"You going across the bridge?" "Are you going across the bridge?" " Yes." " Good." "It's green." "Turn right." " First time?" " What?" " Across the bridge." " Yes." "Welcome to the Golden Gate." "Total length, one and seven-tenths miles." "Height of the tower, 846 feet, with a vehicular capacity of 283,000 per 24-hour day." "Total cost, $35 million." " How do you know all that?" " I used to work a bus." " UPAC." "Unified what?" "Postmen?" " No, pharmaceuticals." " The AC stands for" " Annual convention." "It shows, huh?" "Pharmaceutics." "What's that?" "Drugs and stuff like that?" " Yes." " And you're a salesman." " Twenty years with the same firm." " Twenty years?" "You've been doing that all my life?" "What a drag." "Mind?" " L.A." " Yes." "How could you--?" "And I'll bet you've been married to the same woman all your life." "That's right." "Twenty-two years." " Two kids, a boy and a girl." " No, just one, a girl." "She's a lot like you, actually." "Karen." " You look, I'll steer." " All right." "The architect and chief engineer was Joseph B. Strauss, a specialist in long-span bridges and a poet." "You know, there's something funky about a houseboat, don't you think?" " Funky?" " You know, real." "Coming?" "Here." "Well?" "I don't think I'd better." "I do have a noon meeting that I should" "Oh, it's up to you." "Come on up." "There's nothing happening down there." "Tell me, what sort of knitting do you call this?" "Macramé." "I do it." "And the pottery?" "A friend." "I'm Lita." "And you?" "Garver." "Tom Garver." "Mr. Tom Garver." "Do you smoke grass?" "Oh, I guess not." "Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" "Match?" "Never mind." "We're tripping anyway, aren't we, Mr. Garver?" "What is this?" "What are you doing?" "Something you've always wanted to do, right?" "You just wouldn't do it on your own turf, with your wife and daughter somewhere around the corner." "Lita, please stop." "But you want to know what it's like, don't you?" " That's why you picked me up." " I didn't pick" "Now you tell me you're just not like all the rest." "You tell your daughter you should do one thing and then you do another." "You know what'd be funny?" "If right now, your daughter was with some other old man." "And I do mean old, Mr. Tom Garver." "You should see yourself with that trust-me smile." "That raunchy little mind of yours." "You're a hypocrite." "Yes, you're a hypocrite." "A hypocrite." "Can you hear me?" "A hypocrite!" "A hypocrite!" "Lita?" "Brett?" " Who did it?" " My head." "Who was it this time?" "I'm bleeding." " What was his name?" " Oh, I don't know." "Garver or something." "Hey, Brett, would you get me a towel or something?" "Garver." " What was his first name?" " I'm bleeding!" "What was it?" "!" "Tom." "Tom!" "Now would you get me something for my head?" "Tom Garver." "Brett, please." "You got another tea besides oolong or ja--?" "No, Mike, come on." "I just checked out." "So did someone in Marin County." "We got a 904." "They need assistance." "What did you tell her?" "I told her your wife and kids were getting tired waiting for the wonton." "Mike." "Hey, Mike." "Lieutenant Stone?" " Mr. Wade?" " Right." " Inspector Keller." " Hi." " What have we got?" " The coroner's inside now." "A witness says he thinks the suspect headed for Golden Gate." " That's your jurisdiction." " Who's the witness?" "Name's Wilson, Brett Wilson." "Lives here." " Is he the guy that found the body?" " Yeah." "Pretty shook up by it too." "Living together quite a while." "Anyway, could be a waltz." "He says he saw the killer." "Yeah, well, maybe we'd better see him." "Doctor, Lieutenant Stone and Inspector Keller." " San Francisco Homicide." " How do you do?" "Two blows." "One at the back of the head." "Another by the right temple." "I'll need an autopsy to establish precise cause of death." " This how the body was found?" " Nothing's been moved." "Somebody had a little party." " This the weapon?" " Looks like." "Mr. Wilson, the sergeant said you were the one that found her." "That's right." " Is that L-I-T-A?" " Yeah." "Lita Brewer." " How long did you know her?" " A year, maybe." "I met her in the city." "Like, she needed a roof, you know?" "She was a nice chick." "We grooved together for a while." "But, wow, man." "Like, I don't know." "Like, maybe I'm responsible." "I don't understand." "What do you mean?" "There's a lot of chicks in the city." "I just didn't have all that much time to give to her." "You know how it is." "And I guess she needed somebody to just groove