Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999): Season 1, Episode 7 - And the Rockets' Dead Glare - full transcript
There's a 9 mm here.
Yeah.
OK, Charles, Chantal.
- Whoa!
- Yeah, that's a hell of an exit wound.
Big time malice and the intent at issue.
Somebody was really miffed at this guy.
- I guess it wasn't about toilet paper.
- Some strange Baptist boy.
- That could be foreign ammo.
- What, bullets from elsewhere?
What about "Made in America"?
If you kill here, buy here.
This is funky.
Look at the pillow case round his head
and the bruising on his neck
and shoulders. Look at his fingers.
Charlie, look at his fingers.
Every finger's broken.
Bruising like this,
the delivery is measured.
And the spacing between the bruising.
Well, I'm willing to call it suicide,
if you are.
- It was a message.
- Hold on!
- His name is Lin Cheng Wong.
- You know this guy?
- He was a student here, at university.
- Do you know the man, Miss?
- And who are you?
- Tan Rui Chow.
- Wait, what's your name again?
- Tan Rui Chow.
Tan Rui Chow.
Dengshu knew
this was going to happen.
He was one of the student leaders
in Tiananmen Square.
He escaped
and has been hunted ever since.
He knew they'd catch up with him.
Wait, who is they?
Come on.
Who's they?
The other ones
who would call you in the night
and play funeral music over the phone.
They're the ones who send you a list
of all your relatives back in China,
and where your relatives live.
They're the ones who are behind you
in a check-out line at the supermarket,
taking notes of every item
in your shopping cart.
Now, this may go on in China,
but you're in America now and...
You don't believe that the old leaders
in Beijing would do this in America?
They wouldn't dare.
That's what they'd like you to think.
That's what they're counting on.
Hey, DeSilva, what's happening?
You always start your day
with a soda pop and a candy bar?
What can I say? Every day's a holiday,
every meal's a feast.
What have we got?
So far, no ID on the body,
no plates on the van.
- This guy was a farmer?
- Farmer? How do you know?
Well, these buds are yellowed.
That's when they run off of phosphate
from the fertilizers in the farm.
Yeah, this is low-grade
trade harvested dope
grown in an irrigation ditch of a farm,
near a main highway.
- Near a highway?
- Yeah.
See the brown speckling
near the crown of the bud?
That's from sulfur gas emissions
near where it was grown.
Very impressive!
Did you know Washington
and Jefferson grew this stuff?
Washington and Jefferson
grew marijuana?
They had hemp plantations
and marijuana comes from hemp.
Wait, hold on!
- This George Washington?
- Yes.
How else did he finance his campaigns?
By chopping down cherry trees
and posing for postage stamps?
The foundation of this country is hemp.
The flag was sown from hemp,
our declaration was written on hemp.
Take a stroll in the National Archives
and take a whiff.
That's not papyrus you're smelling.
Munch, you know too much about this.
Hey, Munch, is there anything
you wish to admit to statement?
Yes, I love the way Hendrix played the
Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock.
Ready?
You come ten minutes before we go
to Court and ask me if we're ready?
- Don't screw this up!
- How can I? It came in pretty screwed.
I wanna see Ida Mae avenged.
She was a user, but a good mother.
She never hurt anybody but herself.
The evidence we have
connecting Johnson to the murder
is sufficient to get a conviction,
but not by much.
No murder weapon, no confession,
no motive, no witness.
- A witness? Call William Lyness.
- No!
Success in this case
rests on your testimony.
It's credibility in the eyes of the jurors.
Call Lyness, he gave the bullets
that killed Ida Mae.
Was William selling cocaine
for Johnson? Yes.
Does he own a.38? Yes.
Is he a viable suspect himself? Yes.
He's a loose cannon
on a leaky rowboat.
Rowboats don't have cannons.
Lyness heard his own mother
being tortured and killed
in the exact same way by Johnson
on the exact same night Ida Mae was.
This case concerns only
the murder of Ida Mae Keene.
We can't mention Alexandra Lyness.
When you're on the stand, don't.
- You're making a big mistake.
- When did you get YOUR law degree?
- Is the medical examiner here yet?
- I think so.
- Maggio from the Crime Lab?
- What about him?
- I told him he could go fishing.
- Well, I need him today.
- Let's give him a call. Got his number?
- No, please.
Both of you... just go!
We just passed Dr Scheiner and Maggio
in the hall. Why did you lie to him?
- I don't know. Cos I can...
- Oh!
Wow, it's a beautiful city.
All we've got to do
is go to the Chinese embassy
to ask what they know
about Ling Chang Wong's murder.
- Any idea where you're going?
- Yes. Look. The cradle of our nation.
I don't know why
I let you talk me into this.
The map is too big.
Stop looking at the map.
You missed the Embassy Road cutoff
back there.
It's the White House.
We want Embassy Road here.
We'll find Embassy Road.
Look at this, man.
It's the Washington Monument.
See? We're not...
- This is wrong.
- I know a short cut.
- You know a short cut?
- Yes, relax!
This is the problem.
Whenever you tell me to relax,
that's my cue to not relax.
I'm surprised, the traffic isn't bad.
Considering it's midday and it's DC.
It's a big city. I don't think
we're doing bad for timing at all.
What are you doing?
It's not the embassy, it's a restaurant.
Would you get back in the car?
Look at this.
I can't believe I'm here.
- Where?
- This is... ah...
It's like we're purified.
I can smell the electric...
It smells like a storm coming along, like
rain is coming. It smells like history.
It smells like Chinese food.
Would you get in the car, please?
This is the Surratt House.
This is the house
where Mary Surratt lived.
This is the house where Mary
Surratt's son meets with John Booth
and they together conspire
the assassination of President Lincoln.
And this... is 125 years later.
This is a car from the City of Baltimore,
and we're 45 miles away from Baltimore.
Would you get back in the car?
Would you get back in the car, please?
I'd like to call to the stand
Dr Scheiner, the ME for Baltimore.
I hate not being allowed
in the courtroom.
I hate only being allowed in to testify.
I hate being sequestered.
That's because
you don't know how to pack.
- Where did you get that from?
- It's not just a TV...
...it's a VCR,
it plays 8 mm films!
I got it at the Property Division auction
for unclaimed stolen merchandise.
I also got a circular saw, a gas grill
and a rowing machine.
The place is a gold mine.
Best deals in town.
Objection, your Honour.
Then Danvers picks Scheiner
to put on the stand.
He's the least dynamic coroner in town.
- Carrot stick?
- No.
- Orange juice?
- No.
- Celery?
- No thanks, Beau.
- Wanna watch Oprah?
- Will you stop?
- What are you doing this weekend?
- I don't know.
- How about you?
- I'm driving my wife up to her hometown.
- Oh, yeah, where is she from?
- Boring.
You're the one who brought it up.
No, it's the name of the town.
Boring, Maryland.
- She's from a place called Boring?
- You wonder why we're in counselling?
What do Boring people...
I mean the people of Boring,
what do they do?
They go to the Boring firehouse
where the Boring PTA
has boring Bingo every night.
Every June, they have
the Boring gas engine show.
Your Honour,
I'd like to request...
Thank you.
- How is it going?
- More detail than called for.
I told the jury
how much the victim really suffered.
- How did Johnson react?
- He adjusted his crotch and yawned.
That sonofabitch!
Just wait till I get on the stand.
Is that Chinese for embassy?
- Mr Dengshu?
- Ni hao ma?
- Xie xie. Ni?
- Hai hao.
There's a lot about me
you don't know.
Mr Dengshu, I'm Detective Lewis,
this is Detetective Crosetti.
- How are you?
- Baltimore PD.
Baltimore? What would
the Baltimore police want here?
You speak beautiful English, sir.
I graduated from Ohio State.
