Dressed to Kill (1941) Movie Script
Leave it open, Mr. Shayne. It gives that careless
look-so important to good dressing.
With me, things are too tough
to look careless.
Well, well, well.
Ifit isn't my old friend, the private dick.
Private investigator to you.
Mike, you're looking fine. I fyou looked
any better, you'd have to be twins.
- Glad to see you, boy. Getting everything
you want? - I was just--
It's a beautiful thing-- a beautiful thing.
You're sure dressed to kill.
Uh, say, isn't this the suit I told you
to put away for another customer?
You can't sell that suit.
Well, all right.
So I'll lose another customer.
You're worth it, Mike. You're worth it.
Mmm, does it fit? Like a glove.
- Should fiit like a suit.
- Like a-- [ Laughing ]
You panic me, Mike,
from head to foot.
Now, look, Smiley, this has got to be right,
because I'm buying it to please a dame.
Any dame that's got the taste to go out
with you will be crazy about that suit.
I'm not goin' out with her.
I'm gonna marry her.
Marry her? Well, that's marvelous.
Wonderful!
Congratulations, Mike.
Congratulations.
This is the suit, my boy.
The preacherwon't be able to look
at anything else. Mm-mmm.
Did you, uh, quote him
a price on this?
- No, sir.
- Then I'll even do better.
Complete outfiit with a pair of shoes--
$37.50, and we'll throw in the wedding ring.
Ifyou buy an overcoat, you get a hat
and a membership in our Christmas club...
which entitles you
to a credit for fiive dollars...
good on any purchase over $50,
if made before Christmas.
- On Track 7! - All I want down from
you is a measly 10 spot.
I'll give you two bucks
and my old suit.
What, that thing? The moths'd be
ashamed to build a nest in that.
- Uh, make it fiive.
- Two bucks.
And I won't bother to take the police
whistle and the Gene Autry gun.
Here, hold on just a minute.
What about your security?
What do you mean security?
I've always paid ya.
I got an important case
coming up any day now.
Well, all right.
I'll take a chance.
Good-bye, Mike. Good luck,
and I hope your marriage works out.
- What do you mean, works out?
- Oh, so few of them do.
[Smiley] Mike!
Hey, Mike! This case
you got coming up--
- Is it dangerous?
- Why?
Well, you gotta go through such red tape
to get a suit back from the morgue.
[ Sighs ]
- Hello, Sam.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
- Man, that suit's a killer.
- Yeah, thanks. Thanks.
- Hiya, Mike.
- Oh, hello,Jack.
Hey, take it easywith that. That's gonna be
personal property in a couple hours.
- [ Laughs ] Well, today's the big day, eh?
- Yes, sir.
Yeah, I told Joanne it'd be okay
if she was a little late.
Oh, that's fiine,Jack.
That helps a lot.
- Oh, Mike?
- Yeah?
- Have ya thought it over?
- Well, sure I thought it over. Why?
I'm a married man.
I talk from experience.
I'd rather put two bucks on a horse
than on a marriage license.
Ya get a better run
foryour dough.
Well-- Well,
thanks for the advice.
- Hiya, Mike.
- Hello.
Say, uh, I'm sorry about that tip
I gave you yesterday.
Yeah. He ran a bang-up eighth
chargin' in the stretch.
- Hello, Mike.
- Hi, boys.
- Hey! Hearyou're gettin' married.
- Yes. You got any objections?
No. Two can live as cheap as one...
but ifyou ask me, it's worth
the difference to stay single.
[ Laughing ]
That is very funny.
- Hey, Brennon. Is Joanne in?
- Yes, Mike.
- Good.
- Now, say, I hearyou're getting married.
Yes. I'm gettin' married.
Now, just one crack out ofyou--
Come on.Just one crack, and I'll--
Gee. It could happen to anybody.
Oh, here comes Max Allaron.
Better duck.
Oh, Mike?
Can I put the lug on you for a couple of
bucks? I'm a little short on my rent.
The last time you clipped me,
you went out and got loaded.
You're crazy. Some guy bought me
a couple ofbeers, but I wasn't loaded.
No, you weren't loaded.
You were just to that state where
the sober guys looked awfully silly.
- Okay, Shayne, if that's the way you feel about it.
- It's the way I feel about it.
- Hello, Mike.
- Get in that contraption and get goin'.
Say, I hearyou're getting married.
- [Knocking]
- Come in.
Hey,Joanne, look.
Nifty? Everything
but the neon sign, huh?
- Well, now you look like something.
- Yeah.
You know, Gus had a suit
like that once.
Now, look.
Let's get this thing understood.
Will you please stop throwin'
that two-bit hoofer up to me?
- I just want you to look nice. You don't get married every day.
- Hmm. Not to me, you don't.
The bridesmaids are tossing off a little
brawl for us after the show.
- What bridesmaids? - The girls in the
"Daddy, let me light your cigar" number.
Oh, that's swell. Say, how about a cup of coffee?
Can't get married on an empty stomach.
- I saved you a cup.
- Good.
[ Humming ]
- Got the ring?
- Mm-hmm.
Yeah? Let's see it.
I got it. [ Exhales ]
A Shayne never forgets.
What'd you do with the CrackerJack?
Hey! Hey, don't try it on.
That's bad luck.
Couldn't be anyworse. The wedding license
is so old now, it's out of print.
Oh, quit crabbing,Joannie.
I've had my coffee. We're set.
- How about a couple ofbucks for flowers?
- Couple ofbucks? Sure.
Here. Here's one buck. I don't want
George Washington to get lonesome.
- [ Chuckling ]
- [ Laughs ]
[ Chuckles, Sighs ]
[Woman Screams ]
- Did you hear that?
- I didn't hear anything.
That's funny. I could've sworn
I heard somebody scream.
Somebody's always screaming
around this flophouse.
- [Woman Screams ]
- I'll be right back, honey.
Mike!
Hey, Mike! [ Sighs ]
- [ Woman Panting, Whimpering]
- [ Classical]
- [ Whimpering Continues ]
- [ Continues ]
- Hey, Emily, what's all the--
- [ Gasping ]
[ Groans ]
Lou Lathrop.
Well, whoever staged this little melodrama
certainly had cracked chimes in their belfry.
[ Sobbing ]
Come on, Emily.
Pull yourselftogether.
- [ Whimpering ] Oh.
- That's a goodgirl.
Say now, who is this dame?
- Miss Vance.
- Miss Vance?
Desiree Vance.
[ Sobbing ]
Oh.
Look, you mop up your tears.
- Run downstairs and tell Brennon to come
right up here, will ya? - Yes.
[ Chuckles ]
He's gonna love this.
[ Continues ]
[ Ringing ]
Hello. Oh, hello, Mike.
Now, listen. I'm busy.
You're gonna be busier. Look.
How much dough will you pay
for an exclusive on a double murder?
I'll give ya fiive minutes' head start
over the cops.
- I'll tell you what it's worth afteryou
give me the dope. - Lou Lathrop...
the broken-down producer, and Desiree Vance
were knocked off last night.
Mmm. Well, that's worth
a hundred bucks. Who did it?
- Well, what do you know?
- All I know is that the joint looks like...
the second-act curtain from Macbeth.
[ Chuckles ]
Theymust've been giving
some kind ofa banquet.
They were both in costume.
No, I don't know what it was for
or anything about it yet.
Listen, Mike. If you dig up the murderer
for me exclusive, I 'll give ya 400 more.
Oh, you got yourself a deal,
sweetheart.
As soon as I get any hot copy,
you'll get it.
Butyou send over that hundred bucks
right away, willya? Good.
- Oh, ho! 100 si moleons.
- [ Continues ]
Oh, I was just--
So was I.
Did you tel I Brennon?
- U h, no. I -I was just going to.
- Well, go on.
Go on. Hurry up. Go.
[Ends ]
[ Classical]
[ Stops ]
Mike! Mike!
Right here, baby.
If you think you can keep me waiting around
while you go chasing screams, you're cr--
- [ Screams ]
- Isn't it terrifiic?
I made a hundred bucks already,
and there's 400 more...
coming up as soon as I put
my fiinger on the killer.
Why, it's Niagara Falls
and all the trimmings for us, baby.
- They're dead.
- Why, sure. It's no wax museum.
Now, you get out ofhere before the police come.
I don't want you mixed up in this. Come on.
- Ooh. Gives me the creeps.
- Oh, a cherry Coke'll fiix you up.
Now, I'll have this taken care of
in a couple ofhours.
You keep the preacher awake.
Go on.
- Oh, it's you.
- What happened, Mike?
You're in luck, Brennon.
Couple of murders.
In luck? Do you know what
that means to this hotel?
Sure. You'll be all over the front pages
tomorrow morning.
The public'll forget about that gambling
raid you had last month.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a mess.
Funny. Lathrop's been
in this suite since 1915...
and there's never been
anything like this before.
Now we'll have to get
that chair reupholstered.
- You can't take bloodstains out of that material.
- I gotta call the police.
Well, tell 'em not to take the bodies
through the lobby this time.
[ Whistles ]
Keep your eye open for this bird.
- I got a tip he's in town.
- [ Rings ]
Inspector Pierson speaking.
Oh, hello, Mike.
You don't say.
You don't say.
Well, glad to hearyou haven't lost
your sense of public responsibility.
We'll be right over.
Oh, Mike.
Don't pick up the murderer
before we get there.
Come on, Al. A double murder
at the Hotel du Nord.
Business is picking up, chief.
They're coming in pairs now.
- Yeah, what're ya doin'?
- I always said this chair belonged here.
Hey, Brennon, you got any idea
what this costume ball was all about?
Must have something to do with
that hit show he produced years ago.
- What makes you think that?
- They're wearing the same costumes.
There's the program.
Oh, yeah.
Let's see. Desiree Vance--
Oh, she's dead.
Julian Davis. Say, you know
anything about him?
He was in that show.
You should've been a detective.
Oh, David Earle.
Say, that name sounds familiar.
- He's the real estate operator.
- Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember him.
You know anything about
Angus Duncan and Faye Dalrymple?
Neverheard of'em.
Oh, Max Allaron. Say, I never knew
that he worked for Lathrop.
Martin Larkin...
Helen Hollis and Carlo Ralph.
- Do you know them?
- Nope.
Oh.
Did you see any of the people
who came up here last night?
No, I had a light dayyesterday.
Onlyworked from 10:00 to 10:00.
Lathrop's parties never
started till 11:00.
[Shayne ] I guessjust four
ofthem showed up.
How do you know that?
Only four of the places
have been used.
- Smart, huh?
- Wow.
That's right!
You know, Mike, the Vance woman
used to come here a lot.
Last week, when I was walking down the hall
and happened to glance through the transom...
I saw Lathrop giving her
some money.
She was mad about something.
Ifyou want my opinion,
it's a murder and a suicide.
She killed him
and then shot herself.
Yeah, I guess you're right. Then she hung
the rifle back up on the wall, huh?
Rifle? What's that got
to do with it?
Well,just for the fiiles...
Lathrop was killed with a rifle,
and the sweetie with a revolver.
- How do you know that?
- Well, the way Lathrop's head is mussed up.
Couldn't have been done by anything
but a dumdum bullet from a rifle...
and that baby
has been fiired recently.
Whereas a revolver, on the other hand,
makes a small, neat hole...
- like the one in the Vance dame's head.
- That complicates things.
- You know any sleight ofhand?
- I used to know a match trick.
- Everybody liked it.
- Well, you'll have to show it to me sometime.
I've got to go downstairs and make up
Lathrop's closing bill.
Don't forget about telling them
not to bring the bodies through the lobby.
I'll have them
shipped out parcel post.
This is it, all right. Stay in the hall
and don't let anybody in...
especially the reporters.
Welcome to our chamber
ofhorrors, Inspector.
- Hello, Mike. Appreciate your calling us
right away. - That's okay.
- Sure you haven't touched anything?
- Nope, only the coronas.
- Here. Have one.
- Thanks.
- Shot.
- In the head.
What are all these places?
What're they advertising anyway?
Well, it isn't vitamin B1.
- What's this?
- Oh, I found that on Lathrop's head.
The murderer must've put it there
after he shot him.
- What'd he do that for?
- Mmm, maybe he liked Airedales. I don't know.
I had a dog like that once.
It'd eat anything.
It was very fond of children.
Say, did you notice that only four
of these places were used?
- No, I didn't.
- Gotta keep your eyes open, Shayne.
- Maybe the killers were so nervous they
couldn't eat, huh? - That's right.
There's your cast of characters,
I nspector.
The murderer is usually the one
near the bottom.
The last one here--
Oh, a wise guy.
Hey, that's funny.
Carlo Ralph, who played the dog,
is the last one on the program...
- and that ties up with the dog head.
- You catch on quick.
[Al] Inspector? Inspector!
Inspector!
- What is it, Al?
- Look at that bed.
- What about it?
- Well, it hasn't been slept in.
Go on.
Well, it-- it seems that Lathrop
didn't go to bed last night.
Yeah. I guess after bein' murdered,
he was too tired to come into bed.
How did you get in here?
I told my men--
- Who are you?
- I'm David Earle.
- Oh, you were in that show,
Sweethearts of Paris. - Yes.
- What are you doin' here?
- Well, I had an appointment with Lathrop at 11:00 this morning.
I walked into the living room and saw--
Then I heard voices in here.
But how did you get in here,
Mr. Earle?
I came through the special entrance
from the theater next door.
Special entrance?
What kind of a--
- Why, uh, where is it?
- Over here.
Lathrop built this to get to the theater
without going through the street.
You see, he owned it before it was turned
into a burlesque house.
Yeah. Say, why did you come up
through the theater?
My offiice is on 45th Street.
