 Arthur Poe, Ben Sutton and Harry Wilson were comrades in the Korean War. Sutton and Wilson escaped, thinking Poe was dead, but he survived and spent several years in POW camps. Returning home, Poe finds that Sutton had stolen his war diary and published it as a best seller. Poe presses Sutton for money, but the writer is broke from paying blackmail. Gilbert Ames or his wife Marian ran over Alan Kirby s wife, leaving her permanently paralyzed. The Ameses have paid thousands of dollars to the Kirbys, mostly extorted from Ben Sutton. Sylvia Sutton, Ben s wife, contacts Perry Mason about dealing with blackmail. Marian tells Sylvia that Gilbert has killed Ben with a fireplace poker, at which Sylvia runs home and finds her husband dead, and the room a shambles. She dashes out of the house, runs into Poe and flees. Sylvia arrested later and calls on Perry to defend her.