I sure recognise that Midwestern twang.
We're here about the apparent murder
of a Chinese student.
- In Baltimore?
- At the university.
- We found his body this morning.
- A Chinese student at the university?
- His name is Lin Cheng Wong.
- We believe Mr Wong feared for his life.
I knew Wong,
we once had a conversation in Beijing.
- Was it in Tiananmen Square?
- Yes.
He was at the end of one bullhorn,
I was at the end of another.
A remarkable and articulate young man.
Bullhorns are not very conducive
for conversation.
- Especially when the tanks are rolling.
- Right!
Sir, do you have any idea
why someone would wanna hurt
Lin Cheng Wong?
I would have thought that someone
in Wong's own circle is the murderer.
So, you're saying
that you and your government
have nothing to gain
by seeing Mr Wong hurt?
And everything to lose.
Tiananmen Square is a long time ago.
We are more interested in our "favourite
nation" status than in one youth.
- Mm-hm, great.
- Yeah.
- Well, thank you very much, sir.
- You're welcome.
Xie xie.
Do you believe all that?
All I know about Chinese people
is old Charlie Chan movies.
He was played by a white man.
- Have you seen Pembleton?
- Not today.
I beeped him but he didn't respond.
On the drug killing, we identified the man
in the van as one Andros Erban.
He's a middleman for a drug dealer
named Elwan Jones,
aka Hendrick Hanson,
aka Chuck the Cellist.
Anything on this Charles Hanson guy?
We got an address in Dickeyville,
but he wasn't home.
Bolander is there right now.
- Go away or I'll call the police.
- I am the police, Ma'am.
- I don't wanna talk to you.
- Just a minute.
I am not gonna say anything bad
about Elwan Jones.
- No, I am not.
- That's fine.
- Is that cos he was a friend of yours?
- That's right.
Wow!
He would...
...kind of help you out
and carry up the groceries?
You've been watching me.
No, I haven't been watching you.
No, Ma'am.
I'm just trying to find out the truth
about something that happened.
I'm afraid the truth is
that your friend is a dangerous man.
He's not! He's just a child.
Sweet man-child.
Did you hear about the body
that was discovered in Lincoln Park?
Yes.
You know what happened?
I heard some yelling
and I looked out the window...
...and I saw Elwan...
...holding a gun to another man's head.
Then they left...
...in the other man's van.
And that is all I know.
"Basic Instinct".
Hmmm, the uncut version.
Is it the knife
you recovered from the scene?
Yes, sir. It is.
We found the knife on the bed.
Did the blood stains on the...
Should we try to catch someone higher
up the food chain at the embassy?
Give me six bucks.
- Put it on your gas card!
- What?
- Put it on your gas card!
- No, I'll never get reimbursed.
Put it on your gas card and
I'll verify you paid the 12 lousy bucks.
Give me the six bucks. Come on.
I pay taxes, I know how it works.
I'm not gonna out on a limb
for the whole schmoo.
The whole schmoo?
Secret Service?
What the hell they want?
Just as I expected,
the Federallies!
What's up, fellas?
Is it about messing up
a mahjong game or something?
It's the unsual nonsense.
Office gets a call
about two detectives harassing
a person at the Chinese embassy.
Mr Gruszynski, we didn't harass
anybody, it was very civil.
Work in this circle long enough
and you'll see how fickle
these diplomatic people are.
No matter the country,
they all get hair-balled
when people come around
on a homicide investigation.
I'm not gonna romance you
but there isn't the remote possibility
that you'll interview anybody
at the embassy. Give it up.
- You're saying we can't do our job?
- I'm saying, "Don't waste your time".
We share reciprocal protection
with the Republic of China.
You know something...
It doesn't matter if I do.
We're not pursuing an investigation.
You know who did it, don't you?
- Bayliss, where's Pembleton?
- I don't know.
Don't say I dont know.
He's your partner.
Like a lover, he should never be
far from your thoughts.
- That was poetic.
- I'm not in the mood!
Captain Barnfather and
Colonel Granger wanna see him.
How does it look that I don't know
where one of my men is?
How does it look when Pembleton
doesn't check in with me?
It reflects badly
on my authority as Chief Commander.
Why did the bosses
wanna talk to Pembleton?
The bosses are definitely
up to something.
Munch?
I don't care.
All I wanna do...
All I want you to do
is to find Pembleton.
And I will.
He had a pillow round his head like some
kind of animal as a friend of his told us.
- Tan Chow?
- Er, Tan Rui Chow.
- Tan Rui Chow.
- Tan Rui Chow doesn't exist.
What are you talking about?
We talked to her.
We interviewed her at the crime scene.
We know you talked to a woman.
There's no Tan Rui Chow
in our records.
Whoever she was boarded
a plane for Montreal
ten minutes after you guys
interviewed her.
Then she got on an Air France flight,
which is now somewhere
over the Arctic, on its way to China.
You're saying
this woman shot Wong?
I don't know but it's strange to leave
the country so quickly, isn't it?
So, you're saying it wasn't anyone
from the Chinese embassy in DC, right?
I don't know.
He doesn't know.
So, this woman knows we'll find out
that she's not who she said she is.
- Yes.
- All right.
It's... All right.
Say I wanna contact you tomorrow.
- Say I wanna call Gr... Cr...
- Gruszynski.
Right, I call here. I call here and I say,
"I'd like to speak to Agent Gruszynski."
Cos you'll be Gruszynski tomorrow.
I hope so. Whether it's me or not...
...who can tell?
I'm kidding. I'll be here tomorrow.
Now is there some place you'd like to go
while you're visiting the capital?
Right now, he's gonna be our tour guide.
- You're serious?
- Yeah.
- There's a place I'd like to see.
- Let's do it.
My partner and I arrived
to find Mrs Keene lying on her back.
She'd been pronounced dead at 4:40.
- Was there a sign of forced entry?
- No, the burgler alarm was turned off.
- Which tells you...
- She knew her attacker.
Objection.
Calls for speculation.
Judge Madden, Detective Howard
is a decorated Homicide investigator.
She's been a primary on 50 cases
and involved in a hundred others.
Her powers of speculation
are more than valid here.
Overruled.
What else makes you think
that Mrs Keene knew the attacker?
Her clothes were in a neat pile,
as if she had undressed while standing.
- Undressed, for her lover?
- Yes.
Mrs Keene was first attacked
while lying on her back in bed.
The knife scratches
on the headboard prove it.
Your Honour, can we let the jury
determine what proves what here?
Yes, Detective,
stop swerving in your lane.
Sorry.
No further questions.
Although I do wish
to recall the detective later.
Mr Russom, cross-examination?
The victim was stabbed
how many times?
Several dozen.
- You don't know the number exactly?
- Several dozen!
- The victim was also shot, once!
- Yes.
At least, you're sure about that, huh?
- Was the apartment tidy?
- Yes, very well kept.
A laboratory technician discovered
human hair on the bed sheets.
Were they checked to see
if they belonged to someone else?
You can't tell from a hair
who it belonged to.
Can you at least determine if it comes
from a black or a white person?
Yes, but you can't go much farther.
So, the hairs recovered
were never compared to anyone else's.
That doesn't sound very thorough.
- Objection.
- Sustained.
- Was the victim a smoker?
- I don't know.
You don't know.
These cigarettes
were recovered at the scene.
Did it occur to you to find out
if the victim was a smoker?
Or if Mr Johnson smoked?
Or perhaps they belong to someone else
entirely, like the real murderer?
- Objection.
- Sustained.
For the record,
Mr Johnson does not smoke.
One last question, Detective.
The victim was pronounced at 4:40.
What is the estimated time of death?
Rigor mortis was fully set.
The blood underneath the victim's head
was dry, coagulated.
