Law & Order Special Victims Unit s01e13 Episode Script
Disrobed
'In the criminal justice system, 'sexually based offences are considered especially heinous.
'In New York City, the detectives who investigate these vicious felonies 'are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
'These are their stories.
' Oh, God! Oh, God! - Nice view.
- Yeah, at night, too.
- You've been here at night? - Yeah, on a case.
- A case of what? - OK, well, like a date.
- With a friend.
- What friend is that? - A guy, a buddy of mine.
- Uh-huh.
- Who found the body? - Two uniforms and a sector car.
- Got prints? - Half of Manhattan's on this door.
Ah, valet parking.
Did you ever take your friend to a place with valet parking? That's funny.
What've we got? Point-blank to the jaw.
Upper trajectory.
Looks like a 9mm.
Ow! Somebody wanted to make a point.
- Is this too nice for the perp to have left? - Maybe it's the victim's.
- Find the gun for this holster? - Nothing in the car? No, we didn't find the weapon.
That would make it too simple.
Got ID on the body? You're gonna love this one.
- Whoa! Judge Warren Varella.
- What? I want you to seal this crime scene tighter than an accountant's ass.
- Time of death? - Last night, between 8:00 and 11:00.
Where are we on the judge's last-knowns? Well, he arrived at work at 9:30.
Conference until 11:00.
Long lunch.
Afternoon, he told his secretary he needed time alone.
To think deep legal thoughts in his caddie, fly open.
- Did he make it home? - Wife says no.
She last saw him pulling out of his drive, coffee mug on top of the car.
She ran half a block to stop him.
It fell, shattered, and so is she.
- Did she worry when he wasn't home? - She's not talking.
What was he doing on a pier in the middle of the night? Nice neighbourhood.
No hookers.
- Swell place for a grope-athon.
- It was a full moon.
Beautiful.
- He wasn't watching the moon.
- Does he have a girlfriend? Maybe his wife caught him, blew off his unit and removed his brain? - That's not the part he'd miss.
- Any LUDs? He had his cellphone, but the batteries were dead.
- Did he call for help? - We'll see.
Could it have been a hit? If it was a hit, they would've shot him in only one head.
Given the lower wound, disenchanted lover? Sex offender's payback? - Varella was licensed to carry.
- What did he own? He owned a 9mm Sig Sauer, model 229.
- Nice gun.
- Unless it's being used on you.
- What kind of slugs did you find? - 9mm.
So the rounds came from his gun.
Where's the gun? Presumably under the pier in several feet of water.
One slug found in the rocker panel, a second in his jaw.
- Where's the wife? - In seclusion until tomorrow.
Look, people, our asses are flapping in the wind here.
I've been briefed by the bureau head.
I've fielded 30 calls from press.
DCPI want me to make a statement.
'Saintly Judge Found in Love Nest with Hooker.
' This guy was tough on sex offenders.
That women's shelter, Together We're Safe, he made that happen.
Benson, Stabler, check out the office.
Follow the politics.
Munch, Cassidy, check out recent parolees.
- Hey.
Hey, got a sec? - One.
- I'll get the car.
- OK.
I'm sorry.
Does he er? No, I don't think so.
We don't discuss our private lives.
- Kinda like us, right? - Right.
So? - Nothing.
- OK.
Know anyone who wanted Judge Varella dead? About 2,000 convicts.
Any one of them could have put a hit on him or done it themselves once they were out.
- Something more personal? - Like what? - A business relationship? - He had a few blue-chip stocks.
Otherwise, the court was his whole life.
- Did he have a girlfriend? - No.
Definitely not.
- No? - I heard about the other bullet.
The one in his He sentenced sex offenders.
- We have a whole file of threats.
- Any of them recently paroled? Help yourself.
I hope you find who did this.
- So do we.
- No.
I'd still be flipping burgers at Hamburger Heaven if it weren't for Judge Varella.
Excuse me.
I've never had a judge before.
- Nervous? - No.
- Which shot came first, head or? - Genitals.
Tremendous loss of blood.
So he's behind his wheel, bleeding.
How long? - Minute, maybe two.
- Then the head shot.
Close range? Second shot was fired from a foot away.
- Perp enjoyed watching him suffer.
- Or couldn't decide what to do.
Something else.
He ejaculated a few minutes before he was shot.
Anything else on those lines? Hair, fibre? Saliva on his glans.
I put a rush on it for DNA.
Plus malate, microcrystalline wax, red dye number 21.
- Which is? - Cherry Glow lipstick.
The killer orally copped him? I think the weeping widow has had enough time to grieve.
- When we notified you yesterday - I can't believe this is happening.
You said your husband didn't come home that night.
- He didn't.
- Were you worried? He always works late.
I'm used to going to sleep alone.
When he wasn't there in the morning? He's always gone to the office before I get up.
It doesn't appear that you spend any time with your husband.
- You're not married, are you? - No.
Was the judge satisfied at home? What are you saying? We believe his attacker was a woman.
That's hard to believe.
- He was a friend to women.
- Was he seeing another woman? I loved my husband.
Is this necessary? Yes, it is.
Where were you the night he died? I was at the club.
- Where did you go after the club? - Then I came home alone.
Ma'am, was your husband having an affair? If Warren were having an affair Well, I'd be the last to know, wouldn't I? She said she'd be the last to know.
I don't believe her.
Women know.
Why do you think it's an act? Hillary Clinton as Tammy Wynette, standing by her man in office.
- There's something in it for them.
- Like she said, you're not married.
Protecting the judge's good name? Maybe she's protecting his pension.
Suppose it was a hit, some mob deal gone bad? Public officials commit a felony, no pension.
And she loses the death benefits.
Maybe.
Who's next on the list of friends? - Excuse me, Emily Waterbury? - Yes? - Special Victims Unit.
- Yes.
- This is about Judge Varella.
- Oh.
Terrible tragedy.
- We're giving it full court press.
- I'm sure you are.
Thank you.
You are the deputy director of the Women's Action Committee? Well, it's just a title.
I lobby for women's movements in Albany.
How well did you know the judge? Not very well, but we all respected him.
- We all? - Yes, the women's movement.
We lost a great champion.
Yeah, we know.
Together We're Safe.
The Governor asked me to help with the memorial service.
If there's anything that you need, his office will make it available.
- What about his enemies? - What about them? - Anyone want him dead in Albany? - You're joking.
What do you mean? I would check out the wife-beaters and rapists that he put away first.
Thanks for the advice.
- Call me any time.
- We will.
So the mother has a stripper perform at her kid's sweet-sixteen party dressed as, get this, a cop.
What was her defence? Some crap about how the striptease is a religious ceremony.
