- The owner of a lucrative orchid business is charged with murder after her husband loses stock shares in a poker game to a sleazy ex-con. When the hostess at the game calls to say she was poisoned, Perry and his team spring into action.
- Harry Marlow who owns a chain of florist shops wants a share of Mildred Kimber's lucrative orchid business. He hires Sam Lynk to run a crooked card game to obtain stock in the business from Mildred's husband Bob who has a gambling habit. Sam wins the shares as he receives a call from his girlfriend. After a scuffle between Bob and Marlow, Sam and hostess Lola Florey quickly get Bob out of the room but Sam reneges on giving Marlow the shares. Lola who is miffed at the lack of attention from Sam decides to tell Mildred about the crooked game and provide proof to her and Mason the next morning. However, that evening Perry receives a call from Lola saying she has been poisoned by a box of chocolates she received at the club. Perry contacts Tragg who is able to get her address. She is rescued in time by Perry and Tragg. Perry realizing Mildred is in serious trouble visits the sick woman. He goes to see Sam Lynk but finds him dead with Mildred's prescription box near the body. Perry has to prove her innocence but never goes to court.—Anonymous
- At Orchids Unlimited, nurseryman Tulloch (Cyril Delevanti) is admiring owner Mildred Kimber's (Anne Barton) latest new orchid. Harry Marlow (Dan Seymour), ex-con and now a florist, drops by to suggest that he'd make a good silent partner in Mildred's business. She wants nothing to do with him, but his manner hints that he's confident he'll get what he wants. Mildred, who is recovering from a recent heart attack, collapses and sends Tulloch running to fetch her pills.
In his office at Club Eldorado, owner Sam Lynk (Michael Emmet) is playing poker with Harry and Bob Kimber (Mark Roberts), with club hostess Lola Florey (Peggy Maley) in attendance. Bob has a full house, and - seen only by Lola - a gun and set of stock certificates in his coat pocket. The hand is interrupted by a phone call, which Lola answers. It's Miss Carling (Jann Darlyn), the woman for whom Sam dumped Lola, who's obviously not pleased. Back in the game, Sam keeps raising Bob until the pot is huge. Bob calls, but Sam's four deuces have him beat. In all, Bob now owes $37,000, and has to pledge his stock. Harry manages to find an offensive way of saying that Mildred has entrusted Bob with 49% of Orchids Unlimited. Bob punches him, but Sam pulls him off and sends him to the bar. Harry expects Sam to hand over the stock, for which Sam has already been payed $40,000. However, Sam says he now wants an additional $10,000, as he charges more for his services to people he dislikes.
At their apartment, Mildred learns from a drunk Bob that Sam now has the stock. She calls Perry, who's in the middle of vital work, so she has to settle for an appointment at 10:30 next morning. She goes to the club, where Lola privately tells her that the game was rigged and about the deal with Harry. Admitting that she's acting as a woman scorned, Lola agrees to come to Perry's office next morning, bringing one of Sam's marked decks as evidence. Mildred leaves, and later Lola is about to do likewise when a cigarette girl (Dawn Richard) hands her a box of chocolates that had been left anonymously for her shortly before.
Perry and Della are still working late when he gets a call from Lola, weakly saying that she's eaten poisoned candy. Then she stops talking, but the line is still open, so Perry hopes they can get it traced, but no sooner does he say this than it's disconnected. He immediately calls Lt. Tragg but can't tell him much because Lola isn't listed in the phone book. Luckily, her name is familiar to Tragg, who gets her address from the police registry of night club employees. He sends an ambulance and meets Perry at Lola's house. They find her barely alive, six candies gone from the box, and the receiver of the phone back on the hook. Perry has Della peek into the trash, but she sees nothing but some used tissues.
At her apartment, Mildred looks unwell again. A gun falls out of her coat and she puts it back. Perry and Della are at the door. She tells him that Bob has returned, exhausted from business travel, and is now asleep. It's all a lie, as are her claim that her urgent problem has been cleared up and her denial of knowing Lola. As they leave, Perry speculates that there's a link from Mildred to her husband (a known gambler) to Sam (another gambler) to Lola (Sam's employee). Therefore, he goes to Sam's house but finds him on the floor, shot dead. The phone is off the hook, and near the body Perry finds Mildred's pill prescription. He returns to Mildred's apartment and finds the gun in her coat. She tells Perry about her meeting with Lola and that she went to Sam's, found him dead and Bob's gun on the floor, so she took it, but couldn't find the stock. She had a blackout while there, which is how she must have dropped her prescription. Perry warns her not to lie, because they'll give her a paraffin test to show if she's fired a gun recently. The police pound on the door, and Mildred realizes that Bob's fingerprints must be on the gun, so she grabs it and wipes it, but fires a wild shot in the process. As Lt. Tragg bursts in to arrest her, she collapses.
Later, her doctor (Henry Hunter) has put an oxygen tent around her bed. He's says that she'll never live through the stress of a murder trial. Her husband should be with her, but the police are still looking for him. Downstairs, Burger has arrived and said he won't let Mildred evade justice. Perry says that if he questions her and she suffers a fatal relapse, he'll accuse the prosecutor of manslaughter. Burger replies that he's instructed the city medical officer to examine her, which can't be medically objectionable, and let the D.A.'s office know as soon as Mildred is fit to be arraigned. He adds that he also intends to charge Perry with malfeasance, for telling Mildred to fire the gun in her apartment, the rendering a paraffin test pointless.
In Perry's office, Paul reports that Lola is recovering and soon will be discharged. The poison was Veronal, and a few more pieces would have killed her. Harry Marlow show up, still after the stock. He threatens to testify that he was on the phone with Sam when he was murdered, and Sam told him Bob was there. Perry throws him out, but soon bumps into him again leaving Lola's hospital room. Perry tells her that she's still in danger from her poisoner, who is also Sam's killer, so she should tell the D.A. what she told Mildred. Lola won't cooperate, and after Perry presses her she indicates that Harry made threats. Perry convinces Tragg to put a stakeout on Lola's house, despite Burger's possible ire at being left out of the loop. Perry decides to go there himself, and Tragg goes too.
We see some rags thrown on the floor and splashed with what must be a flammable liquid, since a lit match thrown into the pile instantly results in a roaring fire. Outside, the police see the flames and call the fire department as Lola runs out, screaming. Perry arrives and calms the hysterical Lola. She says that she saw Harry, who hit her and set the fire. Tragg congratulates Perry, who explains to Lola that at his suggestion, Harry had been jailed on extortion charges earlier that day. She tries again, saying it was actually Bob that she saw, but the police have him too. Defeated, she admits that she lifted Bob's gun at the poker game and used it to kill Sam. She set the fire herself.
Back at the office, Perry explains that Lola poisoned herself to set up an alibi and points out the clue: When Perry and Della looked around Lola's place when she was found poisoned, where were the wrappers of the six candies she'd eaten? She hadn't called Perry from home at all, but from a phone booth near Sam's house, giving her time to shoot him, rush home, and collapse. The only remaining question is who was really on the phone with Sam at the time of the murder, and Tragg enters, announcing that it was just Tulloch, Mildred's nurseryman, in a vain attempt to get the stock back for her. The lieutenant adds that he comes with a present from Lola, who wants to show there are no hard feelings. It's a box of chocolates, so Perry offers Tragg a piece. He replies, "After you."
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