An old friend asks Mannix for help as his daughter has been kidnapped. When he arrives the friend has changed his story, saying it was mistake. What's more, the friend, a card sharp, is inexplicably losing lots of money in a fixed game.
Joe Mannix receives an urgent phone call from his friend George Lassiter asking him to come to Albuquerque because of a problem with Lassiter's daughter Jeannie, who is also Joe's goddaughter. Mannix arrives quickly only to be told that the problem has been solved. Sensing that he's not receiving the whole story, though, Mannix decides to conduct his own investigation -- leading him to discover that his friend is involved in a novel form both of kidnapping and of paying the ransom.—aldanoli