See, I wanted my Bar Mitzvah at the Mustang Ranch but that was thought to contribute to delinquency.
- Strippers, what's up with that? - In what sense of what's up? - Paying for sex.
It's so pathetic.
- One way or another, you pay.
- Not me.
- You're young, quite good-looking.
Yippity-skip, you're getting laid.
Just keep it to yourself, OK? What do you mean? In the office, don't ask, don't tell, don't mope and don't leer.
There's nothing going on with me in the office.
Yeah, whatever.
Great.
Fine.
Triple murder from 1962.
Guy goes for parole every two years.
Denied last week.
You have all the recent parolees? Yeah.
Green, Melendez and Yi.
One's a child molester and then repeat drug offenders.
Varella kept records on courtroom outbursts.
Read those again.
The ones paroled? Er, Green, Melendez and Yi.
Ah.
'D Melendez has been identified as a potential danger 'after threats to judge, bailiff and DA during sentencing.
' - Have you got a first name? - Yeah.
Erm - Delfino.
- The dolphin.
- Look, I didn't call you guys.
- You bitch! Stay away from her! Get down! Yeah, didn't do nothin'! Shut up! - Get off! I didn't do nothing.
- Yeah, you're a real saint! Don't come back, expecting to sleep in my bed! I got plenty of beds! I don't need yours! There's a lot of cops where you're going.
Back off, tough guy! Come on! I thought she was messing with me.
She filed TRS.
Were you messing with her? - We made up.
- Where were you Tuesday? - Do you know Judge Warren Varella? - Nah! Nah? Funny.
You threatened him in open court.
Got it right here.
I was mad.
- You? - I did nothing to his fat ass! - What's he whining about? - Dead men don't whine.
You've had weapons charges before.
Are you a Tech 9 man? If I still had a gun, it wouldn't be no 9 mil.
No style.
You can buy 'em at gun shows and Kmart.
They're for the Columbine crowd.
I got imagination.
All right, we're just messing with you.
But now we know that your favourite weapon is a heat-seeking missile.
Where were you Tuesday night? At parenting classes.
- Check it out.
- Your kid breaks curfew, what do you do? - What's curfew? - Why were you paroled? You threatened to kill the parole judge.
Three days later you're out.
- Ask my accountant.
- Very funny.
- To me, it wasn't.
2,226 bucks.
- Lawyers aren't cheap.
No, not to my lawyer, to that fat judge.
Oh, so you bribed the judge.
Of course.
Very original, Delfino.
He said I had to give to some charity or else.
- Bye-bye.
- I didn't do nothin'! You failed the parenting midterm.
The judge's last cellphone call was to Albany, chick named Waterbury.
Director of the Women's Action Committee.
Who claims she only knew the judge by his sterling reputation.
Then, why did she lie? She knows we can trace calls.
- Why would Delfino lie? - Maybe Delfino's telling the truth.
Munch and I will check out the bribe tip.
Other ex-cons.
I can't possibly keep track of the 400 phone calls I get a day.
Even from a judge just before he was shot to death? I didn't put that together until now.
- This is weird.
- What is? We're from New York City and you treat us like hicks from upstate.
But the dumbest detective can run a computer search.
- I don't follow you.
- You worked for Judge Varella.
- What, that Judge Varella? - Uh-huh.
Thanks to his recommendation you can afford these lovely suits.
- I dunno what you're talking about.
- A computer glitch revealed some of your old, er, boyfriends.
Drug charges, hooking.
I was under 18.
I wasn't hooking.
They were boyfriends.
- Those charges have been expunged.
- The judge gave you a fresh start.
What did he get from you? - Sexual favours? - Oh, come on, this was politics.
- Politics? - Politics is picking up the phone and getting a guy who's rehabilitated out of prison so he can support his family and get them off welfare.
Is that a crime? No, but bribery is.
We need to see his appointment books, financial transactions, - and charities he had a part of.
- Together We're Safe.
He also mentored at a college, helping teen mothers find jobs.
He was involved in dozens of organisations.
- We need those records also.
- Why? - We're not sure yet.
- You're barking up the wrong tree.
Judge Varella was the last of the good guys.
Some judges use cards to call their wives to avoid any impropriety.
Some wives call the plumber on a pay phone.
So? So, was he cheating on his wife, taking money for parole, or both? We cross-referenced his cases and charities.
He's got dozens of donations for 2,000 to 3,000.
We've got $2,226 from a Delfino Melendez.
Yeah, to a women's shelter.
What, Together We're Safe? So? From the wives and girlfriends of guys Varella sent away.
- And now they're out? - Wow! 4.
7 million in one year.
Pretty good for a fledgling charity.
'Fledgling'.
I'm impressed.
Oh, yeah? That's right, I'm a real dope.
I looked it up and memorised it just so I could impress you.
OK.
This, er, governor's aide, - or whatever, Miss Watergate - Miss Watergate was Mo Dean.
- Waterbury.
- Waterbury, Watergate, whatever.
The guy's a jerk but he's our jerk so let's follow the money.
Cassidy, can I talk to you for a minute? - Sorry about that, Captain.
- What? - Out there, that personal stuff.
- What personal stuff? You mean with Munch? - No, with Benson and - Bryan, I'm ragging you, OK? This is not the principal's office.
You're not in trouble.
What's that? A statement I taped from a witness when I was in homicide.
- Sex crime? - Yeah, a little girl.
On the tape she's nine.
That was seven years ago.
The mother's boyfriend molested the girl, then killed the mother.
Every now and then I try to talk to the kid, see how she's doing.
And how's she doing? Not that well.
Not that well at all.
She lives out in Queens.
Yeah.
Here's the rules.
I don't answer questions about what I do.
- Relax.
We're not interested in you.
- It's a homicide.
The two constants so far are sex and money.
- And you followed the money to me? - Right.
Judge Varella would get donations out of his parolees.
Just stop.
We're not gonna get anywhere with euphemisms.
We're not talking about donations.
We're talking about bribes.
They've beaten and raped women.
He convinced them that donating to the shelter would help their image.
PR for a rehabilitated rapist! And you would turn these donations into bribes for the parole board? When the judge called and said yes or no to parole vote, they were in his pocket.
OK.
So, what was in it for Judge Varella? The sex.
They were on the take.
They didn't care about those women on their knees.
- Tyrell ain't here.
- We're looking for you.
- Me, what did I do? - Do you know Judge Varella? Yeah, I talked to him about Tyrell.
He said he'd help me.
That pig made me go down while I'm pregnant! He told you if you had sex with him, he'd let Tyrell out? Nah, he was so cute, I did it for free! Yeah! That's what I said.
- Why didn't you complain? - He's a judge.
Who'd believe me? Was a judge.