It's shorter to come this way.
I've been doing it for 20 years.
- Is this door kept locked?
- Lathrop never locked it, to my knowledge.
That's fiine. Anybody from the theater
could've walked in here last night!
Now that you're here,
Mr. Earle...
maybe you can explain a few things to us
regarding this setup.
This is pretty sad business
for me, Inspector.
I worked for Lathrop a long time.
We were very close pals.
- Were you at the party last night?
- Yes.
- Who else was here?
- Well, there was Julian Davis, Desiree Vance...
Lathrop and myself.
Whywas the table set for eight?
Lathrop set places for all the cast...
whether theywere dead or alive,
for sentimental reasons.
Say, what's Davis doing now?
- He's a stockbroker.
- Oh.
- Were you the last to leave?
- No. Davis was here when I left.
[ Clattering]
Somebody else.
When does the balloon go up?
- Hey! What do you thinkyou're doin', bud?
- Huh?
I said, what are you doin' here?
Oh, uh, Mr. Lathrop pays me extra
to clean up for him.
- Hello, Otto.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
- He's the doorman at the theater.
- How do you know?
- My girl's in the show.
- Oh.
Get this. I don't want anything
touched around here--
nothing, until I'm through
with the investigation.
- Investigation?
- Yeah, investigation.
Lathrop and Desiree Vance
were murdered here last night.
- Murdered?
- Yeah.
Say, how did you get in here anyway?
Through the theater entrance.
Now, wait a minute. We've been
standing in front of that door.
But I came through this door
directly into the kitchen.
You mean, there's another--
He's right. This leads
to the passageway too.
Say, what is this,
an apartment or a fun house?
You know anything about
the party here last night?
Well, after my 11:00 round...
I came up here and fiixed the food
like Mr. Lathrop told me.
Did you serve at the party?
No. I had to get back to the theater.
Was that the last time
you saw Lathrop?
No, I came up here again
to bring some ice...
after everybody left the theater.
Was there anyone here besides
Lathrop and Desiree Vance?
There was a woman here.
She was talking to Mr. Lathrop.
- Did you hear anything she said?
- No, I couldn't see.
Her backwas to the service window.
See? Couldn't s-- Do you have to see
to hear anything?
Well, he's almost deaf.
He reads your lips.
- Oh. Who was the woman?
- Huh?
I said, who was the woman?
- I don't know. I never saw her before.
- [ Sighs ]
Otto, could you describe her
or tell us anything about her?
- Uh, well, she had on a hat--
- What kind of a hat?
With what they're wearin' nowadays,
just you try and describe a hat.
[ Scoffs ]
Was she tall or short?
- What?
- Was she tall--
Never mind. I'll get
around to you later.
Just keep your mouth shut
about this murder. Go on.
[Phone Ringing]
I'll get it.
- Never mind. I'll get it.
- No, I'll get it. I'll--
- Why don't ya watch where you're goin'?
- Where's the phone?
- [Ringing Continues ]
- I don't know.
Wait a minute. I'll answer the phone.
I'm runnin' this case.
Well, all right. I was only tryin' to help.
No use gettin' sore.
- Hello?
- [Ringing Continues ]
- Yes?
- Lou? This is Connie Earle.
Father hasn't come home all night.
I thought perhaps he'd found out about us.
I've been terriblyworried.
[ Continues, Indistinct ]
Yeah, I know all about that, honey.
Look, don't bother me now, will ya? I'm busy.
I'll be down in a couple of minutes.
Who was it?
It was that screwball dame of mine.
She's gettin' impatient.
- We're supposed to get hitched
this morning. - Well, congratu--
- Stop using that phone!
- [ Laughing ] I'm not using--
Oh, uh, sit down, Mr. Earle.
Sorry I got sidetracked.
- That's quite all right.
- I want to askyou a few more questions.
Did Lynne Evans ever
attend these parties?
- She came to the fiirst one, but I haven't seen her since.
- Who's Lynne Evans?
She was a chorus girl
in Lathrop's show.
Lathrop was sweet on her till
Desiree Vance came into the picture.
Do you think the murderer might have been
a member of the cast?
I haven't even started thinking.
- That's right, Inspector.
- Quiet!
Say, how did you happen to fiind
this massacre in the fiirst place?
Well, you see, my girl lives
on the floor below.
I heard Emily, the maid, screaming,
so I came up.
- Then the maid was the fiirst one
to see them. - That's right.
- Get her up here, Al.
- No, that's all right, Al.
I'm going now. I'll tell her.
Oh, Mr. Earle. Your daughter's name
is Connie, isn't it?
Why, yes, but, uh, what has that
got to do with this?
Oh, nothing. Just that she's very pretty.
I've seen her picture in the roto section.
Hey, what are you drivin' at?
Take a look at those guns
on the wall inside, Inspector.
I think one of them killed Lathrop.
- Oh, hello, Mike.
- Hello,Joe. It's all yours.
- They said there were two ofthem dead.
- That's right.
You're right in the middle of a boomtown.
[ Laughs ]
Oh, Emily! Wait a minute.
The police want to talk to you.
There's nothing to be nervous about.
- All you have to do is answer
their questions. - Mr. Shayne, I--
Stop worrying, will ya, Emily?
They don't know
that you're Lynne Evans.
- Thankyou.
- Hey, Brennon. Anybodyask for me?
Over there.
Have they found out anything yet?
No. They're waiting for Professor Quiz.
- You from the Observer?
- Yeah.
- Well, I'm Mike Shayne.
- Oh. Here's a valentine from the editor.
- Mm-hmm. With love and kisses, eh?
- Mm-hmm.
- I thank you. - Hey, wait a minute.
Where's the rest ofthe dope?
As soon as I get anything to peddle,
I'm playing along with you guys...
just as long as you keep me dizzy
seein' 10 spots in front of my eyes.
[ Chuckles ]
Thanks very much, Mr. Earle.
We can reach you at your offiice anytime?
- Yes, of course.
- Well.
- Well?
- They've been dead about 10 hours.
Lathrop was shot with a rifle.
It could've been that one on the wall.
- Have that rifle checked out.
- Right.
And the Vance woman
with a revolver.
Looks like you got a tough case
on your hands, Inspector.
- The tougher they come, the better--
- The better we like 'em.
Say, ifyou see any reporters downstairs,
keep quiet.
I don't want the papers to get ahold of this
before I'm ready.
Sure.
- Hey,Jasper, you're supposed to be on duty.
- Yes, sir.
[ Vehicle Honking]
[ Vehicle Approaching]
- You Miss Earle?
- Yes.
I thought you'd show up
when you couldn't call back.
- What do you mean?
- Hey, driver. Once around the block.
- Look here. What's the meaning of all this?
- Ah, take it easy, Miss Earle.
- I onlywant to talk to you.
- Who are you?
- I'm Michael Shayne, private investigator.
- Go on.
I just talked to you over the phone
from Lathrop's apartment.
What happened?
I-- I was disconnected.
Nothing much, except that Lathrop and
Desiree Vance were knocked off last night.
- You mean--
- Yeah.
And right now, Inspector Pierson is pouring
a lot ofheat on your father.
My fatherwouldn't do
a thing like that.
I don't know. He seems
to be a pretty good liar.
He's up there tellin' the police
what great pals he and Lathrop were.
- That's right. Theywere good friends.
- Ah, now, wait a minute.
That doesn't tallywith the story
you just gave me over the phone.
Fatherwas a little upset about Lou's
interest in my career, but--
If anybody should get down off a hack
and askyou...
your old man had plenty of motive
for killing Lathrop.
Well, if a motive is the only thing
you're looking for...
I happen to know that
Julian Davis had plenty.
- He embezzled Lathrop out of--
- Out of 28,000 slugs. Yes.
- How did you know? - A private investigator
has to keep a jump ahead of the cops.
Then the police don't know about
our telephone conversation?
You don't have to worry
about your fatheryet.
Say, do you know where
this J ulian Davis lives?
- Yes. The Central Park Manor.
- Hey, bud--
Well, here's where I get out.
Oh, uh, by the way...
I advise ya not to go back
to the hotel.
Your father'll be home
by the time you get there.
- Good-bye, Mr. Shayne.
- Uh-- Uh, one more thing.
You and your father better get
your stories straight...
before the police start asking
any more questions.
Bye-bye.
[ Buzzes ]
- Hello.
- Ah, so.
- How are you today?
- Fine. Thanks. Mr. Davis in?
Mr. Davis? He got company
on the inside.
- Would you coming in, please?
- Yeah, thanks.
- What name I am giving, please?
- Mr. Shayne.
Ah, so. Just one moment
please, "Mr. Slayne."
Okay, "Also."
- No, not "Also." Fugumoto.
- [ Whispering ] Fugumoto.
- If this gets out, you know what'll happen.
- [Knocking]
What is it?
Pleasing to telling you,
a "Mr. Slayne" to see you, sir.
I don't know any Mr. Slayne.
It might be well worth your while...
to know a Mr. Slayne-- Shayne, I mean.
Without too much ado, to what do we owe
this rude intrusion?
I'm a private investigator.
Reasonable rate, service guaranteed.
And what prompts you to feel
that we need such a service?
It's all very simple. You were a principal
in the cast of Sweethearts in Paris.
You chiseled Lou Lathrop
out of 28 grand.
Lou Lathrop is dead,
as you already know...
andyou hadplenty ofreason
to put him away.
My dear fellow, your brash manner
is only exceeded...
by the liberties you take
with the English language.
What makes you think
I've chiseled anybody?
Just save the oratory, Mr. Davis.
You're gonna need it.
- I'm turning you over to Inspector Pierson!
- Just a moment.
- Who are you?
- I am Mrs. Lathrop.
Well, this is better
than I expected.
I didn't know
that Lathrop had a wife.
When did you see
your husband last?
I don't know what your game is, but Lou
and I have been separated for three years.
- Mr. Davis happens to be a friend of mine.
- Never mind the embroidery.
When did you see
your husband last?
- I haven't seen him for six months.
- Mm-hmm.
The police'll be glad to know that you were
in your husband's apartment last night.
What makes you think so?
This is your cigarette,
isn't it? Kama?
It was found
in Lathrop's apartment.
Incredible deduction,
Mr. Shayne...
except Mrs. Lathrop happens
to be only one of thousands...
who prefer a better class
of cigarette...
so I can't see what that proves.
It doesn't prove anything to me,
but the police might think differently.
What they think doesn't interest me.
It's what they can prove.
Well, if they ever saw this,
they could prove plenty.
No, no.
Now, I'm in a position
to help you--
- Perhaps you are.
- But only ifyou tell the truth.
- Now, what about this?
- An unfortunate circumstance.
Mr. Lathrop gave me $28,000 in securities
to trade for some steel.
However, I saw a chance to make a handsomer
profiit in the Hercules Rubber Company.
Oh, yes. That's the company
that folded...
when they pulled the president
off the boat to South America.
As Shakespeare said, "Who knows on whom
their fortune would have smiled?"
You better learn a fast tap routine to that
before you try it on a jury.
Believe me, Mr. Shayne,Julian had
nothing to do with the murder.
No, I guess you got something there.
It was too clever a job.
But it wouldn't look so hot for the gentleman
on my right if they were to fiind this receipt.
Maybe you'd like to sell that,
Mr. Shayne.
Oh, no.
That would be unethical.
Perhaps you could help us
in some otherway.
Well, now we're gettin' somewhere.
Do I understand that you want to hire me?
- Put it anywayyou like.
- All right. We'll put it this way.
You are retaining me on behalf of Mr. Davis
to pick up the murderer.
That's satisfactory.
I'll give you, uh, a hundred dollars
on account.
Well, ifyou think I'm gonna say,
"On account ofwhat," you're crazy.
There'll be 400 more
when the case is cleaned up.
Oh, no, no.
I turned in my Boy Scout badge 15 years ago.
This is the way I make my living.
- I gotta pay for this suit. Make it 900.
- That's a lot of money.
You can afford it, baby. Nine hundred,
or I don't take the case.
Oh, verywell.
And one thing more.
I'm turning up the murderer
no matterwho. All right.
Well, now that we're
gettin' so clubby...
suppose you tell me whatyou were doing
up there last night.
When Julian told me
it was necessary...
to reimburse my husband for the money
he'd lost or go to jail...
- I decided to see Lou in order to verify the fact.
- Mmm. Checkin'up, huh?
Well, Julian's often a little careless
about business details.
Mmm. I can understand that.
What happened?
I offered to buy the receipt.
Lou refused to listen to reason,
so I-- I left.
- That's everything you know, hmm?
- Everything.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, Mrs. Lathrop...
do you always use
this kind oflipstick?
Why, yes.
They make some now
that don't come off on glasses.
Well, you'll be hearing from me.
[UpbeatJazz]
[UpbeatJazz]
- Hello, Otto.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
Say, Otto, maybe you can be
of some help to me.
You know, I haven't had a case in a long
while, and I'm gonna get married.
Sure, Mr. Shayne. What is it?
There was a wine glass in front of one of
those unused places up on Lathrop's table.
Now, if I could be sure that a woman used
that glass, it would be a swell clue.
Well, how could--
Yes! I remember now.
That woman I saw alone with Mr. Lathrop
might have been drinking.
- What makes you say that?
- I saw Mr. Lathrop pouring wine for her.
Oh, that's fiine, Otto.
That's a lot ofhelp.
- Anytime foryou, Mr. Shayne.
- Have a cigar.
- [ Chuckles ]
- Don't bother to smell it.
- It's good. I know. I didn't buy it.
- [ Chuckles ]
Thankyou.
[ Continues ]
- Hello, Bill.
- Hello, Mike.
You're a little offyour beat, aren't you?
What are you doin' here?
