Homicide: Life on the Street s04e11 Episode Script

It'll be five years ago next month.
It was before you joined the unit.
There was this little girl cryin' over her father's body.
She was late for church and worried that he'd be mad at her.
I can remember all those people being dragged out on the sidewalk.
How the gas burned my eyes.
That little girl I wonder how that little girl is today? attack.
Your husband was convicted.
Five years ago, at Christ Church, a bomb exploded releasing poisonous gas.
Six black people died including a boy your son's age.
- Your husband is our main suspect.
- He didn't do it.
- How do you know? - I know my husband.
Why don't you guys just go now? Kendall, did your father tell you why he was goin' to New York? No.
Get outta here.
Mum, they should go now.
- Honey, calm down.
- He couldn't attack the subway alone.
I can't help you.
Have you been threatened or contacted by Brian's friends since his conviction? No, we've not been threatened.
No calls.
I don't think you're tellin' us the truth.
Well, that's your problem.
If you're lying to us, you are both accessories after the fact.
We're not lying.
My mum and I would like you guys to leave now.
Is it just me, or are those two people scared to death? They're sleeping with the lights on, that's for sure.
We left here at what time today? Um 7:30.
OK, it's now 9:55.
Do you get the feelin' someone knew we was here and why? - We shouldn't have left 'em.
- Hey, they weren't talkin'.
- Where's the son, Kendall? - No one was here when we arrived.
- Who called it in? - Flower delivery man.
Saw the body through the window.
The guy's outside.
So there's no entrance or exit wounds, no blood, no visible signs of trauma.
What do you think? My guess is heart attack or suicide.
- She was murdered.
- If you're sure, you don't need me.
Why do you think it's a suicide? Some poisons can cause a massive convulsion, which would explain how she fell down the stairs.
- Can I have the body? - Yeah.
If your husband was sentenced to death, why would you kill yourself and orphan your son? Tim, you are the primary in this deepenin' quagmire.
I'll leave that question for you to answer.
Thanks.
I hope you get polyps.
You call this in? Yeah, I was just trying to deliver some flowers.
Roses.
Did you see anyone comin' from this house when you drove up? Yeah, there was a kid running like hell up the block.
He was tryin' to pull on his jacket as he was goin'.
- He came from this house? - I couldn't say.
What did the jacket look like? Leather, with one of those kidney belts, like the old bikers wore.
- Who sent the flowers? - Dunno.
You can read the card.
"Happy 36th, sweetheart.
Love, Mum and Dad.
" It's her birthday.
Let's go find the kid.
So when is this show and tell? Next week.
It's not show and tell.
It's Career Day.
She shows you and you tell! I've been avoidin' it for three years.
Stage fright in front of 3rd graders? Eight-year-olds shouldn't hear what I do for a living.
Hey, I got news for you.
Public school? Those kids already know what you do for a living.
You think Brian Egan went to show and tell? What do you think his ride on the Number nine train was? Hey, how are you doin'? You know this kid? Seen this kid? Hmm? Hmm? Come on.
Nothing.
I just, um You just what? Kenny's my friend.
Well, your friend's in deep trouble.
So why don't you tell me what you're tryin' not to say? Well, he came by here about a half hour ago.
Mm-hm.
His hand was bleeding pretty bad.
He said he fell down or somethin'.
Did he say who he was running from? - I don't know.
- Where was he going? I don't know.
I see.
Hey, look at me.
Does it look like I believe a word you're tellin' me? Hmm? I gave him eight bucks.
It was all I had.
And? And I think I think he was gonna try and catch a bus.
OK.
Thanks.
How did you cut yourself? Hmm? Bleeding pretty bad.
Get out of my way! We wanna talk to you! I talk to you, I'm dead.
Get him out! He said if I'm caught, my family will be taken care of.
Who's he? The man who killed my wife this morning.
Your wife is dead? Yeah.
- How do you know that? - I got a call.
From whom? I ain't sayin' squat till I know my boy is safe.