Where were you Tuesday night? Upstate, visiting Tyrell.
I didn't get home till midnight.
Tyrell's got three kids to support.
I go there to remind him! How did you make a new one with no conjugal visits? Immaculate conception.
Welcome to Parole Phone.
To pay with sex, press one.
To donate to a phoney charity, press two.
- It's the donations that are phoney.
- Also a great place to find women.
Three of them had stayed at the TWS shelters.
So we've got motive, means and opportunity, but we don't have a killer.
Let's go to the pier.
- Maybe somebody remembers.
- It never ends, does it? Medical waste, or wasted medic? You be the judge.
- Hey! - I got nothing.
We're not here to borrow a cup of smack.
Hey.
Do you sleep here? - No.
- No, you're practising t'ai chi.
Were you here last Tuesday night? - I don't know.
What's today? - It's the night that it was cold.
It's always cold.
There was a man shot over there in a black Seville.
- I know.
- What did you see? I heard the pops.
Two of 'em.
And then a lady in a uniform - got out of the car.
- What kind of uniform? Mmm blue.
- Blue? - Well, that narrows it down.
I can tell my captain, thanks to you we solved the crime.
Hey, would you relax a little bit? - Her hair was longer.
- OK.
Er what about her nose? Why don't we just focus on the nose? Here.
I really don't know.
I can't remember.
She have any idea on the uniform? Cop? Bus driver? Catholic schoolgirl? Convict? No.
No idea.
So we have almost as much as we had without a witness.
The press found out we have a witness.
We gotta move on this.
Keep digging.
You talk to the parole-board members yet? - No.
- We've gone over recent paroles.
The latest let's-make-a-deal was with a convict, Roger Silver.
Two board members are corrupt, according to Waterbury.
Well, talk to the third.
The board voted twice to keep him in.
Why is this guy getting out? - Who? - Roger Silver.
Let me see.
- Somebody went to bat for him.
- Judge Varella.
It was a simple game of phone tag.
A guy was up for parole, the judge called his contact in Albany.
- Emily Waterbury? - I guess so.
She would call the board's deputy assistant who would say yea or nay.
- It was two jerks to one.
- Were they getting kickbacks? - I don't know.
- Oh, come on.
This is going to the Attorney General, you know.
I chose not to know.
You have to understand, it is two against one.
I serve on this board.
We meet only once a month for a day.
I get paid $20,000 a year for this.
It's not much, a political plum, but it keeps my kids in junior high.
'Roger Silver.
Spouse, Gina Silver.
'Occupation 'Flight attendant, Intercontinent Airlines'.
They have nice blue uniforms.
You go.
I'll check her out.
Go have dinner.
I'll be surprised if they haven't changed the locks on me.
Uh-huh? Next week? Great.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
- Hey! - Good morning.
Gina Silver and Judge Varella traded phone calls for two years.
Long ones, too.
72 minutes, 39 minutes A member of Varella's fellatio-for-parole programme? Roger Silver denied parole in 1997, again in '98, and one year later, same thing.
- And now? - He's due out for parole next week.
You can't tell me that after he nearly kills her she still loves him.
I don't get it either, but it happens all the time.
Thanks.
- Yes? - Detectives Benson and Stabler.
We need to talk to you about your relationship with Judge Varella.
- Mom, can I borrow this? - Yes.
Go back with Grandma.
I need to talk with these people.
I met him a few years ago at Together We're Safe.
I volunteered at a few of their rallies.
- You met him? - He was an acquaintance.
You phone acquaintances four times a week for two and a half years? - We had coffee a few times.
- Lot of coffee.
- Can we do this somewhere else? - Yeah.
We got a car right outside.
- Do I need a lawyer? - That's up to you, Mrs Silver.
Mom, what what's going on? Honey, get back and do your geometry homework.
I'll explain later.
Mom, is it Dad? Mom, is it Dad? No, honey.
It's about me.
It's gonna be all right.
We'll have your mom back in a while.
Mm She looked different in a uniform.
Take a good look, starting with number one.
She could be number two.
But she also kinda looks like number three.
- And four.
- Thank you.
And five.
Could number five please turn to the side again? Too bad you weren't at the grassy knoll.
- You have to let her go.
- Let her go.
- Why? - Because her attorney said so.
All right.
I'm asking.
She's got a kid at home.
And fingerprints on a door handle isn't exactly a slam dunk - evidence-wise.
- No, it isn't.
No, but Cherry Glow lipstick on the late judge's shrivelling manhood is.
That plus saliva, we take one swab of your client's mouth, one DNA test, that's your slam dunk.
We know what Judge Varella was doing.
Now we just need to hear it from you.
He called me from the office that morning - and said to meet him at the pier.
- Did you know what that meant? Yes.
- So tell us.
- Was that all he said? Yeah.
Look, Gina, let's save ourselves some time.
We've got these calls.
An hour and 10 minutes, 39 minutes, 42 minutes One-way phone sex.
And then he'd wanna confide in me.
About what? Who was on the take in what department.
He went on and on.
So when he said, 'Meet me at the pier'? It meant the parole board was about to vote on my husband and I I had to pay my annual dues.
Cash or? On my knees.
So I did.
But then he says, 'Gina, I have to end this.
'I can't jeopardise my position.
' His position! What about my position? - He wanted to end the relationship? - Relationship? Hardly.
I was humiliated.
I started to cry.
He just rolled his eyes, said I was embarrassing him.
But, Gina, why didn't you just leave? I'd kept my part of the deal.
I needed him to make that call.
You needed the phone call to Albany? Yeah.
And he did.
Chit-chat about the weather, yada-yada.
Then he says, 'Oh, the Roger Silver case? 'Wife's request denied.
' Then what happened? Then he hung up, looked at me and said, 'Satisfied? I made the call.
' And then he laughed.
He laughed.
I knew he kept a gun for protection behind the seat.
That's when you shot him, isn't it? We need you to write it down, Gina, tell us why.
But I told you why.
He was a jerk.
He used you and he was going to dump you.
We understand that.
But why go to those lengths to get back an abusive husband? We don't get that.
Oh, my God.
I didn't have sex with the judge to get my husband out.
I did it to keep him in! I remember the case.
Attempted murder.
She had a restraining order he kept violating.
What the hell is this? The impressions of chair legs.
He broke a chair over her back, used the legs to burst her spleen and give her the tattoos.
He told the arresting officer she did it herself.
- I'd love to have heard that explanation.
- I'll never forget it.
Yeah.
Well, still If it were up to me, I'd be lenient on her.
Man two max.
- Because she's a battered wife? - But he's a judge, so it's federal.
A dirty judge.
Using sex to influence the justice system? Gotta hate that.
