United States

Helen Mercer takes a companion... and gets death in disguise
Wealthy widow Helen Mercer (Amanda Blake) hires a young woman companion, Gretchen Addison (Tisha Sterling). Unknown to Helen, Gretchen and her boy friend, Jay (Sam Groom), make a practice of robbing lonely woman and, on their last extortion job, murdered their victim. Helen and Gretchen become friends from the start. Having accidentally killed a young man in her employ a few months earlier, Helen has been despondent, but finds her outlook improving to such an extent that she decides to reopen her interior decorating shop with Gretchen's help. Because of the mother-daughter relationship that has developed between them, Gretchen tells Jay, who has moved in with her, posing as her husband, that she wants to leave Helen alone. Jay insists they go through with their plan, but the lives of all three are tragically changed when Helen kills a man robbing her house at night - and to her horror discovers the man is Jay.