The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the inocent.

On robbery detail, Joe Friday and Frank Smith take the call to interview a bar tender. He tells how events unfolded regarding the previous night's disturbance. A few suspects are forthcoming to get started on, but the info from the bartender and the victims have been pretty much picked clean. The cops are covering likely places for the robbers to spend the money, casinos, horse tracks, and the like.

A hot tip comes in from an informant that one of the suspects is this woman's boyfriend. The drunk barfly talks to Joe Friday about all she knows. Armed with plenty of circumstantial evidence, Friday confronts the suspect to put together some hard evidence, and calls the man in to be part of a police lineup. Though he is identified, the suspect has an airtight alibi, so it's back on the streets for the cops.

Time for a new strategy, and it looks like a winner for the cops when they find their man. Now they just need to get him to talk, and spill the beans on his accomplices.