It seems to me she had been dead
for at least 24 hours.
- 24 hours?
- Er, no... Not...
So in your expert's opinion,
the murder took place...
I'm sorry, I take that back.
...at 5pm the previous day,
not around midnight?
I got confused. I meant to say
less than... er... at least 12 hours.
Are you...
You get confused a lot, don't you, Miss?
No further questions.
Court will recess for one hour.
You made a slip about the time of death,
which you corrected immediately.
- Stop beating yourself up.
- You heard Danvers this morning.
The case rests on the jury being able
to believe our word over Johnson's.
- Ed, listen, I'm so sorry.
- It's OK.
- No, it's not OK.
- It's OK.
- It's not OK!
- It's OK, Kay!
- Are you stuttering?
- Just stay out of this.
The damage is fixable.
Russom's clearly gonna go
for the "shoddy police work" defence.
I'll call LaToya Kennedy to the stand
to put holes in Johnson's alibi.
- You'll put me back on the stand, right?
- Maybe.
"Maybe."
- Got a gun?
- Always.
Put me out of my misery, would you?
- Gee, look who popped up.
- There you are.
I'm sorry, Lieutenant.
I was working on the Lily case.
I don't care.
Go to Colonel Granger's office. Now.
Yes, sir.
Trials and tribulations
of the civilised world.
- Gee, you want this last cruller?
- Yes.
- You want the whole cruller?
- I'll split it with you.
All right.
- Hey.
- Oh, Munch.
I always knew
you were buzz at smoke camp.
I'm gonna change my hair,
get a bigger badge, maybe a tattoo.
What's the matter?
I don't think I'm projecting
the proper cop aura.
As I was parking my car,
this 20-year-old guy comes running by,
looks at me and throws me his dope.
A few seconds later a squawker
comes by chasing him.
This guy scoped me up, thought I was
John Q Moron and tossed me his dope.
Tell me why that kid
tossed you a bag of dope.
I don't know.
Maybe I don't look like a cop.
- I've got a face you could trust.
- No, you don't.
- Did you catch the kid?
- He's dead.
He pulled out a.38
and my partner had to shoot him.
That's great.
Another homicide.
Half the killings in this city
are from drugs, drug-related murders.
If they legalised drugs,
the killings would stop overnight.
If you legalise drugs,
this city will drown.
Like prohibition worked! This war on
drugs should take a hint from the past.
The war on drugs? Give me a break.
It's more like a pea shoot.
We spent 61 billion dollars
kicking Saddam out of Kuwait.
We spend 11 million fighting drugs.
If coke and heroin were taxed,
we could pay off the national debt.
Oh, yeah! Why not let the mafia
make all the money?
Let's get the Government involved too.
- Get them into extortion, loan sharking...
- They're not now?
We could take the revenue from sales
to create rehab clinics
and educational programmes.
The Government can't even
deliver the mail, you know that.
Now you want them doling out
grams and joints with integrity?
There's more deaths
from a year of legalised smoking
than from ten years of illegal drugs.
Man, that is my point exactly.
Tobacco and alcohol are legal.
They're drugs and when
they're abused they kill.
We don't get a whole lot of street killings
over a Marlboro Light.
It happens, but it's very rare.
- You're gonna drive yourself crazy.
- I'm not.
- You're gonna drive me crazy.
- I want to know what's going on in here.
He's had LaToya Kennedy
on the stand for over an hour.
It's hard working a case. When it goes
to trial, we get sent to the showers.
I haven't lost the case yet
that went to jury trial.
And I sure don't wanna lose this one.
Don't worry about it.
Danvers will get Pony.
Danvers is the best State Attorney
in... in the state.
- Danvers never listens to my advice.
- He listens, he evaluates.
- And then he argues the case his way.
- He's fair, I guess. He preps hard.
His closing arguments are very
persuasive, sometimes even moving.
Sure he bitches and moans,
but he is a fighter. He hates to lose.
There's more than that, though.
He doesn't like
to see a guilty man go free.
- You are smitten.
- What?
- With Danvers.
- Oh, come on.
No, no, no. It's a classic syndrome.
You're both pissing each other.
But underneath you're both fighting
intense sexual desires.
- Will you stop?
- Look how dressed up you got today.
I wanted to make a good impression.
- On Danvers.
- On the jury.
Kay, you have to learn
to face your inner passions.
I am not in love with Ed Danvers.
I'm gonna call you again
in about ten minutes.
And then I'll be finished and I can sit
in the courtroom, right?
Yeah. Oh, listen...
You can't mention Alexandra Lyness
unless Russom leads you to it.
And when you take the stand,
watch out for the blood on the floor.
- Blood?
- LaToya Kennedy, the girlfriend.
I killed her, I destroyed her.
I shoved her head first into
the high speed blender of justice.
I pur?ed Johnson's alibi.
Sometimes you're good,
sometimes you're lucky.
Today, damn it, I was both.
What?
Detective Pembleton.
Welcome, sit down.
- Thank you, sir.
- Can I get you a beverage? Coffee?
No, thank you, sir.
If I may speak frankly,
I feel as though I'm about
to be disciplined or perhaps fired.
No, no. Not at all.
We've called you here
on a matter of the utmost importance.
And delicacy. Don't discuss
what we're about to say with anyone.
- Especially Lieutenant Giardello.
- Why especially him?
We understand we're putting you
in a potentially awkward situation.
- But necessity demands.
- Just trust us, OK?
OK.
We're in the process
of reorganising the Homicide unit,
to increase efficiency, credibility...
- Morale.
- Yes. Morale. Are you with us?
Sure, morale has been down lately.
And the retirement of Jim Scinta
as the commander of the other shift,
gives us an opportunity
to shake the second floor up.
Since you joined the unit,
your performance evaluations
have been exemplary.
Your investigative work
has been consistently outstanding.
I don't know. My last case was Jake
the dog. I wouldn't call that outstanding.
More like, pathetic.
Your swift capture of his killer saved
this department much embarrassment.
We'd like to place your name on a very
short list of people to replace Scinta.
What?
We want you
to work alongside Giardello,
as the other Commander of Homicide.
Er... Well...
- Think about it.
- Oh, yes! Thank you, sir...
Yes.
We know the defendant
got the wadcutter bullets
from William Lyness
the night of the murder.
The car Mr Johnson drives
matches the one
seen outside of Mrs Keene's apartment.
In the trunk of that car were the same
wadcutter bullets used to kill her.
Thank you,
Detective Howard.
Detective, given the fact
that two very different weapons,
a gun and a knife,
were used to kill the victim,
isn't it probable that she was killed
by two different people?
- No.
- Oh, come on, Detective.
Have you ever had a case
where a victim was killed
by a knife wound and a gun wound
and there was only one perpetrator?
- Yes.
- How many cases? Name one. Name it.
The death of Alexandra Lyness indicates
that there was only one murderer.
I should ask for a mistrial.
The Lyness case is off limits here.
- You asked the question.
- I wasn't expecting that answer.
Good attorneys never ask a question
they don't know the answer to.
What's your request?
What do you want me to do?
Hell, I don't know.
No further questions.
You may step down, Detective.
Hey, Gee.
- So?
- So what?
What did Barnfather and Granger
need to speak to you about?
A recruitment programme for minorities.
They want me to look at brochures.
I guess they consider me a good
sounding board, cos I'm such a hip cat.
- That's it?
- Yeah.
- That's all?
- Yeah.
There was no other reason?
Do you wanna take me in the box
and interrogate me?
Not yet.
First I've gotta figure out
why you're lying to me.
- The jury is coming back.
- That was fast.
- Is it good or bad? I can't remember.
- It's good. We'll have dinner soon.
Will the defendant please rise
and face the jury?
Mr Foreman, please stand.
