Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) s06e16 Episode Script
30
The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.
In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.
These are their stories.
Josh, you're sick.
Stay home.
Ah It's just a virus.
And I'm, I'm on deadline.
- I wanna stay home, too.
- Nice try.
I can't believe Dr.
Kay hasn't called you back about the test.
Of course, he hasn't call me back.
He's a doctor.
I'll call him again as soon as I get to the office.
You don't go near that juice.
Daddy's germs.
I'll pour you another one.
Hey! - Good morning, Mr.
Lemle.
- Thank you.
[TOXICOLOGY.]
Sit down, Mr.
Lemle.
It's not my fault.
He asked me to leave, so he could change.
Give me the city health department.
And then 911.
Tell'em we need the Hazmat team.
POLICE HEADQUARTERS Watch it.
Detective, Logan.
Where's detective Logan? Right there.
Mike.
Mike.
Logan.
Josh Lemle, long time.
Are you alright? I wanna report a murder.
My own.
Law & Order CI Josh Lemle is a dead-man-walking.
He has polonium-210 poisoning.
Radiation poisoning.
Like Litvinenko in London.
Litvinenko was the first known fatality.
Josh is gonna be the first known American one.
He might never been known.
Homeland security wants us to keep this quiet.
I know.
Just passing on the request.
Your Hazmat team called the Feds.
They already knew.
Mr.
Lemle bolted out of the toxicology's office this morning.
Counter terrorism was quietly scouting the city for him.
OK, OK, so, how do we save him? - We don't.
- What do you mean we don't? It's irreversible multi-system organ failure.
He's got a week, tops.
Yeah, well, you don't know Josh.
He's tougher than he looks.
OK? You don't know polonium.
It's 5 million times more toxic than cyanide.
How contagious is he? It doesn't go through the skin.
You'd have to inhale it, or ingest it.
Wear gloves if you have cuts.
And, don't drink his urine.
You'll be fine.
Also, wear these film badges, exposure card.
It won't actually register polonium, that's alpha radiation.
But they make people feel better.
You're not pregnant, are you? So, how was he exposed? There's no needle marks.
And no skin breaks.
Best guess something he ate or drink.
- Last night? - He's farther along than that.
I'd say he was exposed sometime between Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday night.
- Doctor Foster.
- Excuse me.
Where this polonium come from? There's minor industrial usage.
But this quantity yearned in the black markets.
filthy territory.
OK, Hazmat team is heading to Lemle's apartment.
Check red levels, full suits.
Could go level A.
OK, Murtaugh.
We'll catch up.
OK.
Josh Lemle.
He was a friend of yours? I used to write for the Post, city/home beat He stuck out for me when I punched out that counsellor.
Then his sources dried up, the paper fired him.
Last time I heard, he was working for a business magazine.
So he wasn't a crusading international journalist? I made a mistake, he paid for it.
And then, I I didn't exactly keep in touch.
I can't just hand over my contacts.
I'm still a journalist.
Josh, if you can't cooperate.
Why come to me in the first place? To team up.
I want you to find out who did this to me.
And I wanna work my last story.
well, story in my office.
All right, look, I respect that.
But the first step is your family.
You didn't tell 'em, did you? I told Miriam I had a virus.
Your wife and son are about to get dispossessed from the house by 20 guys in space suits.
Call them right now.
It's OK.
It's gonna be alright.
There's an ambulance waiting downstairs for you and your boy.
Oh my god.
Kenny drank from Josh's orange juice this morning.
I didn't drink it mom.
You'll go in for further testing.
But Dr.
Foster said if two of you had been contaminated, you'd be showing symptoms by now.
Do you keep a family calendar? We need to track you husband's movements from last Tuesday on.
It's on the fridge.
Daddy.
- Come with us, daddy.
- I can't.
Anything? Hazmat's inside.
I'll see you in a bit, OK? Two tiny hot spots.
The couch, the bathroom.
But the fridge, pantry, all clean.
He was poisoned elsewhere.
There's a family calendar on the fridge.
We'll need that.
OK, Josh.
Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning.
Where else were you? Say goodbye to your chair.
Otherwise the office's OK.
It ain't hurt.
What about the thumb drive? Did you check the thumb drive? Yes, Mr.
Lemle.
Here you go.
No activity.
What is that thing? It's a thumb drive.
It's like a floppy, sort of.
Why would you think that it would be contaminated? Well, because I use it in my research, - and they wanna stop me.
- No offense, Mr.
Lemle.
But your articles, they're most CEO interviews, and company Puff pieces, I know.
But not this one.
My death sentence.
The Afghan pipeline story.
And you think this is why you were poisoned? Billions go into this pipeline.
It barely makes any head way.
The money gets siphoned off.
Half the government's in coach with a Russian Mob.
Best story I have had in years.
It's big, and yes.
They killed me for it.
They say Josh.
More about the thumb drive.
Right, sorry.
I picked it up Tuesday from my deep throat, Yuri.
Yuri? And do you think he poisoned you? No, he's on my side.
Former KGB.
He sees every document on the pipeline, because he's a lawyer at their UN mission.
I saw him Tuesday.
And I will bet someone contaminated our drop site.
You have a drop site? We checked the whole area.
Sewers, benches, this coffee cup.
All clean.
Just like the office and home.
A coffee cup, that's your drop site? Yeah, if Yuri has something for me, he puts a thumb drive in.
I collect it.
Last pickup was Tuesday night, 7 pm.
You two didn't go out after that? Yuri can't be seen in public with me.
It's too dangerous.
I must have gone home.
No.
Not for dinner.
Here, family calendar says that you were working late.
Right.
I had dinner with an editor from another magazine.
Miriam gets nervous.
You know, I've been thinking about changing jobs.
So, I left it off.
Where did you eat? - This guy has nothing to do - Josh.
you might have been followed.
Where did you eat? Pretty romantic place for a business dinner.
He was wooing me.
Who was she, Josh? Her name's Rebecca.
But my wife Detectives.
- All clear? - No, this is the opposite.
The whole place is hot.
