Chapter 16 Chapter Fourteen "The Pigeon"

Just two or three minutes after six in the morning, Spade stepped out of the elevator, turned the corner, and saw the yellow light shining through the frosted glass door of his office.He stopped abruptly, shut his mouth tightly, looked at the corridor from beginning to end for a while, and then walked towards the door with brisk strides. He held the doorknob, turning it carefully, trying not to make any noise.He turned the handle until it stopped: the door was locked.He switched hands and held the doorknob with his left hand. With his right hand, he took out a bunch of keys from his pocket, being careful not to jingle the keys.He picked out the key to the office, squeezed the other in his palm, and inserted the key into the lock, and there was no sound when he inserted it.At this time, he stood on tiptoe, took a deep breath, opened the door with a click, and walked in.

Effie Perrine sat, her head resting on her forearm, sound asleep at her desk.She was wearing a coat and had one of Spade's over her. Spade covered his mouth and laughed.He closed the door behind his back and walked across the room to the inner office.The inner office is empty.He came back to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. She moved a little, raised her head drowsily, and blinked her eyelids.Suddenly she sat up straight and her eyes opened wide.She smiled when she saw Spade and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. "You're back at last," she said. "What time is it?"

"What are you doing here at six o'clock?" She shuddered.Wrapping Spade's coat tightly around his body, he yawned and said, "You told me to wait for you to come back, at least until the phone call." "Oh, it turns out that you are a stubborn girl who is loyal to her duty." "I'm not going to—" She stopped, standing up and letting his coat slide on the chair behind her.Her dark excited eyes caught sight of his temples protruding from under the brim of his hat, and she exclaimed, "Oh, your head! What's the matter?" Spade's right temple was dark and swollen.

"I don't know if I fell or was beaten. I'm probably fine, but it hurts like hell." He touched the place with his fingers and quickly put it down.A strange look was replaced by a grin.He explained: "I went to visit people, got drugged by them, and then slept on the floor of the people for twelve hours." She came over and took off his hat. "It's horrible," she said. "You need to see a doctor, you can't run around the streets with your head swollen like this." "Actually, it's not as serious as it looks, but I have a severe headache. It's probably mainly caused by drugs." He went to the small room in the corner of the office and poured cold water on the handkerchief. "Is there anything going on after I'm gone?"

"Have you found Miss O'Shaughnessy, Sam?" "Not yet. What will happen when I'm gone?" "The District Attorney's Office called and the Attorney wants to see you." "His own?" "Yes, I suppose so, and there's a message from a boy—that Mr. Gutman wants to speak to you by five-thirty." Spade turned off the tap, wrung out the handkerchief, came out of the closet, and applied the handkerchief to his temples. "I know about that," he said. "I met that kid downstairs. Talk to Gutman about what made me like this."

"Sam, is he the Gu who called?" "right." "Then what—?" Spade stared blankly at the girl, thinking as he talked, as if trying to figure things out. "He wanted something and thought I could get it for him. I made him believe that if he didn't deal with me by five-thirty he wouldn't get it. And then—well, yes—later I told him Had to wait two or three days before he drugged me. It didn't look like they were going to kill me. He must have known I'd wake up in ten or twelve hours. So maybe he thought You can get it without my help, so clean me up first so I can't interfere." He frowned. "I hope he's miscalculated." He looked away again. "Didn't you hear anything from O'Shaughnessy?"

The girl shook her head to indicate no, and asked, "Does this matter have anything to do with her?" "A little." "Is what he wants hers?" "The king of Spain, so to speak. You have an uncle who teaches history at the university, my dear?" "It's a cousin, why ask this?" "If we tell him a historical secret that is said to be four centuries ago, can he be trusted to keep it a secret for us for a while?" "Oh, all right, he's a nice guy." "Okay, take a pencil and a notebook." She picked up her pencil and notebook and sat on a chair.Spade sprinkled some more cold water on the handkerchief, held it to his temples, and stood before her, dictating the story of the Black Hawk that he had heard from Gutman.It started with Charles V granting the Knights of the Knights of St. John to the fact that this enamel-coated eagle also arrived in Paris as partisans of the Carlos dynasty flocked to Paris in large numbers.He stumbled over the names of the writers and works that Gutman mentioned, but at least he pronounced them more or less the same.The rest of history he recounted with great accuracy, like a trained reporter.

