Original subtitles

Sorry to drag you out this late, Joe. It's all right, Adam. What do you got?

Nasty job.

One I could well do without.

Cory Boo.

Sorry, Joe.

His wife has to be told, I thought.

Might be better coming from a friend.

He's a great human being.

A private cop.

Pounded into my skull about this business.

Kept me alive at least a dozen times.

All right, Adam.

What happened?

No, he didn't jump.

I knew Corey too well to buy that.

Thrown through a window.

That house.

Then you know who killed him.

Educated guess.

Charles Egan.

Attorney at law.

Egan, huh?

It was his penthouse. The garage attendant saw him drive away a minute

happened.

What would Corey be doing with a man like Egan?

We'll find out, Joe.

We've got an APB out on him.

He won't get away.

See that he doesn't, Adam.

Yeah, I will.

Joe, I don't want you going after him.

Rick, get all the latent prints in the apartment, not just this room, okay?

Is this thing clean?

Hello?

Yeah.

Speaking.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

Okay.

Guess who just got in the elevator and pressed the F button?

Charles Egan.

Coming home.

Lieutenant Tobias.

I'd like an explanation.

So would I, Mr. Regan.

Don't spar with me.

What happened here?

A private detective named Corey Boone fell or was thrown through your window

about an hour ago.

Say two o 'clock.

It's horrible.

You know him?

He was working for me. As an investigator?

Yes.

I know you, don't I?

The name is Mannix.

Joe Mannix.

I saw you Sunday at the doubleheader with Corey.

He told me about you.

You think you could tell me something about what happened after Boone arrived

here tonight?

I wasn't here when he arrived. I went out around 11.

Did you leave anyone in the apartment?

No.

Boone have a key?

Yes.

Anyone else?

No.

When you left here about 11 o 'clock, where did you go?

Lieutenant, am I a suspect?

Is that the thrust of these questions?

I don't have to tell you your rights, Counselor.

I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do.

Yeah, well... Were you with a friend or friends while you were out?

As a matter of fact, I wasn't.

You obviously think that's a damaging admission.

The garage attendant told us that you left right after Boone went out the

window.

You mean Red?

Yeah, that's right. Very marginal mentality, Lieutenant. He might have

he saw me.

But he didn't.

How could he?

I already told you I went out for a drive.

Around 11.

Is something bothering you, Mr. Mannix?

It's now 3 o 'clock.

That's a lot of driving around.

I do some of my best thinking behind the wheel of my car.

I've been working on a very difficult case.

Did you drop in on anyone?

No.

Stop for gas?

Anything?

There was something.

It shook me up at the time, but maybe it'll turn out to be a lucky break.

I was up in the Franklin Canyon area by the reservoir.

I went past sort of a maintenance building.

I'd shifted down for a curve, which is creeping along, fortunately, and this

girl stepped out of nowhere, practically walked right into my right front

fender. She fell down.

Who was she?

I don't know.

Well, can you describe her?

Long, light brown hair, I think.

Middle 20s.

She was wearing a mini dress.

One of those wild Italian outfits.

Crazy color scheme. Could have been a Palazzo printer. Was she hurt?

No.

I offered to drive her to a doctor.

But she wouldn't hear of it. She said she was okay. All she'd let me do was

drive her to the nearest phone booth and insisted I leave her there. Did she say

what she was doing was wandering around the reservoir that time of night?

No. Oh, but for what it's worth, I could see she'd been crying.

You notice anything else about her?

No.

That's the whole picture.

Oh, when I left her at the phone booth, I remember she was limping.

I asked her again if she was hurt. She said no, she was okay, that... She just

lost the heel off her shoe when she fell down.

We'll be checking that first thing in the morning.

In the meantime, Mr. Egan, I hope you don't mind, but we'll have to take you

downtown for further questioning.

Anything I can do to clear it up, Lieutenant.

Joe, you'll take care of that other matter, will you, Joe?

Yeah.

I knew it, Joe, before you ever got here.

I couldn't sleep.

Cory's been away from home a lot, and... Well,

tonight it was... It was different.

Tonight... I knew...

Cory always said that when it happens, let it be fast. It may be working, you

know. It's app.

It was quick.

Is there anything I can do, Liz?

Anything?

Yeah, Joe. Stay and have a cup of coffee with me.