But the kitchen, and the table on the back, they're on fire.
I'll get back to you.
Bye.
This is ground zero.
They poisoned him here.
We've got a bus coming to take his staff to the medical command center, and we're tracking down his two credit card receipts.
So the FBI's engaged? Do me a favor.
Tell them it's too hot to go in.
I already did that.
No one's going in a hot zone.
But what should we tell to press? Tell them it's a drill.
Like you should have done with that gas leak in January.
Is the dead man talking? I don't remember.
- Looks like it.
- Make sure.
I got a room full of Mayor and Homeland Security wanting details.
- Ross.
- Wheeler, this is Alana Binder.
She served Mr.
Lemle.
Actually, I just took the order.
And Willey the bus boy, he serves and clears.
Willey? Which one is he? He's Willey Septima.
He hasn't been in since Thursday.
Get a squad car to his apartment.
- Got it.
- Thank you.
There's no way Rebecca was involved in this.
We met in Chechnya.
We've known each other 15 years.
She's a friend.
So, why didn't you tell your wife you were having dinner with her? - It was past.
- It spilled over? Maybe once a year, I'll vouch you.
Well, We need to be in contact with her.
I mean, if you were exposed, she was exposed.
/ I don't know.
She disappears when she has a deadline.
OK, detectives.
It is too hot for me to take you in.
Let me walk you through the radiation trail.
We've got activity from dish washer and a trash.
But by far the most contamination is pick-up table in the kitchen.
Where the bus boys get the food.
And this table on the back.
Where we sat.
I had blintzes with sour cream and apple sauce.
So, what did she have to eat? She didn't eat.
She didn't eat? So you're just telling us this now? It's irrelevant.
You're right.
Someone must have followed me from the UN.
Wheeler.
We need to talk to Rebecca and Yuri.
And we need to talk to them right now.
They found the bus boy.
Sit tight.
The family said he had nausea and diarrhea.
First guess, and he perforated his skin from acute radiation poisoning.
So, that's what the Josh has to look forward to, huh? He's on a slower progressively downhill track.
We got something.
Medicine dropper.
Coffee cup.
Stuffed with hundreds.
Very high emissions.
That's the drop site cup.
This is so unethical.
Yuri trusts me.
Unethical? Josh, the guy killed the bus boy after paying him 2 grand to spike your sour cream.
- You don't know him.
- Yeah.
This is him.
NYPD.
Hands in the air Yuri.
Now! Put them up! Bingo.
Of course.
UN mission denies that I am Ex-KGB.
What do you expect? What do you do for them again? Economic research.
Josh thinks you're a consulate lawyer.
No.
I told him I had access to the contracts.
He misunderstood.
The funny thing is our State Department has no record of your working for the mission and any capacity.
Tell me why any of these is your concern.
Because Josh Lemle has been poisoned with polonium.
Polonium?! Is this a joke? No.
No.
No joke.
He's dying.
- And you're our prime suspect.
- Me? No.
I swear.
I swear.
Maybe someone followed you to the dropoff, then followed Josh? No, impossible.
I was very cautious.
We used these secret signals.
In the subway, five transfers before I surface.
Yeah, you told Josh you were a spy, right? So, let me get this straight.
You were with the KGB.
But you didn't make our OK.
Maybe not KGB.
Nonetheless, everyone spies on someone, you know.
So, you're not KGB.
And you're not at the UN mission.
No.
I live in Brighton Beach.
I used to be a musician.
Now I'm a piano tuner.
Urgh Listen.
I want someone to write this story.
If I approach reporters as an immigrant, they walk away.
So I, so I embellish.
What about the info on the trans-Afghan pipeline? I translated articles of some Russian papers, blogs.
Everything I gave to him, I took off the web.
A Brighton Beach Walter Mitty.
What do we tell Josh? Alright, now, wait a minute.
I mean, this might not be the whole story.
I bet Josh isn't the only one who fell for his spy games.
Someone might have followed Yuri to Josh.
He played you friend.
I doubt anyone else fell for his act.
Friend or not, someone still poisoned him.
Or do you think that's an act, too? I know you think you owe him.
But Josh hasn't been straight with us.
Especially about Rebecca.
If he keeps telling us that she couldn't be behind this, we should look real hard at her.
Here I am.
Stringer for everybody.
Gorbachev made me tea.
How was he? Stick to polonium.
He made us tea.
Rebecca and me.
I couldn't keep lying to my wife and kid.
Look, one of these people who has the person that he marries, whom he loves, you know, and a person he could've married, whom he never stops loving.
You show me that person on the street.
I spit on him.
I am him.
It's not Rebecca.
Look, Joshua, I understand.
But, you gotta help me here.
Where is she? Just tell me where she's staying, where she works, anything.
We're 0 for 4.
Rebecca's editor says he hasn't seen her for days and he wants know what this is about.
Make that 0 for 5.
She checked out of the University Club this afternoon.
We missed her by three hours.
Maybe Josh tipped her off.
She's on the run.
What else is on Josh's list? Her parent's house in Great Neck.
Riche and his squad car are on the way.
Looks like someone else got there first.
The car is registered to Rebecca's father.
Lucky for him.
He had a remote control starter.
So, where's Rebecca? We're not sure.
We can't get inside.
Is the family in there? - Major Case? - Yeah.
Who are you? Call Ross.
You have no jurisdiction here.
Well, we need to talk to Rebecca Slater.
Thank you for your help, detective.
We'll take it from here.
Don't give me that line when you could Geez.
All of a sudden, a man in black crawling out all the way.
They knew all along.
Josh was never the target.
It's Rebecca.
The Feds won't confirm or deny Rebecca was at her parents' home when the bomb went off.
They won't confirm or deny any investigation.
Oh, boy, that's some cooperation.
They're not looking for cooperation.
They've told us to back off.
And are we? We're proceeding on a separate track.
And you can go back to your friend Josh.
And what? Tell him that he is collateral damage? You need to tell him the truth.
Yuri's fake, and Rebecca was the actual target.
That's not really a call I wanna make.
We need to know if she told him about any story she's been working on.
