 George Maxwell takes a cab for a late-night meeting with his old girlfriend, showgirl Adele Beaumont, only to discover that she is dead. The next morning her murder is front-page news. The cab driver, Sam Kirby, remembers Maxwell, because he couldn t break a $20 bill. Kirby comes to his office, and makes a blackmail demand. He tells his wife Mavis about the threat, and she tells him to set up a meeting with Kirby at the house. When she offers Kirby a molasses cookie, she pulls a pistol from the plate, and kills Kirby. George and Mavis plant Kirby s body in a new rose tree bed. Then Mavis reveals that she killed Adele. Next morning in his office, his secretary, Ms. Hinchley, asks for a raise, and for more personal attention. She has a tape recording of Maxwell s conversation with Kirby, because Mavis  father, company president Alva Hardwicke, put a bug in the office. Maxwell immediately calls his wife, and tells her to prepare the garden for another bed of roses.