I'm watching the theater entrance
to Lathrop's apartment.
- Hey, why don't you lookwhere--
Oh, hello, Mike. - Hello, kid.
- When's the wedding?
- We got the partywrapped up in cellophane.
You're gettin' an old shoe,
and my foot's gonna be in it.
Just keep your shirts off, girls. By the
time that curtain rings down tonight...
Joanne and I'll be tied
tighterthan a snare drum.
- See you tonight.
- Yes.
- Better grab him before he gets away.
- Oh, hello, honey.
- Well, what happened? And make it good.
- Now, take it easy, baby.
- This Lathrop case'll set us up pretty.
- When are we gonna get hitched?
- We're collectin' coupons.
- When are we gonna get married? That's all I want to know.
Look, I'll meet you
at your room at 6:00.
Go down and choke yourself
with a silver fox. 6:00.
Come on. What's the matter?
They've played three introductions.
I'll see you after the matinee, and be there.
I don't want any more ribbing from the girls.
- Stop worrying. I'll be there.
- Come on,Joanne. Get on there.
Please, Mike,
don't fiight on my time.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Joanne Singing]
[Singing Continues ]
Yeah.
[ Laughing ]
Yeah.
Yeah.
[Singing Ends ]
[ Laughing ]
[ Laughing ]
You boys can sure lay it down.
Say, tell me, do you act too?
- Yes, sir, we sure does.
- All right then.
I'm gonna give you an audition, and if I like
your performance, I'll give ya fiive bucks apiece.
- Five bucks?
- Mm-hmm.
- Mister, lead us to it.
- Okay. Come on.
[ Continues ]
- [ Continues, Faint ]
- Right this way. Come on.
Hey, this leads to Mr. Lathrop's
apartment, don't it?
- Yeah, why?
- Mm-mmm. Not me.
He and this dizzy Vance
was murdered here last night.
No kidding. Is that so?
Go on.
- But, boss, listen--
- Shh. Take it easy.
Couple of cops out in front
ofthe apartment.
Hey, Rusty, I want you to get me
one of those rifles off the wall.
Uh, the bodies ain't
in there, is they?
No, they've been sent
down to the morgue. Go on.
- You aren't nervous, are you?
- No, sir.
But every time I take a step,
one knee says to the other...
"Get out of my way
and let me pass."
[Door Closes ]
Mr. Shayne,
is this thing loaded?
No, Lathrop only used 'em
for decorations.
Well, I don't want
to be decorated.
Hey, Rusty, give it here.
Now, pull the curtains
on the windows...
and light the candles
on that table.
- What for, boss?
- That's to get you in the mood for acting.
Shh.
- Well, what we gonna act, boss?
- A little murder scene.
- What murder scene?
- Shh.
The murder that was
committed here last night.
- Huh?
- Mm-hmm.
You wanted to act,
didn't ya?
I would have to open
my big mouth.
I just thought of something
I have to do down the stairs.
Wait a minute. Come here.
You're not scared too, are you?
I ain't exactly scared,
but my underwear's creepin' up on me.
Come on.
Sit down there, Sam.
Hey, Rusty, see that wand over in that case?
Bring it here, will ya?
Oh, that's a good boy. Now, Rusty,
you sit down there and rest your eyes, hmm?
Relax, will ya?
You ought to feel happy.
This is the easiest fiive bucks
you ever picked up.
Elucidate me, will ya, boss?
What am I sittin' here for?
- Lathrop was shot in that chair.
- Hmm?
Now, Lathrop's dead.
He can't hurt ya.
I can feel it.
His ghost is still in here.
- You don't believe in ghosts, do you?
- Yes, sir, I do.
Oh, you're crazy. Science has proven
there's no such thing.
The regeneration oflife in this world
has been entirely discredited.
I still do.
- Look at that candle. You see anything?
- Yes, sir.
- What?
- A candle.
No, no, no. I mean, do you see
anything odd about it?
- No, sir.
- Okay.
Now, lean forwarda little.
Just a little bit more.
- Now do you see anything?
- No, sir.
Oh, that's swell.
- I just want to make sure you couldn't
see the gun. - Gun? What gun?
- The gun that's pointin' at your head.
- Wow!
Aw, take it easy.
Now, I'm gonna show you boys...
how one person can kill two birds
simultaneously.
- You ain't gonna kill me for fiive bucks,
is ya? - No.
Look. Now, the murderer stood here
with a revolver in his right hand...
and with his left, he fiired the rifle
by pulling this wand.
It's verysimple, isn't it?
Now, are there any more questions
you boys would like to ask?
When can I get out of here?
That's all for the matinee.
You can go right now.
Hey, hey! Wait a minute.
You forgot your fiive bucks.
You'll never get rich that way.
Boss, right now I could
make myself a fortune...
hiring myself out as a vibrator.
[ Laughing ] There you are.
[Piano ]
- Hello, Max.
- Oh, it's you, Shayne.
Mm-hmm.
Say, that's the hit tune from Lathrop's show
you were playing, isn't it?
Yeah, I wrote it. In four-four time,
it would make a nice dirge for his funeral.
- What's on your mind, Shayne?
- Oh, nothing.
- I just thought I'd drop in, toss the gab
with ya. - Oh.
What's this?
You doin' your own housework now?
Oh, I use that to dust off guys like you.
Hey, that's pretty good.
I didn't know
you were a magician too.
[ Chuckles ]
A guy's gotta eat.
I pick up a few extra bucks with these
gadgets at benefiits and smokers.
You don't need these gadgets
to pick up a couple of bucks.
- Meaning the murder, Shayne?
- Mm-hmm.
Sure. I'll talk
ifthere's anything in it.
Last night, about 1:00, I heard a shot
in Lathrop's apartment.
A shot? Two people
were killed up there.
These ears haven't
gone back on me yet.
My room's right under
Lathrop's kitchen.
What you really heard were two shots
fiired simultaneously.
Might've been at that.
You're smart, Shayne.
Now, now.
Don't spread it around.
Uh, you knew Lathrop
quite well, didn't you?
Sure. I directed music for a couple
ofhis shows years ago.
- Did you evervisit his apartment?
- Certainly not.
He never asked me.
Then how did you know your room
was right under his kitchen?
[ Laughs ] Oh, that. My nose hasn't
gone back on me either.
Yeah.
You know anything about Carlo Ralph?
Say, there's a guywith a real motive
for a double murder.
What makes you say that?
He was once married
to Desiree Vance.
Theywere a popularvaudeville team
before the war.
- Yeah, go on. Go on.
- Well, bighearted Lathrop went sweet on Desiree...
and signed them up
for Sweethearts ofParis.
He broke up the team,
made Desiree a leading lady...
and gave Carlo a walk-on
as Beppo the dog.
It wound up in Desiree leaving Carlo.
When we got in the war,
he went overseas.
Yeah. Yeah, you know, that's-- that's
just about the way that I fiigured it out.
Well, I guess Carlo Ralph
is our man, huh?
- You never miss.
- Well, it's a gift. [ Laughs ]
There's only one hitch,
smart guy.
What's that?
Carlo Ralph was killed
in Chateau-Thierry, 1918.
I was in his company.
That's gonna cost you
just two bucks!
It was worth it.
[ Vehicles Honking]
- Yes? - Hello. I'd like to take a look
at Desiree Vance's room.
- Who are you?
- I'm a police offiicer.
- Well, how am I--
- I nspector Pierson sent me down. It's all right.
I declare. You can't tell nowadays when
a policeman is and when he ain't a policeman.
- When I was a girl, theyweren't ashamed to wear uniforms.
- That's what the chief says.
- [Woman ] Mr. Pierson's the chief, ain't he?
- [Shayne ] Yeah.
Ofcourse, we guys do all the work.
He's strictly a deskman.
Of course, ifyou have his brai ns,
you can do it that way.
- Hello, Inspector. How ya--
- Hello.
- Where you been all day, Shayne?
- On a West I ndian cruise.
- What've you been doin'?
- Oh, I was talking to-- Who wants to know?
- Hey, what's that?
- I don't know. I found it in that trunk. It's locked.
[ Rattling ]
[ Ticking ]
- Say, Inspector.
- What?
Did anybody know
you were coming here?
- Yeah. Why? - A guy that would kill
two people would stop at nothing.
- Listen.
- [Ticking]
- A time bomb!
- That's what I thought!
Throw it out the window!
No, put it in the bathtub!
- Here. I'll put it in the street!
- Hey, come here, will ya?
- Hey! Do you want to make a buck?
- Sure.
- Know where the Hotel du Nord is?
- Yeah, right over--
All right. Get this
to Miss Joanne La Marr.
- Got that? Joanne La Marr. There's
your buck. Beat it! - Okay.
- What'd you do with it?
- I doused it in the sewer there.
[ Exhales ] Good.
Mike, you saved my life.
Oh, think nothing of it, I nspector.
I guess somebody thought
you knew too much, huh?
- Yeah, Davis.
- Davis?
Sure. Mike, I'm gonna
let you in on something.
We checked and found out
he embezzled Lathrop out of 28 grand.
- There's our motive.
- [ Exhales ] That so?
- Yeah. - Well, I guess I won't be
needing this anymore.
Huh?
[ Grunts ]
Hey! Central Park Manor,
and step on it.
[ Buzzing ]
[Knocking]
- What's the matter? - Never mind what's
the matter. You've got to get out of here.
- Go on. Put your coat on.
- J ust a minute. What is all this?
Now, look. The police found out
about your little deal with Lathrop.
I'm lucky they haven't picked you up
already. I'd be out my 900 bucks.
Go on. Hurry it up.
[Buzzing]
[Rattling]
Good heavens!
What have you done?
That hurt me much more
than it did the inspector.
Do you realize this porcelain vase
dates back to the Ming dynasty?
You'll date back to the countyjail
unless you get out ofhere fast.
- Haven't you any aesthetic value at all?
- Never mind about this.
Did I get ya here quick enough?
Somedayyou're gonna get a ticket
for flyin' too low over Broadway.
- Hey, Sam, you got the keys to the prop room?
- Yes, sir.
- Well, come on.
- J ust a minute!
- I doesn't have to understudy no more corpses, does I?
- No, come on.
Yes, this ought to do very nicely.
Sam, I want to hide this guy here.
Now, you keep your trap closed
and your eyes open...
- and take care of his chow.
- Yes, sir.
Sit down. Make yourself
away from home.
There's a comfortable seat.
Well, what is that
strange contraption?
That, Hamlet, is an electric chair.
Might as well get used to it.
Be seeing you.
Oh!
Sam, let's put that key
where I can get it quick, hmm?
- I'll put it right here, boss.
- Yeah.
Phew. That was
a narrow escape, boss.
Yeah, it wasn't termites either.
Come on.
Let's get out ofhere.
- [ Sighs ]
- [Knocking]
- Hello, baby!
- 7:00. Where's the preacher?
Oh, never mind about that now.
Where's that box I sent you?
- If that's your idea of a gag--
- Now, what did you do with it?
There wasn't anything in it but some
pictures and a silly old love letter.
- A love letter? How'd you get that box open?
- With a hairpin.
- Well, where's the letter?
- I tore it up.
- You-- You what?
- Well, I don't know any Carlo Ralph.
Ooh! The stork that brought you should've
been arrested for peddling dope.
Will you tell me
what's so important?
This might be the key
to everything!
Sure, sure. Everything's important
to you but our marriage.
What'll the girls think?
At least Gus never humiliated me!
Gus. Gus. I thought you promised never
to remind me ofthat palooka again.
- Well, Gus was dependable.
- Here.
Here. Listen to this.
"Desiree darling, I know you'll be
surprised to hear from me.
"The terrible ordeal of 10 months
in a German prison camp is fiinally over...
but it has left its mark."
You have worked on fiive murder cases,
and how many have you solved? None!
"I am trying to get
an act together...
"as I have the promise
of a booking in Berlin.
"I live onlyin the hope...
"that you'll join me here,
that we may forget the past...
"and start life together anew.
"Your loving husband...
Carlo."
- Hey. Can ya tie that?
- What?
This letter is postmarked
Munich, Germany, 1920.
Then Carlo Ralph wasn't killed
at Chateau-Thierry.
I'm through.
I've had enough!
I've waitedand waitedand waited,
and what happens? Nothing.
I wouldn't even expectyou to show up
atyour own funeral!
Honey, I gotta run downstai rs
for a m i nute.
- But, Mike!
- I 'll-- I 'll be right back.
- That's what you think!
- Hmm?
Hey, Joannie.
Joanne!
Aw, come on. Be sensible.
I'm doing this for the both of us.
[ Groans ]
- Hello, Inspector.
- Oh, hello.
Say! Don't tell me they're makin' keyholes
big enough to get your fiist through.
I got this from Davis,
but he'll pay plenty.
I caught up with him in his apartment, and
he let me have it when my backwas turned.
- Tsk, tsk, tsk.
- He and his gang!
- You don't mean he got away?
- I should say not.
I just got an anonymous phone call
that he's hiding in the theater here.
Al and the boys will be along in a minute,
and we'll pick him up.
[Siren Wailing]
Here they are now.
- Hey!
- [Tires Squealing]
- What's the matter? You goin' blind?
- Well, Inspector, I--
Shut up! Sergeant, take a couple of men.
Go around the back. Al and I'll go in the front.
Keep your big eyes open,
will ya?
[ Whispering ]
Hey, Davis.
Davis!
Holy smoke!
- [ Gasps, Shouts ]
- Oh, don't--
- What?
- scare me like that, will ya?
- Come on. Get out ofhere. The police are afteryou.
- Police?
Get back.
Get back in there.
Frank, you look around in here,
and we'll search the dressing rooms.
Yes, sir.
