Tropical Heat (1991–1993): Season 2, Episode 15 - Double Fault - full transcript
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- Repeat after me.
Wedding rings always leave tan lines.
Wedding rings always leave tan lines.
I will always run away from men
with necks the size of fire hydrants.
I will always run away from men
with necks the size of fire hydrants.
I will never...
Don't tell me I'm in the ladies' sauna.
Fair enough,
as long as you don't
tell me I'm in the men's.
- You don't mind sharing?
That depends,
what do you have in mind?
- Nothing.
I haven't seen you here before.
- Oh, actually I'm not
staying at the hotel.
I just live down at the beach.
I thought you had to be a guest
of the hotel to use the facilities.
- No, you just have to act like one.
I'm Nick.
Don't spoil it now.
- Spoil what?
The delicious anonymity.
Two ships in the night.
Strangers on a train.
Bodies in a sauna.
We could be anybody, or nobody at all.
- That's what I meant Nick Nobody.
You know I know an awful
lot about you already.
Oh?
- You're wearing a gold
passkey which means
you're staying at one
of the penthouse suites
and there's a cardiologist
convention at the hotel
so my guess is you're with
one of the bypass specialists
who's making six figures but
can't change his own underwear.
Close.
- What'd I leave out?
I don't wear any underwear.
- You mean, you're one of the?
Want to play doctor?
- Why do you have to be so sensitive?
Come on, you know I love you.
You know I take care of you.
I don't even look at
that manual build spunk.
You know, you're my baby, come on!
All you have to do is
work once in a while.
- Would you two rather be alone?
- I'm just trying to
get the pump to turn on.
- Have you tried blowing in its ear?
Always works for me.
- I'll remember that.
- I need more bait.
- I just gave you a a pail full.
- You've been giving me
pail fulls ever since
we left the dock, but I thought you said
they'd be jumping in these waters.
- You'll catch something,
I promise you okay?
10 t0 one the guy's eating the stuff.
- The boat's costing me 100 bucks an hour.
I want to see some fish.
- You're too tense.
They can feel it you know?
They're very sensitive.
You never watch Flipper?
- Flipper?
- Flipper.
- Hey I got a bite!
- All right, nice and steady.
See when captain Spider
promises fish, we get fish eh?
All right.
Nice and steady.
- What the hell?
- The last time I'm using that bait.
Good morning.
You're late.
- By whose definition?
- Webster, Greenwich,
the International Ladies
Garment Workers' Union,
take your pick.
- I went by the sauna.
- Trying to get the kinks
out of your neck again?
- That's right, now if only I
could get them out of my life.
- We have a paying case on the
off chance you're interested.
- Talk to me.
- The Maritime Insurance Company
called from Hartford, Connecticut.
They have a claim on a missing
boat that was registered
in Key Mariah and they
need a local to verify.
It's a fishing boat called Glenda's Dream.
- Wait a minute, we're supposed to prove
that something isn't here?
Who's running this insurance
company, zen Buddhists?
- They just want us to
poke around a little,
ask some questions, file a few reports.
- So call the captain.
With any luck, I won't
even have to leave my desk.
- Unfortunately, he's missing as well.
His wife is the one who filed the claim,
but they're not about to pay
unless they're sure it's legit.
- Insurance companies, you miss a payment
and they can't see you the next day
but you make a claim...
- They're paying us 500 a day.
- On the other hand, they are
the backbone of American business.
Plus 10% off life insurance.
- I don't believe in life insurance.
- Why not, everybody has to die.
- I don't believe in that, either.
- When are you going to
learn to plan for the future?
- Soon as I learn to plan for the present.
Now where is that address?
- Your problem is you think
you'll be young forever.
- No I don't, 30, 40 years, tops.
- Take my advice, get the life insurance.
- I remember the last
time I took your advice.
Stick with me, Nick, we'll
hobnob with the rich and famous.
We'll take no more of
these petty Annie cases.
- I don't pick the clients, Nick.
They pick us.
Now that should end, right now.
Hello.
- Hi, you remember me don't you?
Nick.
- Have we met before?
- Only in a dream.
We were both the size of swizzle sticks.
- My, how you've grown.
Mrs. Glenda Lee Haggerty?
- Yeah that's right.
- I'm Sylvie Girard and
this is Nick Slaughter
and we're here on behalf
of Maritime Life Insurance.
- Oh yeah, the insurance company.
- We got a few questions we would like
to ask you about the claim, may we?
- Of course.
- Thanks.
- Make yourself at home.
- That shouldn't be too difficult for you.
- Sorry about the mess, I've
had a lot on my mind lately.
Just put that stuff on
the floor, it's okay.
- I am at home.
- We'll try to make this
as painless as possible.
When was the last time you
saw your husband and the boat?
- The Friday before last.
He said he was only going to
be gone three or four days.
The marlin were running, so.
But then there was a storm and
I'm sure you know, all that.
- Did you believe that the boat
went down with Harry in it?
- Yeah, everybody told him
that boat was too damn old.
I mean why did he have to be so stubborn?
- Is this Harry here?
- Yeah you sound surprised.
- Well it's just that he seems a lot...
- Older?
Older, yeah.
- Well there are a few
years difference between us,
but doesn't really matter
when you love each other.
- So I take it you two got along.
- Well no one ever took
care of me like Harry did.
And he said that if anything
ever did happen to him
that I should take the insurance money
and start a whole new life.
- Have you been to the police yet?
- Yeah I've been to the police,
I've been to the Coast
Guard, I've been everywhere
and they keep saying they're
going to continue their search.
I know what that means.
- You think it's possible
that Harry might have
had a reason to just disappear?
I mean maybe he thought the fishing
was better in other waters.
- I don't know what you're
trying to say, Mr. Slaughter,
but Harry never would
have left without me.
I mean, no way.
He was crazy about me.
- Yeah well crazy people do crazy things.
- Have you contacted any
friends, talked to anybody?
- Oh no Harry didn't have many friends.
We had each other, that's all he needed.
- Pretty young girl like that,
what's she got to look forward to?
50 year old husband who
smells like sardines
and that's if she's lucky.
- Oh come on Nick, have you asked yourself
what she's doing at a
crummy place like this
married to a fisherman old
enough to be her father?
- You know what your problem is?
You're too damn cynical.
- Oh I wonder where I got that from.
- You see a pretty young
wife, a missing boat,
an insurance policy, and suddenly
you assume something fishy.
- Something's fishy.
- Well, I guess the obligatory 72 hour
mourning period is over.
- Now who's being cynical?
I wonder who that is.
- It's the number one reason
against life insurance.
- All right?
It's all right.
I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.
- Spider, there's a man's
head in that cooler.
Do you find that funny?
- Come on, can I be completely honest?
- Where's that Mr. Emile
who chartered your boat?
- Well I took the liberty of telling him
he could go back to Chicago
and he might stand a chance of having
his fishing license suspended.
- No wonder you were thrown
out of more tournaments
than any other player in tennis history!
- Not sure if they're going
back to Attila the Hun...
- We need detailed charts on where
you were when you pulled it up.
- Charts.
- Yeah, charts, weasel.
You have an updated license
to operate a fishing boat?
- Oh you mean like an actual license?
- An actual license.
- I'll have those charts on
your desk within the hour.
- In the meantime, that
non-existent license is revoked.
- Nice cooler, where's the beach party?
- You two, that's all we need.
- Well along with a couple six packs,
maybe some potato salad.
- Don't forget the finger sandwiches.
- What's that smell in here?
- Nick, you are not
gonna believe this one.
- You two, wait outside.
- I guess this ain't a picnic after all.
- Not to the guy whose
head's in this cooler.
- You want to repeat that?
- Not if I can help it.
- Did you just say there's
a man's head in that cooler?
- Would I make something like that up?
- Yeah.
- Well the point is
that this time I didn't.
- I think I'm gonna be ill.
- You should smell the freezer on my boat.
