Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001–2011): Season 3, Episode 4 - But Not Forgotten - full transcript
An accountant disappears, and it seems to have something to do with the death of her brother several years ago.
[Man Narrating] In New
York City's war on crime,
the worst criminal offenders are pursued
by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.
These are their stories.
I hope that you don't mind,
but I just... Here you are, ladies.
Ohh! Sorry. Let
me just wipe that off.
Isobel, don't think
about it for a second.
I'm happy to do
it. Thanks, Frieda.
I didn't know where the money was
going. It's incredible. My own employees.
We have procedures that'll
put a stop to that overnight.
Excuse me.
Frieda, I'm sure it's
nothing. Thank you.
I'll make some calls. I'm sorry, Earl. I
didn't realize you had somebody with you.
Mr. Bolivar is here anytime you're
ready. I'm ready now, Michael. We're done.
My partner'll be right with us.
A little to your right. Head up.
Happy face. Bye, Rozlyn.
See you tomorrow. You should
get your card in a week or so.
Everything okay?
Um, I, uh, left my
Walkman in my locker.
It's on your waistband.
[Man] So as soon as she's
unpacked, we'll take her out to dinner.
And, Frieda, don't forget: Traffic
is bad to the airport this time of day.
Bye, sweets. Uh, Nelson,
there is a car
coming to pick me up.
Could you tell the driver to wait? I'll be
back in 20 minutes. Come. Come, come.
Starlight to win. Okay.
In the... Oh. Damn it.
Hold on. [Dog Barking]
Mother, what are you doing
here? Why aren't you upstairs?
I have been waiting
here for over an hour.
You said Frieda was supposed
to pick me up at the airport.
- She was.
- She never came back
from walking the dog, Mr. Merced.
The car waited. I called
upstairs, but she wasn't there.
What's going on,
Tru? Where's Frieda?
It's going to her voice mail.
[Sighs] Mother, you go
upstairs in case she calls.
I'm going to look for her.
Nelson, call the
police right away.
The husband had these all over
the neighborhood by last night.
Do we know where he was
yesterday afternoon? At his office.
He owns an accounting
firm. Ms. Merced
volunteers as a bookkeeper
for a girls' charity.
She was walkin' over there
yesterday. She never made it.
How is Mr. Merced? A wreck.
Everybody we talked to said
they were happily married.
Everybody doesn't
include Ms. Merced.
Uh, Mr. Merced, these detectives
are from the Major Case Squad:
Detective Goren
and Detective Eames.
Thanks for coming.
Tell me what to do.
I've already called all
our relatives, our
friends, the hospitals.
Have you checked her things
to see if anything's missing?
- Clothes, jewelry?
- Nothing's missing.
Just what she
takes in her purse.
Mr. Merced, is it possible...
that she doesn't
want to be found?
We have no secrets. If she was
unhappy, she would've said something.
She said she'd be back in 20 minutes. She
wanted to make sure the car waited for her.
Her office is a 20-minute
walk there and back.
Was she dropping something
off, picking something up?
Was she carrying
anything? Just a big purse.
She had a big white and green
envelope in there, maybe this big.
Thanks. The canvass turned
up somebody who saw her.
It was, like, half an hour
before the first race at Belmont.
She walked up to the
cab with her dog and got in.
And you just noticed her when
she hailed the cab? Uh, no. After.
I looked up. She was walkin'
to the cab. The door was open.
Was there someone in
the back? I couldn't see.
Before she got in, was
the roof light on or off?
Uh, it was off.
Did you happen to notice if
she was smiling or nervous?
Nervous. She was throwin'
looks over her shoulder.
- Maybe because
she was being followed?
- The cab already had a fare.
Maybe someone she knew
rolled up and gave her a ride.
Did you check her
phone records? Yeah.
No unusual calls in or out.
Well, where else
was she yesterday?
Frieda comes in. It's 40
minutes on the treadmill,
20 minutes on the
weights, then out the door.
And same thing yesterday?
Well, yesterday she must've
pushed too hard, because
she was a little airheaded.
She probably dehydrated
herself. Why? How was she acting?
She was almost out the
door when she thought she
left her Walkman in her
locker, but she had it on.
I tried to tell her, but she
ran down to the locker room.
This is the door she used
before she ran back inside? Yeah.
- Did you see anyone outside?
- I didn't really look.
You use that for
membership cards?
- Yeah.
- Did you take any pictures
yesterday morning?
[Eames] These pictures were taken
the morning your wife was at the gym.
We blew up this portion here.
This man was outside the gym
the whole time she was there.
- Do you know him, Mr. Merced?
- I've seen him.
It was... It was two years ago,
at the funeral of Frieda's brother.
- I don't know his name.
- And he was a friend
of her brother?
I don't know. Uh, I didn't really
know Frieda's brother that well.
He was a... a carpenter,
and after we were married,
Frieda lost touch with him.
- And then he was killed on 9/ 1 1.
- He was in the towers?
No. No. Someone killed
him for his truck in Queens.
It just happened
on the same day.
Dan Feist, Frieda's brother, was midtown
when the planes went into the towers.
He called his wife,
told her he was okay.
That's the last time she talked to him.
They found his body that night in Queens.
His skull was cracked
open with a blunt object.
- It was probably a pipe.
- His pickup was found stripped
three weeks later in Jackson Heights.
I'd say they put about two hours'
work into this and called it quits.
Well, maybe because they had
2,000 other homicides to solve that day.
I'd like us to do better
by Mr. Feist's sister.
We're hoping to hear from
the cabbie who picked her up.
- [Phone Ringing]
- We close to puttin' a name
to this mug?
No. Mr. Merced's pretty
much in the dark when
it comes to his wife's
side of the family.
Yes. Got it. Thank you.
Guess what. Lassie came home.
[Woman] Kids found him
under an overpass in Queens.
Couple of cats had him cornered.
This all came off the
dog? Mm. Those crumbs.
He must've stepped in
something. It's all over his hind
legs. I don't even wanna
know what that smells like.
It smells like coffee. He
stepped in coffee dust.
And the lab found stains
on the knees of the pants
Frieda's brother was
wearing when he was killed.
Stains composed of fatty acids,
diterpene esters,
kahweol, cafestol.
Coffee oil. Coffee oil
on Frieda's brother.
Coffee dust on her dog.
Frieda keeps her own
hours. We didn't even know
she was on her way here
when she disappeared.
She ever talk to you about her
family in Brooklyn or her brother?
Not really. Um, she once mentioned
he had been killed in a carjacking.
Who's Yolanda? Yolanda Guerrez?
She runs our corporate giving
program. [Eames] Could we talk to her?
Yolanda, we need your help here.
Frieda saved an e-mail from Yolanda...
Something about
nonexistent companies.
Ms. Guerrez, what's
this e-mail about?
Uh, Frieda came back
from lunch on Monday and
asked me to look up
those companies right away.
She said they were potential donors,
but I couldn't find them listed anywhere.
Did she happen to tell you who
she went to lunch with or where?
No, but she brought back some
cheese she wanted everybody to try.
Oh, and I thought that
dog was ripe. Yeah.
Frieda didn't find any takers.
Yeah, it's very, uh...
uh, assertive. Yeah.
Sheep's milk.
It's, uh, "rochetta."
You can tell that just
from the smell? Label.
It's Italian, from the
Le Langhe region.
There can only be three or
four places in the city that carry it.
