 Engineer Ernie Mullett, a plant manager, is having an affair with his secretary, Babs, financed through embezzlement. His boss, Mr. Baldwin, tells him that he will be replaced by his brother, Farnum, although Ernie brought Farnum into the company, and Farnum is staying at Ernie s house. When he gets home, Ernie is so angry he has a fight with Farnum, but his wife of six years tells him that she is in love with Farnum, and leaving with him. The next day at work, Babs tells Ernie how much she loves Farnum, who is exciting, while Ernie is just pleasant to look at. Ernie is demoted to cost estimator, sharing his secretary Madeleine with five other cost estimators. Ernie returns to his old office to retrieve items from the vault. Farnum tells him that he has defalcated $2,724.00, but that he will take care of the problem, if they can be amicable. Farnum says that the lock combination is changed, but offers to get an insurance policy from the safe, which Ernie wants to change to remove Judith as benefactor. Ernie then asks Farnum to retrieve an isometric drawing from the strong room, in order to further espy the new combination. The next day he arrives at work with a Gallica maxima rose boutonnière. He enters his brother s office, and comments that the flaming star of Farnum s boutonnière doesn t live very long. He also tells Farnum that the new combination is J-U-D-Y, his wife s name. Ernie then dispatches his brother with a lead pipe, slides him into the vault, and tells Babs that Farnum left via the back door. Ernie goes on a date with the new secretary, Maddy, at a Mexican restaurant, where he swigs Margueritas. Afterward, he returns to the plant manager s office, and sets the scene to appear as a robbery-murder. The following morning, the police interview Ernie, and he tells them that he has not been in the vault since he was transferred to Room 774. Shortly thereafter, they call Ernie back, and ask him to explain why they found a rose petal in the safe.