 Gerald Musgrove shoots and kills a night watchman while stealing $100,000 from a bank. On the street nearby, while eluding police, he meets elderly Emmy Rice, and befriends her. Since he is on parole, he must launder the loot, so he stows it in some of Emmy s old magazines. Gerald then prods impoverished Emmy into writing a will, awarding all money found in her apartment to himself. He tries to murder Emmy three times, but she survives, and arranges for the arrest of Milly Musgrove for attempting to gas her to death. Gerald is apprehended too, when he realizes that Emmy gave all her magazines to a junk collector, and blurts admissions of guilt. Emmy, however, kept one magazine in cold storage, containing all of the purloined bills.