Linell Conway was introduced, in 1970, as Springfield businessman, Stanley "Stan" Norris's dutiful but lonely secretary. Stanley was known to be a womanizer, but had recently married Nurse Leslie Jackson Bauer, whom Linell considered to be a country bumpkin. Linell was furious that Stanley married someone who Linell did not consider to be Stanley's equal. Linell lived with her elderly widowed mother, Marion, who worried about her daughter's neurotic delusions of becoming the next Mrs. Stanley Norris.

By the fall of 1971, Marion Conway was deeply concerned that Linell's hatred of Leslie was bordering on hysteria. Her suspicions seemed correct when Linell bought a gun and put it in her office desk drawer! In a pathetic move, Linell told Stanley that she was in love with him and they were meant to be together. Stanley's reaction to his loyal secretary was not one of compassion but, rather, of disgust and he fired Linell right the middle of an office party. Linell left vowing the ultimate revenge.

A few nights later (when Linell had yet to clear out her office desk), Stanley was found shot and murdered with a gun lying nearby. Leslie, who found Stanley's body, picked up the gun and, unfortunately, was found by a disgruntled employee named Gil Mehren. Leslie was arrested and hired her former brother-in-law, Mike Bauer to represent her. Mike suspected that Linell was the murderer, but, initially, had no proo. The case against Leslie looked grim. The gun was no help since 1. there were no fingerprints -- obviously whoever had committed the crime had used gloves and, 2. the gun had been bought with one of Stanley's employees, Roger Thorpe's credit cards, yet Roger had an alibi for the night in question.

Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris was put on trial and the trial was rough, with D.A. Ira Newton giving very little ground. It also didn't help that Mike's third wife, Charlotte Waring Bauer was doing her utmost to make sure Leslie (the woman Mike truly loved) was taken to prison and out of their lives forever! Finally, Mike stumbled across four clues about who the murderer was: First, he found out that the aim of the bullet would indicate that a woman had murdered Stanley (that didn't necessarily clear Leslie, but gave Mike some help). Next, one of the security guards at Stanley's office building told Mike that a woman wearing Linell Conway's coat was let into the building sometime during the evening. Later, Mike found out from the gun shop owner that a woman fitting Linell's description had bought the gun, claiming to be Roger Thorpe's wife. Finally, Mike found out about the fight between Linell and Stanley at the office party the week before Stanley's murder. With his information, Mike quickly put Linell on the witness stand.

However, before Mike put Linell on the witness stand, Linell found out some rather upsetting information about her mother: Apparently her mom, Marion, knew about the gun that Linell kept hidden it in her office desk. Linell, herself, found gloves in her mom's possession that only appeared to have been worn once. Linell also learned that her mother found out about the argument she had with Stanley on the night of his murder. Linell's suspicion proved to be correct, for while she was on the witness stand, Marion confessed to killing Stanley. After confessing that she'd killed Stanley because of the way he treated her daughter, Marion collapsed and died of a heart attack. As for Linell she had an emotional breakdown but later recovered and left Springfield for a new job and a new life.