Trouble Is My Business

Marlowe accepts the job and goes to Kathy’s house to talk to Peeler. When he arrives, he finds Peeler dead. Someone has tortured him by holding a hot iron to the soles of his feet. Apparently, the addict’s heart gave out during the ordeal. Marlowe advises Kathy to call the cops but not to mention the pearls. She’s to say that Peeler’s past probably caught up with him and that he was killed by an unknown former associate.

While Kathy deals with the cops, Marlowe pays a visit to the Reliance Indemnity Company to find out how much of a finder’s fee is still being offered for the Leander pearls. The branch manager says the company will pay $25,000. Later, back at his office, Marlowe receives a call from a woman advising him to get in touch with Rush Madder. He says, “Rush Madder was a shyster in the Quorn Building. An ambulance chaser, a small-time fixer, an alibi builder-upper, anything that smelled a little and paid a little more” (127).

Marlowe goes to Madder’s office late that afternoon. He rightly accuses Madder and the unknown woman of trying to torture information out of Peeler. Madder admits that his girlfriend, Carol Donovan, learned about Peeler’s secret. However, they don’t know where Sype is currently living—only that he is somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Madder says he can get fifty thousand for the pearls and agrees to cut Marlowe in on the deal if he fronts for them with the insurance company. They share drinks to seal the bargain. 

As he sips the drink that Madder offers him, Marlowe says:

So far I had only made four mistakes. The first was mixing in at all, even for Kathy Horne’s sake. The second was staying mixed after I found Peeler Mardo dead. The third was letting Rush Madder see I knew what he was talking about. The fourth, the whiskey, was the worst (130-31).

Madder has drugged Marlowe’s drink. Marlowe is able to beat Madder unconscious before he passes out but doesn’t anticipate that Carol has been hiding in the closet. She explains that Marlowe was drugged to give Carol and Madder a head-start and then knocks him out with his own blackjack.

When he revives, Marlowe races back to his flat to pack a bag. He calls Kathy for an update and learns that she gave the name of the town where Sype lives to Carol, who was posing as Marlowe’s assistant. The detective immediately books a flight for Olympia, Washington, knowing that Carol and Madder are already steps ahead of him.

As soon as Marlowe checks into his Olympia hotel, he begins to casually ask the locals about an old man whose hobby is collecting goldfish. Kathy told him that this is Sype’s current pastime. After striking out with some fishermen, Marlowe wanders into a pool hall, has a drink, and asks the bartender about the goldfish man. A man named Sunset becomes interested in the conversation. He identifies himself as a friend of Peeler’s, and Marlowe invites him back to his hotel room for a drink.

The two men discuss the situation in private. Because Sunset is a friend of Peeler’s, Marlowe breaks the news that Peeler has been killed and that two people are on their way to find the pearls. Sunset says that Sype lives in a small town called Westport. He proposes that he and Marlowe drive out that way to see if they can recover the pearls. As they’re about to leave, Carol and Madder burst in with loaded guns.

Marlowe creates a distraction by tripping over his bag as the newcomers back him into the room. This allows Sunset to get the drop on them and hold them briefly at gunpoint. He proposes that all four cooperate so that they can split the pearl money. Carol agrees, and the group takes a cab to Sunset’s apartment on the outskirts of town.

Once they’re all settled at the flat and have helped themselves to drinks, Sunset unexpectedly pulls a gun on Carol and Madder. He says, “Burn a guy’s feet to make him sing and then walk right into the parlor of one of his pals. You couldn’t tie that with Christmas ribbon” (143). He tells Marlowe to bind the duo while Sunset and the detective go to search for the pearls. Sunset intends to kill Carol and Madder after they return. Madder falls into a dead faint, but Carol manages to shoot and kill Sunset with a gun concealed in her purse. Before she can shoot him, Marlowe kicks the chair out from under Carol. He locks her in the bathroom, takes Sunset’s car keys, and drives to visit Sype in Westport. 

Upon arriving in town, Marlowe stops into a cottage that serves lunch. He chats with the owner and learns where the goldfish man lives. Marlowe sets a leisurely pace, believing that Carol and Madder don’t know the name of the town where Sype lives. When he finds the right house, Marlowe poses as an exotic fish buyer and is escorted inside by Sype’s wife. He finds the old man upstairs tending to fish in several aquariums. 

Marlowe tells Sype that he has come for the Leander pearls on behalf of the company that insured them. Sype denies that he has them. Marlowe cautions that people will keep coming to ferret them out as long as Sype conceals them. The detective offers the thief a cut of the insurance reward money, but Sype remains adamant that he doesn’t have the pearls. He pulls a gun on Marlowe just as Sype’s wife enters the room, followed by Madder and Carol, who are both armed.

Carol tells Marlowe that Sunset had a map in his shoe that showed the location of the Sype home. Marlowe manages to punch Carol and takes a bullet in the rib while Mrs. Sype reaches for her husband’s gun and shoots Carol in the back. Madder fatally shoots Sype, and Marlowe shoots Madder in the knee. With his dying breath, Sype tells his wife, “The Moors, Hattie—the Moors” (156). Mrs. Sype says she doesn’t understand the clue.

Marlowe calls the police. While he waits for them to arrive, he goes to examine the black Chinese Moor fish in one of the aquariums. Of the four fish, two appear heavier. When Marlowe examines them, he sees sutures in their bellies. After cutting the fish open, Marlowe finds the missing Leander pearls.

He goes downstairs to show them to Mrs. Sype. She says that they are only fakes and explains that her husband never found the place where he buried the real pearls after the robbery. He had copies made to compensate for letting the real pearls slip through his fingers. Marlowe is taken in by her story until she asks to keep the fakes as keepsakes. He says that Sype would never have been sappy enough to give his wife the hint about the Moors if the pearls weren’t genuine. Marlowe concludes the tale by saying:

I tucked twenty-five thousand dollars into my vest pocket. Twelve thousand five hundred for me and twelve thousand five hundred for Kathy Horne. I could see her eyes when I brought her the check, and when she put it in the bank, to wait for Johnny to get paroled from Quentin (161).