- This is a murder investigation,
not a tea party, damn it!
- You know I think Carillo's right,
maybe we should come back another time.
- That's right, walk out
now that I might need you.
- First you say go, and now you say stay.
I think I had a date with you once.
- Recognize him?
- Oh my god, Nick you're
not gonna believe this.
- Yeah, can you imagine my surprise?
- Alas, poor Harry, I knew him well.
- Knock it off, who are you talking about?
- First you should brush up
on your Shakespeare, Gregory.
And then you should check
your missing person's list.
This head belongs to none
other than Harry Haggerty.
- The fisherman?
- Now I could play match the body parts
with you guys all day long.
- Oh so this is Harry's head.
- You knew him?
- No, but I feel a lot better
now that I know he's got a name.
- What do you know about this, Nick?
- No more than you do.
Glenda Haggerty sent her
husband out on a fishing trip
and apparently came back as bait.
- How do you know Haggerty had been found?
- We didn't.
- Then what are you doing here?
- Somebody ran into Nick's
jeep in the parking lot.
- You think you could run a check
on the license plate number?
- All right, I guess
this time I owe you one.
- I'm cursed, always have been.
Got screwed out of the French Open
by a line judge with
glaucoma and now this.
- You know I thought when I met Nick
I found the most egocentric
human being on this planet
but that was before I was
introduced to you, Spider.
- Thank you Sylvie, but
I'm not gonna feel better
'til Carillo gets off my back.
- You think you can find that spot again
where you pulled up the head?
- Hey, I have a nose for heads
but why should I go back there?
- You don't know Carillo.
Either you get back in his good graces
or your boat may never see
a paying customer again.
- So how do you figure helping you
is gonna get me in good with Carillo?
- We find out whoever
got between Harry's head
and the rest of 'em and Carillo's a hero
and guess who's gonna get all the credit?
- You, naturally.
- You can't con a con.
- No, but I can beat him upside his head.
- Whoa, did I say I wouldn't help?
- All right, get in the jeep.
I thought you said it got hit.
- It did get hit.
Where?
- It was a very small car.
- All right, less than a
nautical mile away here.
I remember that buoy.
- Spider, slow the boat down.
- I said we're still a mile away.
- Just do it!
Get down!
Where the hell did you get this?
Spider Garvin, all right take that.
Come on, there's not too much damage.
- I called the insurance company.
I told them that we found Harry,
but they still want us to find the boat.
I also told them that you
might be filing a claim.
- You know it's amazing,
I've had this boat
for all of seven weeks
now already I've pulled
a soggy head out of the
water and I've been used
as target practice for Mikhail's navy.
- You know when Nick
finds a body in fishnets
he prefers it alive and female.
- You know Nick, I don't
really have a polite way
to say this, maybe this
do, get out of my life!
- Hey you're not gonna blame me
for all this, are ya?
- Who asked me to take him out
to the place to find the head?
- Exactly, it's the head's fault.
- How can you blame the head?
- Hey don't start making sense
now, you have a rally going.
- Good luck to ya and may the surf gods
line your shorts with sand.
- Oh that's good.
- What the hell are you doing
with an uzi on board huh?
Or was there some change in
fishing technology that I'm unaware of?
- The boat came furnished.
- With an uzi?
- Guy I bought the boat from used to ply
some fairly dangerous
waters in the Amazon.
It was supposed to be
a conversation piece.
- I'd say it started a
heck of a conversation.
- Guess we're getting too close.
- Too close to what?
- To whatever it is
Haggerty lost his head over.
- You figure it out, that's your job.
- No, Nick's job is sex and indolence.
- Look, you want me off your boat?
You want me out of your life?
Fine, but if this was important enough
to start a gun battle to keep us away
from whatever it is that's down there,
I can guarantee these
guys are gonna be back
and you better have a lot of surprises
in that little cabin of yours.
- Just some foul language,
don't make me use it, Nick.
- Game, set, match.
- What did I do?
- Yes lieutenant, that's right, yes.
It's the last favor he'll ever ask.
Well, turns out Glenda's mystery man
isn't much of a mystery after all.
It's Harry the head's son, Harry Junior.
- And that puts all
your suspicions to rest?
- Oh come on Nick, the boy
assumes his father's lost at sea
and he's just trying to
comfort the stepmother.
- Maybe I just have a dirty mind.
- Maybe, not all great Neptune's ocean
could wash the filth from that brain.
- Thank you lady Macbeth.
You're just angry because I used
your pantyhose to strain spaghetti.
- Hope I'm not interrupting.
- I hope you are.
- Lisa McGrath, Maritime Insurance.
Oh we weren't
expecting a personal visit.
- Speak for yourself.
- If there's any suspicion
of fraud or malfeasance
when there's a death
involved, the home office
dispatches an investigator.
- You don't look like the usual
insurance investigators that I'm used to.
- You don't look like the PIs I'm used to.
- Well, this should be a novel experience
for the both of you.
- I should tell you that the first time
we tried to find this
boat, we were shot at
by someone who's trying
to do a hell of a lot
more than just scare us off.
- I wish I could say I was surprised.
- I don't understand.
Your office said this was a
routine case of a missing boat.
- That's before we found out
its owner was decapitated
and that his wife was
holding a high end policy
with a double indemnity clause.
- Ah, then I suspect we
should rule out suicide.
Self-decapitation is not
usually the method of choice.
- I thought you just insured the boats.
- Look us up, we didn't get into
the state's top five covering dinghies.
- No I wouldn't think so.
Forgive me, Ms. McGrath but
if there's anything else
that you know that we don't, anything,
this is not the time
to be keeping secrets.
500 bucks a day is not worth dying for.
- Harry Haggerty had a criminal record.
Check hiding, petty theft,
both in the mid '80s,
nothing monumental, but if you're an
insurance investigator it's
enough to make you itch.
- I'm a great scratcher.
- I would like you to
focus your investigation
on the deceased widow and his son.
- Harry Junior?
- They each stand to receive
an excess of $300,000.
Under the terms of the policy the payments
are to be made within
two days of confirmation.
- That's two days from now.
- The odd thing is, Harry Junior hasn't
come forward to collect, and we haven't
been able to reach him by phone.
- Have you asked Mrs. Haggerty?
- She said she'd ask him to contact us.
- And what about our
adventure on the high seas?
- I'll take that up with
the local constabulary.
In the meantime, don't disappoint me.
I have a reputation at Maritime to uphold.
I always get my man.
- You don't sell policies do you?
- Sorry why?
- I think Nick's ready to buy one.
- Only if she gives the physical.
Just a joke.
- Just happened to be in the
right place at the right time.
Which is more than I can
say for Harry, poor guy.
So, got enough for your story now?
Oh just about to get into
a triple margarita here.
No, mixing, mixing.
Of course there's a real head.
Would I lie to you?
No, no, no, no, Spider Garvin,
owner of the Tropical Heat bar.
Make sure you get that in there.
- Hi Spider.
- Hi, that's the fifth
call I've had today.
Nobody remembers me,
nobody cares that I came
within one stormy affair
of winning Wimbledon.
Just the guy who found Harry's head.
Harry's head!
- How'd you make out on Harry Junior?
- Oh well there's probably a good reason
why he's not in the phone book.
He was evicted from his last apartment,
and he left a $300 phone tab.
- So I take it you found him.
- Hey, I'm the guy who found the only
bobbing head in the straits of Florida.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure
there are that many
straits left in Florida.
- Spider, would you stop babbling
and tell me where we can find him?
- He owns a dress service on
Mariah Plains Road for hunters.
- A what?
- A dress service.
You kill something, he cuts it,
packs it, freezes it.
- How you doing?
Harry Haggerty junior?
- Who wants to know?
- Nick Slaughter.
- Catchy name.
What can I chop into
bite size pieces for ya?
I got a special on gator.
- I'm not a hunter.
