"Stand on your rights, talk about the law. How ingenuous can a man get, Marlowe? A man like you who is supposed to know his way around, The law isn't justice. It's a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice . A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be. I guess you're not in any mood to be helped. So I'll take myself off. You can reach me if you ." "I'll stick it out for a day or two longer. If they catch Terry they won't care how he got away. All they'll care about is the circus they can make of the triaL The murder of Mr. Harlan Potter's daughter is headline material all over the country. and that he owns nine or ten newspapers. How's the publicity going?" "The publicity?" His voice was ice cold saying it. "Yeah. Nobody's interviewed me from the press. I expected to make a big noise in the papers out of this. Get lots of business. Private eye goes to jail rather than split on a pal." He walked to the door and turned with his hand on the knob. "You amuse me, Marlowe. You're childish 　a police shieldcould hold me upside down and drainmy gutschange your mind in some ways, True, a hundred million dollars can buy a great deal of publicity. It can also, my friend, if shrewdly employed, buy a great deal of silence." He opened the door and went out. Then a deputy came in and took me back to Cell No. 3 in the felony block. "Guess you won't be with us long, if you've got Endicott," he said pleasantly as he locked me in. I said I hoped he was right.
chapter 9
The deputy on the early night shift was a big blond guy with meaty shoulders and a friendly grin. He was middleaged and had long since outlived both pity and anger. He wanted to put in eight easy hours and he looked as if almost anything would he easy down his street. He unlocked my door. "Company for you. Guy from the D.A.'s office. No sleep, huh?" "It's a little early for me. What time is it?" "Ten-fourteen."