The Long Goodbye

Marlowe goes to meet Harlan Potter, an enormous and cold man with little time for pleasantries. Potter accuses Marlowe of “interfering” (128) in his affairs. Marlowe methodically explains why he continues to hold an interest in Lennox’s death. Potter calmly but firmly insists that Lennox killed his daughter. He admits that he had no particular love for Sylvia and was more concerned about avoiding any scandal or intrusion into his private life. By the end of the conversation, Potter admits that Marlowe seems like “a pretty honest sort of fellow” (131) but warns him not to be a hero.

A week later, Marlowe accepts a lunch invitation from Wade. Before he leaves, he contacts a member of the private detective agency to follow up on a rumor about Lennox. He learns that a man who was almost certainly Lennox lived in England under the name Paul Marston. He wore a service badge associated with the British Army, implying that he was wounded in the military. Marlowe asks Detective Green about Lennox’s other name, but Green insists that Lennox did not have a war record.

Marlowe goes to Wade’s house for lunch. Wade seems well and sober while Candy seems “surly” (136). Wade and Marlowe talk; Marlowe implies that Wade may have killed Sylvia while drunk. He shows Wade the rambling pages as Candy announces that he is leaving for his day off. Wade becomes annoyed and starts drinking, promising Marlowe that he will surely reveal everything once he is completely drunk. Annoyed, Marlowe steps outside.

As he drinks, Wade complains about gay people, history, and his lack of artistic merit. Eventually, he tells Marlowe to go home. Marlowe wants to wait until Eileen returns to keep an eye on her husband, so he waits outside. Eileen returns home.

When Marlowe checks on Wade, he discovers that Wade is dead. He has shot himself in the head. Marlowe struggles to tell Eileen as she makes tea. When she realizes what happened, she is distraught. Marlowe calls the police. Eileen tells them that she believes Marlowe killed her husband.

Marlowe stays with the friendly police officers while they investigate the aftermath of Wade’s suicide. Eileen takes medication and falls into a daze. The police are confident that Wade died by suicide, so they allow Marlowe to return home. Later that night, Marlowe receives a call from Detective Bernie Ohls, telling him to come to the station.

Marlowe arrives at the police station where he is questioned by Captain Hernandez, Sheriff Peterson, and Bernie Ohls. Marlowe tells his version of events, and then Candy is made to do the same. The stories do not match up, and Marlowe, using logic, demonstrates that Candy is lying about Marlowe spending hours in Eileen’s room. Marlowe is allowed to go. He drives home, feeling “as hollow and empty as the spaces between the stars” (153).

The inquest is a “flop” (154) that quickly rules Wade’s death a suicide. Marlowe retains his suspicions about Candy. After the inquest, Ohls visits Marlowe’s office. He insists that the case still does not make sense to him. Wade did not leave a letter, for instance, even though he wrote constantly, as though he had “something on his mind” (155). Ohls leaves, convinced that Marlowe is withholding something from him. After, Marlowe talks to Howard Spencer and then reaches for the phone book.

After failing to reach Endicott, Marlowe calls Mendy Menendez in Las Vegas. He demands information about Lennox’s alter ego, Paul Marston. Reluctantly, Menendez reveals that Lennox was wounded while serving in a British Commando unit on an island off the coast of Norway in 1942. Menendez tells Marlowe not to “stir up that Lennox case” (160). Marlowe continues to research at a library and talks to his friend at the private detective agency. Marlowe asks his friend for information from Great Britain about Lennox’s war record.