with her and nobody else." "Maybe she went out and met some kind of a weirdo because I wasn't around." "You said you met her in the city." "Is she from the Bay Area?" "Idaho." "Somewhere around-- What is it, Pocatello?" " This yours?" " No." "I never saw it before." "Maybe it was his, huh?" "You know, the guy who..." "Oh, man." "You said you saw him run to the car." "What kind of car did he have?" "A convertible." "New, dark blue, maybe black." "Did you happen to see his licence number?" "No, but I got a good look at his face." "Like he had a hard time getting his car started, you know?" "And I got his name." " What's that?" " I'm sorry, I forgot." "It's all been such a nightmare." "But Lita told me right before she died." "Never mind all that." "What's the name?" "Garver." "Tom Garver." "Telephone call for Mr. Russell Rankin." "Mr. Russell Rankin, telephone." " Hey, Russ." " Yeah?" " It's for you." "Telephone." " Thank you." "Hello." "Yes, my name is Rankin." "I understand you have a call for me." " Russ?" "Hi." " Hello, Emily." "I've been trying to reach you for about two hours." "I know, honey." "I've been busy." "Listen, this is really a silly thing to bother you with, but the washing machine's leaking again." "The man says it's the boot." "It's gonna cost $32 to fix it." " Now, is that all right?" " What?" "The washing machine." "I know it's a lot, but" "Sweetheart, that's fine." "Don't worry about it." "Well, listen." "I knew it was a dumb reason to call, but" "No, it isn't dumb at all." "I'm glad you called." " I was just thinking about you." " You were?" "You know, it's funny." "The jets make it just 45 minutes from home." "It seems so far." "Emily," "I love you." "I think I better send you away from home more often." "Look, honey, I've got to run along." "The noon conference." " Take care of yourself." "Okay?" " Yes." "I will." "You too." " Bye-bye." " Bye." "As soon as they're all here, we'll start with McGalway's pep talk." "All right, Bud." "Very good." "Hello." "I'm John Collins, secretary of the convention." "I don't think that I've met you gentlemen." "We're looking for a Garver, a Tom Garver." "Oh, yes, certainly." "That's Tom over there." "Not hard to find him in this crowd with those clothes." "Excuse me, are you with the convention?" " No, we're with the city." " Oh, ain't that nice?" "Bud?" "Very good, Bud." " Mr. Garver?" " Yeah." "What can I do for you?" " Can I talk to you for a minute?" " Oh, later, huh?" "No, I have never been to any houseboat in Sausalito." "No, I've never known any girl named Lita." "Mr. Garver, we're as anxious as you are to get this cleared up." "You know, a witness told us that the victim identified you by name before she died." "What am I, the only Tom Garver in the world?" "The only one registered at the Towne House." "So?" "You were at the hotel all morning." "Can you prove that?" "Look, I don't see why I should have to be proving anything." " I thought" " Who were you with?" "I'd rather not say." "Any special reason why?" "Yeah." "It's nobody's business why." "That's why." "Number one, you have the right to remain silent." " Number two, anything you say" " Wait a minute." "Wait a minute, now." "I was with our vice president in charge of sales, Mr. MacElwaite." "I was making a move on another guy's territory." "What?" "You guys have been around." "You know how it is." "It's gonna have to be verified." "Well, isn't there some other way?" "That gentleman with the lieutenant." "You sure?" "Garver's older." "At least 40." "This is your lucky day, Mr. Garver." "I don't usually buy drinks for anyone." " What now, lieutenant?" " Just keep looking." "How tall did you say he was?" "Well, like I said, I couldn't tell." "He was in the car when I saw him." "About 40, huh?" "Over, maybe, like most of these guys." " Can you describe his face?" " How do you describe a man's face?" " Well, you're an artist, aren't you?" " Like, I throw clay, man." "Don't worry, if he's here, I'll know him." "And was found not guilty by Superior Court Judge Harold Lauritzen." "Earlier today in Marin County, the body of young Lita Brewer was discovered aboard a houseboat in the artist colony marina known as the floating city near Sausalito." "San Francisco Homicide detectives are cooperating with Marin County authorities, who gave this report to newsman Cliff" "That's what we came up here to get away from, old buddy." "Terrible things going on in the world today." "It's full of a lot of sick people, you know that?" "Yeah." "What do think keeps us in