Special Agent Page #4

Fifth floor.

Thank you.

He said to say it was Smith.

A.P. Smith.

You sit down and wait.

I don't think he'll be long.

Thank you.

Yes?

A.P. to see you.

All right, send him in.

Sit down.

Mr Carston, I took an awful chance

in coming here to see you today.

I got something in the files and...

I think you'd better read it.

Hello, Mike.

Hiya, Bill.

Hello.

Hello, Bill.

Isn't anybody gonna ask you guys

to dance?

What do you know, Bill?

Not a thing.

Well, I didn't know you were out.

Out and obvious, with no thanks

to you and that ham you work for.

I didn't say you committed murder.

All I said was...

that I saw some vague connection between

Corrigan's funeral

and the fact that you shot him

six times the day before.

Well, I hope I see you again.

While you're out.

Oh, hello, Nick.

Hiya, Spike.

Hello, Bill.

I was just thinking about you.

Yeah, must be lunchtime.

Let's go now.

I wanna get out of here.

I gotta see Carston first.

What's the matter? Last night

gave you the tweaks and fidgets?

It's the first time I ever came so close.

Makes working here...

Oh, forget it. I'm just a big strong girl

that needs a couple of aspirins,

that's all.

Listen, you better get out of here quick.

Otherwise you'll end up hanging

from a chandelier

screaming fire all to yourself.

I suppose so.

Carston's busy right now.

He'll be through in a minute.

How much did I promise you

for a document like this?

Ten thousand, Mr Carston.

Julie, bring in $10.000.

Thanks.

Wrap it up in this.

You'll take that door going out.

Thanks very much, Mr Carston.

Forget it.

Bill Bradford's here to see you.

Send him in.

Julie.

I have a feeling I'm gonna be

pretty busy for a month or so.

Is my book in shape?

Yes.

By the way...

even the smartest bookkeeper

is liable to slip in conversation.

And the squarest newspaperman

is liable to print it.

So...

don't see so much of him.

If you know what I mean.

Okay.

Hurry up, won't you.

Sure.

How are you?

Fine. Make yourself at home.

Been reading about you in the papers.

I anticipated that you boys would try

and hang that unfortunate incident on me.

Never mind the act,

I wrote your statement hours ago.

You are horrified by the brutal massacre

and hope the fiend who murdered

four innocent people

and your friend Waxey Armitage

will be brought to justice.

A little standardized, but it'll do.

Between the two of us,

how do you guess it?

I'll be arrested before the day is out.

I'll be arraigned and the case will be dismissed

for insufficient evidence.

You think so?

Much obliged.

Armitage, how come?

When you buy an adding machine

and it doesn't add correctly...

you get rid of it, don't you?

By the way, Bill.

I wish you'd build up some of that cheap

ballyhoo on the orphanage

I secretly endowed.

I think I'm in bad odor with the public.

You smell, to be correct.

Incidentally, the managing editor's

gonna bark like a seal

about sugarcoating you.

But you'll get it.

He knows I gotta play ball for the

in I've got.

Run it after the pinch, will you?

I don't want it to appear after I'm sprung.

You know, Carston, I have a feeling

that maybe you're not gonna be sprung

this time.

I think you kicked old John Public

in the pants just once too often.

And don't forget.

The jury is gonna be made up of

12 tried and true innocent bystanders.

Bill, the public are men.

And you can buy 90% of them

at your own price.

The other 10 you give the choice

of crawling on their bellies

and being live cowards

or taking it in the belly

and being dead heroes.

It's amazing when you have that power

what contempt you have

for your stupid, meek, John Public.

There's only one hole in your argument,

Carston.

Dillinger didn't die of old age.

Well, I gotta hurry.

That blond bookkeeper of yours

is taking me to lunch.

Fine. Glad you dropped in.

Thanks for the tip.

I'll try to ring you with a halo

in that sidelight story.

Much obliged.

So long.

Are you serious, Bill?

Sure, I like you...

you don't ask asinine questions

of ball games

and you don't get lipstick on a guy's collar.

And you carry your own cigarettes.

Now, what more could a guy

ask for in a wife?

I'm kind of fond of you, too.

That's good.

Then we might as well go down and

look silly in front of a

Justice of the Peace.

Bill, I'd rather wait a while.

Well, add it up. I'm not very bright.

Carston.

What's that butchering egomaniac

got to do with it?

I should think you'd be glad

to get away from him.

I do want to get away, Bill.

I hate the place and I hate him.

He's everything that's cruel

and cowardly.

If you only knew how I wanted

to get away.

Well, here's your chance.

Oh, I'm afraid to.

Not only for myself, but for you.

When I first went to work for him

I was pretty desperate.

I was walking the streets

on cardboard looking for a job.

I didn't know

what I was getting into at first...

Well, then he kept giving me

more and more to do and...

now I'm his personal bookkeeper.

I'm the only one that knows

the code they're kept in.

The only one?

Yes, I don't think even Carston himself

could decipher them without me.

If I married you he'd think

there would be a chance of my talking.

And Carston doesn't take any chances.

Once you work for him you don't quit.

Oh, I've seen people try and...

well, then they'd be given a free ride

to the castle

and you'd never hear from them

anymore.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Carston doesn't fool much.

There's one way, Bill.

Yeah?

Well...

We could elope, run away.

That is, if you still want to.

I can't, Julie.

Oh.

You see...

there's an assignment coming up

that I wouldn't miss

for anything in the world.

Now, Julie, just stick it out

a little longer, will you?

Because this is coming up soon.

And when it does, it won't take long.

Sure, I'll stick.

But I hope it's soon.

I'm afraid for both of us.

And I can't stand very much more

of Carston.

You can't and I have a hunch

that an uncle of ours

in striped pants and a beard won't.

And good morning to you, Mr Quinn.

Hello, Bradford.

Why so gay?

I've been reading that paper of yours.

Why don't you fellas lay off?

You know how we've been

gunning for Carston.

It seems like it's just no use.

He's been able to beat the rap

every time.

Then why don't you hang

a rap on him he can't beat?

Got any bright ideas?

At least one.

Yeah? For instance?

What's that?

That's the bright idea.

You'll find it all in there written out.

Special Agent. U.S Internal Revenue.

But...

you're a newspaperman,

been one for years.

Sure, but that's not all.

This government work got interesting

and so I got into it.

So reporting is just a front.

Right. Nobody minds a reporter sticking

his nose in their private business

or asking a lot of fool questions.

Well, this stops me.

And it's liable to stop

a lot of other guys, too.

Now, listen, Quinn.

You haven't been licked by Carston.

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