Touch of Evil Page #7

See if they answer.

Ask for Sergeant Menzies.

Sergeant Menzies.

Quinlan, if you turn me in,

I'll have quite a story to tell.

You sure will.

See if it's Menzies.

- Hello? Menzies?

Got him?

Hand me the phone.

Hold it so I can talk.

Give me the receiver!

Hello, Pete!

Of course it's me.

Any news yet?

Sanchez still hasn't broken.

What?

Vargas' wife? A narcotics rap?

One of the boys

was onto this wild party.

Just relay it to the vice boys

as anonymous. Hotel Ritz, room 18.

Things got a little out of control.

Don't be surprised what they find.

What about me, Hank? What do I do?

Keep after him! Break him!

Put up the phone.

The receiver!

Gimme the key.

I told you

I brought you up for a reason.

Help! Somebody help me!

Listen, I'm no cop now,

I'm a husband!

What did you do with her?

Where's my wife? My wife!

Vargas!

It's your wife, Vargas.

They picked her up.

What do you mean, "picked her up"?

- The vice squad.

Quinlan?

You better come out with me, amigo.

No, don't. Tell me what happened!

- They found her at the Hotel Ritz,

half-naked on the bed, drugged.

There were reefer stubs

and a heroin fix.

Vargas!

The charge isn't just possession

of narcotics. - What is it then?

Murder.

Darling... it's alright now, Susie.

It's all in the report.

They found evidence of a mixed party.

Mixed party? - Articles of clothing,

half-smoked reefers, needle marks.

Could've been something else:

Demerol or sodium pentothal.

You could smell the stuff on her.

- This whole setup stinks!

Who does Quinlan think he is,

hanging a murder rap on my wife?

Susie, lie down.

Take me home.

Forgive me.

Don't go!

- I'm right here.

It's alright.

You know there's no formal charge

against your wife? - Oh?

Even vice isn't pressing anything.

- And that makes everything alright?

I got something to show you!

- Her good name hasn't been touched!

I found it in the hotel room.

With Grandi's body.

He's still just sitting in there.

- We've been waiting 3 hours already.

We won't get a word on this,

as long as he's near that piano.

Would you go in and shut it off?

- No, I have to get him out.

Give me the microphone.

- I can take care of this.

Not without me.

You know that Grandi kid we picked up?

Stand quietly.

- He started to talk.

He says the kids were all faking.

Your wife wasn't really on dope.

Doc says it was only that truth stuff.

- Sodium pentothal.

No harm in it at all.

- No harm?

Schwartz is driving your car

across the border.

I told him we'd be by the bridge.

He's bringing your wife along.

She's feeling fine.

Doc says she can travel.

Sergeant... - Look, she just wants

to catch the early plane out of here.

How can I leave here

until my wife's name is clean?

What are you

carrying that microphone for?

Remember, don't cross your arms.

- I know, I know.

I've got to get the truth

from Quinlan. On tape!

He could stay there

the rest of the week, like he used to.

Look, just take your wife home

and let me handle this. It's my job!

It's my job too, Menzies.

You think I like it? I hate

this machine, spying, creeping...

How d'you think I feel about it?

Hank is the best friend I had.

That's one reason for my staying.

- Oh, you don't trust me?

Don't forget, I didn't have to

show you that cane.

Oh, yes you did, Sergeant.

- Somebody could've planted it there.

Besides Grandi's corpse.

- You know better than that.

You say the reefers were planted.

Why not Hank's cane?

You're an honest cop.

- Sure I am.

And who made me an honest cop?

Hank Quinlan. - Come on, Menzies.

I am what I am because of him.

What's my fortune?

You've been reading the cards, right?

I've been doing the accounts.

Come on, read my future for me.

You haven't got any.

- What do you mean?

Your future's all used up.

Why don't you go home?

Vargas?

I don't know if you can hear him

over that music, but I'll get him out.

I'll get him out, away from the music.

Be sure he doesn't see you.

I must be drunk.

A minute ago,

I thought you were Vargas.

Come on out, Hank.

- What's that?

Come on out, Hank, I'm tired.

- Who told you to come here?

I'm tired of waitin', Hank.

I've some questions you gotta answer.

Questions?

I need another drink.

- You had enough.

That's what Tanya keeps tellin' me.

How much is enough?

Hank, I'm sick of chasing around...

- You could use a drink yourself.

You gotta answer, Hank.

First, about Vargas' gun...

How d'you know about that?

He thinks you took it.

- Vargas?

Or was it Grandi who stole it?

You been talkin' to Vargas?

Then you took it from Grandi?

- You been gettin' kinda chummy.

Does that explain

that thing you're carrying?

What's it called,

that thing you're wearing?

What I'm wearing?

- Sure...

That halo.

- Halo?

Looks real pretty on you.

Soon you'll be

flappin' your wings like an angel.

Look out.

Vargas'll turn you into

one of these starry-eyed idealists.

They make all the real trouble.

They're worse than crooks. You can

always do something with a crook.

You're the one

that should be careful, Hank.

Sometimes you can be a crook, too.

Look what happened with Grandi.

Partner,

nobody ever called me a crook.

Look up there.

See?

That oil pump, pumpin' up money?

Money...

Don't you think I coulda been rich?

A cop in my position?

What do I have?

- Tell me about Grandi.

After 30 years, a little turkey ranch,

that's all I got. A couple of acres.

We gotta talk about Grandi.

An honest cop.

Then this Mexican comes along,

and look at the spot he puts me in!

- You can't blame Vargas.

I blame Vargas, for everything.

- Don't be crazy!

I wouldn't be in a situation

where Grandi could blackmail me.

You must be crazy! Insane!

- Sure, sure. I'm crazy.

You murdered Grandi. - I left my cane

by his body. That was sure crazy.

Let's start in the beginning.

What about Vargas' gun?

I was talking about my cane.

- The gun! - I forgot it.

The gun you stole from

Vargas' briefcase! Vargas' gun!

All you wanna talk about is Vargas!

You took the gun,

but you didn't use it.

Grandi was strangled. - Grandi was

a crook. - You're a killer, Hank.

Partner, I'm a cop.

- Yeah, yeah...

Drunk and crazy as you must've been

when you strangled him.

I guess you were thinking

of your wife, how she was strangled.

I guess I'm always thinking of her,

drunk or sober.

What else is there to think about,

except my job, my dirty job?

You didn't have to make it dirty.

- It's not dirty. Look at the record.

Our record, partner.

- Sure, sure...

All those convictions...

Convictions, sure.

How many did you frame?

Nobody.

Come on. How many did you frame?

- I told you:
nobody!

Nobody that wasn't guilty.

Guilty, guilty.

Every last one of 'em: guilty.

All these years,

you've been playing me for a sucker.

Faking evidence.

- Aiding justice, partner.

Like the axe in the Burger case.

- Yeah, remember that?

I found the axe.

Just where you planted it.

Just like the dynamite with Sanchez!

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