A man named Donald Stryker pays a visit to Sam. He tells Sam that a somewhat reliable source has told him that he is a marked man. Stryker tells Sam that a wild-eyed man named George Strutt came to his door last night, and showed him a picture of a pretty girl cut out from a newspaper, with no name or identification. He said "you can still save yourself. Beware the siren song she sings. You are number six, I am five, and the four before us are doomed. Beware of this sinister, redhaired handmaiden of the dark angel". Sam says "Mr. Stryker, are you sure this Strutt isn't some harmless escapee from the local sanitarium?" Stryker says "he isn't, I made some phone calls this morning, he is a quasi-successful cigar salesman downtown, with an apartment on Leavenworth Street. Please, Mr. Spade, I must get to the bottom of this issue".