In The Thing in the Window, we meet Martin Ames, a man who becomes increasingly fixated on a mysterious figure he believes to be a dead body in an apartment across the street. The story begins with Martin noticing the figure slumped in a chair behind blue draperies, a sight that fills him with dread and curiosity. He observes the figure for two and a half days, convinced that it is lifeless, yet he struggles to convince anyone else of his alarming discovery. His growing obsession leads him to enlist the help of his building's superintendent, Mr. Anson, and his housekeeper, Mary, but they are skeptical of his claims. Mary, in particular, is hesitant to look, believing it to be unlucky to gaze upon a corpse.