Do you want me to talk to him? No.
The guy held my back when everyone else hung me out to dry.
I owe him.
I'm dying because someone made a mistake? What about Yuri, Mike? Story.
Sorry, man.
That guy wasn't what he claimed to be.
How can you be sure Rebecca was? Someone tried to kill her tonight with a car bomb.
- Is she alright? - We don't know.
The Feds wouldn't let us talk to her.
Josh, what was her story about? She'd never tell me.
We were lovers, but But if she had a big story, I would have to find out about it on TV just like everyone else.
Could you email her? Uh Bourbon, please.
Rebecca, I'm detective Wheeler.
Josh's on his way.
Son of a bitch.
He set me up? We pressured him.
Just a few questions.
Same thing I told the FBI.
Forget it.
Rebecca.
He's gone, isn't he? There's nothing you can do? Maybe find his killer.
We need to know what you're working on, who you saw the day Josh's poisoned.
I gotta get back to work.
Rebecca, you're in danger.
I've been doing this for 17 years.
I know how to take care of myself.
Rebecca.
Rebecca.
At least tell us who your story might be pissing off.
I cover the Middle East.
Relationships are complicated.
And your relationship ended Josh's life.
He deserves to know why.
Are you familiar with Sarah Myers? The young teacher from Brooklyn, who was shot by the Israeli army.
Now she's a martyr for the Palestinians.
Her face, the perfect photogenic symbol of Israeli brutality.
No offense but I've, But I've seen hundred stories about her.
Not this one.
If I get you something.
Do not share it with the FBI.
Sarah Myers, A young "International Teachers for Peace" volunteer, had only been in the West Bank for a few weeks, when she decided to approach to the Israeli tanks.
She was hoping to convince Israeli army to spare Palestinian children's school from their advancing bulldozers.
But Sarah didn't know that the Israeli army had just received a tip that a suicide bomber dressed as a blonde American woman is going to target them.
They ordered her to halt.
She continued on, flashing them the peace sign.
Then So, Rebecca is saying the Israelis got a false tip that the Palestinians set Sarah Myers up, and created their own martyr.
Could be true.
Could be Israeli spin.
Either way, kill Rebecca, kill the story.
If someone in the Middle East wanted her dead, why wait till she got to New York? They waited till she was dining with Josh.
They used polonium.
They wanted to throw suspicion onto Josh and the Russians, and away from Rebecca's report on Sarah Myers.
They? On American soil, who is this they? - Al Queda, Syria? - Wow.
How do you even begin to count the groups that wouldn't want the story to get out? You don't.
You go the other way.
I know someone who'd love to see this story lead the evening news.
I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of Rebecca's sources.
Palestinians sent Sarah Myers to her death? Yes.
I know all about this.
And, No.
It's not Israeli spin.
It's true.
And it's also the last story we want made public.
Back up.
You're the chair of the US-Israel friendship PAC.
You're telling me you want the story kept quite? What's done is done.
I'm asking you as an old friend.
Let this one go.
I can't do that, Artie.
It's a murder investigation.
Not yours.
Our understanding is the Feds asserted jurisdiction.
- Where did you hear that? - It's my job.
Now I'm asking you as a Jew, and as a friend of Israel.
Don't let the story out.
I'll take it under advisement.
Now I have a favor to ask you.
You know this guy? He was at the scene of a car bombing last night.
- What agency? - That, nobody knows.
His name is Nick Flanders.
And I believe he's on our side.
What side is that? USA, Danny.
USA.
I need you both inside, now.
Close the door, please.
OK, stuff your notes in your desk.
We move on.
- It's our case.
- Not any more.
Now, wait a minute.
I'm not closing out this case.
Your friend Josh has been an obstacle to his own murder investigation, from the get.
He won't even tell us what Rebecca told him.
Because he's protecting his story.
Let me go back to Rebecca.
Rebecca won't talk.
The Feds have blocked us out.
Even the Israeli government, which you would have to think, would be interested in clearing their name, even they want us to drop this.
- What, did your PAC guy tell you that? - Come again? Is that what this is about? Israel? - Logan.
- Wait a minute.
Are you afraid that Israel's gonna look worse than it already does? We've been ordered off.
By who? The Feds? Or Israel? Let me ask you something.
On this one, are you a Jew-first and cop-second? - Is that the story? - We're done here, Logan.
There are good guys, and there are bad guys here.
We're dealing with car bombs.
Terrorists.
Hamas, PLO.
They blow people up, in cafes, buses, shopping malls.
Who are you kidding? You think Sarah Myers is the first innocent that Israelis have killed? Captain, Logan.
Thank you for your help, detectives.
We're off this case.
Miriam's coming in.
We need to decide if I should die in a hospital or home.
Go home to your wife and kid.
We've been called off.
I'm not even sure if the Feds want this solved or buried.
You heard from Rebecca? Deep background? She's trying to tie my poisoning into her story.
She's meeting someone at a safe-house in Brooklyn.
A friend of Sarah Myers from the "International Teachers".
Where is this safe-house? I'll get my chair and we'll go.
Josh, go home.
It's my turn to help you.
Captain was asking where you were.
Yeah? Did you tell him? No.
I'm your partner.
But he wants us off the case.
Well, all I was doing was visiting as a friend.
The captain's feeling is if your friend was as loyal to his wife as you were to him.
Oh, is that what the captain was thinking? Geez, if only life was so neat and simple.
Look, I have 10-year-gap in my relationship with Josh.
And the only reason Josh was going to meet Rebecca was so he could break it off with her.
OK.
I gotta get out of here.
Listen to this.
Josh says Rebecca's doing an interview with one of Sarah Myers' friends in a safe-house.
- A friend of Sarah Myers'? - Yeah.
Here? Yeah.
I'll get a coat.
CSU and the ME are on their way.
Poor Josh.
The last thing he needs to hear is that he outlived Rebecca.
She was defenestrated.
Not just out the window, but through it.
The ligature marks on her wrist and ankles indicate two people did it.
Dr.
Rodgers.