Sure.

Well, I'll plug it in. Why don't you? No, I need to make the coffee.

Why don't you say it, Joe?

What?

That look isn't just because you're tired or you hurt deep down.

All right, Liz.

Was Corey really working for Charles E?

Yes. Why?

There's something I have to show you.

I was straightening out some books in the den the other day, and this fell out

of one of them.

I was going to ask Cory about it last night.

I just couldn't find the words or the courage.

And then I thought I would talk to him about it tonight after.

$20 ,000.

He deposited last week and he never told you about it?

No.

That was the first I know about it when I saw that.

What do you think, Joe?

If you're asking me if Corey was on the take, knowing Corey... How well, Joe?

How well did you know him?

Did you know that he had leukemia?

He just lived a week at a time, not knowing.

Sunday, we went to the ballgame and we talked about splitting a box for next

season.

He just couldn't... He couldn't bear to think of what would happen to me.

We had a small insurance policy and our equity in our house.

And the doctors told him that...

It would take all that for him to die.

I'd explain why I went to work for Egan.

Do you think that that money had anything to do with what happened?

It won't be hard to find out.

You tell me, Joe.

Good or bad?

Sure, Liz.

I paid Corey Boone very well for his services, but $20 ,000, that's a little

high.

We're not talking about his services, Mr. Egan.

We're talking about a motive for murder.

Are you suggesting blackmail, Lieutenant?

What could anyone have on me that would be worth that kind of money?

Well, maybe he was blackmailing somebody else who followed him to my apartment

or lured him there, knowing I was out.

I'm afraid we've run out of string, Mr. E. I'm going to book you.

What about the girl up in Franklin Canyon?

I described her to your police artist. He sketched a picture that's almost a

photograph of her. Was that just for laughs?

It'll be on every police bulletin board in the state. We'll release it to the

newspapers and on TV.

In the meantime, take him downstairs and book him.

Got him, Joe.

I mean, even if the garage attendant isn't too bright, he can still see.

And he can tell the time, too.

Want some of this? Yeah, thanks.

And he swears he saw he can drive out a minute after Corey was killed.

20 ,000 bucks gives me what I was looking for.

Motor. If the money came from me.

Oh, I don't know, Adam.

Maybe dumb, blind loyalty.

But I can't believe Cory Boone is on the take.

You can prove that, Joe.

He rocked my case back in his heels.

You checked out Franklin Canyon?

Yeah. Egan led the search himself.

He found no heel off a girl's shoe.

There is no girl, Joe.

Mr. Mannix? Yeah.

Egan would like to see you.

About what?

I want to hire you, Mannix.

I'm in a bind, right?

I need a pro to get me out.

Corey always said you were a pro. You don't hang up on your emotions. You get

the job done.

When I take a job.

Why wouldn't you take this one?

I didn't kill your friend.

Then you're not in a bind, are you?

Lieutenant Tobias will find your alibi, girl, and you're home free.

What if she's found too late?

Then what's your moral posture?

You let an innocent man go to death row.

Lieutenant Tobias is not going to railroad you into the death house, Egan.

He's not going to knock himself out on my behalf.

You know I've got the crazy feeling that this has happened to me before.

When I was a kid, I used to have a dream.

I'd be standing alone in the crowd, unnoticed, minding my own business.

And then suddenly, everybody would start laughing at me.

And when they stopped laughing, they began to beat me.

I don't know why I hadn't done anything, but they wanted to hurt me.

And they started pelting me with rocks.

Until I was bleeding.

And I didn't know why.

Mannix, I can't shake the feeling that my childhood nightmare is happening

now.

You're jumping the gun a little, aren't you, Egan?

Am I?

My friends didn't call me Chuck, Charlie.

It was always Cully.

Cully the Patsy.

All anyone had to do was point a finger at me and I'd take the blame.

That was a long time ago.

Find her, Mannix. Find that girl for me.

Is this where it happened?

Yeah, well, there's the reservoir and there's the maintenance house, just like

he said.

But if Egan, with an entire search party, couldn't find anything this

what makes you think we'll do better?

Yeah, I don't know, Peggy.

I wonder if maybe that girl put the heel in her handbag.

When did he say she had a bag?

All right, in her palm of her hands, down the front of her dress. I don't

maybe she...

