Mannix (TV Series)

Cry Pigeon (1972)

Mike Connors: Joe Mannix

Quotes 

• Joe Mannix : What can I do for you?

  Maria Fortune : Well, there are some questions I'd like to ask you first, Mr. Mannix, if you don't mind?

  Joe Mannix : No, not at all.

  Maria Fortune : This may seem rather callous to you, but Tom being dead less than 12 hours, but I have to know. Had you ever met him before last night?

  Joe Mannix : No.

  Maria Fortune : I heard you tell his father that the meeting was Tom's idea.

  Joe Mannix : It was.

  Maria Fortune : And that Tom was killed before you knew why he had to see you. Was that the truth?

  Joe Mannix : Why would I lie about it?

  Maria Fortune : To spare my feelings?

  Peggy Fair : Excuse me. Joe.

  [hands Joe his coffee] 

  Joe Mannix : Thank you, Peggy.

  Maria Fortune : Are you sure that Tom hadn't hired a detective to spy on an unfaithful wife?

  Joe Mannix : Do you believe that's why he wanted to see me?

  Maria Fortune : Yes.

  Joe Mannix : Why?

  Maria Fortune : Because he was obsessed with the idea that I was having an affair.

  Joe Mannix : Was it an idea, Mrs. Fortune, or was it a fact?

  Maria Fortune : It wasn't true. I think it was part of a plot to kill him, to separate him from the family, from his bodyguard. To isolate him in a lonely place... so they could shoot him.

  Joe Mannix : Who are "they"?

  Maria Fortune : I should've said "he." The man I was supposed to be having an affair with.

  Joe Mannix : Does, uh, "he" have a name?

  Maria Fortune : Duke Benedict.

  [Joe, in surprise, briefly stops drinking his coffee and looks at Maria] 

  Maria Fortune : I heard he was drunk at a party and he just happened to let it slip to one of Tom's friends.

  Joe Mannix : And your husband bought that?

  Maria Fortune : He was insanely jealous.

  Joe Mannix : And what would you like me to do now?

  Maria Fortune : Tell the police, tell them that Duke Benedict lied about us, drove Tom out of his mind and that he walked into a trap that was set for him.

  Joe Mannix : I don't know how well that'll hold up.

  Maria Fortune : Well, if it doesn't, you'll see I'm right. Duke Benedict is going to take over this town if he can. There'll be killing. Tell the police that.

  Joe Mannix : Mrs. Fortune, why don't you tell the police that?

  Maria Fortune : If the family found out, they'd...

  Joe Mannix : All right, Mrs. Fortune. I'll do what I can.

  Maria Fortune : I don't care what it costs, Mr. Mannix.

  Joe Mannix : Forget it, Mrs. Fortune. The law requires me to pass this kind of information along to the police.

  Maria Fortune : Thank you.

  [walks out the door] 

• Duke Benedict : I'm having a little problem, Mannix. You seem to be a part of it.

  Joe Mannix : I was going to say the same thing about you, Duke.

  Duke Benedict : You were there when Tom Fortune got hit. Tell me what happened.

  Joe Mannix : You read the newspaper account, didn't you? That's the way it was.

  Duke Benedict : Yeah, well, I had the impression there was more to it.

  Joe Mannix : Like what?

  Duke Benedict : Oh, I don't know. Just a feeling, a something between the lines that maybe the man that pulled the trigger was a friend of mine.

  Joe Mannix : Come on, what kind of a cute game are you playing, Duke? You started this whole thing motion deliberately. You trying to squeeze out now?

  Duke Benedict : Make that clearer, Mannix.

  Joe Mannix : The story about Maria Fortune. You put the word out that the two of you had something going.

  Duke Benedict : Oh, I did, huh? When?

  Joe Mannix : There was a party. You had a few too many.

  Duke Benedict : What party?

  Joe Mannix : Maybe you were too much under the weather to remember.

  Duke Benedict : Mannix, I saw Maria Fortune once in my life at the races with Tom. We were not introduced. I never saw her again. I don't go to parties and I never get juiced. Now why would I make up a dumb story about her?

  Joe Mannix : I'll give you her theory. You knew what a rumor like that would do to Tom. And that's the way it worked out. He went crazy with jealousy, called me to the warehouse to meet him. He went there without his bodyguard because it was such a personal matter and he walked right into a setup.

  Duke Benedict : Hmm. Well, even if I was smart enough to figure all that out, what would it get me?

  Joe Mannix : A better chance to push the Fortune family right out of the rackets.

  Duke Benedict : The old man, what does he think about all this?

  Joe Mannix : After tonight, what can he think?

  Braden : Look, Mannix, there's no war. I didn't kill Martisse up there on that roof, but I could have.

  Duke Benedict : He's right. If I'd set up the contract on Tom Fortune, I wouldn't have stopped there. Martisse would have been hit, too. And any other member of Fortune's family who stuck his head out!

  Joe Mannix : Why tell me, Duke? The man to convince is Victor Fortune.

  Duke Benedict : You set it up, Mannix, a meeting.

  Joe Mannix : What?

  Duke Benedict : A summit meeting with old man Fortune.

  Joe Mannix : Not a chance. He already thinks I helped killed Tom. Suicide doesn't appeal to me.

  Duke Benedict : I'm telling you what I want, Mannix.

  Joe Mannix : Forget it, Benedict. I'm not gonna walk in on old man Fortune. Period.

  Duke Benedict : [laughs]  Look at him, huh? Tough guy. Refuses to walk in. Deliver him.