"Beautiful!" "Okay, turn on the lights." "Pose." "Pose again." "Use the flower." "Pose again." "Okay?" "Just a few more." "Look out this way." "Beautiful!" "Beautiful!" "Ramon?" "Ramon?" "Ramon, wait!" "Ramon?" "Ramon..." "Ramon..." "Ramon, is that you?" "Joyce!" "Joyce?" "What's with you, doll face, huh?" "I saw an old friend." "On your own time, okay, sweetheart?" "I'm sorry." "It was someone who meant a lot to me." "Well, I did call the police, but they turned me down." "Why?" "Well, they said it wasn't a police missing person case." "Now, would you hold a moment please, Miss Loman?" "Please bring in the list of available agents." "All right, Miss Loman, I'll put a man on the case." "Do you have a business phone?" "Uh, well, kind of." "I'm a model and I'm working the International Home Show, but, uh, it doesn't open until tonight." "The International Home Show." "And is there a phone there where we can reach you?" "Oh, one moment please." "All right, Miss Loman," "I'm sending a man named Jack Fredericks." "He should be at your house within an hour." "Uh, Mr. Wickersham, uh, do you happen to have an agent named, uh, let's see, Mansfield?" "Or Manners?" "Could it be Mannix?" "Yes, that's it." "Uh, he was highly recommended to me." "Is he available?" "I'll check with him." "Oh, good." "Could you call me back?" "Oh, I don't think that will be necessary, Miss Loman." "Just put him on." "He wants to talk to you." "Yeah, Lou." "All right, Mannix, since when does a simple missing boyfriend case turn you on?" "Well, she happens to be a good friend of mine and I'd kind of like to help her out." "Just a friend?" "Maybe you shouldn't be on the case if she's anything more." "No, no, Lou, that, that was a couple of years ago." "It's all over now, and she's a very good friend and I'd like to help her out, okay?" "All right." "Thanks." "That makes it official." "Now, tell me everything you know about him, like, uh, habits, hobbies, problems, things like that." "Strange... usually when people disappear, they change nothing but their names." "His name is Ramon Verona." "He's about five-ten." "Dark." "Very good looking." "Any, uh, identifying marks?" "Yes, a matter of fact, he has a scar on his chin." "Good." "Now, let's see, we met in New York last year." "He was working for a travel bureau that was selling economy tours to some of the models." "And we started going out." "I was on the rebound, if you remember." "When I left New York," "I told him it would be better if he forgot about me." "So I didn't hear from him until last night." "All of a sudden, there he was, walking down the street." "Uh, when he called you this morning, did he actually say he was going to commit suicide?" "Well... no." "Well, he said it was more than he could bear, knowing that he couldn't have me." "And it was the way that he said good-bye," "I know that's what he meant." "Oh, Joe, you've got to do something before he..." "Otherwise I'll always feel it was my fault." "Well, that's a big city." "Where do I start?" "Well, he said that he was walking home last night when he saw me." "So maybe that means that he could live somewhere near the corner where we were working, hmm?" "Do you think you can find him, Joe?" "Oh, it's easy." "Just simple leg work." "You just go from house to house knocking on a lot of doors, asking questions of a lot of people who have their own problems and aren't too wild about helping you find a Latin lover." "Eventually, if you're lucky you wind up with a couple of straight answers, and end up at the right door." "Even if it takes all night ." "Get me Homicide." "What is it?" "What happened?" "I just came out with the garbage." "I guess a guy gets to the point where it just doesn't matter." "What if somebody's still up in that room?" "Boy, I hate things like this." "Oh, how I hate things like this." "Well, maybe he..." "Cops will be all over the place." "Is he...?" "Dead." "Did you, uh, know Señor Balagar?" "Yeah... that's not him." "Look, why don't you call the police?" "Uh, they should be notified." "Ma'am?" "Oh." "I think you'd better go along." "She looks like she's about to pass out." "Yeah." "Help?" "Hands." "Sergeant." "Well, who's this?" "A tourist." "I'll tell you when." "It's on my belt." "Good." "Turn around." "Okay." "What were you doing in here?" "Gaining consciousness." "Empty your pockets." "Joe Mannix, private investigator." "Works for Intertect." "Hey, Sergeant, this is the guy that called in the Cintron homicide." "What were you doing there?" "Uh, Cintron left a message for me to meet him." "Leave you a message for you to come here, too?" "No, that was my own idea." "What