I just got off We've barely done test and they're kicking us out.
Detectives.
Sorry you made a pointless trip.
You got here awfully fast.
You're little too late.
You should have called us the second you got the address.
I didn't realize we're coordinating.
We're not.
You're done here.
Isn't that right, captain? Actually, Mr.
Flanders, there's been a change of plan.
We're going to have to share jurisdiction after all.
I need a word with you.
Excuse me.
- This is.
- Hey, Murtaugh.
I need a favor.
We have a protocol, captain.
Our agreement was to the Lemle case.
Until I get a call from my commissioner.
This is an NYPD crime scene.
Do I have to repeat myself? We're the authority here.
- What are you doing? - This laptop's registering high alpha-rays.
- How long were you handling this? - Excuse me? Sir, you may have been contaminated.
Captain Ross, step aside.
We need to get you down to the medical command center right away.
It's weird.
It's not popping at all.
Well, you're safe, and sorry.
- Where's my laptop? - Rebecca's? It tested clean, too.
The hard drive was scrubbed.
Someone overwrote data on the swap partition.
- 7 times.
- Meaning what? I thought you'd know.
It's in your Department of Defense standard.
Give me the laptop, detectives.
It's on the way, Nick.
Uh, ah, by the way, the captain sent you a regard from a mutual friend, Artie.
Artie Abelson? In the Israeli PAC? Not a name I'm aware of.
How strange.
He's aware of yours.
He fed it to us.
That proves he's not my friend.
Yeah.
Why was Nick Flanders at the crime scene? Best guess? Coming to broker a deal.
- A deal? - Danny.
Breaking news.
Reporters will write for fame or principle.
But, they're sometimes willing to NOT write for cold cash.
Obviously someone who didn't believe in negotiation beat Nick to the meeting.
So, Rebecca Slater had hard evidence of indicating those Israeli soldiers.
She did.
Naive Sarah Myers, in her glorious Palestinian solidarity red scarf was set up to be martyred.
Then why wouldn't you or your PAC or the state of Israel want the whole world to know that? Because if people dig around, they're also gonna learn that Sarah Myers was a mole from Mossad.
Israeli secret service.
Israel inadvertently shot their own spy and turned her into a Palestinian martyr? Tell me that doesn't say Middle East all over it.
OK.
So either the Palestinians didn't wanna reveal that Sarah was an Israeli spy or the Israelis didn't want their spy nest disclosed.
Is that it? We're still not sure if Rebecca even knew Sarah Myers was an Israeli spy.
She knew.
Right, Josh? This isn't a big surprise to you, is it? Because you have Rebecca's notes.
At our last supper.
At Vechera.
when we're talking shop and she let it slip that she had a cyber storage account.
So when you told me she was the target I, I guessed her password.
You guessed it? We had a dog in Chechnya.
Named Pucinella.
I got it in the first try.
OK.
If Josh could get into her cyber account, her killers could, too.
When did Josh and Rebecca make the date? Over a month ago.
They kept a private email account.
So, they thought killers knew her whole schedule.
They could have struck her at any time.
They purposely chose her dinner with Josh, and polonium to throw suspicion onto Russia and off the Middle East.
Then all they had to do was to bribe the bus boy.
How did they know which bus boy to go to? I mean, this was too well-planned for them to believe that's a chance.
You're right.
They would have planted someone else in the restaurant.
It's a small staff.
All long term employees, I can't picture any of them collaborating with terrorist.
Well, there's another possibility.
Maybe somebody was duped.
We think your bus boy was paid by someone to plant the polonium.
Do you recognize any of these people? Maybe friends of Willey's? I'm sorry, I don't.
It's a beautiful ring.
From your boyfriend? Leo.
I've never had much luck with guys, till now.
Do you have any pictures of him? No.
We only met 3 weeks ago.
When is the last time you saw him? Last week.
He has some family problem to deal with.
You have his address? Maybe his cell phone number? Queens, somewhere.
I have his cell phone memorized.
Oh, could you write it down? Leo's a good guy.
I mean, he has his green card.
- He's a gentleman.
- Big tipper? Oh, yeah, he tipped me double.
Willey, my busboy, he tip him triple.
'Cause Leo drives a Limo, so, he understands the service industry.
He used to walk me into the ATM to deposit my cash.
Which ATM? The one around the corner from the restaurant.
- How did you get this photo? - Leg work.
We checked the cash machines near the restaurant.
Cross checked photos with the staff.
And he was there.
He didn't eat.
OK.
This is a good lead.
Thank you.
Oh.
Hey, Nick.
We didn't have to call you.
So, one hand washes the other here.
You know what I mean? This is an espionage man involving information sensitive to the US.
Sensitive? We have a US citizen sitting in the basement, about to going to total organ failure.
His bloods are on your hands.
So, screw the political fallout.
I wanna know his name.
OK.
The name we have is Leo Brezner.
Sometimes he uses a Andreas Mirko.
An international terrorist, sometimes a hit man.
Travels with Maltese passport.
Thanks.
Leo's cell phone.
Last used Friday at Newark Airport.
We checked every Limo on the concourse.
And then someone remembers this town car's been parked for an awful long time.
Found him slumped over the steering wheel.
He is barely alive.
Doesn't look like your guy.
It's an old picture.
I was instructed not to care about the woman reporter's companion.
She was the contract.
Saw them, she didn't eat.
I tracked her down, fulfilled it.
How did you know the waitress? I told her she had pretty eyes.
Bought her a fake emerald.
She introduced me to her bus boy.
Who you bought with cash.
How did you get infected? They must have poisoned me when they gave me the polonium.
Who's they? Doesn't matter.
They killed you too.
Why would you protect them now? They were two businessmen in Germany, said they were Russians.
But these days, who knows? Could be Hamas, to stop the story, or Syria or Israel.
For its own reasons.
Rebecca would have figured this out.
I'm not in her league.
She thought you were.
All right.
Hey, Josh, It's no accident that Rebecca mentioned her cyber storage account to you.
If anything was gonna happen to her, she wanted you to finish her story.
Logan.
