Quincy M.E. (1976–1983): Season 6, Episode 10 - Headhunter - full transcript

There's a young woman in
there. She's been mutilated.

She was split open, Sam.

The person who killed her was
looking for something inside her body.

I loved her and she loved me.

Do you want the whole story
on your precious little Elaine?

Don't you touch me!

She knows about Elaine Collier.

You scum.

As far as you're concerned
this case is closed.

Don't touch anything.

Well, well, well,
another mutilation.



I don't know what kind of sickness drives
you to want to destroy people's lives,

but I'm going to
see that it's stopped.

Gentlemen, you
are about to enter

the most fascinating
sphere of police work,

the world of forensic medicine.

Anything else to declare?

- No.
- Oh, may I see that
wristwatch, please?

- My watch?
- Yes, please.

- What in the world for?
- May I see it?

Thank you.

Elaine?

Honey, are you okay?

I don't know. I've got the
worst cramps and I'm freezing.

- It's probably just the flu.
- Come on, you're going home.



Leave your stuff. I'll check it
through and bring it by later.

Thanks.

Please include it.

- Bill?
- Yes.

Elaine's coming down
the flu or something.

- Is it okay if I
pass her on through?
- Sure. Take her through.

- Take care of yourself.
- I'll be back in a minute.

Alright.

Please, oh please. Get
over here right away.

- Hi, Ed.
- Hello, Quince.

You're developing a
very bad habit, Lieutenant.

Look, I'm sorry, Quincy. I
don't blame you for being sore.

Up till midnight, fine. I'll even give
you till one o'clock in the morning.

But after that, if you
have to call the office,

ask for a field investigator.
They happen to be very good.

Okay, but look, we got
a young woman in there.

She's been mutilated.
We need your expertise.

It's terrible. I've never
seen anything like it.

Eddie been here?

Yeah, yeah, everything's
been photographed and dusted.

You know, I must have worked
over three hundred homicides, Quincy.

I still can't understand how
people can do anything like this.

It's beyond my comprehension.

You know, I had a partner once. He
said, "Don't try to understand them.

"Just learn to deal with
what they do to each other."

- Is that her husband?
- No, no, he's a cop.

He doesn't look too
well. His first homicide?

No, he works narcotics. He
was the one that found her.

He was pretty upset. I told
him to go get some fresh air.

I'm Doctor Quincy. I'm
the Medical Examiner.

Can I ask you a
couple of questions?

- You okay?
- Yeah.

- I understand you found her.
- Yes, sir.

Was the shower going
when you found her?

- Yes.
- Did you move her,
change her position?

Anything at all?

No. No, I didn't.

The shower was
running. I turned it off.

The tub was full of water.

- And I called Homicide.
- Did you know her?

Yeah, I knew her.

She was an informant.

See right here, lacerations
on the inside of her upper lip.

Caused by downward
pressure, lip against the teeth.

Then she was smothered.
With something like a pillow.

That's my guess. Didn't
fight, no scratches, no bruises.

Fingernails are all intact. It looks like
she was taken by surprise, murdered,

then mutilated with something almost
as sharp as a surgical instrument.

- Let's get started, Sam.
- Right.

Body is that of a female Caucasian,
Elaine J. Collier, twenty-six years of age

sixty-seven inches, 118 pounds.

Preliminary external
examination reveals random

slashes about the
face and the torso.

Let me have a
ruler, will you, Sam?

There are numerous
superficial cuts to the torso.

In addition, there is a deep oblique
fourteen-centimeter incised wound

extending from the manubrium
to the right costal margin

and a midline through
and through vertical incision

seventeen centimeters in length
from the xyphoid to the umbilicus.

She was split open, Sam.

What do all these tell you?

Well, there's no hemorrhage
into the tissue bordering the wound.

They're post mortem. It's like you said,
she was murdered first, then mutilated.

Yeah. Take a look at this.

The stomach, the
upper intestines.

An incision.

A precise incision.

