The Streets of San Francisco (1972) s02e14 Episode Script

All right, now, Barbara, take a deep breath.
Let it go.
Take a deep breath.
Hold it.
Oh, nurse.
Apply more pressure.
I can see the vertex.
It's a normal presentation.
My baby.
- Where's my baby? - Miss, can I help you, miss? - I want my baby.
- What? I haven't seen any baby.
Barbara, what are you doing here? Where's my baby? Come in, dear.
Barbara, they told you about your baby at the hospital.
I'm terribly sorry.
Sorry? Your baby is dead, dear.
Stillborn.
No.
No, I saw my baby alive.
I'm sure you think you did.
In cases like this, the imagination often plays tricks.
The doctor, he'll know.
Where is he? Barbara, don't torture yourself this way.
It won't do any good.
Just try to accept what's happened.
I wanna talk to the doctor.
All right.
All right, dear.
If that'll make you feel better.
You just wait here.
Please, go back to your rooms.
Barbara, I thought you were going to Arizona to find Pete.
I had a girl.
Michelle.
I'm sorry, Barbara.
Just now.
She walked in and asked for the baby.
I know.
I told her that, but she won't believe me.
She keeps asking for the doctor.
I'm afraid for the other girls.
Try to keep her calm until I get there.
And whatever you do, don't give her the doctor's name.
And make sure she doesn't find it.
All right.
Please hurry.
What's that? Give it to me.
- No, Barbara-- - Just give it to me! Just give me-- Hey, you want me to drive? - Yeah.
- Okay.
- Connie or the body? - What? When you get so down you want me behind the wheel, it's gotta be either Connie or the body.
- None of my business, huh? - That's right.
So why don't you tell me anyway? You really wanna live vicariously, don't you? Look, I find out what that means, you could be in big trouble, buddy boy.
Come on.
Come on, tell me.
- You broke it off, right? - Yeah.
- Couldn't handle the cop's routine.
- I think she couldn't handle the cop.
- And which one? - Connie.
- Good.
- What are you talking about, good? - That leaves the body.
- Oh, no, you haven't been keeping up.
The bod left last month for Chicago.
She's gone.
- There goes our love life.
- Repeating for inspectors 81.
Central 1 has a homicide, 554 Clayton.
Will you respond? Eighty-one, we'll respond.
You got the crime lab on the way? Check, inspectors 81.
Crime lab notified, on the way.
Eighty-one, 10-4.
Hi, Steve.
What have you got, doc? A female Caucasian, middle aged.
Probable cause of death, cranial trauma, parietal region.
Looks like she got slugged in a fight.
- Got a make on her? - One of your boys did.
Gloria Davenport.
Age 50, 939 Ellis Street.
- She worked here as a supervisor.
- What's here? Some kind of a shelter for girls.
Anybody see who was fighting with her? Yeah, one girl.
Miss Rayfield? Miss Rayfield.
Miss Rayfield? I'm Lieutenant Stone and this is Inspector Keller.
Hi.
Hi.
Now, there's nothing to be afraid of.
I just wanna ask you a couple of questions.
Come on in.
That pink blanket.
What have you got there? A girl? Michelle.
- Can I take a peek? - Sure.
Oh, she's pretty.
Michelle, you're beautiful.
You know that? I've got a Jeannie, but she's in college.
You gonna stay on here a bit longer? I was.
I don't know now.
I wouldn't worry about it.
Are you sure you didn't see anyone around here regularly? Well, there was one man.
- Who was that? - Oh, I don't know his name.
I didn't like him very much.
None of us did, really, but, well, he's the one that told me about Mrs.
Davenport.
Was he the one that was here with her when it happened? No, it wasn't him.
Well, who was it then? Somebody you know? One of the other girls maybe? I don't wanna get her in trouble.
If she's not in trouble, you won't get her in trouble.
But if she is, there's nothing you can do about it.
Barbara Talmadge.
What do you think they were fighting about? - She asked for her baby.
- Her baby? Well, she went to the hospital last week, and Mrs.
Davenport said that her baby was dead, stillborn.
And then she told us that Barbara wouldn't be coming back anymore.
That she was going to Arizona to find her old man again, and then Barbara came back today, and she acted funny, you know? Like she didn't even know about the baby or something.
