The Fire Trap

Bill Farnsworth, an insurance appraiser, crashes his Ford roadster into a lamppost on the way to a fire when impetuous Betty Marshall, believing that his siren is illegal, forces him from the road. After displaying his badge, Bill abruptly requisitions her car and leaves. As he drives to the burning building to retrieve some valuable papers, he befriends a terrier named Wag, who is in the back seat, then, at the expense of his papers, Bill rescues the dog from the fire when it follows him into the building. Meanwhile, Betty has learned Bill's identity from his car registration and alerts her uncle and guardian, R. A. Rawson, an importer, of his insolence. Rawson is more concerned about the fate of his dog, however, than Betty's "stolen" vehicle. Bill's employer, Cedric McIntyre, is coincidentally conferring with R. A. on a scam to collect insurance by inflating the appraised value of merchandise stored in one of Rawson's warehouses. Meanwhile Bill returns the car and his new friend Wag to Rawson's office. Later, Betty demands punishment for Bill, and R. A. tells Cedric, who is vying for Betty's amorous attentions, to fire him. After reading of Bill's heroic rescue of the dog in the afternoon newspaper, Betty considers her actions too harsh and demands that Cedric reinstate Bill. Cedric accedes, but only after Betty agrees to dine with him that evening. Suspicious of his boss and R. A., Bill is sidetracked from investigating the arson plan when R. A. invites Bill to join Betty and their guests for a fox hunt during a weekend at his country home. After Bill rescues Betty after a fall from her horse, a romance develops between the couple. The jealous Cedric, embarrassed by a fall into a mud puddle, nearly comes to blows with Bill at a celebration after the hunt. Curious about Cedric's three million dollar appraisal of a perfume shipment being stored at the Rawson warehouse, Bill instructs his friend Bob, a special insurance investigator, to check the building. Learning that the contents are flammable coal oil and gasoline, Bill tells Betty of her uncle's plan to burn the site down. At first she does not believe him, but her uncle confesses that he was forced to commit arson to recoup his misspent fortunes. Betty now realizes that Cedric intends to set fire to the warehouse, which is deserted on Saturday except for a lone guard. After Betty drives Bill to his office to confront Cedric, he proceeds to the warehouse, where Cedric has just started a blaze. Bill also uncovers an attempt by Cedric to provide himself an alibi: the arsonist tries to pass off as a live radio broadcast from his office a pre-taped recording of a regularly scheduled lecture on the importance of insurance. Betty, trapped in the building by Cedric, is saved by Bill, who then shatters Cedric's alibi. Cedric kills himself as the police close in. Later, Bill, Betty, and Wag face a happy future together.