business?" "I carry a revolver." " You're kidding." " Everywhere I go." " It's in my suitcase right now." " Boom Boom Collins." "You mean to say you can still buy those things?" "Sure, you can, but you have to register them." "Takes three days." "They fingerprint you and everything." "Hey, Russ, you can't leave now." "You're the host." "I just remembered, I've got to check in a car." "You guys go ahead." "I believe the actual count is 267 people in the convention." "They're all from out of town, of course." "Could we have a list of all the names, please?" "Certainly, lieutenant." "It'll take a moment." "We'll wait." "Excuse me, fellas, but I gotta fall by the men's room, okay?" " We'll be right here." " Great." "I picked this car up at the airport, but the starter's bad." "I hope you weren't inconvenienced." "If you'll fill out a new form, please, I'll see what we have." "Hi there." "Mr. Rankin." "Russell L. Rankin." "I don't suppose you'd tell me why you need this list, lieutenant." "No, confidential." "Two hundred and sixty-seven possibilities." "Any one of them could have used Garver's name." "Or any one of the employees here, or anyone sitting in the bar, listening to a name." "Hey, man." "Like, I just remembered." "I've got something on for tonight with a chick." "It's getting late." "Mike?" "Don't get lost." "Okay." "Good." "Well, I mean, you know, like, if it's anything important, like I said, I do wanna help." " No, no." "We understand." "Thank you." " Good." "Now, he doesn't seem to be too broken up over his girl's death, does he?" "Well, that was just one of his girls, remember?" "I mean, he didn't have that much time for her." "Well, like, you know how it is, man." "No, tell me sometime." "Well, right now, we've got 267 names to run through RI and a lot more to learn about Lita Brewer and Brett Wilson." "Come on." " Yes." " Mr. Rankin?" " Who is it?" " Telegram." " Stick it under the door, please." " Sorry, sir." "I need your signature." "Why did you do it, Rankin?" "Was it because she laughed at you when you tried to kiss her, huh?" "Or maybe when you made your move on her?" "And she let you make that move, didn't she?" "It was an accident." "I didn't mean to" "Get up." "Get up and be a man." "You can't do it, can you?" "Please, listen." "You must understand" "First time you saw her, I'll bet you thought," ""Maybe this time, I can make it."" "What happened?" "What happened?" "I see." "Yeah, I know." "I know." "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry." "You must believe that." "Believe it?" "I believe it, man." "Yeah, I believe it." " What are you going to do?" " Nothing, man." "I'm not gonna do anything." "You are." "What do you want?" "Not much." "Say-- a grand?" "A thousand dollars?" "I haven't got it." "You'll get it for me, won't you?" "And you bring it by the houseboat tomorrow." "But how can I raise that kind of money?" "I can't let anyone know." "That's the big problem with secrets, Mr. Rankin." "Somebody always knows." "Oh, yeah." "Oh, yeah." "Thataway, Chicky baby, thataway." "Here we go, and you just keep them coming, yeah?" "All right, now, listen, after a little dinner, maybe you can show me what this town's all about, huh?" " Tom?" " Russ." "Like you to meet an old friend of the family." "Sit down, sit down." "Maybe she's got a sister." "Tom, I'm a little short." "I thought maybe you could help me out." "Me?" "What about your long-time buddies, Russ babe?" "I tried them." "They can't swing it." "Tom, this is very important to me." "Well, I'm sure it must be, Russ, but I'm not very big for favours." " You see, my philosophy is" " I know what your philosophy is, Tom." "That's why I thought maybe you could handle it." "You've had your eye on my territory for a long time." "That's very observant, Russ." "Well, it could be that I'm willing to part with a piece of it." " For what?" " One thousand dollars." " One thousand dollars." "For what?" " Well, let's say 10 percent." "Sorry." "It's worth five times as much." "You know that." "Oh, yeah, I know that, Russ." "But why should I pay for it?" "MacElwaite's gonna give it to me someday soon anyway, and you know that." "Excuse me." "Oh, hi, Russ." "Come on in." "You know, I can't find any X297s." "You wouldn't happen to have some, would you?" "To tell you the truth, Johnny, I don't carry them," "I just take orders." "That's funny." "That's a good one." "Why is it, every time I'm away from home, my throat suffers something awful?" "Well, anyway, enough of that." "What's on your mind?" "In