The person who killed her was
looking for something inside her body.

Then it wasn't rage, and
it wasn't sexual mutilation.

Not in a million years.

Except for the stomach, all
the slashing's just a cover.

Something here. Hand me the
forceps and the petri dish, please.

Looks like a
piece of an aspirin.

I've never seen a tablet get that far into
the intestinal tract without dissolving.

Oh, the place is loaded with
residue. Here give me some.

I'll give you a little more.

Now get that analyzed.

Whatever you do, don't let
anybody grind down that tablet.

Something fishy going on around
here. I wanna know what it is.

Okay, I'll get Marc on it.

Headhunter.

- How are you?
- Go ahead, smoke that thing.

Don't even ask.

- I'd like to see
a file on the Collier case.
- Please.

- Please?
- Are you kiddin'?

Since when is Internal Affairs
interested in a homicide case?

It's a little further
than homicide,

Lieutenant, it's a little
farther than Collier.

See, there's been some rumors about
a couple of righteous coke shipments.

You know, Drasso,
you got tunnel vision.

You see a bad cop
behind every lamppost.

I understand you were on
the scene of the Collier death.

That's right.

And that you questioned
a Detective Marsala.

What do you think he
was involved, Joe Marsala?

I don't think anything. I just want
to read his transcribed statement.

Well for your information, Joe
Marsala is as straight as they come.

His father was one of my first partners!
His grandfather used to walk a beat

in this city when they were
switching over from horses.

Lieutenant, I was told that Marsala claimed
Collier as an informant. Is that right?

That's right. He said she was
working on a smuggling case.

That's funny because we
just came back from Narcotics.

Looked over the whole file.

There's no record of an
Elaine Collier as an informant.

Do you mind if I
see your entire file?

Webster, bring
in the Collier file.

I think you should also know that I
have my people searching the apartment.

Look, dammit, I don't want your
people messing in our investigation!

I don't give a damn
what you don't want.

You know we wouldn't
be there without a reason.

C'mon, Monahan, you know as well
as I do what John Q. Public thinks of us.

Our image is zero. It's gonna get
below zero if Internal doesn't do its job.

If we don't step down hard on
anything that even smells of corruption,

you and me,
Charlie, better quit!

Because the average public
that we are sworn to protect

won't trust us as far as
they can throw a squad car.

And here's another thing, I don't give a
damn what anyone thinks of the I.A.D.

If a cop is clean he's
got nothin' to worry about.

Oh, thanks Webster.

Thank you.

If you wonder what I'm doin' here,
tell them I'm on a recruiting drive.

Who'd ever believe that?

Oh, oh, one other thing.

On the island of Borneo,
there's a group of natives, a tribe,

they're called the Dayaks.
They're the last of the headhunters,

big mouth.

Marsala claims that he received
a telephone call from Collier

at around 2400 hours.
Can you verify that?

Drasso, if you got one thing to implicate
him, I wanna hear about it right now.

Aw, c'mon, you been
on the job long enough

to know that I don't
have to tell you beans.

Internal Affairs answers directly to
the chief. You want verification of that?

I'll have him give
you a call personally!

This file is incomplete
even for a preliminary report.

You know, Monahan, you'd be doing
yourself and the department a big favor

if you'd get those nine-to-five
detectives off their butts

and out on the streets
where they belong.

One other thing. As far as you're
concerned, this case is closed.

It now belongs to the I.A.D.

Lieutenant, will
you take it easy.

Stop screaming. I can't
understand a word you're saying.

I did put a rush on it, but
we're backed up at the lab.

I swear, as soon as
Sam calls, I'll let you know.

Look, I don't want you to come
here because of your ulcers.

Take it easy. Come in. I'll
talk to you later. Goodbye.

Doctor Quincy?

- Lieutenant Grasso, I presume.
- Drasso.

- Drasso.
- Sal Drasso.

- How do you do?
- I see you already
heard from Monahan?

I've known him a long time. I
have never seen him so upset.

