Original subtitles

Sorry to drag you out this late, Joe.

Oh, it's all right, Adam, what do you got?

Nasty job.

One I could well do without.

Cory Boone.

Sorry, Joe.

His wife has to be told.

I thought it might be better coming from a friend.

He was a great human being.

Good private cop.

You know, what he pounded into my skull about this business

kept me alive at least a dozen times.

All right, Adam... what happened?

Now, he didn't jump.

I knew Cory too well to buy that.

Thrown through a window... penthouse.

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 after it happened.

What would Cory 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 up button?

Charles Egan?

Coming home.

Lieutenant Tobias...

I'd like an explanation.

So would I, Mr. Egan.

Don't spar with me.

What happened here?

A private detective named Cory Boone

fell or was thrown through your window

about an hour ago.

Say 2:00.

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 Cory.

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 11:00.

Did you leave anyone in the apartment?

No.

Boone have a key?

Yes.

Anyone else?

No.

When you left here about 11:00, 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.

A very marginal mentality, Lieutenant.

He might have thought he saw me.

But he didn't?

How could he?

I already told you I went out for a drive around 11:00.

Is something bothering you, Mr. Mannix?

It's now 3:00.

That's a lot of driving around.

Well, 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,

well, just 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 twenties.

She was wearing a mini dress.

One of those wild Italian outfits.

Crazy color scheme.

Could have been a Palazzio print.

Was she hurt or...

No. I, uh... I offered to drive her to a doctor.

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,

insisted I leave her there.

Did she say what she was doing just wandering

around the reservoir that time of night?

No, no, 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... she said no, she was okay,

that she'd 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, yeah.

I knew it, Joe,

before you ever got here.

I couldn't sleep.

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

well, t-tonight it was... it was different.

Tonight... I knew...

Cory always said...

that "When it happens, let it be fast.

Maybe working, you know, zap."

It was quick.

Is there anything I can do, Liz?

Anything?

Yeah, yeah, Joe, stay.

Stay and have a cup of coffee with me.

Sure.

Well, I'll go plug it in.

Let me... No, I need to make the coffee.

Why don't you say it, Joe?

What?

Oh... that look isn't just because you're tired

or you hurt deep down.

All right, Liz.

Was Cory really working for Charles Egan?

Yes.

Why?

There's something I have to show you.

I was, uh, 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,

but 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?

Deposited last week, and he never told you about it?

No.

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

What do you think, Joe?

If you're asking me if Cory was on the take,

knowing Cory... 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...

Uh, Sunday we... well, at the ball game,

we talked about splitting a box for next season.

He couldn't...

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

He only 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.

Might explain why he went to work for Egan.

Do you think that, uh, that money had

anything to do with what happened?

It won't be hard to find out.

You'll tell me, Joe.

Good or bad?

Sure, Liz.

I'll tell you.

Well, I paid Cory 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. Egan.

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 will 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.

I think we've got him, Joe.

Even if the garage attendant isn't too bright,

he can still see.

And he can tell the time, too.

You want some of this?

Yeah, thanks.

And he swears he saw Egan drive out

a minute after Cory was killed.

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

If the money came from Egan.

Oh, I don't know, Adam,

it may be dumb, blind loyalty,

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

If you can prove that, Joe,

you'll rock my case back on its heels.

You checked out Franklin Canyon?

Yeah. Egan led the search himself.

And you found no heel off a girl's shoe?

There is no girl, Joe.

Yeah.

Mr. Mannix. Yeah.

Egan would like to see you.

About what?

I want to hire you, Mannix.

I, uh, I'm in a bind, right?

I need a pro to get me out.

Cory 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 a crowd,

unnoticed, minding my own business.

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 right now.

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

Am I?

If that girl doesn't show up...

Yeah, it figures.

My friends didn't call me Chuck or 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 morning,

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 the palm of her hand, down the front of her dress.

I don't know, 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 his 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.

Why shouldn't he make a mistake?

It was late at night,

he'd been driving around a couple of hours.

He was tired, he had things on his mind.

You just lost me.

Well, it's a long shot,

but there's another section to 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 beginning to buy his whole story?

Look, all I'm saying, Peggy,

is that if there was a girl, this is where it happened.

Well, 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, that's... it's, 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.

This is not our line at all-- 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.

It's ours all right.

You're 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 belongs to?

Possibly.

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

Well, uh, maybe this will 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, Marina Arms,

just across the channel.

No argument.

Dallas King's our girl.

The apartment manager said he saw the sketch on TV,

swore it was the girl here in 13F.

His wife said he was nuts.

They've got a little dollar bet going on the outcome.

I'll buy his bet for 90 cents.

I guess.

Ought to get a helicopter report in a couple of minutes.

Got a chopper checking every boat between here and Catalina.

Well, Miss Dallas King is in for a little surprise

when she ties up.

Do you know what that is?

Sure don't.

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?

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 did you know that?

Do you want to tell us about it, Mr. Boyes?

We had dinner with a guy who has 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.

The chopper.

What's up?

Well, they found Dallas's boat

about ten miles off Pointe Vicente upside down.

What about Dallas?

Coast Guard's going to continue to search for her,

but they have to presume she must be drowned.