did Cintron want with you?" "He never got to say." "Guess." "I've got no idea, Sergeant." "If I knew, would I have to come down here?" "You mind if I get dressed?" "So you met Cintron, had an argument, maybe over the fee." "You know, a guy with your build could underestimate his own strength and break a man's neck." "It looked to me like he was pushed out that window." "After he was killed." "Then you called us to cover for yourself, frisked Cintron, found nothing." "Came here to steal whatever he was trying to peddle." "Right?" "Right." "And when I caught myself in the act," "I knocked myself out, and just laid here on the floor waiting for you to find me." "You gonna book me?" "Go on." "You didn't give me much to feed in, Mannix." "Even a computer functions better on a square meal." "All we've got are the file names on three cases." "Now, that's not much." "What do you want?" "I had roughly five seconds in a dark room last night." "You're lucky I remembered the names on three files." "The three cases you remembered." "Now, uh, case number one in Diego Cintron's file," "Benjamin Lorkin, a divorce matter." "Uh, the husband's in New York, the wife's here." "She hired Cintron for the usual reasons." "The, uh, second case is Lorraine Frocks." "That's a dress house, the factory's here." "Their original designs are being stolen." "Joyce Loman was in New York recently." "That could tie her into the divorce case." "Did she ever model for Lorraine Frocks?" "I'll ask her." "Now the other name you gave us was Costa Verde." "Now, that could refer to the country or to the international holding company of the same name." "I'm checking both." "Now, wait a minute, Parker, there was a fourth case." "The file with the word "Help" on it." "It's just a word." "Well, feed it in." "Thoroughness is the lifeblood of Intertect." "Feed it in, Parker." "Lou, would you run a fast print check on that?" "Oh, where'd you get it?" "Around." ""Around"?" "Yeah." "Around the apartment where the man was killed?" "Part of the job, protecting the client." "Where does protecting a client end and concealing evidence begin?" "Okay, okay, so turn it over to the police." "I can see the headlines now." ""Intertect Fingers Its Own Client."" "Should be great for business." "Mannix." "Now, don't get edgy, Joe." "I'm your friend." "Is that what you are, Lou?" "No, I'm an idiot!" "Because you told the police Diego Cintron phoned here asking for you and I swore to it." "You know, your reflexes are sharp as ever." "You ought to be on the outside, fighting the good fight." "That's your problem, Mannix." "You keep forgetting Intertect is not at war." "Our side, their side-- everybody wants to win." "What would you call it?" "Hi." "Hi." "Well, any luck?" "I thought you said the name on the bell was Carlos..." "Balagar." "...Balagar." "Well, why did you even bother to check the apartment?" "I was looking for Latin names." "You must have been in the wrong apartment." "Did you give him a cigarette case with your name inscribed on it?" "Yes." "I was in the right apartment." "I just won't believe that Ramon had anything to do with it." "That other fellow..." "Balagar." "Balagar." "Maybe he lent him the cigarette case." "Maybe he pushed that detective out the window." "You do have a way of thinking the worst about people." "Joe, I think people have to be kind to each other." "Hey." "I'd just like to see you get hurt a little less often." "Get down!" "Now what?" "Someone's shooting at us." "I didn't hear anything." "He's using a silencer." "Is the game over?" "No, not yet." "We can't stay here." "Let's go!" "Get down!" "Joe!" "Will you stay down?" "!" "Joe!" "I feel absolutely ridiculous." "It's good for your career." "Sit down." "Ouch." "Now, you can tell me the story." "What story?" "The real one, and you can start with everything you forgot to tell me about Ramon Verona." "I told you." "He called me, and..." "Yeah, I know, he was gonna kill himself." "Well, if he was, I never saw a guy so confused about which way to point the gun." "Wait a minute, what makes you so sure it was Ramon?" "A good guess." "You know of anyone else who wants to kill you?" "Well... well, people shoot at you all the time." "Maybe it was one of your old friends." "Mannix, could you come into my office, please?" "Wait here." "Big brother is watching." "I don't want to hear the explanation for the beach party in your office." "I'm sure your reasons will be quite convincing." "So what did you want?" "Get rid of the girl." "I want you to drop the case." "Why?" "Mannix, I've traveled a long, hard road to build this store to where it is today." "The