Designing Woman Page #10

- I love your drapes.

What a beautifuI chest.

Could I get you a drink?

No, thanks. I will have a cigarette though.

- Just there.

- Thank you.

I'll get my purse.

Some day I'm going to design a purse

you can't forget.

It'll have a little bell

or something that tinkles madly...

...whenever you leave it behind.

Good idea.

Will $5 be enough?

Heavens, yes. It's only a mile or so.

Thank you. You know,

I have a reaI phobia about taxi drivers.

I could've gone to the apartment

and asked him to wait.

But whenever I do that...

...I'm always afraid they'll think

I'm trying to cheat them.

Do you have a fear like that?

I could say I didn't know I had it.

But I'm a very bad liar, Miss Shannon.

I suppose you've noticed that.

Maybe you just haven't had

enough practice.

I came here tonight

for a very definite reason.

To ask you a question.

At the moment I feeI like a fooI,

so I've decided not to ask it.

Tonight or ever. I hope you'll forgive me.

- Of course.

- Thank you.

I must say,

you've been very understanding about this.

I really do appreciate it.

Furthermore, I'd like to apologize

for the way I've been acting lately.

- I don't think I've been aware of anything.

- Really?

You must've noticed

that twice during the last week...

...while pinning materiaI on you

I've jabbed you in the derriere.

- That.

- I did it purposely.

Really?

Anyway, I'm sorry

and it won't happen again.

I had the silly idea

I was supposed to be jealous of you.

Thank heaven I've come to my senses.

Please try to forget

I ever came here tonight.

Marilla, what are you doing here?

There's no explanation

for what you did to me.

- I don't want to listen to you.

- Come back here now.

You're jumping to the wrong conclusions,

altogether.

You don't want a taxi. You're not getting-

Don't touch me! Take your hands off me!

You mustn't be deceived by appearances.

Appearances are very deceiving.

- I don't want to hear why.

- I was up there. Yes, but why?

Taxi. Taxi.

Just for once in your life,

will you listen to me? Marilla!

When you said you were going

to ask Lori Shannon about us...

...I just dropped over to see her.

From Detroit?

I haven't been in Detroit.

I've been in a hoteI for two weeks.

Right here. Hiding out.

That's right, hiding out!

Have you been drinking?

Of course. A hoteI drinker.

That's the way I met you.

That's the way I'm leaving you.

- Taxi. Taxi.

- Just a minute. Come back.

Will you let me go? I told you I hate that.

Don't get in that cab. Marilla!

Don't drive that cab away, I'm telling you.

- Don't drive it away. Stop!

- Taxi, drive on.

Come back. Marilla!

Officer, I've got plenty of troubles tonight.

I don't need any from you.

I'm a fighter, you know,

and a fighter needs lots of sleep.

So I'm sleeping in the bed,

and I'm dreaming like, you know.

But all of a sudden I wake up.

I look around.

I look in the bed for Mr. Hagen.

But he ain't there, so I don't see him.

So I think maybe he's in the parlor.

So I go in the parlor.

I look all around good, but I don't find him.

"Boy, " I say.

Boy.

So I think maybe he go downstairs.

So I go down the stairs to the lobby, like.

And I don't find him no place.

"Holy smoke, " I say.

Holy smoke.

- Aren't you Maxie Stulz?

- That's right, Maxie Stulz.

Don't you remember me, Charlie Arneg?

Yeah, sure, that's right.

Did you see Mr. Hagen, Charlie?

- No, Maxie, Mr. Hagen's in Detroit.

- Where?

Detroit. See?

It says right here in the paper.

"Mike Hagen is in Detroit. "

- Where am I, Charlie?

- New York, Maxie.

- Then Mr. Hagen is in New York, too.

- Here, in this hoteI?

That's right. He left his room.

I got to protect him.

- Where have you been, Mr. Hagen?

- All right, upstairs.

- You've been in Detroit, Mr. Hagen?

- Yeah, yeah.

There is an old saying which says:

"It is not who you know that matters

in this world, but what you know. "

For instance, I know that Mike Hagen

is hiding out in the Gage Hotel.

This is a nice slice of information,

which dropped in the right company...

...could net me a nice piece of change.

Next day, I start hanging around

with Marty Daylor's boys.

And I learned something that is hot.

Real hot.

And worth even more to Mike Hagen

than I could get from Marty Daylor.

Hi, Max. Mr. Higginsbury in?

- Who?

- Mr. Hagen. Where is he?

Shut that door, Maxie.

Mike, boy.

- How did you know where I was?

- Relax, Mike, boy.

I met Maxie in the lobby last night.

Then I see you come in.

What do you want?

I got a nice slice of information for you,

very warm...

...that I could perhaps let you have

for a Willie McKinley.

If that's what I think it is, the answer is no.

Okay. It's too bad I can't get

to Mrs. Hagen on time.

Considering how warm this slice really is,

I think it's a very fair fee, Mike.

What's Mrs. Hagen got to do with this?

William McKinley.

A U.S. old president, cooled around 1900.

A half a grand.

I don't have it on me. I'm not poor enough

to have that much on me.

All right. I'll show you

Charlie's heart is in the right place.

From you, I would take paper.

For a leave of, say, about 30 days.

- Is hoteI stationery legaI?

- Without a doubt.

I, the undersigned,

promise to pay to Charles Arneg...

- Make it Charles, will you, Mike?

- Yeah.

$500, 30 days from the above date.

What about Mrs. Hagen?

Mart Daylor's boys are putting the snatch

on Mrs. Hagen tonight. In Boston.

How do you know?

I invest in a few beers

with the right people.

They can't find you, so naturally they got

to grab the next best thing, your wife.

Right after the show.

None of that "hold them for ransom" jazz

or that old-fashioned stuff.

They'll probably tuck her away

for a few days in a little hideout...

...and make a few scars.

Hello?

- Hello?

- MichaeI.

If you're calling the cops,

I think this is a very bad move.

Now suppose, for argument's sake,

the snatch is on?

Now, the boys have got to dump

your wife someplace.

And when they dump her,

she's liable to be very cold.

Hello?

Listen, get me the Palace Theater

in Boston. Backstage.

I'll talk to anybody.

That's the whole slice.

I'll see you around, Mike.

Wait. Where do you think you're going?

To the drug store, to invest in a malted.

With Mart Daylor maybe,

so you can earn another McKinley?

Mike, a guy's got to make his own way

in this world, but a thing like that, I just-

Maxie, cross-eyed.

Now, Max, boy. You remember me?

Charlie? Charlie Arneg?

I want to speak to Mrs. MichaeI Hagen.

Marilla Brown. Right away.

Impossible. I can't get her to the phone.

The curtain just went up.

This is her husband. I've got to talk to her.

It's a matter of life and death.

- Don't you understand? The curtain has-

- You hear me? Life and death.

All right!

Hurry up, girls. Come on.

Come on, girls. Let's get a move on now.

Here we go.

A matter of life and death.

There was a Hagenism if I ever heard one.

No dice.

Listen, you!

- Come on, Maxie.

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