Cagney & Lacey (1981–1988): Season 2, Episode 4 - High Steel - full transcript
Lacey's husband assists the pair in cracking down on a crooked construction firm that is responsible for the death of a worker.
So, we get a guy who has the expertise
but doesn't depend on the
construction industry for his livelihood.
Got any suggestions?
- You're sleeping with him.
- Who?
Guess we have to go in there
and look now.
The fun part.
I'm concentrating.
That must be tough
with a double homicide case going.
Mary Beth,
if the materials are substandard,
those guys could be in danger up there!
What if you lose your balance up there?
(SCREAMING)
(DRILLING)
(SCREAMING)
MAN 1: Look at that!
MAN 2: Call somebody.
MAN 3: Give me a hand.
MAN 4: Get an ambulance,
somebody, please!
- How you doing?
- Feeling strong now.
That's nice.
I tell you, Mary Beth,
this thing really works.
Did a mile and a half today.
Keep this up, I'll be clicking
off three in no time.
How can you run in this city?
(SCOFFS)
What do you mean,
the cars and the crazies?
Well, it's tough, but part of the challenge
of living in New York.
- Besides, I put on three pounds last week.
- You never gain weight.
I tell you, Mary Beth, it really does work.
Clears the cobwebs out of my head,
my blood's pumping.
Look at me. I'm ready for the day.
- Could I get into something like that?
- Sure.
But you gotta start slow,
you know, build up.
Uh-huh.
Pretty soon, you'll feel like a million bucks.
(GROANS)
Million bucks, huh?
Watch me, kid. 10K by next spring.
- Mary Beth.
- Yeah?
- Your husband called. Wants you to call.
- Thank you.
SAMUELS: What happened?
ISBECKI: This guy fell right off the top.
Twenty-four floors. Splat.
- No witnesses?
- Well, he was what you call a softball.
Did a one-man job.
He was all alone on a beam.
Rest of the crew turned around,
he wasn't there anymore.
What, a construction worker got killed?
Yeah, fell off a new high-rise on 6th.
Oh, yeah?
Calm down, it was only an accident.
All I said was, "Oh, yeah."
You want to split the paperwork
for the medical examiner?
- ISBECKI: Oh, great.
- What, you got time on your hands?
No, sir, I'm just trying to be helpful.
Uh-huh.
That'll teach you.
I'll be back in a minute, I gotta call Harv.
So, what happened?
- HARV: Yeah?
- Harv?
Yeah?
What's the matter?
You don't sound so good.
A guy I used to work with,
Dan Lucas, he just got killed.
(ORGAN PLAYING)
I'm all right, thank you.
CHARLENE: Thanks very much.
Old gang hasn't changed much.
Few new faces.
I should say something to Charlene.
You go ahead.
Yeah, okay.
- What?
- Well, it's just been kind of a long time.
Harvey, everybody knows
why you don't work the steel anymore.
That happened to a lot of guys.
I used to hear talk about those guys.
I even used to make it.
Honey, they're your friends.
They called you, didn't they?
Yeah.
- Harv, I'm glad you could make it.
- Hey, man.
- Man, thanks for calling.
- Yeah.
Good to see you.
Hey, you know, I hadn't seen Dan
in a couple of years,
but, you know, for a while there
we kept winding up on the same job
no matter where. Almost got to be a joke.
I know, I remember.
You know, Harvey used to work
the steel, too, you know.
Oh, yeah, till he got smart, huh?
You know, inner ear infection.
I lost my balance when I got to the top.
- Luck is what you got.
- Hey.
Oh! Whoa! Whoa!
- Here. Let me chip in.
- Oh, every little bit helps, man.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, sir. Okay.
Okay.
Listen, we're going up to Flannery's
and have a little drink,
- so you're welcome to come along.
- Thank you, Jimmy.
- Give me a minute, okay?
- Yeah.
Thank you for coming.
- Oh, let's... It shouldn't be so long, huh?
- Yeah. Sure.
Jimmy.
(SIGHS)
Listen, why don't you take the car?
I'll catch a ride home
with one of the other guys.
- I'll see you later.
- It might be late.
- Well, whenever.
- Okay.
What? What is it? Harvey?
What are you doing?
I'm trying to get into the bathroom,
if that's all right with you.
You don't need a key, Harvey.
Just turn the knob.
Huh?
Oh.
Yeah.
Oh.
(HARVEY GROANING)
What's the matter? Is Daddy all right?
He'll be fine, sweetheart.
He's just got an upset stomach.
I thought maybe he got drunk.
Honey, sweetheart, go to bed.
Go to bed now, all right?
(TOILET FLUSHING)
- Honey, you all right?
- Yeah.
- Now, come on. Come on, let's get up.
- Oh, yeah, I'm okay. Please.
Let me just sit here a second
till everything settles down.
I don't know how those guys can do it
night after night.
It was a special night.
Too bad you didn't know Dan Lucas better.
Now, somebody ought to pay.
- You want some water?
- I mean, throw the crud over the side.
Honey, can you get some aspirin down?
- Hey, would you listen to me?
- I'm listening, I'm listening.
It wasn't an accident.
Dan didn't just fall from there.
Yeah. You know, he was pushed.
Yeah.
It's not a lot to go on.
Hearsay, rumors, a bunch
of iron workers grumbling in a bar.
Well, sir, I think it's worth checking out.
I mean, rumors have to start someplace.
Yeah, okay. But this is Isbecki's case.
I'm not going to pull him off of it.
Let us help him out.
We can handle the load.
It's all right with me.
Just gotta get Isbecki to agree with it.
Thank you, sir.
Christine is taking care of that.
You got to work down to sprints,
just like you run up to long races.
I see.
You know how the Mescalero Apaches
used to train their children?
They'd have them run for miles
up and down the sides of a mountain
with a mouthful of water.
- So?
- So.
- That's discipline.
- Interesting.
But what I really want to do is ask Victor...
You really should wear different shoes.
- Well, that's a myth. Come on.
- That's right.
No, they're right, they're right.
Women pronate more than men.
You wear those shoes,
you're inviting trouble.