Peggy, Egan said that there were only a couple of houses with the lights on in

the windows.

Yeah? So?

Do you see any houses?

Meaning that shoots the story down in flames, right?

Meaning Egan could have made a mistake. He could have brought the police to the

wrong spot this morning.

That makes our job much easier, I suppose.

Well, why shouldn't he make a mistake?

It was late at night. He'd been driving around a couple hours. He was tired. He

had things on his mind.

He just lost me.

Well, it's a long shot, but there's another section of this reservoir.

Well, there you are, Peggy.

There's another reservoir.

There's another maintenance house.

And that's where he saw the lights in the windows.

Well, come on, let's go.

Look, Joe.

Egan hasn't got you converted into a believer, has he? I mean, are you

to buy his whole story? All I'm saying, Peggy, is that if there was a girl, this

is where it happened.

How do we look for a grain of sand in a desert?

One grain at a time.

Oh, that is a beautiful shoe on your foot.

Notice how snugly they fit on the heel.

Oh, excuse me.

Yes, sir. May I help you?

I was wondering, do you handle this particular style of shoe?

Oh, no, sir.

It's too extreme, if you know what I mean.

None of our customers would ever... They prefer sensible shoes.

Do you understand?

Oh, yes. Very clear.

Oh, this is not our line of... Paul, just not our cup of tea.

Say, why don't you try a boutique?

They carry all sorts of outrageous footwear.

Thank you.

Don't mention it.

Sorry, though, Ryan.

You sure?

No doubt about it. That line's an exclusive with us.

Is there any chance you might tell me who bought the shoe this belonged to?

Possibly. We didn't have more than a dozen pair in the Palacio pattern.

Well, maybe this should help.

Dallas. What?

Dallas King. She's one of our regulars.

She was in here this morning before she took her new sailboat out.

Would you have an address on her?

Yeah, Marine Arms, just across the channel.

No argument.

Dallas King's our girl.

The apartment manager said he saw the sketch on TV and swore it was the girl

had 13 of. His wife said he was nuts.

They got a little dollar bet going on the outcome.

I'll buy his bet for 90 cents.

I guess.

I ought to get a helicopter report in a couple of minutes.

Got a chopper checking every boat between here and Catalina.

Now, Miss Dallas King is in for a little surprise when she ties up.

Do you know what that is?

Sure do.

Who are you?

Police.

What's wrong? Something happen to Dallas?

No, not that we know of.

You a friend of Dallas King's?

Yeah.

What's your name?

Jerry Boyes.

When did you last see her?

A couple of nights ago before I left for New York.

Look, what's happened?

Were you by any chance with Miss Dallas King up around the Franklin Canyon area

the night you left for New York?

Yeah.

How'd you know that?

You want to tell us about it, Mr. Boyce?

We had dinner with the guy who was a pad up there.

Go on, go on.

On the way back down, Dallas starts a big brouhaha about the way I looked at

another chick.

Right away, she's out of the car.

I tried to reason with her. She knew I had to catch a plane, the little idiot.

So you just left her up there alone, walking in the dark that time of night?

Dallas can take care of herself. Believe it.

It must be the office.

Hello.

Yeah, this is Tobias.

What?

You sure?

Well, what are the chances?

Yeah.

Well, that figures.

Yeah, okay.

Chopper, what's up?

Well, they found Dallas's boat about ten miles off Point Vincente upside down.

What about Dallas?

The Coast Guard's going to continue to search for her, but they have to presume

she must be drowned.

Now what do you think?

What do you think of my chances now?

I'm Dallas King.

Max, now you can sit down.

Your boat was found ten miles off Point Vicente. You must be a pretty strong

swimmer. I wasn't even in the water.

These gentlemen came out in their speedboat and took me off.

And just who are these two nylon heads?

Oh, excuse me, my name's Tom and my partner's name is Dick.

Or he's Tom and you're Dick or Harry, or it doesn't really matter being those

aren't -your -real names, does it? You dig.

Yeah.

They took you off your boat before it capsized?

They capsized it. They followed me out of the marina and waited until there was

another boat in sight.

You kidnapped her off her boat, huh? Why?

For the bread man.

The large economy -sized loaf.

Like 250 ,000 unmarked pills.

Nothing larger than 100.