police could make me close up shop in ten minutes." "You're running scared, Lou." "They can't prove a thing." "How do you know?" "You've lied to them, you've withheld what may be important evidence, and I'll bet..." "I'll just bet you don't even know what this case is about." "A man threatened to kill himself." "Do you believe that?" "No." "But she's still our client." "And she is paying us to find her boyfriend." "You're not going to find him." "What makes you so sure?" "This." "We ran a complete check on both Ramon Verona, the name your client gave you, and Carlos Balagar, the alias he was using." "No driver's license was ever issued to either of them." "No military record or draft card." "Not even a Social Security number." "And Joyce Loman told you he worked in a travel agency." "Are you beginning to get the drift?" "Well, he's a foreigner." "Did you check Immigration?" "No record of entry." "What about the prints on the cigarette case?" "Total blank, no match anywhere." "Beginning to see why I'm so sure you're not going to find him?" "I don't know who killed Diego Cintron, but the mythical boyfriend your client told you about doesn't exist." "You're chasing a shadow." "Well, maybe that's what your computers tell you." "There's something they don't know." "You know that nice clean company car" "I checked out this morning?" "It now has four bullet holes in it." "Now, why don't you shove that car into your computer and see if it still whistles "Me and My Shadow."" "Joe, I didn't lie to you!" "You know, it's a funny thing about computers." "You feed them a lie, and they have to believe you." "They got no choice." "But you don't believe me?" "No." "I've got an advantage." "I can look into your eyes." "I can see your face get a little red." "Now what is Ramon Verona's real name?" "All right, I did lie to you, but not about his name." "He didn't call me, and he didn't say he was going to kill himself." "I only said that so you'd work harder to find him." "That's not good enough." "There's no record of your boyfriend anywhere, which can mean only one thing-- he's a submarine." "A what?" "He's in the country illegally." "Watching your favorite channel, Lou?" "Just tuned in, Mannix." "Did Parker turn up anything on the Costa Verde file?" "No, but he got an angle on the word "help."" "It's not a word at all." "Initials?" "Acronym?" "Yeah." "HELP." "H.E.L.P.-- Help Ease Latin Poverty." "Run by a man named Duncan." "Leonard Duncan?" "Another old friend?" "Tell Parker I'll pick up the information, and you stay put." "The weatherman says it may still be raining lead." "Mannix is on his way." "Give him the address and all pertinent data on H.E.L.P." "Joe?" "Hey!" "¿Cómo estás, hermano?" "How are you?" "Good to see you." "Oh, you're still alive." "Hey, that calls for a drink, huh?" "A toast." "Boy, am I glad to see you." "Still with us, baby." "What'll it be?" "Tequila or kosher wine?" "Yeah, whatever." "The house specialty is fine." "Yeah." "Well, now, uh, somebody told you I was here." "You didn't just, uh, fall in, right?" "Right." "Yeah." "Well, I'm building up a little trade here." "What do you know, huh?" "Hey, where are you marching these days?" "I'm with Intertect." "Intertect." "Oh, a private cop, huh?" "It's the only war in town." "Yeah." "Oh, hey, you remember the last one?" "Oh, sí." "Sonora-- does that ring a bell to you?" "These are food packages, huh, Lenny?" "Yeah, yeah." "The quiet life." "To the old habits you don't forget." "Say that again." "Lenny, you used to help get people in the U.S." "to save them from firing squads." "What's your excuse these days?" "What?" "You're hustling immigrants." "Me?" "Nah." "You know it, I know it, and Diego Cintron obviously knew it." "Cintron?" "Cintron." "That, uh... that name doesn't register." "Try Ramon Verona." "Ramon Verona." "What's his trade?" "He killed." "Oh, come on, Joe." "You know I don't mess around with that kind." "You made a mistake this time, Lenny." "Diego Cintron is dead." "Somebody broke his neck and then threw him out a window." "Lenny, what's the matter?" "This shirt pocket." "Pills." "Hurry up!" "Easy, boy." "Here you are." "Come on, we better sit down." "What is this, something new?" "Listen." "How many years can you take firing-squad mornings and bad whiskey nights?" "Fighting every war that comes along." "Oh, boy." "Something's gotta give." "You'd better watch it, kid." "You might be next." "Aw, Joe." "That was a, a dirty trick, pulling that Cintron thing on me like that." "Yeah, well, you let his killer into the country." "Now help me find him, Lenny." "I didn't, I swear." "Sorry, Lenny, I'm short on