So you're not just some lone nut, huh? Go down there and get my son.
You give us a name.
He killed her to make sure I wouldn't talk.
Oh, God.
What if he finds out I'm talkin' to you guys now? And now my boy's helpless.
All I did was what I was told.
The name of the guy! Get my son out of Baltimore before he kills him! Are you cops deaf? Get him out of Baltimore! - Tell us his name.
- Get my son out of Baltimore! He'll kill Kenny! Please, get my son out of Baltimore! Get him out of Baltimore! Get him out of Baltimore! Please! He'll kill Kenny! Please, get him out! He'll kill him! Get him out of Baltimore! The ER will stitch him up in half an hour.
- They'll keep a tight leash on him? - They'll take him to Juvenile Detention.
Scheiner, where's Doctor Dyer? Why do you call her "Doctor" and me "Scheiner"? I'm a doctor too! - Well, yeah - In the can.
I already talked to her.
Over here! - She was poisoned.
- Self-administered? Oh, no.
She almost bit her tongue in half.
The blood was masking this side of the trachea.
See that deep gash in there? Someone stuck a syringe in her throat and poisoned her? Yeah.
Dyer says the groove is consistent with a turkey baster.
- What poison? - Chloroquine, an anti-malarial prep.
The cause of death was intractable hypertension from chloroquine poisoning.
Pembleton, Giardello's on the phone for you.
Yeah, Gee? Well, we can't do that right now.
We have to talk to the dead woman's son.
Who's here? - Hey.
- Hi.
Tell it to these guys, man.
This friend said, "When my time comes, "I wanna go the way my grandfather went.
"Nodding off, like he was going to sleep.
"Not kicking and screaming like the other guys in the car.
" - Don't you find that funny? - I'm strugglin' to maintain.
It damn near killed me! Hey, Stephanie Egan, Brian Egan's wife - she's dead, right? - Yeah.
How do you know that? - Egan told us.
- And how did he know? - Somebody called him.
So what have you guys got so far? Er, well, you know, not a lot.
Someone seen runnin' from the house just before her body was found.
Egan said that she was killed to shut him up.
So, somebody in Baltimore is behind that subway attack.
Did he mention a poison gas bombing at a church? No.
He said when his son's safe, he'll give us a name.
- Us as in you or all of us? - Let's find him first, then argue! One of you should talk to Munch.
He was the first one to interview Kendall Egan.
I'll do that.
You guys go ahead.
- I'll keep Van Buren up to date.
- Thanks.
Hey, John! This is Detective John Munch.
This is Detective Lennie Briscoe.
Detective Reynaldo Curtis.
They're from New York City.
John Munch.
What did you learn from the Egan kid? I'm gonna grab a bite to eat at our place.
You can join me.
Yeah, we own a little tavern across the way, a little piece of America.
- You guys own a bar? - Happy to say.
I'm jealous.
You got a jukebox, pinball machine? - Pool table.
- Pool table? - Yeah.
- Are you any good? Well, I think that you shouldn't play me unless your ego can handle defeat.
To-o-o Wa-a-a-alk In the light Shining Above me Listen up! Don't anybody pull any crap in here! This guy is a heavily armed cop.
You're much better-lookin' than his last date.
Roxanna Karlan, this is Detective Briscoe.
- Hi.
- Are you heavily armed too? - Can we get some lunch? - Sure.
What'll it be? A couple of club sandwiches and two taps.
- You're still on the clock.
- I know.
I'll watch you drink.
Not me.
I just got my three-year cake from AA.
A club soda with lime, please.
You're divorced, or you hate who you're married to.
Divorced.
You too? No, me three! You need a jackhammer to get a "hello" out of most women in New York.
Maybe that's why my first ex-wife Gwen moved to Manhattan.
I wouldn't say she was frigid, but a beer never got warm in her hands.
Hey, I knew a Gwen Munch.
It couldn't have been my Gwen Munch.
She opened a restaurant in Hell's Kitchen with my alimony.
Poetic justice! No, I used to work out of Midtown South in Hell's Kitchen.