Oh, sure. She was here. Table
seven. Her and another woman.
What did the other woman look
like? She was, uh, younger, maybe 30.
Black hair. Face like a
Madonna. But you could
tell by the way she
held her fork with her fist,
she was less polished
than the other one.
You an actress?
I... N... It's just I can
tell by the way you notice
the little things. It's how
an actor builds character.
I overheard the younger one asking
this lady for some kind of a favor.
Do you remember a name
or what it was about? No. No.
But they were looking
over tax forms. I
remember 'cause I spilled
sauce on one of them.
Form 706 from 200 1.
Well, I gotta get back
to my acting studies.
Sure. Uh, good luck.
200 1. That's the year
Frieda's brother died.
706...
is the federal estate tax form,
something a widow would fill out.
I asked her to help me with this
problem having to do with Dan's taxes.
- That's my late husband... Dan.
- What was the problem?
They said he owed
extra taxes because they
couldn't collect from the
companies he worked for.
Because the companies didn't
exist? It didn't make sense.
That's why I asked Frieda to
help me. She's a bookkeeper.
- Why didn't you ask
your late husband's accountant?
- Dan did his own taxes.
And I didn't want to go
to Earl's accountant. Earl?
It's my new husband.
We got married last year.
E.C. That's... These are his?
He started collecting those
after he got injured on his job.
He was a cop. Now he's a
partner in a security company.
You didn't want him to know
about Dan's tax problems?
I didn't wanna worry him.
He's been so good to me.
After Dan died, if it weren't for Earl,
I don't know how I would've gone on.
Anyway, I don't know what
this has to do with Frieda.
Uh, the day she disappeared,
she was being followed by this man.
Oh, that's, uh, Bennie. I
think he's an electrician.
He worked with Dan sometimes,
but he was following Frieda?
The picture was taken outside her
gym the morning that she disappeared.
The tax papers... Do you think
we could have a look at them?
I gave them to Frieda.
We sent Mr. Feist's estate a bill last
May for unpaid Social Security taxes.
We never heard back from him.
That's what triggered the audit.
So you discovered Mr. Feist reported
income from companies that didn't exist?
Yes.
Uh, Mr. Feist declared a reimbursement
for an overpayment on his property tax,
but I don't see that
he owned a property.
The property lot number for
the reimbursement is... is in here.
- Do you mind looking it up
on the county Web site?
- Yeah. It's moot anyway.
I already got a call from the
estate to discuss a settlement.
[Computer Beeps] The
property's in Queens.
Its owner is actually
listed as a Harmony, Inc.,
one of the
nonexistent companies.
He used it to pay taxes
on property he doesn't
want anyone else to
know that he owned.
Do you smell it? I'm getting a
caffeine buzz just breathing it in.
Looks like this place was an
old coffee warehouse at one time.
What? Look at this.
This look like standard
equipment for a carpenter?
This is dog hairs.
Something was dug
out of here with a knife.
Could be slugs.
This is a killing room.
This is the source of income
that Dan Feist was hiding.
- He was a hit man.
- And somebody took up
where he left off.
The only prints we could
match belonged to Dan Feist.
Two partials on the faucet and
one thumbprint on the meat hook.
That pegs him as the
one using this facility.
C.S.U. identified half a dozen
blood samples of different vintage.
And Feist's sister, Frieda?
Besides the dog
hair, no sign of her.
So this lady was looking
into her brother's taxes,
she was on her way to
figuring out he was a hit man...
A can of worms his former
employers wouldn't want opened.
One of the blood samples in
the warehouse belonged to Feist.
So Feist was killed in his own
workshop and then dumped elsewhere?
If it was a rival gang,
they would've left a calling
card. They wouldn't have
made it look like a mugging.
- So maybe his own people did it.
- For some transgression or mistake,
something they
needed to cover up.
I reserved you a suite at the Waldorf,
and I got Jerry cookin' a special meal...
I don't want a suite. After five
years, I wanna sleep in my own bed.
Sure, Pops. I just thought
you'd want some kind of...
Stop anticipating what I want.
I'm holding my breath, hoping
nothing screws up my parole, okay?
Nothing's gonna screw it up.
Good. That's what I want.
Okay? He'll be okay
when he's home.
Nothing can screw this up.
My late husband wasn't...
How can they make up these
stories? It's just supposition.
We feel pretty strongly
about it, Mr. Carnicki.
Sure. Or you wouldn't
be here upsetting my wife.
We think Dan did something to provoke
the people he worked for to kill him.
Anything you can remember about his
activities before he died could help us.
[Sighs] The last two
weeks before Dan got killed,
we were away in Lake
Champlain, just the two of us.
- And before that, in August?
- He had a construction job
to finish in Nassau.
He was coming home late.
I remember I had a bad flu.
He brought things home
for you when you were sick?
- Soup and magazines and...
- Yeah. He was thoughtful that way.
He'd bring me crossword
puzzles, some medications.
Do you remember
where he got them?
I remember the name on the
bag. Something with flowers.
Wh... Floral Park
is in Nassau County.
Yeah. It was Floral Park
Chemists. That was it.
Here we go. The Floral Park
crime sheet for August 200 1.
We got a murder four
blocks from the pharmacy
and three break-ins
on the same street,
all on the night of August 20.
Ha. Our murder victim.
Anson MacDonald, 73, widower,
strangled in his den... The back
door was jimmied, house ransacked.
All that activity and
Forensics didn't find a single
fingerprint or a fiber
that didn't belong there?
This was a clean killing.
What about the break-ins?
[Sighs] Well, this one
was an attempted break-in.
The window screen was cut open.
Something must've scared the perp.
This was an attempt also. They got
the back door open, and they took off.
Same story here.
These break-ins were just
decoys to mask the fact that...
Mr. MacDonald was
the target of a hit.
Well, he was a retired civil attorney.
Maybe there's more about him in here.
[Eames] "Mr. MacDonald pulled no
punches during his press conference.
"'The D.A. should be ashamed of
the laughable sentences handed out...
"'to murderous,
parasitic scum...
like Jimmy Limone
and other mobsters. '"
Sounds like Old MacDonald
rubbed some people the wrong way.
[Goren] After your comments about
Mr. Limone, did you get any threats?
Just a couple of angry phone calls. Anyway,
I didn't even make it past the primary.
And then your father
was killed... Anson Senior?
Yes. My wife and I were away
on a cruise when we heard.
Why do you ask about my father
though? Is there new information?
This man's name is Dan
Feist. He's a hired killer.
He was in your father's
neighborhood at the time of his murder.
But Dad was killed by a burglar. [Goren]
There were too many inconsistencies.
We think this man was sent because
of your comments about Mr. Limone.
But why would they hurt my
father? Wouldn't they come after me?
Well, you both have the
same name. You're both
lawyers. You both work
out of the same office.
You were out of town. It was
mistaken identity, Mr. MacDonald.
Oh, my God.
Because of what I said?
They whacked the wrong
lawyer. That beats all.
And they killed two
people to cover it up.
Jimmy Limone's parole is coming
up. We need to get with Carver on this.
With what you have now? Well,
we can connect Limone to this thing.
The man that was
outside of Frieda's gym...
He's a match for Bennie Messina.
He's an associate of Limone's son, Richie.
Great. Get a warrant for
him first thing in the morning,
but stay away from Carver.
We still have too
many loose threads.
