The Partners’ Mutual Suspicion

Brigid and Thursby’s alliance changes from an attempt to obtain the bird together into a relationship of distrust that Brigid tries to escape.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Orient Alliance

The Orient Alliance Common purpose Brigid O’Shaughnessy joins Floyd Thursby in pursuing the falcon after her dealings with Joel Cairo collapse. Dependence and risk She relies on Thursby’s help but understands that he is an armed criminal with motives of his own. The alliance is practical from its beginning, not a bond of equal trust.

A Promised Share

A Promised Share Terms change Brigid says Thursby promised to pay her a share after selling the bird, while the men’s earlier arrangement had offered her a smaller payment for helping them obtain it. Resentment grows She comes to believe Thursby will not honor his promise. Her dependence on him shifts into suspicion and a search for independent leverage.

A Staged Tail

A Staged Tail Suspicion planted Brigid arranges for Thursby to see Miles Archer following them, hoping that the pressure will make him leave town or otherwise remove him from her way. Alliance compromised She later admits that she knowingly misled Thursby about the detective. Her effort to control him sets Archer on the path to death.

Thursby Killed

Thursby Killed A protector removed Thursby is shot outside his hotel shortly after Archer’s murder, leaving Brigid without the armed ally she had used and distrusted. New dependence She turns again to Spade, asking him to shield her from the unfolding police inquiry and the other pursuers.

The Alliance Reconstructed

The Alliance Reconstructed A motive exposed Spade argues that Brigid wanted Thursby out of the way before Jacobi brought the bird, and that her supposed fear of Thursby had concealed her plan. A decisive break Brigid’s alliance with Thursby is revealed as another temporary arrangement built on manipulation. The confession shifts suspicion from the dead man to the woman who survived him.

Before their arrival in San Francisco

During the journey from the Orient

The first night in San Francisco

The night after Archer’s murder

Near the final arrest