After the delivery of a mysterious note concerning the heretofore unnoticed disappearance of Smitty, Panceliss and Sgt. McAdams, his biggest rival, and known bird-hater, confront each other about what neither knows.
With Smitty, his trusty intern, out of the picture, Panceliss turns to a reject from the great unpaid intern hunt to sniff out more about the kidnapping. But is he barking up the wrong tree? Meanwhile Smitty copy-edits his own ransom note.
The actual ransom note arrives in Temperance's box overnight, setting Dick hot on the trail, while McAdams plays "handsy" with Temperance, who is not amused.
McAdams confronts Dick for withholding evidence, while Temperance calls the sarge her dark father, who is keen to set a trap. Meanwhile, Smitty turns the tables of his sticky wicket on his captors.
Panceliss and Temperance slip past McAdams' stake out with the help of the result from silhouette night and race to the thug lair to rescue Smitty. McAdams finally catches on and races to nab Panceliss and Bruno all at once, only to have a pirate inform him he was duped. Though they prevailed for now, Panceliss, Smitty and Temperance wonder what the ransom was supposed to be, when it's right under their noses.