time." "Who're you calling?" "Homicide." "You can't prove anything, Joe." "Maybe they can." "Joe..." "Verona made a sucker out of you." "I told you." "The name doesn't mean anything." "He's dark, good looking." "Got the kind of face girls will notice." "Got a scar on his chin." "I don't want any part of this, Joe." "Lenny, he's trying to pick off a client of mine." "She's 26 years old, hasn't even heard a firing squad yet." "All right." "I brought him in, but how was I supposed to know what he was up to?" "What did Cintron want with Verona?" "Some big-shot heard that they were going to bring a killer into the country to... to get him." "So he hired Cintron just to check him out, that's all." "Big-shot, huh?" "Who was Cintron working for?" "He wouldn't say." "Joe, he wouldn't give me the name of his client." "Would you?" "He told me he had $10,000 to do the job and he offered me a grand to, just to give him a lead." "So I gave him one, that's all." "All right, Lenny, where did you bring Verona in from?" "Costa Verde." "Señor Mannix?" "Hold it." "You will come with us." "Please." "This is Señor Lazaro Figueroa." "Seems I recall a General Figueroa." "Then you are the same Mannix who fought for us in Costa Verde?" "I was there." "For the cause, or for money?" "I'm a hero." "I only fight on the side of the angels." "Commendable." "Whose revolution are you fighting now?" "I'm a private detective." "I see." "And, uh, what is it you want from me?" "You hire Diego Cintron?" "I did." "Then you must know someone's out to kill you." "That has been made quite clear to me." "It is also clear that soon after the threat" "I find a hired killer, a mercenary, lurking about my premises with a gun." "Not lurking." "I'm looking for a man." "I think he's the one that's after you." "And do you also happen to know what this hired killer looks like?" "Might you even be so fortunate as to have found out his name?" "Mm-hmm." "Verona." "Ramon Verona." "Huh." "Oh, that is good, Señor Mannix; very good." "The implementing of the threat." "Drop the name of the most feared killer in my country, and the old man will shake in his boots." "That was for insulting my intelligence with such a clumsy bluff." "Ramon Verona is in prison in Costa Verde." "Go away, Señor Mannix." "I won't be going far, Figueroa." "The man I'm after will be coming to get you." "So I'll just be hanging around." "I am a sentimentalist, Señor Mannix." "That is the only reason you are still alive at this moment." "Whatever debt my country owed you," "I consider now paid." "But the next time you are found "hanging around," as you put it, my men will kill you." "Oh, Ramon, it was you I..." "Joyce?" "You'd better hurry up." "We're going to be late." "Come on." "I don't want you to get away this time." "Come on." "It's all right." "Hey, you remember me, eh?" "I'm surprised." "I think, uh, most people, uh... don't remember vacation romances." "Oh, is that all it was?" "Well, you know they always end badly." "It's best to forget them quickly, you know." "You didn't even call." "You didn't even say you were in the country." "Well, yes, I didn't want to bring you my troubles." "The police think you killed a man." "It's only important you believe I didn't." "Well, of course I believe you." "Why didn't you say that to the police?" "Hey, Joyce." "I'm a fool, huh?" "All of my life, you know, I'm in trouble, and I'm so bad I can't even get a visa to come to this country to see the girl I met one beautiful summer in Costa Verde." "You know the only way I can get into this country?" "So, uh... you'll excuse me" "I didn't stay and explain to the police." "I can help you, Ramon." "Uh..." "You already helped enough already with the detective." "Joe Mannix is an old friend of mine." "But he'll go to the Immigration peoples, huh?" "No, I didn't tell him anything about that." "I lied." "I said I met you in New York." "Joyce!" "Come on!" "All right, just a minute." "I've gotta fix my hair and makeup." "Just..." "I'll be in in a minute." "Why don't you come with me now, okay?" "No, I can't now." "I don't get finished until 10:00." "Can I meet you somewhere?" "I have a car in the garage." "We could, uh... you can meet me on the, on the bottom level?" "And, uh, we can go somewhere and be alone together, eh?" "Okay?" "Okay." "Good." "Uh..." "Sweetheart, uh, you go ahead, all right?" "Don't be late, Lazaro." "You have to make a speech." "Why did you come back, Señor Mannix?" "Something still bothers me." "Your life's been threatened." "Why aren't you worried about it?" "First, you tell me something." "How much did they pay you to frighten me?" "I am not trying