Red Haired Alibi

Redhead Lynn Monith, a twenty-three-year-old cigar counter clerk at the Hotel Savoy in Columbus, Ohio, becomes friendly with Trent Travers, a white-collar gangster from New York. When her hotel closes, she travels to New York City, where she hopes Trent will employ her. Before Trent's return from out-of-town business, Lynn, nearly broke, befriends Robert Shelton, a wealthy family man whose wife has just left him, and they spend an evening together at "The Vanities," before they return to their separate lives. Trent hires Lynn as his companion because he believes she can be loyal, trustworthy, and close-mouthed about his operations. He moves her into a lavish apartment, gives her a clothing allowance and pays her $100 per week so that she will accompany him to social gatherings. Unaware of his true vocation, Lynn follows the instructions of her employer. After she is caught off guard when Trent introduces her as his wife at a nightclub, Lynn provides him with a false alibi after he briefly leaves their private dining room to bomb crime rival Morgan's place. Later, using Morgan's appreciation of antiques, Trent runs a scam which allows him to murder Morgan and forces Lynn to again provide an alibi that her husband was in Cleveland at the time of the killing. Realizing that Lynn has been duped by the gangster, police officers Corcoran and Regan suggest that she leave town before Morgan's gang retaliates and her life is further threatened. Arriving at a White Plains, New York employment agency, she coincidentally meets Robert Shelton again, who is looking for someone to care for Gloria, his four-year-old daughter. Lynn accepts the position and moves into Bob's large home. The couple grow to love each other and eventually marry, although Bob is unaware of Lynn's past association in the ever-continuing racketeer war that hogs the newspaper headlines. When Lynn returns to New York City to drop Bob off at Grand Central Station on a business trip, Trent spots and trails her. His life threatened, he demands $10,000 from her to help him flee the country and coerces her to agree to his scheme or risk having her past revealed to her husband. An unidentified man watches Lynn secretly enter a nearby restaurant's private dining room the following night where she is to meet Trent. She refuses to pay him and instead fires a gun at the gangster as he is about to inform the local police by telephone of her background. When he falls to the floor dead, she runs from the room, unaware that Henri, an inquisitive waiter, has overheard enough evidence to cause the police to suspect her. Captain Kent, recognizing Trent, calls in Regan from the New York police, and they both confront Lynn at her home. Confessing that Trent had forced her to commit the desperate act, she hands over her weapon. When Kent discovers that the bullet which killed Trent is a different calibre than her gun, and that someone else's gun must have fired the fatal shot, Lynn is not arrested, and the police leave, promising to keep her involvement in the case secret.