You really got
to him, didn't ya?

- Here, try one of these.
- What are they, Cuban?

I get them from a veteran from the
Bay of Pigs. He owns a mom and pop deli

down on Fourth Street. I'm afraid
to ask him where he gets them.

- Probably from the C.I.A.
- Probably right.

- Here, I don't smoke.
- Ah, thank you. More for me.

There's nothing in the
world like a good cigar.

- Ah,
I see you like the ponies.
- Look, what about Monahan?

Aw, that's just a
normal reaction.

Well, well, well, we
got an athlete here.

You know cops are very
paranoid people, Dr. Quincy.

The job breeds paranoia.

Yeah, all you got to do
is mention Internal Affairs

and, well, you saw what happened.
You sure this smoke doesn't bother you?

No, not at all. Why are you
interested in the Collier case?

- Mind if I sit down?
- No, go ahead, no.

Well you see, every morning

the Chief gets what we
call an unusual activities log.

You know, major crimes,
homicides and things like that.

Well, he asked me to
take care of this for one.

Because of Marsala's
relationship with the girl.

Exactly. Frankly, look,
there's probably nothing in it.

You know, I make a few
interviews, ask a few questions

and then make a report
and get it to the Chief

and that'll probably
be the end of it.

How can I help you?

Well, we need the
results of the autopsy.

Oh, it's not finished yet.
The toxicology reports.

You mean you haven't
got a cause of death yet?

Well, we're pretty sure
that she was smothered.

The mutilation
occurred after death.

What's the matter?

Doc, am I right in assuming
that her stomach was cut open?

You're either the best
hunch player in the world,

or you got some
spies working in my lab.

Why would someone want
to cut up a dead person

unless they wanted
to remove something?

Well, it wasn't exactly common
knowledge that she was cut up.

I think I know what's
going on here, Doc,

it's a very simple, and it's
a very logical assumption.

Doc, look, I know you're a
good friend of Monahan's,

and Monahan and me, once in a
while we don't get along too good.

Please, level with me, will you?

Did you find anything
in her stomach?

Yeah, as a matter of fact, we
did, a partially dissolved tablet.

- Tablet?
- Well, it could be aspirin.

Yeah, sure, it could be aspirin.

It could be cocaine.

Lieutenant.

Excuse me a minute. What?

Those assumptions I was talking
about, Doc, they're becoming realities.

Thanks for your time.

Hey, Marsala!

How you doing? You got a minute?

No, I haven't, Drasso.
I'm tired. I wanna go home.

- You rather talk there?
- What do you want?

- Marsala. It's Italian, isn't it?
- Yeah, it's Italian.

And you can forget
the goombah routine.

This informant of
yours, the Collier girl.

- How long she work for you?
- A month, maybe two. Why?

Just curious.

- What was your relationship,
Marsala?
- Relationship, Lieutenant?

There was no relationship.
She was my informant.

Did you ever go to her
apartment before she was found?

No, no I didn't.

Is that yours?

I asked you a question.
Is that yours, Marsala?

Yeah, I think it is.

- You think it is.
- Yeah.

- Yes or no.
- Yes, it's my jacket.

Why do you ask?

We found it in the Collier
girl's bedroom closet.

And that landlady, she ID'd your
picture. You know what she said?

She said that the two of you
have been dating for over a year.

Anything special you want
us to know, Lieutenant?

About what?

- What we do in there?
- You know the routine,
Fennedy.

Unless you think Marsala's
different from anybody else.

- Mrs. Marsala?
- Yes?

I'm Lieutenant
Drasso, Internal Affairs.

- May we come in?
- Oh, Joe isn't home.

It doesn't matter, we have a
search warrant for the residence.

Search warrant? What for?
My husband's a policeman.

He knows that, Nancy.
Alright, Lieutenant, take a hike.

It's my day off, Drasso. I was
invited here by the lady of the house.

I don't understand
what's happening here.

Very, very cute Lieutenant.

