Sam Spade Timeline and Summary

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• Spade is hired by Miss Wonderly to help protect her from a man named Thursby. He finds out the next day that his partner Miles Archer has been killed, as well as Thursby.
• When Spade questions Miss Wonderly about the murders, she confesses that her real name is Brigid O'Shaughnessy, but she won't tell him anything else.
• Spade is held at gunpoint by Joel Cairo, who is looking for a black bird. Later, Spade notices that he's being followed by a young man who seems to be carrying a gun.
• Sensing that Brigid knows Cairo, Spade organizes a meeting with both of them, but the police knock on the door right when Spade is in the middle of questioning them. The police take Cairo off to be questioned at the station.
• Meanwhile, Spade finally gets Brigid to spill the beans that she's in fact on a mission to find a priceless statuette of a black falcon. Brigid begs Spade to help her, and they end up sleeping together that night. But the next morning, Spade sneaks off to search Brigid's apartment.
• Slowly, Spade figures out that Cairo and the man tailing him (Wilmer) are working for Casper Gutman, Brigid's former boss. Spade arranges to meet with Gutman and learns the history of the Maltese falcon, but gets drugged by Gutman and beaten up by Wilmer (ouch).
• When Brigid disappears, Spade is able to figure out that she arranged a meeting onboard the ship La Paloma to meet with Captain Jacobi.
• Later that night, a man stumbles into Spade's office and hands him a package, before collapsing onto the floor and dying. The package contains the black falcon, and Spade infers that the dead man must be Jacobi. Spade now has the perfect bargaining chip to use against Gutman.
• Spade goes to Gutman's hotel and finds his daughter Rhea there, drugged and almost unconscious. Rhea tells him that Gutman has Brigid locked up in an abandoned house, but when Spade goes there, it doesn't look like it has been occupied.
• When Spade returns to the office, he finds Brigid waiting for him and she begs him to protect her from Gutman. They go to his apartment only to find the whole gang waiting for them.
• Spade offers Gutman the black falcon in exchange for ten grand and Wilmer as the "fall guy" to give to the police. Gutman agrees, but when he discovers that the falcon is a fake, he and his crew flee, leaving Spade alone with Brigid.
• Spade then accuses Brigid of being the one who murdered Archer, in an attempt to frame Thursby. He turns Brigid over to the police, despite admitting that he may have feelings for her.
• When Spade returns to the office the next day, he is met by a scornful Effie, who is angry at him for betraying Brigid. Effie tells him that Iva Archer is waiting for him.