The Detective Page #6

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I hire them, they get into the

case a little and they drop it.

- Anything else?

- My husband's office.

The file cabinets were emptied.

- What else?

- My husband's notebook.

When the police returned it,

there were pages torn out.

- You've gone into this pretty thoroughly.

- Yes, I have.

I'm supposed to forget it. People tell me

it's not gonna make a difference...

it's not gonna bring him back.

But I'm not gonna forget it.

- What was your husband's full name?

- Colin Maclver.

C-O-L-I-N?

And the names of the private detectives?

First there was a man called Bloom,

then a man called Carter.

- Willie Carter?

- Yes.

I'll see what I can do.

- Thank you.

- No need to thank me.

I'm going to come up with nothing.

But maybe I'll clear the mystery of coroners

and private detectives who are frightened.

You'll hear from me.

So, what was that all about?

That was something very interesting, Dave.

Remember Colin Maclver

who went off the racetrack roof?

Yeah.

Get a report on that, will you? And draw up

a sheet on him and one on his wife.

- Her name's Norma.

- Okay.

Dave, who was on that detail?

I think it was Curran. Yeah, Curran.

What kind of fella was Maclver?

There's a difference of opinion on that.

Some thought he was quiet and reserved...

but he drove a very expensive sports car

and had a doll-like wife.

Anybody got any ideas

why he'd want to turn himself off?

Does anybody have an idea

of what's on somebody else's mind?

That's true.

- What shape is his estate in?

- He left about 300,000.

- Sheesh. That's a lot of bread. What'd he do?

- CPA.

- Not bad for a certified public accountant.

- He was clever with money.

That's an understatement.

I see in the inventory here he had $900

in his wallet, so that rules out robbery.

He jumped.

- How do you know?

- That was the report.

- Anybody see him jump?

- No.

Well, then how can we be so sure?

- What do you mean?

- You know what I mean.

Well, if he was pushed,

somebody would have noticed it.

Not necessarily. There was a lot of

excitement while the race was going on.

No, not necessarily.

Another thing.

It says here the man died at 3:35...

and his wife wasn't informed until 8:00 that

night. What took you so long to tell her?

I don't know. One of the

other men called her.

- What about the notebook?

- Notebook?

Yeah, a little black notebook.

We returned it to his wife.

You wouldn't have had any reason to tear

out any pages out of that book, would you?

[CHUCKLES]

Why would I tear any pages out?

- I don't know. That's all.

- That's all?

Yeah. I'll see you later.

[ALL CLAMORING]

- What was that?

- Shaftel girl.

Found her in a vacant lot, raped

and murdered. Mother and father just left.

- Picked up a suspect.

- About time.

Yeah, Robbie's questioning him now.

- What's he like?

- Sixty-eight-year-old man.

- The handyman, huh?

- Yeah. Frightened to death.

Threw up three times in

the car coming over.

ROBBIE:

Where else did you take her?

I got three witnesses that saw you.

Where'd you take her?

- Where did you take her?!

- Nowhere.

All right, all right.

Let's go over it again.

You took her to the candy store, you bought

her some caramel corn. Where after that?

Ah...

His answers are falling all over themselves.

I think I'll have him in a few minutes.

Why is he sitting without his clothes on?

Makes them easier to handle.

Stripping them makes them feel vulnerable.

I got the idea from the newsreels

of German concentration camps.

Dave, take him in the other room,

get his clothes on.

Come on.

You too, son. You can go with him.

You son of a b*tch. What kind of a

department do you think we're running here?

All right, all right. Don't blow your cool.

If I ever blow my cool, buster, I'll kick

your ass right out of this building.

I'm gonna get my promotion too, lieutenant.

You're gonna get a promotion?

- You've been on the force two years.

- So what?

My old man was on the force 25 years

and he never got a promotion. That's what!

You can afford to play it big now.

I'm gonna get promoted the same way you've

been, and the only way is with results.

What looks good to headquarters.

It's the only way you got ahead.

I'm gonna get the same thing.

Get out, Robbie.

Get out!

Where do you think you would have been

if they hadn't fried that little fag?

Don't press your luck, baby.

Get out of here.

[DOOR CLOSES]

Why don't you send the little bastard

back to pounding the pavement?

- He asked some questions I couldn't answer.

- Well, we did it the hard way. Why can't he?

They don't do it the hard way these days,

captain. It's unfashionable.

[ALL CLAMORING]

- What's that?

- Agitators.

- What are you booking them on?

- We found something to book them on.

You think this is gonna solve the problem?

- You know it will only make it worse.

- I have people to answer to.

- I know the people you've got to answer to.

- Yeah, oh, that bunch there, they're swell.

Yeah, they throw Molotov cocktails

in our cars every night.

That's not hard to understand.

They do not like living in garbage cans.

And we know why the garbage cans exist,

don't we?

Because the ghetto-type housing

is the most profitable kind of housing.

- Joe, that's none of our business!

- Correct.

Our business is to sit on the lid

of those garbage cans.

Well, one of these days, if somebody

doesn't do something about them...

you'll see an explosion tear

this nation right down the middle.

You never did realize

the responsibilities of this job, did you?

Aren't you ever a little sick

about these responsibilities?

You'll find out.

Joe, I got a pension coming up

in a few months...

and you know who's gonna be the new head of

this district. It's all set. I'm telling you.

But there are just some things about

this job that you've got to learn to do.

[SIGHS]

You know, Joe, I feel sorry for you,

getting your brains beat in all the time.

Uh, this Maclver thing.

Yeah. This Maclver thing.

I know some people

who'd pay you to forget it.

Well, that's interesting. And who are

these people who would pay for it?

I'll see that you get it.

Uh...

Who are they?

Curran, one day

you're gonna get your ass in a sling...

for running around with these

kind of people and taking from them.

I'm doing all right. Check, please.

I'll have you brought up on charges.

You know that, don't you?

- Go ahead. It's your word against mine.

- Ill have you busted.

Have me busted.

If you have me busted...

you'll have to bust half the people

in the department for being on the take.

You know, Joe, you think you're

better than the rest of us.

Wake up.

[LIGHT PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]

This was the last photograph

that was taken of him.

Do you know whether or not he was going

to meet anyone at the racetrack that day?

No, not that I know of.

Um, how was he with women?

I think he knew a lot of women.

Do you think he saw any of these women

while he was married to you?

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