- Roadkill, I personally guarantee
that you won't have to pick
chrome out of your T bones.
- Actually I'm here to
talk about your father.
- Ah, the insurance company
yeah, Glenda was telling me.
- Guess you won't be carving
up carcasses anymore huh?
- I beg your pardon?
- The insurance.
- Oh yes, the insurance
was my father's idea.
I guess he just wanted to make sure
that wife and son were provided for.
I'll believe that money when I see it.
- You get along with Harry?
- My father.
- Doesn't exactly answer my question.
- We had our differences.
He's a Pisces and well, I'm a Taurus.
- Ah, the age old battle
between fish and meat.
So what, you only got together on Fridays?
- He thought I was a screw up and a bum.
- You know any reason why somebody
might want to kill your father?
- I gotcha.
A man takes out a life insurance policy
and when he dies tragically, his wife
and kid try to make good on it,
collect the policy, they're
accused of doing him in.
I don't think I've
accused you of anything yet.
- What do you want, Slaughter?
- Your father had
excellent taste in women.
- You leave Glenda out of this.
- Sorry pal, no can do.
You both got answers, and I want them.
- If you try dragging Glenda into this,
I'll tear you apart.
- Meat rending seems to be your specialty.
Come on, I didn't mean it.
- I'm gonna have your job for this, man.
- I don't think so.
- Then it's gonna cost you your face.
- Easy, easy.
The good news is you win round one.
The bad news is there are 11 more to go.
I told you she was going to The Dogs.
- A little world weary
maybe, but I wouldn't
go as far to say that.
- I meant the bar, The Dogs.
- Admit it you've been wanting
to say that joke for a long time.
- Well well, what's a nice girl like that
doing in a place like this?
- Well, maybe the place nice to choose.
- Maybe.
- To what do I owe this honor, Nick?
- I like the way you water your drinks.
- Don't get smart with me.
- The day I get smart is the day I stop
hanging around dives like this.
Oh now can we skip the French lesson?
- Too bad, it's one of my best.
- Am I missing something here?
- Yes.
But I won't hold it against you.
- Please don't.
- Rupert, I don't know if
you read the fishing reports.
Seems that yesterday a man's
head showed up in a net.
Used to belong to a guy named
Harry Haggerty, fisherman.
- A fisherman.
If Harry had to live
on what he made fishing
he would have starved a long time ago.
- Well how did he make his living?
- Harry was a taxi driver.
- A cabbie?
- No it's a term used by some
of the guys down on the docks.
Captain rents out his
boat, no questions asked.
- Exactly, he made pickups and deliveries
and never looked in the back seat.
- So what was his cargo this time?
- Maybe you should ask the grieving widow.
- What the hell is she doing here anyway?
- I hand out drinks to my
customers, no questions asked.
But since she's sitting with John Stango,
I assume she's doing a little banking.
- He doesn't look like a banker to me.
- More business is done under my table
than at the first savings and loan.
- Wonder if he hands
out free toasters, too.
- I don't know what you're
talking about, so help me.
Harry never told me anything.
Not about where the money came from.
But you can trust me, I swear.
- We both know he wasn't that smart.
- You killed him, didn't you?
- No, did you?
- I shouldn't even come here.
That $25,000 you talked
about was just a lie.
- 25,000 is real, a hell of a lot
more real than that insurance money.
You could be an old lady
by the time that gets here.
- What do you want?
- Whoever whacked Harry walked
or sailed off with something
that belongs to me.
- Well maybe you should
talk to the sharks.
- I thought I was.
Oh!
- I'm a patient woman, Mr. Slaughter.
Glenda Haggerty's payment is
to be made within 24 hours
and so far you aren't able to tell me
whether the Glenda's Dream ever went down
or if Harry Haggerty was even murdered.
- I don't know what's in
your job description lady,
but mine does not include being shot at,
run down, or verbally abused.
- Actually, verbal abuse
is in your contract.
- Now if you'll just
listen for half a minute,
we got a lot to tell you.
- I'm listening.
- Good, I'm talking.
One, Harry Haggerty was way beyond
the small time garbage in his rap sheet.
He was moving contraband for hire.
- So you think he was
murdered for this contraband?
- For now it's a good operational theory.
Harry's widow was out last
night with a high stakes goon
named Johnny Stango and
from where I was sitting
it didn't look like they came to terms.
- Well it certainly didn't
look like a date to me.
- What about Harry Junior?
- Oh he's a real charmer.
He'll carve up your alligator
into meat stew while you wait.
- Nothing much in his past except
a couple of poaching violations.
- But he recently bought a new egg timer.
- Can't you be serious
for about five minutes?
- Oh I love a challenge.
He did as much as admit
that he and his father
didn't get along, but I
couldn't get a read on
whether anything was going on
between Harry Junior and Glenda.
- One thing we do know is that something
inspired Harry Senior to
take out the amount of
life insurance you would expect
from a business executive
and his 2.2 kids.
- I heard that the cops were gonna
take a run out to the buoy
where the head was found.
- I've asked to accompany
Lieutenant Carillo.
What's your next move?
- I think I should have a
little chat with Glenda.
She's got some splaining to
do about banking after hours.
- You've saved your job for
the moment, Mr. Slaughter.
- Yes, thank you oh munificent one!
I'm sorry, but my five minutes are up.
- Gentlemen, for a modest investment
of $10,000 you could be
in on the ground floor
of what may well be the greatest
merchandising move since sea monkeys.
My friends, my shrewd, savvy,
know a good thing when I
see one future partners,
let me introduce to you...
Ta-dah, Harry's head.
Imagine, Harry's head on toy shelves
and dashboards across America.
Kids love this stuff.
Yeah it's blood and guts
I know, but it's cute!
Can you see it?
Okay, I know what you're thinking, sure.
We could sell a million of these
Harry's head dolls, but what then?
Gentlemen, this puppy is just the start.
Harry's head t-shirts,
Harry's head designer jeans,
Harry's head lawn furniture!
Picture it, the cover of Time Magazine,
America loses its head over Harry.
Come on!
And then there's the three of us
covered in $100 bills, sitting
on huge bean bag chairs
with the face of Harry
stitched right onto 'em.
Eh?
This shrunken head is gonna be big, big!
- Someone that's been
messing with Johnny Stango
you opened the door up pretty quickly.
- Well I was expecting someone.
- Yeah I bet you were.
- Harry's gone, so there's really
nothing else to keep me here.
- But you thought you'd check
under the rug just in case.
- What's that supposed to mean?
- I was at The Dogs last night when you
dry cleaned Johnny Stango's
shirt with your martini
and what I'd like to know for starters is
what the hell is going on?
- Look, Harry
wanted desperately to be a good provider.
Even if it meant stepping
outside of the law.
- So you knew he was a smuggler?
- He wasn't a smuggler, he
just looked the other way.
Other people did the smuggling.
- People like Johnny Stango.
- I don't know who the names were.
I don't know any of the details about it.
All I know is every now and then
I got a trinket or a night on the town.
I mean Harry had big plans
and people just never
paid him what they promised.
- So why were you meeting with Stango?
- Because he told me that he owed Harry
$25,000 from the last trip.
And he wanted to make good on it.
- And you believed that?
- Yeah.
And then when I got
there he said that Harry
was holding out on him and
that he stole from him,
and that's why he had to die.
- He actually admitted he killed Harry?
- Well not in so many words, no.
- So what does Stango want from you?
- He was positive that
I had his merchandise.
I couldn't even convince him I didn't
know what he was talking about.
- Not so sure I'm convinced, either.
- Look, why don't you just get
the hell out of here, okay?
- Any idea where you're going?
- Yeah, someplace safe.
- Oh, 300 grand ought to
buy a little security.
- You know you make it
sound like blood money.
- Oh no, no, you earned it by marriage.
The blood money goes to Harry Junior.
- You have no idea what it's like
to lose someone close to you.
- My mother walked out on me
when I was eight years old.