[ Inhales ]
[ Exhales ]
[Sneezes ]
Stop!
Sergeant!
- [Rattling]
- Open this door!
- What happened? - Two men just
ran out of here and locked me in.
They must've gone that way.
Inspector!
I nspector! There he is.
[ Grunting ]
- Stop, or I'll shoot!
- [ Gunshot ]
Hey, chief, are you all right?
[ Thudding, Clattering]
Are you all right, chief?
[ Whispering ]
Come on.
Come on. Hurry it up.
Hamlet, we're in a jam,
and it may be raspberries.
I gotta keep you away from the law
if I want to collect from your girlfriend.
Really, Mr. Shayne, this whole thing's
getting on my nerves.
Look, after I catch the murderer,
you can have a nervous breakdown ifyou like.
- Hmm.
- Now, keep quiet.
Might as well sit down,
ease your mind.
Looks like we're stuck for a while until I
fiigure some way of getting you out ofhere.
- Do you play honeymoon bridge?
- [ Laughs ]
Do I play honeymoon bridge? I shall never forget
the time we were stranded in Chillicothe.
We were playing Romeo andJuliet
at the time...
and the scenerywent to Cleveland
by mistake.
It looks like the police
checked this room already.
By the way, ifyou want to leave here,
I have a suggestion to make.
- Yeah?
- There's anotherway out.
You mean to say there's another entrance
to this homicide parlor?
Ifyou knew Lou as well as I did,
you wouldn't question it.
Lou always insisted on taking
a fatherly interest in his leading lady.
So, to facilitate matters, he arranged
to occupy the suite immediately below.
Well, for the love of Michael Shayne.
Come on.
- Why, she-- she looks like, um--
- Lynne Evans?
- Yes.
- That's who it is.
But how could she--
Is she dead?
Yep.
"To whoever fiinds me,
I killed Lou Lathrop and Desiree Vance.
"Lou was my fiirst sweetheart,
and she came between us.
"I have never forgotten
or forgiven either of them.
"Last night was too much for me.
I couldn't stand it.
I killed 'em.
Lynne Evans."
Why, this ends our case, Mr. Shayne.
I can go home now.
Oh, no, no. You're gonna stay
right here with me.
- Why?
- She didn't commit suicide.
- What do you mean?
- Come on. I'll explain it to you later.
Hey,Joanne.
Joannie?
She's gone again.
You can never trust these dames.
Hello. Hello. Give me the backstage
ofthe Athena Theatre.
Life is full of strange adventures.
Here I fiind myself
in a girl's room--
a beautiful girl
whom I've never even met.
Just take it easy, Hamlet. She'll be
a blustering bride before midnight.
- Is that so? - When she comes back,
tell her to wait here for me, will you?
- Oh, hello, Otto? This is Mike Shayne.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
There's one more thing
I want you to do for me.
Can you meet me
in Lathrop's apartment?
Why, yes, Mr. Shayne.
But I can't get away from here until 9:00,
when the relief man comes on.
That's all right. That's fiine.Just a little
more help, and I thinkwe got this solved.
- I'll meetyou there at 9:00.
- I'll be there.
You wait here until
I pick up the murderer.
You've got plenty oftime
for that nervous breakdown now.
[Door Closes ]
- [Knocks ]
- Come in.
- Hello, Max.
- Oh, it's you again.
Mm-hmm.
Have you turned up
the Lathrop killeryet, Shayne?
Max, you lied to me about Carlo Ralph
being killed in the war.
Why, Mike, I wouldn't lie
to a smart guy like you.
Listen, you know plenty.
Well, I'm crackin' this case pretty quick...
and I'm gettin' the last bit of evidence
in Lathrop's apartment at 9:00 tonight.
Well, have a good night's sleep.
Hello, Shayne. We got
a little date downtown.
- Wait. I got this whole thing sewed up.
- Let's go.
- The inspector gave me his personal okay.
- Yeah, yeah.
He's gonna be awfully sore
when he hears that you--
Thought you were pretty smart,
eh, Shayne?
You knew I wanted Davis for murder,
and you helped him get away.
I'm gonna send you up
for a nice, long stretch.
You almost sent me up for good when
you took that potshot at me in the theater.
What potshot?
I didn't fiire my gun.
Somebody did.
The bullet almost parted my hair.
- Did you fiire at him, Al?
- Not me. I heard a shot, but I thought it was you.
Wait a minute.
If neither one ofyou fiired...
doesn't that prove that the murderer
was in the theater?
It couldn't have been Davis.
He was right by my side the whole time.
- Oh, wait a minute.
- It's simple arithmetic, Inspector.
Whoever the real murderer is,
he's trying to pin it onto Davis.
That half-burned receipt was a plant,
and a clumsy one at that.
And who do you think called you up
and told you Davis was down at the theater?
- Search me.
- It was the killer, of course.
Here's another one
foryour scrapbook.
You can pick up the body
of the third victim at Room 516.
- What? - Emily, the maid at the hotel,
was murdered.
This is the screwiest case
I've ever had.
Lock him up, Al,
before I'm murdered.
Wait a minute. Inspector,
I'll make you a proposition.
- Nothing doing. No.
- Listen to me.
I think that I've made a date
with the killer...
at Lathrop's apartment
at 9:00 p.m.
Shayne, you've played
your last trick on me.
I got nothin' up my sleeve.
If I'm wrong, I'll turn Davis over to you
in a pair of ruby-studded handcuffs.
- Is that fair enough?
- I don't know.
Why, you'll hog
all the front pages.
"Inspector Pierson of the Homicide
picks up triple killer in 24 hours."
Now, you wouldn't object
to that, would ya?
Frankly, no.
That'd suit me fiine.
- But you never deliver.
- I will this time!
Here's all you gotta do.
You get up to Lathrop's apartment
before 9:00...
plant yourself in the study,
behind those glass doors--
- And where are you goin'?
- Oh, stop worryin'.
- I'll be there.
- Oh, no, you don't.
All right. Then have Al
stickwith me, okay?
And when you get up there,
keep your gun ready.
When you hear me mention the time 12:00,
that's your signal.
What do you mean, 12:00?
When I say "12:00,"
you step out and nail him.
- Okay.
- Attaboy.
But you better be right!
Al, call the coroner and have him
meet me at the du Nord.
Oh, one more thing. Uh--
You'd better take the cop
off the theater entrance.
I got a hunch the murderer
may be comin' up that way.
All right.
But if I get conked
in the eye again, look out!
[ Mutters ]
[ Clock Chiming]
Say, ain't this the room
the maid was murdered in?
That's right.
- Hey--
- Shh.
- Where you goin'?
- Up to Lathrop's apartment to meet the killer.
It's open house
ifyou want to come along.
No, I better stay down here
and watch.
[Door Closes ]
Get back, I nspector.
I can see your shadow.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
- Hello, Otto.
Not too loud, huh?
Come on. Sit down.
I am sorry I couldn't get here sooner,
Mr. Shayne.
Oh, that's all right.
- It's nice ofyou to help me out.
- Oh-- [ Chuckles ]
You know, Otto, I think
I've almost got this fiigured out.
Just one link
in the chain missing.
If I could get that--
[ Clicks Tongue ]
How can I helpyou?
You must've read in the papers
that Lathrop was killed with a rifle...
and the Vance dame
with a revolver.
Now, I can understand
why they didn't see the rifle.
But what beats me is
why they didn't scream...
orjump up or do something when
the killer pulled a revolver on them.
Well, whywouldn't they
see the rifle, Mr. Shayne?
Because the murderer had clamped it
to that sill over there.
The end ofthe barrel was hidden
under that candlestick.
Whew!
How do you know that?
When the rifle went off,
it left a burn.
The murderer tried to make believe
it was done by a cigarette.
What?
The killer tried to make it appear
it was from a cigarette.
But no cigarette ever made
a burn like that.
Huh! [ Laughs ]
That's wonderful, Mr. Shayne.
- Well, that's what I get paid for.
- [ Laughs ]
Now, the murderer stood here,
and he fiired the rifle...
by rigging the trigger
to this wand...
with magician's thread.
Oh!
- That's very clever.
- Isn't it?
- Yeah. Let me see it.
- Sure.
Hmm.
- Do you know any magic tricks, Otto?
- Huh?
- Do you know any magic tricks?
- No, I don't...
but I've seen them
do it in theaters.
Hmm.
Maybe it was done like that.
Say, that's pretty good.
I think maybe you've hit it.
I'm going to kill you,
Mr. Shayne.
Why, Otto?
Why should you kill me?
You know too many things.
I know that you're
Carlo Ralph--
Yeah. Beppo the dog.
and that you killed Lathrop,
Desiree Vance and Lynne Evans.
You are the only one
who'll ever know that, Mr. Shayne.
Now, don't get excited, Otto.
After all, you probably thought you had
plenty of reasons for doing what you did.
I don't get excited.
I had the feeling
you were too smart...
when you asked me
about that wine glass.
Yes, that's right, Otto.
You were a big help there.
That's the fiirst time I got
suspicious of you-- when you lied to me.
Mrs. Lathrop didn't drink
out ofthat glass.
There wasn't any lipstick on it.
It was you who drank from it.
Yes.
I came up here last night
for sentimental reasons.
I came up here last night
for sentimental reasons.
I put on the dog head...
and waited until Lathrop and Desiree
were the only ones left.
[ Chuckles ] Lathrop was panicky
when he recognized me.
But after I convinced him
I meant no harm...
he poured me a glass ofwine...
and asked me to sit down.
I showed him some of the tricks...
I did in the show.
Well, how come that Lathrop
didn't recognize you before?
He knew me as I was in 1916.
But a year ofwar and a German prison camp
can change any man.
I passed him in the street one day...
- but he didn't recognize me.
- Oh, so that's it.
I decided...
Lathrop should die
in the same place...
he closed my life
26 years back...
when he stole mywife.
So, about six months ago...
I got this job.
Yeah, but why did you kill
Lynne Evans?
I came back...
to destroy the wine glass
you asked me about.
There were police all over...
so I had to sneak
through the room downstairs.
Emily saw me,
so I caught her...
and-- and choked her.
After her head fell back...
and her glassy eyes stared at me...
I realized what I had done.
I lit some candles and--
and said a prayer.
I don't think I got to say
any prayers overyou.
Now, take it easy, Otto.
You've been awfully smart
about this up till now.
Why do you wanna spoil it all?
Look, I can promise to have it fiixed
so you can be on a boat to South America.
It's nice down there.
The boat leaves at 12:00.
[ Otto ] I'm not going
to take anytrip.
Onlyyou.
The boat leaves at 12:00.
You can start life all over again.
- I've got the money here with me.
- Keep your hands on the table!
[Shayne ]
Now, don't be a fool, Otto.
I promiseyou, I'll haveyou
on that boat before 12:00.
No. No.
I don't trust nobody.
I used to trust everybody.
I 'm going to kill you,
Mr. Shayne...
and then there's only one more
to put out ofthe way.
[ Shayne ] Who's that?
[ Gunshot ]
- Grab that guy!
- J ust a minute.
Hey, chief!. Chief!.
Hey, what's goin' on here?
- Allaron!
- This lug knocked me out!
Do you mean to say that he's the guy
that was standing behind those doors?
- Yeah!
- Oh, so that's why--
[ Whistles ] Well, is my face
a nasty color of pink.
And is my head sore.
All right, now.
Take it easy, pop. Look...
is that the one more guy
you wanted to put away?
Yes. He heard the shot last night...
and rushed up here as I was putting
the rifle back on the wall.
- He's crazy. You can't believe anything he says.
- Shut up!
He made me pay all the money
I had to keep quiet.
I knew if I didn't get him, he'd--
he'd make me pay him
for the rest of my life.
Well, what a dummy I was.
I practically gave you an invitation
to come up here and kill me.
You knew you'd get 20 years
if Otto ever talked.
- Suppression of evidence.
- That's right!
And you saw a chance
to do awaywith the both of us.
Why, I nspector, you saved my life.
Think nothing of it. I don't.
Put the cuffs on this guy
and take 'em both to headquarters.
Holy smoke! Say, I nspector,
what time is it?
- Ten after 9:00. Why?
- Come on! We gotta get goin'!
What's the matter?
Is there more work on this case?
You don't know it, but you're gonna be
best man at mywedding.
More murder.
[ Gasps ]
- Tryin' to sneak up on me again, huh?
- Hey, wait.
Calm down, will you, Inspector? I just
cleared Davis. What are you doing here?
Your girlfriend came back and threw me out.
I've been waiting foryou.
You can just run home to that sweet patootie
ofyours and tell her to get 900 bucks ready.
I'll be up for it in an hour.
Come on, chief.
- Mr. Shayne, wait a minute.
- Yeah?
Who killed Lathrop?
- Santa Claus ran over him with his sleigh.
- [ Laughs ]
That's funny.
It's four months to Christmas.
- Hey, Mike?
- Yeah.
Are you sure
you wanna get married?
Of course I am.
Oh, now, Inspector, be frank.
Haven't you ever felt the urge
to hold some sweet little sugar...
that belongs to you
close in your arms?
Yeah, lots of times. When I feel that way,
I just run around the block.
Oh, you'd fiind rust
on the pearly gates.
Here we are--
the gate to heaven.
Looks like you ain't got
the only key to this gate.
And what are you doin' here?
- Are you Mr. Shayne?
- Yes. Why?
I got a singing telegram foryou
from Miss Joanne La Marr.
- Oh, what does she--
- [ One Note ]
I'm tired of all this fiight and fuss,
so I took it on the lam with Gus
- Good-bye, forever
- Gus.
- [ Together] Good-bye, forever, good-bye
- Bye
- Good-bye
- Bye
[ Together ]
Good-bye
Good-bye
look-so important to good dressing.
