- [first lines]
- [a phone call awakens Mike in the wee hours of the morning]
- Mike Hammer: Yeah?
- Mr. Oland: Hammer?
- Mike Hammer: Yeah, it seems likely.
- Mr. Oland: This is Eugene T. Oland. Do you recognize the name?
- Mike Hammer: Well, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do.
- Mr. Oland: I understand you're a pretty tough fella.
- Mike Hammer: Well, wha'-what? You wanna take me on at two o'clock in the morning?
- Mike Hammer: Listen, chum, whoever gave you the information that I was a professional goon made a bad mistake.
- Mr. Oland: If I can come over and talk to you...
- Mike Hammer: If I ever took anybody on, it was because I was mad at 'em, in self defense or because somebody woke me up at two o'clock in the morning. Good night!
- Mike Hammer: [narrating] This was Eugene T. Oland in person. You could not read the financial page on any given day and not see his name. His face had launched a thousand companies; his voice made ticker tape stand up and dance like a cobra. I wasn't about to take a job manhandling his son, but I wanted to see the kind of a father that would want his man-child beaten up and wasn't man enough to do it himself.
- Mr. Oland: Now don't misunderstand me. I don't want to hurt the boy in spite of what I'm asking. I still love him. I'm telling you this in confidence.
- Mike Hammer: Oh, I won't tell that you love your son. OK?
- Mr. Oland: Hammer, why do try so hard to be cute?
- Mike Hammer: 'Cause it's after two o'clock in the morning and I tryin' hard not to be ugly!
- Mr. Oland: I'll give you five hundred dollars to drive me up there. What have you got to lose?
- Mike Hammer: Sleep!... But not five hundred dollars worth.
- Mike Hammer: I'm sure there ought to be something I can do around here. I might chop wood, sweep up the floor, maybe clean blood spots off the rug...
- Mr. Oland: No one's going to call the police, doctor.
- Dr. Roy: I'm sorry, Gene. I'll have to.
- Mr. Oland: And give the newspapers a field day with the Oland name and reputation? You owe me more than that.
- Dr. Roy: I owe you a great deal, Gene, but I'm a doctor.
- Mr. Oland: A staff doctor in a charity clinic - that's what you'd be if I didn't build you a hospital.
- Mike Hammer: Well, you don't hold any of my markers, Oland. I'll make that call.
- Mr. Oland: [to his son] When are you going to start acting like a man?
- Mrs. Oland: [to Mr. Oland] When are you going to start acting like a gentleman?
- Mike Hammer: [narrating] I only had one friend as loyal to me as Braddock was to the Olands - my gun - but my friend was in the glove compartment of my car. I could have taken a dive through the window, but there was a lot of open space between the cabin and the car. Maybe it was just a heart attack and maybe the Olands were just protecting there good name, but I had the feeling there was a lot more being covered up here than could be covered up by a blanket over a dead girl's body.
- [last lines]
- Mike Hammer: Well, if a judge and jury doesn't separate you two, you'll live a long, long life together... which ought to be punishment enough for anybody.