- Really?
- Mmm-hmm.
Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you.
I appreciate your telling me.
You know, I was gonna go out for track
in high school.
Had to work in the afternoons.
- How's it going?
- Talk to you in a sec.
So, Victor, you gonna
pace me in the morning?
- If you want to.
- I would really appreciate it. I would.
Why don't you let me
help you do something?
How about the paperwork
on that investigation thing?
- The iron worker?
- Mmm-hmm.
No, it was an accident. Big waste of time.
Well, then let me help you.
Come on. I owe you one.
I'll get Mary Beth in on it.
- How are you gonna convince her of that?
- I'll con her. You know me.
(LAUGHING)
- HARVEY: Yeah, hello?
- Harv? We're on the case.
Oh, that's good.
- How's your head?
- I'm all right.
Chris is waiting. We gotta go and
check up what the guys told you about.
So, the department thinks
there might be something to it, huh?
Well, not yet, but we're working on it.
Nothing in the papers, either.
Well, you know,
he was just another hardhat, huh?
Honey, we're going to give it a shot.
I promise, okay?
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
All right, all right, I'll get to it.
Sorry, we're a little nuts around here.
We were closed down
a few days after the accident.
That's all right.
I don't know about any fights,
but Dan Lucas was a good man.
Well, we heard that some of the cement
workers were giving him a hard time.
- Which ones?
- We don't know,
but we'd like to ask around.
- Sure. Watch yourselves.
- Thank you.
Excuse me. Hello.
- Hi, can we talk to you a minute?
- Hi.
I must be dreaming.
It's all right, I can handle them both.
I mean, you want quality,
not quantity, right?
Great, great, yeah. Can we talk?
Of course, I can give you quantity, too,
if you know what I mean.
No, you're too subtle.
I'm Detective Cagney.
This is Detective Lacey. 14th Squad.
- Aren't you Harvey Lacey's wife?
- Yeah.
Oh, I saw you at the funeral.
It's Sammy, right?
- Right. How are you?
- Hanging in.
Did you know Dan Lucas?
He was an iron worker.
Worked 20 floors away.
Well, Sammy's an iron worker.
He comes down here slumming
on his breaks.
We understand that some cement mixers
had a fight with Dan. Is that right?
- Cement mixers?
- Yeah.
Maybe. But not us.
Well, why would anybody
want to fight with him?
I heard he was an all right guy.
It gives me the creeps talking about him.
You can't think about things like that
on the site.
Excuse me, Dan's children
have to think about it.
Don't you patronize me, lady.
What's the matter,
did I say something wrong?
Hey, I think maybe
you should get out of here, huh?
ISBECKI: You girls having a problem?
(WOLF WHISTLE)
WORKER: Who's this?
Private Isbecki, U.S. Cavalry.
- I said I was only trying to help.
- What are you doing here, Isbecki?
Well, I had to get some signatures
to wrap up the paperwork
that you said you were gonna do for me.
- Terrific.
- How come you guys are here?
So sorry. You shouldn't even be
in this area without a hardhat.
Accidents happen.
You gotta keep yourselves safe.
(BEEPING)
Hey, guys. Nice system.
Gee, would my kids love
to get a hold of something like that.
I thought it might keep the boys'
minds off what happened.
- Won't you sit down?
- Yeah.
I didn't know you made detective,
Mary Beth.
Well, last time we saw each other
I was probably still in uniform.
- When was that?
- Must have been 4th of July barbecue.
- You were pregnant with Andrew.
- That long ago.
So, what did you want
to talk to me about?
A few things.
Hey, guys, why don't you
go outside for a while?
Come on, chop-chop.
Hey.
(MOANS)
Get your jackets
and button them this time.
I don't want you getting sick again.
Oh, hey, thank you.
Charlene, was Dan in some kind
of a fight the past few weeks?
Well, guys out there are always getting
into scrapes, you know that, Mary Beth.
Harv heard that this was a serious one.
Supposedly some guys on the job
were giving him a hard time.
- Why would they?
- We don't know.
- Did he ever mention these men to you?
- Dan never talked about work.
Said when he was home
he wanted to be home.
- Well, he didn't talk a lot, you know.
- Yeah, sure.
- Why are you here?
- I asked to be here.
Harv and Dan knew each other for years,
and we wanted to be sure
that everything about
the accident checked out.
- Are you saying it wasn't an accident?
- No, we're not saying that.
We just had to ask you
a few questions, all right?
Yeah.
- She's hiding something.
- What?
- She's afraid.
- Of course, she's afraid.
- She's got two kids, she's alone.
- No, she's afraid of us.
That video equipment cost a bundle.
She was circling ads for houses
in Riverdale. You didn't catch that?
I was looking at the new jackets
the kids were wearing.
She didn't get those jackets
on 14th Street.
So let's run a bank check
and get the real numbers.
Yeah, we could do that.
- Look, I know she's a friend of yours...
- I met the woman once six years ago.
So what's the problem?
If we're gonna apply for a court order,
we got to show a probable cause.
I think we got it, don't you?
Fall in a pothole, huh?
- How did you know?
- I'm a detective.
Why don't you get a man's bike?
What do you mean a man's bike?
These are lousy streets.
I tried to warn you about that hole.
It's been there for months.
You know what it is? Payoffs.
City's got the bucks to fix it,
but somebody's always
right in there on the take.
Looks like Judge Tanner
came through for you.
It's the authorization to seize and inspect
the Lucas bank account
- and safe deposit box.
- Oh...
Great. Why don't you
get dressed while I get started?
Hold it, Isbecki, you're off of this one.
What do you mean?
You're kidding. It's my case.
Was. Cagney got the court order.
She and Lacey can handle it.
We don't need three people on this.
I got 10 cases there
that need immediate attention.
Yeah, purse snatching
on Number 5 bus. Can't wait.
Excuse me, I gotta go call Mary Beth.
(WHISTLES)
Oh, you're gonna have to replace
that wheel, Isbecki.
- Yeah, what do you think it'll cost?
- Well...
Not much. Fifty, sixty bucks.
I'm gonna call City Hall.
