Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001–2011): Season 3, Episode 5 - Law & Order: Criminal Intent - full transcript
A young African-American reporter's girlfriend is murdered at his apartment, and focus turns towards his editor.
[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.
He hasn't filed anything:
Louisiana, Maryland.
Well, at least he's not padding. All
he's put in for are a few local dinners.
And those he charged
to the photo desk.
Come again? On Katya
Jalenak's card. Not his.
Thank you, Edwards.
Um, I'll talk to him.
And, uh, you'll keep
this between us?
Me and Carl? Mr. Elkins, there's
nothing going on between me...
No one needs to know. No
one needs to lose her job.
It just has to end.
Don't tell me that!
They're going to crucify me.
We'll talk about this after I get
home. After you send the ne...
You cannot stop now!
- Same thing?
- Ben!
I'm almost there. I'm just
waitin' to hear from two sources.
We will crush the Times.
Trust me.
[Computer] You've got a file.
No! No. [Sighs]
By seeking truth,
by shedding light...
all of you are truly winners.
[Applauding]
Tough act to follow,
Mr. Elkins. Thank you.
Ben, terrific speech.
Sure, Roy, thanks.
Everything okay?
I'm, uh... I'm up
against it here, Roy.
You little son of a bitch.
[Banging]
Carl? Carl, is that you?
[Thumping] [Woman Laughing]
What was that? Come on.
Let's go make our own noise.
[Moaning, Panting]
[Woman Screaming]
No! Don't! No...
The deceased is Katya Jalenak.
New York Sentinel employee.
Same as her boyfriend Carl Hines.
It's his place. Mr. Hines
was on assignment,
came home at 4:00
a.m. and found her.
- What's his assignment?
- "Dark Harvest: Crime in Rural America."
- He was in Pennsylvania.
- You call the paper to confirm?
We left that for you. Mr. Hines
says the door was locked.
- You two don't take notes?
- Uh...
- Uh, we haven't worked that out yet.
- Uh-huh.
Neighbor says he heard
noises around midnight.
Says it wasn't the first time.
You might want to note, that's
probably the murder weapon.
Okay, well, she
was stabbed once,
uh, from behind and above.
[Sighs] Uh, it's tea tree oil.
Fire escape. Could be a burglar.
She came home, surprised him...
Tea tree oil?
She fell asleep
while waiting for Carl.
She heard someone.
Maybe it was him.
She went out.
Something went wrong.
She tried to leave, he
grabbed the scissors...
from here... Blood spatter.
It gets cut off. Starts again.
Um...
Things were removed...
from here after the killing.
Detective, can you ask
Mr. Hines to come in here?
[Female Detective] Mr. Hines? The
detectives would like to speak with you.
- Watch your step.
- I've been to a crime scene before. God!
What the hell happened here?
Well, we have two theories.
Mine is, Ms. Jalenak,
she knew the assailant.
She was sleeping in the
bed, and he was at the desk.
Detective Bishop's theory is
that, um, she woke up to a burglary.
What do you think?
Well, I like hers.
As I already said, the poor kid
was dead when I came home.
Um, can you check your desk?
See if there's anything missing?
It's for my partner's
burglary theory.
- Something wrong?
- No.
Not to knock your theory,
but it's just the way I left it.
Except this.
What are you, testing me?
The blood. You cut yourself?
It's Katya's.
I held her when I found her. I washed the
blood off my hands after I called 9 1 1.
Given she was killed
here, and given my race,
I knew I would be
your first suspect.
Katya joined the
photo desk last fall.
She was still living at home. I needed help
with my rent, so January, she moved in.
Did you know she
was seeing Carl Hines?
I knew when she moved
in she was seeing someone.
She had fights with her mom
about it. That's why she moved out.
She was having money problems? These
are past-due notices, collection letters?
No! I mean, I never
saw... Thank you, Camilla.
Benjamin Elkins. Sorry I'm late.
We found plenty to keep us busy.
Detective, the Sentinel's a family.
We'll help you any way we can,
but we cannot allow
you to go through desks.
- Now, what do you need to know?
- Where was Carl Hines last night?
Where I sent him: Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, on assignment.
You know that for a fact?
Yes, because I called him.
And I edited his article after
he filed it. What time was that?
Sometime around midnight. I came home from
a benefit, I kissed my wife good night,
and then I saw that Carl had
sent his article to my Blackberry.
Now, look. I understand
he's a suspect,
but given that-that neighborhood that
he lives in, and that tenement of his...
I mean, isn't it more likely
that an intruder did this crime?
You went to see
him at his tenement?
A good mentor gets
to know his rising stars.
You know, I read one of
Carl's articles in the paper today.
He quotes two unnamed
sources from Lancaster. You know,
maybe they can
confirm his whereabouts.
First Amendment, Detective.
I can't reveal their names.
Really? Not even to help one of
the members of the Sentinel family?
All right, look. I'll tell you this.
When I was editing his story last night,
I called the sources
to confirm their quotes.
And one of them told me
that he had just spoken to him.
Now if that doesn't suffice,
you can call our lawyers.
Ah, don't worry
about the series.
Just give your notes to Rick.
- Unless that's a problem?
- Well, it might be.
I mean, the police sealed my
apartment, and Katya's blood...
Yeah. Yeah, I know.
We're all in shock.
I had just spoken to her
that afternoon, you know.
She mentioned that.
Now, listen, Carl...
I think it would be a good idea
for you to get away from all this.
Just take a... paid leave,
and we'll hold your desk.
You're part of the
Sentinel family, you know.
And I'll never
betray that trust.
And we'll never
turn our back on you.
Not only was Katya
maxing out her credit card...
she was taking
five-fingered discounts.
These are from her place. They
still have security tags on them.
First year on her own. She
got in over her head. It happens.
Not just money, she was on the pill. Looks
like she missed as many days as she took.
Oh, probably too stoned to remember. Her
tox screen's positive for coke and alcohol.
The M.E. puts the time of
death at just around midnight.
When Hines was still in Pennsylvania
Dutch country. Says he was.
So does his editor.
This girl sounds like a
disaster waiting to happen.
Who knows who she brought
home while Hines was out of town?
Looks like Katya stopped
paying her bills three months ago.
That's the same time
her free fall started.
These A. T. M. withdrawals.
She was bankrupting herself.
$220 at a shot, sometimes $440.
Sometimes a couple of times
a day. Late night withdrawals?
- Yeah.
- Cash machines at strip bars
charge a 10% premium.
A $200 lap dance cost you 220.
See what you missed,
not working Vice?
Katya lent me her card to use.
She knew my credit was rocky.
You were straightening
it out at a strip club?
Katya liked me going to strip
clubs. It put me in a good mood.
And that put her in a good mood?
You can imagine what you want.
What I'm trying to imagine is someone
in a good mood shoplifting, doing drugs...
We shared a bed, not feelings.
Now you need to share the names of
the sources you talked to Wednesday night.
My sources live in a
very tight community.
I worked hard to gain their
trust. This tight community.
Your source is Amish.
What order, New or Old...
They're both Old Order. But
that's all you're getting from
me until I hear different
from the Sentinel's lawyers.
