Brighton Rock: Part V, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Cubitt and Dallow are laughing at Pinkie for falling in the pool. Pinkie keeps repeating that he’ll never marry.  When they get back to Frank’s, Rose is waiting for Pinkie in his room. She has a newspaper with her. On the front page is a photograph of Spicer looking terrified. She asks Pinkie what really happened to Spicer. Pinkie says he fell down the stairs. Rose is confused. The last she heard, Colleoni’s men killed him on the course. Pinkie grows frustrated with her. He admits that Spicer probably knew something about Hale and that he was targeted. Rose tells Pinkie she’s been having nightmares. She had one about Pinkie dying. She thinks he should leave Frank’s, and that they should get married and get out of Brighton.

Pinkie tells Rose they can’t marry. He spoke to their lawyer, he says, and they’re too young. Rose says she doesn’t care about that. It wouldn’t be a real marriage. Pinkie tells her to go back to Snow’s, but Rose says she can’t. She’s been fired for being rude to Ida. She wonders aloud if Ida might be acting out of jealousy, a past lover of Pinkie’s. Pinkie senses a deadly possessiveness hiding behind Rose’s sweet exterior. He says he has no idea why Ida would be so interested in Hale’s death; he doesn’t know her at all.

Rose asks Pinkie if she should take the newspaper to the police, and Pinkie is shocked by her shrewdness. He supposes he will have to marry her after all. He suggests that she get her father to write a letter on their behalf, giving them permission to marry, but she says her father can’t write. Pinkie assures her there are ways around things. He’ll talk to Prewitt. Rose recognizes the lawyer’s name from the inquest. They’re both distracted by music drifting from a radio below. Pinkie thinks about how long he’ll have to pretend to be in love with her. He assures her they can get married in a couple days if they just apply themselves to the cause.