- Inspector Queen calls in his son Ellery to help investigate the murder of a newspaper publisher, who first disappears from his private express elevator then is later found there dead by gunshot.
- A newspaper publisher gets onto the express elevator on the way to his 12th-floor office. But when the elevator, a new model with push buttons for each floor (the operator pushed the top-floor button) gets to the top floor, the publisher is nowhere to be found. The elevator closes and goes down. To the horror of staffers on two lower floors, the elevator opens at each floor to reveal the publisher, who's dead from a gunshot wound. The publisher himself had pushed the buttons for the two floors before he died, implicating someone -- but who?—Peter Harris
- At the New York Daily Examiner, publisher Henry Manners comes into the lobby, goes to the elevator, and exchanges greeting with the operator Fred Durnhoffa. They talk about the upcoming marriage of Fred's daughter, and Fred assures Manners that he'll be invited. Manners gets into his private elevator and Fred pushes the top-floor button for Manners. Fred then calls the 12th floor receptionist to tell her that Manners is on his way up.
Sally thanks Fred for the warning, hangs up, and puts away her food. The elevator door opens but the receptionist, Sally, doesn't see anyone but can only see waist level and higher because of her desk blocking her view. The doors close with no one emerging, and Sally calls down to Fred and confirms that Manners got on the elevator at the ground floor.
Reporter Mitchell McCully comes up to the elevator and asks Fred if Manners has arrived. Fred says that the owner has, and Mitchell takes the other elevator.
On the 6th floor, the private elevator's door open and the receptionist there sees Manner's body on the floor. Then the elevator doors close before she can move.
A staffer, Raymond, is hitting on a secretary, Dorothy, on the 5th floor. The private elevator door opens, and Raymond stops it from closing and confirms that Manner is the man on the floor.
At the Queen apartment, Velie is helping Ellery close his suitcase, for his trip to his cabin to write. Ellery realizes that he packed the key to the cabin, but Velie refuses to let him open the bag again after they struggled to close it. He points out that Ellery wouldn't have put the key in the suitcase, and Ellery tries to work out where he did put it.
As Ellery search, Richard calls. Ellery asks him if he has the key and his father has no idea what he's talking about and tells Ellery to sit down and look straight ahead. Once Ellery does that, Richard tells him and Velie to come down to the Examiner and Manners has been shot to death. Ellery insists that he's going on his trip to the cabin at Wrightsville, and asks about the key. Richard pretends that he has it and tells Ellery that he can pick it up when he drops Velie off.
Ellery and Velie arrive as the medics take Manners' body away from 5, and the fingerprint man tells Richard that there were prints on every button except the one for 12. Ellery asks Richard for the key, and his father puts him off and fills Velie in on what happened. Richard explains what the witnesses saw, and tells Velie to check the top of the cab and find out if the killer came down through the ceiling.
Intrigued by Richard saying that Sally saw no one but Manners in the elevator on 12, Ellery checks the elevator and then confirms that the elevator stopped on,. No one saw Manners get off the elevator between 1 and 12, and there was someone on each floor. ' Thornton Johns comes up and says that he has a paper to get out, and Richard introduces Thornton to Ellery. Thornton is newspaper's managing editor, and he says that he was in the dispatch room and didn't see anything. Ellery confirms that Thornton came in early, and that he had many enemies.
Frank barges in past the police guard, his photographer in tow. Richard tells Frank to go down with the rest of the press, and Frank asks Thornton if he killed Manners. Thornton calls Frank an overrated fool and walks away, and Richard has his men usher Frank and his photographer out. Richard asks Ellery if he wants his key. Ellery is deep in thought trying to work out the mystery, and doesn't remember the key... just as Richard planned.
Ellery goes back into the elevator, and Velie tells him that there's no sign that anyone came in from the roof. Checking the button panel, Ellery confirms that it's a self-service elevator and takes the elevator down to the lobby.
When checking the elevator, Ellery pushes a button high panel, indicating a high floor. But the elevator goes to the ground floor. Ellery talks to Fred, and confirms that Manners got there at the same time every morning and that Fred pushed the button for 12. Fred and Ellery take the elevator to the basement to check the elevator control box, and Fred admits that someone could have stopped the elevator between 1 and 12. But there was no way the killer could have gotten into the cab and shot Manners.
The two men go back to the ground floor, and Ellery has Fred confirm where Manners was standing when he got into the elevator. Ellery has Fred push the way he did earlier, and as elevator goes up Ellery inspects the walls.
On the 12th floor, Richard is talking to Manners' sister Harriet. Ellery arrives via the elevator, and Harriet says that she was coming to see her brother but was caught in traffic. Richard introduces Ellery and Harriet, and Thornton calls. Harries instructs him on how to set up the front page, clearly taking charge. Once she hangs up, Harriet tells the Queens that the Examiner belongs to her now and she intends to run it.