His editor, Ben Elkins, said that he
talked to Carl's sources Wednesday night.
Old Order Amish?
They don't use phones.
Elkins lied, just to
confirm his reporter's alibi?
Or to establish his own.
My Katya is dead.
That man should be dead too.
Katya's roommate thought
you didn't approve of Mr. Hines.
That's not true! I
didn't know about him.
Well, if you'd known Katya
was seeing a black man,
- would that have been okay?
- If he were a good man, sure.
But if she were seeing a married man, that
would have been different, wouldn't it?
I tell her, it's no good for her.
Then, three months after she go,
she called, crying.
"You were right, Mama,"
she says, "He was a rat!"
She ever go away
with this married man?
- Maybe on a cruise or...
- No!
She come home every night.
My Katya was good.
Seasickness pills.
She got them while she
was seeing this married man.
Ben Elkins... He had a telescope
in his office. It was aimed...
at the marina.
You think he was
keeping his eye on a boat?
She's a beauty. With the radar, she
knows exactly where the big fish are.
I'm sure that big fish weren't the only
thing he was tryin' to reel in. [Laughs]
Yeah. He tells me, "Carlos,
I don't seduce the women!
The boat seduces
them." That's funny.
Is this one of those women?
[Sighs] It's hard to
see faces at night.
Looks like he had some
new cushions done, huh?
Some of these planks
have been replaced.
Elkins just had
some refitting done?
Yeah, because of the rat. We had a
rat onboard a couple of months ago.
Had to tear the
boat apart to find it.
But you've got rat
catchers on the line.
I think somebody laid a
rat on the boat. Carlos!
It's a terrible thing
to do. Excuse me.
Wanna show you
something. A rat for a rat.
Well, Katya was after the boat,
she was after his star reporter...
Elkins had to know sooner or
later, she was gonna bring him down.
Not if he brought
her down first.
Ben Elkins? Yes, we did
speak at the banquet. But why...
Oh, you thought we were
here about your son. Yes.
He told me you were all
over him, despite his alibi.
Well, now we're checking
on Mr. Elkins's alibi.
Anyway, this banquet,
doesn't it end with
the presentation of the
Dennis Murphy Award?
Yes. But Mr. Elkins
skipped out early.
He may have, but he's always
there when we need him.
[Elevator Dinging] Every year, Ben
takes one of our students as his intern.
And that's how Carl
got... Got his start.
Sorry. Should I go to my room
while you finish harassing my father?
Carl? They're asking about Ben.
- What about him?
- We believe he had an affair with Katya
and that it ended badly.
Well, your belief is a lie. Ben
Elkins is a happily married man.
I hope that Ben can repay
all this loyalty someday.
Ben and my father taught
me to honor the truth.
That's what I'm doing.
Your street, in Flatbush, was recently
dug up because of a water main.
Now, I-I bet that
kicked up a few rats.
Yes. The super put
traps everywhere.
[Chuckles] What, is
that your new theory?
That Katya was stabbed to
death by a gang of rats? Carl.
Right now? This is a joke. Call
my office, make an appointment.
We talked to your secretary, and she said
we couldn't get ahold of you for a week.
Look, you don't even have to
get up. You just sit there, and we...
Detective!
Um, uh, a reporter from the
Ledger told us about a rumor...
about Katya Jalenak
and a married man.
I wouldn't wipe my
ass with the Ledger.
[Chuckling] And if
you're fishing, I'm not
conversant with my
employees' private lives.
All right. Well. Excu...
Sorry. Excuse me, gentlemen.
You know, speaking of fishing, there
was another rumor about Ms. Jalenak...
- and a rat on a boat...
- You're pushing it, Detective.
You know, come to think
of it, Mr. Elkins has a boat.
He's got a 47-foot Sportsman
with brand-new upholstery...
What are you insinuating?
I wonder how Katya felt.
You know, about the... the rat
gnawin' on all that expensive teak...
and Italian leather.
Think that made up for the... The
kick that you gave her in the gut?
How dare y... [Chuckles]
[Softly] How dare you imply
that I would cheat on my wife.
I would never. You can
ask anybody in this room.
We tried to get in touch
with Carl's source...
You know, the one you
talked to Wednesday night?
We couldn't get
through. You know why?
- They don't have phones.
- You calling me a liar?
Well, you go ahead. You dig all you want.
You follow me until you die of jealousy.
- "Dig all we want"?
- Whatever it takes to satisfy
your curiosity.
You won't find anything.
Thanks. All right. Gentlemen?
Well, that sounds like
consent to a search.
I think we'll start with
his expense account.
So you know, I
did not enjoy that.
No? Eames would have.
"April. Dinner with Tony Shen from
Sports. Carl Hines and Jack Abrams, Metro."
Maybe we should find
out if those reporters
weren't busy somewhere
else on those dates.
Can you check their expenses?
[Keyboard Clicking,
Computer Beeping]
Tony Shen. No
expenses for the 15th.
[Keyboard Clicks, Computer
Beeps] Jack Abrams.
No expenses for the 29th.
- Carl Hines.
- No expenses.
- You didn't even look him up.
- Mr. Hines never submits expenses.
Never? Just a few
meals in Brooklyn.
On Ms. Jalenak's card. We
can't get him to file his reports.
It's a problem.
Look, you have some terrific ideas,
Adam. Um, can I call you back?
Thanks. [Beeps]
Who was that? My new
agent in Los Angeles.
Ben introduced me.
You're not going
back to the Sentinel?
I'm taking a sabbatical.
Stop that.
This tragedy was a
wake-up call, Carl.
What happened to that girl could have
just as easily have happened to you.
Stop messing up.
In the last four months,
Carl has written articles on
Louisiana oystermen, priests in Maine...
He hasn't put in for one flight, one
hotel room... not even gas money.
So he's no good with his paperwork.
What's that have to do with Ben Elkins?
Well, maybe nothing. But
it's not just about expenses.
Here. This is a profile that
he wrote on homeless kids.
[Sighs] "They
often beg with pets,
because people are
more likely to offer food
to a stray cat than a
homeless teenager."
Taken, word for word, from an article
a month earlier from the Cincinnati Bee.
So the guy's a thief. No.
In this piece on
Amish drug dealers,
he wrote that he saw...
"a beautiful, colored quilt hiding the
false bottom of a horse-drawn buggy."
Now, a reporter from
the Pittsburgh Examiner...
wrote about that same
quilt a week before.
This torpedoes his alibi.
On the night of the murder, when
he claims to be in Pennsylvania,
- he could have been anywhere.
- Maybe Katya realized what he was up to.
Maybe it was one more
deception than she could live with.
So, Carl Hines, thief.
And now a murderer.
His articles are filled with visual
details. How did he get those...
unless he went to the
places he wrote about?
He got them from photos from
the Sentinel's photographers.
The photographers take
hundreds of pictures for each story.
Katya was e-mailing Carl
huge files filled with photos.
Every picture the photographers
took. Here, an article on the oystermen.
"The dock was strewn
with the laceless and
mud-stained shoes of
the Louisiana oystermen."
We found dozens of examples.
He couldn't have done it without her.
If she was helping
him, why kill her?