- Well I think you'd be a
little more sympathetic.
- I don't get paid to
be sympathetic, lady.
- That's obvious.
- You know it's ironic, Glenda.
- Look, I asked you to leave okay?
- If dear, departed Harry
really was murdered,
the insurance company will
pay double indemnity unless,
oh but that's too preposterous
even to consider isn't it?
Unless the beneficiary
is actually the murderer.
- Shut up okay?
- 300,000 is lots of
motivation, isn't it Glenda?
- Shut up okay, get out!
- Oh by the way, if I were you
I'd take a couple hours and read Hamlet.
You're not gonna like
the way it turns out.
- Half a day with underwater video
and the most sophisticated
sound equipment on the island.
- And nothing?
- What do you expect?
- It's a big ocean out there, Nick.
- What about the coroner's report?
- What about Stango?
- Hey, we told you everything we know.
Anything else, we're
gonna be making it up.
- That insurance broad
give me the willies.
She damn near drove me crazy
with all those questions.
You can pass along all this to her.
- The suspense is killing me.
- Sure wish something would.
- May I?
Thanks.
Decapitation was effected
using a serrated knife
or hacksaw after death.
- Well I guess that
rules out shark attack.
- Time of death approximately
5:00am in the morning
Harry was supposed to have returned home.
- Keep on reading.
- There were traces of
human skin in the mouth.
Skin which does not
genetically match the victim's.
- What the hell is this?
Now we got cannibalism
to add to the party?
- Not quite.
Coroner thinks he may have bitten
the assailant during the struggle.
- Has a skin sample been typed yet?
- He wants to send it along
with the head down to Miami
for the DNA work.
- Then the killer may have teeth marks
somewhere in his or her anatomy.
- Gotta be some reason why poor Harry
was chewing on somebody before he died.
- Anyway, tell Spider
thanks for the charts.
Too bad we couldn't use them.
- Who is it?
- It's me.
You weren't sleeping were you?
- No, just dreaming.
I thought you said tomorrow morning.
- I did, but I thought this may
give me a jump start on things.
Is that the coroner's report?
- Yeah, I made a copy for ya.
- What I still can't
understand is what ever
happened to Harry Haggerty's boat?
- I was just asking
myself the same question.
Come here.
Now, this is the spot where
you and Carillo were searching
but he made the mistake of searching
in the area where Spider found the head.
No one thought of the currents.
See, from the time of death
that the coroner fixed,
by the time that Spider actually
found the head, many hours had passed.
- Go on.
- So I checked with the Coast Guard.
The prevailing current was
10 knots north by northeast
which means you should have
been checking way over here.
- It's brilliant.
- Yeah.
So, first light tomorrow Spider
and I will scour the entire area.
Would you like a drink?
- Yes, I mean if it's
not too much trouble.
- Oh that depends on
whether you like ice or not.
- Two fingers, straight up.
- Perfect.
- It's not just Glenda's
Dream you're after, is it?
- No, it's whatever the
hell went down with it
that's causing all this insanity.
- If anything should
happen to you, Nick I...
- You won't have anybody
else to rake over the coals.
- Actually I, I wanted to apologize.
I'm afraid I may have misjudged you.
- Won't be the first time.
I mean, for me.
- This case is very important to me.
There could be a promotion waiting
at the end of this tunnel.
- Or a freight train.
- Well I just wanted to say thanks.
Thanks for the commitment.
- Sylvie always swore I'd be
committed sooner or later.
- Well anyway, I am sorry.
I've never been very good
at this sort of thing.
I know that's not very professional.
- I beg to differ.
- Harry's head was stolen?
- The coroner's assistant was
preparing it for shipping to Miami.
He was cold cocked and
the head disappeared
along with all the frozen sections.
- Well I want you to
make sure Carillo's boys
are staking out Johnny Stango.
- Actually Carillo's one
step ahead of you this time,
except Stango didn't show
up at his place last night.
Whether they find it or not,
Harry's head is now officially legend.
- Seems almost a patriotic
duty to exploit it huh?
- Exactly.
Wouldn't be right if Harry
had lost his life for nothing.
- You're a sick man Spider.
- Ah well.
Hey Nick I think I got something here.
- What?
- Looks about the right
size to be Glenda's dream.
- Let's go.
Let's do it.
You okay?
- Yeah I'm okay.
Only I'm going back to
body surfing in a second.
- There must have been
20 kilos down there huh?
Oh well, if it isn't Mr. Banker, huh?
What a surprise.
- You got nothing on me.
- Is that right?
On the contrary, I got plenty
on you including this knife.
- You rented Haggerty's boat
to pick up a shipment offshore
only Haggerty got wise and he wanted a cut
and instead you cut the
poor bastard's head off.
- You don't know what
you're talking about.
- You got in the dinghy,
you headed back to shore
thinking you could go
back and pick up the drugs
when everything cooled down, right?
Didn't ya?
- I didn't kill anybody.
- What do you think, Nick?
I ought to just drift him.
- I believe him.
What time is it?
- Why, you got a date?
- No, the insurance check was supposed
to be delivered by three.
- Which puts the merry widow about
15 minutes away from being rich.
- Not if I can help it.
Have a nice swim.
Well, just in time to say bon voyage.
- Mr. Slaughter.
- We wanted to make sure
you heard right away.
We know who it is who killed your husband.
- Thank god.
- Your friend from The
Dogs is quite a swimmer.
We bumped into him at 10 fathoms.
We had a wonderful conversation
with him at knife point.
The police should have him by now.
- Along with 20 kilos of cocaine.
- So in the end it was just
another drug deal gone bad.
- Well we all make mistakes.
We better get going.
- Yeah.
- Of course now I really
do know who did it.
It was you, Harry.
You killed your own father.
- Yeah right.
- You must have really hated the hold man.
Or did you simply love Glenda more?
- You're crazy.
- I'd be very careful
Harry, if I were you.
I'd do the push ups,
buy the wrinkle creams,
she doesn't like 'em old.
They get old and it's
off with their heads.
Of course you know about that now.
- Shut up.
- Give it up, Harry.
Nick found the butcher's saw in the boat.
- The one that matches
the set in your shop.
Now I wonder what we'd find
if we took a look in your meat grinder?
You took the slides and the head
and tried to destroy all the evidence.
- You don't have to answer them Harry.
- She's right, Harry.
Don't say a word, just take the fall
yourself and leave her in the clear.
- They're bluffing.
- Bluffing?
I don't have to bluff, do I Harry?
How long do you think
it's gonna take the cops
to find the teeth marks
your father left on you huh?
- It was all her idea.
She dreamt up the whole damn thing.
- What a surprise.
- You don't think you could
convince a jury about all this?
- I'm not gonna have to.
I think Harry here is smart enough
to do the talking for both of us.
So, what do you say we all go for a ride?
- Bad taste?
Come on, bad taste sells.
I've got a manufacturer
lined up in Hong Kong
ready to produce 100,000
Harry's heads a month!
Soon as I line up the capital
I'm gonna be a rich man.
- All right, all right,
put me down for one.
I guess I'm just a sentimental old fool.
- You just want a million of these.
- My boss came through
with that promotion.
I couldn't have done it without you, Nick.
- You gonna put in a good word for me
when I hit Maritime for hazard pay?
- That depends, I don't think so.
- Well how about an umbrella policy?
I have a tendency to lose mine.
- I'm gonna miss you, Nick.
- You know if it weren't for the drugs,
I might almost feel sorry for Stango.
I mean he had the deal of a lifetime
and it all went down the tubes
'cause of the love triangle.
- He should've known crime doesn't pay.
Unless you keep up your premium.
- Do I detect a note of loathing?
- You see, I'm learning.
- I hate to interrupt.
- Yeah, sure you do.
- But if I were ever to
convince Nick of life insurance,
what would the rates be like?
- That depends.
What kind of bad habits do you have?
- Bad habits?