We're not going to find anything.
She's probably got pictures of her kids,
and flowers from her prom,
and birth certificates.
Is that what you keep
in your safety deposit box?
I haven't got one, but if I did
that's what I'd keep there.
Well, you're boring.
Would you look at that!
- There must be $20,000, $30,000 there.
- That's a lot of overtime.
Why would they keep blueprints
in their safe deposit box?
We'll sign for this. We'd like to take this.
You had no right to open that box.
Well, we see it a little differently.
Charlene, we think that Dan
may have been murdered.
- You don't know that.
- We have good reason to believe it,
and so do you.
I think you've known all along.
That's my money.
Dan left it to take care of me and the kids.
- Where did he get it?
- He worked for it.
Charlene, you ever seen these?
Why would your husband have
the blueprints from the construction site
he's working on in his safe deposit box?
I have no idea.
There are red
and yellow markings on these prints.
- Do you know what they mean?
- No. I don't know.
I sometimes overheard Dan talk
about blueprints,
- but it was technical.
- Who did he talk to?
Sammy McCaslin on the phone.
Quite a bit.
McCaslin worked with Dan.
We saw him at the construction site.
It never occurred to you to ask
your husband what was going on?
Well, I knew Dan was bringing home
more money and I was glad.
But he never talked about work
and he never talked about
where the money came from.
I didn't know anything was wrong.
Well, if the red and yellow markings
mean certain areas,
maybe the materials are substandard.
And if you multiply that
by every room in the place,
you got a few hundred thousand dollars
skimmed off right there.
- And nobody'd ever know?
- Well, they might know about it
in a couple of years
when the building collapses.
- That bad?
- Maybe sooner.
Dan had these prints.
Dan. How could he do that?
You guys wanna go for coffee?
- Yeah, good idea. I want to talk to you...
- We can't, Harv. We gotta go.
Thanks.
CAGNEY: All the parts that are yellowed
in here, and all the red markings,
Harvey said could be faulty material.
It could mean kickbacks,
it could mean payoffs.
So Dan Lucas
was getting paid to keep quiet.
Well, until he got a little too ambitious.
Okay, I'll buy it.
They're not gonna let us
walk in and look around.
I'll have to get a search warrant.
Leave that to me.
Thanks.
We'll bring Sammy McCaslin
in for questioning, okay?
Yeah, good.
You know, Isbecki really feels bad
about losing this case.
La Guardia, please,
what do you want us to say?
I don't know, but he feels real bad.
- Well, we're sorry but it wasn't our fault.
- He feels just awful.
What is his problem?
This happens to people all the time.
I know, I know, but he feels terrible.
- All right!
- All right!
Okay. He just wanted me to tell you.
(MEN WHOOPING)
- LACEY: Morning.
- What can I do for you?
- We'd like to talk to one of your men.
- Sammy McCaslin.
I'd like to talk to him, too.
He didn't come in today.
- Do you have an address on him?
- Hold on.
It's in Rego Park off Queens Boulevard,
middle of nowhere.
- Want me to find you a map?
- I'm in Jackson Heights 15 years, thanks.
Thank you.
(CHILD CRYING)
Mr. McCaslin?
Mr. McCaslin, police.
McCaslin?
Well, I guess we have to go in there
and look now.
The fun part. Okay.
Christine?
Petrie, is Samuels there?
Listen, Ed, check up on the roof.
Yeah, one of the neighbors reported
seeing some action up there.
- OFFICER: 10-4.
- Okay.
You guys wanna move it upstairs?
We're gonna stay down here
with the crime scene.
Dear God.
That's our guy.
Hey, coach.
When do you think I might expect
a little improvement?
- Maybe it's just a matter of concentration.
- I'm concentrating.
That must be tough
with a double homicide case going.
You know, Isbecki, I did not ask
that you be taken off this case.
Yeah, but you didn't ask me
to be put back on it, either.
What do you want me to do?
You owe me $53 for my bicycle.
So McCaslin was not killed
by a professional.
Forensics said it had to be a big guy.
Somebody strong enough to carry him out
into the alley,
but the murder was not exactly
clean and easy.
So what's your thinking?
McCaslin and Dan Lucas talk a lot
about blueprints and maybe blackmail.
Lucas gets into a fight
with some cement mixers,
probably a warning to back off.
He does not.
So McCaslin pushes him off the building
'cause he got too greedy.
Now, McCaslin's dead.
Gotta be somebody important.
Maybe in the city, maybe not.
It all comes back to a cover-up, doesn't it?
What's the status on that search warrant?
No word yet.
- Sir, can we go down to Headquarters?
- Yes, sure, why not?
Yeah, you and Cagney give it a try.
It might help.
Big help.
What if we talk
to the building inspector ourselves?
Maybe they were part of all this.
We don't know who's involved.
- Good.
- What?
I was beginning to think
I was the only one who was paranoid.
Anyway, even if we had the warrant,
we still need a guy
who can look at that building
and tell us what the blueprints mean.
You don't know how it goes
with these construction guys.
If somebody talks to cops,
he may not work again.
So, we get a guy who has the expertise
but doesn't depend on the
construction industry for his livelihood.
Got any suggestions?
- You're sleeping with him.
- Who?
Ralph.
What do you mean, who?
I'm talking about Harvey.
Harvey's busy. He has a lot of obligations.
- Besides that, it wouldn't be professional.
- But Harvey's involved in the case.
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGING)
He said he's having a rough time.
Maybe he would like to help us.
Maybe he'd like
to recommend somebody else.
Oh, you don't need anybody else.
I'll do it.
Harv, we already talked about you.
The answer is no.
Well, why don't we talk about it again,
- because I think Harvey...
- Christine!
Wait a minute,
let's hear what the lady has to say.
I mean, I would like to help. I really would.
Thank you.
Harvey knows what we're talking about.
I happen to respect his judgment.
No, wait a minute, Mary Beth.
By the time we get around
to getting a consultant on this thing,
the building's gonna be finished,
people will have already moved in,
and we can forget the whole thing.
Just think about it, all right?
I gotta go call in those warrants.