[Sighs] When's the
last e-mail she sent him?
Wednesday, the
night she was killed.
Could be for the Amish article.
Oh, uh, uh, "the
end of the road."
She was telling
him that it was over.
But why now? What made her stop?
Maybe her conscience
got the better of her.
You know, Ben confirmed
Carl's phony alibi.
When I asked Carl
if there was anything
missing from his desk,
he hesitated. He lied.
We thought because he
was guilty of the murder.
Or he lied because what was missing
from his desk was evidence of his fraud.
You know, papers, computer
disks, uh, photo printouts?
He hesitated.
Because he was confused,
because he didn't take them.
- The killer did.
- The killer, Ben Elkins.
He learned of the fraud and
didn't want it made public.
We'd have to prove he
knew what Carl was up to.
Really. So I made everything up?
Well, no. Only the things
you didn't plagiarize.
The Cincinnati Bee, the
Pittsburgh Examiner...
My son writes for the Sentinel. He doesn't
need to steal from second-rate papers.
Well, you can just see
for yourself, Mr. Hines.
Fine. Uh, well, he didn't bother
to, uh, change the punctuation.
Look, I don't steal. Okay?
I write all my own reports.
- Katya never helped me with any...
- No, Katya, she helped you.
She wanted to get back at Ben. And the
more she helped you, the worse she felt.
She got in too deep.
It wasn't like that.
That's why she sent you this.
Because Ben
found out, didn't he?
You know, he could lose his...
position. He could lose his career...
Because of what you did.
- That's why he killed her.
- No, I didn't have anything
to do with that.
No, w-we know!
Just tell us what Ben knew.
Just tell us what Katya told you.
Okay.
I need some air.
- You're wrong about this.
- You're saying, Ben didn't kill Katya?
You mean that we're
wrong about something else?
When Carl took up with
Katya, he crossed a line.
- Ben's line.
- Because Carl was his former intern?
Black intern, is that
what you're saying?
Ben would have been
uncomfortable with the thought of...
my Carl cavorting with
his fair-haired conquest.
For Ben, loyalty means...
knowing your place, staying there.
It sounds like
you know him well.
Thirty years. Ever since that
book of his about his housekeeper.
I gave it a good
review. For Ebony.
Back then you were
a journalist. Freelance.
But for me, teaching was my
calling. Like my father before me.
Back then...
the doors to the Sentinel, or any
paper, they weren't open for you.
Yeah, that's another fact.
Not like they
have been for Carl.
I tell him he doesn't
understand how lucky he is.
His generation has had
everything handed to them.
Like ballplayers?
You know, like compare Barry Bonds's
life with what Willie Mays went through?
- Is that what you're saying?
- They don't know how things used to be.
I saw Willie Mays
once, in the street.
I was with my dad. He
brought me over to him.
Maybe it was a bad
day, but, uh, Willie...
He was one angry guy.
I need to get to work now.
If you were showing
me how to turn a friendly
witness into a hostile
one, you succeeded.
Did you believe his rap on
Ben Elkins as a hypocrite?
Whether Ben Elkins is a closet
bigot, or just afraid for his career,
he's good for the murder.
You-You're gonna
take a run at him?
As long as it's
not in a restaurant.
You bring in Elkins;
I'll bring in his book.
A lot of reporters
mix up their notes.
If you knew anything about the newspaper
business... We know enough to see...
this is a major scandal
that could sink your career.
Huh? Over 40 articles by Carl were
found to have plagiarized passages,
nonexistent
sources, errors of fact.
I know what's going on here.
This is not about plagiarism.
Any more than it's
about Katya. Ben...
Katya's murder is being used
not just to smear Carl and me,
but to attack the Sentinel's commitment
to diversity in its hiring policy.
Mr. Elkins, do not play
that card with me. Only
a racist would turn
this into a referendum...
on affirmative action.
You have no idea...
the battles I've fought to
diversify that newsroom.
He's right. I think we're
being unfair to Mr. Elkins.
- Thank you.
- I-I read your book.
In it, he writes that his parents were
so distant from him that he spent...
most of his childhood
with his housekeeper, Dora.
She practically raised me. I
was never able to thank her.
Then she passed away. And you realized
that you never knew anything about her.
And...
it's moving, how it inspired
you to then open doors...
to, uh, well, African
Americans like Carl...
and have an interest in
their lives. That's right. It did.
You even visited Carl in his apartment
in Flatbush... isn't that what you told us?
Yes, a few months ago. Even
though it was a lousy neighborhood,
even though he had to ride a
urine-soaked elevator to Carl's floor...
Well, that doesn't bother me.
You ever thought about your Katya
in that elevator, you know... [Sighs]
Going up to meet Carl? No!
And she wasn't "my" Katya.
She was bedding down with your protégé.
Think she was doing that to spite you?
I don't know, and I don't care.
Y-You don't care? That she was, you
know, "giving it up" to the hired help?
Listen, I left that kind of thinking
in the past, where it belongs.
Yeah, you mean, at Dora's funeral. That's
where you met her son for the first time.
- Yeah.
- You're really a hypocrite. [Scoffs]
You know? I mean, all this stuff
about opening doors and visiting Carl...
Come on. I mean,
it's such... a crock.
That's not true. Come on, you
never visited your housekeeper.
You never visited Carl.
Because if you had, you'd know...
that he lives in a four-floor walk-up...
There's no "urine-soaked" elevator.
There's no elevator at all!
Come on, the truth is, you
never stepped a foot in his place.
And that's why you
couldn't have killed Katya.
- Well, exactly.
- Exactly.
Detective? A word.
Are you working
for the defense now?
He's a racist, but
he's not a killer.
So then we're back to Carl again.
He killed Katya to save his job.
No, the job meant a lot to Carl.
But it means the
world to someone else.
I don't know what to tell the
students about Carl's cheating.
How do you think
his father will react?
Put it this way: Last year, when
he found out our valedictorian...
bought a term paper
off the Internet...
he called up Harvard and
torpedoed her admission.
There are the archives.
The faculty advisor, that's Roy?
Isn't your warrant
for Carl's old articles?
- It's actually for the whole office.
- But this is a newspaper.
School newspaper. Not generally
covered by the First Amendment.
Gun cleaner. What part
of the curriculum is that for?
We had a teacher get shot
in the bathroom in 1988.
Roy got a permit
to carry a pistol.
[Goren] Roy doesn't
do anything halfway.
Well, we're not the only ones
interested in Carl's archives.
These are his clips
from, uh, his junior year.
- He has back problems?
- Uh, he has sciatica.
Why, these are quite good.
That's why I don't understand
why he'd resort to cheating.
Compulsive. You know,
like, uh, kleptomania.
This is very clever. He wrote a profile
of the school janitor on graduation day.
[Sighs] That got
him his internship.
"I been here 20 years. The
students, they come and they go.
After a while, it's like
watching the tides."
Roy always said
Carl got good quotes.
Yeah, but that one. It's the
kind of quote that stays with you.
Here. Last month, Carl quoted a
Louisiana Fish and Game official.
"Been here 20 years, watching
the oystermen as they come and go.
After a while, it's like
watching the tides."