- Allow me to demonstrate.
- Nick.
---
- Repeat after me.
Wedding rings always leave tan lines.
Wedding rings always leave tan lines.
I will always run away from men
with necks the size of fire hydrants.
I will always run away from men
with necks the size of fire hydrants.
I will never...
Don't tell me I'm in the ladies' sauna.
Fair enough,
as long as you don't
tell me I'm in the men's.
- You don't mind sharing?
That depends,
what do you have in mind?
- Nothing.
I haven't seen you here before.
- Oh, actually I'm not
staying at the hotel.
I just live down at the beach.
I thought you had to be a guest
of the hotel to use the facilities.
- No, you just have to act like one.
I'm Nick.
Don't spoil it now.
- Spoil what?
The delicious anonymity.
Two ships in the night.
Strangers on a train.
Bodies in a sauna.
We could be anybody, or nobody at all.
- That's what I meant Nick Nobody.
You know I know an awful
lot about you already.
Oh?
- You're wearing a gold
passkey which means
you're staying at one
of the penthouse suites
and there's a cardiologist
convention at the hotel
so my guess is you're with
one of the bypass specialists
who's making six figures but
can't change his own underwear.
Close.
- What'd I leave out?
I don't wear any underwear.
- You mean, you're one of the?
Want to play doctor?
- Why do you have to be so sensitive?
Come on, you know I love you.
You know I take care of you.
I don't even look at
that manual build spunk.
You know, you're my baby, come on!
All you have to do is
work once in a while.
- Would you two rather be alone?
- I'm just trying to
get the pump to turn on.
- Have you tried blowing in its ear?
Always works for me.
- I'll remember that.
- I need more bait.
- I just gave you a a pail full.
- You've been giving me
pail fulls ever since
we left the dock, but I thought you said
they'd be jumping in these waters.
- You'll catch something,
I promise you okay?
10 t0 one the guy's eating the stuff.
- The boat's costing me 100 bucks an hour.
I want to see some fish.
- You're too tense.
They can feel it you know?
They're very sensitive.
You never watch Flipper?
- Flipper?
- Flipper.
- Hey I got a bite!
- All right, nice and steady.
See when captain Spider
promises fish, we get fish eh?
All right.
Nice and steady.
- What the hell?
- The last time I'm using that bait.
Good morning.
You're late.
- By whose definition?
- Webster, Greenwich,
the International Ladies
Garment Workers' Union,
take your pick.
- I went by the sauna.
- Trying to get the kinks
out of your neck again?
- That's right, now if only I
could get them out of my life.
- We have a paying case on the
off chance you're interested.
- Talk to me.
- The Maritime Insurance Company
called from Hartford, Connecticut.
They have a claim on a missing
boat that was registered
in Key Mariah and they
need a local to verify.
It's a fishing boat called Glenda's Dream.
- Wait a minute, we're supposed to prove
that something isn't here?
Who's running this insurance
company, zen Buddhists?
- They just want us to
poke around a little,
ask some questions, file a few reports.
- So call the captain.
With any luck, I won't
even have to leave my desk.
- Unfortunately, he's missing as well.
His wife is the one who filed the claim,
but they're not about to pay
unless they're sure it's legit.
- Insurance companies, you miss a payment
and they can't see you the next day
but you make a claim...
- They're paying us 500 a day.
- On the other hand, they are
the backbone of American business.
Plus 10% off life insurance.
- I don't believe in life insurance.
- Why not, everybody has to die.
- I don't believe in that, either.
- When are you going to
learn to plan for the future?
- Soon as I learn to plan for the present.
Now where is that address?
- Your problem is you think
you'll be young forever.
- No I don't, 30, 40 years, tops.
- Take my advice, get the life insurance.
- I remember the last
time I took your advice.
Stick with me, Nick, we'll
hobnob with the rich and famous.
We'll take no more of
these petty Annie cases.
- I don't pick the clients, Nick.
They pick us.
Now that should end, right now.
Hello.
- Hi, you remember me don't you?
Nick.
- Have we met before?
- Only in a dream.
We were both the size of swizzle sticks.
- My, how you've grown.
Mrs. Glenda Lee Haggerty?
- Yeah that's right.
- I'm Sylvie Girard and
this is Nick Slaughter
and we're here on behalf
of Maritime Life Insurance.
- Oh yeah, the insurance company.
- We got a few questions we would like
to ask you about the claim, may we?
- Of course.
- Thanks.
- Make yourself at home.
- That shouldn't be too difficult for you.
- Sorry about the mess, I've
had a lot on my mind lately.
Just put that stuff on
the floor, it's okay.
- I am at home.
- We'll try to make this
as painless as possible.
When was the last time you
saw your husband and the boat?
- The Friday before last.
He said he was only going to
be gone three or four days.
The marlin were running, so.
But then there was a storm and
I'm sure you know, all that.
- Did you believe that the boat
went down with Harry in it?
- Yeah, everybody told him
that boat was too damn old.
I mean why did he have to be so stubborn?
- Is this Harry here?
- Yeah you sound surprised.
- Well it's just that he seems a lot...
- Older?
Older, yeah.
- Well there are a few
years difference between us,
but doesn't really matter
when you love each other.
- So I take it you two got along.
- Well no one ever took
care of me like Harry did.
And he said that if anything
ever did happen to him
that I should take the insurance money
and start a whole new life.
- Have you been to the police yet?
- Yeah I've been to the police,
I've been to the Coast
Guard, I've been everywhere
and they keep saying they're
going to continue their search.
I know what that means.
- You think it's possible
that Harry might have
had a reason to just disappear?
I mean maybe he thought the fishing
was better in other waters.
- I don't know what you're
trying to say, Mr. Slaughter,
but Harry never would
have left without me.
I mean, no way.
He was crazy about me.
- Yeah well crazy people do crazy things.
- Have you contacted any
friends, talked to anybody?
- Oh no Harry didn't have many friends.
We had each other, that's all he needed.
- Pretty young girl like that,
what's she got to look forward to?
50 year old husband who
smells like sardines
and that's if she's lucky.
- Oh come on Nick, have you asked yourself
what she's doing at a
crummy place like this
married to a fisherman old
enough to be her father?
- You know what your problem is?
You're too damn cynical.
- Oh I wonder where I got that from.
- You see a pretty young
wife, a missing boat,
an insurance policy, and suddenly
you assume something fishy.
- Something's fishy.
- Well, I guess the obligatory 72 hour
mourning period is over.
- Now who's being cynical?
I wonder who that is.
- It's the number one reason
against life insurance.
- All right?
It's all right.
I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.
- Spider, there's a man's
head in that cooler.
Do you find that funny?
- Come on, can I be completely honest?
- Where's that Mr. Emile
who chartered your boat?
- Well I took the liberty of telling him
he could go back to Chicago
and he might stand a chance of having
his fishing license suspended.
- No wonder you were thrown
out of more tournaments
than any other player in tennis history!
- Not sure if they're going
back to Attila the Hun...
- We need detailed charts on where
you were when you pulled it up.
- Charts.
- Yeah, charts, weasel.
You have an updated license
to operate a fishing boat?
- Oh you mean like an actual license?
- An actual license.
- I'll have those charts on
your desk within the hour.
- In the meantime, that
non-existent license is revoked.
- Nice cooler, where's the beach party?
- You two, that's all we need.
- Well along with a couple six packs,
maybe some potato salad.
- Don't forget the finger sandwiches.
- What's that smell in here?
- Nick, you are not
gonna believe this one.
- You two, wait outside.
- I guess this ain't a picnic after all.
- Not to the guy whose
head's in this cooler.
- You want to repeat that?
- Not if I can help it.
- Did you just say there's
a man's head in that cooler?
- Would I make something like that up?
- Yeah.
- Well the point is
that this time I didn't.
- I think I'm gonna be ill.
- You should smell the freezer on my boat.
- This is a murder investigation,
not a tea party, damn it!
