Got any good ideas, soldier?
One or two. Somebody gunned Geiger, or somebody got gunned by Geiger who ran away, or he had meat for dinner and likes to do his butchering in the parlor. No, I don't like it either. Maybe you'd better call your friends downtown.
I don't get it. I don't get your game here.
I wondered why you didn't ask me who I was. You seem to be telling me Geiger was in a racket of some kind. What racket?
I wouldn't know. I'm not his landlord. But I'll tell you something you missed. Somebody cleaned out the back of Geiger's store today.
You know, you talk too much.
My, my, my! Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains. You know, you're the second guy I've met today that seems to think a gat in the hand means the world with the tail. Ha, ha, ha. Put it down, Joe. The other guy's name was Eddie Mars. You ever hear of him?
If he ever gets wise to where you were last night in the rain, you'll hear of him.
[about the Carmen's picture]
It fell out of somebody's pocket.
You got an alibi for last night?
I was right here, with Agnes.
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.
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.
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?
Tell me: What do you usually do when you're not working?
Oh, play the horses, fool around.
I'm generally working on something most of the time.
Could that be stretched to include me?
Well I like you. I've told you that before.
I like hearing you say it. But you didn't do much about it.
Well, speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them work out a little first, see if they're front-runners or come from behind, find out what their hole-card is. What makes them run.
I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free.
You don't like to be rated yourself.
I haven't met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?
Well, I can't tell till I've seen you over a distance of ground. You've got a touch of class, but, uh...I don't know how - how far you can go.
A lot depends on who's in the saddle. Go ahead Marlowe, I like the way you work. In case you don't know it, you're doing all right.
There's one thing I can't figure out.
I'll give you a little hint. Sugar won't work. It's been tried.
What did you try it on me for? Who told you to sugar me off this case? Was it Eddie Mars? All right, don't answer me, but somebody put you up to it and it wasn't your father. He didn't tell you to pay me off, did he?
...
What's Eddie Mars got to do with this case?
Nothing. He runs a gambling house. I play horses. I play the wheel.
Playing something else too...Never mind talking. Let me do it. Do you know it was Eddie Mars' blonde wife Sean Regan was supposed to run off with?
Did you know he owned the house Geiger operated in and he was mixed up in that racket too?
Then why does it bother you so much? What's Eddie Mars got on you? Oh come now, angel, stop shaking. I don't want to hurt you. I'm trying to help ya. Well, you'd better run along, 'cause you made a deal and you're gonna stick to it, right or wrong. We'll take up the question of you and I when the race is over.
I want some information - about Sean Regan.
I heard you got that already from the Bureau of Missing Persons.
You didn't bump him off, did ya?
Well, that's what I came up here to ask ya.
All right. I'm kidding. You didn't do it yourself and none of your boys are good enough to do it. I used to know Regan.
I thought you told me you weren't looking for Regan?
I wasn't then. Maybe I just got curious. You see, I finally got it through my thick skull that half the General's worries were that Regan might be mixed up in this blackmail business.
Well, Sternwood can turn over now and go back to sleep. It was Geiger's own racket. I did some inquiring myself today. When Geiger and Brody got gunned, that washed the whole thing up - that, I'm sure of it.
[about Vivian]
She's not very popular around here. When she loses, she doubles, and I wind up with a fistful of paper. If she wins, she takes my money home with her.
You get it back next time, don't you?
She'll spend it somewhere else by then.
Keep her out of here then.
You don't seem in much of a hurry to find that wife of yours. From what I hear, she's not the kind of a wife a guy wants to lose. Could it be you know where she is - and maybe Regan too?
Better stop being curious, soldier. What's between me and my wife is between us.
Sorry. Oh Eddie, uh, you don't have anybody watching me, do ya? Tailing me in a gray Plymouth coupe maybe?
Well I can't imagine unless you're worried about where I am all the time.
I don't like you that well.
Well, I'm glad I asked you to take me home.
So am I....What are you trembling for? Don't tell me you were scared because I won't believe that.
I'm not used to being hijacked. Give me a little time.
Hijacked? Is that what it was?
Let's begin with what Eddie Mars has on you.
If he had anything, would it be any of your business? You've already been paid, haven't you?
Are you after more money?
Well, I guess you got a right to ask that. No I'm not after more money. I've already been well paid. I've got another reason.
You like my father, don't you?
Remember I told you I was beginning to like another one of the Sternwoods?
I should be awful easy. [He kisses her]
I like that. I'd like more. [They kiss again] That's even better.
What does the hat-check girl get for a tip?
I'm trying to think of something appropriate. How did you get in here?
Oh, but I can. You came in through the keyhole like Peter Pan.
Hmm. A guy I used to know around a pool room.
I'm getting cuter every minute.
Canino Why're you tailin' Marlowe?
Jones All right, there's no harm tellin'. It's for Joe Brody's girl - she's gotta get out of town. That takes dough. She figured she could get it through Marlowe.
Canino Why would he pay?
Jones You know about the night the kid [Lundgren] bumped Brody. Well, the young Sternwood girl was there. Only Marlowe didn't tell the cops that. So Agnes figured it was railroad fare, so she'd get hold of it. You get it?
Canino [Canino pulls his gun]
Where's the girl [Agnes]? You want me to count three or something, like a movie? You're nervous, ain't ya? Maybe you need a drink...Well drink it! What do you think it is, poison? I'll bet that Agnes of yours wouldn't turn it down.
