Chinatown Scene 12 Summary

  • Jake speeds to the house where Evelyn was with Hollis's supposed mistress, her sister. Jake demands to see the girl and says Evelyn looks like she's going someplace.
  • He phones Escobar and tells him to meet them at the house, as Evelyn looks on. Evelyn asks him to tell her what's happening.
  • Jake shows her Hollis's glasses from the pond and says it's where he was drowned. He wants to know the truth—he thinks Evelyn killed Hollis, and is keeping the mistress in captivity because she knows too much.
  • Evelyn says she'll tell him the truth—the supposed mistress is actually her daughter.
  • Jake slaps her, and she says it's her sister.
  • Then, he slaps her again, and says it's her daughter.
  • She keeps saying both as Jake slaps her and throws her down.
  • A darker, violent side of Jake goes into full throttle as he forces Evelyn to reveal the awful, awful truth…
  • Finally, Evelyn says that the girl is both her sister and her daughter—her father had sex with her, and the girl is their daughter.
  • She tells Jake that it happened when she was fifteen, and she couldn't be with her daughter since she was so young and not in control.
  • Now, she wants to be with her daughter and wants to run away from her father.
  • Jake tells her to escape.
  • Evelyn goes upstairs first, but before she goes, she tells Jake that the glasses aren't Hollis's, since he didn't wear bifocals.
  • Jake realizes that they're Noah's… and that Noah killed Hollis.
  • Evelyn's daughter briefly says hello to Jake.
  • After Evelyn and her daughter have fled, Jake phones his assistants and tells them to meet him at Evelyn's servant's address in Chinatown where Evelyn is going to hideout before leaving.
  • The detectives arrive to arrest Evelyn, but are too late.