How do you find the defendant,
Aloysius Johnson, not guilty or guilty?
Guilty.
They carry Lincoln's body out here
and they bring him to that... Whoa!
You've actually got the clout to get
into these places whenever you want?
I can get into museums.
But I can't fix a traffic ticket
to save my life.
Hey! You heard about...
There's a stage door which John
Wilkes Booth runs out of. Where is it?
Originally, Secret Service is in charge
of hunting down counterfeiters.
When Lincoln died,
everything changed.
Booth would have shot Lincoln whether
the Secret Service was invented or not.
Secret Service is the best
at what it does.
Better than any other agency
in any other country.
I've got one word for you, Dallas.
We had warned the local cops
about the parade route and the threats.
Sorry, I'm wondering,
did they cordon off the area to find...
I mean, have you read about
what happened?
You must think I'm crazy.
I'm sorry, I'm excited.
Why don't I buy you dinner?
I'll take you over to White House Mess.
- No, we've gotta get back.
- I'm hungry. I'd like to go.
Take advantage
of being out of Baltimore.
- What's that supposed to mean?
- Washington's a beautiful city.
Washington has the highest
capital murder rate in the country.
Well, Baltimore leads the country
in cancer deaths.
- We got the National Aquarium.
- We got the Kennedy Centre.
The Lincoln Memorial,
the Smithsonian...
- And we got the Orioles.
- We have the Redskins.
- I rest my case.
- Gentlemen, gentlemen...
Yours is a good city and so is yours.
Let's call a truce.
Detective Lewis, in Baltimore murder's
wrong and the bad guys get punished.
But none of the prevailing rules of law
and decency pertain to Washington.
The stakes are too high.
I'll quote the man who got shot
in that building right there.
It's supposed to be
"Of, by and for the people".
Not for some of them.
The myth about Secret Service agents
is that we die for the people.
But we don't.
It's for the institution.
No politician's worth my life. If I die,
it's for my country, not those bastards.
Gruszynski, you are more full of crap
than a stadium toilet.
Wong was flat out murder.
Someone put a bag over his head,
someone shot him
in the back of the head
and someone held him down
while they did it.
If you don't see what's wrong, maybe
you're dying for the wrong country.
I guess we're not gonna be able
to have dinner at the White House!
Thanks.
I can see you buying me
several more beverages and a steak.
I can hear, "Yes, it's gloating.
It's definitely trash talk time."
Beer and beef maybe,
but I'm not patting myself on the back.
Detective Howard, Kay...
Could I buy you dinner tonight?
That's sweet of you,
but Beau and I already made plans.
No, no. You guys go ahead.
I need my sleep tonight.
I'm visiting the in-laws tomorrow.
It takes a lot of energy to get to Boring.
Great.
How's Hampton's then?
- Oh, no! I'm not dressed for Hampton's.
- You look terrific.
I'll go to my office and I'll see you
in the lobby in ten minutes, all right?
All right.
Careful. You may wanna
strip off his legal briefs.
Would you stop?
Ready for the ceremonial eye screw?
He was no fun.
Got a date with Ed.
- "I'm not in love with Ed Danvers."
- I'm not in love with Ed Danvers.
I'm having dinner with Ed Danvers.
You're stuck in there,
like you're stuck on Danvers!
- Mary.
- Mmm?
- Mary?
- Yeah.
We can't afford this place.
We can, on special occasions.
This is a special occasion.
And if you take this promotion, we could
have a lot more special occasions.
I have to admit
the bump in salary would be nice.
- It'd be nice to get the roof fixed.
- What are you gonna have?
Oh! I guess that means
we're not gonna talk about it anymore.
Cold water lobster tails
stuffed with imperial crab.
- Frank.
- What?
Don't take the job because
of the money, but because of the job.
This is an enormous honour
that's been offered to you.
A detective as young as you are,
a man of colour.
Think of the good you could do
getting things done your way.
Mary, you and I will be together
even less than we are now.
We'll make it work.
The question is, do you want this job?
Great! The murderer's in
the house and we're waiting for backup.
I'm worried about you.
Oh, yeah?
All this pro-drug stuff
you've been spewing out.
What is that? Theoretical opinions,
or am I hearing a cry for help here?
- Have you ever been high?
- Be serious.
I am.
There's a reason it's called "high".
For some people who are stuck
in low rent depraved hopelessness,
there's a short respite
from the stone cold reality
that they live in a racist country,
run by bigoted old white guys
who won't give them a education
and bitch when they go on welfare
because they're jobless.
So, we're supposed to let them do drugs
because they're feeling depressed?
If I had to wake up to that everyday,
I'd hang naked from Shot Tower
to spite the tourists.
Yaddi yaddi yadda.
So, you get high? Do you smoke pot?
I don't have to answer that.
Nurse, can I have a cup over here?
I wanna test this man's urine.
Here we go.
- Where's narcotics?
- Out on another call.
There's gonna be a ton of drugs in there.
I don't wanna submit that stuff
to Evidence Control.
- Why?
- Cos of the paperwork.
- Why don't you cut these lights?
- I knew this would happen.
Narcotics won't be available
for an hour or so.
That means one of you two guys will
have to submit the stuff to evidence.
- Let's not find any then.
- We're gonna have to pick it up.
We might need something
on this guy, OK?
I'll take the dope.
I've gotta run by HQ anyway.
- Which house is it?
- That one.
Get to the wall.
Get to the wall or I'll blow your head off.
Move and your brains are on the floor.
If that bad boy goes off,
we'll be writing reports forever.
I'm sure Mr Jones here
wishes to cooperate.
Why don't you cuff him?
That sign,
City Pier Broadway...
I never noticed it before.
I guess I never came out this far before.
This used to be a ballroom.
A big, beautiful ballroom with a huge
chandelier and a full orchestra.
My parents
had their wedding reception here.
The city needed space.
They took the chandeliers down
and cut the room into pieces.
The changed it into something else
for the better, I guess.
Sitting in my office late at night,
I think sometimes I hear the orchestra.
Gee...
- I lied to you earlier.
- Uh-huh?
The bosses offered me
acting shift commander.
I know.
- How did you find out?
- They told me.
- They told me not to tell you.
- This is the kind of games they play.
Are you gonna take the job?
Gee, I never see you out on the street,
unless there's a red ball crisis.
You never investigate.
You're at your desk,
shuffling papers, balancing budgets,
fending off the bosses,
playing kindergarten teacher
to Felton, Munch, Crosetti...
- You.
- Yeah, me too!
You've got a crappy job, Gee.
I don't want any part of it.
I can't stand being in that room
even when I'm supposed to be.
I know.
- I'm sorry I lied to you.
- Yeah.
Me too.
Only in Charm City,
you have Pickwick and Wetheredsville.
What kind of name is that?
Wetheredsville... Who thinks these up?
It was to honour John Wethered,
who owned a cotton mill in that area.
He made all his money, it is said,
by selling uniforms
for the confederates and the yankees.
That was a rhetorical question.
You can't touch me.
I almost had dinner at the White House.
- It's true.
- Keyword, "almost".
Hey, you guys.
Do you mind if I join you?
You've never come in here before
and had a drink with us.
- Yeah, I know.
- So... get out!
- Come on. Cop squad.
- I appreciate it.
I've heard about a certain Homicide
Detective being promoted to...
...shift Commander.
Well, fortunately,
I don't believe in rumours and such.
And such?
Are you familiar with "The last man in"
theory of the universe?
The last man in...
- Come on...
...pays!
- Yeah!
- Next round's on you.
- How can you say that?
- Cos we're murder police.
- We're erudite.
- We're the height of subtlety here.
- We are, I guess.
- Oh, man!
? Farewell and adieu to you all,
Spanish ladies
? Farewell and adieu,
you ladies of Spain
? Spain! Spain! ?