- You know I think Carillo's right,
maybe we should come back another time.
- That's right, walk out
now that I might need you.
- First you say go, and now you say stay.
I think I had a date with you once.
- Recognize him?
- Oh my god, Nick you're
not gonna believe this.
- Yeah, can you imagine my surprise?
- Alas, poor Harry, I knew him well.
- Knock it off, who are you talking about?
- First you should brush up
on your Shakespeare, Gregory.
And then you should check
your missing person's list.
This head belongs to none
other than Harry Haggerty.
- The fisherman?
- Now I could play match the body parts
with you guys all day long.
- Oh so this is Harry's head.
- You knew him?
- No, but I feel a lot better
now that I know he's got a name.
- What do you know about this, Nick?
- No more than you do.
Glenda Haggerty sent her
husband out on a fishing trip
and apparently came back as bait.
- How do you know Haggerty had been found?
- We didn't.
- Then what are you doing here?
- Somebody ran into Nick's
jeep in the parking lot.
- You think you could run a check
on the license plate number?
- All right, I guess
this time I owe you one.
- I'm cursed, always have been.
Got screwed out of the French Open
by a line judge with
glaucoma and now this.
- You know I thought when I met Nick
I found the most egocentric
human being on this planet
but that was before I was
introduced to you, Spider.
- Thank you Sylvie, but
I'm not gonna feel better
'til Carillo gets off my back.
- You think you can find that spot again
where you pulled up the head?
- Hey, I have a nose for heads
but why should I go back there?
- You don't know Carillo.
Either you get back in his good graces
or your boat may never see
a paying customer again.
- So how do you figure helping you
is gonna get me in good with Carillo?
- We find out whoever
got between Harry's head
and the rest of 'em and Carillo's a hero
and guess who's gonna get all the credit?
- You, naturally.
- You can't con a con.
- No, but I can beat him upside his head.
- Whoa, did I say I wouldn't help?
- All right, get in the jeep.
I thought you said it got hit.
- It did get hit.
Where?
- It was a very small car.
- All right, less than a
nautical mile away here.
I remember that buoy.
- Spider, slow the boat down.
- I said we're still a mile away.
- Just do it!
Get down!
Where the hell did you get this?
Spider Garvin, all right take that.
Come on, there's not too much damage.
- I called the insurance company.
I told them that we found Harry,
but they still want us to find the boat.
I also told them that you
might be filing a claim.
- You know it's amazing,
I've had this boat
for all of seven weeks
now already I've pulled
a soggy head out of the
water and I've been used
as target practice for Mikhail's navy.
- You know when Nick
finds a body in fishnets
he prefers it alive and female.
- You know Nick, I don't
really have a polite way
to say this, maybe this
do, get out of my life!
- Hey you're not gonna blame me
for all this, are ya?
- Who asked me to take him out
to the place to find the head?
- Exactly, it's the head's fault.
- How can you blame the head?
- Hey don't start making sense
now, you have a rally going.
- Good luck to ya and may the surf gods
line your shorts with sand.
- Oh that's good.
- What the hell are you doing
with an uzi on board huh?
Or was there some change in
fishing technology that I'm unaware of?
- The boat came furnished.
- With an uzi?
- Guy I bought the boat from used to ply
some fairly dangerous
waters in the Amazon.
It was supposed to be
a conversation piece.
- I'd say it started a
heck of a conversation.
- Guess we're getting too close.
- Too close to what?
- To whatever it is
Haggerty lost his head over.
- You figure it out, that's your job.
- No, Nick's job is sex and indolence.
- Look, you want me off your boat?
You want me out of your life?
Fine, but if this was important enough
to start a gun battle to keep us away
from whatever it is that's down there,
I can guarantee these
guys are gonna be back
and you better have a lot of surprises
in that little cabin of yours.
- Just some foul language,
don't make me use it, Nick.
- Game, set, match.
- What did I do?
- Yes lieutenant, that's right, yes.
It's the last favor he'll ever ask.
Well, turns out Glenda's mystery man
isn't much of a mystery after all.
It's Harry the head's son, Harry Junior.
- And that puts all
your suspicions to rest?
- Oh come on Nick, the boy
assumes his father's lost at sea
and he's just trying to
comfort the stepmother.
- Maybe I just have a dirty mind.
- Maybe, not all great Neptune's ocean
could wash the filth from that brain.
- Thank you lady Macbeth.
You're just angry because I used
your pantyhose to strain spaghetti.
- Hope I'm not interrupting.
- I hope you are.
- Lisa McGrath, Maritime Insurance.
Oh we weren't
expecting a personal visit.
- Speak for yourself.
- If there's any suspicion
of fraud or malfeasance
when there's a death
involved, the home office
dispatches an investigator.
- You don't look like the usual
insurance investigators that I'm used to.
- You don't look like the PIs I'm used to.
- Well, this should be a novel experience
for the both of you.
- I should tell you that the first time
we tried to find this
boat, we were shot at
by someone who's trying
to do a hell of a lot
more than just scare us off.
- I wish I could say I was surprised.
- I don't understand.
Your office said this was a
routine case of a missing boat.
- That's before we found out
its owner was decapitated
and that his wife was
holding a high end policy
with a double indemnity clause.
- Ah, then I suspect we
should rule out suicide.
Self-decapitation is not
usually the method of choice.
- I thought you just insured the boats.
- Look us up, we didn't get into
the state's top five covering dinghies.
- No I wouldn't think so.
Forgive me, Ms. McGrath but
if there's anything else
that you know that we don't, anything,
this is not the time
to be keeping secrets.
500 bucks a day is not worth dying for.
- Harry Haggerty had a criminal record.
Check hiding, petty theft,
both in the mid '80s,
nothing monumental, but if you're an
insurance investigator it's
enough to make you itch.
- I'm a great scratcher.
- I would like you to
focus your investigation
on the deceased widow and his son.
- Harry Junior?
- They each stand to receive
an excess of $300,000.
Under the terms of the policy the payments
are to be made within
two days of confirmation.
- That's two days from now.
- The odd thing is, Harry Junior hasn't
come forward to collect, and we haven't
been able to reach him by phone.
- Have you asked Mrs. Haggerty?
- She said she'd ask him to contact us.
- And what about our
adventure on the high seas?
- I'll take that up with
the local constabulary.
In the meantime, don't disappoint me.
I have a reputation at Maritime to uphold.
I always get my man.
- You don't sell policies do you?
- Sorry why?
- I think Nick's ready to buy one.
- Only if she gives the physical.
Just a joke.
- Just happened to be in the
right place at the right time.
Which is more than I can
say for Harry, poor guy.
So, got enough for your story now?
Oh just about to get into
a triple margarita here.
No, mixing, mixing.
Of course there's a real head.
Would I lie to you?
No, no, no, no, Spider Garvin,
owner of the Tropical Heat bar.
Make sure you get that in there.
- Hi Spider.
- Hi, that's the fifth
call I've had today.
Nobody remembers me,
nobody cares that I came
within one stormy affair
of winning Wimbledon.
Just the guy who found Harry's head.
Harry's head!
- How'd you make out on Harry Junior?
- Oh well there's probably a good reason
why he's not in the phone book.
He was evicted from his last apartment,
and he left a $300 phone tab.
- So I take it you found him.
- Hey, I'm the guy who found the only
bobbing head in the straits of Florida.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure
there are that many
straits left in Florida.
- Spider, would you stop babbling
and tell me where we can find him?
- He owns a dress service on
Mariah Plains Road for hunters.
- A what?
- A dress service.
You kill something, he cuts it,
packs it, freezes it.
- How you doing?
Harry Haggerty junior?
- Who wants to know?
- Nick Slaughter.
- Catchy name.
What can I chop into
bite size pieces for ya?
I got a special on gator.
- I'm not a hunter.
- Roadkill, I personally guarantee
that you won't have to pick
chrome out of your T bones.
