Fact1: Quinn does n't believe it and clashes with island 's inept Governor Chalk and arrogant political fixer, Fact2: Chalk introduces Quinn to Fred Miller, Fact3: American said to represent Pater 's, Fact4: Miller burns down house with inside, Fact5: Ubu Pearl instructed Isola to go to hotel and leave snake in Pater 's room
Output: Xavier Quinn is the chief of police on a small Caribbean island. When Donald Pater, the millionaire owner of a luxury resort hotel, is found murdered, everyone assumes that the culprit is Maubee, a petty crook who also is Quinns best friend. Quinn doesnt believe it and clashes with the islands inept Governor Chalk and his arrogant political fixer Thomas Elgin. Quinns worries over the murder exacerbate his troubles at home; he is estranged from his wife, Lola, and rarely has time to see his son. Maubee eludes the police at every turn. Quinn questions a witness, who says that Maubee had a rare US10,000 bill. Trying to track down Maubee, Quinn questions Ubu Pearl, the local witch and aunt of Maubees girlfriend, Isola. Chalk introduces Quinn to Fred Miller, an affable American said to represent Paters company. Pater had been found floating in a hot tub, decapitated. Against Chalks instructions, Quinn has the body autopsied and finds that Pater died of a venomous snake bite and was already dead when his head was cut off. Quinn arrests Jose Patina, who claims to be on vacation, but has also been questioning people about Maubees whereabouts. After Patina is bailed out of jail, he confers with Miller in a seedy hotel. Miller tells him the operation is over, then kills Patina. Miller goes to Ubu Pearl and demands that to know where Maubee is. When she refuses, he burns down her house, with her inside. Quinn discovers that Pater, a close associate of the President of the United States, brought stacks of 10,000 bills to the island to be picked up by Patina. The President wants to fund an antiCommunist revolution in Latin America, but Congress would not support this. The President acts illegally, using the C.I.A. to deliver discontinued currency that is still good but will not be missed from its storage at the US Department of the Treasury. The murder messed up the plan, so the C.I.A. has sent Miller to retrieve the money and plug up the holes. Quinn tracks Maubee down at their childhood playground in an ancient ruin. Maubee explains that Pater impregnated Isola when she was a maid at his hotel. When Ubu Pearl demanded that Pater support the child, Pater fired Isola. Ubu Pearl instructed Isola to go to the hotel and leave a snake in Paters room. Maubee sped to the hotel and arrived just as Pater was dying from the snakebite. He cut Paters head off, put his body into the tub to attempt to conceal the cause of death, and grabbed the sack of money. Miller appears and holds the pair at gunpoint. Maubee hands over the money and Miller departs in a helicopter. Enraged, Maubee grabs onto the helicopter as it lifts off over the ocean. Miller shoots at Maubee and Quinn watches helplessly as his friends body falls into the ocean. A snake hidden in the sack of money slithers out and fatally bites the helicopter pilot. Miller struggles to regain control, but the chopper crashes into the old ruins and explodes. Grieved at the loss of his friend, Quinn returns home and reconciles with his wife. As he walks on the beach with his son, the camera pans down to show a line of barefoot prints emerging from the water, leading to a rock with a 10,000 bill sitting on it.