- You got a telephone?
- The other room.
Huh? Come on.
- I got a bad feeling about it, Harv.
- Hey.
If Dan really knew something
and he wasn't telling,
I wanna see it with my own eyes.
Honey, let the department handle it.
Mary Beth, out of respect to the dead,
I don't wanna hate the man's memory
if it isn't true.
- Forget it, we're out of business.
- Why?
Somebody's making noises.
I can't even get search warrants now.
Well, we'll find another judge.
Samuels said that word has come down
that the whole thing is off-limits.
Interesting, isn't it?
- Meaning we drop the investigation?
- Unofficially.
"Let the department handle it," huh?
They're trying to pull the plug
on the whole investigation.
So in the graft department,
Dan Lucas had company.
What else is new?
You cannot hate the man for that.
Mary Beth,
if the materials are substandard,
those guys could be in danger up there!
Not to mention
the people who might wanna live there.
I am not gonna lose another friend
like that. No way!
What if you lose your balance up there?
What I need to check I can do on the first
or second floor. No heights!
Do you know
what we are talking about here?
Entering without a search warrant
is not a parking ticket.
Come on, Mary Beth,
you don't always have to play by the rules.
Pardon me, that's easy for you to say.
Hey, wait a minute, I'm willing
to take a risk here. So is Harvey.
- What is your problem?
- Hey, no risk, huh? This is a piece of cake.
People get on construction sites
all the time. They steal them blind.
We go in in the night.
We're out of there in 15 minutes, huh?
Tops.
Tops!
Oh, my Lord.
75, 76, 77...
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Four more!
76, 77,
78, 79, 80.
Okay.
- Yeah?
- LACEY: 10:00.
- I'll be there.
- On the dot, Chris.
We got 30minutes, after that
three additional guards are on,
and we've had it.
You okay about this?
Sometimes I think when a case
is not working out, it's not right to push.
Hey, Harvey's pushing, too.
Yeah? Who says he's always right?
We're right. You'll see we're right. Okay.
It's okay. Mrs. Rivera will watch
the kids till we get back.
Hey, hey, we get in, we get out.
Piece of cake.
She should be here.
(CAR HORNS BLARING)
This is the bridge, sweetheart,
we're all here together!
Yeah?
Maybe she had car trouble, huh?
We'll give her another five minutes.
(SIREN BLARING)
Move it! Come on, get out of the way.
Where would I go? Up?
Quarter past.
Well, we gotta do it now, huh? Let's go.
Move it!
I'm all right, come on.
Okay.
Let me have it.
Yeah, that'll work.
That's it right there. Come on.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Let me try this.
The weld seems to be okay.
Here, shine a light over on the bolts.
Yeah. A-325s,
that's what they're supposed to be.
Now let's see about it, huh?
Gotta wait for it to dry.
Come on.
Quality work cannot be rushed.
If it bleeds through, we'll know.
Come here.
There it is.
What a piece of garbage.
Dan, you stinker.
(GUN COCKING)
It's too bad, huh? Empty your pockets.
In the state of New York, the murder of
a police officer carries the death penalty.
Let's go. Come on.
Let's go! Come on, move.
I told you we shouldn't have come here,
didn't I, Harv?
- I told him we shouldn't have come here.
- Hit the button.
- Which one?
- Hit the button.
Hit the button.
Hit the button.
(WHIRRING)
HANSEN: All right, out.
Out.
Listen, Hansen, let me tell you something.
This is really a wrong move.
I mean, I'm sure you got a lawyer, right?
So, lawyers get people out of everything.
You don't need to do this.
- So what do you say, huh?
- Move.
Oh, hey, how high up are we here?
I hate heights, I never could stand heights.
You know me, Harv.
Start climbing.
LACEY: I would really rather
not go up here.
Remember how you always
used to tease me,
I could never go past the third floor?
Shut up!
- I was always like that, wasn't I, Harv?
- Yeah.
HANSEN: Over there.
- Over there? You gotta be kidding.
- Move.
No, see, I go past a certain point,
I get in trouble you wouldn't believe.
- You know, you got a big mouth, lady.
- Yeah, I know. A lot of people tell me that.
(GUNSHOT)
(SCREAMS)
(GUN FIRING)
What are you doing here?
Yeah, Detective Cagney, 14th Squad.
We've got a 10-13.
Officer in need of assistance
at construction site on 6th...
- 35th.
- And 35.
Help!
(LACEY SCREAMING)
- How do I get up there?
- Elevator in the back.
No!
No!
(LACEY SCREAMING)
Hansen!
Cagney, 14th Squad, follow me.
Mary Beth. Hold on, baby, hold on.
I'm coming to get you.
CAGNEY: Hansen!
Hansen! Hold it!
Stop that man!
HARVEY: Baby?
Please, I don't think I can get out there
to help you.
Harvey!
Easy, easy.
- Mary Beth.
- Oh, no, no, she's frozen out there.
I've seen it before.
You're not gonna be able to move her.
She's got a death grip.
- Well, I gotta go...
- No, no, no. I gotta go.
Mary Beth?
Take it easy, honey.
I'm coming. Just hold on.
Hold on, babe. Hold on.
You okay? Okay.
Now you gotta listen to me. Just listen.
Listen to me, you're gonna have to let go
of the beam.
(EXCLAIMS)
Mary Beth, you're gonna have to let go
of the beam.
Mary Beth, please.
You're gonna have to let go.
Please?
For God's sake,
Harvey, what are you doing?
Watch my feet.
- Keep your eyes on my feet!
- Okay.
- Keep your eyes on my feet!
- All right, keep backing up!
That's it, keep coming.
Just keep coming back.
Keep coming back.
It's okay, keep coming!
(GRUNTS)
Can you grab her?
- I'm watching.
- Come on, honey.
I've got her. Wait a minute.
All right, let go.
(LACEY CRYING HYSTERICALLY)
CAGNEY: Okay, okay. It's okay.
It's okay, it's okay.
It's okay, baby.
- It's okay, honey. Yes.
- It's okay.
- It's okay.
- Yeah, it's okay.