Then like she didn't believe it.
And then she asked for the name of the doctor.
She get it? Well, I think that's what they were fighting about, because I heard the noise and then Barbara came running out and pushed right past me and into the street.
And then I found Mrs.
Davenport.
Do you know where Barbara is living now? Well, I know her mother teaches at the USF.
Maybe she went back with her.
About the doctor, do you have his name? Dr.
Joe takes care of us here.
Dr.
Joe? That's what everyone calls him.
I don't even know his last name.
I think it begins with an H.
A what? I found this address book on the floor.
The H's are missing.
Maybe that's what they were hassling about.
Oh, that's just great, Sherlock.
That narrows it down to about, oh, I'd say, 300 doctors.
Hey, police department.
Unlimited calls, remember? Maybe you'll find it in the first 200.
I'll go out to the university and check on this Barbara's mother.
You got the keys? You said the name was Talmadge? Thank you.
Unlimited calls, huh? Oh, just a couple more questions.
Okay.
This man, can you describe him for me? Drive on.
When she came to me and announced she was pregnant, there were no moral lectures.
No tears, no angry scenes.
I even gave her the money to have an abortion.
Made all the arrangements for her.
So naturally, she decided to have the baby.
It's as if she has some need to give me pain.
- I don't think that's the reason.
- What else? Maybe she just wanted to have a baby.
Did you ever think of that? There's something you ought to know, inspector.
Barbara's choices aren't always rational.
This is not her first mental breakdown.
She's been under psychiatric care.
And the last time, she tried to commit suicide.
It looks now as if her hostility is directed in another way.
- I believe the young lady is next.
- Thank you.
Sit down, please.
I'm looking for Dr.
Hyland.
I'm Dr.
Hyland.
Oh, no.
You can't be.
Well, he's older than you.
He delivered my baby.
- You've got the wrong Dr.
Hyland.
- No, no.
I have his number.
I phoned, but it was his home, and they wouldn't tell me where he was.
So I looked in the phone book.
50 Fulton Street.
Right address, wrong doctor.
I'm sorry.
That's him.
- My father? - Is he a doctor? Well, yes, but he's been retired for years.
- No, he delivered my baby.
- I'm afraid that's quite impossible.
Where is he? - Now, look, young lady-- - I said where is he? Dr.
Halbert? This is Inspector Graves with the Homicide bureau.
Do you have a patient named Barbara Talmadge? You never heard of a Barbara Talmadge? Thank you very much.
Well, tell Dr.
Haxel that I called, will you? Yes, I'd appreciate it.
That was just a jim-dandy idea.
- I'm on that phone already.
- You bet you are.
Start at the bottom of this page and work up.
Right.
- What about the mother? - I found her.
And? And Barbara's not with her, and I don't blame her.
- Nice lady, huh? - Salt of the earth.
Only she'd call it sodium chloride and give you a full analytic report.
But tears for her daughter, none.
Well, some people cry and some don't.
You should see my Jeannie sometimes at the movies.
Two packs of tissue.
- But you're not ashamed of her, Mike.
- And her mother is? The daughter had a nervous breakdown once, right? You hear her mother talk, it was some personal slap in the face.
This just came through from Communications.
A shooting at 50 Fulton Street.
Dr.
Joseph Hyland.
Begins with an H.
Nurse, could you cancel that call? Dr.
Hyland? Lieutenant Stone, Inspector Keller.
What happened here? A woman, a crazy woman pulled a gun and shot me.
- Do you know who she was? - I never saw her before.
Any idea why she shot you? None whatever.
She was obviously psychotic.
She kept talking about a non-existent baby.
I know her name.
Wait, I've got it here somewhere.
- It's probably phony anyway.
- Townsend? Oh, no, here it is.
Talmadge.
Barbara Talmadge.
Where did she get a gun? How many times a month do we have to ask that? Get out an all-points bulletin on her.
Armed and dangerous.
- Right.
- Doctor.
Can I have a full description of her? Anything you can tell me.
Excuse me, doctor.
If you never saw the lady before, how do you know the baby was non-existent? Well, I It was an assumption, of course.
I do know it's a rather common psychotic symptom.
The creation of a fantasy child in place of the one the patient never had.