Gwen Munch, five foot five, auburn hair? Blues eyes, loved to watch wrestling? What was her favourite ice cream? She hated ice cream.
She always ate frozen yogurt.
You slept with her.
Yeah, I guess so.
I'm sorry.
What about the Egan kid? - You had sex with my ex-wife? - I said I'm sorry, man.
Look, why don't we shoot some pool and you can tell me about the Egan kid? Yeah, all right.
These places depress the hell outta me.
Yeah, you wouldn't think it would be so quiet.
- You got children? - Three girls.
- Livin' proof that angels do exist.
- All three natural births? One was C-section, the other two were vaginal.
Your wife breast-feed all three? - Sounds like your wife's expecting.
- She's due in May.
Our first.
- Don't stop at one.
- It's not up to me.
It's not my body putting on 40 pounds, my hips dislocating, not to mention the episiotomy! You're glad they ate the apple! - Hi, I'm Celia Minchin.
- Detective Curtis.
Kendall Egan's in the last room on the left.
- How's he doin'? - Kids get pretty quiet and scared.
But this one's too quiet.
It scares even me.
I didn't see anything.
You ran.
I was late for school.
You didn't go to school today.
What happened after we left this morning? Me and my mum wrote a letter to my dad.
Why weren't you in school today? I haven't been in school all week.
- Why's that? - I dunno.
My father's never coming home.
I just thought that Were you stickin' close to home to protect your mum? What? You said this morning that you two didn't need any protecting.
We didn't, all right? After you wrote the letter, what did you do? Put it in an envelope.
It makes no difference to me.
You want me to believe you killed your mother, keep coppin' that attitude! I didn't kill my mum.
I'm sorry for hiding.
You were at home.
Someone that your mother knew came to the door.
And she let them in.
And, er they started what? Screaming, fighting? Something? And you stayed put.
Hmm? I'm sorry for not fighting for you.
Hey? You stay in your room? - I was in the basement.
- Who was it, Kenny? - My name is Kendall.
- Who was it? I ain't sayin' nothin'.
Hey, Kendall.
I'm Detective Curtis.
I'm from New York.
I know your father.
Yeah, in fact, I saw him this mornin'.
He doin' OK? Yeah, he's fine.
They're gonna kill him up there.
Lethal injection or somethin'? Your dad knows about your mum and He's worried about you.
I got three kids and you have no idea how tough it is for a mother and father to worry about their child.
It's really, really hard.
Who do we need to protect you from, Kendall? Where's my mum? - At the morgue.
- I wanna see her.
Just tell us who killed her.
I wanna see her right now.
Then I'll tell you who killed her.
Alexander Rausch.
He killed my mother.
Alexander Nathaniel Rausch, born 7/21/43 in Amenia, New York.
Only child, graduated West Point.
Three tours of Vietnam, a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Distinguished Service Medal.
We got ourselves a real live Rambo here.
I thought the name Alexander Rausch was familiar.
I met him in Navy Intelligence in Gitmo.
- You were stationed in Cuba? - Seven months, nine days.
Rausch was one of those White House basement National Security guys who got hung out to dry over Iran-Contra.
- How come nobody's heard of him? - He was Covert Ops.
You never hear about people doin' the really smarmy stuff.
Government sanctioned loose cannon.
He had a bone to pick with someone, maybe after being one-wayed out of DC.
Does that include killing innocent people in the church? Some people who come out of Intelligence become real zealots.
They've been privy to country secrets.
That can go to your head.
- Information is power.
- Power corrupts.
Rausch has been rumoured to be recruiting.
Recruiting? People who feel they've been screwed by the system - the Tim McVeighs.
Rausch puts a fatherly arm around their shoulder and says, "I understand.
Let's do something about it.
" Egan lost his job at the cement factory.
- He took odd jobs just to make the rent.
- Fits the profile.
Frank, do you remember, a year and a half ago, that state trooper in Missouri who died from toxic gas after he stopped a speeder? Oh, yeah, yeah.