The one prayer I had, and she's dead.

Now, what do you think?

What do you think of my chances now?

I'm Dallas King.

Come in.

Mannix, now you can sit down.

Your boat was found ten miles off Pointe 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 is 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 wasn't another boat in sight.

You kidnapped her off her boat, huh? Why?

For the bread, man.

The large, economy-size loaf.

Like 250 thou-- unmarked bills.

Nothing larger than a hundred.

You're in the wrong bakery.

We don't think so.

You were at her apartment asking questions.

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

Like who?

Look, Mannix, pussycat.

This is not Gamesville.

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 on the horn to you.

And if he won't play?

This kid's had it.

He'll play, baby.

Ask him.

Now, you know what happens

if you go the fuzz route?

They think Dallas is already dead,

so if her body washes up on the beach somewhere,

no big surprise.

A quarter of a million?!

Well, I, uh, 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.

You haven't told the police?

Not yet, but I've got to.

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 S.O.P. this time.

Dallas King is presumed dead.

That means the risk to them is zero.

No, Mannix, please, now do it my way: pay them.

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

All right, Egan, your way.

Who is it?

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.

Mm-hmm.

I was to get it to you before 8:00.

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.

You're a stakeout watching my office.

Who are you working for?

The City of Los Angeles, Joe.

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

You don't have any idea?

Well, 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

worth of blue chip securities,

or one of his office slaves does it for him.

Yeah, and one of those same slaves comes to Joe Mannix's place

with an attaché case,

and a minute later, he leaves without the case.

That's right.

Okay, Joe, what gives?

Dallas King is alive.

Sure she is.

No, 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. You...

I'm the only one that saw her. I can't prove a thing.

Now, all they have to do is drop her in the water,

and it's all over, that's the end. Listen...

Now look, Adam, I've got the money.

I'm on my way there now.

Give me a half hour, Oh, for... 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.

Hello.

Now, 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?

Yes.

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

Get in, Mannix.

Look, we're paying your price.

What do you want?

Less lip. Now get in.

You all right? Yes.

Well, I didn't expect the police until I called.

Someone told us there was a car in that garage

with the 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.

Yeah, knowing I'd be in a meat grinder someplace, huh?

Oh, well, Adam, I'm going to make it up...

make it up to you.

Uh, Miss Dallas King...

Meet Lieutenant Tobias.

Yes, I had seen those two men before.

Hanging around the marina, the bar, you know.

Not exactly speaking acquaintances.

But, anyway, when they came alongside my boat,

I knew who they were.

When they... 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.

Now, is that right?

Yes. I... I had a fight with my boyfriend,

and I was crying and...

stumbling along in 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 glass was broken,

and I noticed it had stopped.

You remember what time?

Just past 2:00. Yeah.

Do you recognize this watch?

Yes. I... I thought I'd left it in my apartment.

Yeah, you did, and that's where we found it.

And you're right.

The watch stopped at two minutes past 2:00.

Bring them in.

Do you recognize any of these men?

The third from the right.

Where have you seen him before?

At the reservoir. Two nights ago.

Are you prepared to state under oath

that this is the man who nearly ran you down

at two minutes past 2:00 on the night of the 12th?

Yes, I am.

All right. You can take them 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 Cory Boone's friend,

you had every right to turn your back on me.

You won't be sorry you didn't.

And all I ever wanted was to, uh...

find the man who killed Cory.

So do I.

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

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

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

Oh, however...

you could, uh, 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.

Oh, there's plenty of time, Joe.

Stick around for a little while. Let's have...

Let's have one for the road.

There you are.

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

I'll drink to that.

Being we're toasting,

let's drink to the bad things that never quite happened.

Nightmares. To the end of a bad dream.

Never again a little boy

standing in a crowd alone, afraid

of being stoned for something

he didn't do.

Why, that's Cully's dream.

That's right, Dallas... that's Cully's dream.

Oh, Cully, I....

Skip it, Dallas, baby.

I'm sorry.

When he started talking about your dream, I...

I thought he was in.

I'm sorry you thought.

Now, you're quite an operator, Egan.

Or should I call you Cully?

Oh, the whole charade with Dallas baby was beautiful.

Your alibi girl couldn't just show up.

No, not right off the bat.

That would have smelled like a sour towel.

Nobody would have believed her, so you made us work for it.

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

That'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 even 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 back seat 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. Boyes and friend.

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

What's it going to be, Egan?

Out the window for Joe Mannix like it was for Cory Boone?

No. You and Dallas are going on a moonlight sail.

And you know how fatal her seamanship can be.

Hmm.

Cully... Cully, you wouldn't hurt me.

Aw, I'm sorry, honey,

but you're too hot to have around.

Use the service elevator.

Take them through the basement garage.

Cully, please!

Upstairs, Mannix.

Oh, uh, one question, Egan.

What piece of dirt did Cory 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?

Cory 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 Cory Boone.

Well, his wife will be glad to hear he was clean.

She won't hear it from you, Mannix.

Cully, please listen to me.

Bye, Dallas.

Did 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 here is 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 was going to kill me.

What do I owe him?

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

Well, see you, 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 cut this a little thin tonight.

You will watch it next time, huh?

Yeah, okay.