Missing Daughters

Two reporters interview Mr. Blake, the chief of the Missing Persons Bureau of the Secret Service in Washington, D.C. To give them an idea of the work the bureau does, Blake relates the following case, which occurred in 1924: Eileen Allen, tired of drudge work, excitedly tears out an ad for a "sweet, young" traveling companion for a wealthy widow. Eva Rivers, one of Eileen's roommates, cautions that one pays bitterly for ease. Offended by Eva's attitude, Eileen answers the ad and goes to the office of Anthony Roche, proprietor of the infamous Golden Calf resort, who tells her that the widow has been called out of town unexpectedly. At the urging of his cohort, Frank Linke, who lusts after Eileen, Roche hires her as his secretary. Bond broker John Rogers, Eva's boss who is an undercover Secret Service agent, tells her that he has to go to Washington, then confesses that he loves her. Jimmy, the office boy, overhears him arrange with Claire Mathers, also an undercover agent, to rent a summer cottage at the beach, and he upsets Eva when he relates John's planned rendezvous with, in his words, a "sweet patootie." When Eva and Eileen's other roommate, Pauline Hinton, complains about her hard millinery job, Eileen invites her to a party Saturday night at the Golden Calf. Pauline laughs when Eva pleads with her not to go and leaves with Eileen. Instead of going to Washington, John visits Roche and tells him that he wants to buy into the business. Impressed that John's good looks will be valuable in the Southern operation, Roche invites him to the Golden Calf, where he meets Pauline and Eileen. John takes Pauline home, and when Eva sees them together, she accuses him of lying to her, frequenting a notorious cabaret and attempting to seduce Pauline. Now cynical about love, Eva agrees to go with Eileen and Pauline to a weekend party that Claire is having at her cottage. Roche suspects that Eileen might be the daughter which his wife took with her when she left him years earlier and cautions her to keep away from Linke and the Golden Calf. Eileen goes anyway with Linke to the cabaret, where Linke learns that Claire is an undercover agent. He has her abducted and left bound and gagged in the cellar, but Walt, her accomplice who poses as a derelict beachcomber, rescues her and calls the police. Linke and his thugs carry Eva, Eileen and Pauline to a boat to get them to an offshore plane. After they take off for a "dive" in the South belonging to Roche, which John has infiltrated, Roche learns from a detective that Eva, not Eileen, is actually his daughter. When the plane lands, Eva escapes, but Pauline and Eileen are taken prisoner by Roche's underlings, Guy Benson and Tony Hawks. John finds Eva, and to carry out his undercover works, he tells the others that he is claiming her for himself, whereupon she calls him a beast. John rescues Eileen and Pauline and fights Benson and Hawks. As Roche arrives in his plane, Eva, who now realizes that John is trying to help, tells him that she cannot let him die alone. Roche is hit by a bullet and killed as he tries to save Eva. John then flies Roche's plane with the girls aboard, and they are chased by Benson and Hawks. John shoots Benson, the pilot, and he falls out. When the plane lands, Eva hugs John. Finished with his story, Blake tells the reporters that the incident was the beginning of the end of those mobs, and that today they have been entirely wiped out.