He even steals from himself.
You know, Roy is
like a stage mother.
He reads everything
that Carl writes.
He would have made the
connection. And hit the roof.
Yeah. Maybe he started to dig.
The more he dug, the angrier he got.
You know, when he ran
into Elkins at the awards...
I don't know... he must have
sensed that time was running out.
He had to confront Carl.
How's his alibi? Paper thin.
We think he had a key,
let himself into Carl's,
ran into the girl, found that she was part
of the fraud, he panicked and killed her.
Then he picked up every
piece of evidence of Carl's fraud.
You know...
These boxes. You see how
they're stacked, corner on corner?
Right in the middle
of Carl's chaos.
[Man] I'm gonna open a
window, okay? Uh, no. Please.
And just stay by
the door. Thank you.
Looks like Roy's writing.
[Clattering]
Uh, was the closet
empty when you, uh...
Put the traps in? No, it
was stacked with boxes.
Those boxes. I could
hardly squeeze the traps in.
Right, so you moved the
boxes when you put the traps in.
No, they were pretty heavy.
Anybody been in here since the
murder? Carl. He tried to get in here.
[Bishop] When? Yesterday. He wanted
me to let him in to get some clothes.
He said the cops took his keys,
and his father doesn't have one.
But I told him, I
can't break the seal.
If he was trying to tamper with
evidence, why get the super involved?
That doesn't seem very
smart. Except now the super
can testify that Carl told
him Roy didn't have a key.
Maybe that's the point:
to help Roy's defense.
That implies Carl knows
his father killed the girl.
Roy killed her to protect Carl's secret,
and now Carl is returning the favor.
We need to convince Carl
to tell us what he knows.
After what his dad's done for him? Yes.
No, that's what I expected to find out.
Just fax me the report.
Okay. Thank you.
So Carl had no idea
what his father was up to.
We need to show him. We need
a search warrant for those boxes.
You don't need one.
They're at the crime scene.
Uh, I want a search warrant.
And I want Roy to know
that we're getting one.
Those boxes contain family papers
that, uh, have nothing to do with the case.
Mr. Hines can vouch that he
sealed them several years ago.
Once we ascertain the date of the
contents, you can take them away.
Uh, these boxes. You
always keep them here?
No. They're
usually in the closet.
Did you move them? Mm, no.
- I thought the police did.
- No. You see, the blood spatter,
that means they were already
here when Katya was killed.
Maybe the killer moved them.
Well, that's an idea.
But then, why empty the closet?
Do you keep valuables in there?
No, just junk.
Yeah, junk and rat traps.
Well, maybe they were
after what was in the boxes.
You know, your
high school papers.
The articles that you wrote
for the Clarion. I doubt that.
Oh, don't be so modest. We read them.
We thought they were really good, right?
Especially the one about
the high school janitor?
- What was it he said?
- Oh, "The students, they come and go.
After a while, it's like
watching the tides."
It reminds me of
something that I read...
about Louisiana
oystermen. [Sighs]
Yeah, well don't be so coy.
Your father knows all about it.
That's how we found the
article. It was on his desk.
Oh, Carl and I... have talked.
And he's admitted his mistakes.
Your son, whom you
taught to honor the truth...
admitted that he
was a-a plagiarist?
Well, you don't
sound all that upset.
I am, of course,
very disappointed.
You know, you got all these
staples popped out. You gotta fix this.
Look! I mean, this cable
could end up like this.
I mean, somebody could trip,
and they could hurt themselves.
Yeah. Disappointed, you said?
Yes. That-That Carl
would ruin his future?
And disgrace the Sentinel? And that you
would be humiliated in front of your peers.
In front of your own students.
Disappointed, huh?
I don't think that that begins to
describe how you felt, Mr. Hines.
Come on. You were terrified.
Oh, that's not true at all.
Carl knows that it is.
That night, your father...
He came over to warn
you? Is that what he told you?
- My father didn't say anything.
- Yeah, he said that he acted
to protect you.
And that's why he killed Katya.
That's why he cleaned off your desk.
My father said no such thing.
Hey! Uh, you didn't change
this lightbulb recently, did you?
What? Uh, no.
Well, there's a mark in
the dust, inside the shade.
Somebody fiddled
with the lightbulb.
Carl, if you came home that
night, that bulb was unscrewed,
you wouldn't have seen
the cable. You'd trip.
So what?
Well, once you're on the floor, if there
was somebody hiding in the closet...
Now that there's room...
Well, they could
get the jump on you.
[Scoffs] And who would do that?
Your father.
- That's how he planned to kill you.
- Oh, come on. Kill me for what?
The plagiarism. That was
all about him. Wasn't it?
To get back at him? What's
the big deal about plagiarism?
For God's sakes! You're a plagiarist,
they make you a U.S. senator.
They give you your own
TV show. I got a book deal.
No one cares about plagiarism.
- You don't agree, Mr. Hines?
- [Sighs] My son is very foolish.
But I would never do
anything to harm him.
You have a .38?
I have a permit.
I haven't fired it
in almost 14 years.
But you'd clean it
before you used it.
Our lab examined the
bulb from the hallway.
They found a residue
of gun-cleaning fluid...
left there by someone who
handled a recently cleaned gun.
Left there by... you.
When you unscrewed
the bulb, you came armed.
And you made all the preparations
for when Carl got home...
And that's how Katya woke up.
You had no idea
that she was here.
Come on. He didn't come here to
protect you. He came here to kill you.
Carl, don't
believe a word of it.
This doesn't make any sense.
If he was here with a gun,
- why didn't he use it on Miss Jalenak?
- Because of the noise.
But he wouldn't worry about the noise
when he was going to shoot his own son?
It doesn't matter how much noise
he would make when he shot Carl.
Because Roy wasn't planning on leaving
this apartment alive. Were you, Roy?
Tell me about your sciatica.
How's it doin'?
- I don't see what that has to do...
- When people commit suicide,
with, uh, pills...
Or a gun... It's
all about comfort.
They make themselves comfortable. They lay
down in a bed; they sit in an easy chair.
They want to make sure that they have
all the... the back support that they need.
Especially when their
sciatica is bothering them.
And once they're
comfortable? And relaxed?
They pull the trigger.
- I'm not that kind of person.
- There'd be nothing left
of your kind of person...
if everyone found
out what Carl did.
Come on, he spat on
everything that you stood for.
Everything that you dreamed
of for yourself, for him.
This ungrateful little bastard
doesn't know how lucky he is.
- Shut up.
- Come on, he's had everything
served right up to him.
You wanted him...
down. On the ground.
Just for once. With
him lookin' up at you.
It's true.
You were going to kill me.
You're pathetic.
Don't you get it?
I fooled the best editors at some
of the best papers in the world!
God! I even fooled
you for ten years!
You stupid boy.
You stupid, hateful boy.
He told me he was here.
And what he did... to Katya.
He said he was
comin' to save me.
Save me! [Gasping]
You were comin' to kill me, Dad.
[Bishop] Roy Hines, you're
under arrest... for murder.
How could you, Dad?
Dad! How could you?
Hey, hey. [Inhales]
How could you?
