Just released from prison, Malloy is looking for his one-time girlfriend, red-haired Velma Valento, whom he last saw eight years ago. Philip Marlowe is asked by a detective on the case, Nulty, to look for Velma. He learns the address of a drunken middle-aged floozy that tells him, unconvincingly, that Velma is dead; but he finds a photo of her that the woman was trying to hide from him.