- Gambler Glenn Falkner is murdered by George Castle, who tries to collect a debt from Falkner's daughter, Stephanie. Castle is murdered and Stephanie is charged. The case becomes confusing when not one but three identical guns are involved.
- After a night of gambling, Glenn Falkner's losing streak continues so he returns to his office. George Castle enters to present Falkner's IOU for immediate payment. He hopes to force Falkner to sell him a piece of valuable property for a cheap price but Falkner refuses to sell so Castle shoots him saying Falkner's daughter will sell. Later, Castle confronts Stephanie Falkner with the IOU but she refuses saying she must talk to her adviser Michael Garvin Sr. Castle visits Garvin's secretary Eva Elliott who he put in the job and has a bad history Castle knows about. Garvin and Stephanie visit Perry who then visits Castle to put pressure on Castle for a better price knowing he is squeezing Castle who made promises about the property. After leaving, he sees Stephanie enter Castle's building followed by the police and Lt. Tragg. Castle is dead. Garvin has three identical guns one of which is the murder weapon. His son has one, he keeps one in his safe and he carries one which he gave to Stephanie. Stephanie is arrested with the gun that killed Castle as Perry must decipher the changes in gun ownership.—Anonymous
- At a Vegas casino, George Castle (Joe De Santis) looks on as Glenn Faulkner (Russell Thorson) loses at craps and has no more money to gamble away. At the office of the motel Glenn owns, Castle enters and tells Glenn he wants him to pay up on $8000 in promissory notes. He'd promised Glenn more times, but the only thing in writing is "payable on demand", and he's demanding. Glenn realizes that Castle's plan all along was to force him to sell his motel. Some investors want to put a casino on the property, and Castle promised he could get it for them. He even put of $50,000 as a guarantee. Castle decides Glenn is too tough to deal with, so he shoots him dead, hoping to fare better with his daughter Stephanie (Peggy McCay). However, when he goes to her in L.A., she puts him off. She won't do anything until she gets advice from her friend Mike Garvin (Sr.) (Lyle Talbot).
Michael Garvin, Jr. (William Swan), who was once engaged to Stephanie, goes to Castle to warn him off. Castle tells Junior he should go back to his used-car lot or his new bride, ex-model Margo Garvin (Ann McCrea). Then he slugs Junior and tosses him out. Castle next pays a call on Eva Elliott (Alix Talton), now working as Mike's secretary, and accuses her of telling Junior about his designs on Stephanie. He warns her that he knows about checks she forged back in Kansas. They're interrupted by a call from Stephanie, wanting to talk to Mike. Eva says he's away and she doesn't know when he'll be back. After Castle takes his leave, Eva calls Stephanie back and says that Mike is coming in from Vegas and that he left a message for Stephanie to meet him next morning in Perry's office. After hanging up, Castle lets Eva know that he was eavesdropping at the door, and repeats his threats to expose her.
In Perry's office, Mike says that Castle's offer of $90,000 is only half what the land is worth. He suspects Castle murdered Glenn. He mentions that he's well protected with three revolvers (with proper permits). He keeps one in his vault, one with his son Junior, and one in a holster he wears at all times. Perry tells him he should go to the Las Vegas police with his suspicions about Castle. The talk of her father's death upsets Stephanie, and Mike attempts to comfort her. After they leave, Della says she thinks Mike is in love with her.
Perry goes to see Castle and demands an offer of $225,000 for the land. Castle tries desperately to bargain, but Perry knows when someone is over a barrel. Castle finally agrees, and Perry tells him to come to the office next morning. He leaves the apartment building and calls Paul from a phone booth. As they discuss Castle, Perry sees Stephanie drive up and enter the building. Then the police arrive and Perry notices Stephanie attempting to sneak out a back way. He intercepts her and offers her a ride. As he's turning his car around, Lt. Tragg steps up and begins a friendly chat. Stephanie won't say a word. After Tragg leaves, Perry tells Stephanie that Castle has been murdered. She asks how he knows, and he says that nothing else would get the homicide lieutenant out late at night. She's still unwilling to talk about what happened.