Well, he's not wrong.
For example, how did Limone know
Frieda was looking into Dan's taxes?
Isobel didn't tell anyone about
the tax problem except Frieda.
Well, the I.R.S. investigator said
she got a call about a settlement.
Who called her?
I was so stupid.
How can you love somebody and not know
that everything they tell you is a lie?
Because when you love a person,
you have to believe that
they love you back, okay?
Mm.
I'm going to bed.
I'm gonna be up in a minute.
Oh, I left my reading
glasses in the car.
I called the I.R.S.
because Earl asked me to.
The tax situation was upsetting
his wife. He didn't wanna drag it on.
He wanted to settle. Because a
settlement would stop the audit.
The agent has a quota to meet. She wants
to clear the case. So you make a deal.
It's a game, and you're good
at it. Do I look like I'm starving?
When did Earl first
mention the tax problem?
That would be Wednesday, two weeks
ago. The day before Frieda disappeared.
Do you remember exactly
what he said to you?
He was freaked out, and he
wanted me to make it go away.
I'll bet he did. Okay. Thank you,
sir. We might be in touch with you.
Okay.
Isobel tells Frieda about the tax
problem, Earl finds out, he panics.
Only one reason why.
If someone found out
that Dan was a hit man,
they also might've found out that Earl
had something to do with killing him.
So he panics, and Frieda
disappears. [Phone Beeps]
Earl must've been
workin' with Bennie. That's
why Frieda got in
the cab. Earl was in it.
Are we expecting a call
from the Harbor Patrol?
They pulled him out of the drink
near the Narrows around 9:00 a.m.
They rolled his prints,
and voilà... Bennie Messina.
You have a cause of death?
Mm. He just came in an hour ago.
Off the top, he doesn't look like he's
been in the water more than 12 hours.
What's all this?
Oh, once the current
gets ahold of 'em, your
floater gets banged up
pretty good on the rocks.
These rocks have
very interesting patterns.
You keep doin' that, I'm
gonna drop this kid right here.
Do you see this
imprint on the skin?
It looks like the crisscrossed
lines of latitude and longitude...
of a brass globe...
One that you might use as
the handle of a walking stick.
Earl and Bennie
had a falling out.
This is all the canes Earl has. He
doesn't keep them anywhere else.
I remember seeing
it. It was a brass globe.
I don't pay much attention to
his canes. Maybe you're mistaken.
Well, it wouldn't be the
first time. Look, we're
just gonna have to take
all the canes to the lab.
- Were you and Earl home last night?
- Yes. We watched TV
and we had some ice cream.
Oh, okay. And now you're
gonna tell me which... the exact
shows that you watched
were and what flavor ice cream.
Come on. I know that Earl was a detective.
He knows the kind of details we look for.
I don't know why you say
that. Earl's a good person.
Well, you thought Dan
was a... good person too.
I don't wanna talk about
him. He can rot in hell.
Fine. I'm happy
to talk about Earl.
Tsang Fu. That's
"husband" in Chinese.
Beginning Chinese?
It's always the same place.
The White Swan Hotel.
They always put the parents
up there if you're gonna...
adopt a child in China.
Yes.
But it's taking forever
because of that virus.
Do you mind if I ask you one
question... How the two of you met?
I was at the police precinct.
It was a couple of
months after Dan had, uh...
And I was just there trying
to get some information.
And Earl was there, and he saw
me waiting. And I was very upset.
And... And he talked to you,
listened to you, made you
feel like you weren't so alone.
We liked the same things. For
our first date, he surprised me,
and he took me to a Spanish
restaurant, which is my favorite food.
- You should see the flowers
he bought me.
- Same kind Dan used to buy you?
Are you okay? Yeah.
I turned around as soon
as I got your message.
Michael called. They're
lookin' at the office too.
They won't tell me what
they want. They don't have to.
Come on. Let's let
'em do their work.
Your warrant says I have
to let you search his office.
It doesn't say I have to
answer your questions.
That's right. That would take a
subpoena from the grand jury.
[Sighs] You have
nice offices here.
- Your background's in law enforcement?
- No.
Well, then, your partnership...
You put up the money,
and Earl kicked in
his police expertise?
[Sighs]
- Ah, geez.
- Here. Let me.
[Groaning] Oh, I... Whoa.
Oh, it's just, uh... Did
somebody turn up the heat?
You should sit here. I'll
get you a glass of water.
- No. I'll be okay. I just need to finish.
- You should wait for the other detective.
No. No. This is embarrassing
enough. I have to pull my own weight.
I understand. Just
catch your breath.
[Sighs] You're a
decent guy, Mr. Carling.
You got into business with a bad guy.
One way or another, Earl's going to jail.
And you could lose all the
money you put into this business.
That missing woman...
A couple of days earlier,
she was here with Earl.
There were looking
over some tax forms.
Well, that's very
good, Mr. Carling.
Thank you.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Do you have any decoy
vehicles you use for surveillance...
Delivery vans or old taxicabs?
Yes. A couple of yellow cabs.
[Eames] And they don't keep records,
so Earl could've taken out a cab,
but the lab couldn't find any trace
of Frieda or her dog in either cab.
I don't know whether
to laugh or cry.
You have an offended
mobster and his son,
a case of mistaken identity,
an incompetent hit
man, a hit man's widow,
a hit man's missing sister,
a corrupt cop, and
now, another dead killer.
It's... It's operatic.
Isobel said that it was uncanny
when they first started dating...
how much they
liked the same things.
Well, no wonder. When
he was following Dan Feist,
waiting for his
chance to kill him,
Earl saw what kind of restaurants
that... that Dan took her to...
and what kind of flowers
that he bought her.
If anyone deserves to have the
curtain dropped on him, it's Earl.
We might have a case against
him for the murder of Mr. Messina.
If you're right, and Earl's wife knows
what happened, she might help us.
Uh, what, and testify against the only
man that's brought light into her life?
Let's try something different.
[Carver] "'The D.A. should be
ashamed of the laughable sentences...
"'handed out to the murderous,
parasitic scum like Jimmy Limone...
and other mobsters. '"
So? I care what a two-bit politician
I never heard of says about me?
Somebody cared enough to
put a hit on Anson MacDonald.
And they got Dan Feist to
do it. But there was a glitch.
This is the man
Mr. Feist actually killed:
Anson MacDonald, Sr.
They killed him by
mistake. You don't say?
- Was this your bright idea, Richie?
- I don't know anything about it.
I didn't know anything either.
See, after Feist made his mistake,
somebody had him killed by these two:
Bennie Messina and a cop.
Bennie. Well, he's
already been taken care of.
This one? He's why
we're here talkin' to you.
I'm not takin' the
weight for some jackass.
I'm walkin' outta here on
parole next week no matter what,
so somebody better help you.
Bennie ran his
own burglary crew.
[Sighs] He had his hooks in a cop in
the 7 1st Precinct... uh, Earl something.
He gave Bennie security system plans,
patrol schedules, that kind of stuff.
And Bennie's recent
dealings with Earl?
Uh, last I know those
two got together...
was back in May
for a coin store heist.
Last May? Yeah.
That's all I know.
I swear, Pops.
That's all.
I have a sense that's all we're
gonna get out of Mr. Limone, Jr.
We're back to Isobel Carnicki
as our only witness against Earl.
And as you pointed
out, she won't talk.
