Martha is kidnapped by De Swank, who owns a department store in which he turns women into lifelike manikins with a serum he intends to sell to Fifth Columnists.; Spider Widow investigates a series of mysterious but fatal accidents at the local circus, and discovers the owner, dressed as a clown, is responsible. It seems he owed his performers two years back wages, and, because he couldn't pay them off (and was going to lose ownership of the circus), he decided to murder the acts one at a time!