He's done.The girl closed the notebook, raised her flushed smiling face and said to him, "Oh, isn't this story very thrilling? It's really—" "Yes, it can also be said to be absurd. Now you read it to your cousin and ask him what he thinks? Has he had any access to any information related to this matter? This matter sounds like Does it look like it's true? It's still possible - even almost impossible? Or it's total bullshit. If he's going to take a moment to check it out, that's fine. But it's better to ask him for an opinion first. But for God's sake For your sake, keep it a secret."

"I'm going right away," she said. "You go to the doctor and fix your head." "Let's have breakfast first." "No, I'll eat when I get there. I'd love to hear what Ted thinks first." "Well," said Spade, "if he teases you, don't you cry and fuss." Spade ate breakfast at leisure at the Palace Hotel, where he read the two morning papers.Then go home, shave, shower.Rub his bruised and swollen temples with ice and put on clean clothes. He went to O'Shaughnessy's suite at the Crown Apartments.There was no one there, and everything was the same as when he came back.

He went to the Alexandria Hotel, Gutmann was not there; no one in his apartment was there.Spade learned that there were also Wilmer Kirk, Fatty's secretary, and his daughter Rhea.The hotel clerk said she was a fair-haired girl with brown eyes, seventeen, and very pretty.They also told Spade that Gutman and his party had arrived from New York ten days earlier and hadn't settled the bill yet. Spade went to the Belvedere Hotel and saw the hotel detective having breakfast in the hotel tea room. "Morning, Sam, sit down and have an egg." The hotel detective stared at Spade's temple. "My God, you have been beaten a lot!"

