Marlowe meets Kingsley at the Athletic Club and updates him about what happened at Lavery’s apartment. Marlowe asks if Crystal owned a gun, and Kingsley confirms that she did. Marlowe then shows Kingsley the gun he obtained at Lavery’s, but Kingsley isn’t sure it is Crystal’s gun. Kingsley offers Marlowe $500 to lose the gun, they debate the issue, and Marlowe insists on returning the gun to Lavery’s apartment for the police to find. Marlowe uses one of Kingsley’s handkerchiefs to wipe down the gun. Kingsley reveals that Fromsett and Lavery were lovers for a while, and that Fromsett knows Mr. and Mrs. Almore. Kingsley further admits to being in love with Fromsett. Marlowe warns Kingsley to hide his knowledge of Lavery’s death until the police tell him that Lavery is dead.

Marlowe returns to the Gillerlain Company and meets with Fromsett. She says she met Mr. and Mrs. Almore at one of Lavery’s parties. Marlowe tells her that Almore called the cops when Marlowe first went to Lavery’s place, and that the cop asked him if he was working for Mrs. Florence Almore’s parents. Fromsett tells Marlowe about an altercation between Florence and a man named Brownwell. Fromsett also reveals that the night Florence died, she had been drugged by her husband after getting into trouble at a gambling establishment.