With me, things are too tough
to look careless.
Well, well, well.
Ifit isn't my old friend, the private dick.
Private investigator to you.
Mike, you're looking fine. I fyou looked
any better, you'd have to be twins.
- Glad to see you, boy. Getting everything
you want? - I was just--
It's a beautiful thing-- a beautiful thing.
You're sure dressed to kill.
Uh, say, isn't this the suit I told you
to put away for another customer?
You can't sell that suit.
Well, all right.
So I'll lose another customer.
You're worth it, Mike. You're worth it.
Mmm, does it fit? Like a glove.
- Should fiit like a suit.
- Like a-- [ Laughing ]
You panic me, Mike,
from head to foot.
Now, look, Smiley, this has got to be right,
because I'm buying it to please a dame.
Any dame that's got the taste to go out
with you will be crazy about that suit.
I'm not goin' out with her.
I'm gonna marry her.
Marry her? Well, that's marvelous.
Wonderful!
Congratulations, Mike.
Congratulations.
This is the suit, my boy.
The preacherwon't be able to look
at anything else. Mm-mmm.
Did you, uh, quote him
a price on this?
- No, sir.
- Then I'll even do better.
Complete outfiit with a pair of shoes--
$37.50, and we'll throw in the wedding ring.
Ifyou buy an overcoat, you get a hat
and a membership in our Christmas club...
which entitles you
to a credit for fiive dollars...
good on any purchase over $50,
if made before Christmas.
- On Track 7! - All I want down from
you is a measly 10 spot.
I'll give you two bucks
and my old suit.
What, that thing? The moths'd be
ashamed to build a nest in that.
- Uh, make it fiive.
- Two bucks.
And I won't bother to take the police
whistle and the Gene Autry gun.
Here, hold on just a minute.
What about your security?
What do you mean security?
I've always paid ya.
I got an important case
coming up any day now.
Well, all right.
I'll take a chance.
Good-bye, Mike. Good luck,
and I hope your marriage works out.
- What do you mean, works out?
- Oh, so few of them do.
[Smiley] Mike!
Hey, Mike! This case
you got coming up--
- Is it dangerous?
- Why?
Well, you gotta go through such red tape
to get a suit back from the morgue.
[ Sighs ]
- Hello, Sam.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
- Man, that suit's a killer.
- Yeah, thanks. Thanks.
- Hiya, Mike.
- Oh, hello,Jack.
Hey, take it easywith that. That's gonna be
personal property in a couple hours.
- [ Laughs ] Well, today's the big day, eh?
- Yes, sir.
Yeah, I told Joanne it'd be okay
if she was a little late.
Oh, that's fiine,Jack.
That helps a lot.
- Oh, Mike?
- Yeah?
- Have ya thought it over?
- Well, sure I thought it over. Why?
I'm a married man.
I talk from experience.
I'd rather put two bucks on a horse
than on a marriage license.
Ya get a better run
foryour dough.
Well-- Well,
thanks for the advice.
- Hiya, Mike.
- Hello.
Say, uh, I'm sorry about that tip
I gave you yesterday.
Yeah. He ran a bang-up eighth
chargin' in the stretch.
- Hello, Mike.
- Hi, boys.
- Hey! Hearyou're gettin' married.
- Yes. You got any objections?
No. Two can live as cheap as one...
but ifyou ask me, it's worth
the difference to stay single.
[ Laughing ]
That is very funny.
- Hey, Brennon. Is Joanne in?
- Yes, Mike.
- Good.
- Now, say, I hearyou're getting married.
Yes. I'm gettin' married.
Now, just one crack out ofyou--
Come on.Just one crack, and I'll--
Gee. It could happen to anybody.
Oh, here comes Max Allaron.
Better duck.
Oh, Mike?
Can I put the lug on you for a couple of
bucks? I'm a little short on my rent.
The last time you clipped me,
you went out and got loaded.
You're crazy. Some guy bought me
a couple ofbeers, but I wasn't loaded.
No, you weren't loaded.
You were just to that state where
the sober guys looked awfully silly.
- Okay, Shayne, if that's the way you feel about it.
- It's the way I feel about it.
- Hello, Mike.
- Get in that contraption and get goin'.
Say, I hearyou're getting married.
- [Knocking]
- Come in.
Hey,Joanne, look.
Nifty? Everything
but the neon sign, huh?
- Well, now you look like something.
- Yeah.
You know, Gus had a suit
like that once.
Now, look.
Let's get this thing understood.
Will you please stop throwin'
that two-bit hoofer up to me?
- I just want you to look nice. You don't get married every day.
- Hmm. Not to me, you don't.
The bridesmaids are tossing off a little
brawl for us after the show.
- What bridesmaids? - The girls in the
"Daddy, let me light your cigar" number.
Oh, that's swell. Say, how about a cup of coffee?
Can't get married on an empty stomach.
- I saved you a cup.
- Good.
[ Humming ]
- Got the ring?
- Mm-hmm.
Yeah? Let's see it.
I got it. [ Exhales ]
A Shayne never forgets.
What'd you do with the CrackerJack?
Hey! Hey, don't try it on.
That's bad luck.
Couldn't be anyworse. The wedding license
is so old now, it's out of print.
Oh, quit crabbing,Joannie.
I've had my coffee. We're set.
- How about a couple ofbucks for flowers?
- Couple ofbucks? Sure.
Here. Here's one buck. I don't want
George Washington to get lonesome.
- [ Chuckling ]
- [ Laughs ]
[ Chuckles, Sighs ]
[Woman Screams ]
- Did you hear that?
- I didn't hear anything.
That's funny. I could've sworn
I heard somebody scream.
Somebody's always screaming
around this flophouse.
- [Woman Screams ]
- I'll be right back, honey.
Mike!
Hey, Mike! [ Sighs ]
- [ Woman Panting, Whimpering]
- [ Classical]
- [ Whimpering Continues ]
- [ Continues ]
- Hey, Emily, what's all the--
- [ Gasping ]
[ Groans ]
Lou Lathrop.
Well, whoever staged this little melodrama
certainly had cracked chimes in their belfry.
[ Sobbing ]
Come on, Emily.
Pull yourselftogether.
- [ Whimpering ] Oh.
- That's a goodgirl.
Say now, who is this dame?
- Miss Vance.
- Miss Vance?
Desiree Vance.
[ Sobbing ]
Oh.
Look, you mop up your tears.
- Run downstairs and tell Brennon to come
right up here, will ya? - Yes.
[ Chuckles ]
He's gonna love this.
[ Continues ]
[ Ringing ]
Hello. Oh, hello, Mike.
Now, listen. I'm busy.
You're gonna be busier. Look.
How much dough will you pay
for an exclusive on a double murder?
I'll give ya fiive minutes' head start
over the cops.
- I'll tell you what it's worth afteryou
give me the dope. - Lou Lathrop...
the broken-down producer, and Desiree Vance
were knocked off last night.
Mmm. Well, that's worth
a hundred bucks. Who did it?
- Well, what do you know?
- All I know is that the joint looks like...
the second-act curtain from Macbeth.
[ Chuckles ]
Theymust've been giving
some kind ofa banquet.
They were both in costume.
No, I don't know what it was for
or anything about it yet.
Listen, Mike. If you dig up the murderer
for me exclusive, I 'll give ya 400 more.
Oh, you got yourself a deal,
sweetheart.
As soon as I get any hot copy,
you'll get it.
Butyou send over that hundred bucks
right away, willya? Good.
- Oh, ho! 100 si moleons.
- [ Continues ]
Oh, I was just--
So was I.
Did you tel I Brennon?
- U h, no. I -I was just going to.
- Well, go on.
Go on. Hurry up. Go.
[Ends ]
[ Classical]
[ Stops ]
Mike! Mike!
Right here, baby.
If you think you can keep me waiting around
while you go chasing screams, you're cr--
- [ Screams ]
- Isn't it terrifiic?
I made a hundred bucks already,
and there's 400 more...
coming up as soon as I put
my fiinger on the killer.
Why, it's Niagara Falls
and all the trimmings for us, baby.
- They're dead.
- Why, sure. It's no wax museum.
Now, you get out ofhere before the police come.
I don't want you mixed up in this. Come on.
- Ooh. Gives me the creeps.
- Oh, a cherry Coke'll fiix you up.
Now, I'll have this taken care of
in a couple ofhours.
You keep the preacher awake.
Go on.
- Oh, it's you.
- What happened, Mike?
You're in luck, Brennon.
Couple of murders.
In luck? Do you know what
that means to this hotel?
Sure. You'll be all over the front pages
tomorrow morning.
The public'll forget about that gambling
raid you had last month.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a mess.
Funny. Lathrop's been
in this suite since 1915...
and there's never been
anything like this before.
Now we'll have to get
that chair reupholstered.
- You can't take bloodstains out of that material.
- I gotta call the police.
Well, tell 'em not to take the bodies
through the lobby this time.
[ Whistles ]
Keep your eye open for this bird.
- I got a tip he's in town.
- [ Rings ]
Inspector Pierson speaking.
Oh, hello, Mike.
You don't say.
You don't say.
Well, glad to hearyou haven't lost
your sense of public responsibility.
We'll be right over.
Oh, Mike.
Don't pick up the murderer
before we get there.
Come on, Al. A double murder
at the Hotel du Nord.
Business is picking up, chief.
They're coming in pairs now.
- Yeah, what're ya doin'?
- I always said this chair belonged here.
Hey, Brennon, you got any idea
what this costume ball was all about?
Must have something to do with
that hit show he produced years ago.
- What makes you think that?
- They're wearing the same costumes.
There's the program.
Oh, yeah.
Let's see. Desiree Vance--
Oh, she's dead.
Julian Davis. Say, you know
anything about him?
He was in that show.
You should've been a detective.
Oh, David Earle.
Say, that name sounds familiar.
- He's the real estate operator.
- Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember him.
You know anything about
Angus Duncan and Faye Dalrymple?
Neverheard of'em.
Oh, Max Allaron. Say, I never knew
that he worked for Lathrop.
Martin Larkin...
Helen Hollis and Carlo Ralph.
- Do you know them?
- Nope.
Oh.
Did you see any of the people
who came up here last night?
No, I had a light dayyesterday.
Onlyworked from 10:00 to 10:00.
Lathrop's parties never
started till 11:00.
[Shayne ] I guessjust four
ofthem showed up.
How do you know that?
Only four of the places
have been used.
- Smart, huh?
- Wow.
That's right!
You know, Mike, the Vance woman
used to come here a lot.
Last week, when I was walking down the hall
and happened to glance through the transom...
I saw Lathrop giving her
some money.
She was mad about something.
Ifyou want my opinion,
it's a murder and a suicide.
She killed him
and then shot herself.
Yeah, I guess you're right. Then she hung
the rifle back up on the wall, huh?
Rifle? What's that got
to do with it?
Well,just for the fiiles...
Lathrop was killed with a rifle,
and the sweetie with a revolver.
- How do you know that?
- Well, the way Lathrop's head is mussed up.
Couldn't have been done by anything
but a dumdum bullet from a rifle...
and that baby
has been fiired recently.
Whereas a revolver, on the other hand,
makes a small, neat hole...
- like the one in the Vance dame's head.
- That complicates things.
- You know any sleight ofhand?
- I used to know a match trick.
- Everybody liked it.
- Well, you'll have to show it to me sometime.
I've got to go downstairs and make up
Lathrop's closing bill.
Don't forget about telling them
not to bring the bodies through the lobby.
I'll have them
shipped out parcel post.
This is it, all right. Stay in the hall
and don't let anybody in...
especially the reporters.
Welcome to our chamber
ofhorrors, Inspector.
- Hello, Mike. Appreciate your calling us
right away. - That's okay.
- Sure you haven't touched anything?
- Nope, only the coronas.
- Here. Have one.
- Thanks.
- Shot.
- In the head.
What are all these places?
What're they advertising anyway?
Well, it isn't vitamin B1.
- What's this?
- Oh, I found that on Lathrop's head.
The murderer must've put it there
after he shot him.
- What'd he do that for?
- Mmm, maybe he liked Airedales. I don't know.
I had a dog like that once.
It'd eat anything.
It was very fond of children.
Say, did you notice that only four
of these places were used?
- No, I didn't.
- Gotta keep your eyes open, Shayne.
- Maybe the killers were so nervous they
couldn't eat, huh? - That's right.
There's your cast of characters,
I nspector.
The murderer is usually the one
near the bottom.
The last one here--
Oh, a wise guy.
Hey, that's funny.
Carlo Ralph, who played the dog,
is the last one on the program...
- and that ties up with the dog head.
- You catch on quick.
[Al] Inspector? Inspector!
Inspector!
- What is it, Al?
- Look at that bed.
- What about it?
- Well, it hasn't been slept in.
Go on.
Well, it-- it seems that Lathrop
didn't go to bed last night.
Yeah. I guess after bein' murdered,
he was too tired to come into bed.
How did you get in here?
I told my men--
- Who are you?
- I'm David Earle.
- Oh, you were in that show,
Sweethearts of Paris. - Yes.
- What are you doin' here?
- Well, I had an appointment with Lathrop at 11:00 this morning.
I walked into the living room and saw--
Then I heard voices in here.
But how did you get in here,
Mr. Earle?
I came through the special entrance
from the theater next door.
Special entrance?
What kind of a--
- Why, uh, where is it?
- Over here.
Lathrop built this to get to the theater
without going through the street.
You see, he owned it before it was turned
into a burlesque house.
Yeah. Say, why did you come up
through the theater?
My offiice is on 45th Street.
It's shorter to come this way.
I've been doing it for 20 years.
- Is this door kept locked?