But it still goes down on
my report as interference.

Look, I don't care what you put
down. You do your job here with respect

and dignity or otherwise
I'll make out my own report.

- Fennedy, get cracking.
- What are they doing?

Look, can't you make them stop?

Nancy, they've got a
legitimate search warrant.

But there's nothing
to worry about.

As soon as they're finished
playing their little games,

- I'll explain the whole thing.
- Little games, Lieutenant?

You wanna explain the whole
thing? Well, what are we waiting for?

Why don't we start right now?

Mrs. Marsala, we have evidence
that your husband's been involved

with a stewardess that's
been smuggling cocaine.

No.

- No, that's impossible.
- No, it's not impossible.

In fact, he's been hanging
out with her for over a year.

Nancy, Joe deals with hundreds
of informants. Now, that's his job.

So don't read anything
into what these people say.

They haven't got the
brains God gave a baboon.

That's very, very nice,
Lieutenant, very nice.

Joe. Don't say or do one single
thing. They have a warrant.

You don't even
belong here, Marsala.

You're officially on duty.
This is my house, my home.

- This is where I live!
- She knows about
Elaine Collier.

MARSALA: You scum...

What did the man
say to you, honey?

What did the man tell you?

No, no, just leave me alone.

Nancy, she was nothing.
She was an informant.

Understand, she
traveled a lot so I used her.

- She got to a lot
of foreign countries.
- Don't lie to me.

I'm not lying. I cultivate people, Nancy.
I cultivate them and then I use them.

Hell, baby, you know, and you've
always known that I use informants.

Will you stop that
lying. I do know.

He didn't tell me
anything I didn't know.

Only this time, this
time it's out in the open,

so would you please stop degrading
me and making me feel ashamed.

- Oh, honey.
- No!

No. Don't you touch me.
Don't you ever touch me again.

Either of you guys see Asten?

- Not since the staff meeting.
- We were having
lunch across the street.

When the check came, he made
one of his famous phone calls.

- Uh oh, the old vanishing act.
- Yeah,
and I got stuck with the tab.

Twenty-two and a half dollars. You
should see him order. Clams Casino...

He thinks if he hides long enough
I'm gonna forget it, well not this time!

Quince, don't go away. I'm
just getting the chromatogram

on the pill residue
from Collier's stomach.

- Yeah,
I bet you Drasso was right.
- Well, there you are. Cocaine.

Eighty-six percent pure cocaine.

That's exactly
what I was afraid of.

Hey, Eddie. Listen, how is the enlargement
on that pill fragment coming along?

Yeah, well get it through
the soup, will you?

Yeah, give it top priority.
All right. Soon as you can.

- Can I talk to you a minute? Alone?
- Oh, yeah, sure.

Listen, when Eddie
comes down, I'll be in there.

Doctor Quincy, I want to ask you
something that's very important to me.

I want to know exactly
how Elaine Collier died.

Well, actually, she was dying
on her way through customs.

Monahan talked to her partner on
the flight. She said she had cramps.

Probably from the
cocaine she was carrying

in her intestinal tract
in a rubber balloon.

- It must have broken.
- Why did she have to do that?

I was hoping you'd tell me.

No, I'm not on
Drasso's side. I mean it.

I have to admit he did charm me,

but when Monahan told me
what he did to you and your wife,

I've got no use for the guy.

I met her on the airport
detail about a year ago.

I guess you know about our relationship.
I'm sure Monahan told you that, too.

Yes, he did.

Anyway, about a month ago a
passenger on a flight from Colombia

asked her to transport something
back to the States for him.

- She got a thousand bucks.
- Cost her her life.

Doctor Quincy, do you think
that I would encourage anyone,

- especially her,
to do a thing like that?
- I suppose you wouldn't.

Yeah, but I can tell what's in your
head. I can tell what you're thinking.

You're thinking how
could any rational person

deliberately swallow
a bag of cocaine.

