"It should have been just another Thursday." "Thirst-day, I call it." "Of course, as far as I'm concerned," "Every day is thirst-day." "The only thing on my mind was the sweet music" "And some jingling ice cubes." "That's where it all started." "Benny's lounge." "All I was looking for was a little quick amnesia." "I mean, you try ten hours a day selling life insurance." "You got to make them think about death, not life." "Well, an hour or so in benny's" "Always made me forget about death." "My own death, and the death of my marriage." "After my divorce," "I got to spending all my evenings at benny's." "I'm two up on you already." "No contest." "Keep 'em filled till that's gone." "That's where I met curtis." "Curtis was a regular" "A regular customer and a regular guy." "They say misery loves company." "Well, curtis was great company." "Must be pay day, huh?" "Huh." "Yep." "Company pays me, then I pay the ex." "First the irs," "Then the dress." "This is all that's left." "Even the roaches moved out." "They were starving, living with me." "I say, "good riddance to 'em."" "Roaches?" "The dames." "We're better off without them." "Yeah, except that what gets me" "Is the way everyone treats you once you're solo." "You ever notice that?" "Ah, come on." "Don't go into that again, will you?" "Nah, nah." "You get the worst tables in restaurants." "Your married friends don't call you anymore." "Ah..." "Without the other half, you're strictly half-assed." "I know the routine, curtis." "See, what you and I need is-is-is something" "Between married and single," "Something in the middle of the road." "The middle of the road, huh?" "Mm-hmm." "The middle of the road's where the white line is." "That's the most dangerous place to drive." "Is that so?" "Well, then, let's take a drive." "I know the perfect girl." "Come off it, will you?" "I'm not in the mood." "Anyway, I'm broke." "Nah, nah." "No hanky-panky." "Trust me." "I just want to have some fun, that's all." "Come on." "Come on." "I should have listened to that little voice," "Telling me to stay put." "I mean, curtis always had funny ideas," "But this one was out of bounds." "Shh, shh, shh." "There's some scotch in the icebox." "Aren't they gonna miss that thing down at the store?" "Hell, no." "Store's got more of these than we ever use." "She's just as lonely as we are." "Everybody needs a little love, right, doll?" "Here you go." "Ah, to estelle." "Estelle." "I should have checked out right then and there." "Estelle, listen to this." "But it was so crazy, it was fun." "What happens when you cross a cantaloupe and a collie?" "Huh?" "I don't know." "You don't know?" "You get a melancholy baby!" "And curtis could be a real charmer," "Even with a dummy like estelle." "So, I went along with it, telling jokes," "Reminiscing about the war," "All kinds of nonsense." "I got one." "Go ahead." "She just sat there," "Quiet and attentive," "Not like these mouthy dames you meet nowadays." "Just about ready to blast this guy." "He turns around, and it's one of our own men." "Estelle doesn't want to hear any war stories." "Let's liven this up a little." "I got another one for you." "What happens when you cross an elephant" "With peanut butter?" "You get peanut butter that never forgets!" "Yeah, we were drunk, real drunk." "When curtis started dancing with the doll," "I started to feel like the odd man out." "Like a, like a jealous school boy." "Crazy, huh?" "I mean, after all, it was just a damn piece of wood, right?" "What happened next," "I guess I just wrote off to all the booze." "But, as I was leaving," "I could swear the damn thing stared at me." "Just stared at me." "I didn't see curtis for a few days after that." "I figured he might be sick." "When I called the store where he worked," "They said he took a week off." "A week off?" "Curtis's idea of a vacation was an extra hour at benny's," "And I knew he hadn't been there." "So, when he called to invite me to dinner," "I figured, "what the hell?"" "I hadn't had a good meal in months." "Although the idea of curtis enjoying domestic chores" "Was a new one on me." "Right on time." "Come on in." "I can't believe I'm