Monsieur Spade

Sam and Teresa, a girl he is being paid to deliver, bond when they are stuck for the night in a car. In the morning, an attractive woman, Gabrielle, who will become Sam's wife, arrives to give them a ride. Eight years later, Gabrielle has passed away and Sam has stayed on the estate. Sam's doctor tells Sam that he is healthy, but, that emphysema is in his future if he does not stop smoking. A young man comes to Sam's estate, and asks Sam if he can spend time on the estate paining landscapes as his father did. There is a flash-back: While Teresa and a dog play in the field, Gabrielle explains the history of Philippe and how he is blackmailing her and others about activities during the war (WWII? The Algerian War?) Apparently, there is a trust fund in which Teresa's mother put funds (from stolen property) that Teresa will get when she is 18. Teresa's mother created the trust fund to protect the money for Teresa from her father, Philippe. Sam visits Marguerite Devereaux at the club. She pays him his share of the club's earnings. Apparently Sam owns one-half the club. Jean-Pierre Devereaux wants Sam to buy him out of his share of the club. Jean-Pierre claims that Sam stole it and the estate, too. Sam has a discussion with the Mother Superior at the convent where Teresa now lives. He also delivers a donation, effectively paying for Teresa's room and board and care. Apparently, Teresa is bitter about being in the convent instead of with Sam, or at the estate, or both. Sam, alone at home in the late evening, receives a phone call from Philippe. Philippe warns Sam to stay away from Teresa, and threatens Sam if he does not. Sam hears a gunshot through the phone. The next day, Sam reports his phone conversation with Philippe to Chief of Police Patrice Michaud. Patrice grudgingly says that he will investigate. Before leaving, Sam tells Patrice, "You owe me." Patrice replies, "You have that backwards. You live here at my pleasure. Sam has a conversation with Marguerite in the empty club. He explains how he came to be what he was: someone who solved other people's problems by brutalizing or eliminating the people who caused those problems. Marguerite's husband Jean-Pierre enters; he threatens Sam and attacks Sam, but Sam immobilizes him. Sam returns home at night. Teresa comes running. She tells Sam a story about her father Philippe coming to visit her and that he'd been shot. Then there was an ugly monk, and the monk hit Mother Superior. Sam goes to the convent to investigate. He finds multiple murdered nuns.

Sam prepares breakfast for two, then discovers that Teresa is gone. Someone has slashed his tires. He takes the other (luxury) car. He comes upon George Fitzsimmons, walking and returning from painting, who tells Sam that he saw Teresa looking distraught, shoes muddy, on the road. Sam goes to the convent. The cleaning man tells him that the girls have been sent to another convent and that he has not seen Teresa. Sam goes into Mother Superior's (Elizabeth's) office, and searches for info. He walks away with some folders. He later suspects that one nun's folder is missing. He hears the bells, goes up into the bell tower, and finds Teresa there. After a discussion, Teresa and Sam drive away. They talk about Gabrielle. Teresa says, She didn't want me to hate you for what you did to my father. They are shot at by a man on a motorcycle. Neither of them are hurt. Sam chases in the car, but the shooter escapes on the motorbike. Patrice and his brother retrieve a bullet lodged in the car. They conclude it is from an army rifle. Henri reports to Sam. Philippe's file has lots of blacked out info. Sam concludes that Philippe is a spy. Henri also says that Philippe was hiding an Algerian woman in his quarters. A flashback - Chief of Police Patrice Michaud and Mother Superior discuss awful events and killings in the past and also what to do about Philippe. Patrice wants to kill him, or to have Sam take care of him. Mother Superior resists. We also learn the Jean-Pierre suffers from very serious PTSD from the horrors of his experiences in the war. Cynthia Fitzsimmons wants to see the painting her late husband did. She says that she also knows Philippe Saint-André. The discord and unhappiness between Jean-Pierre and Marguerite continues. Teresa and Sam talk. Who shot at her and Sam? Teresa tells about the shootings of the nuns. The killer wanted to know where the boy was, but the nuns did not talk and were shot one by one. Teresa saves herself by stabbing the killer with the knife she had hidden in her doll. Samir, who works for Marguerite Devereaux, finds the boy hiding in Marguerite's office.