Come on.
It was my own father.
It must be a family
trait. What's that?
No stomach for the truth.
[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.
He hasn't filed anything:
Louisiana, Maryland.
Well, at least he's not padding. All
he's put in for are a few local dinners.
And those he charged
to the photo desk.
Come again? On Katya
Jalenak's card. Not his.
Thank you, Edwards.
Um, I'll talk to him.
And, uh, you'll keep
this between us?
Me and Carl? Mr. Elkins, there's
nothing going on between me...
No one needs to know. No
one needs to lose her job.
It just has to end.
Don't tell me that!
They're going to crucify me.
We'll talk about this after I get
home. After you send the ne...
You cannot stop now!
- Same thing?
- Ben!
I'm almost there. I'm just
waitin' to hear from two sources.
We will crush the Times.
Trust me.
[Computer] You've got a file.
No! No. [Sighs]
By seeking truth,
by shedding light...
all of you are truly winners.
[Applauding]
Tough act to follow,
Mr. Elkins. Thank you.
Ben, terrific speech.
Sure, Roy, thanks.
Everything okay?
I'm, uh... I'm up
against it here, Roy.
You little son of a bitch.
[Banging]
Carl? Carl, is that you?
[Thumping] [Woman Laughing]
What was that? Come on.
Let's go make our own noise.
[Moaning, Panting]
[Woman Screaming]
No! Don't! No...
The deceased is Katya Jalenak.
New York Sentinel employee.
Same as her boyfriend Carl Hines.
It's his place. Mr. Hines
was on assignment,
came home at 4:00
a.m. and found her.
- What's his assignment?
- "Dark Harvest: Crime in Rural America."
- He was in Pennsylvania.
- You call the paper to confirm?
We left that for you. Mr. Hines
says the door was locked.
- You two don't take notes?
- Uh...
- Uh, we haven't worked that out yet.
- Uh-huh.
Neighbor says he heard
noises around midnight.
Says it wasn't the first time.
You might want to note, that's
probably the murder weapon.
Okay, well, she
was stabbed once,
uh, from behind and above.
[Sighs] Uh, it's tea tree oil.
Fire escape. Could be a burglar.
She came home, surprised him...
Tea tree oil?
She fell asleep
while waiting for Carl.
She heard someone.
Maybe it was him.
She went out.
Something went wrong.
She tried to leave, he
grabbed the scissors...
from here... Blood spatter.
It gets cut off. Starts again.
Um...
Things were removed...
from here after the killing.
Detective, can you ask
Mr. Hines to come in here?
[Female Detective] Mr. Hines? The
detectives would like to speak with you.
- Watch your step.
- I've been to a crime scene before. God!
What the hell happened here?
Well, we have two theories.
Mine is, Ms. Jalenak,
she knew the assailant.
She was sleeping in the
bed, and he was at the desk.
Detective Bishop's theory is
that, um, she woke up to a burglary.
What do you think?
Well, I like hers.
As I already said, the poor kid
was dead when I came home.
Um, can you check your desk?
See if there's anything missing?
It's for my partner's
burglary theory.
- Something wrong?
- No.
Not to knock your theory,
but it's just the way I left it.
Except this.
What are you, testing me?
The blood. You cut yourself?
It's Katya's.
I held her when I found her. I washed the
blood off my hands after I called 9 1 1.
Given she was killed
here, and given my race,
I knew I would be
your first suspect.
Katya joined the
photo desk last fall.
She was still living at home. I needed help
with my rent, so January, she moved in.
Did you know she
was seeing Carl Hines?
I knew when she moved
in she was seeing someone.
She had fights with her mom
about it. That's why she moved out.
She was having money problems? These
are past-due notices, collection letters?
No! I mean, I never
saw... Thank you, Camilla.
Benjamin Elkins. Sorry I'm late.
We found plenty to keep us busy.
Detective, the Sentinel's a family.
We'll help you any way we can,
but we cannot allow
you to go through desks.
- Now, what do you need to know?
- Where was Carl Hines last night?
Where I sent him: Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, on assignment.
You know that for a fact?
Yes, because I called him.
And I edited his article after
he filed it. What time was that?
Sometime around midnight. I came home from
a benefit, I kissed my wife good night,
and then I saw that Carl had
sent his article to my Blackberry.
Now, look. I understand
he's a suspect,
but given that-that neighborhood that
he lives in, and that tenement of his...
I mean, isn't it more likely
that an intruder did this crime?
You went to see
him at his tenement?
A good mentor gets
to know his rising stars.
You know, I read one of
Carl's articles in the paper today.
He quotes two unnamed
sources from Lancaster. You know,
maybe they can
confirm his whereabouts.
First Amendment, Detective.
I can't reveal their names.
Really? Not even to help one of
the members of the Sentinel family?
All right, look. I'll tell you this.
When I was editing his story last night,
I called the sources
to confirm their quotes.
And one of them told me
that he had just spoken to him.
Now if that doesn't suffice,
you can call our lawyers.
Ah, don't worry
about the series.
Just give your notes to Rick.
- Unless that's a problem?
- Well, it might be.
I mean, the police sealed my
apartment, and Katya's blood...
Yeah. Yeah, I know.
We're all in shock.
I had just spoken to her
that afternoon, you know.
She mentioned that.
Now, listen, Carl...
I think it would be a good idea
for you to get away from all this.
Just take a... paid leave,
and we'll hold your desk.
You're part of the
Sentinel family, you know.
And I'll never
betray that trust.
And we'll never
turn our back on you.
Not only was Katya
maxing out her credit card...
she was taking
five-fingered discounts.
These are from her place. They
still have security tags on them.
First year on her own. She
got in over her head. It happens.
Not just money, she was on the pill. Looks
like she missed as many days as she took.
Oh, probably too stoned to remember. Her
tox screen's positive for coke and alcohol.
The M.E. puts the time of
death at just around midnight.
When Hines was still in Pennsylvania
Dutch country. Says he was.
So does his editor.
This girl sounds like a
disaster waiting to happen.
Who knows who she brought
home while Hines was out of town?
Looks like Katya stopped
paying her bills three months ago.
That's the same time
her free fall started.
These A. T. M. withdrawals.
She was bankrupting herself.
$220 at a shot, sometimes $440.
Sometimes a couple of times
a day. Late night withdrawals?
- Yeah.
- Cash machines at strip bars
charge a 10% premium.
A $200 lap dance cost you 220.
See what you missed,
not working Vice?
Katya lent me her card to use.
She knew my credit was rocky.
You were straightening
it out at a strip club?
Katya liked me going to strip
clubs. It put me in a good mood.
And that put her in a good mood?
You can imagine what you want.
What I'm trying to imagine is someone
in a good mood shoplifting, doing drugs...
We shared a bed, not feelings.
Now you need to share the names of
the sources you talked to Wednesday night.
My sources live in a
very tight community.
I worked hard to gain their
trust. This tight community.
Your source is Amish.
What order, New or Old...
They're both Old Order. But
that's all you're getting from
me until I hear different
from the Sentinel's lawyers.
His editor, Ben Elkins, said that he
talked to Carl's sources Wednesday night.
Old Order Amish?
