You got an alibi for last night?
I was right here, with Agnes.
Huh!
That's a great witness. OK Joe, you can only die once even for a couple of murders.
Wait a minute. What do you mean - a couple of murders?
I mean two murders. Where were you about seven thirty last night?
All right, I was watching Geiger's place...to get something on him.
Try looking at me while you're talking.
Well, it was raining hard, and I was sitting in my car. There was a car parked out front and another part way down the hill. I was in back.
Who else was back there?
Nobody. There was a big Packard near where I was so I took a look at it and it was registered to the Sternwoods...Well, then nothing happens so I got tired of waiting and I went home.
Mmm hmm. You know where that Packard is now?...It's in the Sheriff's garage. It was fished out of twelve feet of water off Lido pier early this morning. There was a dead man in it. He'd been zapped. The car was pointed toward the end of the pier and the hand throttle pulled out.
Well, you can't pin that on me.
I could make an awful good try...You see, the dead man was Owen Taylor, Sternwood's chauffeur. He went up to Geiger's place 'cause he was sweet on Carmen. He didn't like the kind of games Geiger was playing. He got himself in the back way with a jimmy and he had a gun. And the gun went off as guns will, and Geiger fell down dead. Owen ran away taking the film with him. You went after him and got it - how else would you get it?
All right, you're right. I heard the shots and saw him run down the back steps and into the Packard and away. I followed him. He turned west on Sunset and beyond Beverly he, uh, skidded off the road, and uh, came to a stop. So I came up and played copper. He had a gun, he was rattled, so I zapped him down. I figured the film might be worth something so I took it. That's the last I saw of him.
So you left an unconscious man in a car way out near Beverly someplace and you want me to believe that somebody conveniently came along, ran that car all the way down to the ocean, pushed it off the pier, and then came back and hid Geiger's body.
Well I didn't.
Somebody did. You wanted time to take over.
You can't prove I did it.
I don't particularly want to. All I want to do is find out what Geiger had on the Sternwoods.
Well, uh, maybe you and I can make a little deal?