This trooper opens the door, the driver's dead.
This guy had been transportin' these chemicals, hit a pothole, they spilled over and - Fits the pattern.
- Right.
Maybe Rausch was responsible for all three.
That trooper died as fast as those people on the sidewalk, as fast as that little girl's daddy.
God wasn't returnin' calls that day.
Well, I got solids again.
I'm off the clock.
Roxanna, get me a bourbon and ginger ale.
So Gwen never talked about me, about the halcyon days in Fell's Point eating fried dough? You wanna tell me what the Egan boy said about his father or somethin'? She never mentioned those cosy sleigh rides in the hunt country? No, John, she didn't.
You wanna tell me what the kid said about his father? Good stick! The kid just said the old man was an ordinary guy, had a couple of regular jobs.
That's all? You could've told me that in the squad room.
Gwen ever allude to the time we made love at Fort McHenry? Yeah, she did.
She said it was great.
We never were at Fort McHenry! OK, what do you want from me? We met, things clicked, we spent a couple of months together.
End of story.
It's just that We were so in love for a while there.
There's no way you're gonna make that eight-ball, man.
- Is there an ATM machine around here? - Yeah.
Why? Cos you owe me another 100.
- Are you hustling me? - No, I'm just protecting my ego.
You coax an orgasm out of my ex-wife which I couldn't do, so my game's a little off by that, don't you think? - Hey, you get anythin'? - 300 so far.
Not bad, Lennie.
We ID'd the guy Egan was talking about.
Colonel Alexander Rausch.
Pembleton and Bayliss went to arrest him.
There was a picture of Kenny Egan and a guy in a uniform he called Uncle Alex.
They were standing by this, er boat with wings.
- Boat with wings? - A seaplane.
I better call it in.
'Colonel Rausch, stop where you are.
You're under arrest! ' Colonel Rausch! 'Colonel Rausch! Stop where you are, you're under arrest! Marine police units move in.
Taxiing out of the harbour.
'Can you see him? Cut him off, cut him off! 'He cut his prop.
We got him.
Move in.
' - He refused counsel? - Yeah.
- He give a reason? - He says he's not guilty of anything.
Everyone's guilty of something.
I want a confession! 'Nice interrogation room.
Sparse, intimidating.
Very effective.
'Thank you.
So, er, Colonel ' you haven't asked us what you're being charged with.
' 'Lt doesn't matter really.
' 'Why? You're above the law? ' Not legitimate laws.
Right.
I know, I know.
You will not be judged by a corrupt judiciary system.
As a black man, you understand that.
- Did you know Stephanie Egan? - Yes.
- She's dead.
- Yes, she is.
You know who killed her? - Hey, you were in Vietnam, right? - Three tours.
You contracted malaria there? And athlete's foot.
What is the treatment for malaria? - Rest and fluids.
- And chloroquine? I'm not a doctor.
'You are here because we are charging you with Stephanie Egan's murder.
' - Really? - Mm-hm.
Well, now, why is that? Well, because we have a witness who saw you coming into the house and heard you yelling at Stephanie Egan.
That's a tired tactic, Detective.
He also heard his mother cry for help.
He was in the kitchen when you rang the bell.
He saw you through the glass in the front door.
You screwed up, Colonel.
Cos he was hiding in the basement while you killed her.
I could use a glass of water.
Say - Brian Egan was an associate? - That's right.
- How did you meet? - I don't remember.
But you liked him? - We had mutual interests.
- Mm-hm.
Do you know that he's up in New York on death row? Yes.
Why did he go up there and kill all those people on that subway? Ask him.
- Are you feelin' all right? - Fine.
- You pretty much got the shaft.
- I took one for the team.
- Broke the law and lied to Congress.
- You wouldn't understand.
All those medals, all that glory, but you were the whore that didn't get paid.
- The system you loved crucified you.
- That happens sometimes.
The Bill of Rights isn't a roll of Charmin! Changes have to happen.