Plus the hypocrisy.
All that women's issue stuff while using and abusing? You know, if I could, I would exhume the body and kick his ass.
But it's all moot now.
You'd still face a sympathetic jury when the shooter goes to trial.
Send your people up there to meet the husband, just to prepare.
- Look I tried to stop her.
- But she just kept hitting herself.
And the ball-peen hammer? You were cleaning it and it just went off.
Pretty and smart.
Nice combination.
You married, Detective? Play the dating game with someone who shares your clinical diagnosis.
We're here to discuss Judge Varella.
- Oh, sure.
Warren? - He's dead.
That's too bad.
Did your wife mention a relationship with him? Oh.
Now I get it.
Yeah.
I called her before my parole hearing.
I wanted to speak to Jillian.
But Gina said, thanks to the judge, I'd never see my daughter again.
I guess she was wrong wasn't she? Tell Gina I want what's mine.
Tell that bitch if she wants to fly the friendly skies, she better not make any trouble.
Happy New Year, Marcus.
- What the hell is this? - 42 cases that are now your problem.
Cases of what? Fellatio-for-parole.
Keep you busy till the end of the next millennium.
This has to do with Judge Varella? You're quick, but not as quick as he was.
He had the bright idea to charge for oral favours received.
- Found the killer? - We're close.
We're talking to the donors.
Well, what about the feds? Uh-huh? Well, she's gonna need protection.
Mm-hm.
All right.
Well, er, let's put it out there.
- Gina Silver? - Yeah.
Uh - We're not gonna be charging her.
- Why? I dumped your work on the Attorney General.
They're very interested.
Because it's an election year.
Well, our judge and his cronies are a hot topic with the other party.
The Attorney General needs a guide up the food chain? They offered her immunity if she'd flip and her lawyer jumped at it.
- I can't believe this.
- Come on.
It's kind of a wacked justice.
She ran out of options.
So has any junkie that's robbed a liquor store! She shot a judge, twice, in the head and shorts.
She walks because a sex-for-parole scandal is worth a few votes? You call me cynical.
We can re-arrest her later.
I have my orders, you have yours.
To walk the paperwork to criminal court before she's arraigned, - otherwise the deal is off.
- That's in half an hour.
Then run it over.
I can't believe I'm free to go.
- My daughter will be so relieved.
- You're not really free, Gina.
The deal is, yes, you're temporarily immune from the prosecution thanks to the Attorney General, but only because they have bigger fish to fry.
You're gonna contact the other players and get 'em talking.
If the government isn't getting value for money, you can be re-arrested.
- They're not paying me.
- That's between you and them.
We're just telling you what you're getting yourself into.
If the information's no use, you won't see Jillian till she's a grown woman.
Detectives will be following you and watching your apartment.
She lives in Washington Heights.
Mm-hm.
Yeah? So? That's the 33.
What's that? Excellent cops, but a high crime rate.
They'll be too busy to protect me? Forget the new-ID-in-the-burbs crap, Gina.
That's only in the movies.
This is called special attention.
You get as much as you need.
The squad car will go by your house on a regular basis.
Any problem, they'll respond as fast as they can.
Other than that Other than that I'm on my own.
Look, Gina, we're just foot soldiers in all this.
The guy you killed was a seriously flawed human being but he put away the same people we do.
Maybe you're getting one over on us, maybe not.
Either way, we don't have to like it.
OK.
So do I wear a wire or something? No.
You do a little pretext work.
- You know what you're gonna do? - I think so.
Let's make sure.
If you need more time to rehearse, we'll wait.
It's better than blowing it.
I'm ready.
OK.
This is Detective Stabler of the Special Victims Unit in Manhattan.
I'm calling from 2125550171.
The time is 4:23pm, the 12th of January.
I'm now dialling the direct line of target number one of the parole board.
It's ringing.
H- Hello.
Is this Is this Adam Peterson? Yes.
I'm a friend of Judge Varella's.
Er, we'll get to that.
Er, let's just say that I was an integral part of his operation, and now that he's gone, I want his cut.
Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean.
Are you still there? Good.
Because if you don't talk to me, I'm gonna talk to the FBI.
That was the 33, your special-attention location.
- What about it? - Her husband's got her.
Hey, Bryan.
Hey, Captain.
- I take it you saw her.
- Yeah.
I saw her.
You know, when she called, I knew it wasn't good.
I knew she had to talk to somebody cool, somebody she could relate to.
There was this guy in the 'hood that she liked.
A guy named Vince.
She went down to Coney Island to, er, to see him.
You know, the whole 'under the boardwalk, down by the sea' thing? After Vince did her, his whole set wolf-packed her.
Seven, eight guys.
She's not sure.
Which is bad enough, Captain, but it, er, it just gets worse.
They left her there.
Erm by herself in the cold.
Wrapped up in a beach towel.
It was after dark, and, erm, she couldn't walk.
She just, you know, sat there, in what was left of her clothes.
And this guy comes along and asks her if she needs some help.
And she says, 'Yes.
Please.
Thank you.
' And this guy, this, erm this, uh, Good Samaritan, he, uh He OK.
Erm I think Benson and Stabler can take it from here.
No.
I can handle this.
Oh, I know you can, Bryan.
Or you could transfer out.
- Where? - There's an opening in Narcotics.
The captain's a friend of mine.
You could do a lot of good over there, you know.
It wouldn't Wouldn't what? It wouldn't be like this, Bryan.
- Cassidy, what's up? - Whatever.
My generation pioneered that succinct abstraction, but 'whatever' to me means diddly.
OK.
I'm outta here.
For good, you mean? Maybe you should.
You're a sweet guy.
Stuff here's too weird for you.
Captain said I could go to Narcotics, play cowboy, beat up on some people.
That's not a bad idea.
Seriously.
I saw you with that junkie.
You got out of her what most guys can't.
It's just like sex crimes Come on! I still feel embarrassed buying rubbers at a drugstore.
Think about it.
Pumping dealers, conspiracy stakeouts Right.
Later.
Later.
- Take it easy.
- OK.
Hey.
Is she still alive? Ink wasn't dry on his release before he heads for her.
- What set it off? - Dirty clothes hamper.
Drags her to the laundry room, says he'll kill her.
- You call hostage negotiation? - Yeah, but I wouldn't wait.
Roger? Whoa! OK! Let's just relax now, huh? I just wanna talk with you.
Will you let me talk with you, Roger? Put the gun down and just talk.
Leave it right there.
All right? Here I am.
Let's talk.
I just wanna talk, all right? Here's what you got, OK? Not a good situation.
Three guns, small room.
Relax.
Just Just take a moment.
Let's be calm, OK? This is mine.
OK.
