Abandoned (1949)_PARENTE Noir

Paula Considine of Beaver Brook, PA has just arrived in Los Angeles in search of her older sister, Mary Considine, who went missing a week earlier after sending a letter home from a hospital, said hospital staff, when questioned by Paula, not recognizing Mary's name as ever having been a patient. Paula's father had hired a private detective, Kerric, to locate Mary when she first moved to Los Angeles a year ago, he never having been able to locate her. In going to the city's Missing Person's bureau, Paula meets newspaper reporter Mark Sitko, who is always on the lookout for a possible story. While Paula is reluctant to tell anybody about the nature of Mary's disappearance, Mark decides at least to keep the Considines' names out of any possible story when he learns why Paula is so secretive: Mary left home when she became pregnant with an illegitimate child, with the assumption being that Mary was in the hospital having something to do with the baby's birth. Mark decides to help Paula using his reporter skills and his connections, including with District Attorney McRae in they following some leads which seemingly have a criminal element. What Mark, Paula and McRae don't know is that the web of activity involved in Mary and her baby's disappearance is more widespread than they could imagine placing their own lives in danger.