to frighten you." "No." "Such a gesture of good faith must be respected." "Perhaps I am a fool, but, uh," "I am beginning to believe you." "But you don't believe someone's out to get you." "Then just what are they after?" "A business empire built after the revolution while the others fought over who should be called prime minister and who should become presidente." "They argued and I went into business." "In a country where no one ate, they talked politics and I created food." "Sounds like a reason for a monument, not a tombstone." "Yes, yes, but, uh, one day, my friends who fought over titles realized that I had taken the real prize." "But they did not want to kill me." "They merely want to become my partners." "Then why did they bother hiring an assassin?" "To fortify the rumor, Señor-- a good trick." "Yeah, well, maybe they've changed the rules on you." "Maybe this time they mean it... 'cause Verona is in this country." "Señor Mannix, I have told you..." "Figueroa," "I have talked to a man who admitted bringing Verona into this country." "Now, you'd better keep him under guard until I can find Verona." "Wha...?" "You, you, you think I am afraid to face death?" "Maybe not, but you're facing it." "What should I do?" "Why don't you finish dinner?" "KG-62114." "Overseas Operator." "Intertect." "Mannix here." "Mr. Duncan called, said it's urgent." "Get him." "That line's out of order." "Check with the phone company and ring me back." "Hey, you weren't supposed to come back here." "We have to talk." "Yeah, but the deal was that we were to have no further contact." "I know." "But you're the only one who could tell Diego Cintron where I was." "Oh, how could I know?" "You have a nice thing here, eh?" "You smuggle some peoples into the country, take a little money, huh?" "And then, uh... you follow them, eh?" "You let them get started-- you come around, take a little more." "Come on, am I a rich man, huh?" "Do I have a big car?" "Look at this place." "This dump." "You know, I have a problem-- this silencer, it affects the trajectory of this gun." "Yeah?" "Hey... look, look." "Here's my bank book." "Here, everything I own..." "it's all here." "Look!" "It's all here." "Will you look?" "Yeah, it looks good, too." "You know, I headed to the ocean this afternoon, and I couldn't hit a thing." "And I have an important job this evening." "You understand, it's business." "Hey, you know what I need?" "A practice target to help me set the sight." "Something moving." "Hey, wait!" "Wait a minute, wait, wait!" "Help me, please, somebody's trying to shoot me over there." "Wait!" "Please!" "Please!" "We're closed." "It's me" " Duncan." "Where's Amos?" "He's gone home, I told you." "We're closed." "In the name of God, open up!" "Somebody's going to murder me!" "You're already drunk." "Please!" "Somebody!" "Anybody!" "Mannix!" "Where are your pills?" "Pills won't help." "Verona?" "Figueroa." "Costa Verde, tonight." "Where?" "The Trade Fair..." "I'll get you an ambulance." "KG2114 priority." "KL5-Double 2-71." "Intertect." "This is Mannix." "We still haven't been able to complete that Duncan call." "I did." "Get an ambulance over to Fourth and Tamlin, fast-- gunshot wound." "And give me Wickersham." "Yes, sir." "Wickersham." "Lou, that shadow I'm chasing is cluttering up the streets with bodies." "What happened?" "He just shot Leonard Duncan." "His real target is Lazaro Figueroa." "You better get the police over to the International Home Show." "Oh, and Lou, don't let Joyce out of my office, even if you have to lock her in." "Looks to me like he's trying to get rid of everyone who might identify him." "Mannix, she's gone." "Good evening." "Julie, I've got a date." "Do you mind staying alone?" "The story of my life." "What happened?" "He fainted." "Maybe a heart attack." "Perez..." "Take him in." "When did it happen?" "Just now." "Didn't hear a thing." "Must've used a silencer." "Excuse me, where is Joyce Loman?" "Have you seen Joyce?" "She had to leave." "I'm finishing up for her." "Tell me..." "Hey, won't I do?" "She's already got a date." "Thanks." "Joe." "He got Figueroa." "Yeah, I know." "Verona." "And I think Joyce is meeting him." "Ooh!" "Oh!" "Excuse me." "Joyce!" "Joyce!" "Hurry, Mannix saw me." "Where?" "Just as I was coming down the stairs." "Any other way out of here?" "There must be an emergency exit somewhere." "There he is." "Watch it, you'll hit Joyce." "We've got to get him in a cross fire." "We'll need more men." "Joe, wait!" "Go, querida." "Go on, move!" "He said all vacation romances end badly." "Joe, all right?" "Yeah." "He wouldn't really have hurt me." "No, of course not."