- Lathrop never locked it, to my knowledge.
That's fiine. Anybody from the theater
could've walked in here last night!
Now that you're here,
Mr. Earle...
maybe you can explain a few things to us
regarding this setup.
This is pretty sad business
for me, Inspector.
I worked for Lathrop a long time.
We were very close pals.
- Were you at the party last night?
- Yes.
- Who else was here?
- Well, there was Julian Davis, Desiree Vance...
Lathrop and myself.
Whywas the table set for eight?
Lathrop set places for all the cast...
whether theywere dead or alive,
for sentimental reasons.
Say, what's Davis doing now?
- He's a stockbroker.
- Oh.
- Were you the last to leave?
- No. Davis was here when I left.
[ Clattering]
Somebody else.
When does the balloon go up?
- Hey! What do you thinkyou're doin', bud?
- Huh?
I said, what are you doin' here?
Oh, uh, Mr. Lathrop pays me extra
to clean up for him.
- Hello, Otto.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
- He's the doorman at the theater.
- How do you know?
- My girl's in the show.
- Oh.
Get this. I don't want anything
touched around here--
nothing, until I'm through
with the investigation.
- Investigation?
- Yeah, investigation.
Lathrop and Desiree Vance
were murdered here last night.
- Murdered?
- Yeah.
Say, how did you get in here anyway?
Through the theater entrance.
Now, wait a minute. We've been
standing in front of that door.
But I came through this door
directly into the kitchen.
You mean, there's another--
He's right. This leads
to the passageway too.
Say, what is this,
an apartment or a fun house?
You know anything about
the party here last night?
Well, after my 11:00 round...
I came up here and fiixed the food
like Mr. Lathrop told me.
Did you serve at the party?
No. I had to get back to the theater.
Was that the last time
you saw Lathrop?
No, I came up here again
to bring some ice...
after everybody left the theater.
Was there anyone here besides
Lathrop and Desiree Vance?
There was a woman here.
She was talking to Mr. Lathrop.
- Did you hear anything she said?
- No, I couldn't see.
Her backwas to the service window.
See? Couldn't s-- Do you have to see
to hear anything?
Well, he's almost deaf.
He reads your lips.
- Oh. Who was the woman?
- Huh?
I said, who was the woman?
- I don't know. I never saw her before.
- [ Sighs ]
Otto, could you describe her
or tell us anything about her?
- Uh, well, she had on a hat--
- What kind of a hat?
With what they're wearin' nowadays,
just you try and describe a hat.
[ Scoffs ]
Was she tall or short?
- What?
- Was she tall--
Never mind. I'll get
around to you later.
Just keep your mouth shut
about this murder. Go on.
[Phone Ringing]
I'll get it.
- Never mind. I'll get it.
- No, I'll get it. I'll--
- Why don't ya watch where you're goin'?
- Where's the phone?
- [Ringing Continues ]
- I don't know.
Wait a minute. I'll answer the phone.
I'm runnin' this case.
Well, all right. I was only tryin' to help.
No use gettin' sore.
- Hello?
- [Ringing Continues ]
- Yes?
- Lou? This is Connie Earle.
Father hasn't come home all night.
I thought perhaps he'd found out about us.
I've been terriblyworried.
[ Continues, Indistinct ]
Yeah, I know all about that, honey.
Look, don't bother me now, will ya? I'm busy.
I'll be down in a couple of minutes.
Who was it?
It was that screwball dame of mine.
She's gettin' impatient.
- We're supposed to get hitched
this morning. - Well, congratu--
- Stop using that phone!
- [ Laughing ] I'm not using--
Oh, uh, sit down, Mr. Earle.
Sorry I got sidetracked.
- That's quite all right.
- I want to askyou a few more questions.
Did Lynne Evans ever
attend these parties?
- She came to the fiirst one, but I haven't seen her since.
- Who's Lynne Evans?
She was a chorus girl
in Lathrop's show.
Lathrop was sweet on her till
Desiree Vance came into the picture.
Do you think the murderer might have been
a member of the cast?
I haven't even started thinking.
- That's right, Inspector.
- Quiet!
Say, how did you happen to fiind
this massacre in the fiirst place?
Well, you see, my girl lives
on the floor below.
I heard Emily, the maid, screaming,
so I came up.
- Then the maid was the fiirst one
to see them. - That's right.
- Get her up here, Al.
- No, that's all right, Al.
I'm going now. I'll tell her.
Oh, Mr. Earle. Your daughter's name
is Connie, isn't it?
Why, yes, but, uh, what has that
got to do with this?
Oh, nothing. Just that she's very pretty.
I've seen her picture in the roto section.
Hey, what are you drivin' at?
Take a look at those guns
on the wall inside, Inspector.
I think one of them killed Lathrop.
- Oh, hello, Mike.
- Hello,Joe. It's all yours.
- They said there were two ofthem dead.
- That's right.
You're right in the middle of a boomtown.
[ Laughs ]
Oh, Emily! Wait a minute.
The police want to talk to you.
There's nothing to be nervous about.
- All you have to do is answer
their questions. - Mr. Shayne, I--
Stop worrying, will ya, Emily?
They don't know
that you're Lynne Evans.
- Thankyou.
- Hey, Brennon. Anybodyask for me?
Over there.
Have they found out anything yet?
No. They're waiting for Professor Quiz.
- You from the Observer?
- Yeah.
- Well, I'm Mike Shayne.
- Oh. Here's a valentine from the editor.
- Mm-hmm. With love and kisses, eh?
- Mm-hmm.
- I thank you. - Hey, wait a minute.
Where's the rest ofthe dope?
As soon as I get anything to peddle,
I'm playing along with you guys...
just as long as you keep me dizzy
seein' 10 spots in front of my eyes.
[ Chuckles ]
Thanks very much, Mr. Earle.
We can reach you at your offiice anytime?
- Yes, of course.
- Well.
- Well?
- They've been dead about 10 hours.
Lathrop was shot with a rifle.
It could've been that one on the wall.
- Have that rifle checked out.
- Right.
And the Vance woman
with a revolver.
Looks like you got a tough case
on your hands, Inspector.
- The tougher they come, the better--
- The better we like 'em.
Say, ifyou see any reporters downstairs,
keep quiet.
I don't want the papers to get ahold of this
before I'm ready.
Sure.
- Hey,Jasper, you're supposed to be on duty.
- Yes, sir.
[ Vehicle Honking]
[ Vehicle Approaching]
- You Miss Earle?
- Yes.
I thought you'd show up
when you couldn't call back.
- What do you mean?
- Hey, driver. Once around the block.
- Look here. What's the meaning of all this?
- Ah, take it easy, Miss Earle.
- I onlywant to talk to you.
- Who are you?
- I'm Michael Shayne, private investigator.
- Go on.
I just talked to you over the phone
from Lathrop's apartment.
What happened?
I-- I was disconnected.
Nothing much, except that Lathrop and
Desiree Vance were knocked off last night.
- You mean--
- Yeah.
And right now, Inspector Pierson is pouring
a lot ofheat on your father.
My fatherwouldn't do
a thing like that.
I don't know. He seems
to be a pretty good liar.
He's up there tellin' the police
what great pals he and Lathrop were.
- That's right. Theywere good friends.
- Ah, now, wait a minute.
That doesn't tallywith the story
you just gave me over the phone.
Fatherwas a little upset about Lou's
interest in my career, but--
If anybody should get down off a hack
and askyou...
your old man had plenty of motive
for killing Lathrop.
Well, if a motive is the only thing
you're looking for...
I happen to know that
Julian Davis had plenty.
- He embezzled Lathrop out of--
- Out of 28,000 slugs. Yes.
- How did you know? - A private investigator
has to keep a jump ahead of the cops.
Then the police don't know about
our telephone conversation?
You don't have to worry
about your fatheryet.
Say, do you know where
this J ulian Davis lives?
- Yes. The Central Park Manor.
- Hey, bud--
Well, here's where I get out.
Oh, uh, by the way...
I advise ya not to go back
to the hotel.
Your father'll be home
by the time you get there.
- Good-bye, Mr. Shayne.
- Uh-- Uh, one more thing.
You and your father better get
your stories straight...
before the police start asking
any more questions.
Bye-bye.
[ Buzzes ]
- Hello.
- Ah, so.
- How are you today?
- Fine. Thanks. Mr. Davis in?
Mr. Davis? He got company
on the inside.
- Would you coming in, please?
- Yeah, thanks.
- What name I am giving, please?
- Mr. Shayne.
Ah, so. Just one moment
please, "Mr. Slayne."
Okay, "Also."
- No, not "Also." Fugumoto.
- [ Whispering ] Fugumoto.
- If this gets out, you know what'll happen.
- [Knocking]
What is it?
Pleasing to telling you,
a "Mr. Slayne" to see you, sir.
I don't know any Mr. Slayne.
It might be well worth your while...
to know a Mr. Slayne-- Shayne, I mean.
Without too much ado, to what do we owe
this rude intrusion?
I'm a private investigator.
Reasonable rate, service guaranteed.
And what prompts you to feel
that we need such a service?
It's all very simple. You were a principal
in the cast of Sweethearts in Paris.
You chiseled Lou Lathrop
out of 28 grand.
Lou Lathrop is dead,
as you already know...
andyou hadplenty ofreason
to put him away.
My dear fellow, your brash manner
is only exceeded...
by the liberties you take
with the English language.
What makes you think
I've chiseled anybody?
Just save the oratory, Mr. Davis.
You're gonna need it.
- I'm turning you over to Inspector Pierson!
- Just a moment.
- Who are you?
- I am Mrs. Lathrop.
Well, this is better
than I expected.
I didn't know
that Lathrop had a wife.
When did you see
your husband last?
I don't know what your game is, but Lou
and I have been separated for three years.
- Mr. Davis happens to be a friend of mine.
- Never mind the embroidery.
When did you see
your husband last?
- I haven't seen him for six months.
- Mm-hmm.
The police'll be glad to know that you were
in your husband's apartment last night.
What makes you think so?
This is your cigarette,
isn't it? Kama?
It was found
in Lathrop's apartment.
Incredible deduction,
Mr. Shayne...
except Mrs. Lathrop happens
to be only one of thousands...
who prefer a better class
of cigarette...
so I can't see what that proves.
It doesn't prove anything to me,
but the police might think differently.
What they think doesn't interest me.
It's what they can prove.
Well, if they ever saw this,
they could prove plenty.
No, no.
Now, I'm in a position
to help you--
- Perhaps you are.
- But only ifyou tell the truth.
- Now, what about this?
- An unfortunate circumstance.
Mr. Lathrop gave me $28,000 in securities
to trade for some steel.
However, I saw a chance to make a handsomer
profiit in the Hercules Rubber Company.
Oh, yes. That's the company
that folded...
when they pulled the president
off the boat to South America.
As Shakespeare said, "Who knows on whom
their fortune would have smiled?"
You better learn a fast tap routine to that
before you try it on a jury.
Believe me, Mr. Shayne,Julian had
nothing to do with the murder.
No, I guess you got something there.
It was too clever a job.
But it wouldn't look so hot for the gentleman
on my right if they were to fiind this receipt.
Maybe you'd like to sell that,
Mr. Shayne.
Oh, no.
That would be unethical.
Perhaps you could help us
in some otherway.
Well, now we're gettin' somewhere.
Do I understand that you want to hire me?
- Put it anywayyou like.
- All right. We'll put it this way.
You are retaining me on behalf of Mr. Davis
to pick up the murderer.
That's satisfactory.
I'll give you, uh, a hundred dollars
on account.
Well, ifyou think I'm gonna say,
"On account ofwhat," you're crazy.
There'll be 400 more
when the case is cleaned up.
Oh, no, no.
I turned in my Boy Scout badge 15 years ago.
This is the way I make my living.
- I gotta pay for this suit. Make it 900.
- That's a lot of money.
You can afford it, baby. Nine hundred,
or I don't take the case.
Oh, verywell.
And one thing more.
I'm turning up the murderer
no matterwho. All right.
Well, now that we're
gettin' so clubby...
suppose you tell me whatyou were doing
up there last night.
When Julian told me
it was necessary...
to reimburse my husband for the money
he'd lost or go to jail...
- I decided to see Lou in order to verify the fact.
- Mmm. Checkin'up, huh?
Well, Julian's often a little careless
about business details.
Mmm. I can understand that.
What happened?
I offered to buy the receipt.
Lou refused to listen to reason,
so I-- I left.
- That's everything you know, hmm?
- Everything.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, Mrs. Lathrop...
do you always use
this kind oflipstick?
Why, yes.
They make some now
that don't come off on glasses.
Well, you'll be hearing from me.
[UpbeatJazz]
[UpbeatJazz]
- Hello, Otto.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
Say, Otto, maybe you can be
of some help to me.
You know, I haven't had a case in a long
while, and I'm gonna get married.
Sure, Mr. Shayne. What is it?
There was a wine glass in front of one of
those unused places up on Lathrop's table.
Now, if I could be sure that a woman used
that glass, it would be a swell clue.
Well, how could--
Yes! I remember now.
That woman I saw alone with Mr. Lathrop
might have been drinking.
- What makes you say that?
- I saw Mr. Lathrop pouring wine for her.
Oh, that's fiine, Otto.
That's a lot ofhelp.
- Anytime foryou, Mr. Shayne.
- Have a cigar.
- [ Chuckles ]
- Don't bother to smell it.
- It's good. I know. I didn't buy it.
- [ Chuckles ]
Thankyou.
[ Continues ]
- Hello, Bill.
- Hello, Mike.
You're a little offyour beat, aren't you?
What are you doin' here?
I'm watching the theater entrance
to Lathrop's apartment.