They don't use phones.
Elkins lied, just to
confirm his reporter's alibi?
Or to establish his own.
My Katya is dead.
That man should be dead too.
Katya's roommate thought
you didn't approve of Mr. Hines.
That's not true! I
didn't know about him.
Well, if you'd known Katya
was seeing a black man,
- would that have been okay?
- If he were a good man, sure.
But if she were seeing a married man, that
would have been different, wouldn't it?
I tell her, it's no good for her.
Then, three months after she go,
she called, crying.
"You were right, Mama,"
she says, "He was a rat!"
She ever go away
with this married man?
- Maybe on a cruise or...
- No!
She come home every night.
My Katya was good.
Seasickness pills.
She got them while she
was seeing this married man.
Ben Elkins... He had a telescope
in his office. It was aimed...
at the marina.
You think he was
keeping his eye on a boat?
She's a beauty. With the radar, she
knows exactly where the big fish are.
I'm sure that big fish weren't the only
thing he was tryin' to reel in. [Laughs]
Yeah. He tells me, "Carlos,
I don't seduce the women!
The boat seduces
them." That's funny.
Is this one of those women?
[Sighs] It's hard to
see faces at night.
Looks like he had some
new cushions done, huh?
Some of these planks
have been replaced.
Elkins just had
some refitting done?
Yeah, because of the rat. We had a
rat onboard a couple of months ago.
Had to tear the
boat apart to find it.
But you've got rat
catchers on the line.
I think somebody laid a
rat on the boat. Carlos!
It's a terrible thing
to do. Excuse me.
Wanna show you
something. A rat for a rat.
Well, Katya was after the boat,
she was after his star reporter...
Elkins had to know sooner or
later, she was gonna bring him down.
Not if he brought
her down first.
Ben Elkins? Yes, we did
speak at the banquet. But why...
Oh, you thought we were
here about your son. Yes.
He told me you were all
over him, despite his alibi.
Well, now we're checking
on Mr. Elkins's alibi.
Anyway, this banquet,
doesn't it end with
the presentation of the
Dennis Murphy Award?
Yes. But Mr. Elkins
skipped out early.
He may have, but he's always
there when we need him.
[Elevator Dinging] Every year, Ben
takes one of our students as his intern.
And that's how Carl
got... Got his start.
Sorry. Should I go to my room
while you finish harassing my father?
Carl? They're asking about Ben.
- What about him?
- We believe he had an affair with Katya
and that it ended badly.
Well, your belief is a lie. Ben
Elkins is a happily married man.
I hope that Ben can repay
all this loyalty someday.
Ben and my father taught
me to honor the truth.
That's what I'm doing.
Your street, in Flatbush, was recently
dug up because of a water main.
Now, I-I bet that
kicked up a few rats.
Yes. The super put
traps everywhere.
[Chuckles] What, is
that your new theory?
That Katya was stabbed to
death by a gang of rats? Carl.
Right now? This is a joke. Call
my office, make an appointment.
We talked to your secretary, and she said
we couldn't get ahold of you for a week.
Look, you don't even have to
get up. You just sit there, and we...
Detective!
Um, uh, a reporter from the
Ledger told us about a rumor...
about Katya Jalenak
and a married man.
I wouldn't wipe my
ass with the Ledger.
[Chuckling] And if
you're fishing, I'm not
conversant with my
employees' private lives.
All right. Well. Excu...
Sorry. Excuse me, gentlemen.
You know, speaking of fishing, there
was another rumor about Ms. Jalenak...
- and a rat on a boat...
- You're pushing it, Detective.
You know, come to think
of it, Mr. Elkins has a boat.
He's got a 47-foot Sportsman
with brand-new upholstery...
What are you insinuating?
I wonder how Katya felt.
You know, about the... the rat
gnawin' on all that expensive teak...
and Italian leather.
Think that made up for the... The
kick that you gave her in the gut?
How dare y... [Chuckles]
[Softly] How dare you imply
that I would cheat on my wife.
I would never. You can
ask anybody in this room.
We tried to get in touch
with Carl's source...
You know, the one you
talked to Wednesday night?
We couldn't get
through. You know why?
- They don't have phones.
- You calling me a liar?
Well, you go ahead. You dig all you want.
You follow me until you die of jealousy.
- "Dig all we want"?
- Whatever it takes to satisfy
your curiosity.
You won't find anything.
Thanks. All right. Gentlemen?
Well, that sounds like
consent to a search.
I think we'll start with
his expense account.
So you know, I
did not enjoy that.
No? Eames would have.
"April. Dinner with Tony Shen from
Sports. Carl Hines and Jack Abrams, Metro."
Maybe we should find
out if those reporters
weren't busy somewhere
else on those dates.
Can you check their expenses?
[Keyboard Clicking,
Computer Beeping]
Tony Shen. No
expenses for the 15th.
[Keyboard Clicks, Computer
Beeps] Jack Abrams.
No expenses for the 29th.
- Carl Hines.
- No expenses.
- You didn't even look him up.
- Mr. Hines never submits expenses.
Never? Just a few
meals in Brooklyn.
On Ms. Jalenak's card. We
can't get him to file his reports.
It's a problem.
Look, you have some terrific ideas,
Adam. Um, can I call you back?
Thanks. [Beeps]
Who was that? My new
agent in Los Angeles.
Ben introduced me.
You're not going
back to the Sentinel?
I'm taking a sabbatical.
Stop that.
This tragedy was a
wake-up call, Carl.
What happened to that girl could have
just as easily have happened to you.
Stop messing up.
In the last four months,
Carl has written articles on
Louisiana oystermen, priests in Maine...
He hasn't put in for one flight, one
hotel room... not even gas money.
So he's no good with his paperwork.
What's that have to do with Ben Elkins?
Well, maybe nothing. But
it's not just about expenses.
Here. This is a profile that
he wrote on homeless kids.
[Sighs] "They
often beg with pets,
because people are
more likely to offer food
to a stray cat than a
homeless teenager."
Taken, word for word, from an article
a month earlier from the Cincinnati Bee.
So the guy's a thief. No.
In this piece on
Amish drug dealers,
he wrote that he saw...
"a beautiful, colored quilt hiding the
false bottom of a horse-drawn buggy."
Now, a reporter from
the Pittsburgh Examiner...
wrote about that same
quilt a week before.
This torpedoes his alibi.
On the night of the murder, when
he claims to be in Pennsylvania,
- he could have been anywhere.
- Maybe Katya realized what he was up to.
Maybe it was one more
deception than she could live with.
So, Carl Hines, thief.
And now a murderer.
His articles are filled with visual
details. How did he get those...
unless he went to the
places he wrote about?
He got them from photos from
the Sentinel's photographers.
The photographers take
hundreds of pictures for each story.
Katya was e-mailing Carl
huge files filled with photos.
Every picture the photographers
took. Here, an article on the oystermen.
"The dock was strewn
with the laceless and
mud-stained shoes of
the Louisiana oystermen."
We found dozens of examples.
He couldn't have done it without her.
If she was helping
him, why kill her?
[Sighs] When's the
last e-mail she sent him?
Wednesday, the
night she was killed.