a word, I did come by to put the arm on you." "A financial bind?" "Well, they ought to have a pill for that, too, huh?" "They certainly should, because what I need is $1,000." "To tell you the truth, I'm just about tapped, myself." "But, listen, with your record last year, maybe the VP in charge of sales would help you out." "Stick around." "I'll just be one minute." "Wait for me now." "Oh, listen, don't worry about it, John." "It'll keep." "What was that?" "I say, it will keep." "Don't worry about it, Johnny." "Well." "The people you meet in hotel corridors." " Now say, "Hello, Emily."" " Hello, Emily." "Then you did know her." " Did I say that?" " Yeah." "Yeah, I knew her." "She was a cool chick." "The word I got was that she and her old man Brett were really tight." "Guess I heard wrong, huh?" "Look, she's dead, okay?" "I thought you were a humanitarian, Robert." "Aren't we all diminished by another person's death?" "Okay." "I said I knew Lita." "Nobody knew Lita." "Cool?" "Man, she was cold." "Like dry ice." "You know, touch and get burned." "Now, if she was tight with this guy Wilson, it was one of the best-kept secrets since the Pentagon Papers." "Maybe she's better off." "I know it's a terrible thing to say, but life's not much without" "Well, without someone who can love you." "I guess it's rough being lonely." "If not being loved means being lonely." "Oh, Lita had lots of-- I don't know what you'd call them." "Like walking shadows, maybe." "Brief candles." "Shakespeare, not mine." "What you're saying is that Brett and Lita were not in love." "I suppose there are other things besides sex." "I think Brett finds release in the pottery he makes." "I hope so." " Do you mean--?" " I mean, we all have our problems." "And his are just pretty rough when you look the way he does." " Like don't judge a book...?" " Something like that." "Thank you." "And if I wanna get those photographs enlarged," "I can call you at this number here?" " Thank you." " Goodbye." "Goodbye." "I think I got the short end of the stick." " Where are you parked?" " Up the block." " Let's see." " Forget it." "Oh, come on." "It can't be that serious." "She's got her own darkroom, too, I'll bet." "If I find out, I'll let you know." "Give me that." "What did you get from RI?" "All I can say is United Pharmaceutical has 267 men with A-one backgrounds." " What about Pocatello?" " Two arrests, no convictions." "Let me guess, suspicion of possession." "That's not a guess and you know it." "She a head?" "Yeah, a little grass maybe, not much." "She's not into any hard stuff." "But the big thing that I learned about Lita Brewer is she's not the score we all thought she was." "Oh, she turned on a lot of guys." "But she turned them off better." " You mean a tease?" " Yeah." "She'd meet a guy, pick him up, take him home, get him going and then turn that poor guy right off." "He'd get mad and smack her." "And if you think that's weird, there's something else." " Keep rolling, buddy boy." " Brett Wilson." "Now, he said she couldn't get enough of him, right?" " You mean groovy Brett." " Right, groovy Brett." "Well, it turns out he ain't as equipped as he looks." " You mean there's doubt about that?" " Yeah, according to the grapevine." "You mean that all this he-man stuff, that's just a front for something?" " He's impotent, Mike." " You're kidding." "I'm serious." "I'm telling you, the guy is impotent." " Impotent?" " Yeah, this isn't a medical opinion, but it came from where you always told me to find the truth." "In the streets, I know." "And according to the coroner's report, she had one blow to the back of the head and one to the right temple." "Yeah." "Did you happen to notice which hand Wilson favours?" " No." " Well, maybe we'd better find out." "You know, there's something else." "Somebody still used Garver's name." "Maybe Wilson isn't too anxious for us to find him." "Maybe, or maybe he just doesn't want his problem publicised." "Yeah, we'd better have a little more than maybes." "But we've got something else." "It didn't seem too important before." "We had an eyewitness report and that deathbed identification." " We got the convertible." " The convertible, yeah." "Dark-coloured convertible." "Say, if it was one of our 267 solid citizens behind the wheel, there's only one of two places." "You're right." "The hotel or the airport." "You're driving." "Russ?" "Are you angry with me?" "No, of course not." "Then what is it?" "It's just that I have to go out for a little while, that's all." "No, that's