Yeah.
OK, Charles, Chantal.
- Whoa!
- Yeah, that's a hell of an exit wound.
Big time malice and the intent at issue.
Somebody was really miffed at this guy.
- I guess it wasn't about toilet paper.
- Some strange Baptist boy.
- That could be foreign ammo.
- What, bullets from elsewhere?
What about "Made in America"?
If you kill here, buy here.
This is funky.
Look at the pillow case round his head
and the bruising on his neck
and shoulders. Look at his fingers.
Charlie, look at his fingers.
Every finger's broken.
Bruising like this,
the delivery is measured.
And the spacing between the bruising.
Well, I'm willing to call it suicide,
if you are.
- It was a message.
- Hold on!
- His name is Lin Cheng Wong.
- You know this guy?
- He was a student here, at university.
- Do you know the man, Miss?
- And who are you?
- Tan Rui Chow.
- Wait, what's your name again?
- Tan Rui Chow.
Tan Rui Chow.
Dengshu knew
this was going to happen.
He was one of the student leaders
in Tiananmen Square.
He escaped
and has been hunted ever since.
He knew they'd catch up with him.
Wait, who is they?
Come on.
Who's they?
The other ones
who would call you in the night
and play funeral music over the phone.
They're the ones who send you a list
of all your relatives back in China,
and where your relatives live.
They're the ones who are behind you
in a check-out line at the supermarket,
taking notes of every item
in your shopping cart.
Now, this may go on in China,
but you're in America now and...
You don't believe that the old leaders
in Beijing would do this in America?
They wouldn't dare.
That's what they'd like you to think.
That's what they're counting on.
Hey, DeSilva, what's happening?
You always start your day
with a soda pop and a candy bar?
What can I say? Every day's a holiday,
every meal's a feast.
What have we got?
So far, no ID on the body,
no plates on the van.
- This guy was a farmer?
- Farmer? How do you know?
Well, these buds are yellowed.
That's when they run off of phosphate
from the fertilizers in the farm.
Yeah, this is low-grade
trade harvested dope
grown in an irrigation ditch of a farm,
near a main highway.
- Near a highway?
- Yeah.
See the brown speckling
near the crown of the bud?
That's from sulfur gas emissions
near where it was grown.
Very impressive!
Did you know Washington
and Jefferson grew this stuff?
Washington and Jefferson
grew marijuana?
They had hemp plantations
and marijuana comes from hemp.
Wait, hold on!
- This George Washington?
- Yes.
How else did he finance his campaigns?
By chopping down cherry trees
and posing for postage stamps?
The foundation of this country is hemp.
The flag was sown from hemp,
our declaration was written on hemp.
Take a stroll in the National Archives
and take a whiff.
That's not papyrus you're smelling.
Munch, you know too much about this.
Hey, Munch, is there anything
you wish to admit to statement?
Yes, I love the way Hendrix played the
Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock.
Ready?
You come ten minutes before we go
to Court and ask me if we're ready?
- Don't screw this up!
- How can I? It came in pretty screwed.
I wanna see Ida Mae avenged.
She was a user, but a good mother.
She never hurt anybody but herself.
The evidence we have
connecting Johnson to the murder
is sufficient to get a conviction,
but not by much.
No murder weapon, no confession,
no motive, no witness.
- A witness? Call William Lyness.
- No!
Success in this case
rests on your testimony.
It's credibility in the eyes of the jurors.
Call Lyness, he gave the bullets
that killed Ida Mae.
Was William selling cocaine
for Johnson? Yes.
Does he own a.38? Yes.
Is he a viable suspect himself? Yes.
He's a loose cannon
on a leaky rowboat.
Rowboats don't have cannons.
Lyness heard his own mother
being tortured and killed
in the exact same way by Johnson
on the exact same night Ida Mae was.
This case concerns only
the murder of Ida Mae Keene.
We can't mention Alexandra Lyness.
When you're on the stand, don't.
- You're making a big mistake.
- When did you get YOUR law degree?
- Is the medical examiner here yet?
- I think so.
- Maggio from the Crime Lab?
- What about him?
- I told him he could go fishing.
- Well, I need him today.
- Let's give him a call. Got his number?
- No, please.
Both of you... just go!
We just passed Dr Scheiner and Maggio
in the hall. Why did you lie to him?
- I don't know. Cos I can...
- Oh!
Wow, it's a beautiful city.
All we've got to do
is go to the Chinese embassy
to ask what they know
about Ling Chang Wong's murder.
- Any idea where you're going?
- Yes. Look. The cradle of our nation.
I don't know why
I let you talk me into this.
The map is too big.
Stop looking at the map.
You missed the Embassy Road cutoff
back there.
It's the White House.
We want Embassy Road here.
We'll find Embassy Road.
Look at this, man.
It's the Washington Monument.
See? We're not...
- This is wrong.
- I know a short cut.
- You know a short cut?
- Yes, relax!
This is the problem.
Whenever you tell me to relax,
that's my cue to not relax.
I'm surprised, the traffic isn't bad.
Considering it's midday and it's DC.
It's a big city. I don't think
we're doing bad for timing at all.
What are you doing?
It's not the embassy, it's a restaurant.
Would you get back in the car?
Look at this.
I can't believe I'm here.
- Where?
- This is... ah...
It's like we're purified.
I can smell the electric...
It smells like a storm coming along, like
rain is coming. It smells like history.
It smells like Chinese food.
Would you get in the car, please?
This is the Surratt House.
This is the house
where Mary Surratt lived.
This is the house where Mary
Surratt's son meets with John Booth
and they together conspire
the assassination of President Lincoln.
And this... is 125 years later.
This is a car from the City of Baltimore,
and we're 45 miles away from Baltimore.
Would you get back in the car?
Would you get back in the car, please?
I'd like to call to the stand
Dr Scheiner, the ME for Baltimore.
I hate not being allowed
in the courtroom.
I hate only being allowed in to testify.
I hate being sequestered.
That's because
you don't know how to pack.
- Where did you get that from?
- It's not just a TV...
...it's a VCR,
it plays 8 mm films!
I got it at the Property Division auction
for unclaimed stolen merchandise.
I also got a circular saw, a gas grill
and a rowing machine.
The place is a gold mine.
Best deals in town.
Objection, your Honour.
Then Danvers picks Scheiner
to put on the stand.
He's the least dynamic coroner in town.
- Carrot stick?
- No.
- Orange juice?
- No.
- Celery?
- No thanks, Beau.
- Wanna watch Oprah?
- Will you stop?
- What are you doing this weekend?
- I don't know.
- How about you?
- I'm driving my wife up to her hometown.
- Oh, yeah, where is she from?
- Boring.
You're the one who brought it up.
No, it's the name of the town.
Boring, Maryland.
- She's from a place called Boring?
- You wonder why we're in counselling?
What do Boring people...
I mean the people of Boring,
what do they do?
They go to the Boring firehouse
where the Boring PTA
has boring Bingo every night.
Every June, they have
the Boring gas engine show.
Your Honour,
I'd like to request...
Thank you.
- How is it going?
- More detail than called for.
I told the jury
how much the victim really suffered.
- How did Johnson react?
- He adjusted his crotch and yawned.
That sonofabitch!
Just wait till I get on the stand.
Is that Chinese for embassy?
- Mr Dengshu?
- Ni hao ma?
- Xie xie. Ni?
- Hai hao.
There's a lot about me
you don't know.
Mr Dengshu, I'm Detective Lewis,
this is Detetective Crosetti.
- How are you?
- Baltimore PD.
Baltimore? What would
the Baltimore police want here?
You speak beautiful English, sir.
I graduated from Ohio State.
I sure recognise that Midwestern twang.
