Jeff is approached by freelance fashion designer Alice Detterback, the wife of Ernie Detterback, who Jeff, when he worked for the government three years ago, helped put behind bars in San Quentin for a jewel robbery, the one and only crime that Jeff is aware of in his history. While Ernie vowed revenge against Jeff three years ago and has now been out of prison for two weeks, Alice, claiming that Ernie's vow of revenge is ancient history in speaking then solely in the heat of the moment, wants to hire Jeff as attempts have been made on Ernie's life by an unknown person since his release. In addition, she states that their apartment was ransacked one evening while they were out, but nothing they are aware of was stolen. In accepting the case, Jeff has to discover how much the Detterbacks are telling him the truth, both as a couple and individually. If their apartment really was ransacked, Jeff has to discover what the thief was looking for. He also has to figure out if Alice may have had something on the side during the three years Ernie was in prison, such a person perhaps wanting to kill Ernie in jealousy. According to Baldwin, the elevator man at Nelson's Department Store where Alice is currently under contract, such a man in Alice's life could be the store's head honcho, Clyde Shafter. Ultimately, Jeff stumbles across a list of names, he having to find some common bond behind the list of six, one of who could be potentially the man for who they are looking.
—Huggo