- It's okay. It's okay.
- It's okay.
It's okay.
(SOBBING)
I'm sorry, you guys.
but doesn't depend on the
construction industry for his livelihood.
Got any suggestions?
- You're sleeping with him.
- Who?
Guess we have to go in there
and look now.
The fun part.
I'm concentrating.
That must be tough
with a double homicide case going.
Mary Beth,
if the materials are substandard,
those guys could be in danger up there!
What if you lose your balance up there?
(SCREAMING)
(DRILLING)
(SCREAMING)
MAN 1: Look at that!
MAN 2: Call somebody.
MAN 3: Give me a hand.
MAN 4: Get an ambulance,
somebody, please!
- How you doing?
- Feeling strong now.
That's nice.
I tell you, Mary Beth,
this thing really works.
Did a mile and a half today.
Keep this up, I'll be clicking
off three in no time.
How can you run in this city?
(SCOFFS)
What do you mean,
the cars and the crazies?
Well, it's tough, but part of the challenge
of living in New York.
- Besides, I put on three pounds last week.
- You never gain weight.
I tell you, Mary Beth, it really does work.
Clears the cobwebs out of my head,
my blood's pumping.
Look at me. I'm ready for the day.
- Could I get into something like that?
- Sure.
But you gotta start slow,
you know, build up.
Uh-huh.
Pretty soon, you'll feel like a million bucks.
(GROANS)
Million bucks, huh?
Watch me, kid. 10K by next spring.
- Mary Beth.
- Yeah?
- Your husband called. Wants you to call.
- Thank you.
SAMUELS: What happened?
ISBECKI: This guy fell right off the top.
Twenty-four floors. Splat.
- No witnesses?
- Well, he was what you call a softball.
Did a one-man job.
He was all alone on a beam.
Rest of the crew turned around,
he wasn't there anymore.
What, a construction worker got killed?
Yeah, fell off a new high-rise on 6th.
Oh, yeah?
Calm down, it was only an accident.
All I said was, "Oh, yeah."
You want to split the paperwork
for the medical examiner?
- ISBECKI: Oh, great.
- What, you got time on your hands?
No, sir, I'm just trying to be helpful.
Uh-huh.
That'll teach you.
I'll be back in a minute, I gotta call Harv.
So, what happened?
- HARV: Yeah?
- Harv?
Yeah?
What's the matter?
You don't sound so good.
A guy I used to work with,
Dan Lucas, he just got killed.
(ORGAN PLAYING)
I'm all right, thank you.
CHARLENE: Thanks very much.
Old gang hasn't changed much.
Few new faces.
I should say something to Charlene.
You go ahead.
Yeah, okay.
- What?
- Well, it's just been kind of a long time.
Harvey, everybody knows
why you don't work the steel anymore.
That happened to a lot of guys.
I used to hear talk about those guys.
I even used to make it.
Honey, they're your friends.
They called you, didn't they?
Yeah.
- Harv, I'm glad you could make it.
- Hey, man.
- Man, thanks for calling.
- Yeah.
Good to see you.
Hey, you know, I hadn't seen Dan
in a couple of years,
but, you know, for a while there
we kept winding up on the same job
no matter where. Almost got to be a joke.
I know, I remember.
You know, Harvey used to work
the steel, too, you know.
Oh, yeah, till he got smart, huh?
You know, inner ear infection.
I lost my balance when I got to the top.
- Luck is what you got.
- Hey.
Oh! Whoa! Whoa!
- Here. Let me chip in.
- Oh, every little bit helps, man.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, sir. Okay.
Okay.
Listen, we're going up to Flannery's
and have a little drink,
- so you're welcome to come along.
- Thank you, Jimmy.
- Give me a minute, okay?
- Yeah.
Thank you for coming.
- Oh, let's... It shouldn't be so long, huh?
- Yeah. Sure.
Jimmy.
(SIGHS)
Listen, why don't you take the car?
I'll catch a ride home
with one of the other guys.
- I'll see you later.
- It might be late.
- Well, whenever.
- Okay.
What? What is it? Harvey?
What are you doing?
I'm trying to get into the bathroom,
if that's all right with you.
You don't need a key, Harvey.
Just turn the knob.
Huh?
Oh.
Yeah.
Oh.
(HARVEY GROANING)
What's the matter? Is Daddy all right?
He'll be fine, sweetheart.
He's just got an upset stomach.
I thought maybe he got drunk.
Honey, sweetheart, go to bed.
Go to bed now, all right?
(TOILET FLUSHING)
- Honey, you all right?
- Yeah.
- Now, come on. Come on, let's get up.
- Oh, yeah, I'm okay. Please.
Let me just sit here a second
till everything settles down.
I don't know how those guys can do it
night after night.
It was a special night.
Too bad you didn't know Dan Lucas better.
Now, somebody ought to pay.
- You want some water?
- I mean, throw the crud over the side.
Honey, can you get some aspirin down?
- Hey, would you listen to me?
- I'm listening, I'm listening.
It wasn't an accident.
Dan didn't just fall from there.
Yeah. You know, he was pushed.
Yeah.
It's not a lot to go on.
Hearsay, rumors, a bunch
of iron workers grumbling in a bar.
Well, sir, I think it's worth checking out.
I mean, rumors have to start someplace.
Yeah, okay. But this is Isbecki's case.
I'm not going to pull him off of it.
Let us help him out.
We can handle the load.
It's all right with me.
Just gotta get Isbecki to agree with it.
Thank you, sir.
Christine is taking care of that.
You got to work down to sprints,
just like you run up to long races.
I see.
You know how the Mescalero Apaches
used to train their children?
They'd have them run for miles
up and down the sides of a mountain
with a mouthful of water.
- So?
- So.
- That's discipline.
- Interesting.
But what I really want to do is ask Victor...
You really should wear different shoes.
- Well, that's a myth. Come on.
- That's right.
No, they're right, they're right.
Women pronate more than men.
You wear those shoes,
you're inviting trouble.
- Really?
- Mmm-hmm.
Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you.
I appreciate your telling me.
You know, I was gonna go out for track
in high school.