Well, she did it without my knowledge.
Maybe she loved me so much,

that she wanted to become involved
in any part of my life that she could.

Look, I've blown it all at home.

I'm sick about it
and I'm ashamed.

Sometimes you can't help
these things, you know?

You find yourself so much
in love with somebody,

you just lose all sense of reason,
your whole focus on reality, it just goes.

Maybe I loved her too much.

- Maybe that's why she's dead.
- Come on, Joe.

Now you can't blame yourself
for other people's actions,

especially in this case. It
wasn't the drugs that killed her.

She was murdered.

Murdered? Elaine?

That's what it's going to say in
the autopsy report. Suffocated.

Probably by the same
person who put her in the tub.

- You sure?
- I'm sure.

Yeah, well, thanks very
much for the information, Doc,

thank you.

You know, we got to find
him. He's got to be punished.

I think these showed pretty
well. If you're interested in

any particular section, I
can blow it up even more.

- Thanks, Lou.
- Okay, Quince.

Pure cocaine mixed with a binder and
pressed into the form of an aspirin tablet.

That's one way to
cure a headache.

Yeah, permanently.

Seems like a lot of trouble if
they're doin' it to smuggle drugs.

Don't you understand, once
they perfect this thing, it's foolproof.

A lab in a remote part of South
America presses thousands of these,

ships them in with
legitimate orders of aspirin.

And that means they have
to be working hand in hand

with a pharmaceutical
company here in the States.

That's right. Grab
a P.D.R., will ya?

I get the feeling they
just set this thing up.

That Elaine Collier was carrying
in a sample of the finished product.

- You think she's part of it?
- I know she's part of it.

The only thing I don't know is
whether she was helping Joe Marsala

or helping herself.

Here's what you want,
product identification.

Hold onto it, will ya?

Oh, it's gonna be pretty tough
to identify any kind of trademark

- from a fragment this small.
- I don't know, Sam.

Here's a scroll here, a
letter, something, eh?

It's not much to go on.

Marc, take a look.

Could be the top of
a letter or the bottom.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, or nothing.

So many possibilities.

Not only that, suppose
it's a new kind of trademark,

something that's not
even in the book yet.

Well, we have to check it out.

Whatever it takes,
we have to check it out.

Do you realize what would
happen if a shipment was sent in

and there was a
mistake or an accident?

If these were mistaken for real
aspirin, hundreds of people could die

before we knew
anything about it.

Now, come on
fellas, get crackin'.

Well, I wasn't going anyplace
tonight. What about you, Marc?

- How's it look?
- Perfect.

Your friends over
there are perfectionists.

Take a peek. You won't
be able to tell them apart.

All right.

Which is which?

- Which one's real aspirin?
- I can't honestly say.

We've completely eliminated
that yellowish cast in the binder.

It's as white as driven snow.

Break them down,
all the latest samples,

then let's see
how it pulverizes.

The sound of prosperity.

Careful. I could pay your
salary for a year with that.

After this, I get a raise.

Well, my boy, don't
keep me in suspense.

I've never seen anything
like it. It's perfect.

There's a flight leaving
their time in less than an hour.

I'll make the arrangements.

Oh, and Chuck, you get
that raise, with interest.

You guys got it?
You really found it?

Yeah, we really did. At great
pain and personal sacrifice.

Will you stop with the
modesty? Show it to me.

We got the information from
the Drug Informational Center.

We got it all set up with
video superimposition.

Now, here's the fragment
we found in Elaine Collier

and this is the aspirin
which, would you believe,

happens to be
manufactured in Colombia.

- Show me both at once.
- Okay. Here's the fragment

and here's the aspirin
and there we are.

Wow, look at that. That's a
perfect match. It really fits.

What's the name of the
company? Rausch Pharmaceutical.

I'd better call Monahan at home.

Here you are. You want me to
schlep these inside the lab for you?

No, they can wait until morning.

You've done more
than your share.

Why don't you go home now
and get yourself some dinner?

- Okay, sir. I'm on my way.
- Good.