All right.
Help me out here, Roger.
OK? Step away from her, drop your gun.
'In New York City, the detectives who investigate these vicious felonies 'are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
'These are their stories.
' Oh, God! Oh, God! - Nice view.
- Yeah, at night, too.
- You've been here at night? - Yeah, on a case.
- A case of what? - OK, well, like a date.
- With a friend.
- What friend is that? - A guy, a buddy of mine.
- Uh-huh.
- Who found the body? - Two uniforms and a sector car.
- Got prints? - Half of Manhattan's on this door.
Ah, valet parking.
Did you ever take your friend to a place with valet parking? That's funny.
What've we got? Point-blank to the jaw.
Upper trajectory.
Looks like a 9mm.
Ow! Somebody wanted to make a point.
- Is this too nice for the perp to have left? - Maybe it's the victim's.
- Find the gun for this holster? - Nothing in the car? No, we didn't find the weapon.
That would make it too simple.
Got ID on the body? You're gonna love this one.
- Whoa! Judge Warren Varella.
- What? I want you to seal this crime scene tighter than an accountant's ass.
- Time of death? - Last night, between 8:00 and 11:00.
Where are we on the judge's last-knowns? Well, he arrived at work at 9:30.
Conference until 11:00.
Long lunch.
Afternoon, he told his secretary he needed time alone.
To think deep legal thoughts in his caddie, fly open.
- Did he make it home? - Wife says no.
She last saw him pulling out of his drive, coffee mug on top of the car.
She ran half a block to stop him.
It fell, shattered, and so is she.
- Did she worry when he wasn't home? - She's not talking.
What was he doing on a pier in the middle of the night? Nice neighbourhood.
No hookers.
- Swell place for a grope-athon.
- It was a full moon.
Beautiful.
- He wasn't watching the moon.
- Does he have a girlfriend? Maybe his wife caught him, blew off his unit and removed his brain? - That's not the part he'd miss.
- Any LUDs? He had his cellphone, but the batteries were dead.
- Did he call for help? - We'll see.
Could it have been a hit? If it was a hit, they would've shot him in only one head.
Given the lower wound, disenchanted lover? Sex offender's payback? - Varella was licensed to carry.
- What did he own? He owned a 9mm Sig Sauer, model 229.
- Nice gun.
- Unless it's being used on you.
- What kind of slugs did you find? - 9mm.
So the rounds came from his gun.
Where's the gun? Presumably under the pier in several feet of water.
One slug found in the rocker panel, a second in his jaw.
- Where's the wife? - In seclusion until tomorrow.
Look, people, our asses are flapping in the wind here.
I've been briefed by the bureau head.
I've fielded 30 calls from press.
DCPI want me to make a statement.
'Saintly Judge Found in Love Nest with Hooker.
' This guy was tough on sex offenders.
That women's shelter, Together We're Safe, he made that happen.
Benson, Stabler, check out the office.
Follow the politics.
Munch, Cassidy, check out recent parolees.
- Hey.
Hey, got a sec? - One.
- I'll get the car.
- OK.
I'm sorry.
Does he er? No, I don't think so.
We don't discuss our private lives.
- Kinda like us, right? - Right.
So? - Nothing.
- OK.
Know anyone who wanted Judge Varella dead? About 2,000 convicts.
Any one of them could have put a hit on him or done it themselves once they were out.
- Something more personal? - Like what? - A business relationship? - He had a few blue-chip stocks.
Otherwise, the court was his whole life.
- Did he have a girlfriend? - No.
Definitely not.
- No? - I heard about the other bullet.
The one in his He sentenced sex offenders.
- We have a whole file of threats.
- Any of them recently paroled? Help yourself.
I hope you find who did this.
- So do we.
- No.
I'd still be flipping burgers at Hamburger Heaven if it weren't for Judge Varella.
Excuse me.
I've never had a judge before.
- Nervous? - No.
- Which shot came first, head or? - Genitals.
Tremendous loss of blood.
So he's behind his wheel, bleeding.
How long? - Minute, maybe two.
- Then the head shot.
Close range? Second shot was fired from a foot away.
- Perp enjoyed watching him suffer.
- Or couldn't decide what to do.
Something else.
He ejaculated a few minutes before he was shot.
Anything else on those lines? Hair, fibre? Saliva on his glans.
I put a rush on it for DNA.
Plus malate, microcrystalline wax, red dye number 21.
- Which is? - Cherry Glow lipstick.
The killer orally copped him? I think the weeping widow has had enough time to grieve.
- When we notified you yesterday - I can't believe this is happening.
You said your husband didn't come home that night.
- He didn't.
- Were you worried? He always works late.
I'm used to going to sleep alone.
When he wasn't there in the morning? He's always gone to the office before I get up.
It doesn't appear that you spend any time with your husband.
- You're not married, are you? - No.
Was the judge satisfied at home? What are you saying? We believe his attacker was a woman.
That's hard to believe.
- He was a friend to women.
- Was he seeing another woman? I loved my husband.
Is this necessary? Yes, it is.
Where were you the night he died? I was at the club.
- Where did you go after the club? - Then I came home alone.
Ma'am, was your husband having an affair? If Warren were having an affair Well, I'd be the last to know, wouldn't I? She said she'd be the last to know.
I don't believe her.
Women know.
Why do you think it's an act? Hillary Clinton as Tammy Wynette, standing by her man in office.
- There's something in it for them.
- Like she said, you're not married.
Protecting the judge's good name? Maybe she's protecting his pension.
Suppose it was a hit, some mob deal gone bad? Public officials commit a felony, no pension.
And she loses the death benefits.
Maybe.
Who's next on the list of friends? - Excuse me, Emily Waterbury? - Yes? - Special Victims Unit.
- Yes.
- This is about Judge Varella.
- Oh.
Terrible tragedy.
- We're giving it full court press.
- I'm sure you are.
Thank you.
You are the deputy director of the Women's Action Committee? Well, it's just a title.
I lobby for women's movements in Albany.
How well did you know the judge? Not very well, but we all respected him.
- We all? - Yes, the women's movement.
We lost a great champion.
Yeah, we know.
Together We're Safe.
The Governor asked me to help with the memorial service.
If there's anything that you need, his office will make it available.
- What about his enemies? - What about them? - Anyone want him dead in Albany? - You're joking.
What do you mean? I would check out the wife-beaters and rapists that he put away first.
Thanks for the advice.
- Call me any time.
- We will.
So the mother has a stripper perform at her kid's sweet-sixteen party dressed as, get this, a cop.
What was her defence? Some crap about how the striptease is a religious ceremony.
See, I wanted my Bar Mitzvah at the Mustang Ranch but that was thought to contribute to delinquency.