Maybe we're arresting
the wrong Carnicki.
Isobel was home. She
knows what happened.
Last May...
That was when Isobel
got a letter from the I.R.S.,
a letter that she
never answered.
Uh...
[Numbers Beeping On Phone]
[Man Talking On P.A., Indistinct]
[Mumbling]
Yes. Can I have the number of the
Chinese Consulate in Manhattan, please?
Shao Hai Tze... That's
Chinese for "a baby."
The message I got was that she'd
been arrested as a material witness.
It's for her protection.
The D.A. thinks she has information
on the murder of Bennie Messina.
He was a soldier
in the Limone gang.
We suspect they've already murdered
her late husband and her sister-in-law.
God. She must be
scared out of her mind.
As soon as they're
done booking her, they'll
bring her up here to
see you... as a courtesy.
Isobel doesn't deserve
this. She's a terrific girl.
Oh, thank God. They arrested me.
[Earl] It's okay. [Sighs] The
captain told me everything.
[Deakins] Why don't
you two have a seat?
It's about Bennie Messina's
murder, Ms. Carnicki.
I know you weren't telling
the truth about the walking
stick, because I saw it
the first time we visited you.
Well, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. I never
owned a cane like the one you described.
- How 'bout it, Ms. Carnicki?
- Earl's right.
Unfortunately, I have to go
with what the detectives tell me.
- I'm gonna recommend
that you be held without bail.
- Oh, for God's sakes.
My wife? Look, I'm
a retired detective.
You don't want her goin' to jail,
Mr. Carnicki, you know what to do.
You bastards.
Don't worry, sweetheart. I
won't let 'em do anything to ya.
So that guy, Bennie, he stopped
by our house. He had a gun.
He was gonna kill us
like they killed Isobel's
sister-in-law. He was
wavin' it around at us...
Um, why don't you
let Isobel tell the rest.
Bennie had pointed his
gun at us. I was so scared,
I started to cry, and
Bennie told me to shut up.
- And I got the jump on him.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Go on.
Earl hit him with the cane,
and then Bennie was dead.
Earl told me that I couldn't
tell anyone and then showed me
how to clean up the blood
while he drove off with Bennie.
I was terrified. I mean, if Jimmy
Limone found out what happened,
he would've sent
10 guys after us.
It was self-defense.
- Self-defense works for me.
- Self-defense, Isobel?
Bennie was gonna kill ya? Earl
slammed that brass ball into his head.
Well, it's a good thing that
Bennie didn't get a shot off.
- Earl knocked the gun
out of Bennie's hand.
- [Goren] He did?
After Bennie fell. The
gun was still in his hand,
so Earl hit it and
knocked it away.
- Good job, Earl.
- Yeah. Sure.
We just need formal statements.
Yeah. Was it the right
hand or the left hand?
His right.
Because there would've been a
bruise, but there wasn't a bruise...
because Earl didn't
hit Bennie in the hand.
Did he?
- I don't know.
- [Goren] You don't know what Earl did...
because you didn't see
exactly what happened, did ya?
Because Earl told you
what to say, didn't he?
- What is this? A joke?
- Richie Limone told us
Bennie had a dirty cop in the 7 1,
a cop who told him
all about alarm codes.
So you're gonna believe some
lowlife mutt? Bennie tried to kill us.
When he found you at the precinct,
you were waiting for news about Dan.
Earl ever tell you exactly
what he was doing there?
He said he had business there.
He retired six weeks before.
It wasn't even his precinct.
It's the oldest trick
on the force. Cops.
- Some of 'em hit on female crime victims.
- It wasn't like that.
When the two of you met,
it was like kismet, huh?
The way Earl knew ya
like the back of his hand.
Well, he should've. He'd been
watching you for a long time.
- This guy's out of his mind.
- Oh, come on, Earl.
Bennie told you that Dan screwed
up and you had to take care of him.
Isobel, he's just playing
games. This is all bull.
And that's when you met his beautiful
wife, who loved him, took care of him.
He had it pretty
good for a hit man.
What did you have? Nothin'?
You're just a lonely,
divorced, dirty cop.
You envied Dan. You
wanted to take what he had,
step into his
shoes, into his bed.
Oh, shut up! This is sick!
This is sick crap! Don't
you listen to it, Isobel.
That's why he flipped out
when Frieda came to see him
at his office. She suspected
Dan of being a criminal.
Earl, you didn't tell me
that you talked to her.
Well, she asked me not to.
She was worried you were
in trouble with the I.R.S.
You believe him, Isobel? Hmm?
Or do you believe that
knot in your stomach?
Isobel?
Baby, I love you. I need you.
He couldn't. He couldn't
have hurt my Dan.
I didn't. I swear.
Isobel, tell us what happened
that night when Bennie came over.
Don't you say anything.
[Sobbing] I... I heard them
in the driveway laughing...
- Don't!
- And then I heard a noise,
and then I went outside,
and he was dead.
And Earl said he had
pulled a gun on him, but
there wasn't any gun.
There was never any gun.
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- Why...
- Earl, you are under arrest for murder.
- [Handcuffs Clinking]
- Isobel, I didn't hurt Dan!
I didn't do it!
I love you. I need you.
Sweet?
Isn't it?
Revenge?
Uh, we were about to sign off
on your self-defense story, Earl,
until your wife told us that... well, that
you knocked the gun out of Bennie's hand.
That was an unnecessary, damning
embellishment. Why'd you do that?
I think she didn't want Earl
skating by on a self-defense rap.
When did you find
out, Isobel? Last May?
When Earl and Bennie were
working on that coin shop heist?
You saw them get together,
overheard them talkin'.
Things fell into place...
Who killed Dan... your Dan.
I wanna go home.
You couldn't go to the police, to
Earl's buddy boys. Who'd believe you?
Even if they did, you'd still have
Earl's other buddies to deal with.
And if Earl was gonna
pay for his crime,
well, someone else would
have to do the dirty work.
Isobel, what are
they talkin' about?
[Goren] The letter the
I.R.S. sent her in May?
All you had to do was write a
check. There would've been no audit.
No one would've found out what
Dan did for a living, why he was killed,
who killed him.
Isobel? Then the audit came.
And you needed someone
to help push things along.
So you went to Frieda.
But you never thought that she was
gonna actually talk to Earl about it.
Or that he'd kill her.
It's not true. I would never
do anything against you, Earl.
What? Even now
you're still afraid of him?
You're not afraid of
me. She loves me.
- [Voice Cracks] We were gonna
raise a kid together.
- Yeah. Right.
The adoption that was
delayed by the SARS virus.
The adoption agency said that
the alert was lifted in... in May?
They told Isobel.
She told them that because
of a family emergency,
the adoption would have
to be postponed indefinitely.
[Whimpering] [Goren] You see?
The family emergency, Earl?
That's you going to prison.
You got him. You
got him but good.
- I wouldn't raise a dog with you.
- [Gasping]
But Dan was a killer... Dan
was a cold-blooded killer.
He was getting out of it,
and he never lied to me.
But you... You're
nothin' but lies.
So what happens to me now?
Your behavior may
not be ethical, but as far
as I can tell, you
haven't broken any laws.
I do expect you to testify
at your husband's trial.
Oh.
I only ever had one husband.
Come on, guys.
- So much for passing out brains
with those gold shields.
- If anyone objects...
to letting Ms.
Carnicki off the hook...