Could be for the Amish article.
Oh, uh, uh, "the
end of the road."
She was telling
him that it was over.
But why now? What made her stop?
Maybe her conscience
got the better of her.
You know, Ben confirmed
Carl's phony alibi.
When I asked Carl
if there was anything
missing from his desk,
he hesitated. He lied.
We thought because he
was guilty of the murder.
Or he lied because what was missing
from his desk was evidence of his fraud.
You know, papers, computer
disks, uh, photo printouts?
He hesitated.
Because he was confused,
because he didn't take them.
- The killer did.
- The killer, Ben Elkins.
He learned of the fraud and
didn't want it made public.
We'd have to prove he
knew what Carl was up to.
Really. So I made everything up?
Well, no. Only the things
you didn't plagiarize.
The Cincinnati Bee, the
Pittsburgh Examiner...
My son writes for the Sentinel. He doesn't
need to steal from second-rate papers.
Well, you can just see
for yourself, Mr. Hines.
Fine. Uh, well, he didn't bother
to, uh, change the punctuation.
Look, I don't steal. Okay?
I write all my own reports.
- Katya never helped me with any...
- No, Katya, she helped you.
She wanted to get back at Ben. And the
more she helped you, the worse she felt.
She got in too deep.
It wasn't like that.
That's why she sent you this.
Because Ben
found out, didn't he?
You know, he could lose his...
position. He could lose his career...
Because of what you did.
- That's why he killed her.
- No, I didn't have anything
to do with that.
No, w-we know!
Just tell us what Ben knew.
Just tell us what Katya told you.
Okay.
I need some air.
- You're wrong about this.
- You're saying, Ben didn't kill Katya?
You mean that we're
wrong about something else?
When Carl took up with
Katya, he crossed a line.
- Ben's line.
- Because Carl was his former intern?
Black intern, is that
what you're saying?
Ben would have been
uncomfortable with the thought of...
my Carl cavorting with
his fair-haired conquest.
For Ben, loyalty means...
knowing your place, staying there.
It sounds like
you know him well.
Thirty years. Ever since that
book of his about his housekeeper.
I gave it a good
review. For Ebony.
Back then you were
a journalist. Freelance.
But for me, teaching was my
calling. Like my father before me.
Back then...
the doors to the Sentinel, or any
paper, they weren't open for you.
Yeah, that's another fact.
Not like they
have been for Carl.
I tell him he doesn't
understand how lucky he is.
His generation has had
everything handed to them.
Like ballplayers?
You know, like compare Barry Bonds's
life with what Willie Mays went through?
- Is that what you're saying?
- They don't know how things used to be.
I saw Willie Mays
once, in the street.
I was with my dad. He
brought me over to him.
Maybe it was a bad
day, but, uh, Willie...
He was one angry guy.
I need to get to work now.
If you were showing
me how to turn a friendly
witness into a hostile
one, you succeeded.
Did you believe his rap on
Ben Elkins as a hypocrite?
Whether Ben Elkins is a closet
bigot, or just afraid for his career,
he's good for the murder.
You-You're gonna
take a run at him?
As long as it's
not in a restaurant.
You bring in Elkins;
I'll bring in his book.
A lot of reporters
mix up their notes.
If you knew anything about the newspaper
business... We know enough to see...
this is a major scandal
that could sink your career.
Huh? Over 40 articles by Carl were
found to have plagiarized passages,
nonexistent
sources, errors of fact.
I know what's going on here.
This is not about plagiarism.
Any more than it's
about Katya. Ben...
Katya's murder is being used
not just to smear Carl and me,
but to attack the Sentinel's commitment
to diversity in its hiring policy.
Mr. Elkins, do not play
that card with me. Only
a racist would turn
this into a referendum...
on affirmative action.
You have no idea...
the battles I've fought to
diversify that newsroom.
He's right. I think we're
being unfair to Mr. Elkins.
- Thank you.
- I-I read your book.
In it, he writes that his parents were
so distant from him that he spent...
most of his childhood
with his housekeeper, Dora.
She practically raised me. I
was never able to thank her.
Then she passed away. And you realized
that you never knew anything about her.
And...
it's moving, how it inspired
you to then open doors...
to, uh, well, African
Americans like Carl...
and have an interest in
their lives. That's right. It did.
You even visited Carl in his apartment
in Flatbush... isn't that what you told us?
Yes, a few months ago. Even
though it was a lousy neighborhood,
even though he had to ride a
urine-soaked elevator to Carl's floor...
Well, that doesn't bother me.
You ever thought about your Katya
in that elevator, you know... [Sighs]
Going up to meet Carl? No!
And she wasn't "my" Katya.
She was bedding down with your protégé.
Think she was doing that to spite you?
I don't know, and I don't care.
Y-You don't care? That she was, you
know, "giving it up" to the hired help?
Listen, I left that kind of thinking
in the past, where it belongs.
Yeah, you mean, at Dora's funeral. That's
where you met her son for the first time.
- Yeah.
- You're really a hypocrite. [Scoffs]
You know? I mean, all this stuff
about opening doors and visiting Carl...
Come on. I mean,
it's such... a crock.
That's not true. Come on, you
never visited your housekeeper.
You never visited Carl.
Because if you had, you'd know...
that he lives in a four-floor walk-up...
There's no "urine-soaked" elevator.
There's no elevator at all!
Come on, the truth is, you
never stepped a foot in his place.
And that's why you
couldn't have killed Katya.
- Well, exactly.
- Exactly.
Detective? A word.
Are you working
for the defense now?
He's a racist, but
he's not a killer.
So then we're back to Carl again.
He killed Katya to save his job.
No, the job meant a lot to Carl.
But it means the
world to someone else.
I don't know what to tell the
students about Carl's cheating.
How do you think
his father will react?
Put it this way: Last year, when
he found out our valedictorian...
bought a term paper
off the Internet...
he called up Harvard and
torpedoed her admission.
There are the archives.
The faculty advisor, that's Roy?
Isn't your warrant
for Carl's old articles?
- It's actually for the whole office.
- But this is a newspaper.
School newspaper. Not generally
covered by the First Amendment.
Gun cleaner. What part
of the curriculum is that for?
We had a teacher get shot
in the bathroom in 1988.
Roy got a permit
to carry a pistol.
[Goren] Roy doesn't
do anything halfway.
Well, we're not the only ones
interested in Carl's archives.
These are his clips
from, uh, his junior year.
- He has back problems?
- Uh, he has sciatica.
Why, these are quite good.
That's why I don't understand
why he'd resort to cheating.
Compulsive. You know,
like, uh, kleptomania.
This is very clever. He wrote a profile
of the school janitor on graduation day.
[Sighs] That got
him his internship.
"I been here 20 years. The
students, they come and they go.
After a while, it's like
watching the tides."
Roy always said
Carl got good quotes.
Yeah, but that one. It's the
kind of quote that stays with you.
Here. Last month, Carl quoted a
Louisiana Fish and Game official.
"Been here 20 years, watching
the oystermen as they come and go.
After a while, it's like
watching the tides."
He even steals from himself.
You know, Roy is
like a stage mother.
He reads everything
that Carl writes.