Thank you.
Are you positive you never saw this girl before? Never.
- Doctor.
- Hello, Dora.
- Any messages? - Yes, sir.
A young woman who wouldn't leave her name.
And then your son called a couple of times.
He said that it was very important and that you should-- - That might be him now.
- No, I'll get it, Dora.
- Yes? - It's me, doc.
That Talmadge girl has got your address.
Oh, dear.
How? Never mind how.
Just get away from that house.
All right.
I'm going out again, Dora.
Emergency.
Well, is there a number where you can be reached? Well, Dr.
Hyland? Hello, doctor.
Barbara? What are you doing here? What happened to my baby? They didn't tell you? You're not gonna lie to me too, are you? Barbara, I wouldn't lie to you.
You know that.
Well, then you take me to the hospital.
- There's no point in-- - Now, doctor.
All right, 10-4.
APB's out statewide.
You know, I still can't figure out where she got that gun.
Well, you heard what the doctor says.
- She pulled it out of her purse.
- Maybe.
- Yeah, maybe he's lying.
- About a few things.
She was only at one other place before this.
- As far as we know, yeah.
- The boarding house.
Mrs.
Davenport.
What would she be doing with a gun in a place like that? I'll leave that to you, buddy boy.
Unlimited calls.
You're making a bad mistake, Barbara.
I want him back.
It's only natural that you should.
But things happen, get out of control.
He isn't dead.
In a way, that's true.
A life that's never been lived can hardly be said to have died.
My baby's alive.
I remember him.
Peter Ronald Talmadge.
That's the name I picked out for him.
Except when I saw him, I said to myself: "Hey, little kid, you don't look like Peter Ronald.
" Now, I wouldn't have remembered that if it didn't happen.
Childbirth was extremely difficult.
We had to give you medication.
Drugs do funny things to the mind.
They play tricks.
You did that on purpose.
If you tell him anything, I'll kill you.
What's your hurry? I'm a doctor.
I'm on my way to the hospital.
No emblems for your plates? They're on my other car.
This one's for personal use.
May I see some identification, please? - I don't have any.
- No driver's license? No.
Registration? - Nothing.
- He is a doctor.
I'll vouch for him.
We're in a hurry.
- Are you sick, lady? - No, it's my baby.
He's in the hospital.
I'll tell you what.
I'll escort you to the hospital, then check you out with the staff.
But you're still gonna get a summons, doc.
- What hospital? - Now, wait a minute.
My bag's in the back.
I think I've got my papers there.
Drive.
- But he's wounded.
- I said drive.
The old man tried to grab her.
She must have had the gun in her purse.
- Do you think it was our girl, Jack? - It had to be.
I remembered that APB as soon as the slug slammed into my shoulder.
But I blacked out before I could do anything about it.
Just a minute.
Jack, do you happen to know which way they went? - The hospital, they said.
- Which hospital? I don't know.
They were headed east.
- Did you get the license number? - Yeah.
California 175 PCE.
Barbara.
- What are you doing here? - Miss Evans.
Barbara believes that her child is still alive.
- You showed him to me.
- Oh, Barbara.
You were given Verathion.
It made you hallucinate.
- No, you're lying.
- Why would I do that? I mean, we're your friends.
We wanted the baby to live.
Someday we'll know all about childbirth.
But right now, we can only try.
Hallucination? It wouldn't seem so real.
Look, your entire perception was distorted.
- Sensory images began to appear.
- I remember him.
Now, look, Barbara, you have to believe-- Stop it.
I want my baby.
What did you do with him? All right.
Both of you get into that closet.
- Barbara-- - Now, Miss Evans, be careful.
- She will use it.
- In the closet.
Cervix is almost fully dilated, doctor.
Very well.
Let's proceed.
Take a deep breath and hold it.
Oh, nurse.
Apply more pressure.
I can see the vertex.
Baby.
Yes, I understand.
Thank you very much.
Steve, the plates belong to a Dr.
Hyland.
- What? - Dr.
Hyland, age 71.
That was his son we met.
- What about the hospital? - I don't know, dead end.
He's supposed to be in retirement, he's not at home.
I got one for you.
You were right about the Davenport lady.
- She was licensed to carry a gun.
