First Aired - March 9, 1967
Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon are working in the Robbery Division. For the past two weeks, someone has robbed ten branches of the largest candy store named Rachelles. The robber has never held up the same candy store twice. Stakeouts are formed at the remaining five stores to capture the suspect.
Just the Tropes, ma'am:
- Brandishment Bluff: The gun Claude and George used was never loaded.
- Criminal Doppelgänger: Both Claude Thibodeau and George Watson look almost identical, both being older, thin and gaunt. Due to looking so close to each other, it makes it difficult for the victims to identify them.
- The Matchmaker: Bill sets it up so Joe goes home with Policewoman Dorothy Miller. Saying to Dorothy that Joe's car is in the shop and he needs a ride.
- Never Learned to Read: Both Claude and George never learned how to read and the reason why they kept hitting the same stores even after the media talked about it.
- Not-So-Innocent Whistle: Joe suspects something is up with Bill after he runs away whistling after saying he should go out to dinner with a woman. Bill asked Dorothy Miller to take Joe home to help set Joe up on a date with her.
- Police Lineup: Mrs. Hardy is taken to a police line up after Friday and Gannon arrest Claude Thibodeau. However, she isn't sure Claude was the one who robbed her. She is only half right. It wasn't just Claude but also George.
- Red Herring: A man goes into a Rachelles to rob the store and is killed in a police shoot-out. The press believe this is the robber but Friday digs a bit deeper and finds out that it was a total coincidence. The man was not in town during the original robberies.
- Trail of Blood: This is how Friday finds Claude Thibodeau. An officer shot him in the face when answering the call. The trail lead Friday and Gannon to a hotel down the street.
