The doubtful to dangerous affiliations of Pete Worden, at loose- very- ends after the war, when a fight at a roulette wheel later leads to a body in his bedroom. The insistence of a local racketeer- who offers him a job, the evasiveness of his girl, Ellen, the doublecross of his correct brother- John, provides some very shaky support for Pete but leads to his solution of the case. California complicated, but nothing to brood over.