The next morning, Thornton comes to Harriet in her office and he takes offense at how she talked to him the day before. Thornton says that he won't have any interference with his job, and Harriet tells him that he's going to have to learn with the fact that she's in charge. Unimpressed, Thornton walks out without a record.
At Richard's office, Richard and Velie go over the elevator plans to figure out how the killer gained access to Manners. Ballistics have confirmed that Manners was shot by a .32 at close range, putting the killer in the elevator or just outside. Ellery is there going through the personnel files, and goes over the print report. Manners prints were clearly on the 6 and 5 buttons, but the button for 12 had smudged prints. Ellery wonders if Manners pushed the 6 and 5 buttons before or after he was shot.
Frank comes in and shows Richard his lead story on the murder. The columnist says the story is going to break the story wide open, and shows them the headline saying the secretary was "spooning" when Manners was shot. The story says that Judy Adams, the 4th floor secretary, wasn't at her desk but with her boyfriend when Manners was shot. When the story starts giving to Frank, a disgusted Richard takes Ellery to examiner office to talk to Judy, and Frank tags along.
Judy is with the Examiner's attorney, Albert Klinger. Richard and Ellery arrive, and Richard tells Judy that it's serious business lying to the police when she said she was at her desk during the murder. Judy says that she was afraid she'd get in trouble if she told the truth, and just wanted her and her boyfriend Walter to be happy. Walter is a copy boy at the Examiner, and talked to Frank. Judy and Walter were going to get married, and the day before Walter proposed to Judy. She was away from her desk ten minutes at most, and Richard lets Judy go for the time being.
Once Judy leaves, Ellery says that the killer didn't get to Manners on 4 because the murderer wouldn't have known Judy was going to be gone. Albert gets a call that financier Nelson Green, who Mitchell has accused of being a Communist, is suing the paper for $2 million settlement. When he realizes that Richard and Ellery are listening, Albert says that he'll talk to his associate later. Albert hangs up and the Queens ask him about the suit, and the lawyer says that he's not at liberty to discuss the matter.
In the copy room, Thornton is telling obituary writer Arthur Van Dyke that he'll stick to his assigned work. Arthur thinks that he's suited to something better, and tells Thornton that things may start changing at the Examiner sooner than Thornton expects. When Arthur smugly says that his grandmother Harriet is now in charge, Thornton tells Arthur that he doesn't care.
Ellery comes in to talk to Thornton about the suit. Thornton is skeptical of Mitchell's claim, and tells Ellery that Manners let Mitchell run with the story and he had no choice. Ellery figures that Thornton doesn't like Mitchell, and Thornton dismisses Mitchell as an idiot. The editor advises Ellery to talk to Mitchell and find out for himself. Frank is standing out of sight nearby, overhears the conversation, and takes notes.
Later, Ellery and Richard talk to Mitchell, who insists he can easily spot a Commie. The reporter insists that Green is a Commie. Sally is nearby and drops her papers, and Ellery goes over to help her. He rejoins Richard and Mitchell, and Mitchell says that he has a dossier on Green and all the facts add up. Ellery asks if Manners was going to support Mitchell, and Mitchell says that Manners supported him and Green will never take the case to court. Mitchell tells them that the Albert had an appointment when Manners the morning before, and it's the first time Albert has been there when Manners arrived.
After Mitchell goes into his office, Ellery tells Richard that according to the personnel files, Albert and Mitchell were college roommates and Albert was hired on Mitchell's recommendation despite the reporter's current attitude toward the lawyer.
Harriet goes to see Arthur at his family's home, and Arthur explains that his grandmother Zelda is at the opening night of a raceway. Harriet is there because Arthur said that Zelda wanted to talk to Harriet, and Arthur tells Harriet that he wanted to talk and was afraid Harriet wouldn't want to talk to him. Arthur shows Harriet a journal of everything that has happened at the Examiner in the last month. He says that he's noted who Harriet can trust, including Thornton.
The next night at their apartment, Richard gets a call from Velie that Albert has disappeared but nobody has seen him since noon the day before. Ellery figures that if Albert killed Manners without a clue, he had no reason to run. While Richard makes a sandwich, Ellery goes through the personnel files and learns that Mitchell originally studied as an electrical engineer. As Richard bends over, Ellery notices that his pile of personnel files is blocking his view of the bottom half of the refrigerator. He goes to the Examiner, having an idea, and Richard goes with him.
A security guard lets the Queens into the building, and has Richard sit at Sally's desk. Ellery gets in the elevator and Richard can't see him lying on the floor because of the paper blocking his view. However, Ellery admits that it only means Manners was killed between 1 and 12, which still doesn't show how the killer got to Manners.