Yes.

Nice.

Joseph, my boy, you must be
psychic. I was just about to call you.

I'll bet you were.

You see, these samples tested
so well I decided to expedite things,

I decided there was
no reason to wait.

- You lied to me, Mr. Rausch.
- No, no I didn't lie.

You see, as soon as I
confirmed this merchandise,

I was gonna pick
up that telephone,

and let you know that
you were a wealthy man.

I wasn't talking
about the money.

I was talking about Elaine.

You said that she was
dead when you got there.

I thought she was.

She appeared to be.

She was stretched out on
the floor, she wasn't breathing.

- Why don't you stop lying?
- I'm not lying.

I'm telling you
the absolute truth.

The Coroner said
she was smothered.

He said that?

Yeah, he said that. It's
in the autopsy report.

Elaine was murdered.

All right, all right,

I'll tell you exactly
what happened.

When I arrived, she was unconscious.
She was so far into a toxic coma,

I knew there wasn't a chance
in a million she'd ever recover.

So you just, you just went
ahead and murdered her, right?

I did what had to be done.

For your sake and for mine.

Now listen, you gotta start putting
this whole thing into proper perspective.

When you first came to me, you were
less than a candidate for sainthood.

You were an adulterer
pure and simple.

I loved her and she loved me.

Really.

Well then, there's one thing
more perhaps you should know,

knock you out of this
dream world you're in.

Your precious little Elaine, rest
her soul, was having her pleasure

at both ends of the flight.

You're lying.

She was sleeping with you

and she was sleeping with
my plant manager in Bogota.

She was in his bedroom the
morning she swallowed the packets.

Want proof? You want the
names, places, addresses?

I want you to shut up.

You want the whole story
on your precious little Elaine?

Or is it enough that
you should know

that there wasn't anything
she wouldn't do for money.

Shut up!

-Are you thinking
what I'm thinking?

Aspirin.

I think we're right on the nose.

You, keep an eye on this stuff.

Teddy, you come with us.

There's somebody here.
I can feel it in my bones.

Your bones were right,
Lieutenant. He's dead.

No more than half an hour.

-The knife there, that's
probably the murder weapon.

-Could be. He was stabbed.

Look at his face. It's slashed like
the face of that airline stewardess.

Look, get some backup units.
Search the ground and buildings.

Good evening, gentlemen.
What's going on?

Officer, this is a homicide scene.
Don't let anybody else in here!

Don't touch anything.

Well, well, well,
another mutilation.

Will you stop flicking your
ashes all over the crime scene?

- Who told you
this was coming down?
- A little bird in blue.

Your office's full
of them, Lieutenant.

Quincy, the same person
do this that did Collier?

I don't know yet.

You don't know, or
you're not saying?

Why don't you wait until you
read my autopsy report, huh?

Phil, I need an investigator
and a photographer.

Get that down here. I
don't care what time it is,

wake them up and get them
down here. It's important.

Rausch Laboratories,
4th and Athens. Right.

Look, Drasso, do me a favor will
ya, and next time you talk to the Chief,

tell him I said you represent the part of
this department that belongs in the sewer.

I'll tell him that, Lieutenant.

Meanwhile, either one of you have
any idea where our friend Marsala is.

Yeah, in bed, where
you ought to be.

Yeah, but with Marsala
the question is, whose bed?

Joe?

Joe, I'm back.

I want us to try again.

Joe, you're the only thing that
ever mattered to me in my whole life.

Honey, I want us to try again.

Oh, Nance.

I need you so much.

I can't make it without you.

You're everything I
need in this whole world.

I didn't realize you guys were
gonna open up a pharmacy.

Comes in a half hour
late, cracks jokes.

That's about it, Quince.
Last container and no cocaine.

That means there was only
one container of cocaine,

- and Rausch's
killer took it with him.
- How do you know that?

Take a look at this
shipping manifest.

Fifteen containers were
shipped from Bogota.

We only recovered fourteen.