- Actually I'm here to
talk about your father.
- Ah, the insurance company
yeah, Glenda was telling me.
- Guess you won't be carving
up carcasses anymore huh?
- I beg your pardon?
- The insurance.
- Oh yes, the insurance
was my father's idea.
I guess he just wanted to make sure
that wife and son were provided for.
I'll believe that money when I see it.
- You get along with Harry?
- My father.
- Doesn't exactly answer my question.
- We had our differences.
He's a Pisces and well, I'm a Taurus.
- Ah, the age old battle
between fish and meat.
So what, you only got together on Fridays?
- He thought I was a screw up and a bum.
- You know any reason why somebody
might want to kill your father?
- I gotcha.
A man takes out a life insurance policy
and when he dies tragically, his wife
and kid try to make good on it,
collect the policy, they're
accused of doing him in.
I don't think I've
accused you of anything yet.
- What do you want, Slaughter?
- Your father had
excellent taste in women.
- You leave Glenda out of this.
- Sorry pal, no can do.
You both got answers, and I want them.
- If you try dragging Glenda into this,
I'll tear you apart.
- Meat rending seems to be your specialty.
Come on, I didn't mean it.
- I'm gonna have your job for this, man.
- I don't think so.
- Then it's gonna cost you your face.
- Easy, easy.
The good news is you win round one.
The bad news is there are 11 more to go.
I told you she was going to The Dogs.
- A little world weary
maybe, but I wouldn't
go as far to say that.
- I meant the bar, The Dogs.
- Admit it you've been wanting
to say that joke for a long time.
- Well well, what's a nice girl like that
doing in a place like this?
- Well, maybe the place nice to choose.
- Maybe.
- To what do I owe this honor, Nick?
- I like the way you water your drinks.
- Don't get smart with me.
- The day I get smart is the day I stop
hanging around dives like this.
Oh now can we skip the French lesson?
- Too bad, it's one of my best.
- Am I missing something here?
- Yes.
But I won't hold it against you.
- Please don't.
- Rupert, I don't know if
you read the fishing reports.
Seems that yesterday a man's
head showed up in a net.
Used to belong to a guy named
Harry Haggerty, fisherman.
- A fisherman.
If Harry had to live
on what he made fishing
he would have starved a long time ago.
- Well how did he make his living?
- Harry was a taxi driver.
- A cabbie?
- No it's a term used by some
of the guys down on the docks.
Captain rents out his
boat, no questions asked.
- Exactly, he made pickups and deliveries
and never looked in the back seat.
- So what was his cargo this time?
- Maybe you should ask the grieving widow.
- What the hell is she doing here anyway?
- I hand out drinks to my
customers, no questions asked.
But since she's sitting with John Stango,
I assume she's doing a little banking.
- He doesn't look like a banker to me.
- More business is done under my table
than at the first savings and loan.
- Wonder if he hands
out free toasters, too.
- I don't know what you're
talking about, so help me.
Harry never told me anything.
Not about where the money came from.
But you can trust me, I swear.
- We both know he wasn't that smart.
- You killed him, didn't you?
- No, did you?
- I shouldn't even come here.
That $25,000 you talked
about was just a lie.
- 25,000 is real, a hell of a lot
more real than that insurance money.
You could be an old lady
by the time that gets here.
- What do you want?
- Whoever whacked Harry walked
or sailed off with something
that belongs to me.
- Well maybe you should
talk to the sharks.
- I thought I was.
Oh!
- I'm a patient woman, Mr. Slaughter.
Glenda Haggerty's payment is
to be made within 24 hours
and so far you aren't able to tell me
whether the Glenda's Dream ever went down
or if Harry Haggerty was even murdered.
- I don't know what's in
your job description lady,
but mine does not include being shot at,
run down, or verbally abused.
- Actually, verbal abuse
is in your contract.
- Now if you'll just
listen for half a minute,
we got a lot to tell you.
- I'm listening.
- Good, I'm talking.
One, Harry Haggerty was way beyond
the small time garbage in his rap sheet.
He was moving contraband for hire.
- So you think he was
murdered for this contraband?
- For now it's a good operational theory.
Harry's widow was out last
night with a high stakes goon
named Johnny Stango and
from where I was sitting
it didn't look like they came to terms.
- Well it certainly didn't
look like a date to me.
- What about Harry Junior?
- Oh he's a real charmer.
He'll carve up your alligator
into meat stew while you wait.
- Nothing much in his past except
a couple of poaching violations.
- But he recently bought a new egg timer.
- Can't you be serious
for about five minutes?
- Oh I love a challenge.
He did as much as admit
that he and his father
didn't get along, but I
couldn't get a read on
whether anything was going on
between Harry Junior and Glenda.
- One thing we do know is that something
inspired Harry Senior to
take out the amount of
life insurance you would expect
from a business executive
and his 2.2 kids.
- I heard that the cops were gonna
take a run out to the buoy
where the head was found.
- I've asked to accompany
Lieutenant Carillo.
What's your next move?
- I think I should have a
little chat with Glenda.
She's got some splaining to
do about banking after hours.
- You've saved your job for
the moment, Mr. Slaughter.
- Yes, thank you oh munificent one!
I'm sorry, but my five minutes are up.
- Gentlemen, for a modest investment
of $10,000 you could be
in on the ground floor
of what may well be the greatest
merchandising move since sea monkeys.
My friends, my shrewd, savvy,
know a good thing when I
see one future partners,
let me introduce to you...
Ta-dah, Harry's head.
Imagine, Harry's head on toy shelves
and dashboards across America.
Kids love this stuff.
Yeah it's blood and guts
I know, but it's cute!
Can you see it?
Okay, I know what you're thinking, sure.
We could sell a million of these
Harry's head dolls, but what then?
Gentlemen, this puppy is just the start.
Harry's head t-shirts,
Harry's head designer jeans,
Harry's head lawn furniture!
Picture it, the cover of Time Magazine,
America loses its head over Harry.
Come on!
And then there's the three of us
covered in $100 bills, sitting
on huge bean bag chairs
with the face of Harry
stitched right onto 'em.
Eh?
This shrunken head is gonna be big, big!
- Someone that's been
messing with Johnny Stango
you opened the door up pretty quickly.
- Well I was expecting someone.
- Yeah I bet you were.
- Harry's gone, so there's really
nothing else to keep me here.
- But you thought you'd check
under the rug just in case.
- What's that supposed to mean?
- I was at The Dogs last night when you
dry cleaned Johnny Stango's
shirt with your martini
and what I'd like to know for starters is
what the hell is going on?
- Look, Harry
wanted desperately to be a good provider.
Even if it meant stepping
outside of the law.
- So you knew he was a smuggler?
- He wasn't a smuggler, he
just looked the other way.
Other people did the smuggling.
- People like Johnny Stango.
- I don't know who the names were.
I don't know any of the details about it.
All I know is every now and then
I got a trinket or a night on the town.
I mean Harry had big plans
and people just never
paid him what they promised.
- So why were you meeting with Stango?
- Because he told me that he owed Harry
$25,000 from the last trip.
And he wanted to make good on it.
- And you believed that?
- Yeah.
And then when I got
there he said that Harry
was holding out on him and
that he stole from him,
and that's why he had to die.
- He actually admitted he killed Harry?
- Well not in so many words, no.
- So what does Stango want from you?
- He was positive that
I had his merchandise.
I couldn't even convince him I didn't
know what he was talking about.
- Not so sure I'm convinced, either.
- Look, why don't you just get
the hell out of here, okay?
- Any idea where you're going?
- Yeah, someplace safe.
- Oh, 300 grand ought to
buy a little security.
- You know you make it
sound like blood money.
- Oh no, no, you earned it by marriage.
The blood money goes to Harry Junior.
- You have no idea what it's like
to lose someone close to you.
- My mother walked out on me
when I was eight years old.
- Well I think you'd be a
little more sympathetic.