actually going" "To eat something that you cooked." "Hey, there's someone here who wants to see you." "Ha-ha." "You got to be kidding." "Scotch, right?" "Here you go, pal." "How about one for the lady?" "Estelle doesn't like liquor." "Mmm." "Don't worry, though." "She's no prude." "Never gives me any grief, either." "Isn't that right, honey?" "Huh?" "You're right." "You hungry?" "I'm famished." "Uh, hey, uh, they told me you, uh, you took a week off" "From work, huh?" "Yeah, that was estelle's idea." "Estelle?" "Yeah." "She'd never been to atlantic city." "So I took her." "We had a ball." "Yeah, sure." "Uh, how was the water, estelle?" "Estelle doesn't swim." "Hey." "How about that necklace I bought her?" "Are you serious?" "You went to atlantic city with that thing?" "We got the red carpet." "They really know how to treat a couple." "A couple of what?" "Here's to you, doll." "Uh..." "I guess she doesn't like your cooking, huh?" "Eats like a bird." "Fanatic about her figure." "Hey, curtis." "Don-don't you think you're taking this thing" "A little too far?" "Carrying what a little too far?" "This business with estelle." "I mean, uh, people might think you're off your nut." "Nah." "It's like I always said," ""when you're solo, you get second-class treatment."" "Ever since me and estelle have been going out..." "Hey, get off it, will ya, curtis?" "What do you take me for, an idiot?" "This is a dummy" "A lifeless, soulless piece of wood." "See what you've done?" "You've upset her." "What did you want to go and do that for?" "Okay, look." "I-I know I've had a few drinks," "But you don't really expect me to believe this." "Keep your opinions to yourself, pal." "Okay." "Okay." "Maybe I was wrong, curtis." "Maybe you're a real lucky guy." "Luckiest around." "Oh, sure." "Yeah, I can see that." "I mean, she's pretty." "Keeps her mouth shut." "Hey, I bet she's real good in the sack, huh?" "Don't you talk that way." "Oh, yeah." "She could probably do" "A real fancy dance with these double joints of hers." "Probably keep old curtis's head spinning like a roulette wheel." "Cut it out, roberts!" "Yeah, I bet it wouldn't take much to stew a tomato like you." "Roberts!" "Hey, maybe you'd really" "Come alive for me, huh, babe?" "Don't you ever act like that around estelle again," "You hear me?" "Sure, curtis." "Who needs a stiff like her, anyway?" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Look, I know I was drunk." "But, I mean, something was cracked." "I couldn't stop thinking about it." "Boy, your mind can sure play some weird tricks on you." "Why are you looking at us so strange?" "I think you're doing a great job." "Roberts." "Roberts." "Hey, roberts." "Come on, roberts." "Roberts." "Roberts!" "Roberts." "Hey, roberts." "What...?" "Come on, pal, let's rejoin the living." "What do you say, sergeant?" "It's lieutenant now." "And I say you seen better days." "You ought to know." "Seen him around lately?" "Yeah, uh," "I had dinner with him and..." "I mean, uh, just me and him a couple of weeks ago." "Why?" "What's up?" "Well, the store where he works is coming up a little short" "In curtis's department." "Eh, they're missing some jewelry and some women's clothes." "Even one of them new television things." "Well, I-I haven't seen him for a while." "Uh..." "Well, we-we had a fight." "About what?" "Oh, just a dame." "Nothing serious." "Uh, but I haven't seen him since then." "You don't think he's embezzling from the store, do you?" "I don't think anything..." "Yet." "This argument- he's been acting strange lately?" "No, I didn't mean anything like that." "Uh..." "Hey, he got divorced a little while ago, the same as me," "And, uh, we used to drown the sorrows together, you know?" "That's all." "Maybe you ought to talk to his ex." "You know where we could find her?" "No, I never met her." "We never talked much about the wives." "I don't even know her name." "Estelle." "What?" "!" "Estelle,that's her name." "Yeah, we'd like to talk to her, all right." "See, that's another thing" "He was married, like you say," "But there's no record of any divorce." "Lady's gone now." "Poof, not a trace." "Kind of suspicious, wouldn't