Yeah.
Thank you.
In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.
These are their stories.
Josh, you're sick.
Stay home.
Ah It's just a virus.
And I'm, I'm on deadline.
- I wanna stay home, too.
- Nice try.
I can't believe Dr.
Kay hasn't called you back about the test.
Of course, he hasn't call me back.
He's a doctor.
I'll call him again as soon as I get to the office.
You don't go near that juice.
Daddy's germs.
I'll pour you another one.
Hey! - Good morning, Mr.
Lemle.
- Thank you.
[TOXICOLOGY.]
Sit down, Mr.
Lemle.
It's not my fault.
He asked me to leave, so he could change.
Give me the city health department.
And then 911.
Tell'em we need the Hazmat team.
POLICE HEADQUARTERS Watch it.
Detective, Logan.
Where's detective Logan? Right there.
Mike.
Mike.
Logan.
Josh Lemle, long time.
Are you alright? I wanna report a murder.
My own.
Law & Order CI Josh Lemle is a dead-man-walking.
He has polonium-210 poisoning.
Radiation poisoning.
Like Litvinenko in London.
Litvinenko was the first known fatality.
Josh is gonna be the first known American one.
He might never been known.
Homeland security wants us to keep this quiet.
I know.
Just passing on the request.
Your Hazmat team called the Feds.
They already knew.
Mr.
Lemle bolted out of the toxicology's office this morning.
Counter terrorism was quietly scouting the city for him.
OK, OK, so, how do we save him? - We don't.
- What do you mean we don't? It's irreversible multi-system organ failure.
He's got a week, tops.
Yeah, well, you don't know Josh.
He's tougher than he looks.
OK? You don't know polonium.
It's 5 million times more toxic than cyanide.
How contagious is he? It doesn't go through the skin.
You'd have to inhale it, or ingest it.
Wear gloves if you have cuts.
And, don't drink his urine.
You'll be fine.
Also, wear these film badges, exposure card.
It won't actually register polonium, that's alpha radiation.
But they make people feel better.
You're not pregnant, are you? So, how was he exposed? There's no needle marks.
And no skin breaks.
Best guess something he ate or drink.
- Last night? - He's farther along than that.
I'd say he was exposed sometime between Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday night.
- Doctor Foster.
- Excuse me.
Where this polonium come from? There's minor industrial usage.
But this quantity yearned in the black markets.
filthy territory.
OK, Hazmat team is heading to Lemle's apartment.
Check red levels, full suits.
Could go level A.
OK, Murtaugh.
We'll catch up.
OK.
Josh Lemle.
He was a friend of yours? I used to write for the Post, city/home beat He stuck out for me when I punched out that counsellor.
Then his sources dried up, the paper fired him.
Last time I heard, he was working for a business magazine.
So he wasn't a crusading international journalist? I made a mistake, he paid for it.
And then, I I didn't exactly keep in touch.
I can't just hand over my contacts.
I'm still a journalist.
Josh, if you can't cooperate.
Why come to me in the first place? To team up.
I want you to find out who did this to me.
And I wanna work my last story.
well, story in my office.
All right, look, I respect that.
But the first step is your family.
You didn't tell 'em, did you? I told Miriam I had a virus.
Your wife and son are about to get dispossessed from the house by 20 guys in space suits.
Call them right now.
It's OK.
It's gonna be alright.
There's an ambulance waiting downstairs for you and your boy.
Oh my god.
Kenny drank from Josh's orange juice this morning.
I didn't drink it mom.
You'll go in for further testing.
But Dr.
Foster said if two of you had been contaminated, you'd be showing symptoms by now.
Do you keep a family calendar? We need to track you husband's movements from last Tuesday on.
It's on the fridge.
Daddy.
- Come with us, daddy.
- I can't.
Anything? Hazmat's inside.
I'll see you in a bit, OK? Two tiny hot spots.
The couch, the bathroom.
But the fridge, pantry, all clean.
He was poisoned elsewhere.
There's a family calendar on the fridge.
We'll need that.
OK, Josh.
Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning.
Where else were you? Say goodbye to your chair.
Otherwise the office's OK.
It ain't hurt.
What about the thumb drive? Did you check the thumb drive? Yes, Mr.
Lemle.
Here you go.
No activity.
What is that thing? It's a thumb drive.
It's like a floppy, sort of.
Why would you think that it would be contaminated? Well, because I use it in my research, - and they wanna stop me.
- No offense, Mr.
Lemle.
But your articles, they're most CEO interviews, and company Puff pieces, I know.
But not this one.
My death sentence.
The Afghan pipeline story.
And you think this is why you were poisoned? Billions go into this pipeline.
It barely makes any head way.
The money gets siphoned off.
Half the government's in coach with a Russian Mob.
Best story I have had in years.
It's big, and yes.
They killed me for it.
They say Josh.
More about the thumb drive.
Right, sorry.
I picked it up Tuesday from my deep throat, Yuri.
Yuri? And do you think he poisoned you? No, he's on my side.
Former KGB.
He sees every document on the pipeline, because he's a lawyer at their UN mission.
I saw him Tuesday.
And I will bet someone contaminated our drop site.
You have a drop site? We checked the whole area.
Sewers, benches, this coffee cup.
All clean.
Just like the office and home.
A coffee cup, that's your drop site? Yeah, if Yuri has something for me, he puts a thumb drive in.
I collect it.
Last pickup was Tuesday night, 7 pm.
You two didn't go out after that? Yuri can't be seen in public with me.
It's too dangerous.
I must have gone home.
No.
Not for dinner.
Here, family calendar says that you were working late.
Right.
I had dinner with an editor from another magazine.
Miriam gets nervous.
You know, I've been thinking about changing jobs.
So, I left it off.
Where did you eat? - This guy has nothing to do - Josh.
you might have been followed.
Where did you eat? Pretty romantic place for a business dinner.
He was wooing me.
Who was she, Josh? Her name's Rebecca.
But my wife Detectives.
- All clear? - No, this is the opposite.
The whole place is hot.
But the kitchen, and the table on the back, they're on fire.