So, either the killer has
an awful lot of headaches,

or the one he took
with him was cocaine.

You know I just
can't believe it.

I just can't believe it.

Another one comes in a half
hour late, he's got a complaint.

No, I'm not kidding.

Since when are you giving
unauthorized press releases?

What are you talking about?

Your little press release
to Internal Affairs.

I never gave a press
release to Internal Affairs!

Oh, really?

- That's right.
- Well what do I see here?

Look at this, page one.
"Narcotics Officer Murder Suspect.

"According to Lieutenant Drasso,
the murder of Albert Rausch

may be a member of our
own Police Department.

"Rausch stabbed
last night in his lab,

case involves cocaine from
Columbia in the form of aspirin tab."

Here we go. "Senior Medical
Examiner, Doctor Quincy,

"told Drasso that he's discovered
forensic evidence which will prove

"Rausch's killer was a police
department narcotics officer."

"And Doctor Quincy promises to
settle the case within twenty-four hours

"with toxicological evidence
found at the scene of the crime."

Oh, and it's continued
on the following page,

only I don't think it's
necessary to go on.

I can't believe that you
would do a thing like this.

Neither can I.

Morning.

I want you to tell me what
you think you're doing.

Sure has a nice ring to it, huh?

I never made that
statement. Now that's a lie!

Lies get printed all the time. Come
on, Quincy, it's part of the game.

It's part of your game,
it's not part of mine.

Well, there's a renegade
in the department.

That'll sure as hell
flush him out, huh?

I'm surprised you
didn't name names.

I thought of it, Quincy,
but it was premature.

I don't know what kind of sickness drives
you to want to destroy people's lives,

but I'm gonna see
that it's stopped.

Wait a minute, Quincy.

Maybe it is a sickness, maybe it is a
disease, but believe it or not, Quincy,

this department needs someone with
the unpleasant qualities I happen to have.

Because even in your office, it's
not above the possibility of scandal,

of corruption, of ineptness.

I'm gonna tell you a story I haven't
told anyone in a long, long time.

I started on this job
twenty-six years ago.

I was assigned to
Robert-Homicide.

My partner was a tough old cop.

His name was Mickey Dolan.

He had a face that
could stop a clock.

When he smiled,
the whole world lit up.

I loved that guy.

I respected him. Taught me
everything I knew about this job,

and about life,
more than my father.

Well, one night I was
too sick to go on duty

and Mickey was staked out at a
supermarket with this other detective.

A couple of armed bandits
came in and took the place.

As they were leaving,
Mickey tried to take them.

They cut him in half
with a shotgun blast.

Where was the other cop?

He was drunk, Quincy,
drunk, out of his mind drunk,

and he'd been drunk for years.

But nobody ever
said anything, Quincy.

They just let it slide.

A couple weeks later, I had
the opportunity, the pleasure,

if that's what you want to call it, of
killing the two suspects in a gun battle.

Shortly thereafter, I
joined Internal Affairs

cause I wanted to get
every incompetent cop,

every dishonest cop,

every drunk cop out
of the department.

But why Joe Marsala?
He's not that kind of cop.

Every instinct
tells me that he is!

And he's gonna come to you,
Quincy, he's gonna feel you out.

He's gonna find out how
much you really know.

What makes you so sure?

Because I've been on this
job a lot of years, Quincy.

I know what that guy's thinking
before he knows what he's thinking.

And I can guarantee you right
now, he's gonna look at this and say

"hey, is this a fact "or is
this one of Drasso's tricks?"

"Do I go over to see
Quincy or do I stay away?"

But the simple truth is he'll come
because he ain't got no choice.

And you want me to play along?

The whole thing hinges on
you. This guy is cop-smart.

- You're the only
one he can trust.
- But I think he's innocent!

If he is, he is.

What do you got to
lose, playing along?

My conscience. Didn't Mickey Dolan
ever teach you anything about that?

Lieutenant Monahan,
please, this is Doctor Quincy.

