Double Indemnity Page #6

PHYLLIS:

What kind of insurance could he have?

NEFF:

Enough to cover doctors' and hospital

bills. Say a hundred and twenty-five

a week cash benefit. And he'd rate

around fifty thousand capital sum.

PHYLLIS:

Capital sum? What's that?

NEFF:

That's if he got killed. Maybe I

shouldn't have said that.

PHYLLIS:

I suppose you have to think of

everything in your business.

NEFF:

Mr. Dietrichson would understand.

I'm sure I could sell him on the

idea of some accident protection.

Why don't I talk to him about it.

PHYLLIS:

You could try. But he's pretty tough

going.

NEFF:

They're all tough at first.

PHYLLIS:

He's got a lot on his mind. He doesn't

want to listen to anything except

maybe a baseball game on the radio.

Sometimes we sit all evening without

saying a word to each other.

NEFF:

Sounds pretty dull.

Phyllis shrugs.

PHYLLIS:

So I just sit and knit.

NEFF:

Is that what you married him for?

PHYLLIS:

Maybe I like the way his thumbs hold

up the wool.

NEFF:

Anytime his thumbs get tired --

PHYLLIS:

I want to ask you something, Mr.

Neff. Could I get an accident policy

for him -- without bothering him at

all?

NEFF:

How's that again.

PHYLLIS:

That would make it easier for you,

too. You wouldn't even have to talk

to him. I have a little allowance of

my own. I could pay for it and he

needn't know anything about it.

NEFF:

Wait a minute. Why shouldn't he know?

PHYLLIS:

Because I know he doesn't want

accident insurance. He's superstitious

about it.

NEFF:

A lot of people are. Funny, isn't

it?

PHYLLIS:

If there was a way to get it like

that, all the worry would be over.

You see what I mean, Walter?

NEFF:

Sure. I've got good eyesight. You

want him to have the policy without

him knowing it. And that means without

the insurance company knowing that

he doesn't know. That's the set-up,

isn't it?

PHYLLIS:

Is there anything wrong with it?

NEFF:

I think it's lovely. And then, some

dark wet night, if that crown block

fell on him --

PHYLLIS:

What crown block?

NEFF:

Only sometimes they have to have a

little help. They can't quite make

it on their own.

PHYLLIS:

I don't know what you're talking

about.

NEFF:

Of course, it doesn't have to be a

crown block. It can be a car backing

over him, or he can fall out of an

upstairs window. Any little thing

like that, as long as it's a morgue

job.

PHYLLIS:

Are you crazy?

NEFF:

Not that crazy. Goodbye, Mrs.

Dietrichson.

He picks up his hat.

PHYLLIS:

What's the matter?

NEFF:

Look, baby, you can't get away with

it.

PHYLLIS:

Get away with what?

NEFF:

You want to knock him off, don't

you, baby.

PHYLLIS:

That's a horrible thing to say!

NEFF:

Who'd you think I was, anyway? A guy

that walks into a good-looking dame's

front parlor and says "Good afternoon,

I sell accident insurance on husbands.

You got one that's been around too

long? Somebody you'd like to turn

into a little hard cash? Just give

me a smile and I'll help you collect."

Boy, what a dope I must look to you!

PHYLLIS:

I think you're rotten.

NEFF:

I think you're swell. So long as I'm

not your husband.

PHYLLIS:

Get out of here.

NEFF:

You bet I will. You bet I'll get out

of here, baby. But quick.

He goes out. She looks after him.

A-40 EXT. DIETRICHSON HOME - (DAY)

Neff bangs the front door shut, walks quickly to his car and

drives away.

DISSOLVE TO:

NEFF'S VOICE

(Over scene)

So I let her have it, straight between

the eyes. She didn't fool me for a

minute, not this time. I knew I had

hold of a redhot poker and the time

to drop it was before it burned my

hand off. I stopped at a drive-in

for a bottle of beer, the one I had

wanted all along, only I wanted it

worse now, to get rid of the sour

taste of her iced tea, and everything

that went with it. I didn't want to

go back to the office, so I dropped

by a bowling alley at Third and

Western and rolled a few lines to

get my mind thinking about something

else for a while.

A-41 DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT - (DAY)

Shooting past Neff sitting behind the wheel of his car The

car hop hangs a tray on the door and serves him a bottle of

beer.

DISSOLVE TO:

A-42 INT. BOWLING ALLEY

Neff bowling. He rolls the ball with an effort at

concentration, but his mind is not really on the game.

DISSOLVE TO:

A-43 EXT. APARTMENT HOUSE - (DUSK)

It is late afternoon. The apartment house is called the LOS

OLIVOS APARTMENTS. It is a six-story building in the Normandie-

Wilshire district, with a basement garage. THE CAMERA PANS

UP the front of the building to the top floor windows, as a

little rain starts to fall.

DISSOLVE TO:

NEFF'S VOICE

(Continuing)

I didn't feel like eating dinner

when I left, and I didn't feel like

a show, so I drove home, put the car

away and went up to my apartment.

A-44 INT. NEFF'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - (DUSK)

It is a double apartment of conventional design, with kitchen,

dinette, and bathroom, squarecut overstuffed borax furniture.

Gas logs are lit in the imitation fireplace. Neff stands by

the window with his coat off and his tie loose. Raindrops

strike against the glass. He turns away impatiently, paces

up and down past a caddy bag with golf clubs in it, pulls

one out at random, makes a couple of short swings, throws

the club on the couch, paces again.

NEFF'S VOICE

(Continuing)

It had begun to rain outside and I

watched it get dark and didn't even

turn on the light. That didn't help

me either. I was all twisted up

inside, and I was still holding on

to that red-hot poker. And right

then it came over me that I hadn't

walked out on anything at all, that

the hook was too strong, that this

wasn't the end between her and me.

It was only the beginning.

The doorbell rings.

NEFF'S VOICE

(Continuing)

So at eight o'clock the bell would

ring and I would know who it was

without even having to think, as if

it was the most natural thing in the

world.

Neff goes to the door and opens it.

PHYLLIS:

Hello.

Neff just looks at her.

PHYLLIS:

You forgot your hat this afternoon.

She has nothing in her hands but her bag.

NEFF:

Did I?

He looks down at her hands.

PHYLLIS:

Don't you want me to bring it in?

NEFF:

Sure. Put it on the chair.

She comes in. He closes the door.

NEFF:

How did you know where I live?

PHYLLIS:

It's in the phone book.

Neff switches on the standing lamp.

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