I'll get back to you.
Bye.
This is ground zero.
They poisoned him here.
We've got a bus coming to take his staff to the medical command center, and we're tracking down his two credit card receipts.
So the FBI's engaged? Do me a favor.
Tell them it's too hot to go in.
I already did that.
No one's going in a hot zone.
But what should we tell to press? Tell them it's a drill.
Like you should have done with that gas leak in January.
Is the dead man talking? I don't remember.
- Looks like it.
- Make sure.
I got a room full of Mayor and Homeland Security wanting details.
- Ross.
- Wheeler, this is Alana Binder.
She served Mr.
Lemle.
Actually, I just took the order.
And Willey the bus boy, he serves and clears.
Willey? Which one is he? He's Willey Septima.
He hasn't been in since Thursday.
Get a squad car to his apartment.
- Got it.
- Thank you.
There's no way Rebecca was involved in this.
We met in Chechnya.
We've known each other 15 years.
She's a friend.
So, why didn't you tell your wife you were having dinner with her? - It was past.
- It spilled over? Maybe once a year, I'll vouch you.
Well, We need to be in contact with her.
I mean, if you were exposed, she was exposed.
/ I don't know.
She disappears when she has a deadline.
OK, detectives.
It is too hot for me to take you in.
Let me walk you through the radiation trail.
We've got activity from dish washer and a trash.
But by far the most contamination is pick-up table in the kitchen.
Where the bus boys get the food.
And this table on the back.
Where we sat.
I had blintzes with sour cream and apple sauce.
So, what did she have to eat? She didn't eat.
She didn't eat? So you're just telling us this now? It's irrelevant.
You're right.
Someone must have followed me from the UN.
Wheeler.
We need to talk to Rebecca and Yuri.
And we need to talk to them right now.
They found the bus boy.
Sit tight.
The family said he had nausea and diarrhea.
First guess, and he perforated his skin from acute radiation poisoning.
So, that's what the Josh has to look forward to, huh? He's on a slower progressively downhill track.
We got something.
Medicine dropper.
Coffee cup.
Stuffed with hundreds.
Very high emissions.
That's the drop site cup.
This is so unethical.
Yuri trusts me.
Unethical? Josh, the guy killed the bus boy after paying him 2 grand to spike your sour cream.
- You don't know him.
- Yeah.
This is him.
NYPD.
Hands in the air Yuri.
Now! Put them up! Bingo.
Of course.
UN mission denies that I am Ex-KGB.
What do you expect? What do you do for them again? Economic research.
Josh thinks you're a consulate lawyer.
No.
I told him I had access to the contracts.
He misunderstood.
The funny thing is our State Department has no record of your working for the mission and any capacity.
Tell me why any of these is your concern.
Because Josh Lemle has been poisoned with polonium.
Polonium?! Is this a joke? No.
No.
No joke.
He's dying.
- And you're our prime suspect.
- Me? No.
I swear.
I swear.
Maybe someone followed you to the dropoff, then followed Josh? No, impossible.
I was very cautious.
We used these secret signals.
In the subway, five transfers before I surface.
Yeah, you told Josh you were a spy, right? So, let me get this straight.
You were with the KGB.
But you didn't make our OK.
Maybe not KGB.
Nonetheless, everyone spies on someone, you know.
So, you're not KGB.
And you're not at the UN mission.
No.
I live in Brighton Beach.
I used to be a musician.
Now I'm a piano tuner.
Urgh Listen.
I want someone to write this story.
If I approach reporters as an immigrant, they walk away.
So I, so I embellish.
What about the info on the trans-Afghan pipeline? I translated articles of some Russian papers, blogs.
Everything I gave to him, I took off the web.
A Brighton Beach Walter Mitty.
What do we tell Josh? Alright, now, wait a minute.
I mean, this might not be the whole story.
I bet Josh isn't the only one who fell for his spy games.
Someone might have followed Yuri to Josh.
He played you friend.
I doubt anyone else fell for his act.
Friend or not, someone still poisoned him.
Or do you think that's an act, too? I know you think you owe him.
But Josh hasn't been straight with us.
Especially about Rebecca.
If he keeps telling us that she couldn't be behind this, we should look real hard at her.
Here I am.
Stringer for everybody.
Gorbachev made me tea.
How was he? Stick to polonium.
He made us tea.
Rebecca and me.
I couldn't keep lying to my wife and kid.
Look, one of these people who has the person that he marries, whom he loves, you know, and a person he could've married, whom he never stops loving.
You show me that person on the street.
I spit on him.
I am him.
It's not Rebecca.
Look, Joshua, I understand.
But, you gotta help me here.
Where is she? Just tell me where she's staying, where she works, anything.
We're 0 for 4.
Rebecca's editor says he hasn't seen her for days and he wants know what this is about.
Make that 0 for 5.
She checked out of the University Club this afternoon.
We missed her by three hours.
Maybe Josh tipped her off.
She's on the run.
What else is on Josh's list? Her parent's house in Great Neck.
Riche and his squad car are on the way.
Looks like someone else got there first.
The car is registered to Rebecca's father.
Lucky for him.
He had a remote control starter.
So, where's Rebecca? We're not sure.
We can't get inside.
Is the family in there? - Major Case? - Yeah.
Who are you? Call Ross.
You have no jurisdiction here.
Well, we need to talk to Rebecca Slater.
Thank you for your help, detective.
We'll take it from here.
Don't give me that line when you could Geez.
All of a sudden, a man in black crawling out all the way.
They knew all along.
Josh was never the target.
It's Rebecca.
The Feds won't confirm or deny Rebecca was at her parents' home when the bomb went off.
They won't confirm or deny any investigation.
Oh, boy, that's some cooperation.
They're not looking for cooperation.
They've told us to back off.
And are we? We're proceeding on a separate track.
And you can go back to your friend Josh.
And what? Tell him that he is collateral damage? You need to tell him the truth.
Yuri's fake, and Rebecca was the actual target.
That's not really a call I wanna make.
We need to know if she told him about any story she's been working on.