Maybe we should keep an
eye on who she marries next.
What a lucky guy that'll be.
[Howling]
York City's war on crime,
the worst criminal offenders are pursued
by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.
These are their stories.
I hope that you don't mind,
but I just... Here you are, ladies.
Ohh! Sorry. Let
me just wipe that off.
Isobel, don't think
about it for a second.
I'm happy to do
it. Thanks, Frieda.
I didn't know where the money was
going. It's incredible. My own employees.
We have procedures that'll
put a stop to that overnight.
Excuse me.
Frieda, I'm sure it's
nothing. Thank you.
I'll make some calls. I'm sorry, Earl. I
didn't realize you had somebody with you.
Mr. Bolivar is here anytime you're
ready. I'm ready now, Michael. We're done.
My partner'll be right with us.
A little to your right. Head up.
Happy face. Bye, Rozlyn.
See you tomorrow. You should
get your card in a week or so.
Everything okay?
Um, I, uh, left my
Walkman in my locker.
It's on your waistband.
[Man] So as soon as she's
unpacked, we'll take her out to dinner.
And, Frieda, don't forget: Traffic
is bad to the airport this time of day.
Bye, sweets. Uh, Nelson,
there is a car
coming to pick me up.
Could you tell the driver to wait? I'll be
back in 20 minutes. Come. Come, come.
Starlight to win. Okay.
In the... Oh. Damn it.
Hold on. [Dog Barking]
Mother, what are you doing
here? Why aren't you upstairs?
I have been waiting
here for over an hour.
You said Frieda was supposed
to pick me up at the airport.
- She was.
- She never came back
from walking the dog, Mr. Merced.
The car waited. I called
upstairs, but she wasn't there.
What's going on,
Tru? Where's Frieda?
It's going to her voice mail.
[Sighs] Mother, you go
upstairs in case she calls.
I'm going to look for her.
Nelson, call the
police right away.
The husband had these all over
the neighborhood by last night.
Do we know where he was
yesterday afternoon? At his office.
He owns an accounting
firm. Ms. Merced
volunteers as a bookkeeper
for a girls' charity.
She was walkin' over there
yesterday. She never made it.
How is Mr. Merced? A wreck.
Everybody we talked to said
they were happily married.
Everybody doesn't
include Ms. Merced.
Uh, Mr. Merced, these detectives
are from the Major Case Squad:
Detective Goren
and Detective Eames.
Thanks for coming.
Tell me what to do.
I've already called all
our relatives, our
friends, the hospitals.
Have you checked her things
to see if anything's missing?
- Clothes, jewelry?
- Nothing's missing.
Just what she
takes in her purse.
Mr. Merced, is it possible...
that she doesn't
want to be found?
We have no secrets. If she was
unhappy, she would've said something.
She said she'd be back in 20 minutes. She
wanted to make sure the car waited for her.
Her office is a 20-minute
walk there and back.
Was she dropping something
off, picking something up?
Was she carrying
anything? Just a big purse.
She had a big white and green
envelope in there, maybe this big.
Thanks. The canvass turned
up somebody who saw her.
It was, like, half an hour
before the first race at Belmont.
She walked up to the
cab with her dog and got in.
And you just noticed her when
she hailed the cab? Uh, no. After.
I looked up. She was walkin'
to the cab. The door was open.
Was there someone in
the back? I couldn't see.
Before she got in, was
the roof light on or off?
Uh, it was off.
Did you happen to notice if
she was smiling or nervous?
Nervous. She was throwin'
looks over her shoulder.
- Maybe because
she was being followed?
- The cab already had a fare.
Maybe someone she knew
rolled up and gave her a ride.
Did you check her
phone records? Yeah.
No unusual calls in or out.
Well, where else
was she yesterday?
Frieda comes in. It's 40
minutes on the treadmill,
20 minutes on the
weights, then out the door.
And same thing yesterday?
Well, yesterday she must've
pushed too hard, because
she was a little airheaded.
She probably dehydrated
herself. Why? How was she acting?
She was almost out the
door when she thought she
left her Walkman in her
locker, but she had it on.
I tried to tell her, but she
ran down to the locker room.
This is the door she used
before she ran back inside? Yeah.
- Did you see anyone outside?
- I didn't really look.
You use that for
membership cards?
- Yeah.
- Did you take any pictures
yesterday morning?
[Eames] These pictures were taken
the morning your wife was at the gym.
We blew up this portion here.
This man was outside the gym
the whole time she was there.
- Do you know him, Mr. Merced?
- I've seen him.
It was... It was two years ago,
at the funeral of Frieda's brother.
- I don't know his name.
- And he was a friend
of her brother?
I don't know. Uh, I didn't really
know Frieda's brother that well.
He was a... a carpenter,
and after we were married,
Frieda lost touch with him.
- And then he was killed on 9/ 1 1.
- He was in the towers?
No. No. Someone killed
him for his truck in Queens.
It just happened
on the same day.
Dan Feist, Frieda's brother, was midtown
when the planes went into the towers.
He called his wife,
told her he was okay.
That's the last time she talked to him.
They found his body that night in Queens.
His skull was cracked
open with a blunt object.
- It was probably a pipe.
- His pickup was found stripped
three weeks later in Jackson Heights.
I'd say they put about two hours'
work into this and called it quits.
Well, maybe because they had
2,000 other homicides to solve that day.
I'd like us to do better
by Mr. Feist's sister.
We're hoping to hear from
the cabbie who picked her up.
- [Phone Ringing]
- We close to puttin' a name
to this mug?
No. Mr. Merced's pretty
much in the dark when
it comes to his wife's
side of the family.
Yes. Got it. Thank you.
Guess what. Lassie came home.
[Woman] Kids found him
under an overpass in Queens.
Couple of cats had him cornered.
This all came off the
dog? Mm. Those crumbs.
He must've stepped in
something. It's all over his hind
legs. I don't even wanna
know what that smells like.
It smells like coffee. He
stepped in coffee dust.
And the lab found stains
on the knees of the pants
Frieda's brother was
wearing when he was killed.
Stains composed of fatty acids,
diterpene esters,
kahweol, cafestol.
Coffee oil. Coffee oil
on Frieda's brother.
Coffee dust on her dog.
Frieda keeps her own
hours. We didn't even know
she was on her way here
when she disappeared.
She ever talk to you about her
family in Brooklyn or her brother?
Not really. Um, she once mentioned
he had been killed in a carjacking.
Who's Yolanda? Yolanda Guerrez?
She runs our corporate giving
program. [Eames] Could we talk to her?
Yolanda, we need your help here.
Frieda saved an e-mail from Yolanda...
Something about
nonexistent companies.
Ms. Guerrez, what's
this e-mail about?
Uh, Frieda came back
from lunch on Monday and
asked me to look up
those companies right away.
She said they were potential donors,
but I couldn't find them listed anywhere.
Did she happen to tell you who
she went to lunch with or where?
No, but she brought back some
cheese she wanted everybody to try.
Oh, and I thought that
dog was ripe. Yeah.
Frieda didn't find any takers.
Yeah, it's very, uh...
uh, assertive. Yeah.
Sheep's milk.
It's, uh, "rochetta."
You can tell that just
from the smell? Label.
It's Italian, from the
Le Langhe region.
There can only be three or
four places in the city that carry it.
Oh, sure. She was here. Table
seven. Her and another woman.