We're here about the apparent murder
of a Chinese student.
- In Baltimore?
- At the university.
- We found his body this morning.
- A Chinese student at the university?
- His name is Lin Cheng Wong.
- We believe Mr Wong feared for his life.
I knew Wong,
we once had a conversation in Beijing.
- Was it in Tiananmen Square?
- Yes.
He was at the end of one bullhorn,
I was at the end of another.
A remarkable and articulate young man.
Bullhorns are not very conducive
for conversation.
- Especially when the tanks are rolling.
- Right!
Sir, do you have any idea
why someone would wanna hurt
Lin Cheng Wong?
I would have thought that someone
in Wong's own circle is the murderer.
So, you're saying
that you and your government
have nothing to gain
by seeing Mr Wong hurt?
And everything to lose.
Tiananmen Square is a long time ago.
We are more interested in our "favourite
nation" status than in one youth.
- Mm-hm, great.
- Yeah.
- Well, thank you very much, sir.
- You're welcome.
Xie xie.
Do you believe all that?
All I know about Chinese people
is old Charlie Chan movies.
He was played by a white man.
- Have you seen Pembleton?
- Not today.
I beeped him but he didn't respond.
On the drug killing, we identified the man
in the van as one Andros Erban.
He's a middleman for a drug dealer
named Elwan Jones,
aka Hendrick Hanson,
aka Chuck the Cellist.
Anything on this Charles Hanson guy?
We got an address in Dickeyville,
but he wasn't home.
Bolander is there right now.
- Go away or I'll call the police.
- I am the police, Ma'am.
- I don't wanna talk to you.
- Just a minute.
I am not gonna say anything bad
about Elwan Jones.
- No, I am not.
- That's fine.
- Is that cos he was a friend of yours?
- That's right.
Wow!
He would...
...kind of help you out
and carry up the groceries?
You've been watching me.
No, I haven't been watching you.
No, Ma'am.
I'm just trying to find out the truth
about something that happened.
I'm afraid the truth is
that your friend is a dangerous man.
He's not! He's just a child.
Sweet man-child.
Did you hear about the body
that was discovered in Lincoln Park?
Yes.
You know what happened?
I heard some yelling
and I looked out the window...
...and I saw Elwan...
...holding a gun to another man's head.
Then they left...
...in the other man's van.
And that is all I know.
"Basic Instinct".
Hmmm, the uncut version.
Is it the knife
you recovered from the scene?
Yes, sir. It is.
We found the knife on the bed.
Did the blood stains on the...
Should we try to catch someone higher
up the food chain at the embassy?
Give me six bucks.
- Put it on your gas card!
- What?
- Put it on your gas card!
- No, I'll never get reimbursed.
Put it on your gas card and
I'll verify you paid the 12 lousy bucks.
Give me the six bucks. Come on.
I pay taxes, I know how it works.
I'm not gonna out on a limb
for the whole schmoo.
The whole schmoo?
Secret Service?
What the hell they want?
Just as I expected,
the Federallies!
What's up, fellas?
Is it about messing up
a mahjong game or something?
It's the unsual nonsense.
Office gets a call
about two detectives harassing
a person at the Chinese embassy.
Mr Gruszynski, we didn't harass
anybody, it was very civil.
Work in this circle long enough
and you'll see how fickle
these diplomatic people are.
No matter the country,
they all get hair-balled
when people come around
on a homicide investigation.
I'm not gonna romance you
but there isn't the remote possibility
that you'll interview anybody
at the embassy. Give it up.
- You're saying we can't do our job?
- I'm saying, "Don't waste your time".
We share reciprocal protection
with the Republic of China.
You know something...
It doesn't matter if I do.
We're not pursuing an investigation.
You know who did it, don't you?
- Bayliss, where's Pembleton?
- I don't know.
Don't say I dont know.
He's your partner.
Like a lover, he should never be
far from your thoughts.
- That was poetic.
- I'm not in the mood!
Captain Barnfather and
Colonel Granger wanna see him.
How does it look that I don't know
where one of my men is?
How does it look when Pembleton
doesn't check in with me?
It reflects badly
on my authority as Chief Commander.
Why did the bosses
wanna talk to Pembleton?
The bosses are definitely
up to something.
Munch?
I don't care.
All I wanna do...
All I want you to do
is to find Pembleton.
And I will.
He had a pillow round his head like some
kind of animal as a friend of his told us.
- Tan Chow?
- Er, Tan Rui Chow.
- Tan Rui Chow.
- Tan Rui Chow doesn't exist.
What are you talking about?
We talked to her.
We interviewed her at the crime scene.
We know you talked to a woman.
There's no Tan Rui Chow
in our records.
Whoever she was boarded
a plane for Montreal
ten minutes after you guys
interviewed her.
Then she got on an Air France flight,
which is now somewhere
over the Arctic, on its way to China.
You're saying
this woman shot Wong?
I don't know but it's strange to leave
the country so quickly, isn't it?
So, you're saying it wasn't anyone
from the Chinese embassy in DC, right?
I don't know.
He doesn't know.
So, this woman knows we'll find out
that she's not who she said she is.
- Yes.
- All right.
It's... All right.
Say I wanna contact you tomorrow.
- Say I wanna call Gr... Cr...
- Gruszynski.
Right, I call here. I call here and I say,
"I'd like to speak to Agent Gruszynski."
Cos you'll be Gruszynski tomorrow.
I hope so. Whether it's me or not...
...who can tell?
I'm kidding. I'll be here tomorrow.
Now is there some place you'd like to go
while you're visiting the capital?
Right now, he's gonna be our tour guide.
- You're serious?
- Yeah.
- There's a place I'd like to see.
- Let's do it.
My partner and I arrived
to find Mrs Keene lying on her back.
She'd been pronounced dead at 4:40.
- Was there a sign of forced entry?
- No, the burgler alarm was turned off.
- Which tells you...
- She knew her attacker.
Objection.
Calls for speculation.
Judge Madden, Detective Howard
is a decorated Homicide investigator.
She's been a primary on 50 cases
and involved in a hundred others.
Her powers of speculation
are more than valid here.
Overruled.
What else makes you think
that Mrs Keene knew the attacker?
Her clothes were in a neat pile,
as if she had undressed while standing.
- Undressed, for her lover?
- Yes.
Mrs Keene was first attacked
while lying on her back in bed.
The knife scratches
on the headboard prove it.
Your Honour, can we let the jury
determine what proves what here?
Yes, Detective,
stop swerving in your lane.
Sorry.
No further questions.
Although I do wish
to recall the detective later.
Mr Russom, cross-examination?
The victim was stabbed
how many times?
Several dozen.
- You don't know the number exactly?
- Several dozen!
- The victim was also shot, once!
- Yes.
At least, you're sure about that, huh?
- Was the apartment tidy?
- Yes, very well kept.
A laboratory technician discovered
human hair on the bed sheets.
Were they checked to see
if they belonged to someone else?
You can't tell from a hair
who it belonged to.
Can you at least determine if it comes
from a black or a white person?
Yes, but you can't go much farther.
So, the hairs recovered
were never compared to anyone else's.
That doesn't sound very thorough.
- Objection.
- Sustained.
- Was the victim a smoker?
- I don't know.
You don't know.
These cigarettes
were recovered at the scene.
Did it occur to you to find out
if the victim was a smoker?
Or if Mr Johnson smoked?
Or perhaps they belong to someone else
entirely, like the real murderer?
- Objection.
- Sustained.
For the record,
Mr Johnson does not smoke.
One last question, Detective.
The victim was pronounced at 4:40.
What is the estimated time of death?
Rigor mortis was fully set.
The blood underneath the victim's head
was dry, coagulated.
It seems to me she had been dead
for at least 24 hours.