Had to work in the afternoons.
- How's it going?
- Talk to you in a sec.
So, Victor, you gonna
pace me in the morning?
- If you want to.
- I would really appreciate it. I would.
Why don't you let me
help you do something?
How about the paperwork
on that investigation thing?
- The iron worker?
- Mmm-hmm.
No, it was an accident. Big waste of time.
Well, then let me help you.
Come on. I owe you one.
I'll get Mary Beth in on it.
- How are you gonna convince her of that?
- I'll con her. You know me.
(LAUGHING)
- HARVEY: Yeah, hello?
- Harv? We're on the case.
Oh, that's good.
- How's your head?
- I'm all right.
Chris is waiting. We gotta go and
check up what the guys told you about.
So, the department thinks
there might be something to it, huh?
Well, not yet, but we're working on it.
Nothing in the papers, either.
Well, you know,
he was just another hardhat, huh?
Honey, we're going to give it a shot.
I promise, okay?
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
All right, all right, I'll get to it.
Sorry, we're a little nuts around here.
We were closed down
a few days after the accident.
That's all right.
I don't know about any fights,
but Dan Lucas was a good man.
Well, we heard that some of the cement
workers were giving him a hard time.
- Which ones?
- We don't know,
but we'd like to ask around.
- Sure. Watch yourselves.
- Thank you.
Excuse me. Hello.
- Hi, can we talk to you a minute?
- Hi.
I must be dreaming.
It's all right, I can handle them both.
I mean, you want quality,
not quantity, right?
Great, great, yeah. Can we talk?
Of course, I can give you quantity, too,
if you know what I mean.
No, you're too subtle.
I'm Detective Cagney.
This is Detective Lacey. 14th Squad.
- Aren't you Harvey Lacey's wife?
- Yeah.
Oh, I saw you at the funeral.
It's Sammy, right?
- Right. How are you?
- Hanging in.
Did you know Dan Lucas?
He was an iron worker.
Worked 20 floors away.
Well, Sammy's an iron worker.
He comes down here slumming
on his breaks.
We understand that some cement mixers
had a fight with Dan. Is that right?
- Cement mixers?
- Yeah.
Maybe. But not us.
Well, why would anybody
want to fight with him?
I heard he was an all right guy.
It gives me the creeps talking about him.
You can't think about things like that
on the site.
Excuse me, Dan's children
have to think about it.
Don't you patronize me, lady.
What's the matter,
did I say something wrong?
Hey, I think maybe
you should get out of here, huh?
ISBECKI: You girls having a problem?
(WOLF WHISTLE)
WORKER: Who's this?
Private Isbecki, U.S. Cavalry.
- I said I was only trying to help.
- What are you doing here, Isbecki?
Well, I had to get some signatures
to wrap up the paperwork
that you said you were gonna do for me.
- Terrific.
- How come you guys are here?
So sorry. You shouldn't even be
in this area without a hardhat.
Accidents happen.
You gotta keep yourselves safe.
(BEEPING)
Hey, guys. Nice system.
Gee, would my kids love
to get a hold of something like that.
I thought it might keep the boys'
minds off what happened.
- Won't you sit down?
- Yeah.
I didn't know you made detective,
Mary Beth.
Well, last time we saw each other
I was probably still in uniform.
- When was that?
- Must have been 4th of July barbecue.
- You were pregnant with Andrew.
- That long ago.
So, what did you want
to talk to me about?
A few things.
Hey, guys, why don't you
go outside for a while?
Come on, chop-chop.
Hey.
(MOANS)
Get your jackets
and button them this time.
I don't want you getting sick again.
Oh, hey, thank you.
Charlene, was Dan in some kind
of a fight the past few weeks?
Well, guys out there are always getting
into scrapes, you know that, Mary Beth.
Harv heard that this was a serious one.
Supposedly some guys on the job
were giving him a hard time.
- Why would they?
- We don't know.
- Did he ever mention these men to you?
- Dan never talked about work.
Said when he was home
he wanted to be home.
- Well, he didn't talk a lot, you know.
- Yeah, sure.
- Why are you here?
- I asked to be here.
Harv and Dan knew each other for years,
and we wanted to be sure
that everything about
the accident checked out.
- Are you saying it wasn't an accident?
- No, we're not saying that.
We just had to ask you
a few questions, all right?
Yeah.
- She's hiding something.
- What?
- She's afraid.
- Of course, she's afraid.
- She's got two kids, she's alone.
- No, she's afraid of us.
That video equipment cost a bundle.
She was circling ads for houses
in Riverdale. You didn't catch that?
I was looking at the new jackets
the kids were wearing.
She didn't get those jackets
on 14th Street.
So let's run a bank check
and get the real numbers.
Yeah, we could do that.
- Look, I know she's a friend of yours...
- I met the woman once six years ago.
So what's the problem?
If we're gonna apply for a court order,
we got to show a probable cause.
I think we got it, don't you?
Fall in a pothole, huh?
- How did you know?
- I'm a detective.
Why don't you get a man's bike?
What do you mean a man's bike?
These are lousy streets.
I tried to warn you about that hole.
It's been there for months.
You know what it is? Payoffs.
City's got the bucks to fix it,
but somebody's always
right in there on the take.
Looks like Judge Tanner
came through for you.
It's the authorization to seize and inspect
the Lucas bank account
- and safe deposit box.
- Oh...
Great. Why don't you
get dressed while I get started?
Hold it, Isbecki, you're off of this one.
What do you mean?
You're kidding. It's my case.
Was. Cagney got the court order.
She and Lacey can handle it.
We don't need three people on this.
I got 10 cases there
that need immediate attention.
Yeah, purse snatching
on Number 5 bus. Can't wait.
Excuse me, I gotta go call Mary Beth.
(WHISTLES)
Oh, you're gonna have to replace
that wheel, Isbecki.
- Yeah, what do you think it'll cost?
- Well...
Not much. Fifty, sixty bucks.
I'm gonna call City Hall.
We're not going to find anything.
She's probably got pictures of her kids,
and flowers from her prom,
and birth certificates.
