Mike Connors credited as playing...
Joe Mannix
- [first lines]
- Adam Langer: [walking out of an airplane] Jennifer, have the contracts on the Transpact deal typed and on my desk in the morning.
- Jennifer Holt: Yes, sir.
- Adam Langer: Mr. Mannix.
- Joe Mannix: That's right.
- Adam Langer: Good of you to come. This is Jennifer Holt, my secretary. Mr. Mannix.
- Jennifer Holt: Hello. How do you do?
- Joe Mannix: How do you do?
- Jennifer Holt: You certainly don't look like what I thought a private eye would look like.
- Joe Mannix: Well, if that's meant as a compliment, thank you.
- Jennifer Holt: You're welcome.
- Joe Mannix: You said it was important, Mr. Langer.
- Adam Langer: You've come highly recommend. Are you as good as my sources say you are?
- Joe Mannix: Now you don't really expect an unprejudiced opinion?
- Adam Langer: I just want to be sure I'm hiring the right man.
- Joe Mannix: You already decided that, or I wouldn't be here.
- Adam Langer: You're not handicapped with false modesty.
- Joe Mannix: No. Are you?
- Adam Langer: Modest people aren't worth $5 million at age 35.
- Joe Mannix: You're worth more than $5 million.
- Adam Langer: I'm more than 35. Jennifer.
- Jennifer Holt: Yes, sir.
- Adam Langer: I'll see you at the office in the morning.
- Jennifer Holt: Yes, sir. Goodbye.
- Joe Mannix: Goodbye. What did you have in mind, Mr. Langer?
- Adam Langer: I want a political figure investigated.
- Joe Mannix: Why?
- Adam Langer: For reasons of my own. I want you to dog up every rotten thing you can find out about him, anything that could be used as a smear.
- Joe Mannix: Sorry, Mr. Langer. I don't do that sort of thing. And somehow, I didn't figure it to be your style.
- Adam Langer: You're right. It isn't. But I'm making an exception in this case. I hope you will, too.
- Joe Mannix: It depends on the reason.
- Adam Langer: I want you to dog deep, deep enough to destroy him of you can.
- Joe Mannix: Who is this man?
- Adam Langer: Me.
- Adam Langer: This isn't common knowledge, but a group of my politically influential friends have formed a citizen's committee to back me for candidate for governor.
- Joe Mannix: And?
- Adam Langer: Politics is a dirty business. I want to know what they could use against me.
- Joe Mannix: Well, you should know what they might be able to use against you.
- Adam Langer: Up to a point, but anyone determined to create a scandal can blow up any insignificant incident. I want you to start from scratch, see what you can build up against me.
- Joe Mannix: A good detective can usually find dirt wherever he digs.
- Adam Langer: Perhaps so, but what I want to know what it is and how bad it will be.
- Joe Mannix: And if I find something?
- Adam Langer: Mr. Mannix, my wife's comfort and peace of mind are more important to me than any political office. If she can be hurt by something that smears me, I won't walk away from the nomination, I'll run.
- Ada Lee Hayes: [opening the door to her apartment] I was Ada Lee Rennick. It's Mrs. Hayes now.
- Joe Mannix: Mr. Hayes, uh, do you remember Adam Langer?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Adam Langer?
- [chuckles]
- Ada Lee Hayes: Of course I remember him.
- Joe Mannix: Well, I'm doing a magazine article about him. May I come in?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Of course. Um, come in, Mister...
- Joe Mannix: Mannix.
- Ada Lee Hayes: Mm-hmm.
- Joe Mannix: Thank you.
- [walks into Hayes' apartment]
- Joe Mannix: How well did you know Adam Langer?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Fairly well.
- [closes the door to a room]
- Ada Lee Hayes: My husband's a little jealous.
- Joe Mannix: Yeah, I can understand.
- Ada Lee Hayes: Please sit down.
- Joe Mannix: Thank you. Uh... how did you first meet Adam?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Oh, well, every pretty girl on campus knew Adam. He saw to that. We were engaged.
- Joe Mannix: You beat the competition?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Oh...
- [chuckles]
- Ada Lee Hayes: ... aren't you nice? Would like chocolate?
- Joe Mannix: Uh, no thank you.
- Eddie Hayes: [walking out of the bedroom] Hey, hon, have you...
- [sees Joe]
- Eddie Hayes: What's going on here?
- Ada Lee Hayes: He's a magazine writer, Eddie.
- Joe Mannix: I'm doing research on someone Mrs. Hayes went to school with.
- Eddie Hayes: Like who?
- Joe Mannix: Adam Langer.
- Eddie Hayes: Well, she's got nothing to tell you.
- [pauses]
- Eddie Hayes: Get rid of him. I'm hungry.
- Ada Lee Hayes: All right, Eddie.
- [turns to Joe]
- Ada Lee Hayes: I'm sorry.
- Joe Mannix: That's quite all right. Oh, Mrs. Hayes, uh, how did you and Adam become unengaged?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Well, it-it just ended. You know, college romances.
- Joe Mannix: But you remained friends?
- Ada Lee Hayes: I've never forgotten Adam. And to tell you the truth, I don't think I ever will.
- Joe Mannix: Well, could you tell me what Adam was like, who his friends were? It's very important.
- Eddie Hayes: [calling from the bedrrom] Is he gone?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Yes, Hon.
- Eddie Hayes: How about lunch?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Coming right up. Just a minute.
- [she and Joe walk right outside the apartment door]
- Ada Lee Hayes: [lowering her voice] I'll tell you how Adam and I really broke up. He, uh...
- [exhales]
- Ada Lee Hayes: he lost his head over some sweet young thing from Chicago. Friends introduced them at a dance one night, and uh...
- [sighs]
- Ada Lee Hayes: ... well, the next thing I knew, he called to tell me that, uh, he was going off to see her, and... he hoped there wouldn't be any hard feelings.
- Joe Mannix: Mm. Do you, uh, remember her name?
- Ada Lee Hayes: Oh, yes. It's not likely I'd forget that name. Barbara Pearson.
- [pause]
- Ada Lee Hayes: Funny. He, uh, never married her. Well... I guess that's the way things go, huh?
- Joe Mannix: Yeah.