- 24 hours?
- Er, no... Not...
So in your expert's opinion,
the murder took place...
I'm sorry, I take that back.
...at 5pm the previous day,
not around midnight?
I got confused. I meant to say
less than... er... at least 12 hours.
Are you...
You get confused a lot, don't you, Miss?
No further questions.
Court will recess for one hour.
You made a slip about the time of death,
which you corrected immediately.
- Stop beating yourself up.
- You heard Danvers this morning.
The case rests on the jury being able
to believe our word over Johnson's.
- Ed, listen, I'm so sorry.
- It's OK.
- No, it's not OK.
- It's OK.
- It's not OK!
- It's OK, Kay!
- Are you stuttering?
- Just stay out of this.
The damage is fixable.
Russom's clearly gonna go
for the "shoddy police work" defence.
I'll call LaToya Kennedy to the stand
to put holes in Johnson's alibi.
- You'll put me back on the stand, right?
- Maybe.
"Maybe."
- Got a gun?
- Always.
Put me out of my misery, would you?
- Gee, look who popped up.
- There you are.
I'm sorry, Lieutenant.
I was working on the Lily case.
I don't care.
Go to Colonel Granger's office. Now.
Yes, sir.
Trials and tribulations
of the civilised world.
- Gee, you want this last cruller?
- Yes.
- You want the whole cruller?
- I'll split it with you.
All right.
- Hey.
- Oh, Munch.
I always knew
you were buzz at smoke camp.
I'm gonna change my hair,
get a bigger badge, maybe a tattoo.
What's the matter?
I don't think I'm projecting
the proper cop aura.
As I was parking my car,
this 20-year-old guy comes running by,
looks at me and throws me his dope.
A few seconds later a squawker
comes by chasing him.
This guy scoped me up, thought I was
John Q Moron and tossed me his dope.
Tell me why that kid
tossed you a bag of dope.
I don't know.
Maybe I don't look like a cop.
- I've got a face you could trust.
- No, you don't.
- Did you catch the kid?
- He's dead.
He pulled out a.38
and my partner had to shoot him.
That's great.
Another homicide.
Half the killings in this city
are from drugs, drug-related murders.
If they legalised drugs,
the killings would stop overnight.
If you legalise drugs,
this city will drown.
Like prohibition worked! This war on
drugs should take a hint from the past.
The war on drugs? Give me a break.
It's more like a pea shoot.
We spent 61 billion dollars
kicking Saddam out of Kuwait.
We spend 11 million fighting drugs.
If coke and heroin were taxed,
we could pay off the national debt.
Oh, yeah! Why not let the mafia
make all the money?
Let's get the Government involved too.
- Get them into extortion, loan sharking...
- They're not now?
We could take the revenue from sales
to create rehab clinics
and educational programmes.
The Government can't even
deliver the mail, you know that.
Now you want them doling out
grams and joints with integrity?
There's more deaths
from a year of legalised smoking
than from ten years of illegal drugs.
Man, that is my point exactly.
Tobacco and alcohol are legal.
They're drugs and when
they're abused they kill.
We don't get a whole lot of street killings
over a Marlboro Light.
It happens, but it's very rare.
- You're gonna drive yourself crazy.
- I'm not.
- You're gonna drive me crazy.
- I want to know what's going on in here.
He's had LaToya Kennedy
on the stand for over an hour.
It's hard working a case. When it goes
to trial, we get sent to the showers.
I haven't lost the case yet
that went to jury trial.
And I sure don't wanna lose this one.
Don't worry about it.
Danvers will get Pony.
Danvers is the best State Attorney
in... in the state.
- Danvers never listens to my advice.
- He listens, he evaluates.
- And then he argues the case his way.
- He's fair, I guess. He preps hard.
His closing arguments are very
persuasive, sometimes even moving.
Sure he bitches and moans,
but he is a fighter. He hates to lose.
There's more than that, though.
He doesn't like
to see a guilty man go free.
- You are smitten.
- What?
- With Danvers.
- Oh, come on.
No, no, no. It's a classic syndrome.
You're both pissing each other.
But underneath you're both fighting
intense sexual desires.
- Will you stop?
- Look how dressed up you got today.
I wanted to make a good impression.
- On Danvers.
- On the jury.
Kay, you have to learn
to face your inner passions.
I am not in love with Ed Danvers.
I'm gonna call you again
in about ten minutes.
And then I'll be finished and I can sit
in the courtroom, right?
Yeah. Oh, listen...
You can't mention Alexandra Lyness
unless Russom leads you to it.
And when you take the stand,
watch out for the blood on the floor.
- Blood?
- LaToya Kennedy, the girlfriend.
I killed her, I destroyed her.
I shoved her head first into
the high speed blender of justice.
I pur?ed Johnson's alibi.
Sometimes you're good,
sometimes you're lucky.
Today, damn it, I was both.
What?
Detective Pembleton.
Welcome, sit down.
- Thank you, sir.
- Can I get you a beverage? Coffee?
No, thank you, sir.
If I may speak frankly,
I feel as though I'm about
to be disciplined or perhaps fired.
No, no. Not at all.
We've called you here
on a matter of the utmost importance.
And delicacy. Don't discuss
what we're about to say with anyone.
- Especially Lieutenant Giardello.
- Why especially him?
We understand we're putting you
in a potentially awkward situation.
- But necessity demands.
- Just trust us, OK?
OK.
We're in the process
of reorganising the Homicide unit,
to increase efficiency, credibility...
- Morale.
- Yes. Morale. Are you with us?
Sure, morale has been down lately.
And the retirement of Jim Scinta
as the commander of the other shift,
gives us an opportunity
to shake the second floor up.
Since you joined the unit,
your performance evaluations
have been exemplary.
Your investigative work
has been consistently outstanding.
I don't know. My last case was Jake
the dog. I wouldn't call that outstanding.
More like, pathetic.
Your swift capture of his killer saved
this department much embarrassment.
We'd like to place your name on a very
short list of people to replace Scinta.
What?
We want you
to work alongside Giardello,
as the other Commander of Homicide.
Er... Well...
- Think about it.
- Oh, yes! Thank you, sir...
Yes.
We know the defendant
got the wadcutter bullets
from William Lyness
the night of the murder.
The car Mr Johnson drives
matches the one
seen outside of Mrs Keene's apartment.
In the trunk of that car were the same
wadcutter bullets used to kill her.
Thank you,
Detective Howard.
Detective, given the fact
that two very different weapons,
a gun and a knife,
were used to kill the victim,
isn't it probable that she was killed
by two different people?
- No.
- Oh, come on, Detective.
Have you ever had a case
where a victim was killed
by a knife wound and a gun wound
and there was only one perpetrator?
- Yes.
- How many cases? Name one. Name it.
The death of Alexandra Lyness indicates
that there was only one murderer.
I should ask for a mistrial.
The Lyness case is off limits here.
- You asked the question.
- I wasn't expecting that answer.
Good attorneys never ask a question
they don't know the answer to.
What's your request?
What do you want me to do?
Hell, I don't know.
No further questions.
You may step down, Detective.
Hey, Gee.
- So?
- So what?
What did Barnfather and Granger
need to speak to you about?
A recruitment programme for minorities.
They want me to look at brochures.
I guess they consider me a good
sounding board, cos I'm such a hip cat.
- That's it?
- Yeah.
- That's all?
- Yeah.
There was no other reason?
Do you wanna take me in the box
and interrogate me?
Not yet.
First I've gotta figure out
why you're lying to me.
- The jury is coming back.
- That was fast.
- Is it good or bad? I can't remember.
- It's good. We'll have dinner soon.
Will the defendant please rise
and face the jury?
Mr Foreman, please stand.
How do you find the defendant,
Aloysius Johnson, not guilty or guilty?