You're in the wrong bakery.

We don't think so.

You were in our apartment asking questions.

We figure you're working for somebody that needs this kid.

Like who?

Love, Mannix.

Pussycat.

This is not Gainesville.

Charles Egan goes to the death row without Dallas in his corner.

You tell Egan we want a quarter of a mil like in 24 hours.

From now.

We'll be an ordeal.

And if he won't play?

This kid's had it.

You know what happens if you go the fuzz route?

They think Dallas is already dead.

So if her body washes up on a beach somewhere, no big surprise.

A quarter of a million?

Well, I don't keep that much in my mattress.

It's going to be a scramble.

I'll have to sell off securities.

Whatever I can scrape up.

24 hours isn't a lot of time.

But you can do it.

Yes.

All right, you get the money to me and we'll be ready.

We? Yeah, Lieutenant Tobias.

Well, you haven't told the police.

Not yet, but I've got to.

Oh, you can't, Mannix.

Those men said they'd kill the girl.

That's standard operating procedure for kidnappers. You know that.

There's no SOP this time. Dallas King is presumed dead.

That means the risk to them is zero.

No, Mannix, please.

Do it my way. Pay them.

After we have the girl in the clear, I don't care what you do.

I'm from Mr. Egan's office.

You are Mr. Mannix? That's right. You got the money? Right here. In there.

Looks all right.

I was to get it to you before 8 o 'clock.

Congratulations, you made it with a minute to spare.

Mannix.

Yeah, right, the money's here. How do I get it to you?

Phone booth, southwest corner of Buford and Clark.

Right.

All right.

Let's hear it here. Take out what's in my office. Who are you working for?

City of Los Angeles, Joe.

All right, Adam, what's this all about?

You don't have any idea.

Do you?

You say you're through with Egan, but still you go to visit him?

And you're in such a hurry to get out of the building, you don't bother to stop

in to tell me why.

Bad manners.

Yes, and a few hours later, Egan cashes in a quarter of a million bucks for the

blue chip securities.

Well, one of his office slaves does it for him. Yeah, and one of those same

slaves comes to Joe Manick's place with an attaché case, and then the lady

relieves without the case. That's right.

Okay, Joe, what gives?

A Dallas king is alive.

Sure she is.

Not really. I saw her. I talked to her. A couple of guys I peg as boat bums are

holding her for a quarter of a million dollars.

Well, thanks for letting me know.

Adam, I couldn't tell you. I'm the only one that saw her. I can't prove a thing.

All I have to do is drop her in the water and it's all over. That's the end.

Now, look, Adam, I've got the money. I'm on my way there now. Give me a half

hour. A half hour and I'll have Dallas King in your office. That's all. Just a

half hour. That's all. That's all it takes to wipe me right out of the

department. Oh, thanks, Adam. I'll see you in a half hour.

Look, I can save us both a lot of time. The police aren't tailing me. Just give

me the instructions for the drop.

Yeah, I'm listening.

You all right?

Yeah.

Okay, now wait in my car while I deliver the money.

Get in, Mannix.

Look, we're paying you a price. What do you want? Less slip. Now get in.

you

like the police until I called them. They told us there was a car on that

with a motor running.

You were supposed to be in my office over an hour ago. What happened? I had

problems. Problems? Nothing like the problems you would have caused me if

anything had happened to you. How'd you get here so fast? I've been cruising the

streets monitoring police calls. Knowing I'd be in a meat grinder someplace,

huh?

Well, Adam, I'm going to make it up to you.

Miss Dallas King.

Meet Lieutenant Tobias.

Yes, I've seen those two men before.

Hanging around in the marina at the bar. You know, not exactly speaking of

acquaintances.

But anyway, when they came alongside my boat, I knew who they were.

When they brought you to my office that night, you said you'd been up around

Franklin Canyon Reservoir on the 12th. Yes.

You walked into someone's moving car.

Was that right?

Yes.

I had a fight with my boyfriend and I was crying and stumbling along the dark,

feeling sorry for myself.

And suddenly there were these car lights blinding me. Can you fix the time it

happened? As a matter of fact, I think I can.

I must have hit my wristwatch on his fender because when I got home, the

was broken and I noticed that it had stopped.

You remember what time?

Just past two.

You recognize this watch?