- I don't get paid to
be sympathetic, lady.
- That's obvious.
- You know it's ironic, Glenda.
- Look, I asked you to leave okay?
- If dear, departed Harry
really was murdered,
the insurance company will
pay double indemnity unless,
oh but that's too preposterous
even to consider isn't it?
Unless the beneficiary
is actually the murderer.
- Shut up okay?
- 300,000 is lots of
motivation, isn't it Glenda?
- Shut up okay, get out!
- Oh by the way, if I were you
I'd take a couple hours and read Hamlet.
You're not gonna like
the way it turns out.
- Half a day with underwater video
and the most sophisticated
sound equipment on the island.
- And nothing?
- What do you expect?
- It's a big ocean out there, Nick.
- What about the coroner's report?
- What about Stango?
- Hey, we told you everything we know.
Anything else, we're
gonna be making it up.
- That insurance broad
give me the willies.
She damn near drove me crazy
with all those questions.
You can pass along all this to her.
- The suspense is killing me.
- Sure wish something would.
- May I?
Thanks.
Decapitation was effected
using a serrated knife
or hacksaw after death.
- Well I guess that
rules out shark attack.
- Time of death approximately
5:00am in the morning
Harry was supposed to have returned home.
- Keep on reading.
- There were traces of
human skin in the mouth.
Skin which does not
genetically match the victim's.
- What the hell is this?
Now we got cannibalism
to add to the party?
- Not quite.
Coroner thinks he may have bitten
the assailant during the struggle.
- Has a skin sample been typed yet?
- He wants to send it along
with the head down to Miami
for the DNA work.
- Then the killer may have teeth marks
somewhere in his or her anatomy.
- Gotta be some reason why poor Harry
was chewing on somebody before he died.
- Anyway, tell Spider
thanks for the charts.
Too bad we couldn't use them.
- Who is it?
- It's me.
You weren't sleeping were you?
- No, just dreaming.
I thought you said tomorrow morning.
- I did, but I thought this may
give me a jump start on things.
Is that the coroner's report?
- Yeah, I made a copy for ya.
- What I still can't
understand is what ever
happened to Harry Haggerty's boat?
- I was just asking
myself the same question.
Come here.
Now, this is the spot where
you and Carillo were searching
but he made the mistake of searching
in the area where Spider found the head.
No one thought of the currents.
See, from the time of death
that the coroner fixed,
by the time that Spider actually
found the head, many hours had passed.
- Go on.
- So I checked with the Coast Guard.
The prevailing current was
10 knots north by northeast
which means you should have
been checking way over here.
- It's brilliant.
- Yeah.
So, first light tomorrow Spider
and I will scour the entire area.
Would you like a drink?
- Yes, I mean if it's
not too much trouble.
- Oh that depends on
whether you like ice or not.
- Two fingers, straight up.
- Perfect.
- It's not just Glenda's
Dream you're after, is it?
- No, it's whatever the
hell went down with it
that's causing all this insanity.
- If anything should
happen to you, Nick I...
- You won't have anybody
else to rake over the coals.
- Actually I, I wanted to apologize.
I'm afraid I may have misjudged you.
- Won't be the first time.
I mean, for me.
- This case is very important to me.
There could be a promotion waiting
at the end of this tunnel.
- Or a freight train.
- Well I just wanted to say thanks.
Thanks for the commitment.
- Sylvie always swore I'd be
committed sooner or later.
- Well anyway, I am sorry.
I've never been very good
at this sort of thing.
I know that's not very professional.
- I beg to differ.
- Harry's head was stolen?
- The coroner's assistant was
preparing it for shipping to Miami.
He was cold cocked and
the head disappeared
along with all the frozen sections.
- Well I want you to
make sure Carillo's boys
are staking out Johnny Stango.
- Actually Carillo's one
step ahead of you this time,
except Stango didn't show
up at his place last night.
Whether they find it or not,
Harry's head is now officially legend.
- Seems almost a patriotic
duty to exploit it huh?
- Exactly.
Wouldn't be right if Harry
had lost his life for nothing.
- You're a sick man Spider.
- Ah well.
Hey Nick I think I got something here.
- What?
- Looks about the right
size to be Glenda's dream.
- Let's go.
Let's do it.
You okay?
- Yeah I'm okay.
Only I'm going back to
body surfing in a second.
- There must have been
20 kilos down there huh?
Oh well, if it isn't Mr. Banker, huh?
What a surprise.
- You got nothing on me.
- Is that right?
On the contrary, I got plenty
on you including this knife.
- You rented Haggerty's boat
to pick up a shipment offshore
only Haggerty got wise and he wanted a cut
and instead you cut the
poor bastard's head off.
- You don't know what
you're talking about.
- You got in the dinghy,
you headed back to shore
thinking you could go
back and pick up the drugs
when everything cooled down, right?
Didn't ya?
- I didn't kill anybody.
- What do you think, Nick?
I ought to just drift him.
- I believe him.
What time is it?
- Why, you got a date?
- No, the insurance check was supposed
to be delivered by three.
- Which puts the merry widow about
15 minutes away from being rich.
- Not if I can help it.
Have a nice swim.
Well, just in time to say bon voyage.
- Mr. Slaughter.
- We wanted to make sure
you heard right away.
We know who it is who killed your husband.
- Thank god.
- Your friend from The
Dogs is quite a swimmer.
We bumped into him at 10 fathoms.
We had a wonderful conversation
with him at knife point.
The police should have him by now.
- Along with 20 kilos of cocaine.
- So in the end it was just
another drug deal gone bad.
- Well we all make mistakes.
We better get going.
- Yeah.
- Of course now I really
do know who did it.
It was you, Harry.
You killed your own father.
- Yeah right.
- You must have really hated the hold man.
Or did you simply love Glenda more?
- You're crazy.
- I'd be very careful
Harry, if I were you.
I'd do the push ups,
buy the wrinkle creams,
she doesn't like 'em old.
They get old and it's
off with their heads.
Of course you know about that now.
- Shut up.
- Give it up, Harry.
Nick found the butcher's saw in the boat.
- The one that matches
the set in your shop.
Now I wonder what we'd find
if we took a look in your meat grinder?
You took the slides and the head
and tried to destroy all the evidence.
- You don't have to answer them Harry.
- She's right, Harry.
Don't say a word, just take the fall
yourself and leave her in the clear.
- They're bluffing.
- Bluffing?
I don't have to bluff, do I Harry?
How long do you think
it's gonna take the cops
to find the teeth marks
your father left on you huh?
- It was all her idea.
She dreamt up the whole damn thing.
- What a surprise.
- You don't think you could
convince a jury about all this?
- I'm not gonna have to.
I think Harry here is smart enough
to do the talking for both of us.
So, what do you say we all go for a ride?
- Bad taste?
Come on, bad taste sells.
I've got a manufacturer
lined up in Hong Kong
ready to produce 100,000
Harry's heads a month!
Soon as I line up the capital
I'm gonna be a rich man.
- All right, all right,
put me down for one.
I guess I'm just a sentimental old fool.
- You just want a million of these.
- My boss came through
with that promotion.
I couldn't have done it without you, Nick.
- You gonna put in a good word for me
when I hit Maritime for hazard pay?
- That depends, I don't think so.
- Well how about an umbrella policy?
I have a tendency to lose mine.
- I'm gonna miss you, Nick.
- You know if it weren't for the drugs,
I might almost feel sorry for Stango.
I mean he had the deal of a lifetime
and it all went down the tubes
'cause of the love triangle.
- He should've known crime doesn't pay.
Unless you keep up your premium.
- Do I detect a note of loathing?
- You see, I'm learning.
- I hate to interrupt.
- Yeah, sure you do.
- But if I were ever to
convince Nick of life insurance,
what would the rates be like?
- That depends.
What kind of bad habits do you have?
- Bad habits?
- Allow me to demonstrate.
- Nick.