This 1959 to 1960 television series starred Ralph Meeker as Sgt Steve Dekker. Dekker is an Army investigator with the Criminal Investigations Division (CID of the US Army. CID investigates serious crimes committed by or against army personnel. Dekker is based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Meeker seems to be channeling his Mike Hammer persona (KISS ME DEADLY) in this series. He plays the character as hard-nosed as they come. This episode is the 4th episode of the 39 episode production run.
A murdered woman is found near the Army base. The base commander (Ken Drake) is called about the incident. Drake gets on the horn and calls in Dekker. From the look of the wounds, etc., they figure it was a serviceman who did the deed. Found in the dead woman's car was a trunk load of Army electronics.
A soldier (Michael Macready) is soon in the hot seat for questioning. Macready was known to be going out with the murder victim. Found in his locker is a roll of money. Macready says he won the cash playing poker at an off-base game at the time of the murder. Macready swears he is innocent and to check out his story.
Col. Drake figures he got the cash for selling Army equipment. Drake figures that the Macready and the dead woman were in some black market deal gone wrong. He still has Meeker check on the man's story. Meeker does just that and questions the man (James Seay) who is running the poker game. Seay tells Meeker that the soldier had been flashing a wad for several months. He adds that Macready was a big time loser at the table, but always seemed to have cash.
Dekker (Ralph Meeker) goes over the supply records and discovers that equipment has been vanishing for several months. And always on the night where Macready was assigned to sentry duty at the supply area. This is all the CID needs and Macready is locked up for a date with a judge.
A typist corpora (Lisabeth Hush) who works in Meeker's office, thinks Macready is being framed. She hints that Meeker should look into all the witnesses again. She bets him a date and a big dinner that Meeker has missed something.
Meeker, not one to miss a chance at a pretty woman, agrees to the wager. He will go over everything again. He starts by questioning the Supply Depot Sergeant (Charlie Briggs). Briggs tells him that after checking the records, there were short counts after nights Macready worked sentry duty. Nobody noticed because they only do a stock inventory every quarter.
Meeker visits the cells for another talk with Macready. Macready is surprised about what Seay and the others have said. Why would he kill the girl, he was crazy over her. Now Macready admits that on nights he was on sentry duty, he would meet the girl for a little clutch and grab in her car. He knew it was against regulations, but how could he say no.
Meeker is starting to get that feeling on the nape of the neck that the pretty Corporal might be onto something. He tells Col. Drake that maybe another look would not be remiss in this case. He intends to question Seay as well as the dead girl's roommate (Barbara Stuart) again.
While this is going on, the viewer finds out that Sgt Briggs is the one lifting the Army electronics. He is in cahoots with gambler Seay and Miss Stuart. The dead girl had been in on the deal as well.
She would keep Macready busy swapping spit, while Briggs loaded a truck with goods. These he would pass onto Seay who then passed them on to various underworld types. Seay had done time before, and knew all the proper people. Briggs was doing this to pay off his gambling losses to Seay, and to build a nest egg for after the army. She had been killed after demanding a larger cut of the proceeds. They used her corpse to set-up Macready as the fall guy.
Meeker brings Corporal Hush along this time as a fresh set of eyes and ears. He interviews the roommate Stuart again. Stuart spins a tale of how Macready was a jealous type when it came to her now deceased flatmate. Miss Hush sees right through the lies and points this out after they leave. Meeker admits he was busy watching Stuart's tight clothes and such.
Now everything comes to a head as the villains start to get jumpy over the new questions. Meeker soon finds himself on the wrong end of a blackjack, and is laid out for a nap. Miss Hush is grabbed up as getaway insurance. They have a boat at the marina and Miss Hush can then be disposed of.
They plan on taking the boat down the coast to a hideaway they have. Later, after the heat cools, it will be back to the mainland. Of course Meeker has other ideas once he regains his senses. He jumps Seay and the two have a first rate knuckle dust up. Seay gets the worst of the engagement and it is put away with several solid rights. Briggs runs, but likewise is corralled, as is Miss Stuart. Macready is soon released and Meeker is now on the hook for dinner.
This is a pretty good episode, with several nice twists and just enough violence. Look close and you will see stuntman turned actor Bill Hickman in a small role. Hickman became one of the best stunt drivers in Hollywood. He was at the wheel in the chase scenes in BULLITT, THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE SEVEN-UPS. Michael Macready was the son of long-time screen villain George Macready.
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