The Queens hear an argument from Manner's office. It's Harriet arguing with Mitchell about how Manners had caught onto Mitchell. The Queens come in and Harriet tells them that she discovered from a "confidential" source that her brother planned to fire Mitchell and Albert. Mitchell dismisses it as Manners making an idle threat, but insists that Manners would have had to back him up and was trying to bluff him into printing a retraction.
Harriet says that it was no bluff, and Mitchell admits that Manners might have really meant it but he had the facts and could back up his accusation. Ellery suggests that Mitchell didn't have the facts, but Mitchell says that he did and starts to leave. When Ellery confirms that Mitchell and Albert assumed they would be fired, Mitchell leaves and Ellery says that they have to talk to Albert. Harriet doesn't know where he is,
Frank is in the lobby going through the garbage, and goes over to the office listing on the wall when he hears the elevator coming. The Queens are in it, and Ellery tells Richard that Mitchell and Albert are good suspects. Richard's watch isn't working, and he asks Frank what time it is since Frank has his back turned to them. Frank tries to change his voice, but Richard isn't fooled and calls him out. Frank figures that Ellery will crack the case and wants to be there when he does. He offers to tell them what he knows if they give him an exclusive, and Ellery agrees over Ricard's objections.
Frank says that Thornton approached his paper, the Gazette, about getting a job because Manners was going to "retire" Thornton. With Manners dead, Thornton will continue working. Frank leaves, and the Queens go home, and Ellery points out that retirement age is 65: the two buttons Manners pushed. However, Ellery points out that it isn't proof and they have to figure out how the murder was committed.
The next day, Ellery finds Albert coming into work. The lawyer says that he was in Philadelphia at an Alumni meeting. Ellery has Albert confirm that he was in the building when Manners arrived about the lawsuit, and Albert says that he was going to quit since Manners was going to fire Mitchell. The lawyer tells Ellery that he should talk to Harriet, and she was about to start a proxy fight to get control of the Examiner.
Ellery meets with Harriet in her new office, and she admits that she was unhappy with the way Manners has been running the Examiner. Harriet also says that she ran the paper and well while Manners was working as a war correspondent. Then he returned and took the job back over, ignoring Harriet's contributions and cutting her out. Harriet didn't tell them about Zelda, who owns 22% of the papers stock. The sister wanted Zelda's support in her proxy fight, and thought that with time she would have gotten Zelda's backing. Ellery suggests that Harriet took matters into her own hands instead, and Harriet points out that with her brother dead, the paper is hers.
Ellery goes to see Zelda, and Arthur comes in and tells his grandmother that she doesn't have to answer Ellery's questions. Arthur says that no one cares who killed Manners, and tells Ellery that they should let Manner's death go. He admits that Manners buried him in Obituaries, and Ellery confirms that Arthur was in the building when Manners was shot. Arthur says that he had an alibi and was updating President Truman's obituary. When Arthur leaves, Ellery asks Zelda about Harriet's proxy fight. Zelda confirms that Harriet was there when Manners was murdered, but is vague about the time.
Richard calls Thornton into his office, and Thornton insists it was him rather than Manners who made the paper a success. Thornton says that if Manners hadn't died, he would have been forced to retire. He admits that no one can confirm his alibi.
Ellery goes to find his father, and discovers that he called Thornton to his office. As Ellery leaves, he gets in the elevator with Judy and finds that it's going up instead of down. Sally says that it's wonderful about Judy's marriage, and she and Walter got married the previous night. Ellery is more focused on the elevator. After Judy leaves, Ellery works out how Manners was killed and tells the view that the killer knew Manners' work schedule, and could shoot him and still have an alibi... and that three buttons were pushed.
That night, Ellery has Richard call in the five suspects: Thornton, Harriet, Mitchell, Albert, and Arthur. Ellery, Frank, and the reporters arrive and Ellery has them all get on the elevator. He has Harriet push the button for 12. The elevator goes down instead of up from the lobby, and the door opens on the basement to reveal Velie with a gun.
Ellery explains that Manners was shot in the basement when someone tampered with the control box. The killer shot Manners, changed the wiring back, and pushed the button for 12. Ellery has them all get back on the elevator, and explains that Manners went to the control panel, and waited until the elevator passed 6 to push the buttons 6 and 5 so it wouldn't stop. He did it so they knew the sequence would be 6-5.
The elevator arrives on 12, and Ellery says that Sally couldn't see the body. The dying clue was 12-6-5, which is Mitchell's office number. Mitchell studied electrical engineering in college. He shot Manners in the basement, ran up the stairs, and talked to Fred so he could establish his alibi. Ellery figures that Mitchell killed Manners to avoid having his reputation ruined, that Manners was going to do when he had the retraction reprinted.
Mitchell makes a run for it, and Velie comes up from the basement and grabs him. Frank's photographer captured the image, and Frank congratulates Ellery. Thornton dictates the story to his staff, while Harriet looks on in approval.
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