Trama

Stacey Chandler gives Helen Harvey his mother's cameo as an engagement gift but Helen finds out that Stacey is a con man. Irene Wallace tries to involve Stacey in a con game against Helen, but he refuses. Irene is killed and Helen charged.

Helen Harvey is engaged to be married to Stacey Chandler despite her Aunt Florence Harvey's misgivings. She begins to have her own doubts when she receives a copy of a magazine article describing Stacey as a con man. Aunt Florence's husband has been missing for several years and she will soon be seeking court authority to have him declared legally dead. She is convinced that Chandler is only after the money Helen is to inherit as a result. Stacey was working with Margo Lawrence as a partner in the con but he plans to leave her for her own good as he has genuinely fallen for her. Stacey is approached by Irene Wallace who has a cigarette lighter from Helen's missing uncle saying she knows his whereabouts. For $10,000 she will forget about the uncle but Stacey turns the information over to Helen who visits Irene. That doesn't stop Irene, however, as she is working for Helen's Aunt Florence. When Irene is found dead, Helen is charged and Perry defends her.—garykmcd

Stacey Chandler (John Bryant) gives Helen Harvey (Marion Ross, "Mrs. C" on Happy Days) his mother's cameo and warns her that she'll hear bad things about him. Helen's Aunt Florence (Sara Haden) calls that good psychological strategy. She compares Stacey to Helen's Uncle Frank, who disappeared with his secretary eight years earlier. Florence is convinced that he's only interested in Helen for her money. After he leaves, Helen opens her mail, only to find a page taken from "Real Crime Magazine", an article on con man Stacey Chandler.

When Stacey reaches his apartment, he finds that his partner in con games Margo Lawrence (Peggy Maley) has convinced the building manager to let her in. She soon realizes that Stacey has actually fallen for Helen, and warns them that if he double-crosses her, she'll go straight to the D.A. There's a knock at the door, so Margo hides in the next room while Stacey answers the door. It's a woman who introduces herself as Irene Wallace (Jean Willes). She says the missing Uncle Frank is alive (having lost his memory in an accident), but for $10,000 she'll keep him out of sight so Frank's will can be probated and Helen inherit $500,000. To prove her case, she hands Stacey a cigarette lighter engraved to "Frank Harvey from John Bass", then tells him to come to her bungalow at the Esquire Motel around 10 that night.Once she leaves, Margo reemerges and disparages Irene's attempt to horn in on their con, but Stacey says that few knew that John Bass had been Frank's best friend until his death 15 years ago. Stacey only knew because he was so close to Helen.

Stacey goes to Helen and admits that their relationship started as a con, but "it's different now". He says that he himself mailed the magazine article to her, so she'd know why he was disappearing from her life without him having to tell her face-to-face. He only came to see her this time to show her the lighter. That night, Helen goes to Irene's bungalow, demanding to see Frank. Irene says she doesn't know what Helen is talking about and denies recognizing the lighter. Helen tries to force her way into the bedroom, but Irene stops her. In their struggle, the bedroom doorknob comes off. Irene pushes her out, and Helen yells to be let back in until motel manager Pete Daniels (Jack Daly) appears and threatens to call the police. Helen drives off. Irene returns to her bungalow, where her co-conspirator comes out of the bedroom. It's Aunt Florence.

The next day, Helen goes to Perry and explains about Uncle Frank. He disappeared with his secretary Vivian West, who's husband Harry (Albert Linville) is a local carpenter. Perry and Paul visit Harry, who says that he divorced Vivian for desertion. She didn't even leave him a note, despite the sacrifices he'd made to try and please her. He even bought land in Encino on which to build their dream house. Lt. Tragg arrives with a locket, which Harry identifies as Vivian's. Tragg says it was found at the Esquire Motel, where Irene was strangled with it. He also has a cameo found at the scene. He doesn't know it's the one that Stacey gave Helen, but he does believe it belongs to the murderer. Back at the office, Perry gets a call from Helen. She's in Las Vegas, where she just married Stacey. She hadn't yet heard about Irene. Perry tells her they must fly back immediately, where Paul will meet them with instructions. Afterward, Perry is in the motel lobby, hearing Pete tell how he'd recognize that crazy woman he saw arguing with Irene anywhere. Stacey and Helen (now wearing glasses and with her hair up) enter, and Stacey asks for a room while Helen primps in a mirror. Pete gives them one, without ever recognizing Helen.

The next day, Paul reports that Margo has told the police everything she knows, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Helen. Perry tells him to have Helen turn herself in immediately. Perry next goes to Florence and accuses her of giving Irene the lighter in a scheme to discredit Stacey. Perry says that the key to the whole case is Frank's disappearance, but Florence won't talk about that, so he leaves. Florence then goes to the wall safe and removes a pocket watch engraved with Frank's initials. She calls Harry, posing as "Mrs. Walter Harris" who wants some carpentry done and wants to see him that night at her home in Gardena. When Harry gets back from that trip, the police are there. They find the pocket watch in a flour canister, and don't believe Harry's story of going to Gardena only to find a vacant lot. Luckily for him, he was being followed by Paul's man Faulkner (Robert Bice). Perry, recognizing an attempted frame, tells Faulkner to go to the police and corroborate Harry's account. Paul also had a man tailing Florence, who saw her go into Harry's unlocked house while he was away. Perry says that Florence's help is the kind that will put Helen in the gas chamber.

At the trial, Burger doesn't let the fact that he's on crutches slow him down. Tragg identifies the bedroom doorknob, which has particles of Irene's skin and hair, plus a couple of Helen's fingerprints. Her fingerprints are also elsewhere in the room, but the knob of the front door had been wiped clean. Pete points out Helen as the woman he saw that night, but Perry wrecks his credibility by proving that he'd checked her into his motel without recognizing her. However, Burger calls Robert Riley (Don Dillaway), a women's dress salesman who stayed at the Esquire that night, and saw Helen outside Irene's bungalow around 10:30 PM. He's quite specific in identifying her dress size and what she was wearing. During a recess, Helen admits to Perry that she had returned to the bungalow later, when she realized she'd lost her cameo. She found Irene dead, and went to Perry knowing she was involved in a murder case. As has happened before, Perry grumbles about being played by a client, then continues to defend brilliantly.

Back in court, Florence admits her attempt to frame Harry. On cross-examination, she says that the watch was one of a number of things that Frank left behind when he disappeared. This was also true of Vivian's locket, an attached repair bill explaining why it was in Frank's possession. Florence admits that she hired Irene and gave her the lighter and locket, in an attempt to make it seem like the two were still living in the area. During another recess, Perry has Paul and a crew digging up Harry's land in Encino. When Harry bought it, the land company reserved the mineral rights, which Perry has acquired, so he's "digging for uranium". Harry shows up with a gun and threatens them, but Paul disarms him with a shovel. Lt. Tragg and Burger arrive, having already been briefed by Perry. The D.A. asks Harry why he killed Irene. She made the mistake of telling him she knew where Frank and Vivian were, and showed him the lighter and locket. He assumed that she'd discovered their bodies, so he knocked her out with the doorknob and strangled her with the locket. Later, he realized she was just trying to shake him down for a little extra cash and knew nothing of his earlier murders. Perry asks where the two bodies are buried, and Harry indicates two trees, the intended site of his dream house. Tragg takes him away.

Later, Paul claims this is their first case where someone tried to frame the guilty man. Perry says that he got on the right track when he realized that the key to the case wasn't so much Frank's disappearance as Vivian's. Paul replies that Perry was lucky that his "mineral rights" ploy actually worked. Della disagrees, saying that if Perry had really been lucky, he would have found uranium.