- What authority? She used to work for a private detective agency.
Some guy named Matthew Starr.
- Well, get his address, we'll pay him-- - 667 Mission.
Matthew Starr? - Yeah? - Police department.
Come on in.
Nice.
Your end pays much better than the city.
Ups and downs.
Do you have a woman named Davenport working for you, Mr.
Starr? - Gloria Davenport? - Yeah.
Well, she used to.
Not anymore.
We understand that she was licensed to carry a gun.
That's right.
Well, anybody who works with me is.
We get involved with some weird ones from time to time.
You never know.
Well, did she take the gun with her when she left? Not that I know of.
- You'd certainly know if she did.
- That's right.
How many registered pieces do you have, Mr.
Starr? Two.
Firearms license board says three.
Three, that's right, yes.
I never carry the .
25 caliber.
Kind of forget about it.
- Can we see them? - Sure.
That's one.
Two.
- The third? - It must be in the other room.
Thanks.
He's going up.
He's gotta come down.
I'll cover the front.
Freeze.
If you've got that third gun, drop it.
If that lady took it with her, you're in deep water.
Here's the phone.
Call your lawyer.
I don't need a lawyer.
I didn't do anything.
Do you always go out through the window? That's not a crime.
Withholding information on a felony is.
- What felony? - Let's start with kidnapping.
Are you crazy? Well, somebody is, if they think they can take that girl's baby.
What does that got to do with me? What's Gloria Davenport got to do with you? - I told you, she used to work for me.
- Used to? - She still had your gun.
- Starr, come on.
Come on, the lady was fronting for you.
Now, come on.
That's right.
A home for unwed mothers.
Now, that's a funny business for you to be in.
All right.
Let's see how it works, all right? A girl comes to town to have an abortion.
You spot her someplace.
Health clinic lobby maybe.
You and that Davenport woman.
A nice, motherly type.
You talk the girl into having her baby, telling her it's a beautiful experience.
Expenses paid for by you.
But the baby dies in childbirth.
At least that's what you tell the mother.
She cries her eyes out all the way home on a bus, half-stoned.
But Barbara, Barbara, she came down kind of fast, didn't she? She figured out what happened and she went after the baby.
Running all over town like some kind of crazy animal.
And you made her that way, Mr.
Starr.
Yeah, you stole that girl's baby.
You guys are crazy.
I don't know what you're talking about.
And you don't either.
Did you really think you could play God and get away with it forever? Maybe I'll make that call now.
Well, why don't you just sit there for a second or two? You might save us a dime.
How did you pick the ones that you let live and the ones that you stole? How did you know which ones were gonna give you a profit and which ones weren't? Come on, what was it? Looks? Family tree? Education? Come on, now, what was it? I didn't do anything wrong.
Okay, okay.
Against the law.
But not wrong.
Babies.
You know, some people try all their lives to have them? All of their lives.
Then they make up their minds to adopt.
Some skinny broad with a Ph.
D.
Breaks the news to them that they can't.
You know why? Because maybe they've got an illness.
Oh, nothing contagious.
Just something like diabetes, say.
Or maybe they haven't been married long enough.
Or maybe they've got one foot over the line.
The line is 55, mister.
And it's a long wait if you want a healthy kid.
Sometimes three to four years.
Think about it.
Say you're almost there.
You've got a wife who's younger and she wants to be a mother, but one of you is sterile.
What do you do? You could come to us and we'd get you a kid.
A kid that wouldn't even be living if it weren't for us.
Now, is that wrong? What about the doctors? The old man and his son.
How did you hook up with them? Oh, just the old man.
His son doesn't know anything.
Oh, and if you know about Joe Senior, you know he's no quack butcher.
Those girls had good care.
We know the doctor lost his license 15 years ago for performing abortions.
That's what that says.
I say he was 15 years ahead of the times.
And what about now, huh? He's helping kids grow up in a home.
Instead of getting stuffed into a backpack and lugged around the country without a roof.
Half the time without the right kind of food.
Is that what you're offering? Is that it, Mr.
Starr, social services? How much do you get for the babies? How much for ripping them off? - Depends.
- How much? - Two, maybe 3000.
- Maybe double? - Well, I've got expenses.
- You've got dividends today too.