The next day, Margo visits her husband at Junior's Used Cars to give him the gun he forgot to take with him. Mike calls Perry and asks him to defend Stephanie, even if it conflicts with his own interests. Perry visits Stephanie, who shows him the gun Mike gave her for her protection, after they left Perry's office. She says she's never fired it, but Perry checks and finds that it has been fired recently. She admits she visited Castle in the hope of learning something about her father's murder, but found him already dead. Perry visit's Junior's office, asks to see his gun and "accidentally" fires it, damaging Junior's desk. Perry hands the gun back to him and has him bring it to Stephanie. If she's ever asked, she's to say that Michael Garvin gave it to her. Perry and Della are dining al fresco when a tired Tragg shows up. He has arrested Stephanie, and ballistics tests show that the gun they found with her was the murder weapon. Now Perry worries that he may have framed his own client.
In court, Eva testifies that she saw Mike with no gun in his holster the night of the murder. She knows of the three guns, but couldn't possible tell one from another, as they are identical except for serial number. During a recess, Paul reports that Castle secretly owned 40% of Julie's, a swanky dress shop in Vegas. Della calls it the kind of place where expensive (in 1958 dollars) merchandise is shown by long-legged models. Both Eva and Margo were formerly among these, and Paul is surprised when Mike claims he never knew that about his secretary and daughter-in-law. Back in court, Junior testifies about Perry's visit to the lot, and angrily accuses him of switching guns. He points out that the gun that was originally in his possession could be identified by the initials he had scratched on the handle. It's not the one proved to be the murder weapon. On cross-examination, he admits to Margo having brought him a gun when he forgot it. Perry suggests that she would have had time to shoot Castle with it. Now Junior gets really mad, until the judge (Frank Wilcox) reins him in with the threat of a contempt citation.
Burger tries to rectify confusion over three guns by calling them the "vault gun", "Junior gun", and "holster gun" and attempting to trace their movements. Having ballistics check the bullet Perry fired into Junior's desk would have helped, but the bullet ricocheted out a window and couldn't be found. Perry wonders if Eva thinks of Mike as a father figure, but she insists he's "much younger" than her father. (This was obviously just her perception. Lyle Talbot was four years older than Russell Thorson.) She thinks his questions are irrelevant, but he says they may hold the answer to the mystery of the guns.
Perry recalls Mike, who testifies that he visited Stephanie late that night (after the murder) and switched the gun he'd previously given Stephanie ("holster gun") with his spare ("vault gun"), which he'd just retrieved. He explains that he made the switch out of fear that Stephanie had shot Castle in self-defense. Only he and Eva had the combination to the vault. Perry says that since Mike's office is close to Castle's apartment building, Eva had time in the half-hour that Mike was away to remove the "vault gun", kill Castle with in, then return it to the vault, following which Mike took it. She confesses, explaining that she was trying to get out from under the hold that Castle had on her.
At the used-car lot, Junior is getting the new desk that Perry is going to pay for. The movement of the three guns still doesn't make sense, but we learn that Stephanie, fearing that Mike might have shot Castle, hid the "Junior gun" and let the police find the "vault gun", which was still in her possession. She and Mike are at the Hall of Records at the moment, getting a marriage license.
To review: (1) Initially, the three guns are in their rightful places. (2) Mike gives Stephanie the "holster gun". (3) Eva takes the "vault gun" from the vault, shoots Castle with it, and returns it. (3) Mike takes the "vault gun" and switches it with the "holster gun". He thinks he's just taken a possible murder weapon from her and replaced it with an innocent gun. However, from this point until her arrest, Stephanie possesses the murder weapon. (4) The next day, Junior forgets to take the "Junior gun" with him, but Margo brings it to him. (5) Stephanie shows Perry the "vault gun" and he finds that it's been fired. He gives it back to her. (6) Perry borrows the "Junior gun" from Junior and fires it, then has Stephanie accept it from Junior. (7) Stephanie, willing to sacrifice herself to protect Mike, hides the "Junior gun" but leaves the "vault gun" in plain sight. (8) The police find it and identify it as the murder weapon. (9) At some point, the police also find the "Junior gun", since it's introduced as evidence at trial. They'd know it was fired, and might be evidence of Perry's shenanigans, but it wasn't the murder weapon. (10) Presumably, they verify that the "holster gun" hadn't been fired and was where it should be, in Mike's possession.
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