The Long Goodbye

Marlowe returns home and finds a letter from Lennox. The letter was mailed from Mexico before Lennox’s apparent suicide. Also in the envelope is $5,000. In the letter, Lennox apologizes for causing strife in Marlowe’s life. He claims that he did not brutally murder his wife, but he is planning to kill himself, so he will confess to the crime to “save an unnecessary and useless scandal” (49). That night, Marlowe struggles to sleep.

Marlowe sits in a bar and watches the customers while he waits to meet Howard Spencer. An attractive woman enters the bar and arrests Marlowe’s attention. Her hair is “the pale gold of a fairy princess” (52). Just as she notices Marlowe staring at her, Spencer arrives. He wants Marlowe to find one of his authors named Roger Wade, an alcoholic and “automatic best seller” (53) who has gone missing before submitting his latest book. Spencer believes that something from Wade’s past may be causing his “wild fits of drinking and temper” (54). Marlowe is reluctant to accept the job until the attractive woman in the bar introduces herself as Eileen Wade, Roger’s wife. Despite her pleas, Marlowe refuses to accept the job and returns home. The next day, Spencer tries to hire him again but Marlowe declines. That evening, Detective-Sergeant Green calls Marlowe to tell him that Lennox was buried in Mexico. He warns Marlowe not to pursue the issue.

The next morning, Eileen visits Marlowe. She asks him again to find her husband, and eventually Marlowe accepts. He tells her that he will begin his search by finding the disreputable doctor and facility where her alcoholic husband may be seeking rehabilitation help.

A friend at a private detective agency gives Marlowe the names of several disreputable doctors who run unlicensed rehabilitation facilities, including a doctor named Verringer who owns a ranch in Sepulveda Canyon. The friend also tells Marlowe that he heard a rumor several years ago about a man who closely resembled Lennox’s description but who called himself Marston. Marlowe doubts that this is the same man.

Marlowe visits Verringer’s ranch, which now seems abandoned and dilapidated. After a brief scuffle with a strangely dressed man named Earl, Marlowe meets Verringer. The facility, which is about to be repossessed by a bank, was once an artists’ colony. A suicide at the facility caused the business to fail, and Verringer gave up his business out of loyalty to Earl, the child of his close friends whom he promised to help.

Marlowe eats lunch and thinks about his approach to locating Wade. Working his way through a list of doctors, he visits Dr. Vukanich. However, Vukanich insists that he has nothing to do with men like Wade.

Next, Marlowe visits Dr. Varley. Again, the doctor denies that he has anything to do with treating alcoholics.

Marlowe suspects Verringer may know more information and believes that Eileen may once have met Earl. That evening, Marlowe drives back to the ranch. He sneaks up to the ranch in the dark and, as Earl prowls the yard, he sees Verringer talking to a man in a bed. The man is Wade. Verringer presses him for money and claims that Wade has “betrayed [his] confidence” (80). Wade begged Verringer to save him from his alcoholism, the doctor explains, but now people like Marlowe are asking difficult questions. Wade dismisses Verringer’s demands but fears Earl. Overhearing the men talk, Earl enters the room. He hits Verringer while trying to attack Wade; Marlowe rushes into the room, brandishing his gun. Marlowe brings calm to the room, and Wade prepares to leave.

As Marlowe prepares to drive away with Wade, Verringer again asks Wade for money. Wade promises to “think about it” (83), and he leaves the ranch with Marlowe. As they drive, Wade complains about Verringer and “that psycho” (83) Earl. He cannot understand why Verringer has seemingly sacrificed everything for Earl. Wade wants to talk about the Lennox case, but Marlowe does not want to talk. Marlowe refuses an invitation of a drink in Wade’s house, but as he is about to drive away, Marlowe sees Eileen and stops his car. They discuss Sylvia Lennox, and Marlowe kisses Eileen. She tells him that he “shouldn’t have done that” (85) and rejects his accusation that she manipulated the case to make Marlowe emotionally involved. Marlowe leaves.