Guilty.
They carry Lincoln's body out here
and they bring him to that... Whoa!
You've actually got the clout to get
into these places whenever you want?
I can get into museums.
But I can't fix a traffic ticket
to save my life.
Hey! You heard about...
There's a stage door which John
Wilkes Booth runs out of. Where is it?
Originally, Secret Service is in charge
of hunting down counterfeiters.
When Lincoln died,
everything changed.
Booth would have shot Lincoln whether
the Secret Service was invented or not.
Secret Service is the best
at what it does.
Better than any other agency
in any other country.
I've got one word for you, Dallas.
We had warned the local cops
about the parade route and the threats.
Sorry, I'm wondering,
did they cordon off the area to find...
I mean, have you read about
what happened?
You must think I'm crazy.
I'm sorry, I'm excited.
Why don't I buy you dinner?
I'll take you over to White House Mess.
- No, we've gotta get back.
- I'm hungry. I'd like to go.
Take advantage
of being out of Baltimore.
- What's that supposed to mean?
- Washington's a beautiful city.
Washington has the highest
capital murder rate in the country.
Well, Baltimore leads the country
in cancer deaths.
- We got the National Aquarium.
- We got the Kennedy Centre.
The Lincoln Memorial,
the Smithsonian...
- And we got the Orioles.
- We have the Redskins.
- I rest my case.
- Gentlemen, gentlemen...
Yours is a good city and so is yours.
Let's call a truce.
Detective Lewis, in Baltimore murder's
wrong and the bad guys get punished.
But none of the prevailing rules of law
and decency pertain to Washington.
The stakes are too high.
I'll quote the man who got shot
in that building right there.
It's supposed to be
"Of, by and for the people".
Not for some of them.
The myth about Secret Service agents
is that we die for the people.
But we don't.
It's for the institution.
No politician's worth my life. If I die,
it's for my country, not those bastards.
Gruszynski, you are more full of crap
than a stadium toilet.
Wong was flat out murder.
Someone put a bag over his head,
someone shot him
in the back of the head
and someone held him down
while they did it.
If you don't see what's wrong, maybe
you're dying for the wrong country.
I guess we're not gonna be able
to have dinner at the White House!
Thanks.
I can see you buying me
several more beverages and a steak.
I can hear, "Yes, it's gloating.
It's definitely trash talk time."
Beer and beef maybe,
but I'm not patting myself on the back.
Detective Howard, Kay...
Could I buy you dinner tonight?
That's sweet of you,
but Beau and I already made plans.
No, no. You guys go ahead.
I need my sleep tonight.
I'm visiting the in-laws tomorrow.
It takes a lot of energy to get to Boring.
Great.
How's Hampton's then?
- Oh, no! I'm not dressed for Hampton's.
- You look terrific.
I'll go to my office and I'll see you
in the lobby in ten minutes, all right?
All right.
Careful. You may wanna
strip off his legal briefs.
Would you stop?
Ready for the ceremonial eye screw?
He was no fun.
Got a date with Ed.
- "I'm not in love with Ed Danvers."
- I'm not in love with Ed Danvers.
I'm having dinner with Ed Danvers.
You're stuck in there,
like you're stuck on Danvers!
- Mary.
- Mmm?
- Mary?
- Yeah.
We can't afford this place.
We can, on special occasions.
This is a special occasion.
And if you take this promotion, we could
have a lot more special occasions.
I have to admit
the bump in salary would be nice.
- It'd be nice to get the roof fixed.
- What are you gonna have?
Oh! I guess that means
we're not gonna talk about it anymore.
Cold water lobster tails
stuffed with imperial crab.
- Frank.
- What?
Don't take the job because
of the money, but because of the job.
This is an enormous honour
that's been offered to you.
A detective as young as you are,
a man of colour.
Think of the good you could do
getting things done your way.
Mary, you and I will be together
even less than we are now.
We'll make it work.
The question is, do you want this job?
Great! The murderer's in
the house and we're waiting for backup.
I'm worried about you.
Oh, yeah?
All this pro-drug stuff
you've been spewing out.
What is that? Theoretical opinions,
or am I hearing a cry for help here?
- Have you ever been high?
- Be serious.
I am.
There's a reason it's called "high".
For some people who are stuck
in low rent depraved hopelessness,
there's a short respite
from the stone cold reality
that they live in a racist country,
run by bigoted old white guys
who won't give them a education
and bitch when they go on welfare
because they're jobless.
So, we're supposed to let them do drugs
because they're feeling depressed?
If I had to wake up to that everyday,
I'd hang naked from Shot Tower
to spite the tourists.
Yaddi yaddi yadda.
So, you get high? Do you smoke pot?
I don't have to answer that.
Nurse, can I have a cup over here?
I wanna test this man's urine.
Here we go.
- Where's narcotics?
- Out on another call.
There's gonna be a ton of drugs in there.
I don't wanna submit that stuff
to Evidence Control.
- Why?
- Cos of the paperwork.
- Why don't you cut these lights?
- I knew this would happen.
Narcotics won't be available
for an hour or so.
That means one of you two guys will
have to submit the stuff to evidence.
- Let's not find any then.
- We're gonna have to pick it up.
We might need something
on this guy, OK?
I'll take the dope.
I've gotta run by HQ anyway.
- Which house is it?
- That one.
Get to the wall.
Get to the wall or I'll blow your head off.
Move and your brains are on the floor.
If that bad boy goes off,
we'll be writing reports forever.
I'm sure Mr Jones here
wishes to cooperate.
Why don't you cuff him?
That sign,
City Pier Broadway...
I never noticed it before.
I guess I never came out this far before.
This used to be a ballroom.
A big, beautiful ballroom with a huge
chandelier and a full orchestra.
My parents
had their wedding reception here.
The city needed space.
They took the chandeliers down
and cut the room into pieces.
The changed it into something else
for the better, I guess.
Sitting in my office late at night,
I think sometimes I hear the orchestra.
Gee...
- I lied to you earlier.
- Uh-huh?
The bosses offered me
acting shift commander.
I know.
- How did you find out?
- They told me.
- They told me not to tell you.
- This is the kind of games they play.
Are you gonna take the job?
Gee, I never see you out on the street,
unless there's a red ball crisis.
You never investigate.
You're at your desk,
shuffling papers, balancing budgets,
fending off the bosses,
playing kindergarten teacher
to Felton, Munch, Crosetti...
- You.
- Yeah, me too!
You've got a crappy job, Gee.
I don't want any part of it.
I can't stand being in that room
even when I'm supposed to be.
I know.
- I'm sorry I lied to you.
- Yeah.
Me too.
Only in Charm City,
you have Pickwick and Wetheredsville.
What kind of name is that?
Wetheredsville... Who thinks these up?
It was to honour John Wethered,
who owned a cotton mill in that area.
He made all his money, it is said,
by selling uniforms
for the confederates and the yankees.
That was a rhetorical question.
You can't touch me.
I almost had dinner at the White House.
- It's true.
- Keyword, "almost".
Hey, you guys.
Do you mind if I join you?
You've never come in here before
and had a drink with us.
- Yeah, I know.
- So... get out!
- Come on. Cop squad.
- I appreciate it.
I've heard about a certain Homicide
Detective being promoted to...
...shift Commander.
Well, fortunately,
I don't believe in rumours and such.
And such?
Are you familiar with "The last man in"
theory of the universe?
The last man in...
- Come on...
...pays!
- Yeah!
- Next round's on you.
- How can you say that?
- Cos we're murder police.
- We're erudite.
- We're the height of subtlety here.
- We are, I guess.
- Oh, man!
? Farewell and adieu to you all,
Spanish ladies
? Farewell and adieu,
you ladies of Spain
? Spain! Spain! ?