Double Indemnity | 1944

Yes, Keyes.

Those Fates I was talking about had only been stalling me off.

Now they had thrown the switch. The gears had meshed.

The time for thinking had all run out.

I wanted my movements accounted for up to the last possible moment.

So when I left the office I put my rate book on the desk as if I had forgotten it.

That was part of my alibi.

From here on, it was a question of following the timetable...

...move by move.

I got home about 7:00 and drove right into the garage.

This was another item to establish my alibi.

Hi, Mr. Neff.

Hello, Charlie.

How about giving the heap a wash job?

How soon you gonna want it?

I got a couple cars ahead of you.

Any time you get to it, Charlie.

I'm staying in tonight.

Okay.

Up in my apartment I called Lou Schwartz...

...one of the salesmen that shared my office.

He lived in Westwood, so it was a toll call and there'd be a record of it.

I told him I'd forgotten my rate book and needed some dope...

...on the public liability bond I was figuring.

I changed into a navy blue suit like Dietrichson was going to wear.

Lou Schwartz called me back and gave me a lot of figures.

I stuffed a hand towel and a roll of adhesive into my pockets...

...so I could fake something that looked like a cast on a broken leg.

Next, I stuck a card inside the telephone box...

...so that it would fall down if the bell rang.

That way I'd know if anybody had called me while I was away.

Then I did the same thing to the doorbell in case anybody came to see me.

I left the apartment by the service stairs. Nobody saw me.

I walked all the way from my apartment to the Dietrichson house.

I didn't want to take the bus...

...because there was always the chance that...

...someone might remember seeing me on it.

I was being that careful.

I could smell that honeysuckle again.

Only it was even stronger, now that it was night.