Sam goes to lunch with the only police officer who's friendly with him- Tom Polhaus. Tom tells him that the murdered Thursby had a lengthy criminal record and used to work for a notorious Chicago gangster. He also tells Sam that they questioned Joe Cairo for a few hours but learned nothing and let him go. Sam realizes that Cairo lied to him about being held all night at the police station and wonders where he actually was. Later that day, Spade heads to his meeting with the District Attorney, who tries to get Sam to tell what he knows about Thursby's death. When Sam denies knowing anything, D.A. Bryan suggests that he is responsible for either Thrsby's or Miles' murder. Angered by this, Sam leaves without telling Bryan anything. Spade returns to the Belvedere Hotel and is told that Cairo has checked out. Later on, when he returns to the office, Sam tells Effie that he went to the La Paloma down at the pier. He found that Brigid had visited the Captain of the ship not long before it caught fire. By strange coincidence, Gutman, Cairo and Wilmer had also attended this little meeting on the ship. Spade has found out that around midnight, a shot was heard. The captain told the concerned night watchman that it was an accident and that no one had been hurt. The meeting broke up soon afterwards and not long after that, the fire was started. No one has seen the Captain since. As Sam is relating all this to Effie, there is a noise out in the hall, and a tall man stumbles into the office carrying a package. He tries to tell Spade something, but collapses and dies, and they realize that he's been shot multiple times. Sam pulls the wrappings off of the package the man had been carrying; it is the Maltese Falcon. Just at that moment the office telephone rings: it's Brigid, who says that she's at the Alexandria and in trouble. Suddenly her call is cut off. Sam instructs Effie to call the police and tell them what's happened, but not to mention the black bird. She asks Sam if he knows who the dead man is... he says that it is Captain Jacobi from the La Paloma. Then he rushes off in the direction of the Alexandria. On his way to the hotel, Sam stops at a transit terminal and checks the Falcon into the parcel room there. He then mails the collection tag to himself. After this he heads for the Alexandria and goes up to Brigid's room. No one is there except for a drugged and barely conscious girl who drowsily tells Sam that she is Rhea Gutman, Caspar Gutman's daughter. She then tells himthat Cairo and Wilmer have taken Brigid to another location and provides him with the address before lapsing into unconsciousness. Spade places an annonymous call to the hospital to let them know about the drugged girl, then heads for the address she gave him. When he arrives, it's to find the building unoccupied and looking like it hasn't been used in years. He begins to wonder if Rhea was scamming him. He returns to the Alexandria and asks the desk clerk about the Gutmans. The clerk says that someone called the hospital about a sick girl in their room, but when the ambulance arrived, no one was in the room. Even more convinced that he was tricked, Sam decides to go home. He finds Brigid waiting for him on the front steps. He lets her into his apartment, only to find he has more company: Gutman, Cairo, and Wilmer are there, armed and waiting for him.
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