Farewell, My Lovely Page #2

It's a good thing you don't

get out of the slammer too often.

- I want you to find my Velma.

- Yeah, I will.

Meanwhile...ah,

maybe you'd better beat it, huh?

Because the cops might think

you've sprained your parole.

You got somethin' there.

I'll keep in touch.

- I'm in the telephone book.

- OK.

- Help me find my Velma, huh?

- Yeah.

Hey, ah...Malloy?

This Velma. She got a last name?

Valento. Velma Valento.

Velma Valento.

'The fifty bucks felt snug

against my ribs.

'The joint had emptied out,

'so I called you, Nulty,

and had a few drinks.

'Mr Montgomery didn't seem to mind.'

Right here, fellas.

Big, black and dead.

That's not bad for a killing.

Lucky it wasn't somethin' serious.

Don't worry about it Marlowe.

It's just another shine killing.

No space in the papers,

no pictures, no nothin'.

Your picture will be in the papers -

front, sideways, back, numbers,

don't you worry about it.

No sweat.

It was self-defence, Nulty.

The guy that killed him

is your...client?

Yeah, that's right.

When he gets in touch, tell him come

to the station, sign a deposition.

Oh, he can write, can't he?

Oh, yeah...he might be a little shy.

For that kind of a killing

who cares? You explain it to him.

We gotta follow procedure or I get

in trouble...with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor Roosevelt.

'I couldn't find any Florian

in the phone book

'but I had a vague hunch about

the fleabag across the street.

'I sparred with the night clerk

for a minute,

'but it was like tryin' to open

a busted sardine can.

'Abraham Lincoln's picture

loosened him up.'

I'm looking for anybody that knows

the place across the street...

Florians?

When it was a white joint?

There's a man, played in the band,

upstairs in room 210.

Is there an elevator around here?

- If it is, I ain't seen it.

- Thanks.

'The corridor gave me the willies.

'It was the kind of place

I've always dreaded I'd wind up in,

'alone and broke.'

Who is it?

My name is Philip Marlowe.

I'm a private investigator.

I'm not with the City,

the State or the Feds.

I'm not with any collection agency.

I'm looking for a...Florian. You

used to work for him, didn't you?

Come in.

Thank you.

- Please, sit down.

- Thanks.

The clerk tells me you used to have

a band across the street.

Yeah. Tommy Ray and the Sunrays.

I had a couple of records.

You ever hear 'em?

- What you play?

- Trumpet.

This, um...Florian,

did he have a first name?

Mike.

- Know where I can find him?

- He's dead.

Was he married?

Could be.

Know where she lives?

What's in it for you?

- A job.

- Who for?

A fellow's tryin' to find

a Velma Valento.

Remember her? She worked there too.

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