Well, the minute he gets back,
have him call me, will you? Right.

Come in.

- Doctor Quincy, hi.
- Well, hi.

Listen, I, I really didn't want to disturb
you any more than I already have,

I just want to thank you for
being so understanding yesterday.

Well, you know, I dumped
a pretty heavy load on you

and I appreciate your
kindness and your patience.

- Well, I hope I helped.
- Yeah.

Well, believe me you did.

Well, you got a lot to
do, I got a lot to do, so...

Glad you're feeling better.

By the way, I couldn't help but read
that article in the paper this morning.

- Oh?
- Yeah.

Yeah, it really knocked me out because
I can't imagine that there's anybody

in the Narcotics Department
that would do a thing like that.

I mean they're really
a great bunch of guys.

Well, we're not sure it's
anybody from the department.

See I'm mad at Drasso. It was supposed to
be our secret and he leaks it to the press.

He wants a suspect,
whoever he is.

You mean there really was evidence? Oh
yeah, thumbprint. We got it off the knife.

And what is fantastic, we used a
brand new method and it worked.

Even though the knife
was wiped absolutely clean.

-You can still lift a print?

-Oh, yeah, it's a new trace
metal detection technique.

See, it works this way.

There are certain metallic
salts from perspiration

that are absorbed into
painted or plastic surfaces.

We have developed a spray that
enables us to photograph the residue.

In this case, the handle was made out of
plastic, so we have a perfect thumbprint.

I've already sent
it on to the FBI.

- That's fantastic.
- Yeah.

You guys are really
magicians, you know that?

Thank you.

Where was it you
said you were going?

Arizona.

I still don't understand how
it happened so suddenly.

Come on, honey, you've
been a narc's wife long enough.

I told you I called in this morning
and Captain Hollender put me on this

special assignment.

All right? The less you know
about it, the better. Come here.

Why are you taking two suitcases
if you're only going for three days?

What is this? What, am I
going to be under suspicion

for the rest of my life?

- It had nothing
to do with this?
- With what?

This article I'm pointing to. The
one that says somebody was killed

by a narcotics
officer last night.

Have you ever seen me read
anything but the sports page?

You're lying to me, Joe!

- Are you
accusing me of murder?
- I'm not saying anything.

I just wanna know
what's inside here.

Well you're not gonna know what's
inside here because it's evidence,

and you're not allowed to see...

I'm not allowed anything, am I?

Your love, your respect,
even your honesty.

I want to see... Let
me go, I wanna see...

Get out!

(SCREAMING INSIDE)

Joe! Joe!

You mind your business,
I mind my business.

Stop it.

What the hell are you
doing in my house, Frank?

I guess

because you meant so much to
me, Joe. Both you and your father.

But thank God he's not alive
to see what I'm looking at now.

Okay, Frank.

You gonna shoot me?
On top of everything else?

I'm sorry about all this, Frank,

I never meant to hurt you,
I never meant to hurt her.

I never meant to hurt
anybody, honest to God.

But you're goin' through me.

- I'm goin' through you, Frank.
- Marsala, please.

You know, Marsala, there was always
a smell about you but the funny thing is,

I kept hoping I was wrong.

- You wanna be alone?
- Oh no. Tried that, doesn't work.

Sit down.

He was a good kid. Quincy,

- he was a good kid.
- I believe you.

What are you
here for, to rub it in?

No Frank, I, uh,
came to apologize.

Frank, I did some digging. I came up
with something I think you'd want to know.

Marsala was taken by a pro.

A real pro. We found
out about five years ago

in Cincinnati she got involved
with a narcotics detective.

By the time she got through with him
he ended up serving time for smuggling.

Then she disappeared.
She didn't surface again

until she got
herself a new identity

and another vulnerable cop.

Are you telling me the truth?

I wouldn't lie to you
on a thing like this.

There's one thing I know
you'd wanna know, though.

You were right about the kid.
Until he met her, he was clean.

Thanks.