City That Never Sleeps Page #4

So you're leaving

the police and your wife.

Yeah.

I'm starting from scratch.

You're sick inside, Johnny.

Something's got you all fouled up.

What is it?

What's got you so torn up and confused?

It's my fault, Pop.

I make more money than he does.

I just didn't realize

how that must eat on a man.

His pride.

I suppose it makes him feel...

Inferior is the word.

I guess you're right.

But that's going to be different.

I'm quitting my job tomorrow.

We'll live on what he makes.

After all, Pop, you raised a whole

family on a policeman's salary.

It just means cutting a few corners.

The only thing that really worries me

besides the letter...

...it probably doesn't mean a thing

I found this by the telephone.

What would he be doing

with an attorney's card?

Penrod Biddel?

Did you forget your key again, darling?

Darling, you never gave me one.

What are you doing here?

Visiting.

I didn't expect you.

Did you expect me to be somewhere else?

Not exactly.

I'm an ex-magician.

Always look for the unexpected.

Now that you're here, Hayes,

I'd like to have a talk with you.

What for, Mr. Biddel?

To tell me how you picked me up out of

the gutter and made something out of me?

And how I agreed never to do

a job you didn't assign me?

Exactly.

You're becoming too ambitious, Hayes.

Maybe.

Why, Hayes?

Could be I'm tired

of doing all the work.

You're wrong.

All the work is done up here.

And muscles are cheap, huh?

Yes, I can buy all the brawn

I want. Anywhere anytime.

-Would you mind if I did my own

thinking from now on?

I would mind very much.

Well,

I guess you're going to miss me.

That's about what I was

going to tell you.

-No kidding.

-Yeah.

You're going to fire me, huh?

-I can build persons up and...

-You can tear persons down.

I understand you're planning

a big job for tonight.

It's done.

Done?

It wasn't easy.

You're a very smart man, Mr. Biddel.

For a man as smart as you I can't

figure why you keep such important

papers in your bedroom safe.

It's a funny note, Mr. Biddel.

Isn't it?

What have you done with them?

This is right back where we started

three years ago.

I got my hands on some documents

incriminating enough to send you away

for 99 years.

Only I wasn't smart then.

I let you give me a lot of fast talk.

Tell me all the things you were going to

do for me what a big man I'd be.

All that hot air and malarkey.

I gave you back 99 years of your life.

This time I want a hundred thousand

dollars cash and I want it tonight.

Where do you think I can put my hands

on that kind of money at night?

You're a very smart man, Mr. Biddel.

You do all the thinking.

You said so.

Well, think.

Think hard.

It's your problem.

You've got the greatest gall

of any man alive.

Thanks.

I'll be waiting for you in my hotel room

Tell me...

What gives you such

insufferable confidence?

The knowledge that if you're not there

with the money

inside two hours the whole batch of

stuff goes to the district attorney.

Wait a minute, Hayes.

How did you get those papers?.

I had an accomplice.

Aren't you going to ask me who?

All right.

Who?

Your wife.

Who are you?

I'm trying to find Johnny Kelly.

It's very important. I must reach him.

Once I called the station

he works out of.

I left a message for him to call me

whenever he checks in.

Would you do that again?

What's the matter with you,

gramps? Do it yourself.

I'd much rather not leave my name

with the police.

You call him and tell him

it's urgent that I see him.

Biddel is the name.

Calling Car 749, car 749.

Disturbance in alley between Superior

and Huron street east of Hudson Avenue.

Car 749 OK.

-Good dice, come on.

-Come on, blow it.

I want to see those dice.

There's nothing wrong

with these dice, man.

I want to see those dice.

There's nothing wrong

with these dice,man.

Those dominoes are lopsided as hell.

That money ain't legally yours.

Look, I dropped my whole paycheck.

I got a wife and six kids.

A sick wife and hungry little children.

Shame on you, brother, for even being

in a gambling game.

I'm sorely tempted to give you

back your money.

But my conscience tells me

you ought to learn your lesson.

Look, Johnson, all three of us

dropped our whole day's pay.

-But them dice are loaded it ain't legal

-Look out, the blues are coming.

All right, stay where you are.

Well, if it isn't my old friend,

The Deacon.

Just a quiet little game

going on here, officer.

All that money's yours, eh, Deacon?

Since it's laying there, it's open.

-We were just breaking up the game.

-Give me the dice.

How much is down there?

Thirty-six bucks.

Deacon, I'm shooting thirty-six bucks.

And you're fading me.

No sir, Officer Kelly, I ain't.

I said you're fading me

for thirty-six bucks.

What do they say, Deacon?

You and I both know what they say.

All right boys, pick up your money.

Next time be careful

who you shoot craps with.

Deacon, here, makes his living this way.

He's a leech. A human bloodsucker.

But yell too loud when you lose,

you're liable to wind up with no head.

So wise up and get out of here.

-You ain't going to take me in?

-Of course not, Deacon.

By the way, how many times have I

arrested you so far this month?

-Was it three?

-No sir, four.

And that's more than enough.

I've been punished. I see the light

Living on the misery of poor little

souls. Shame on me.

I'm going to throw the book

at you this time Deacon.

You're really going to take me in?

You're through shaking people down

for a while, Deacon.

because you're going to live

at the county.

Then the only people you'll be shaking

down are the dumb taxpayers like me.

-Let me go and I'll even get a job.

-Get in.

Big responsibility looking out

after the public, isn't it?

Just routine.

But I got a definite offer if I can

just put the act together.

It's no use, Gregg. I've thought about

it but I've got other plans.

I told you about it, didn't I?

A comic routine; Mr. and Mrs. bit.

There must be other girls you can get.

You'd be the wife and I'd be the

nagging husband. It's the switch.

I got some of the material

written down here.

Some other time. I ...

I got to go back out

to the window anyway.

They ought to give me a longer break

than fifteen minutes.

I'll say they should, Gregg.

Know how it feels to be out there for

an hour and a half without a rest?

I can imagine.

One, two...

But I don't think about it.

If I did I'd be in a nuthouse.

What do you think about?

I got a game I play.

I told Sally about it.

He pretends he isn't there.

Yeah.

I'm counting, see?

But all the time I'm thinking

I'm not in the window at all.

I'm out by the blue Caribbean...

...and Sally's with me.

Lying there on the crystal white sand

in a black bathing suit.

And I can hear the waves

hitting the beach.

I can see the whitecaps dancing

across the water.

You hurt all over don't you, Gregg?

No.

Not when I go to the places where I go.

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