Yes, I thought I left it in my apartment.

You did, and that's where we found it.

And you're right.

The watch stopped at two minutes past two.

You recognize any of these men?

Third from the right.

Where have you seen him before?

At the reservoir, two nights ago.

You prepared to state under oath that this is the man who nearly ran you down

two minutes past two on the night of the 12th? Yes, I am.

All right, you can take him out. But leave Mr. Egan here.

All right, let's go.

Miss Dallas King, Mr. Charles Egan.

Without overstating the case, Counselor, I think this young lady has saved your

life.

I appreciate it, Miss King.

Believe me.

Joe.

I'll never forget your part in this.

As Corrie Boone's friend, you had every right to turn your back on me. You won't

be sorry you didn't.

All I ever wanted was to find the man who killed Corrie.

So do I.

Whoever he is, he's into me for a quarter of a million.

You're still working for me until you find him.

No. No, Mr. Egan, I'm working for Corrie Boone now.

However, you could buy us a drink for services rendered.

Fine. Delighted. My apartment, say, an hour?

Well, it's been quite an evening. Thanks for the drink. There's plenty of time,

Joe. Stick around for a little while. Let's have one for the road.

Here you are.

To the friends you never know you have until you need them.

I'll drink to that.

Well, being we're toasting, let's drink to the bad things that never quite

happen. Nightmares.

To the end of a bad dream.

Never again a little boy standing in a crowd alone, afraid.

Being stoned for something he didn't do.

That's Cully's dream.

That's right, Dallas.

That's Cully's dream.

Cully, I... Skip it, Dallas, baby.

I'm sorry.

When he started talking about your dream, I... I thought he was dead.

I'm sorry you thought.

You're quite an operator, Egan.

Or should I call you Cully?

The whole charade with Dallas, baby, is beautiful.

Your alibi girl couldn't just show up.

Not right off the bat.

That would have smelled like a sour towel. Nobody would have believed you,

you made us work for it.

You made it tough to find her to close the credibility gap.

It's too bad you went for the overkill.

Don't tell me you didn't buy it.

Oh, I bought the whole ball of wax.

Even the kidnap ploy. Now, that was sheer genius.

Right up to the time the police showed up to rescue us.

I haven't bought that for about a half a second.

What I didn't buy was that anyone would turn in a report to the police and then

not come around to see how it turned out.

And suddenly I realized that Dallas Baby and I were never meant to die in the

backseat of that car.

We were to be rescued in the nick of time to save your neck.

Well, Egan, I'm afraid you've lost out.

You're covered, Mannix.

So be very careful about your moves.

Mr. Boys and Friend.

Now, you fellas looked a lot better in your nylons.

What's it gonna be, Egan? Out the window for Joe Mannix like it was for Corrie

Boone? No.

You and Alice are going on a moonlight sail.

And you know how fatal her seamanship can be.

Cully.

Cully, you wouldn't hurt me.

I'm sorry, honey.

But you're too hot to have around.

Use the service elevator. Take them through the basement garage.

Carl, will you please?

Upstairs, Max.

Oh, uh, one question, Egan.

What piece of dirt did Corey stub his toe on?

What did he get on you that was worth $20 ,000 for openers?

And then shook you up enough to throw him out the window.

Well, Corey was sick.

Wasn't long for this world.

But he was still a good private eye.

That was his big mistake.

He was going to nail me for fiddling a few hundred grand out of a trust deal I

was handling.

So I gave him $20 ,000 to handle another case.

A blind.

It only took him a day to pull it all into focus, so it was...

Out the window for Corey Boone.

Well, his wife will be glad to hear he was clean. She won't hear it from you,

Mannix.

Corey, please listen to me.

Bye, Dallas.

You get it all on tape, Adam?

Yeah, all of it.

You know how much of that you'll be able to introduce as evidence.

Well, we may not need it.

If Dallas hears a smart girl and doesn't want to spend all of her pretty years

in prison, that'd be a terrible waste, don't you agree, Dallas?

He's going to kill me.

What do I owe him?

Nothing that couldn't be settled in a small claims court.

Well, see, Adam, I'm going to stop in on Liz Boone and tell her how this all

turned out.

All right.

Oh, Adam, I do believe you've cut this a little thin tonight.

You will watch it next time, huh?

Yeah, okay.