AllMovie

Narrowing the suspects down to three after a large corporation reports a 100,000-dollar shortfall, Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Officer Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) pound the pavement to track down the missing money. The determined detectives first interview a female employee (who seems to always be short on cash as a result of caring for her invalid mother) and then a warehouse manager short on funds due to alimony payments and a greedy girlfriend. Though the first two leads leave the lawmen scratching their heads, a third suspect provides the answers for which Friday and Gannon have been searching. When they interview purchasing agent Harry Pendleton (Vic Perrin), the suspect mentions that he moonlights at a gas station to make ends meet. Inquiring at the gas station, Friday and Gannon are shocked to learn that the manager knows of no such employee. It turns out that Pendleton is a compulsive gambler who lies about a night job in order to go to a nearby city that allows gambling. Embezzling company funds to cover his losses, Pendleton breaks down and confesses all under interrogation.