Congress is putting on the squeeze, but Colorado’s private investigators still can’t agree how — or if — they should be regulated.
“My best chance of clearing myself of the trouble you’re trying to make for me is by bringing in the murderers — all tied up. And my only chance of ever catching them and tying them up and bringing them in is by keeping away from you and the police, because neither one of you show any signs of knowing what in hell it’s all about…. Getting this all right, son? Or am I going too fast for you?”
The stenographer looked at him with startled eyes and replied: “No, sir, I’m getting it all right.”
“Good work,” Spade said and turned to Bryan again. “Now if you want to go to the Board and tell them I’m obstructing justice and ask them to revoke my license, hop to it. You’ve tried it before and it didn’t get you anything but a good laugh all around.”
– Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
In Sam Spade’s day, there were private dicks and there were bad guys, and no confusion about the two. Unless, of course, the bad guy our hero was after happened to be another dick.
