 At the offices of a boat building company, Sam Crane calls Lester Martin to be sure the latter will be at the stockholders  meeting by 5:00 pm. Lester s step-father, Judson Bailey, wants to take over the company and has the proxy of his wife, Lester s mother Emma. A gunman invades Lester s apartment and kidnaps him. In a remote area, Lester wrests the gunman s weapon away, and the kidnapper escapes. At his mother s home, Lester accuses Bailey of setting up the kidnapping, but Emma does not believe her son, thinking he is a talkative tattletale. Lester consults Perry Mason, who attends the stockholders  meeting. Lt. Tragg turns up to announce that Bailey has been murdered. Lester disappears, but is later found and arrested.