Two men shot and a woman killed.
Now, you're gonna help us find this girl, Barbara, or we are gonna nail you to the wall as an accessory to murder.
Okay, okay.
Her baby went to a family named Hunt.
Arthur Hunt in Daly City.
Wait, if she got ahold of that doctor, he probably gave her the address.
This is Stone.
I want a number for a Arthur Hunt, Daly City.
No, no, no, I'll hang on.
This is an emergency.
Bet your bottle's almost ready.
Honey? Just a minute, pal.
Come in the kitchen when you're through.
I'll be right with you.
Excuse me.
No, no, no, that's not the one.
What I want is a W-4 form.
That's the employer's withholding.
From the Rockwin Metal Company.
Have you got that? It's still busy.
Get the operator.
Bust in on it.
Okay, Bob.
- Yes? - I got him.
- Mr.
Arthur Hunt? - That's me.
This is Inspector Keller of the San Francisco Police Department.
- And I'm calling you about your baby.
- What baby? Look, Mr.
Hunt, we know the whole story, but that's not important now.
The main thing is that the real mother may know where you live.
I'm sorry to have to alarm you, but she is armed and possibly irrational.
So I suggest the best thing is to take your wife and baby out of the house, go to the home of a relative, friend, anybody nearby, and call us at the number I'm about to give you, all right? Yes, but how do l--? Mr.
Hunt, if you have any doubt about the authenticity of this call, I suggest-- No, no.
I believe you.
What's the number? I mean, it's impossible to tell what motivates any of the policy changes, Fred.
- Excuse me, Professor Talmadge? - Yes? Would you come with me please? It's about your daughter.
- Have they found her? - I believe so.
They want you to make a positive I.
D.
Oh, excuse me, Fred.
Get the suitcase out of the closet.
Mr.
Arthur Hunt? Yes? Yeah, that's me.
What is it? I want my baby back.
Baby? What baby? I said, I want my baby back.
I'd like to help you, miss, but you are making a mistake.
- We have no baby here.
- I'm all ready, honey.
- You can fill up with gas at the-- - Yeah.
What is it? This young lady seems to think we have her baby.
- Oh, we have no children here.
- No.
I'll give you one minute to bring him out, or I'll shoot your husband.
All right, I'll do it.
- Miss, look-- - Get back.
Let me tell you, you're making a mistake.
I said, get back.
I'm not gonna give him to you.
You're not gonna get him.
- He's mine.
- He's not yours.
You didn't want him.
I waited for him to be born.
I waited for him and I love him.
And you didn't want him.
He's my baby more than yours.
That's not true.
I did want him.
They took him away from me.
Now I've come to get him back.
- Barbara, put it down.
- Go away, get out of here.
Put it down.
Come here with us, Barbara.
- This can be straightened out.
- It's already straightened out.
- I found my baby.
- That's right, Barbara, you have.
You're gonna hurt your baby if you don't put it away.
- Not until she gives him back to me.
- Barbara.
I've come to help you, dear.
You need rest.
Treatment.
You're not being reasonable.
What is your idea of reasonable, Mother? Pill in the morning, sex at night? Abortion at the end of a careless month? It's not my idea of reason.
I know what it is to have life inside of me.
Growing through me.
You never taught me that.
You never taught me that life and love are the same.
You didn't want me to have my baby.
Nobody does.
Nobody.
I want you to have your baby.
Barbara, my name is Steve, and I want you to have your baby.
I know what you're saying.
And in some ways, you and I are looking for the same things.
Someone hasn't told you where to find it, have they? You wanna hold on to something.
Something real.
And now you've found it.
You found your baby.
You'd say anything now, wouldn't you? It's just what I feel.
Now, you don't need that, do you? You carry one.
But wouldn't it be nice if I didn't have to? Mrs.
Hunt, you and the baby in the car.
Mr.
Hunt.
You'll be going in soon.
I believe I see how the judge is thinking.
Barbara's going to the state mental hospital for observation and treatment.
And until she gets out, they'll let you take care of the baby.
- Good.
- No, no, not so good.
Not to adopt.
Just to take care of him.
For how long? I think that's gonna depend upon Barbara.
May I see him? Thank you.
Peter Ronald Talmadge.
Don't forget your name.