- Hey, why don't you lookwhere--
Oh, hello, Mike. - Hello, kid.
- When's the wedding?
- We got the partywrapped up in cellophane.
You're gettin' an old shoe,
and my foot's gonna be in it.
Just keep your shirts off, girls. By the
time that curtain rings down tonight...
Joanne and I'll be tied
tighterthan a snare drum.
- See you tonight.
- Yes.
- Better grab him before he gets away.
- Oh, hello, honey.
- Well, what happened? And make it good.
- Now, take it easy, baby.
- This Lathrop case'll set us up pretty.
- When are we gonna get hitched?
- We're collectin' coupons.
- When are we gonna get married? That's all I want to know.
Look, I'll meet you
at your room at 6:00.
Go down and choke yourself
with a silver fox. 6:00.
Come on. What's the matter?
They've played three introductions.
I'll see you after the matinee, and be there.
I don't want any more ribbing from the girls.
- Stop worrying. I'll be there.
- Come on,Joanne. Get on there.
Please, Mike,
don't fiight on my time.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Joanne Singing]
[Singing Continues ]
Yeah.
[ Laughing ]
Yeah.
Yeah.
[Singing Ends ]
[ Laughing ]
[ Laughing ]
You boys can sure lay it down.
Say, tell me, do you act too?
- Yes, sir, we sure does.
- All right then.
I'm gonna give you an audition, and if I like
your performance, I'll give ya fiive bucks apiece.
- Five bucks?
- Mm-hmm.
- Mister, lead us to it.
- Okay. Come on.
[ Continues ]
- [ Continues, Faint ]
- Right this way. Come on.
Hey, this leads to Mr. Lathrop's
apartment, don't it?
- Yeah, why?
- Mm-mmm. Not me.
He and this dizzy Vance
was murdered here last night.
No kidding. Is that so?
Go on.
- But, boss, listen--
- Shh. Take it easy.
Couple of cops out in front
ofthe apartment.
Hey, Rusty, I want you to get me
one of those rifles off the wall.
Uh, the bodies ain't
in there, is they?
No, they've been sent
down to the morgue. Go on.
- You aren't nervous, are you?
- No, sir.
But every time I take a step,
one knee says to the other...
"Get out of my way
and let me pass."
[Door Closes ]
Mr. Shayne,
is this thing loaded?
No, Lathrop only used 'em
for decorations.
Well, I don't want
to be decorated.
Hey, Rusty, give it here.
Now, pull the curtains
on the windows...
and light the candles
on that table.
- What for, boss?
- That's to get you in the mood for acting.
Shh.
- Well, what we gonna act, boss?
- A little murder scene.
- What murder scene?
- Shh.
The murder that was
committed here last night.
- Huh?
- Mm-hmm.
You wanted to act,
didn't ya?
I would have to open
my big mouth.
I just thought of something
I have to do down the stairs.
Wait a minute. Come here.
You're not scared too, are you?
I ain't exactly scared,
but my underwear's creepin' up on me.
Come on.
Sit down there, Sam.
Hey, Rusty, see that wand over in that case?
Bring it here, will ya?
Oh, that's a good boy. Now, Rusty,
you sit down there and rest your eyes, hmm?
Relax, will ya?
You ought to feel happy.
This is the easiest fiive bucks
you ever picked up.
Elucidate me, will ya, boss?
What am I sittin' here for?
- Lathrop was shot in that chair.
- Hmm?
Now, Lathrop's dead.
He can't hurt ya.
I can feel it.
His ghost is still in here.
- You don't believe in ghosts, do you?
- Yes, sir, I do.
Oh, you're crazy. Science has proven
there's no such thing.
The regeneration oflife in this world
has been entirely discredited.
I still do.
- Look at that candle. You see anything?
- Yes, sir.
- What?
- A candle.
No, no, no. I mean, do you see
anything odd about it?
- No, sir.
- Okay.
Now, lean forwarda little.
Just a little bit more.
- Now do you see anything?
- No, sir.
Oh, that's swell.
- I just want to make sure you couldn't
see the gun. - Gun? What gun?
- The gun that's pointin' at your head.
- Wow!
Aw, take it easy.
Now, I'm gonna show you boys...
how one person can kill two birds
simultaneously.
- You ain't gonna kill me for fiive bucks,
is ya? - No.
Look. Now, the murderer stood here
with a revolver in his right hand...
and with his left, he fiired the rifle
by pulling this wand.
It's verysimple, isn't it?
Now, are there any more questions
you boys would like to ask?
When can I get out of here?
That's all for the matinee.
You can go right now.
Hey, hey! Wait a minute.
You forgot your fiive bucks.
You'll never get rich that way.
Boss, right now I could
make myself a fortune...
hiring myself out as a vibrator.
[ Laughing ] There you are.
[Piano ]
- Hello, Max.
- Oh, it's you, Shayne.
Mm-hmm.
Say, that's the hit tune from Lathrop's show
you were playing, isn't it?
Yeah, I wrote it. In four-four time,
it would make a nice dirge for his funeral.
- What's on your mind, Shayne?
- Oh, nothing.
- I just thought I'd drop in, toss the gab
with ya. - Oh.
What's this?
You doin' your own housework now?
Oh, I use that to dust off guys like you.
Hey, that's pretty good.
I didn't know
you were a magician too.
[ Chuckles ]
A guy's gotta eat.
I pick up a few extra bucks with these
gadgets at benefiits and smokers.
You don't need these gadgets
to pick up a couple of bucks.
- Meaning the murder, Shayne?
- Mm-hmm.
Sure. I'll talk
ifthere's anything in it.
Last night, about 1:00, I heard a shot
in Lathrop's apartment.
A shot? Two people
were killed up there.
These ears haven't
gone back on me yet.
My room's right under
Lathrop's kitchen.
What you really heard were two shots
fiired simultaneously.
Might've been at that.
You're smart, Shayne.
Now, now.
Don't spread it around.
Uh, you knew Lathrop
quite well, didn't you?
Sure. I directed music for a couple
ofhis shows years ago.
- Did you evervisit his apartment?
- Certainly not.
He never asked me.
Then how did you know your room
was right under his kitchen?
[ Laughs ] Oh, that. My nose hasn't
gone back on me either.
Yeah.
You know anything about Carlo Ralph?
Say, there's a guywith a real motive
for a double murder.
What makes you say that?
He was once married
to Desiree Vance.
Theywere a popularvaudeville team
before the war.
- Yeah, go on. Go on.
- Well, bighearted Lathrop went sweet on Desiree...
and signed them up
for Sweethearts ofParis.
He broke up the team,
made Desiree a leading lady...
and gave Carlo a walk-on
as Beppo the dog.
It wound up in Desiree leaving Carlo.
When we got in the war,
he went overseas.
Yeah. Yeah, you know, that's-- that's
just about the way that I fiigured it out.
Well, I guess Carlo Ralph
is our man, huh?
- You never miss.
- Well, it's a gift. [ Laughs ]
There's only one hitch,
smart guy.
What's that?
Carlo Ralph was killed
in Chateau-Thierry, 1918.
I was in his company.
That's gonna cost you
just two bucks!
It was worth it.
[ Vehicles Honking]
- Yes? - Hello. I'd like to take a look
at Desiree Vance's room.
- Who are you?
- I'm a police offiicer.
- Well, how am I--
- I nspector Pierson sent me down. It's all right.
I declare. You can't tell nowadays when
a policeman is and when he ain't a policeman.
- When I was a girl, theyweren't ashamed to wear uniforms.
- That's what the chief says.
- [Woman ] Mr. Pierson's the chief, ain't he?
- [Shayne ] Yeah.
Ofcourse, we guys do all the work.
He's strictly a deskman.
Of course, ifyou have his brai ns,
you can do it that way.
- Hello, Inspector. How ya--
- Hello.
- Where you been all day, Shayne?
- On a West I ndian cruise.
- What've you been doin'?
- Oh, I was talking to-- Who wants to know?
- Hey, what's that?
- I don't know. I found it in that trunk. It's locked.
[ Rattling ]
[ Ticking ]
- Say, Inspector.
- What?
Did anybody know
you were coming here?
- Yeah. Why? - A guy that would kill
two people would stop at nothing.
- Listen.
- [Ticking]
- A time bomb!
- That's what I thought!
Throw it out the window!
No, put it in the bathtub!
- Here. I'll put it in the street!
- Hey, come here, will ya?
- Hey! Do you want to make a buck?
- Sure.
- Know where the Hotel du Nord is?
- Yeah, right over--
All right. Get this
to Miss Joanne La Marr.
- Got that? Joanne La Marr. There's
your buck. Beat it! - Okay.
- What'd you do with it?
- I doused it in the sewer there.
[ Exhales ] Good.
Mike, you saved my life.
Oh, think nothing of it, I nspector.
I guess somebody thought
you knew too much, huh?
- Yeah, Davis.
- Davis?
Sure. Mike, I'm gonna
let you in on something.
We checked and found out
he embezzled Lathrop out of 28 grand.
- There's our motive.
- [ Exhales ] That so?
- Yeah. - Well, I guess I won't be
needing this anymore.
Huh?
[ Grunts ]
Hey! Central Park Manor,
and step on it.
[ Buzzing ]
[Knocking]
- What's the matter? - Never mind what's
the matter. You've got to get out of here.
- Go on. Put your coat on.
- J ust a minute. What is all this?
Now, look. The police found out
about your little deal with Lathrop.
I'm lucky they haven't picked you up
already. I'd be out my 900 bucks.
Go on. Hurry it up.
[Buzzing]
[Rattling]
Good heavens!
What have you done?
That hurt me much more
than it did the inspector.
Do you realize this porcelain vase
dates back to the Ming dynasty?
You'll date back to the countyjail
unless you get out ofhere fast.
- Haven't you any aesthetic value at all?
- Never mind about this.
Did I get ya here quick enough?
Somedayyou're gonna get a ticket
for flyin' too low over Broadway.
- Hey, Sam, you got the keys to the prop room?
- Yes, sir.
- Well, come on.
- J ust a minute!
- I doesn't have to understudy no more corpses, does I?
- No, come on.
Yes, this ought to do very nicely.
Sam, I want to hide this guy here.
Now, you keep your trap closed
and your eyes open...
- and take care of his chow.
- Yes, sir.
Sit down. Make yourself
away from home.
There's a comfortable seat.
Well, what is that
strange contraption?
That, Hamlet, is an electric chair.
Might as well get used to it.
Be seeing you.
Oh!
Sam, let's put that key
where I can get it quick, hmm?
- I'll put it right here, boss.
- Yeah.
Phew. That was
a narrow escape, boss.
Yeah, it wasn't termites either.
Come on.
Let's get out ofhere.
- [ Sighs ]
- [Knocking]
- Hello, baby!
- 7:00. Where's the preacher?
Oh, never mind about that now.
Where's that box I sent you?
- If that's your idea of a gag--
- Now, what did you do with it?
There wasn't anything in it but some
pictures and a silly old love letter.
- A love letter? How'd you get that box open?
- With a hairpin.
- Well, where's the letter?
- I tore it up.
- You-- You what?
- Well, I don't know any Carlo Ralph.
Ooh! The stork that brought you should've
been arrested for peddling dope.
Will you tell me
what's so important?
This might be the key
to everything!
Sure, sure. Everything's important
to you but our marriage.
What'll the girls think?
At least Gus never humiliated me!
Gus. Gus. I thought you promised never
to remind me ofthat palooka again.
- Well, Gus was dependable.
- Here.
Here. Listen to this.
"Desiree darling, I know you'll be
surprised to hear from me.
"The terrible ordeal of 10 months
in a German prison camp is fiinally over...
but it has left its mark."
You have worked on fiive murder cases,
and how many have you solved? None!
"I am trying to get
an act together...
"as I have the promise
of a booking in Berlin.
"I live onlyin the hope...
"that you'll join me here,
that we may forget the past...
"and start life together anew.
"Your loving husband...
Carlo."
- Hey. Can ya tie that?
- What?
This letter is postmarked
Munich, Germany, 1920.
Then Carlo Ralph wasn't killed
at Chateau-Thierry.
I'm through.
I've had enough!
I've waitedand waitedand waited,
and what happens? Nothing.
I wouldn't even expectyou to show up
atyour own funeral!
Honey, I gotta run downstai rs
for a m i nute.
- But, Mike!
- I 'll-- I 'll be right back.
- That's what you think!
- Hmm?
Hey, Joannie.
Joanne!
Aw, come on. Be sensible.
I'm doing this for the both of us.
[ Groans ]
- Hello, Inspector.
- Oh, hello.
Say! Don't tell me they're makin' keyholes
big enough to get your fiist through.
I got this from Davis,
but he'll pay plenty.
I caught up with him in his apartment, and
he let me have it when my backwas turned.
- Tsk, tsk, tsk.
- He and his gang!
- You don't mean he got away?
- I should say not.
I just got an anonymous phone call
that he's hiding in the theater here.
Al and the boys will be along in a minute,
and we'll pick him up.
[Siren Wailing]
Here they are now.
- Hey!
- [Tires Squealing]
- What's the matter? You goin' blind?
- Well, Inspector, I--
Shut up! Sergeant, take a couple of men.
Go around the back. Al and I'll go in the front.
Keep your big eyes open,
will ya?
[ Whispering ]
Hey, Davis.
Davis!
Holy smoke!
- [ Gasps, Shouts ]
- Oh, don't--
- What?
- scare me like that, will ya?
- Come on. Get out ofhere. The police are afteryou.
- Police?
Get back.
Get back in there.
Frank, you look around in here,
and we'll search the dressing rooms.
Yes, sir.
[ Inhales ]
[ Exhales ]
[Sneezes ]
Stop!