- Strippers, what's up with that? - In what sense of what's up? - Paying for sex.
It's so pathetic.
- One way or another, you pay.
- Not me.
- You're young, quite good-looking.
Yippity-skip, you're getting laid.
Just keep it to yourself, OK? What do you mean? In the office, don't ask, don't tell, don't mope and don't leer.
There's nothing going on with me in the office.
Yeah, whatever.
Great.
Fine.
Triple murder from 1962.
Guy goes for parole every two years.
Denied last week.
You have all the recent parolees? Yeah.
Green, Melendez and Yi.
One's a child molester and then repeat drug offenders.
Varella kept records on courtroom outbursts.
Read those again.
The ones paroled? Er, Green, Melendez and Yi.
Ah.
'D Melendez has been identified as a potential danger 'after threats to judge, bailiff and DA during sentencing.
' - Have you got a first name? - Yeah.
Erm - Delfino.
- The dolphin.
- Look, I didn't call you guys.
- You bitch! Stay away from her! Get down! Yeah, didn't do nothin'! Shut up! - Get off! I didn't do nothing.
- Yeah, you're a real saint! Don't come back, expecting to sleep in my bed! I got plenty of beds! I don't need yours! There's a lot of cops where you're going.
Back off, tough guy! Come on! I thought she was messing with me.
She filed TRS.
Were you messing with her? - We made up.
- Where were you Tuesday? - Do you know Judge Warren Varella? - Nah! Nah? Funny.
You threatened him in open court.
Got it right here.
I was mad.
- You? - I did nothing to his fat ass! - What's he whining about? - Dead men don't whine.
You've had weapons charges before.
Are you a Tech 9 man? If I still had a gun, it wouldn't be no 9 mil.
No style.
You can buy 'em at gun shows and Kmart.
They're for the Columbine crowd.
I got imagination.
All right, we're just messing with you.
But now we know that your favourite weapon is a heat-seeking missile.
Where were you Tuesday night? At parenting classes.
- Check it out.
- Your kid breaks curfew, what do you do? - What's curfew? - Why were you paroled? You threatened to kill the parole judge.
Three days later you're out.
- Ask my accountant.
- Very funny.
- To me, it wasn't.
2,226 bucks.
- Lawyers aren't cheap.
No, not to my lawyer, to that fat judge.
Oh, so you bribed the judge.
Of course.
Very original, Delfino.
He said I had to give to some charity or else.
- Bye-bye.
- I didn't do nothin'! You failed the parenting midterm.
The judge's last cellphone call was to Albany, chick named Waterbury.
Director of the Women's Action Committee.
Who claims she only knew the judge by his sterling reputation.
Then, why did she lie? She knows we can trace calls.
- Why would Delfino lie? - Maybe Delfino's telling the truth.
Munch and I will check out the bribe tip.
Other ex-cons.
I can't possibly keep track of the 400 phone calls I get a day.
Even from a judge just before he was shot to death? I didn't put that together until now.
- This is weird.
- What is? We're from New York City and you treat us like hicks from upstate.
But the dumbest detective can run a computer search.
- I don't follow you.
- You worked for Judge Varella.
- What, that Judge Varella? - Uh-huh.
Thanks to his recommendation you can afford these lovely suits.
- I dunno what you're talking about.
- A computer glitch revealed some of your old, er, boyfriends.
Drug charges, hooking.
I was under 18.
I wasn't hooking.
They were boyfriends.
- Those charges have been expunged.
- The judge gave you a fresh start.
What did he get from you? - Sexual favours? - Oh, come on, this was politics.
- Politics? - Politics is picking up the phone and getting a guy who's rehabilitated out of prison so he can support his family and get them off welfare.
Is that a crime? No, but bribery is.
We need to see his appointment books, financial transactions, - and charities he had a part of.
- Together We're Safe.
He also mentored at a college, helping teen mothers find jobs.
He was involved in dozens of organisations.
- We need those records also.
- Why? - We're not sure yet.
- You're barking up the wrong tree.
Judge Varella was the last of the good guys.
Some judges use cards to call their wives to avoid any impropriety.
Some wives call the plumber on a pay phone.
So? So, was he cheating on his wife, taking money for parole, or both? We cross-referenced his cases and charities.
He's got dozens of donations for 2,000 to 3,000.
We've got $2,226 from a Delfino Melendez.
Yeah, to a women's shelter.
What, Together We're Safe? So? From the wives and girlfriends of guys Varella sent away.
- And now they're out? - Wow! 4.
7 million in one year.
Pretty good for a fledgling charity.
'Fledgling'.
I'm impressed.
Oh, yeah? That's right, I'm a real dope.
I looked it up and memorised it just so I could impress you.
OK.
This, er, governor's aide, - or whatever, Miss Watergate - Miss Watergate was Mo Dean.
- Waterbury.
- Waterbury, Watergate, whatever.
The guy's a jerk but he's our jerk so let's follow the money.
Cassidy, can I talk to you for a minute? - Sorry about that, Captain.
- What? - Out there, that personal stuff.
- What personal stuff? You mean with Munch? - No, with Benson and - Bryan, I'm ragging you, OK? This is not the principal's office.
You're not in trouble.
What's that? A statement I taped from a witness when I was in homicide.
- Sex crime? - Yeah, a little girl.
On the tape she's nine.
That was seven years ago.
The mother's boyfriend molested the girl, then killed the mother.
Every now and then I try to talk to the kid, see how she's doing.
And how's she doing? Not that well.
Not that well at all.
She lives out in Queens.
Yeah.
Here's the rules.
I don't answer questions about what I do.
- Relax.
We're not interested in you.
- It's a homicide.
The two constants so far are sex and money.
- And you followed the money to me? - Right.
Judge Varella would get donations out of his parolees.
Just stop.
We're not gonna get anywhere with euphemisms.
We're not talking about donations.
We're talking about bribes.
They've beaten and raped women.
He convinced them that donating to the shelter would help their image.
PR for a rehabilitated rapist! And you would turn these donations into bribes for the parole board? When the judge called and said yes or no to parole vote, they were in his pocket.
OK.
So, what was in it for Judge Varella? The sex.
They were on the take.
They didn't care about those women on their knees.
- Tyrell ain't here.
- We're looking for you.
- Me, what did I do? - Do you know Judge Varella? Yeah, I talked to him about Tyrell.
He said he'd help me.
That pig made me go down while I'm pregnant! He told you if you had sex with him, he'd let Tyrell out? Nah, he was so cute, I did it for free! Yeah! That's what I said.
- Why didn't you complain? - He's a judge.
Who'd believe me? Was a judge.
Where were you Tuesday night? Upstate, visiting Tyrell.
