mannix to stop, he calls out that it was Chase--not him--that murdered Carol. Laura yells that Mannix is trying to kill them just as Chase shoots down from the tower at Mannix with his rifle. Mannix tries to escape, but is shot in the leg by Chase. Finally, Sheriff Hale realizes that Chase is the one who killed Carol. Hale takes aim and shoots Chase in the chest causing him to fall off the side of the tower to his death. Hale takes Laura into custody and Mannix limps away.
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