Do you want me to talk to him? No.
The guy held my back when everyone else hung me out to dry.
I owe him.
I'm dying because someone made a mistake? What about Yuri, Mike? Story.
Sorry, man.
That guy wasn't what he claimed to be.
How can you be sure Rebecca was? Someone tried to kill her tonight with a car bomb.
- Is she alright? - We don't know.
The Feds wouldn't let us talk to her.
Josh, what was her story about? She'd never tell me.
We were lovers, but But if she had a big story, I would have to find out about it on TV just like everyone else.
Could you email her? Uh Bourbon, please.
Rebecca, I'm detective Wheeler.
Josh's on his way.
Son of a bitch.
He set me up? We pressured him.
Just a few questions.
Same thing I told the FBI.
Forget it.
Rebecca.
He's gone, isn't he? There's nothing you can do? Maybe find his killer.
We need to know what you're working on, who you saw the day Josh's poisoned.
I gotta get back to work.
Rebecca, you're in danger.
I've been doing this for 17 years.
I know how to take care of myself.
Rebecca.
Rebecca.
At least tell us who your story might be pissing off.
I cover the Middle East.
Relationships are complicated.
And your relationship ended Josh's life.
He deserves to know why.
Are you familiar with Sarah Myers? The young teacher from Brooklyn, who was shot by the Israeli army.
Now she's a martyr for the Palestinians.
Her face, the perfect photogenic symbol of Israeli brutality.
No offense but I've, But I've seen hundred stories about her.
Not this one.
If I get you something.
Do not share it with the FBI.
Sarah Myers, A young "International Teachers for Peace" volunteer, had only been in the West Bank for a few weeks, when she decided to approach to the Israeli tanks.
She was hoping to convince Israeli army to spare Palestinian children's school from their advancing bulldozers.
But Sarah didn't know that the Israeli army had just received a tip that a suicide bomber dressed as a blonde American woman is going to target them.
They ordered her to halt.
She continued on, flashing them the peace sign.
Then So, Rebecca is saying the Israelis got a false tip that the Palestinians set Sarah Myers up, and created their own martyr.
Could be true.
Could be Israeli spin.
Either way, kill Rebecca, kill the story.
If someone in the Middle East wanted her dead, why wait till she got to New York? They waited till she was dining with Josh.
They used polonium.
They wanted to throw suspicion onto Josh and the Russians, and away from Rebecca's report on Sarah Myers.
They? On American soil, who is this they? - Al Queda, Syria? - Wow.
How do you even begin to count the groups that wouldn't want the story to get out? You don't.
You go the other way.
I know someone who'd love to see this story lead the evening news.
I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of Rebecca's sources.
Palestinians sent Sarah Myers to her death? Yes.
I know all about this.
And, No.
It's not Israeli spin.
It's true.
And it's also the last story we want made public.
Back up.
You're the chair of the US-Israel friendship PAC.
You're telling me you want the story kept quite? What's done is done.
I'm asking you as an old friend.
Let this one go.
I can't do that, Artie.
It's a murder investigation.
Not yours.
Our understanding is the Feds asserted jurisdiction.
- Where did you hear that? - It's my job.
Now I'm asking you as a Jew, and as a friend of Israel.
Don't let the story out.
I'll take it under advisement.
Now I have a favor to ask you.
You know this guy? He was at the scene of a car bombing last night.
- What agency? - That, nobody knows.
His name is Nick Flanders.
And I believe he's on our side.
What side is that? USA, Danny.
USA.
I need you both inside, now.
Close the door, please.
OK, stuff your notes in your desk.
We move on.
- It's our case.
- Not any more.
Now, wait a minute.
I'm not closing out this case.
Your friend Josh has been an obstacle to his own murder investigation, from the get.
He won't even tell us what Rebecca told him.
Because he's protecting his story.
Let me go back to Rebecca.
Rebecca won't talk.
The Feds have blocked us out.
Even the Israeli government, which you would have to think, would be interested in clearing their name, even they want us to drop this.
- What, did your PAC guy tell you that? - Come again? Is that what this is about? Israel? - Logan.
- Wait a minute.
Are you afraid that Israel's gonna look worse than it already does? We've been ordered off.
By who? The Feds? Or Israel? Let me ask you something.
On this one, are you a Jew-first and cop-second? - Is that the story? - We're done here, Logan.
There are good guys, and there are bad guys here.
We're dealing with car bombs.
Terrorists.
Hamas, PLO.
They blow people up, in cafes, buses, shopping malls.
Who are you kidding? You think Sarah Myers is the first innocent that Israelis have killed? Captain, Logan.
Thank you for your help, detectives.
We're off this case.
Miriam's coming in.
We need to decide if I should die in a hospital or home.
Go home to your wife and kid.
We've been called off.
I'm not even sure if the Feds want this solved or buried.
You heard from Rebecca? Deep background? She's trying to tie my poisoning into her story.
She's meeting someone at a safe-house in Brooklyn.
A friend of Sarah Myers from the "International Teachers".
Where is this safe-house? I'll get my chair and we'll go.
Josh, go home.
It's my turn to help you.
Captain was asking where you were.
Yeah? Did you tell him? No.
I'm your partner.
But he wants us off the case.
Well, all I was doing was visiting as a friend.
The captain's feeling is if your friend was as loyal to his wife as you were to him.
Oh, is that what the captain was thinking? Geez, if only life was so neat and simple.
Look, I have 10-year-gap in my relationship with Josh.
And the only reason Josh was going to meet Rebecca was so he could break it off with her.
OK.
I gotta get out of here.
Listen to this.
Josh says Rebecca's doing an interview with one of Sarah Myers' friends in a safe-house.
- A friend of Sarah Myers'? - Yeah.
Here? Yeah.
I'll get a coat.
CSU and the ME are on their way.
Poor Josh.
The last thing he needs to hear is that he outlived Rebecca.
She was defenestrated.
Not just out the window, but through it.
The ligature marks on her wrist and ankles indicate two people did it.
Dr.
Rodgers.
I just got off We've barely done test and they're kicking us out.