you say?" "I stayed at benny's a couple more hours," "And the more I sat, the more I drank." "Something inside me kept saying, "you gotta help him out." ""he's-he's just a poor slob going through a bad time." "You know what it's like."" "I should've had another drink instead." "My god, man, you're a wreck." "Roberts!" "Oh, good to see you, old boy." "Uh..." "I been thinking about you." "Um, same here, pal." "We were thinking about having you over for dinner this week." "Weren't we, babe?" "Hello, estelle." "Uh, how you doing?" "See?" "No hard feelings." "You want me to turn that up a little?" "It's awfully low." "So, how about a little libation?" "Okay, that's one..." "All right, good." "Listen, uh, lieutenant mann came to see me at benny's." "She won't let me out of her sight." "Okay, susan, four darts left." "I can't eat, can't sleep." "It's-it's, "get me this." "I want that."" "It's worse than when I was married." "The only time I've been out is" "To pick up that-that television set." "Yeah, where'd you get the dough to buy something like that?" "That's-that's my business." "Curtis, listen, you're in more trouble than you realize." "We gotta get you pulled together." "I know this doctor, see?" "He can tell the cops..." "You think I'm twisted." "Is that it?" "No, you just got to get a grip on yourself, that's all." "Hey, why don't you come over to my place?" "You can really relax there." "Hey, what stinks so bad in here?" "What about estelle?" "I'll take care of her." "We won't have any problems with her." "By the time you wake up," "She'll be back in the store selling purses." "No, you can't." "She won't stand for it." "All right." "If it'll make you feel any better, she's firewood." "No!" "You don't understand." "You don't understand!" "Curtis, curtis!" "Don't be a fool!" "No!" "He hit you then." "No." "That's where you don't get it." "We were struggling, all right, but I got hit from behind." "She won't stand for it." "I didn't want to hit him." "I figured he was panicked, that's all." "I figured if I could just get him out of there," "He'd calm down." "No!" "You were unconscious?" "Yeah, like I was dead." "You couldn't see or hear anything?" "Not till I came to, I told you." "That's when I saw curtis sitting across the room." "Curtis." "Curtis." "Then I heard the door." "I thought I was seeing things." "It was like a-a vise on my head." "And the stench in that room was so bad." "Well, anyway, I went over to curtis and..." "Curtis." "You all right, pal?" "That's when I started screaming." "You're saying a store mannequin knocked you on the head" "And then killed curtis?" "Yes!" "That's it!" "That's the only way it could've happened." "Curtis was in front of me, I got hit from behind." "Who else could've done it?" "By what?" "By whom?" "Come on." "So he's the one?" "Definitely." "I'd recognize him anywhere." "See, he'd always get there first, and then she'd show up." "Real nervous-like." "I waited on 'em several times," "And I remember what they ordered." "Steak for him and seafood for her." "You knew his wife?" "No!" "I told you, I never met her." "I knew they were messin' around." "We figure it that way, too." "Curtis must have found out and carved her up." "We found her- or what was left of her" "Under the kitchen sink." "Then roberts must have found out," "Went berserk and killed curtis." "Tight as the lock on fort knox." "Except for one thing." "What's that?" "There's only one thing that could've happened..." "No fingerprints." "The knife had no prints at all." "I saw somebody go out the door..." "Roberts probably got the bump on the head in the struggle," "But no prints." "The mannequin did it." "Strange, huh?" "I saw somebody go out the door." "It had to be estelle!" "I mean, the mannequin!" "The mannequin!" "What's all this mannequin business he keeps blabbing'?" "Oh, the store's missing one, all right." "Probably misplaced in inventory, they say." "No trace of one at curtis's." "It'll turn up in some warehouse eventually." "Got a light?" "I told you, it was the mannequin!" "He called it estelle, just like his wife!" "It was alive, I'm telling you!" "The mannequin was alive!"