You mean you have to destroy the village to save it? So you're gonna be the one to rebuild a better, purer version of this country? Is that it? I'm a Band-Aid on a bullet hole.
And who's bleeding to death? America.
Do you remember a church that had a poison gas bomb go off in it? - Yes.
- You remember how many people died? More than a few.
Less than a lot.
Six people died.
Six African-American people.
What about that subway in New York? Gee, I have no idea.
It sounds like someone is tryin' to bully African-Americans into a fight.
- There's a thought.
- Hmm.
Be an interesting fight.
Detective, it wouldn't take an hour.
That's what you want.
Isn't it? Let me tell you what I want.
I want the mongrels to stop feeding on the hard work and good faith of the rest of us.
You have a cancer, you cut it out.
And make no mistake, these people are tumours.
They will drag us down with them and they will kill us.
They've no sense of right and wrong, of good and evil.
And I do.
You sleep safer at night because of me.
And you don't even know it.
Can I get a drink of water? This is what's gonna happen.
From this moment on you belong to me.
I'm gonna put you on display.
You and I will be on prime-time and the front page for months and months and months.
You'll tell everyone what you stand for, so that others can see how much they like you.
Even if they don't know it yet.
And I'm not gonna stop until your execution.
You will not make me a martyr because I'm a black American.
You will be my martyr for the truth.
I guess I do need a lawyer.
Oh, yeah.
So? I think we need to get this bastard to a doctor.
- Better hear what she has to say.
- Detectives Pembleton, Bayliss.
This is a court order to take Rausch back to New York.
- Where's the punch line? - I'll call Danvers.
- He's ours and he's staying here! - Give the crusade a rest, Pembleton.
- I gotta get ready for court.
- He's not going anywhere! Why don't we just cut him in half? It worked for Solomon.
- He's mine.
- It's up to the judge, man.
Take it easy.
Frank, we got him.
He goes to New York, then he comes back and he's tried twice.
I don't want him out of my sight until he's on death row.
- Interesting.
- What's interesting? On the one hand, you're welcoming your new child into this world, yet are able to enthusiastically advocate the execution of Alexander Rausch! Miss Kincaid? Your Honour, we would like to remind this court that the state of Maryland is a signatory of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, and is bound by the full faith and credit clause and must abide by the petition signed by the Governor of New York.
Mr Danvers? Our position is we got him, we're gonna keep him.
How eloquent! Your Honour, we're not ignoring the Uniform Extradition Act, but Colonel Rausch has been indicted for the murder of Stephanie Egan and is a prime suspect in the murders of six people five years ago.
His extradition will cripple the investigation to solve those crimes.
Mr Rausch is the prime suspect in the subway attack in New York.
After he's tried, we'll send him back to Baltimore.
How soon could you expect to go to trial? - Your Honour - I'm just asking a question, Mr Danvers.
Relax, count to ten.
Four to six weeks.
You could find a jury that hasn't heard of this case that fast? Your Honour, he's here.
We're ready to proceed.
I've heard enough.
Go break some bread and make peace.
I'll hand down my ruling in two hours.
We're adjourned.
- Hi Hi.
- Oh, hi.
Hi.
Would you like to go waste some of your life with me? - Sure.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- Oh, good.
- You got that? - Yeah, thanks a lot.
Is he gonna live? Yes, Detective.
He suffered a mild myocardial infarction.
Not his first one, by the way.
I've given him nitro tabs.
I need two extra uniforms in here.
Have you no appreciation for what I've done? Not even on an intellectual level? Clear the hallways, check IDs.
Stopping liberty becoming a euphemism at liberal cocktail parties takes sacrifice.
I'd also like to request a 24-hour suicide watch.
Let me tell you something, my serious friend.
The power of the vote is a romantic anachronism.
No, sir.
You are.
- Thanks for the beer.
- What do you mean? - Bartender said it was on the house.
- He did? Mm-hm.
Munch played Briscoe in a game of pool, lost 500 dollars and he drained our till.
What? Gwenny, Gwenny, how could you? - What's your trouble, Munchkin? - Trouble? Ask Lennie.
