“She’s so young and his bringing her here from New York is such a serious- Mightn’t he – mightn’t he do – something to her” (8)
-Hammett, The Maltese Falcon pg 8
Hammett’s use of dashes creates a pause in the scene to make the dialogue feel more real. Compared to commas, dashes create a harsher break in the sentence to emphasize Ms. Wonderly’s fear and uncertainty.