The Maltese Falcon

While they wait for Cairo’s arrival, Spade tells O'Shaughnessy about a job he had a few years ago. A man named Flitcraft, who had a family and a successful real estate business in Tacoma, went to a luncheon one day and never returned. There was nothing to suggest anything nefarious or suspicious about his disappearance, and he left all his money and possessions so that his family would be taken care of. Spade was hired by the man’s wife after she heard rumors that a man looking like her husband had been sighted in Spokane. Spade found the man and confirmed it was Flitcraft. He had a new wife and a baby on the way, and had built another successful business, this time in automobiles. Flitcraft felt no guilt over leaving his original family and explained that he left after a near-death experience involving a falling beam from a building that was under construction. This revealed to him that life was dictated by blind chance. He felt he had been living out of step with reality by trying to live his life in a clean, orderly, predictable way, and running away and starting a new life was his way of trying to realign things. Spade understood his meaning, but the wife did not. They quietly got a divorce and continued their separate lives. At the end of the story, Spade points out that the man didn’t seem to realize that he settled back into a life very similar to the one he’d left once there were no more near-death experiences.

O'Shaughnessy does not respond to the story and changes the subject to trust and insists she wouldn’t be meeting with Cairo if she didn’t trust Spade completely. Spade is not convinced this is true and says they’ll see where they stand after the meeting. Cairo is excited to see O'Shaughnessy, and she asks him about the $5,000 offer he gave Spade, telling him she can get the falcon within the week. It is clear the two have a fraught history, and they attempt to discuss it without revealing everything to Spade. At one point, Cairo asks what happened to Thursby, and O'Shaughnessy traces a letter G in the air with her forefinger. O'Shaughnessy asks Cairo if the boy downstairs is the same boy he had in Constantinople, which enrages Cairo, causing him to fire back that she was unable to control that boy the way she normally does with men. O'Shaughnessy and Cairo slap one another before Spade grabs Cairo by the throat and hits him three times. They are interrupted by Lieutenant Dundy and Tom Polhaus knocking on the door. They received a tip that Spade was having an affair with Iva and want to ask more questions, but Spade denies them entry. As they go to leave, Cairo cries out for help from inside the apartment, prompting the two policemen to head in to investigate.

When Spade, Dundy, and Polhaus enter the room they find O'Shaughnessy huddled in the corner and Cairo holding his gun, but with blood trickling down his face from a wound on his head. O'Shaughnessy claims she hit Cairo in self-defense, not wanting to shoot him, after he attempted to attack her. Cairo claims this is a lie and that O'Shaughnessy threatened to kill him once the police left. Since he had already been attacked once, he feared for his life and called out for help. Neither of them wants to reveal why Cairo was there, and they continue to squabble over who is telling the truth. Dundy threatens to take them all down to the station to sort things out. At this point Spade steps in to explain what is going on. He tells Dundy that O'Shaughnessy is an employee of his, and that Cairo, an acquaintance of Thursby, tried to hire him the day before to find something that Thursby was supposed to have on him when he died. Something seemed off, so he declined the offer. However, he later thought maybe he could learn something about Miles’s and Thursby’s killings and invited him to his apartment that night to see what they could get out of him.

Not wanting to be taken in for questioning, but still fearful of Spade and O'Shaughnessy, Cairo is unsure how to respond. Dundy again intimates that he is taking them all in, but Spade tells him it was all just a practical joke; that he had been annoyed at him and Polhaus showing up again and wanted to get one over on them. Cairo and O'Shaughnessy begin to laugh, and Cairo suddenly claims his injury came from a fall while they were pretending to struggle. Enraged, Dundy punches Spade on the chin. Spade maintains his composure and orders Polhaus to get Dundy out of his house. Still fearing what might happen if he stays, Cairo leaves with the two officers.