Plot

Pete and Jim have to contend with a mysterious noise in the squad car while dealing with grand theft horse, a naive teenage waif, and a robbery suspect who makes fake calls to distract the police.

At roll call, officers are cautioned about phony calls related to armed robberies. Reed and Malloy try to track down a noise coming from their car when they get a call of a stolen horse. At the stables, the owner offers them the use of two horses, but reluctant to ride themselves, the officers enlist the help of two park rangers to corral the horse thief. Back on patrol, the car noise keeps getting worse, Reed and Malloy respond to a motel where they help a distraught young woman who is under the influence of an older man. After sunset, Malloy ignores a call and heads to nearby liquor stores where they find armed robbers making a getaway. Fired upon, they give chase and pull the two men from their burning car after it crashes. Talking it over afterward, Reed notices the noise is gone.—bobbymaxwell / edited by Hans Delbruck

The officers at roll call learn that an armed robbery team has of late been using the tactic of making calls to the police of fake emergencies to direct them away from where their imminent robbery will take place. Malloy is certain that his and Reed's first call is not a fake as it is too improbable: grand theft horse. A horse was stolen off a ranch. This call leaves Malloy and Reed with a dilemma: how to catch the thief on the trail he was seen headed, that trail on which Malloy and Reed are unable to drive their patrol car. And going after the thief on horseback themselves is not an option. Their second call, which they also believe to be real, takes them to a motel where there is a standoff between a young man and woman. Although there is no legal issue on which to hold the man, Malloy and Reed morally side with the woman, who they try to assist in a meaningful way. It isn't until their third call that Malloy believes they've come across a fake. Is Malloy's instinct right? If so, they may be able to catch the robbers. Through their shift, their minds are not focused primarily on the fake call issue, but rather the annoying high pitched noise emanating from somewhere under the hood of their patrol car, that noise which just won't stop and thus is driving them crazy.—Huggo