What did the other woman look
like? She was, uh, younger, maybe 30.
Black hair. Face like a
Madonna. But you could
tell by the way she
held her fork with her fist,
she was less polished
than the other one.
You an actress?
I... N... It's just I can
tell by the way you notice
the little things. It's how
an actor builds character.
I overheard the younger one asking
this lady for some kind of a favor.
Do you remember a name
or what it was about? No. No.
But they were looking
over tax forms. I
remember 'cause I spilled
sauce on one of them.
Form 706 from 200 1.
Well, I gotta get back
to my acting studies.
Sure. Uh, good luck.
200 1. That's the year
Frieda's brother died.
706...
is the federal estate tax form,
something a widow would fill out.
I asked her to help me with this
problem having to do with Dan's taxes.
- That's my late husband... Dan.
- What was the problem?
They said he owed
extra taxes because they
couldn't collect from the
companies he worked for.
Because the companies didn't
exist? It didn't make sense.
That's why I asked Frieda to
help me. She's a bookkeeper.
- Why didn't you ask
your late husband's accountant?
- Dan did his own taxes.
And I didn't want to go
to Earl's accountant. Earl?
It's my new husband.
We got married last year.
E.C. That's... These are his?
He started collecting those
after he got injured on his job.
He was a cop. Now he's a
partner in a security company.
You didn't want him to know
about Dan's tax problems?
I didn't wanna worry him.
He's been so good to me.
After Dan died, if it weren't for Earl,
I don't know how I would've gone on.
Anyway, I don't know what
this has to do with Frieda.
Uh, the day she disappeared,
she was being followed by this man.
Oh, that's, uh, Bennie. I
think he's an electrician.
He worked with Dan sometimes,
but he was following Frieda?
The picture was taken outside her
gym the morning that she disappeared.
The tax papers... Do you think
we could have a look at them?
I gave them to Frieda.
We sent Mr. Feist's estate a bill last
May for unpaid Social Security taxes.
We never heard back from him.
That's what triggered the audit.
So you discovered Mr. Feist reported
income from companies that didn't exist?
Yes.
Uh, Mr. Feist declared a reimbursement
for an overpayment on his property tax,
but I don't see that
he owned a property.
The property lot number for
the reimbursement is... is in here.
- Do you mind looking it up
on the county Web site?
- Yeah. It's moot anyway.
I already got a call from the
estate to discuss a settlement.
[Computer Beeps] The
property's in Queens.
Its owner is actually
listed as a Harmony, Inc.,
one of the
nonexistent companies.
He used it to pay taxes
on property he doesn't
want anyone else to
know that he owned.
Do you smell it? I'm getting a
caffeine buzz just breathing it in.
Looks like this place was an
old coffee warehouse at one time.
What? Look at this.
This look like standard
equipment for a carpenter?
This is dog hairs.
Something was dug
out of here with a knife.
Could be slugs.
This is a killing room.
This is the source of income
that Dan Feist was hiding.
- He was a hit man.
- And somebody took up
where he left off.
The only prints we could
match belonged to Dan Feist.
Two partials on the faucet and
one thumbprint on the meat hook.
That pegs him as the
one using this facility.
C.S.U. identified half a dozen
blood samples of different vintage.
And Feist's sister, Frieda?
Besides the dog
hair, no sign of her.
So this lady was looking
into her brother's taxes,
she was on her way to
figuring out he was a hit man...
A can of worms his former
employers wouldn't want opened.
One of the blood samples in
the warehouse belonged to Feist.
So Feist was killed in his own
workshop and then dumped elsewhere?
If it was a rival gang,
they would've left a calling
card. They wouldn't have
made it look like a mugging.
- So maybe his own people did it.
- For some transgression or mistake,
something they
needed to cover up.
I reserved you a suite at the Waldorf,
and I got Jerry cookin' a special meal...
I don't want a suite. After five
years, I wanna sleep in my own bed.
Sure, Pops. I just thought
you'd want some kind of...
Stop anticipating what I want.
I'm holding my breath, hoping
nothing screws up my parole, okay?
Nothing's gonna screw it up.
Good. That's what I want.
Okay? He'll be okay
when he's home.
Nothing can screw this up.
My late husband wasn't...
How can they make up these
stories? It's just supposition.
We feel pretty strongly
about it, Mr. Carnicki.
Sure. Or you wouldn't
be here upsetting my wife.
We think Dan did something to provoke
the people he worked for to kill him.
Anything you can remember about his
activities before he died could help us.
[Sighs] The last two
weeks before Dan got killed,
we were away in Lake
Champlain, just the two of us.
- And before that, in August?
- He had a construction job
to finish in Nassau.
He was coming home late.
I remember I had a bad flu.
He brought things home
for you when you were sick?
- Soup and magazines and...
- Yeah. He was thoughtful that way.
He'd bring me crossword
puzzles, some medications.
Do you remember
where he got them?
I remember the name on the
bag. Something with flowers.
Wh... Floral Park
is in Nassau County.
Yeah. It was Floral Park
Chemists. That was it.
Here we go. The Floral Park
crime sheet for August 200 1.
We got a murder four
blocks from the pharmacy
and three break-ins
on the same street,
all on the night of August 20.
Ha. Our murder victim.
Anson MacDonald, 73, widower,
strangled in his den... The back
door was jimmied, house ransacked.
All that activity and
Forensics didn't find a single
fingerprint or a fiber
that didn't belong there?
This was a clean killing.
What about the break-ins?
[Sighs] Well, this one
was an attempted break-in.
The window screen was cut open.
Something must've scared the perp.
This was an attempt also. They got
the back door open, and they took off.
Same story here.
These break-ins were just
decoys to mask the fact that...
Mr. MacDonald was
the target of a hit.
Well, he was a retired civil attorney.
Maybe there's more about him in here.
[Eames] "Mr. MacDonald pulled no
punches during his press conference.
"'The D.A. should be ashamed of
the laughable sentences handed out...
"'to murderous,
parasitic scum...
like Jimmy Limone
and other mobsters. '"
Sounds like Old MacDonald
rubbed some people the wrong way.
[Goren] After your comments about
Mr. Limone, did you get any threats?
Just a couple of angry phone calls. Anyway,
I didn't even make it past the primary.
And then your father
was killed... Anson Senior?
Yes. My wife and I were away
on a cruise when we heard.
Why do you ask about my father
though? Is there new information?
This man's name is Dan
Feist. He's a hired killer.
He was in your father's
neighborhood at the time of his murder.
But Dad was killed by a burglar. [Goren]
There were too many inconsistencies.
We think this man was sent because
of your comments about Mr. Limone.
But why would they hurt my
father? Wouldn't they come after me?
Well, you both have the
same name. You're both
lawyers. You both work
out of the same office.
You were out of town. It was
mistaken identity, Mr. MacDonald.
Oh, my God.
Because of what I said?
They whacked the wrong
lawyer. That beats all.
And they killed two
people to cover it up.
Jimmy Limone's parole is coming
up. We need to get with Carver on this.
With what you have now? Well,
we can connect Limone to this thing.
The man that was
outside of Frieda's gym...
He's a match for Bennie Messina.
He's an associate of Limone's son, Richie.
Great. Get a warrant for
him first thing in the morning,
but stay away from Carver.
We still have too
many loose threads.
Well, he's not wrong.
For example, how did Limone know
Frieda was looking into Dan's taxes?