He would have made the
connection. And hit the roof.
Yeah. Maybe he started to dig.
The more he dug, the angrier he got.
You know, when he ran
into Elkins at the awards...
I don't know... he must have
sensed that time was running out.
He had to confront Carl.
How's his alibi? Paper thin.
We think he had a key,
let himself into Carl's,
ran into the girl, found that she was part
of the fraud, he panicked and killed her.
Then he picked up every
piece of evidence of Carl's fraud.
You know...
These boxes. You see how
they're stacked, corner on corner?
Right in the middle
of Carl's chaos.
[Man] I'm gonna open a
window, okay? Uh, no. Please.
And just stay by
the door. Thank you.
Looks like Roy's writing.
[Clattering]
Uh, was the closet
empty when you, uh...
Put the traps in? No, it
was stacked with boxes.
Those boxes. I could
hardly squeeze the traps in.
Right, so you moved the
boxes when you put the traps in.
No, they were pretty heavy.
Anybody been in here since the
murder? Carl. He tried to get in here.
[Bishop] When? Yesterday. He wanted
me to let him in to get some clothes.
He said the cops took his keys,
and his father doesn't have one.
But I told him, I
can't break the seal.
If he was trying to tamper with
evidence, why get the super involved?
That doesn't seem very
smart. Except now the super
can testify that Carl told
him Roy didn't have a key.
Maybe that's the point:
to help Roy's defense.
That implies Carl knows
his father killed the girl.
Roy killed her to protect Carl's secret,
and now Carl is returning the favor.
We need to convince Carl
to tell us what he knows.
After what his dad's done for him? Yes.
No, that's what I expected to find out.
Just fax me the report.
Okay. Thank you.
So Carl had no idea
what his father was up to.
We need to show him. We need
a search warrant for those boxes.
You don't need one.
They're at the crime scene.
Uh, I want a search warrant.
And I want Roy to know
that we're getting one.
Those boxes contain family papers
that, uh, have nothing to do with the case.
Mr. Hines can vouch that he
sealed them several years ago.
Once we ascertain the date of the
contents, you can take them away.
Uh, these boxes. You
always keep them here?
No. They're
usually in the closet.
Did you move them? Mm, no.
- I thought the police did.
- No. You see, the blood spatter,
that means they were already
here when Katya was killed.
Maybe the killer moved them.
Well, that's an idea.
But then, why empty the closet?
Do you keep valuables in there?
No, just junk.
Yeah, junk and rat traps.
Well, maybe they were
after what was in the boxes.
You know, your
high school papers.
The articles that you wrote
for the Clarion. I doubt that.
Oh, don't be so modest. We read them.
We thought they were really good, right?
Especially the one about
the high school janitor?
- What was it he said?
- Oh, "The students, they come and go.
After a while, it's like
watching the tides."
It reminds me of
something that I read...
about Louisiana
oystermen. [Sighs]
Yeah, well don't be so coy.
Your father knows all about it.
That's how we found the
article. It was on his desk.
Oh, Carl and I... have talked.
And he's admitted his mistakes.
Your son, whom you
taught to honor the truth...
admitted that he
was a-a plagiarist?
Well, you don't
sound all that upset.
I am, of course,
very disappointed.
You know, you got all these
staples popped out. You gotta fix this.
Look! I mean, this cable
could end up like this.
I mean, somebody could trip,
and they could hurt themselves.
Yeah. Disappointed, you said?
Yes. That-That Carl
would ruin his future?
And disgrace the Sentinel? And that you
would be humiliated in front of your peers.
In front of your own students.
Disappointed, huh?
I don't think that that begins to
describe how you felt, Mr. Hines.
Come on. You were terrified.
Oh, that's not true at all.
Carl knows that it is.
That night, your father...
He came over to warn
you? Is that what he told you?
- My father didn't say anything.
- Yeah, he said that he acted
to protect you.
And that's why he killed Katya.
That's why he cleaned off your desk.
My father said no such thing.
Hey! Uh, you didn't change
this lightbulb recently, did you?
What? Uh, no.
Well, there's a mark in
the dust, inside the shade.
Somebody fiddled
with the lightbulb.
Carl, if you came home that
night, that bulb was unscrewed,
you wouldn't have seen
the cable. You'd trip.
So what?
Well, once you're on the floor, if there
was somebody hiding in the closet...
Now that there's room...
Well, they could
get the jump on you.
[Scoffs] And who would do that?
Your father.
- That's how he planned to kill you.
- Oh, come on. Kill me for what?
The plagiarism. That was
all about him. Wasn't it?
To get back at him? What's
the big deal about plagiarism?
For God's sakes! You're a plagiarist,
they make you a U.S. senator.
They give you your own
TV show. I got a book deal.
No one cares about plagiarism.
- You don't agree, Mr. Hines?
- [Sighs] My son is very foolish.
But I would never do
anything to harm him.
You have a .38?
I have a permit.
I haven't fired it
in almost 14 years.
But you'd clean it
before you used it.
Our lab examined the
bulb from the hallway.
They found a residue
of gun-cleaning fluid...
left there by someone who
handled a recently cleaned gun.
Left there by... you.
When you unscrewed
the bulb, you came armed.
And you made all the preparations
for when Carl got home...
And that's how Katya woke up.
You had no idea
that she was here.
Come on. He didn't come here to
protect you. He came here to kill you.
Carl, don't
believe a word of it.
This doesn't make any sense.
If he was here with a gun,
- why didn't he use it on Miss Jalenak?
- Because of the noise.
But he wouldn't worry about the noise
when he was going to shoot his own son?
It doesn't matter how much noise
he would make when he shot Carl.
Because Roy wasn't planning on leaving
this apartment alive. Were you, Roy?
Tell me about your sciatica.
How's it doin'?
- I don't see what that has to do...
- When people commit suicide,
with, uh, pills...
Or a gun... It's
all about comfort.
They make themselves comfortable. They lay
down in a bed; they sit in an easy chair.
They want to make sure that they have
all the... the back support that they need.
Especially when their
sciatica is bothering them.
And once they're
comfortable? And relaxed?
They pull the trigger.
- I'm not that kind of person.
- There'd be nothing left
of your kind of person...
if everyone found
out what Carl did.
Come on, he spat on
everything that you stood for.
Everything that you dreamed
of for yourself, for him.
This ungrateful little bastard
doesn't know how lucky he is.
- Shut up.
- Come on, he's had everything
served right up to him.
You wanted him...
down. On the ground.
Just for once. With
him lookin' up at you.
It's true.
You were going to kill me.
You're pathetic.
Don't you get it?
I fooled the best editors at some
of the best papers in the world!
God! I even fooled
you for ten years!
You stupid boy.
You stupid, hateful boy.
He told me he was here.
And what he did... to Katya.
He said he was
comin' to save me.
Save me! [Gasping]
You were comin' to kill me, Dad.
[Bishop] Roy Hines, you're
under arrest... for murder.
How could you, Dad?
Dad! How could you?
Hey, hey. [Inhales]
How could you?
Come on.
It was my own father.
It must be a family
trait. What's that?
No stomach for the truth.
[Howling]