Time to Kill

Mrs. Murdock:
When I say 10 o'clock, I don't mean 9:50, not 9:59, I mean 10 o'clock!

Michael Shayne:
Well, Mrs. Murdoch, you know what the book says about the early bird.

Mrs. Murdock:
There are no worms here.

Michael Shayne:
Well, you can't tell what you're liable to find in an old barn like this.

Mrs. Murdock:
Oh, you're not quite what I expected, Mr. Shayne.

Michael Shayne:
Well, what did you expect - top hat, striped trousers and cutaway?

Mrs. Murdock:
Hardly - something fat and exported with dirty fingernails chewing on a filthy cigar butt and with its hat on its head.

[Mrs. Murdoch suspects her gold-digging daughter-in-law of stealing and selling one of her most valuable coins]

Michael Shayne:
So what's worrying you the most?

Mrs. Murdock:
Both. I'm hiring you to get the doubloon back and arrange for a divorce for my son without cost to me.

Michael Shayne:
Suppose she didn't take it?

Mrs. Murdock:
I expect you to prove that she did and I'm asking no questions.

Michael Shayne:
[to Murdoch] Well, business is really picking up when the worm comes to the early bird.

Michael Shayne:
Is Mrs. Morny in?

Morny's Houseboy:
She's not home.

Michael Shayne:
Wait a minute. How do you know if you don't ask her?

Morny's Houseboy:
She already told me.

Michael Shayne:
Oh, by the way, what did she look like?

Elisha Washburn:
She?

Michael Shayne:
Well, all right then. What did *he* look like?

Elisha Washburn:
Oh, you mean the party that sold me the doubloon?

Michael Shayne:
Yeah.

Elisha Washburn:
Well, let me see... He was middle-aged, heavy set, about 5'7", weighing about 175 pounds. He wore a blue suit, black shoes, green tie and brown-bordered handkerchief. His hair was gray. There was a mole on his nose and a long scar...

Michael Shayne:
What about that hole in his right sock?

Elisha Washburn:
I neglected to remove his shoes.

Ina Smithers, receptionist:
Why are we whispering?

Michael Shayne:
We lost our voices.

Lt. Breeze:
And don't leave town. We want a statement!

Michael Shayne:
You can have the one the bank sent me. You'll get a great laugh out of that.

[Murdoch enters Morny's club at the end of a fistfight]

Leslie Murdock:
Well, I see the slaughter has started already. Sorry I'm late.

Alexander Morny:
You're too early to suit me. Get out and stay out.

Leslie Murdock:
I was under the impression that your trap was open to the public.

Alexander Morny:
It's not open to rats.

Michael Shayne:
There you are. All this extra service I throw in free.

Linda Conquest Murdock:
You know, you're not a bad brand of trouble, Mike. I'm sorry our friendship has to be so short.

Michael Shayne:
What do you mean short? As long as I think you have the doubloon, I have to keep an eye on you.

Linda Conquest Murdock:
Then you don't believe me?

Michael Shayne:
Nope. You see, my mama told me never to trust a beautiful woman any further than I could throw her and I don't know how far that is now.

Lt. Breeze:
All right. Come on, Shayne, I'm anxious to hear all about it.

Michael Shayne:
You better take a look in there.

Lt. Breeze:
Oh yeah? Sight unseen, I'll lay odds somebody's dead.

[last lines]

Michael Shayne:
Say, how long are you going to be in Reno?

Linda Conquest Murdock:
Just six weeks.

Michael Shayne:
That's swell. I'll give you a ring the moment you get back to town.

Linda Conquest Murdock:
You will? I may hold you to that.

Michael Shayne:
To what?

Linda Conquest Murdock:
I have a first class witness in Lieutenant Breeze that you're going to marry me. Driver, Union Depot, please.

Michael Shayne:
Hey, wait a minute. You can't do that to me!... Or can she?

[first lines]

[Mike is speaking on the phone to a potential client with his feet propped on his desk revealing the holes in the soles of his shoes]

Michael Shayne:
You want what? Oh, references. Well, sure, I'd glad to give you some references. You can call Senator Hugh Oglethorpe - no, no, no, you'd better not. I beat Hughie playing golf yesterday. You can call Sid Dreyfuss. Mm-hmm. That's Judge Sidney Dreyfuss, yeah - the State Supreme Court. Oh, that reminds me; I'm supposed to have dinner with him tonight. Pardon me while I make a note of that, will you?