Sergeant!
- [Rattling]
- Open this door!
- What happened? - Two men just
ran out of here and locked me in.
They must've gone that way.
Inspector!
I nspector! There he is.
[ Grunting ]
- Stop, or I'll shoot!
- [ Gunshot ]
Hey, chief, are you all right?
[ Thudding, Clattering]
Are you all right, chief?
[ Whispering ]
Come on.
Come on. Hurry it up.
Hamlet, we're in a jam,
and it may be raspberries.
I gotta keep you away from the law
if I want to collect from your girlfriend.
Really, Mr. Shayne, this whole thing's
getting on my nerves.
Look, after I catch the murderer,
you can have a nervous breakdown ifyou like.
- Hmm.
- Now, keep quiet.
Might as well sit down,
ease your mind.
Looks like we're stuck for a while until I
fiigure some way of getting you out ofhere.
- Do you play honeymoon bridge?
- [ Laughs ]
Do I play honeymoon bridge? I shall never forget
the time we were stranded in Chillicothe.
We were playing Romeo andJuliet
at the time...
and the scenerywent to Cleveland
by mistake.
It looks like the police
checked this room already.
By the way, ifyou want to leave here,
I have a suggestion to make.
- Yeah?
- There's anotherway out.
You mean to say there's another entrance
to this homicide parlor?
Ifyou knew Lou as well as I did,
you wouldn't question it.
Lou always insisted on taking
a fatherly interest in his leading lady.
So, to facilitate matters, he arranged
to occupy the suite immediately below.
Well, for the love of Michael Shayne.
Come on.
- Why, she-- she looks like, um--
- Lynne Evans?
- Yes.
- That's who it is.
But how could she--
Is she dead?
Yep.
"To whoever fiinds me,
I killed Lou Lathrop and Desiree Vance.
"Lou was my fiirst sweetheart,
and she came between us.
"I have never forgotten
or forgiven either of them.
"Last night was too much for me.
I couldn't stand it.
I killed 'em.
Lynne Evans."
Why, this ends our case, Mr. Shayne.
I can go home now.
Oh, no, no. You're gonna stay
right here with me.
- Why?
- She didn't commit suicide.
- What do you mean?
- Come on. I'll explain it to you later.
Hey,Joanne.
Joannie?
She's gone again.
You can never trust these dames.
Hello. Hello. Give me the backstage
ofthe Athena Theatre.
Life is full of strange adventures.
Here I fiind myself
in a girl's room--
a beautiful girl
whom I've never even met.
Just take it easy, Hamlet. She'll be
a blustering bride before midnight.
- Is that so? - When she comes back,
tell her to wait here for me, will you?
- Oh, hello, Otto? This is Mike Shayne.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
There's one more thing
I want you to do for me.
Can you meet me
in Lathrop's apartment?
Why, yes, Mr. Shayne.
But I can't get away from here until 9:00,
when the relief man comes on.
That's all right. That's fiine.Just a little
more help, and I thinkwe got this solved.
- I'll meetyou there at 9:00.
- I'll be there.
You wait here until
I pick up the murderer.
You've got plenty oftime
for that nervous breakdown now.
[Door Closes ]
- [Knocks ]
- Come in.
- Hello, Max.
- Oh, it's you again.
Mm-hmm.
Have you turned up
the Lathrop killeryet, Shayne?
Max, you lied to me about Carlo Ralph
being killed in the war.
Why, Mike, I wouldn't lie
to a smart guy like you.
Listen, you know plenty.
Well, I'm crackin' this case pretty quick...
and I'm gettin' the last bit of evidence
in Lathrop's apartment at 9:00 tonight.
Well, have a good night's sleep.
Hello, Shayne. We got
a little date downtown.
- Wait. I got this whole thing sewed up.
- Let's go.
- The inspector gave me his personal okay.
- Yeah, yeah.
He's gonna be awfully sore
when he hears that you--
Thought you were pretty smart,
eh, Shayne?
You knew I wanted Davis for murder,
and you helped him get away.
I'm gonna send you up
for a nice, long stretch.
You almost sent me up for good when
you took that potshot at me in the theater.
What potshot?
I didn't fiire my gun.
Somebody did.
The bullet almost parted my hair.
- Did you fiire at him, Al?
- Not me. I heard a shot, but I thought it was you.
Wait a minute.
If neither one ofyou fiired...
doesn't that prove that the murderer
was in the theater?
It couldn't have been Davis.
He was right by my side the whole time.
- Oh, wait a minute.
- It's simple arithmetic, Inspector.
Whoever the real murderer is,
he's trying to pin it onto Davis.
That half-burned receipt was a plant,
and a clumsy one at that.
And who do you think called you up
and told you Davis was down at the theater?
- Search me.
- It was the killer, of course.
Here's another one
foryour scrapbook.
You can pick up the body
of the third victim at Room 516.
- What? - Emily, the maid at the hotel,
was murdered.
This is the screwiest case
I've ever had.
Lock him up, Al,
before I'm murdered.
Wait a minute. Inspector,
I'll make you a proposition.
- Nothing doing. No.
- Listen to me.
I think that I've made a date
with the killer...
at Lathrop's apartment
at 9:00 p.m.
Shayne, you've played
your last trick on me.
I got nothin' up my sleeve.
If I'm wrong, I'll turn Davis over to you
in a pair of ruby-studded handcuffs.
- Is that fair enough?
- I don't know.
Why, you'll hog
all the front pages.
"Inspector Pierson of the Homicide
picks up triple killer in 24 hours."
Now, you wouldn't object
to that, would ya?
Frankly, no.
That'd suit me fiine.
- But you never deliver.
- I will this time!
Here's all you gotta do.
You get up to Lathrop's apartment
before 9:00...
plant yourself in the study,
behind those glass doors--
- And where are you goin'?
- Oh, stop worryin'.
- I'll be there.
- Oh, no, you don't.
All right. Then have Al
stickwith me, okay?
And when you get up there,
keep your gun ready.
When you hear me mention the time 12:00,
that's your signal.
What do you mean, 12:00?
When I say "12:00,"
you step out and nail him.
- Okay.
- Attaboy.
But you better be right!
Al, call the coroner and have him
meet me at the du Nord.
Oh, one more thing. Uh--
You'd better take the cop
off the theater entrance.
I got a hunch the murderer
may be comin' up that way.
All right.
But if I get conked
in the eye again, look out!
[ Mutters ]
[ Clock Chiming]
Say, ain't this the room
the maid was murdered in?
That's right.
- Hey--
- Shh.
- Where you goin'?
- Up to Lathrop's apartment to meet the killer.
It's open house
ifyou want to come along.
No, I better stay down here
and watch.
[Door Closes ]
Get back, I nspector.
I can see your shadow.
- Hello, Mr. Shayne.
- Hello, Otto.
Not too loud, huh?
Come on. Sit down.
I am sorry I couldn't get here sooner,
Mr. Shayne.
Oh, that's all right.
- It's nice ofyou to help me out.
- Oh-- [ Chuckles ]
You know, Otto, I think
I've almost got this fiigured out.
Just one link
in the chain missing.
If I could get that--
[ Clicks Tongue ]
How can I helpyou?
You must've read in the papers
that Lathrop was killed with a rifle...
and the Vance dame
with a revolver.
Now, I can understand
why they didn't see the rifle.
But what beats me is
why they didn't scream...
orjump up or do something when
the killer pulled a revolver on them.
Well, whywouldn't they
see the rifle, Mr. Shayne?
Because the murderer had clamped it
to that sill over there.
The end ofthe barrel was hidden
under that candlestick.
Whew!
How do you know that?
When the rifle went off,
it left a burn.
The murderer tried to make believe
it was done by a cigarette.
What?
The killer tried to make it appear
it was from a cigarette.
But no cigarette ever made
a burn like that.
Huh! [ Laughs ]
That's wonderful, Mr. Shayne.
- Well, that's what I get paid for.
- [ Laughs ]
Now, the murderer stood here,
and he fiired the rifle...
by rigging the trigger
to this wand...
with magician's thread.
Oh!
- That's very clever.
- Isn't it?
- Yeah. Let me see it.
- Sure.
Hmm.
- Do you know any magic tricks, Otto?
- Huh?
- Do you know any magic tricks?
- No, I don't...
but I've seen them
do it in theaters.
Hmm.
Maybe it was done like that.
Say, that's pretty good.
I think maybe you've hit it.
I'm going to kill you,
Mr. Shayne.
Why, Otto?
Why should you kill me?
You know too many things.
I know that you're
Carlo Ralph--
Yeah. Beppo the dog.
and that you killed Lathrop,
Desiree Vance and Lynne Evans.
You are the only one
who'll ever know that, Mr. Shayne.
Now, don't get excited, Otto.
After all, you probably thought you had
plenty of reasons for doing what you did.
I don't get excited.
I had the feeling
you were too smart...
when you asked me
about that wine glass.
Yes, that's right, Otto.
You were a big help there.
That's the fiirst time I got
suspicious of you-- when you lied to me.
Mrs. Lathrop didn't drink
out ofthat glass.
There wasn't any lipstick on it.
It was you who drank from it.
Yes.
I came up here last night
for sentimental reasons.
I came up here last night
for sentimental reasons.
I put on the dog head...
and waited until Lathrop and Desiree
were the only ones left.
[ Chuckles ] Lathrop was panicky
when he recognized me.
But after I convinced him
I meant no harm...
he poured me a glass ofwine...
and asked me to sit down.
I showed him some of the tricks...
I did in the show.
Well, how come that Lathrop
didn't recognize you before?
He knew me as I was in 1916.
But a year ofwar and a German prison camp
can change any man.
I passed him in the street one day...
- but he didn't recognize me.
- Oh, so that's it.
I decided...
Lathrop should die
in the same place...
he closed my life
26 years back...
when he stole mywife.
So, about six months ago...
I got this job.
Yeah, but why did you kill
Lynne Evans?
I came back...
to destroy the wine glass
you asked me about.
There were police all over...
so I had to sneak
through the room downstairs.
Emily saw me,
so I caught her...
and-- and choked her.
After her head fell back...
and her glassy eyes stared at me...
I realized what I had done.
I lit some candles and--
and said a prayer.
I don't think I got to say
any prayers overyou.
Now, take it easy, Otto.
You've been awfully smart
about this up till now.
Why do you wanna spoil it all?
Look, I can promise to have it fiixed
so you can be on a boat to South America.
It's nice down there.
The boat leaves at 12:00.
[ Otto ] I'm not going
to take anytrip.
Onlyyou.
The boat leaves at 12:00.
You can start life all over again.
- I've got the money here with me.
- Keep your hands on the table!
[Shayne ]
Now, don't be a fool, Otto.
I promiseyou, I'll haveyou
on that boat before 12:00.
No. No.
I don't trust nobody.
I used to trust everybody.
I 'm going to kill you,
Mr. Shayne...
and then there's only one more
to put out ofthe way.
[ Shayne ] Who's that?
[ Gunshot ]
- Grab that guy!
- J ust a minute.
Hey, chief!. Chief!.
Hey, what's goin' on here?
- Allaron!
- This lug knocked me out!
Do you mean to say that he's the guy
that was standing behind those doors?
- Yeah!
- Oh, so that's why--
[ Whistles ] Well, is my face
a nasty color of pink.
And is my head sore.
All right, now.
Take it easy, pop. Look...
is that the one more guy
you wanted to put away?
Yes. He heard the shot last night...
and rushed up here as I was putting
the rifle back on the wall.
- He's crazy. You can't believe anything he says.
- Shut up!
He made me pay all the money
I had to keep quiet.
I knew if I didn't get him, he'd--
he'd make me pay him
for the rest of my life.
Well, what a dummy I was.
I practically gave you an invitation
to come up here and kill me.
You knew you'd get 20 years
if Otto ever talked.
- Suppression of evidence.
- That's right!
And you saw a chance
to do awaywith the both of us.
Why, I nspector, you saved my life.
Think nothing of it. I don't.
Put the cuffs on this guy
and take 'em both to headquarters.
Holy smoke! Say, I nspector,
what time is it?
- Ten after 9:00. Why?
- Come on! We gotta get goin'!
What's the matter?
Is there more work on this case?
You don't know it, but you're gonna be
best man at mywedding.
More murder.
[ Gasps ]
- Tryin' to sneak up on me again, huh?
- Hey, wait.
Calm down, will you, Inspector? I just
cleared Davis. What are you doing here?
Your girlfriend came back and threw me out.
I've been waiting foryou.
You can just run home to that sweet patootie
ofyours and tell her to get 900 bucks ready.
I'll be up for it in an hour.
Come on, chief.
- Mr. Shayne, wait a minute.
- Yeah?
Who killed Lathrop?
- Santa Claus ran over him with his sleigh.
- [ Laughs ]
That's funny.
It's four months to Christmas.
- Hey, Mike?
- Yeah.
Are you sure
you wanna get married?
Of course I am.
Oh, now, Inspector, be frank.
Haven't you ever felt the urge
to hold some sweet little sugar...
that belongs to you
close in your arms?
Yeah, lots of times. When I feel that way,
I just run around the block.
Oh, you'd fiind rust
on the pearly gates.
Here we are--
the gate to heaven.
Looks like you ain't got
the only key to this gate.
And what are you doin' here?
- Are you Mr. Shayne?
- Yes. Why?
I got a singing telegram foryou
from Miss Joanne La Marr.
- Oh, what does she--
- [ One Note ]
I'm tired of all this fiight and fuss,
so I took it on the lam with Gus
- Good-bye, forever
- Gus.
- [ Together] Good-bye, forever, good-bye
- Bye
- Good-bye
- Bye
[ Together ]
Good-bye
Good-bye