Mutual acquaintance.
It brought back some old memories.
He had sex with Gwen.
So what do you three big-timers from New York think of Charm City? - It's charming.
- Charming.
- Charming.
- Gotta go back tonight, huh? I blew my two weeks' vacation at Thanksgiving.
- You're breakin' my heart.
- Tim, why don't you get a room? This happens to Kincaid all the time.
She gets more prison mail than Marla Maples! Do you have Gwen's home phone number? I can't believe this drunk broke the case.
"A boat with wings," he says.
Booze, dope and divorce - the hazards of the trade! - How many divorces do we have here? - Never married.
- Widowed.
- I ain't jumped the broom yet.
- Jumped the broom? - Me twice.
And I am utterly single.
Stop starin' at me.
- Three strikes and I'm out.
- Munch makes up for the rest of us.
Married six years, got three kids.
When I have dirty dreams, they're about my wife.
- Make me puke! - What? You don't come to a "show your warts" party and have clean skin! Next time, I'll marry a cop.
At least I'll know what not to talk about.
No more havin' to rehash the gory details of a murder.
And them gettin' mad when you wanna talk about a baby in three-day-old diapers cryin' over a dead junkie mother.
No one cryin' over another dead junkie.
Angry husbands butchering their ex-wives.
Or describing the autopsy of a child.
- Ain't being a cop grand? - Yeah! Hey, it's Mr Sunshine! Frankie! No, I'm tired of bein' the only one who gives a damn.
This is the new Frank Pembleton, budding Republican and selfish bastard! Shot of Gold Natty Bo! This is the new me! Careful! Some day you'll run for Mayor and rue those words.
- Did the doctor check Rausch? - He's fine.
- And in his cell where he'll stay.
- Think you'll win? I'm sure of it.
I bribed the judge.
I said Bayliss would have sex with her for a favourable ruling! You two-timing pig! Well, she's naked under those black robes.
Here's to wearin' a badge, carrying a high-powered sidearm and being right more often than we're wrong.
Hear, hear! Here, there! Rausch is goin' back to New York.
We lost.
Judge Aandahl found a precedent.
I'll meet you guys back in New York.
Hey, thanks for the beer.
Gwen I still love you.
I am goin' through I'm goin' on through I am goin' through I'm goin' on through I am goin' through No matter what it is I am goin' through I'm gonna go in deeper Even in distress Oh, I'm goin' through Goin' through Hmm I'm goin' through I'm goin' on through I'm goin' through He paid the price I'm goin' through I don't care what kind of sickness I have I'm goin' through I'm goin' through I am goin' through I'm goin' on through I am goin' through I'm goin' on through I am goin' on through I am goin' through I'm goin' through I'm goin' through He said that the racism given to the swift But to him that endured to the end That's why I'm gonna go on through Oh, yes, I am I am goin' on through - So you lost, huh? - Ah, but you'll be back.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Anything happens to him, I'll hold you responsible.
You won't be the only one.
Relax.
We've kept high-profile suspects alive in the past.
He just wants to do Larry King with me.
'Your attention, please.
Amtrak train number 475, 'Metroliner Service to New York, will be arriving in 15 minutes.
' - Damn! - Isn't that a bitch? - I need some water.
- There's a club car on the train.
Detective Pembleton! - Detective Pembleton! - What? I I have but one life to give.
Holy shit! - Check the pulse.
- Where's the pills? Where's the nitro? - He's got no pulse.
- OK.
Someone up there call an ambulance! - Count 'em.
- Go! - Six, seven, eight - Don't you die.
Don't you die! ten.
- Don't you die, you son of a bitch! - Breathe! Breathe! Don't you die, you son of a bitch! Don't you die, you son of a bitch! - Frank! - Damn it! Damn it.
Sorry, Frank.
At least you get to bury the bastard.
No one's ever gonna know what he did.
And what he was.
You son of a bitch! Hey.
Stupid son of a bitch! Come on.
Come on.