Detectives.
Sorry you made a pointless trip.
You got here awfully fast.
You're little too late.
You should have called us the second you got the address.
I didn't realize we're coordinating.
We're not.
You're done here.
Isn't that right, captain? Actually, Mr.
Flanders, there's been a change of plan.
We're going to have to share jurisdiction after all.
I need a word with you.
Excuse me.
- This is.
- Hey, Murtaugh.
I need a favor.
We have a protocol, captain.
Our agreement was to the Lemle case.
Until I get a call from my commissioner.
This is an NYPD crime scene.
Do I have to repeat myself? We're the authority here.
- What are you doing? - This laptop's registering high alpha-rays.
- How long were you handling this? - Excuse me? Sir, you may have been contaminated.
Captain Ross, step aside.
We need to get you down to the medical command center right away.
It's weird.
It's not popping at all.
Well, you're safe, and sorry.
- Where's my laptop? - Rebecca's? It tested clean, too.
The hard drive was scrubbed.
Someone overwrote data on the swap partition.
- 7 times.
- Meaning what? I thought you'd know.
It's in your Department of Defense standard.
Give me the laptop, detectives.
It's on the way, Nick.
Uh, ah, by the way, the captain sent you a regard from a mutual friend, Artie.
Artie Abelson? In the Israeli PAC? Not a name I'm aware of.
How strange.
He's aware of yours.
He fed it to us.
That proves he's not my friend.
Yeah.
Why was Nick Flanders at the crime scene? Best guess? Coming to broker a deal.
- A deal? - Danny.
Breaking news.
Reporters will write for fame or principle.
But, they're sometimes willing to NOT write for cold cash.
Obviously someone who didn't believe in negotiation beat Nick to the meeting.
So, Rebecca Slater had hard evidence of indicating those Israeli soldiers.
She did.
Naive Sarah Myers, in her glorious Palestinian solidarity red scarf was set up to be martyred.
Then why wouldn't you or your PAC or the state of Israel want the whole world to know that? Because if people dig around, they're also gonna learn that Sarah Myers was a mole from Mossad.
Israeli secret service.
Israel inadvertently shot their own spy and turned her into a Palestinian martyr? Tell me that doesn't say Middle East all over it.
OK.
So either the Palestinians didn't wanna reveal that Sarah was an Israeli spy or the Israelis didn't want their spy nest disclosed.
Is that it? We're still not sure if Rebecca even knew Sarah Myers was an Israeli spy.
She knew.
Right, Josh? This isn't a big surprise to you, is it? Because you have Rebecca's notes.
At our last supper.
At Vechera.
when we're talking shop and she let it slip that she had a cyber storage account.
So when you told me she was the target I, I guessed her password.
You guessed it? We had a dog in Chechnya.
Named Pucinella.
I got it in the first try.
OK.
If Josh could get into her cyber account, her killers could, too.
When did Josh and Rebecca make the date? Over a month ago.
They kept a private email account.
So, they thought killers knew her whole schedule.
They could have struck her at any time.
They purposely chose her dinner with Josh, and polonium to throw suspicion onto Russia and off the Middle East.
Then all they had to do was to bribe the bus boy.
How did they know which bus boy to go to? I mean, this was too well-planned for them to believe that's a chance.
You're right.
They would have planted someone else in the restaurant.
It's a small staff.
All long term employees, I can't picture any of them collaborating with terrorist.
Well, there's another possibility.
Maybe somebody was duped.
We think your bus boy was paid by someone to plant the polonium.
Do you recognize any of these people? Maybe friends of Willey's? I'm sorry, I don't.
It's a beautiful ring.
From your boyfriend? Leo.
I've never had much luck with guys, till now.
Do you have any pictures of him? No.
We only met 3 weeks ago.
When is the last time you saw him? Last week.
He has some family problem to deal with.
You have his address? Maybe his cell phone number? Queens, somewhere.
I have his cell phone memorized.
Oh, could you write it down? Leo's a good guy.
I mean, he has his green card.
- He's a gentleman.
- Big tipper? Oh, yeah, he tipped me double.
Willey, my busboy, he tip him triple.
'Cause Leo drives a Limo, so, he understands the service industry.
He used to walk me into the ATM to deposit my cash.
Which ATM? The one around the corner from the restaurant.
- How did you get this photo? - Leg work.
We checked the cash machines near the restaurant.
Cross checked photos with the staff.
And he was there.
He didn't eat.
OK.
This is a good lead.
Thank you.
Oh.
Hey, Nick.
We didn't have to call you.
So, one hand washes the other here.
You know what I mean? This is an espionage man involving information sensitive to the US.
Sensitive? We have a US citizen sitting in the basement, about to going to total organ failure.
His bloods are on your hands.
So, screw the political fallout.
I wanna know his name.
OK.
The name we have is Leo Brezner.
Sometimes he uses a Andreas Mirko.
An international terrorist, sometimes a hit man.
Travels with Maltese passport.
Thanks.
Leo's cell phone.
Last used Friday at Newark Airport.
We checked every Limo on the concourse.
And then someone remembers this town car's been parked for an awful long time.
Found him slumped over the steering wheel.
He is barely alive.
Doesn't look like your guy.
It's an old picture.
I was instructed not to care about the woman reporter's companion.
She was the contract.
Saw them, she didn't eat.
I tracked her down, fulfilled it.
How did you know the waitress? I told her she had pretty eyes.
Bought her a fake emerald.
She introduced me to her bus boy.
Who you bought with cash.
How did you get infected? They must have poisoned me when they gave me the polonium.
Who's they? Doesn't matter.
They killed you too.
Why would you protect them now? They were two businessmen in Germany, said they were Russians.
But these days, who knows? Could be Hamas, to stop the story, or Syria or Israel.
For its own reasons.
Rebecca would have figured this out.
I'm not in her league.
She thought you were.
All right.
Hey, Josh, It's no accident that Rebecca mentioned her cyber storage account to you.
If anything was gonna happen to her, she wanted you to finish her story.
Logan.
Yeah.
Thank you.