Is that what you keep
in your safety deposit box?
I haven't got one, but if I did
that's what I'd keep there.
Well, you're boring.
Would you look at that!
- There must be $20,000, $30,000 there.
- That's a lot of overtime.
Why would they keep blueprints
in their safe deposit box?
We'll sign for this. We'd like to take this.
You had no right to open that box.
Well, we see it a little differently.
Charlene, we think that Dan
may have been murdered.
- You don't know that.
- We have good reason to believe it,
and so do you.
I think you've known all along.
That's my money.
Dan left it to take care of me and the kids.
- Where did he get it?
- He worked for it.
Charlene, you ever seen these?
Why would your husband have
the blueprints from the construction site
he's working on in his safe deposit box?
I have no idea.
There are red
and yellow markings on these prints.
- Do you know what they mean?
- No. I don't know.
I sometimes overheard Dan talk
about blueprints,
- but it was technical.
- Who did he talk to?
Sammy McCaslin on the phone.
Quite a bit.
McCaslin worked with Dan.
We saw him at the construction site.
It never occurred to you to ask
your husband what was going on?
Well, I knew Dan was bringing home
more money and I was glad.
But he never talked about work
and he never talked about
where the money came from.
I didn't know anything was wrong.
Well, if the red and yellow markings
mean certain areas,
maybe the materials are substandard.
And if you multiply that
by every room in the place,
you got a few hundred thousand dollars
skimmed off right there.
- And nobody'd ever know?
- Well, they might know about it
in a couple of years
when the building collapses.
- That bad?
- Maybe sooner.
Dan had these prints.
Dan. How could he do that?
You guys wanna go for coffee?
- Yeah, good idea. I want to talk to you...
- We can't, Harv. We gotta go.
Thanks.
CAGNEY: All the parts that are yellowed
in here, and all the red markings,
Harvey said could be faulty material.
It could mean kickbacks,
it could mean payoffs.
So Dan Lucas
was getting paid to keep quiet.
Well, until he got a little too ambitious.
Okay, I'll buy it.
They're not gonna let us
walk in and look around.
I'll have to get a search warrant.
Leave that to me.
Thanks.
We'll bring Sammy McCaslin
in for questioning, okay?
Yeah, good.
You know, Isbecki really feels bad
about losing this case.
La Guardia, please,
what do you want us to say?
I don't know, but he feels real bad.
- Well, we're sorry but it wasn't our fault.
- He feels just awful.
What is his problem?
This happens to people all the time.
I know, I know, but he feels terrible.
- All right!
- All right!
Okay. He just wanted me to tell you.
(MEN WHOOPING)
- LACEY: Morning.
- What can I do for you?
- We'd like to talk to one of your men.
- Sammy McCaslin.
I'd like to talk to him, too.
He didn't come in today.
- Do you have an address on him?
- Hold on.
It's in Rego Park off Queens Boulevard,
middle of nowhere.
- Want me to find you a map?
- I'm in Jackson Heights 15 years, thanks.
Thank you.
(CHILD CRYING)
Mr. McCaslin?
Mr. McCaslin, police.
McCaslin?
Well, I guess we have to go in there
and look now.
The fun part. Okay.
Christine?
Petrie, is Samuels there?
Listen, Ed, check up on the roof.
Yeah, one of the neighbors reported
seeing some action up there.
- OFFICER: 10-4.
- Okay.
You guys wanna move it upstairs?
We're gonna stay down here
with the crime scene.
Dear God.
That's our guy.
Hey, coach.
When do you think I might expect
a little improvement?
- Maybe it's just a matter of concentration.
- I'm concentrating.
That must be tough
with a double homicide case going.
You know, Isbecki, I did not ask
that you be taken off this case.
Yeah, but you didn't ask me
to be put back on it, either.
What do you want me to do?
You owe me $53 for my bicycle.
So McCaslin was not killed
by a professional.
Forensics said it had to be a big guy.
Somebody strong enough to carry him out
into the alley,
but the murder was not exactly
clean and easy.
So what's your thinking?
McCaslin and Dan Lucas talk a lot
about blueprints and maybe blackmail.
Lucas gets into a fight
with some cement mixers,
probably a warning to back off.
He does not.
So McCaslin pushes him off the building
'cause he got too greedy.
Now, McCaslin's dead.
Gotta be somebody important.
Maybe in the city, maybe not.
It all comes back to a cover-up, doesn't it?
What's the status on that search warrant?
No word yet.
- Sir, can we go down to Headquarters?
- Yes, sure, why not?
Yeah, you and Cagney give it a try.
It might help.
Big help.
What if we talk
to the building inspector ourselves?
Maybe they were part of all this.
We don't know who's involved.
- Good.
- What?
I was beginning to think
I was the only one who was paranoid.
Anyway, even if we had the warrant,
we still need a guy
who can look at that building
and tell us what the blueprints mean.
You don't know how it goes
with these construction guys.
If somebody talks to cops,
he may not work again.
So, we get a guy who has the expertise
but doesn't depend on the
construction industry for his livelihood.
Got any suggestions?
- You're sleeping with him.
- Who?
Ralph.
What do you mean, who?
I'm talking about Harvey.
Harvey's busy. He has a lot of obligations.
- Besides that, it wouldn't be professional.
- But Harvey's involved in the case.
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGING)
He said he's having a rough time.
Maybe he would like to help us.
Maybe he'd like
to recommend somebody else.
Oh, you don't need anybody else.
I'll do it.
Harv, we already talked about you.
The answer is no.
Well, why don't we talk about it again,
- because I think Harvey...
- Christine!
Wait a minute,
let's hear what the lady has to say.
I mean, I would like to help. I really would.
Thank you.
Harvey knows what we're talking about.
I happen to respect his judgment.
No, wait a minute, Mary Beth.
By the time we get around
to getting a consultant on this thing,
the building's gonna be finished,
people will have already moved in,
and we can forget the whole thing.
Just think about it, all right?
I gotta go call in those warrants.
- You got a telephone?
- The other room.
Huh? Come on.
- I got a bad feeling about it, Harv.
