Hideout

At a swank party in Chicago, petty thieves Beecham and Evans steal a valuable diamond necklace from wealthy dowager Sybil Elwood Kaymeer in collusion with their debonair boss, Arthur Burdette. After the robbery, Burdette keeps the diamonds and orders the group to split up, sending Beecham and Evans to New York, while he assumes the name and identity of Philip J. Fogarty, a retired oilman. Masquerading as Fogarty, Burdette heads for Hilltop, Iowa, home of Fogarty's alma mater, Gideon College, having reported Beecham and Evans to the police. In Hilltop, meanwhile, mayoral candidate and city attorney George Browning regretfully fires his new secretary and girl friend, Hannah Kelley, because the town ordinances set restrictions on new residents working for the city government. Hannah tells George she will accept a job as secretary to Burdette, who has just arrived in town. Unknown to George, Hannah is allied with Burdette, who had her placed in the city attorney's office as an informant. Gabriel Wottor, a gem expert hired by Burdette, cuts down the diamonds, but before leaving, accidentally breaks his glasses, leaving pieces of glass on Burdette's carpet. Burdette hides the gems in a Gideon College yearbook, then places the book in a hollowed-out step in his new apartment. Soon afterward, while walking in the park, George and Hannah discover Wotter's dead body and George is determined to solve the murder so he can win the election. George's initial investigation is hampered by the chief of police, whose brother-in-law is the incumbent mayor, but George soon learns about the broken spectacles found on Wottor's body. George's new secretary, Edie Hansen, identifies the tools found on Wotter as gem setting equipment. When Hannah turns down a date with George, he goes to Burdette's to find her and while waiting, accidentally discovers the broken pieces of Wottor's glasses. At the police chief's office that night, George fits the pieces into Wottor's frames and begins to suspect a jewelry theft is connected to the murder. Later, George tells Hannah about the connection between Burdette and Wotter and asks her to report Burdette's actions to him. While the two embrace at the end of the evening, Hannah lifts the envelope containing the glass fragments from George's pocket and later gets rid of it. The next day at his office, when George wonders about the missing evidence, Edie hints that Hannah may be involved, but George refuses to believe her. Meanwhile, Burdette discovers that he sincerely enjoys small-town life and decides to stay in Hilltop, quickly becoming a favorite donor at his "alma mater." A couple of days later, Hannah interrupts George in the middle of an important campaign radio broadcast to tell him that she fears Burdette suspects her and wants George to accompany her to Chicago. With two hours before the next train, George leaves Hannah at the station to sneak into Burdette's to investigate, but Hannah telephones Burdette to warn him. At Burdette's apartment, George discovers the hollowed step and finds the yearbook with a letter from a private investigation agency reporting the real Fogarty's death and lack of family. Unknown to anyone, Beecham and Evans have tracked down Burdette and are hiding in George's car. They threaten him at knifepoint, but he crashes the car and returns to Hannah at the station on foot. On the train, George tells Hannah all the details he has discovered about the jewlery heist and Burdette's involvement. Just then Beecham enters their compartment, demanding the diamonds from Hannah. When George looks stunned, Beecham explains that he and Evans tapped Burdette's phone line and discovered Hannah was being sent away to Chicago by him to sell the jewels. At the next stop, Beecham forces the couple off the train into a waiting car driven by Evans, and they go to an abandoned barn away from the road. In the barn George and Hannah scuffle with the pair and Hannah shoots Beecham and wings Evans. When Hannah grows alarmed that a section of her gem covered belt has been knocked off in the mêlée, George realizes she really has the diamonds, but he decides to let her go. Back in Hilltop, as Burdette is being awarded an honorary degree from Gideon College, George arrives with the police and has him arrested. Later in his office, George finds out that Edie has arranged for Hannah's arrest and decides that perhaps Edie is the girl for him after all.