Isobel didn't tell anyone about
the tax problem except Frieda.
Well, the I.R.S. investigator said
she got a call about a settlement.
Who called her?
I was so stupid.
How can you love somebody and not know
that everything they tell you is a lie?
Because when you love a person,
you have to believe that
they love you back, okay?
Mm.
I'm going to bed.
I'm gonna be up in a minute.
Oh, I left my reading
glasses in the car.
I called the I.R.S.
because Earl asked me to.
The tax situation was upsetting
his wife. He didn't wanna drag it on.
He wanted to settle. Because a
settlement would stop the audit.
The agent has a quota to meet. She wants
to clear the case. So you make a deal.
It's a game, and you're good
at it. Do I look like I'm starving?
When did Earl first
mention the tax problem?
That would be Wednesday, two weeks
ago. The day before Frieda disappeared.
Do you remember exactly
what he said to you?
He was freaked out, and he
wanted me to make it go away.
I'll bet he did. Okay. Thank you,
sir. We might be in touch with you.
Okay.
Isobel tells Frieda about the tax
problem, Earl finds out, he panics.
Only one reason why.
If someone found out
that Dan was a hit man,
they also might've found out that Earl
had something to do with killing him.
So he panics, and Frieda
disappears. [Phone Beeps]
Earl must've been
workin' with Bennie. That's
why Frieda got in
the cab. Earl was in it.
Are we expecting a call
from the Harbor Patrol?
They pulled him out of the drink
near the Narrows around 9:00 a.m.
They rolled his prints,
and voilà... Bennie Messina.
You have a cause of death?
Mm. He just came in an hour ago.
Off the top, he doesn't look like he's
been in the water more than 12 hours.
What's all this?
Oh, once the current
gets ahold of 'em, your
floater gets banged up
pretty good on the rocks.
These rocks have
very interesting patterns.
You keep doin' that, I'm
gonna drop this kid right here.
Do you see this
imprint on the skin?
It looks like the crisscrossed
lines of latitude and longitude...
of a brass globe...
One that you might use as
the handle of a walking stick.
Earl and Bennie
had a falling out.
This is all the canes Earl has. He
doesn't keep them anywhere else.
I remember seeing
it. It was a brass globe.
I don't pay much attention to
his canes. Maybe you're mistaken.
Well, it wouldn't be the
first time. Look, we're
just gonna have to take
all the canes to the lab.
- Were you and Earl home last night?
- Yes. We watched TV
and we had some ice cream.
Oh, okay. And now you're
gonna tell me which... the exact
shows that you watched
were and what flavor ice cream.
Come on. I know that Earl was a detective.
He knows the kind of details we look for.
I don't know why you say
that. Earl's a good person.
Well, you thought Dan
was a... good person too.
I don't wanna talk about
him. He can rot in hell.
Fine. I'm happy
to talk about Earl.
Tsang Fu. That's
"husband" in Chinese.
Beginning Chinese?
It's always the same place.
The White Swan Hotel.
They always put the parents
up there if you're gonna...
adopt a child in China.
Yes.
But it's taking forever
because of that virus.
Do you mind if I ask you one
question... How the two of you met?
I was at the police precinct.
It was a couple of
months after Dan had, uh...
And I was just there trying
to get some information.
And Earl was there, and he saw
me waiting. And I was very upset.
And... And he talked to you,
listened to you, made you
feel like you weren't so alone.
We liked the same things. For
our first date, he surprised me,
and he took me to a Spanish
restaurant, which is my favorite food.
- You should see the flowers
he bought me.
- Same kind Dan used to buy you?
Are you okay? Yeah.
I turned around as soon
as I got your message.
Michael called. They're
lookin' at the office too.
They won't tell me what
they want. They don't have to.
Come on. Let's let
'em do their work.
Your warrant says I have
to let you search his office.
It doesn't say I have to
answer your questions.
That's right. That would take a
subpoena from the grand jury.
[Sighs] You have
nice offices here.
- Your background's in law enforcement?
- No.
Well, then, your partnership...
You put up the money,
and Earl kicked in
his police expertise?
[Sighs]
- Ah, geez.
- Here. Let me.
[Groaning] Oh, I... Whoa.
Oh, it's just, uh... Did
somebody turn up the heat?
You should sit here. I'll
get you a glass of water.
- No. I'll be okay. I just need to finish.
- You should wait for the other detective.
No. No. This is embarrassing
enough. I have to pull my own weight.
I understand. Just
catch your breath.
[Sighs] You're a
decent guy, Mr. Carling.
You got into business with a bad guy.
One way or another, Earl's going to jail.
And you could lose all the
money you put into this business.
That missing woman...
A couple of days earlier,
she was here with Earl.
There were looking
over some tax forms.
Well, that's very
good, Mr. Carling.
Thank you.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Do you have any decoy
vehicles you use for surveillance...
Delivery vans or old taxicabs?
Yes. A couple of yellow cabs.
[Eames] And they don't keep records,
so Earl could've taken out a cab,
but the lab couldn't find any trace
of Frieda or her dog in either cab.
I don't know whether
to laugh or cry.
You have an offended
mobster and his son,
a case of mistaken identity,
an incompetent hit
man, a hit man's widow,
a hit man's missing sister,
a corrupt cop, and
now, another dead killer.
It's... It's operatic.
Isobel said that it was uncanny
when they first started dating...
how much they
liked the same things.
Well, no wonder. When
he was following Dan Feist,
waiting for his
chance to kill him,
Earl saw what kind of restaurants
that... that Dan took her to...
and what kind of flowers
that he bought her.
If anyone deserves to have the
curtain dropped on him, it's Earl.
We might have a case against
him for the murder of Mr. Messina.
If you're right, and Earl's wife knows
what happened, she might help us.
Uh, what, and testify against the only
man that's brought light into her life?
Let's try something different.
[Carver] "'The D.A. should be
ashamed of the laughable sentences...
"'handed out to the murderous,
parasitic scum like Jimmy Limone...
and other mobsters. '"
So? I care what a two-bit politician
I never heard of says about me?
Somebody cared enough to
put a hit on Anson MacDonald.
And they got Dan Feist to
do it. But there was a glitch.
This is the man
Mr. Feist actually killed:
Anson MacDonald, Sr.
They killed him by
mistake. You don't say?
- Was this your bright idea, Richie?
- I don't know anything about it.
I didn't know anything either.
See, after Feist made his mistake,
somebody had him killed by these two:
Bennie Messina and a cop.
Bennie. Well, he's
already been taken care of.
This one? He's why
we're here talkin' to you.
I'm not takin' the
weight for some jackass.
I'm walkin' outta here on
parole next week no matter what,
so somebody better help you.
Bennie ran his
own burglary crew.
[Sighs] He had his hooks in a cop in
the 7 1st Precinct... uh, Earl something.
He gave Bennie security system plans,
patrol schedules, that kind of stuff.
And Bennie's recent
dealings with Earl?
Uh, last I know those
two got together...
was back in May
for a coin store heist.
Last May? Yeah.
That's all I know.
I swear, Pops.
That's all.
I have a sense that's all we're
gonna get out of Mr. Limone, Jr.
We're back to Isobel Carnicki
as our only witness against Earl.
And as you pointed
out, she won't talk.
Maybe we're arresting
the wrong Carnicki.
Isobel was home. She
knows what happened.
Last May...