- Hey.
If Dan really knew something
and he wasn't telling,
I wanna see it with my own eyes.
Honey, let the department handle it.
Mary Beth, out of respect to the dead,
I don't wanna hate the man's memory
if it isn't true.
- Forget it, we're out of business.
- Why?
Somebody's making noises.
I can't even get search warrants now.
Well, we'll find another judge.
Samuels said that word has come down
that the whole thing is off-limits.
Interesting, isn't it?
- Meaning we drop the investigation?
- Unofficially.
"Let the department handle it," huh?
They're trying to pull the plug
on the whole investigation.
So in the graft department,
Dan Lucas had company.
What else is new?
You cannot hate the man for that.
Mary Beth,
if the materials are substandard,
those guys could be in danger up there!
Not to mention
the people who might wanna live there.
I am not gonna lose another friend
like that. No way!
What if you lose your balance up there?
What I need to check I can do on the first
or second floor. No heights!
Do you know
what we are talking about here?
Entering without a search warrant
is not a parking ticket.
Come on, Mary Beth,
you don't always have to play by the rules.
Pardon me, that's easy for you to say.
Hey, wait a minute, I'm willing
to take a risk here. So is Harvey.
- What is your problem?
- Hey, no risk, huh? This is a piece of cake.
People get on construction sites
all the time. They steal them blind.
We go in in the night.
We're out of there in 15 minutes, huh?
Tops.
Tops!
Oh, my Lord.
75, 76, 77...
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Four more!
76, 77,
78, 79, 80.
Okay.
- Yeah?
- LACEY: 10:00.
- I'll be there.
- On the dot, Chris.
We got 30minutes, after that
three additional guards are on,
and we've had it.
You okay about this?
Sometimes I think when a case
is not working out, it's not right to push.
Hey, Harvey's pushing, too.
Yeah? Who says he's always right?
We're right. You'll see we're right. Okay.
It's okay. Mrs. Rivera will watch
the kids till we get back.
Hey, hey, we get in, we get out.
Piece of cake.
She should be here.
(CAR HORNS BLARING)
This is the bridge, sweetheart,
we're all here together!
Yeah?
Maybe she had car trouble, huh?
We'll give her another five minutes.
(SIREN BLARING)
Move it! Come on, get out of the way.
Where would I go? Up?
Quarter past.
Well, we gotta do it now, huh? Let's go.
Move it!
I'm all right, come on.
Okay.
Let me have it.
Yeah, that'll work.
That's it right there. Come on.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Let me try this.
The weld seems to be okay.
Here, shine a light over on the bolts.
Yeah. A-325s,
that's what they're supposed to be.
Now let's see about it, huh?
Gotta wait for it to dry.
Come on.
Quality work cannot be rushed.
If it bleeds through, we'll know.
Come here.
There it is.
What a piece of garbage.
Dan, you stinker.
(GUN COCKING)
It's too bad, huh? Empty your pockets.
In the state of New York, the murder of
a police officer carries the death penalty.
Let's go. Come on.
Let's go! Come on, move.
I told you we shouldn't have come here,
didn't I, Harv?
- I told him we shouldn't have come here.
- Hit the button.
- Which one?
- Hit the button.
Hit the button.
Hit the button.
(WHIRRING)
HANSEN: All right, out.
Out.
Listen, Hansen, let me tell you something.
This is really a wrong move.
I mean, I'm sure you got a lawyer, right?
So, lawyers get people out of everything.
You don't need to do this.
- So what do you say, huh?
- Move.
Oh, hey, how high up are we here?
I hate heights, I never could stand heights.
You know me, Harv.
Start climbing.
LACEY: I would really rather
not go up here.
Remember how you always
used to tease me,
I could never go past the third floor?
Shut up!
- I was always like that, wasn't I, Harv?
- Yeah.
HANSEN: Over there.
- Over there? You gotta be kidding.
- Move.
No, see, I go past a certain point,
I get in trouble you wouldn't believe.
- You know, you got a big mouth, lady.
- Yeah, I know. A lot of people tell me that.
(GUNSHOT)
(SCREAMS)
(GUN FIRING)
What are you doing here?
Yeah, Detective Cagney, 14th Squad.
We've got a 10-13.
Officer in need of assistance
at construction site on 6th...
- 35th.
- And 35.
Help!
(LACEY SCREAMING)
- How do I get up there?
- Elevator in the back.
No!
No!
(LACEY SCREAMING)
Hansen!
Cagney, 14th Squad, follow me.
Mary Beth. Hold on, baby, hold on.
I'm coming to get you.
CAGNEY: Hansen!
Hansen! Hold it!
Stop that man!
HARVEY: Baby?
Please, I don't think I can get out there
to help you.
Harvey!
Easy, easy.
- Mary Beth.
- Oh, no, no, she's frozen out there.
I've seen it before.
You're not gonna be able to move her.
She's got a death grip.
- Well, I gotta go...
- No, no, no. I gotta go.
Mary Beth?
Take it easy, honey.
I'm coming. Just hold on.
Hold on, babe. Hold on.
You okay? Okay.
Now you gotta listen to me. Just listen.
Listen to me, you're gonna have to let go
of the beam.
(EXCLAIMS)
Mary Beth, you're gonna have to let go
of the beam.
Mary Beth, please.
You're gonna have to let go.
Please?
For God's sake,
Harvey, what are you doing?
Watch my feet.
- Keep your eyes on my feet!
- Okay.
- Keep your eyes on my feet!
- All right, keep backing up!
That's it, keep coming.
Just keep coming back.
Keep coming back.
It's okay, keep coming!
(GRUNTS)
Can you grab her?
- I'm watching.
- Come on, honey.
I've got her. Wait a minute.
All right, let go.
(LACEY CRYING HYSTERICALLY)
CAGNEY: Okay, okay. It's okay.
It's okay, it's okay.
It's okay, baby.
- It's okay, honey. Yes.
- It's okay.
- It's okay.
- Yeah, it's okay.
- It's okay. It's okay.
- It's okay.
It's okay.
(SOBBING)
I'm sorry, you guys.