Soon after Joe realizes he has a cash flow problem, he and his partner Pete Delanos (Ricardo Montalbán) are ordered to perform a routine investigation whereby a rich and well connected doctor, Horace Van Tilden (Joseph Cotten) has shot an intruder, Phil Kenny, in his home. When the duo visit the crime scene, they find an opened wall safe and the intruder laying on the floor, but still breathing. Joe rides in the ambulance and during the trip to the hospital, Kenny reveals that he was after two bags of cash containing $500,000. He also gives Joe a piece of paper with the combination of the safe on it, after which Kenny dies. Joe decides to keep this to himself and continues his own personal research on the case to find more information.