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The Maltese Falcon Chapter 15 Summary

Every Crackpot

  • Over lunch, Tom tells Spade about Thursby's record, which indicates that Thursby had been picked up for various offenses from gambling to assault charges. Thursby was also a bodyguard for Dixie Monohan, a gambler in Chicago.
  • Tom also mentions that they had gotten no useful information from Cairo, and released him after a few hours. Spade then realizes that Cairo had lied about being questioned by the police all night.
  • Spade heads to his afternoon appointment with District Attorney Bryan, who wants Spade to tell him who killed Thursby.
  • Spade denies having any knowledge of the murders, but Bryan implies that Spade is either the one behind the deaths or knows the identity of the murderer.
  • Angry that Bryan and the police are accusing him of being mixed up in the murders, Spade insists that he has nothing to tell him, and storms off in a huff.