That was when Isobel
got a letter from the I.R.S.,
a letter that she
never answered.
Uh...
[Numbers Beeping On Phone]
[Man Talking On P.A., Indistinct]
[Mumbling]
Yes. Can I have the number of the
Chinese Consulate in Manhattan, please?
Shao Hai Tze... That's
Chinese for "a baby."
The message I got was that she'd
been arrested as a material witness.
It's for her protection.
The D.A. thinks she has information
on the murder of Bennie Messina.
He was a soldier
in the Limone gang.
We suspect they've already murdered
her late husband and her sister-in-law.
God. She must be
scared out of her mind.
As soon as they're
done booking her, they'll
bring her up here to
see you... as a courtesy.
Isobel doesn't deserve
this. She's a terrific girl.
Oh, thank God. They arrested me.
[Earl] It's okay. [Sighs] The
captain told me everything.
[Deakins] Why don't
you two have a seat?
It's about Bennie Messina's
murder, Ms. Carnicki.
I know you weren't telling
the truth about the walking
stick, because I saw it
the first time we visited you.
Well, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. I never
owned a cane like the one you described.
- How 'bout it, Ms. Carnicki?
- Earl's right.
Unfortunately, I have to go
with what the detectives tell me.
- I'm gonna recommend
that you be held without bail.
- Oh, for God's sakes.
My wife? Look, I'm
a retired detective.
You don't want her goin' to jail,
Mr. Carnicki, you know what to do.
You bastards.
Don't worry, sweetheart. I
won't let 'em do anything to ya.
So that guy, Bennie, he stopped
by our house. He had a gun.
He was gonna kill us
like they killed Isobel's
sister-in-law. He was
wavin' it around at us...
Um, why don't you
let Isobel tell the rest.
Bennie had pointed his
gun at us. I was so scared,
I started to cry, and
Bennie told me to shut up.
- And I got the jump on him.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Go on.
Earl hit him with the cane,
and then Bennie was dead.
Earl told me that I couldn't
tell anyone and then showed me
how to clean up the blood
while he drove off with Bennie.
I was terrified. I mean, if Jimmy
Limone found out what happened,
he would've sent
10 guys after us.
It was self-defense.
- Self-defense works for me.
- Self-defense, Isobel?
Bennie was gonna kill ya? Earl
slammed that brass ball into his head.
Well, it's a good thing that
Bennie didn't get a shot off.
- Earl knocked the gun
out of Bennie's hand.
- [Goren] He did?
After Bennie fell. The
gun was still in his hand,
so Earl hit it and
knocked it away.
- Good job, Earl.
- Yeah. Sure.
We just need formal statements.
Yeah. Was it the right
hand or the left hand?
His right.
Because there would've been a
bruise, but there wasn't a bruise...
because Earl didn't
hit Bennie in the hand.
Did he?
- I don't know.
- [Goren] You don't know what Earl did...
because you didn't see
exactly what happened, did ya?
Because Earl told you
what to say, didn't he?
- What is this? A joke?
- Richie Limone told us
Bennie had a dirty cop in the 7 1,
a cop who told him
all about alarm codes.
So you're gonna believe some
lowlife mutt? Bennie tried to kill us.
When he found you at the precinct,
you were waiting for news about Dan.
Earl ever tell you exactly
what he was doing there?
He said he had business there.
He retired six weeks before.
It wasn't even his precinct.
It's the oldest trick
on the force. Cops.
- Some of 'em hit on female crime victims.
- It wasn't like that.
When the two of you met,
it was like kismet, huh?
The way Earl knew ya
like the back of his hand.
Well, he should've. He'd been
watching you for a long time.
- This guy's out of his mind.
- Oh, come on, Earl.
Bennie told you that Dan screwed
up and you had to take care of him.
Isobel, he's just playing
games. This is all bull.
And that's when you met his beautiful
wife, who loved him, took care of him.
He had it pretty
good for a hit man.
What did you have? Nothin'?
You're just a lonely,
divorced, dirty cop.
You envied Dan. You
wanted to take what he had,
step into his
shoes, into his bed.
Oh, shut up! This is sick!
This is sick crap! Don't
you listen to it, Isobel.
That's why he flipped out
when Frieda came to see him
at his office. She suspected
Dan of being a criminal.
Earl, you didn't tell me
that you talked to her.
Well, she asked me not to.
She was worried you were
in trouble with the I.R.S.
You believe him, Isobel? Hmm?
Or do you believe that
knot in your stomach?
Isobel?
Baby, I love you. I need you.
He couldn't. He couldn't
have hurt my Dan.
I didn't. I swear.
Isobel, tell us what happened
that night when Bennie came over.
Don't you say anything.
[Sobbing] I... I heard them
in the driveway laughing...
- Don't!
- And then I heard a noise,
and then I went outside,
and he was dead.
And Earl said he had
pulled a gun on him, but
there wasn't any gun.
There was never any gun.
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- Why...
- Earl, you are under arrest for murder.
- [Handcuffs Clinking]
- Isobel, I didn't hurt Dan!
I didn't do it!
I love you. I need you.
Sweet?
Isn't it?
Revenge?
Uh, we were about to sign off
on your self-defense story, Earl,
until your wife told us that... well, that
you knocked the gun out of Bennie's hand.
That was an unnecessary, damning
embellishment. Why'd you do that?
I think she didn't want Earl
skating by on a self-defense rap.
When did you find
out, Isobel? Last May?
When Earl and Bennie were
working on that coin shop heist?
You saw them get together,
overheard them talkin'.
Things fell into place...
Who killed Dan... your Dan.
I wanna go home.
You couldn't go to the police, to
Earl's buddy boys. Who'd believe you?
Even if they did, you'd still have
Earl's other buddies to deal with.
And if Earl was gonna
pay for his crime,
well, someone else would
have to do the dirty work.
Isobel, what are
they talkin' about?
[Goren] The letter the
I.R.S. sent her in May?
All you had to do was write a
check. There would've been no audit.
No one would've found out what
Dan did for a living, why he was killed,
who killed him.
Isobel? Then the audit came.
And you needed someone
to help push things along.
So you went to Frieda.
But you never thought that she was
gonna actually talk to Earl about it.
Or that he'd kill her.
It's not true. I would never
do anything against you, Earl.
What? Even now
you're still afraid of him?
You're not afraid of
me. She loves me.
- [Voice Cracks] We were gonna
raise a kid together.
- Yeah. Right.
The adoption that was
delayed by the SARS virus.
The adoption agency said that
the alert was lifted in... in May?
They told Isobel.
She told them that because
of a family emergency,
the adoption would have
to be postponed indefinitely.
[Whimpering] [Goren] You see?
The family emergency, Earl?
That's you going to prison.
You got him. You
got him but good.
- I wouldn't raise a dog with you.
- [Gasping]
But Dan was a killer... Dan
was a cold-blooded killer.
He was getting out of it,
and he never lied to me.
But you... You're
nothin' but lies.
So what happens to me now?
Your behavior may
not be ethical, but as far
as I can tell, you
haven't broken any laws.
I do expect you to testify
at your husband's trial.
Oh.
I only ever had one husband.
Come on, guys.
- So much for passing out brains
with those gold shields.
- If anyone objects...
to letting Ms.
Carnicki off the hook...
Maybe we should keep an
eye on who she marries next.
What a lucky guy that'll be.
[Howling]