Joe escapes again by hopping a train, but during the night the Sarge catches up to him, only to find that Joe's suitcase contains nothing but a bottle of champagne and wads of newspaper. They conclude that Dawn double-crossed Joe by repacking the suitcases (and thus taking all the money for herself) while he was getting the car, and the Sarge proposes a plan to Joe to go after Dawn together. However, upon swallowing a mouthful of the champagne, the Sarge instantly goes into violent convulsions and falls down dead. The bottle was one of two that the Candy Man had filled with a solution of concentrated LSD to sneak through customs earlier in the film. It's clear from Joe's reaction that he had no idea of the bottle's contents, and was just about to imbibe himself.