I didn't get home till midnight.
Tyrell's got three kids to support.
I go there to remind him! How did you make a new one with no conjugal visits? Immaculate conception.
Welcome to Parole Phone.
To pay with sex, press one.
To donate to a phoney charity, press two.
- It's the donations that are phoney.
- Also a great place to find women.
Three of them had stayed at the TWS shelters.
So we've got motive, means and opportunity, but we don't have a killer.
Let's go to the pier.
- Maybe somebody remembers.
- It never ends, does it? Medical waste, or wasted medic? You be the judge.
- Hey! - I got nothing.
We're not here to borrow a cup of smack.
Hey.
Do you sleep here? - No.
- No, you're practising t'ai chi.
Were you here last Tuesday night? - I don't know.
What's today? - It's the night that it was cold.
It's always cold.
There was a man shot over there in a black Seville.
- I know.
- What did you see? I heard the pops.
Two of 'em.
And then a lady in a uniform - got out of the car.
- What kind of uniform? Mmm blue.
- Blue? - Well, that narrows it down.
I can tell my captain, thanks to you we solved the crime.
Hey, would you relax a little bit? - Her hair was longer.
- OK.
Er what about her nose? Why don't we just focus on the nose? Here.
I really don't know.
I can't remember.
She have any idea on the uniform? Cop? Bus driver? Catholic schoolgirl? Convict? No.
No idea.
So we have almost as much as we had without a witness.
The press found out we have a witness.
We gotta move on this.
Keep digging.
You talk to the parole-board members yet? - No.
- We've gone over recent paroles.
The latest let's-make-a-deal was with a convict, Roger Silver.
Two board members are corrupt, according to Waterbury.
Well, talk to the third.
The board voted twice to keep him in.
Why is this guy getting out? - Who? - Roger Silver.
Let me see.
- Somebody went to bat for him.
- Judge Varella.
It was a simple game of phone tag.
A guy was up for parole, the judge called his contact in Albany.
- Emily Waterbury? - I guess so.
She would call the board's deputy assistant who would say yea or nay.
- It was two jerks to one.
- Were they getting kickbacks? - I don't know.
- Oh, come on.
This is going to the Attorney General, you know.
I chose not to know.
You have to understand, it is two against one.
I serve on this board.
We meet only once a month for a day.
I get paid $20,000 a year for this.
It's not much, a political plum, but it keeps my kids in junior high.
'Roger Silver.
Spouse, Gina Silver.
'Occupation 'Flight attendant, Intercontinent Airlines'.
They have nice blue uniforms.
You go.
I'll check her out.
Go have dinner.
I'll be surprised if they haven't changed the locks on me.
Uh-huh? Next week? Great.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
- Hey! - Good morning.
Gina Silver and Judge Varella traded phone calls for two years.
Long ones, too.
72 minutes, 39 minutes A member of Varella's fellatio-for-parole programme? Roger Silver denied parole in 1997, again in '98, and one year later, same thing.
- And now? - He's due out for parole next week.
You can't tell me that after he nearly kills her she still loves him.
I don't get it either, but it happens all the time.
Thanks.
- Yes? - Detectives Benson and Stabler.
We need to talk to you about your relationship with Judge Varella.
- Mom, can I borrow this? - Yes.
Go back with Grandma.
I need to talk with these people.
I met him a few years ago at Together We're Safe.
I volunteered at a few of their rallies.
- You met him? - He was an acquaintance.
You phone acquaintances four times a week for two and a half years? - We had coffee a few times.
- Lot of coffee.
- Can we do this somewhere else? - Yeah.
We got a car right outside.
- Do I need a lawyer? - That's up to you, Mrs Silver.
Mom, what what's going on? Honey, get back and do your geometry homework.
I'll explain later.
Mom, is it Dad? Mom, is it Dad? No, honey.
It's about me.
It's gonna be all right.
We'll have your mom back in a while.
Mm She looked different in a uniform.
Take a good look, starting with number one.
She could be number two.
But she also kinda looks like number three.
- And four.
- Thank you.
And five.
Could number five please turn to the side again? Too bad you weren't at the grassy knoll.
- You have to let her go.
- Let her go.
- Why? - Because her attorney said so.
All right.
I'm asking.
She's got a kid at home.
And fingerprints on a door handle isn't exactly a slam dunk - evidence-wise.
- No, it isn't.
No, but Cherry Glow lipstick on the late judge's shrivelling manhood is.
That plus saliva, we take one swab of your client's mouth, one DNA test, that's your slam dunk.
We know what Judge Varella was doing.
Now we just need to hear it from you.
He called me from the office that morning - and said to meet him at the pier.
- Did you know what that meant? Yes.
- So tell us.
- Was that all he said? Yeah.
Look, Gina, let's save ourselves some time.
We've got these calls.
An hour and 10 minutes, 39 minutes, 42 minutes One-way phone sex.
And then he'd wanna confide in me.
About what? Who was on the take in what department.
He went on and on.
So when he said, 'Meet me at the pier'? It meant the parole board was about to vote on my husband and I I had to pay my annual dues.
Cash or? On my knees.
So I did.
But then he says, 'Gina, I have to end this.
'I can't jeopardise my position.
' His position! What about my position? - He wanted to end the relationship? - Relationship? Hardly.
I was humiliated.
I started to cry.
He just rolled his eyes, said I was embarrassing him.
But, Gina, why didn't you just leave? I'd kept my part of the deal.
I needed him to make that call.
You needed the phone call to Albany? Yeah.
And he did.
Chit-chat about the weather, yada-yada.
Then he says, 'Oh, the Roger Silver case? 'Wife's request denied.
' Then what happened? Then he hung up, looked at me and said, 'Satisfied? I made the call.
' And then he laughed.
He laughed.
I knew he kept a gun for protection behind the seat.
That's when you shot him, isn't it? We need you to write it down, Gina, tell us why.
But I told you why.
He was a jerk.
He used you and he was going to dump you.
We understand that.
But why go to those lengths to get back an abusive husband? We don't get that.
Oh, my God.
I didn't have sex with the judge to get my husband out.
I did it to keep him in! I remember the case.
Attempted murder.
She had a restraining order he kept violating.
What the hell is this? The impressions of chair legs.
He broke a chair over her back, used the legs to burst her spleen and give her the tattoos.
He told the arresting officer she did it herself.
- I'd love to have heard that explanation.
- I'll never forget it.
Yeah.
Well, still If it were up to me, I'd be lenient on her.
Man two max.
- Because she's a battered wife? - But he's a judge, so it's federal.
A dirty judge.
Using sex to influence the justice system? Gotta hate that.
Plus the hypocrisy.
