CFM #9 Return of the Whistler (1948)

CFM #9
Return of the Whistler

Ted's (Michael Duane) car breaks down in a small town. He leaves his fiancee Alice (Lenore Aubert) at a hotel while he goes to the next town to get his car fixed. When he returns the next morning, she is missing. He requests to speak with the night clerk who tells him she checked out 30 minutes after he left the night before. He has a slight altercation with the night clerk at which point the police are summoned. The police do not suspect foul play and ask Ted to leave the hotel. When he leaves, a private detective, Gaylord Traynor (Richard Lane) follows him and offers his services to locate Ted's fiancee. On the drive back to the city and Ted's apartment, Ted tells Mr. Traynor the story of how they met and Mr. Traynor implies Ted has been conned. When they arrive at Ted's apartment all of Alice's belongings are still there. Ted gives Mr. Traynor a picture of Alice and finds her marriage certificate. Mr. Taynor knocks out Ted, steals the marriage certificate and leaves. It seems that Mr. Traynor was working for Mr. Barkley to find Alice and retrieve the marriage certificate.
Ted tracks down Alice by her husband's name from the marriage certificate. The husband, Mr. Barkley (James Cardwell) is there (not dead as Alice had claimed to Ted) and tells Ted that Alice has spells where she does not remember who she is and claims she is being held against her will and then escapes. Mr Barkley offers to allow Ted to speak with her so he can hear from her own mouth that she is still married. After Ted leaves, it is clear Alice is being held against her will after all. The people holding her captive were her in-laws. They were holding her captive because she was the heir to the Barkley estate, having inherited it from her husband. The in-laws did not want to lose the estate to Alice.