not all." "Do you think I can share your life for over 20 years and not know when something's wrong?" "There's nothing really wrong, Emily." "Is it the sales report?" "I mean, is it because your last-quarter sales were down?" "Well, honey, that wasn't your fault." "I mean, did you tell them that?" "I mean, nobody could have worked any" "I mean, you did everything that..." "Well, they're not going to take your territory away, are they?" "I don't really know, Emily." "Did Tom Garver go to the vice president again?" " Did he go to see MacElwaite?" " Something like that, I think." "I've got to go out now, Emily, but I will be back in an hour." "Well, listen, you tell him that-- Mr. MacElwaite." "You tell him that Garver has been phoning your accounts." "No, I'm serious." "You're too good a man for that." "You let them know what's going on, okay?" "Because you're a great husband and you're a terrific father and you're the world's best salesman." "So you go and tell that to Mr. MacElwaite." " Russ?" " That is no concern of yours." "That's no concern of mine?" "Oh, my God." "Tell me what's going on." " Honey, listen to me." "Honey, honey." " No, no, no." "It's all right." "Come over here, just for a minute." "Come here, please." "Now, listen to me." "How many times--?" "How many times have you and I seen those kids hitchhiking on Sunset Boulevard?" "Youngsters, Karen's age." "Well, I stopped and gave one of them a lift the other day." "She lives on the other side of the bridge in a houseboat and she asked me to drop her off." "We got this information from your airport office." "They told us that a Mr. Russell Rankin checked out a car there and then turned it in here yesterday." "Yes, sir." "He was having some trouble with it." "We gave him another one." " Was the trouble with the starter?" " Yes, sir." "It was the starter." "Thank you." "Someone saw me." "There was a man who knew I was there." "And he came here to the room." "He wanted money not to tell the police." "So that's why I got the pistol, to frighten him." "No, no, listen." "We'll go to the police because it wasn't murder, it was an accident." "But you see, Emily, I can't prove that." "She's dead." "Russ?" "Well, I'd like to see Mr. Rankin, please." "Come in." "I was just trying to call somebody." "I didn't know who, but" "There was this man who saw it, and he came to Russell and he asked him for money." " He came where, ma'am?" " Here, at the hotel." " But where is your husband now?" " I don't know." "He said something about a houseboat, but I don't know." "And you've got to find him because, I mean, he's not that way." " He's not like that at all." " He's not like what?" "He's got a gun." " Stay here." " But please don't hurt him." "I mean, what happened before was an accident." "I mean, he told me that." "He's not a killer!" "Go ahead and shoot." "Maybe you'd be doing me a favour." " Why didn't you go to the police?" " What would it buy?" "One thousand dollars." "Is that the price you put on love?" "Love?" "I'll tell you about her kind of love." "She took everything I had, man, everything that I could possibly give her." "And then she brought them up here, to home, the home that I gave her." "And she did it again and again and again." "And she made sure that I knew about it." "Mr. Rankin?" "I just left your wife, Mr. Rankin." "She told us what happened." "That's him." "That's the guy I saw, the one that said he was Garver." "Mr. Rankin." "Mr. Rankin, we know it was an accident." "Say, you don't handle guns very much, do you?" "That one you've got there is a borrowed gun, isn't it?" "What kind is that one, Mr. Rankin?" "Is it a--?" "Yeah, looks like a.32 calibre." "It's a neat little weapon." "But you know, if you want to show it to someone, that's not the way to do it." "It could go off." " He tried to kill me!" " That's not what I saw." " Did you see?" " No." "Well, we'll hold them both for Wade." "It's his jurisdiction." "Man, now, it's him." "I saw him do it." "How many times did you see him at the hotel?" "All right, turn around." "Put your hands on that table, spread your feet apart." "Mike!" "Wilson." "You stay here." "Steve!" "Get around on the dock!" "Wilson!" "Don't make us drag the bottom later." "Buddy boy." "U.S.P.P.D. I wonder what that one means." "I don't think I want to find out." "What, we got something here?" "Well, I figure, if you can say "a wife with kids" in Chinese, you can say "single with Sunday night off" in English." " Who gave you Sunday night off?" " Come on, Confucius." "Come on."