"Thanks, I've had it," Spade said, sitting down, before mentioning his temple. "It looks serious, but it's all right. How's Kylo?" "He went out less than half an hour after you left yesterday. I haven't seen him yet. He didn't stay here last night." "He's not used to it." "Come on, bachelors in the big cities. Who beat you to death, Sam?" "Not Kylo." Spade looked intently at the little silver dome that covered Luke's toast. "Would you like to search his room while he's out?" "Okay. You know I'm willing to cooperate with you anytime, anywhere." Luke pushed away the coffee, propped his elbows on the table, and squinted at Spade. "But I've always had the feeling that you'd never want to cooperate with me. Seriously, Sam, what's the matter with this guy? You don't have to hide it from me, you know I can be trusted." Spade lifted his eyes, clear and frank. "Of course, you can be counted on," he said. "I'm not holding anything back, to tell you the truth. I'm doing something for him, but some of his friends seem to be against me, and I'm a little suspicious of him." .” "That kid we kicked out yesterday is one of his friends?" "Yeah, Luke, he is." "Did the gang of them kill Miles?" Spade shook his head. "Thursby killed Miles." "Then who killed Thursby?" Spade laughed: "It's still a mystery until now. But, to tell you the truth, according to the police, I assassinated him." Luke snorted twice, stood up and said, "I think you're such a tough guy to figure out. Come on, let's go check it out." They hang out at the desk for a while so Luke can "make arrangements, and if he comes, just give him a call."When arrangements were made, they went upstairs to Carlo's room.Kylo's bed was neat and smooth.But there were some waste papers in the wastebasket, and the shutters were not drawn neatly; there were a few crumpled towels in the bathroom; it was evident that the maid hadn't come to clean them up in the morning. Cairo's luggage consists of a square suitcase, a travel bag, and a small leather bag.The small cupboard in the bathroom is full of cosmetics—bottles, jars, boxes, face powders, creams, moisturizers, perfumes, shampoos, lotions, and hair tonics.Two suits and a coat hung in the closet, and beneath them were three pairs of leather shoes, carefully tucked into the last. The duffel bag and purse were unlocked.After Spade searched elsewhere, Luke had unlocked the box. "So far, nothing has been found," Spade said.The two of them dug and dug in the box, but found nothing interesting. "Should we find something special?" Luke asked as he locked the box. "Nothing. It is said that he came from Constantinople, and I wanted to see if that was the case. There doesn't seem to be anything to prove otherwise." "What business does he do?" Spade shook his head. "That's what I was wondering too." He crossed the room, stooping to pick up the wastebasket. "Well, this is our last chance." He took a newspaper out of the wastebasket.When he saw that this newspaper was yesterday's "Call", his eyes lit up.It was folded, and the outer section was the classifieds section.He spread out the paper and went over the page, but nothing interested him. He turned the newspaper over to look at a page inside, and that page had announcements about finance, shipping schedules, weather, births, marriages, divorces, and deaths.In the lower left corner of the paper, a piece more than two inches below the second column had been torn off. Near the place where it was torn off, there was a subheading "Arrived Today", and the following: 00:20 a.m. - Capac arrives from Astoria 5:05 a.m. - The Helen Drew arrives from Grenada 5:06 a.m. - The Abalado arrives from Pandong The next line is also torn off.From the few remaining letters one can only guess that it was "arriving in Hong Kong from Sydney". Spade put the "Call" on the table and went to the wastebasket again.He found a small piece of packing paper, a piece of string, two sock labels, a cheap receipt from a men's clothing store, and bought half a dozen socks.In the bottom of the wastebasket was a small ball of shredded newspaper.He unfolded the paper carefully, spread it flat on the table, and placed it on the part of the torn-out "Call". The other three sides were all close together, except for the "from Sydney to Hong Kong" that he guessed just now, half an inch was missing. , this section can roughly carry the news of six or seven ships arriving at the port.He turned the paper to the other side, and the missing piece on the back was nothing more than a dull advertisement in the corner of a stockbroker. Luke leaned over his shoulder and asked, "What's with these things?" "It appears that this gentleman is interested in a boat." "Speaking of which, the law doesn't prohibit this!" Luke said.Spade folded the torn and crumpled pieces of newspaper and stuffed them in his coat pocket. "Have you checked everything here?" "Looked it up. Thanks, Luke. Will you call me when he gets back?" "Row." Spade went to the sales office of the Call, bought the next day's paper, turned to the sailing news column, and compared the paper with the one he took from the Cairo wastebasket. The part is this: 5:17am - Tahiti arrives from Sydney and Papeete 6:05 a.m. - The Merchant Mariner arrives from Astoria 8:07 a.m.—Cadopic arrives from San Pedro 8:17 a.m. - Shelvado arrives from San Pedro 8:05 a.m. - Pigeon arrives from Hong Kong 9:03 a.m. - The Daisy Gray arrives from Seattle He looked at the watch slowly, and after reading it, he drew a line under the word Hong Kong with his fingernail.I cut off this piece with the pocket knife, threw the rest of the newspaper and Cairo's scrap into the wastebasket, and went back to the office. He sat down at his desk, checked the phone book, and started calling. "Please pick up 1401 Kearney Street... Where did the 'Pigeon' arrive from Hong Kong yesterday morning?" he asked again. "thanks." He pressed the handset hook down with his thumb, released it a moment later, and said, "2020, please... Detectives, please... Is Inspector Paulus there... Thank you... Hi, Tom, I'm Sam Spade...Yes, I called you yesterday afternoon...Yes, would you like to have lunch with me...Yes." He held the receiver to his ear and pressed his thumb against the hook again. "170 Davenport Street, please... Hi, I'm Samuel Spade. My secretary got a call yesterday saying that Mr. Brian wants to see me, please ask him what Are you free? . . . Yes, Spade, Spade, Spade." A long time passed. "Right...2:30? OK, thank you." On the fifth call he said, "Hey, honey, can I speak to Sid? . . . Hey, Sid—this is Sam. The D.A. has an appointment at 2:30 this afternoon. Would you give me a call about four o'clock; see if I'm in trouble? . . . Your golfing business was blown on Saturday afternoon. Your job is to keep me out of jail . . . Yes, Sid, bye .” He pushed the phone away, yawned, stretched, touched his bruised temple, looked at his watch, rolled a cigarette, and lit it.He was smoking sleepily when Effie Perrine entered. When Effie came in, her face was full of spring, her eyes were bright, and her face was flushed. "Ted said there might be something about it," she reported, "he hoped there would be something about it. He said he wasn't an expert on the subject, but the names and dates are correct. At least the allusions and writings you mentioned didn't One is false. He's excited about it." "Very well, I hope he will not be too eager to find out the truth of the matter." "Oh, he won't—Ted's not that kind of guy. He's very good at these things." "Oh ho, goddamn Perrine's all great people," said Spade, "including you, ah, you've got a little soot on your nose." "His name isn't Perrine. His name is Christie." She looked down at her nose in the compact mirror. "I must have done it in the fire." She wiped the soot off with the corner of her handkerchief. "Have Perine and Christie set Berkeley on fire with their passion?" he asked. Powdering her nose with a round pink powder puff, she made a face at him. "One of the boats was on fire when I got back. They were pulling the boat out of the pier and the smoke was blowing onto our ferry." Spade put his hands on the armrests of the chair and hurriedly asked, "Are you close to that ship? Did you see the name of the ship?" "I see. 'The Pigeon'. What's the matter?" Spade smiled ruefully. "I wish I knew the reason, girl," he said.

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