BASIL
(Talks over the song)
Hey, bro...what d'you know?(Talks over the song)
ROD
Same old story.BASIL
A fight for love and glory? ROD
A case of Dewers or Rye. (Laughs)
How you feeling friend? BASIL
Doggoned tired, Rod. Getting too old for this poop. You don't look too good
yourself. The loan dogs on your tail? ROD
Got bills, got no clients, although I may have a new one. Just not sure.
BASIL
You gotta stop taking those charity cases. ROD
Not this one, she dropped a load on my desk.
BASIL
(Laughing)
(Laughing)
Did your good-looking secreterrier clean it up?
ROD
Beth is pretty good at cleaning up my messes. I got no idea why she puts
up with me. BASIL
All you got to do is look into those big eyes of hers to know that there's
serious puppy love burning there. So, your new client is a she? ROD
Oh, yeah, all she and trouble.BASIL
Hey, you're Rod Weiler, there's not a she dog made that you can't handle.ROD
Well, I may have met my match. You know everything that goes down in this
town, what do you know about Babette deBeagle?
BASIL
Babette
deBeagle…otherwise known as Babs deBoobs. More than one hound has sniffed
her butt. Before Cecil deBeagle took her out of the gutter, she would roam
the streets looking for her next meal. Too proud to beg, but if someone
came along and offered her a few treats, she'd turn a trick or two.ROD
Who would have thought? She was so well groomed.BASIL
Oh, sure, now she's the proper poodle. Wife of a famous film director, but,
let me tell you, at one time, she was quite improper and had very little
standards. Hey, give her credit. She pulled herself out the gutter and seems
to have done all right. ROD
But at a price? Sure, she's got the furs and diamond collars, but she also
shares a bed with an obnoxious son-of-a-bitch. Appears that something rotten
is going down with mister big-shot director.BASIL
So what's the poop? ROD
Remember that old classic movie, the Sea Dog with Clara
Bow? Well, supposedly, deBeagle is doing a remake, and his collaborator
is Clara Bow, still alive, kicking and scratching.BASIL
I hear that she's one rich bitch, but real tight with the biscuits. Must
have a little Scottie in her. ROD
Probably has had every kind of breed in her.
BASIL
Come to think of it, she bought that old place right on the ocean. The same
one they used to film the original Sea Dog movie. I hear that she has quite
the digs, more like a museum, loaded with lots of antique pet toys and art.
I hear that she has the original oil of that "dogs playing poker". I've
got my own version of that on velvet. Lots of rooms, probably more than
your average pet motel. She lives there in that big place with her loyal
butler, Bernard and sometimes her nephew, Rex
Bow, boards there. ROD
Rex Bow is Clara's nephew? Never knew that.BASIL
He's in the papers all the time. Gets invited to all the Collywood bashes.
Don't know where he gets his scratch; supposedly, Clara keeps a pretty tight
leash on the guy. So, what's the tie-in with this Old Sea Dog flick?ROD
Not sure, but Babette deBeagle is one scared pup. This hound of a husband
has been acting very strange and she thinks that there's some funny stuff
going on between Cecil and Clara. She hasn't been able to confront him,
because he's gone, disappeared. BASIL
Maybe, you should talk to Detective Shepherd at Collywood PD. See what she
has on this cast of characters?
ROD
Germaine Shepherd is a pretty good cop, but she can be a real hard ass.
No, I'll snoop around a bit myself, before the law gets involved.(Over the buzz of the bar, a phone rings in the background)
I 've got to figure out this connection between deBeagle and Clara Bow.
SCOTTIE
(From behind the bar) Hey, gumshoe, the phone.
(Rod walks over to the bar. Scottie hands him the phone)
ROD
Yeah, Rod Weiler here.(Listens intently for a few seconds)
Beth, are you sure.
(Scoop Trailer slithers down the bar, trying not to look too obvious. Rod notices and turns away from Scoop)
I don't have much of a choice... What's the address?.... That's a strange place to meet. Rex Bow will be with Babatte? Listen, when she calls back, tell her I'll be there. And Beth see what you can dig up on Clara and Rex Bow and the Bow Mansion. Yeah, I'll watch my tail.
(Rod hangs up and walks over to Basil)
BASIL
That's Babs' old neighborhood.ROD
Yeah, and get this, she's got Rex Bow with her. BASIL
So, the plop thickens. 
PACO
Hey, what's that smell?SCOTTIE
Oh no, it's Boomer again. TRAILER
It's probably your blue bowl special, Scottie.(Rod leaves to a chorus of insults hurled at Boomer.)
