Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.
The police, who are in pursuit of the man they believe has committed a murder, put out the information that he has most likely contracted Rabies from a dog that bit him. They further state that the dog has been ‘destroyed’. This is later revealed to not be true and was just a ploy to get the man to make himself known. The dog in question is alive and well and now resides at the police officer’s home.
One of the female characters is a stereotypical 1950s ‘beautiful but flawed’, needy woman, with melodramatic tendencies. At one point she jumps out of a moving car and goes to the cliff edge, threatening to jump. One does not get the impression that this is a serious attempt.