All that women's issue stuff while using and abusing? You know, if I could, I would exhume the body and kick his ass.
But it's all moot now.
You'd still face a sympathetic jury when the shooter goes to trial.
Send your people up there to meet the husband, just to prepare.
- Look I tried to stop her.
- But she just kept hitting herself.
And the ball-peen hammer? You were cleaning it and it just went off.
Pretty and smart.
Nice combination.
You married, Detective? Play the dating game with someone who shares your clinical diagnosis.
We're here to discuss Judge Varella.
- Oh, sure.
Warren? - He's dead.
That's too bad.
Did your wife mention a relationship with him? Oh.
Now I get it.
Yeah.
I called her before my parole hearing.
I wanted to speak to Jillian.
But Gina said, thanks to the judge, I'd never see my daughter again.
I guess she was wrong wasn't she? Tell Gina I want what's mine.
Tell that bitch if she wants to fly the friendly skies, she better not make any trouble.
Happy New Year, Marcus.
- What the hell is this? - 42 cases that are now your problem.
Cases of what? Fellatio-for-parole.
Keep you busy till the end of the next millennium.
This has to do with Judge Varella? You're quick, but not as quick as he was.
He had the bright idea to charge for oral favours received.
- Found the killer? - We're close.
We're talking to the donors.
Well, what about the feds? Uh-huh? Well, she's gonna need protection.
Mm-hm.
All right.
Well, er, let's put it out there.
- Gina Silver? - Yeah.
Uh - We're not gonna be charging her.
- Why? I dumped your work on the Attorney General.
They're very interested.
Because it's an election year.
Well, our judge and his cronies are a hot topic with the other party.
The Attorney General needs a guide up the food chain? They offered her immunity if she'd flip and her lawyer jumped at it.
- I can't believe this.
- Come on.
It's kind of a wacked justice.
She ran out of options.
So has any junkie that's robbed a liquor store! She shot a judge, twice, in the head and shorts.
She walks because a sex-for-parole scandal is worth a few votes? You call me cynical.
We can re-arrest her later.
I have my orders, you have yours.
To walk the paperwork to criminal court before she's arraigned, - otherwise the deal is off.
- That's in half an hour.
Then run it over.
I can't believe I'm free to go.
- My daughter will be so relieved.
- You're not really free, Gina.
The deal is, yes, you're temporarily immune from the prosecution thanks to the Attorney General, but only because they have bigger fish to fry.
You're gonna contact the other players and get 'em talking.
If the government isn't getting value for money, you can be re-arrested.
- They're not paying me.
- That's between you and them.
We're just telling you what you're getting yourself into.
If the information's no use, you won't see Jillian till she's a grown woman.
Detectives will be following you and watching your apartment.
She lives in Washington Heights.
Mm-hm.
Yeah? So? That's the 33.
What's that? Excellent cops, but a high crime rate.
They'll be too busy to protect me? Forget the new-ID-in-the-burbs crap, Gina.
That's only in the movies.
This is called special attention.
You get as much as you need.
The squad car will go by your house on a regular basis.
Any problem, they'll respond as fast as they can.
Other than that Other than that I'm on my own.
Look, Gina, we're just foot soldiers in all this.
The guy you killed was a seriously flawed human being but he put away the same people we do.
Maybe you're getting one over on us, maybe not.
Either way, we don't have to like it.
OK.
So do I wear a wire or something? No.
You do a little pretext work.
- You know what you're gonna do? - I think so.
Let's make sure.
If you need more time to rehearse, we'll wait.
It's better than blowing it.
I'm ready.
OK.
This is Detective Stabler of the Special Victims Unit in Manhattan.
I'm calling from 2125550171.
The time is 4:23pm, the 12th of January.
I'm now dialling the direct line of target number one of the parole board.
It's ringing.
H- Hello.
Is this Is this Adam Peterson? Yes.
I'm a friend of Judge Varella's.
Er, we'll get to that.
Er, let's just say that I was an integral part of his operation, and now that he's gone, I want his cut.
Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean.
Are you still there? Good.
Because if you don't talk to me, I'm gonna talk to the FBI.
That was the 33, your special-attention location.
- What about it? - Her husband's got her.
Hey, Bryan.
Hey, Captain.
- I take it you saw her.
- Yeah.
I saw her.
You know, when she called, I knew it wasn't good.
I knew she had to talk to somebody cool, somebody she could relate to.
There was this guy in the 'hood that she liked.
A guy named Vince.
She went down to Coney Island to, er, to see him.
You know, the whole 'under the boardwalk, down by the sea' thing? After Vince did her, his whole set wolf-packed her.
Seven, eight guys.
She's not sure.
Which is bad enough, Captain, but it, er, it just gets worse.
They left her there.
Erm by herself in the cold.
Wrapped up in a beach towel.
It was after dark, and, erm, she couldn't walk.
She just, you know, sat there, in what was left of her clothes.
And this guy comes along and asks her if she needs some help.
And she says, 'Yes.
Please.
Thank you.
' And this guy, this, erm this, uh, Good Samaritan, he, uh He OK.
Erm I think Benson and Stabler can take it from here.
No.
I can handle this.
Oh, I know you can, Bryan.
Or you could transfer out.
- Where? - There's an opening in Narcotics.
The captain's a friend of mine.
You could do a lot of good over there, you know.
It wouldn't Wouldn't what? It wouldn't be like this, Bryan.
- Cassidy, what's up? - Whatever.
My generation pioneered that succinct abstraction, but 'whatever' to me means diddly.
OK.
I'm outta here.
For good, you mean? Maybe you should.
You're a sweet guy.
Stuff here's too weird for you.
Captain said I could go to Narcotics, play cowboy, beat up on some people.
That's not a bad idea.
Seriously.
I saw you with that junkie.
You got out of her what most guys can't.
It's just like sex crimes Come on! I still feel embarrassed buying rubbers at a drugstore.
Think about it.
Pumping dealers, conspiracy stakeouts Right.
Later.
Later.
- Take it easy.
- OK.
Hey.
Is she still alive? Ink wasn't dry on his release before he heads for her.
- What set it off? - Dirty clothes hamper.
Drags her to the laundry room, says he'll kill her.
- You call hostage negotiation? - Yeah, but I wouldn't wait.
Roger? Whoa! OK! Let's just relax now, huh? I just wanna talk with you.
Will you let me talk with you, Roger? Put the gun down and just talk.
Leave it right there.
All right? Here I am.
Let's talk.
I just wanna talk, all right? Here's what you got, OK? Not a good situation.
Three guns, small room.
Relax.
Just Just take a moment.
Let's be calm, OK? This is mine.
OK.
All right.
Help me out here, Roger.
OK? Step away from her, drop your gun.