Law & Order (1990) s22e01 Episode Script

In the criminal justice system,
the people are represented
by two separate,
yet equally important groups:
the police, who investigate crime,
and the district attorneys,
who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
I was there when this girl died.
Sirenko put two in her chest
right in front of me.
We were meeting Sirenko's friend.
Ava had been reporting him.
The old guy starts screaming
she was gonna ruin everything.
Anyone we find in Sirenko's house
we cuff, along with him.
NYPD!
That's all the makings of a bomb.
- Where you going?
- Gonna find the bomb.
What exactly did the police say to you?
Stay with me.
Shut the city down now.
I got eyes on the device.
Evacuate. Get out of there right now.
You want the gun?
I'll give you a chance
like you did my undercover.
We have Sirenko on two counts
of murder, pandering,
sex trafficking, and, of course,
the bombing and terrorist charges.
The evidence is strong?
Yeah, we recovered a handgun in his car
that was used in both murders.
As for the bombing, police
found chemicals and components
in his home, a schematic of the hotel,
not to mention he was apprehended
at the site of the attack.
Okay, good.
The two murders alone
should put him behind bars
for the rest of his life.
You mean five.
What do you mean five?
Police just found
three bodies in the hotel,
or remnants of the three bodies, anyway.
They were employees
Two men, one woman.
NYPD sent cadaver dogs
over there this morning.
I thought the building was evacuated.
So did everyone else.
It's awful.
But the other 546 people survived.
It could have been a lot worse.
Okay.
Let's get to work.
I still don't get it.
Why would Sirenko want
to blow up a building
filled with NATO representatives?
He's from Chechnya,
sympathetic to Russia,
just looking to make a statement.
Well, that's my point.
Since when did drug-dealing,
sex-trafficking gangsters
make political statements,
international political
statements, at that?
Well, the evidence is strong.
We know Sirenko killed Ava and Vince,
and we also know he built
and planted the bomb.
But we don't know why?
Does it matter?
It could, if we're missing something.
The man that you and Ava
were with on the boat,
the man Ava was recording,
do you have any idea what his name was?
No.
Do you happen to remember
what he looked like?
Sort of, he was old.
What about the way he spoke,
did he have any kind of accent?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
Was that something
you'd ever heard before?
It was Russian, I think,
or Chechnya like
Like all the others.
Good.
Nicole, is there anything else
that you remember
that you think might be helpful?
Well, he was very neat.
He he had, um,
darkish, spiky hair.
Anything else about his appearance,
his clothes, anything unusual?
Well, he actually
He he did show us
this like, metal thing,
like he was from
the military or something.
It was shaped like a star.
That's really helpful, Nicole.
Thank you.
Four nights ago on the 5th.
I have no idea
Cocktail party, reception,
any kind of event where
there was a Russian or Chechen
politician wearing military garb?
Yeah?
Okay.
And you're sure that was on the 5th?
Okay, great.
Yes, yes, the sooner the better.
Thanks a lot.
Hey, I just spoke with somebody
at the State Department.
It turns out there was a reception
at the Russian Embassy on the 5th,
the night before Ava was killed.
Great. Track down that guest list.
It's on its way.
What am I looking at here?
Name's Daniel Rublev,
"Senior Liaison
to the President of Russia."
What the hell does that mean?
It means he's friends with Putin.
State Department said
the same exact thing.
He's the man Ava was recording
on that boat,
same man who raped and attacked Ava.
So Rublev was on the boat
with the two young girls.
What's that have to do with
Sirenko or the murder trial?
I'm not sure yet.
But Sirenko is a thug, not a terrorist.
He couldn't care less about NATO.
You think Rublev was calling the shots?
Yes.
I think he ordered Sirenko
to blow up that hotel.
And I also think he's sitting
in some lavish townhouse
right now with his feet up
sipping some expensive whiskey,
thinking he got away with it.
Your disdain is well earned,
Nolan, but can we prove it?
Well, like I said on the phone,
we're just looking for some evidence
that links Rublev to Sirenko.
We got something.
And you might be right, Rublev
seems to be the shot caller.
Hey.
I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am
to hear about your informant.
Thanks.
Pull up the Andre video.
Who's Andre?
Andre Lenkov.
We IDed him as Sirenko's lieutenant,
and he's the idiot playing video
games on his phone right there.
That's Sirenko and Rublev behind Andre.
They're at a social club Sirenko owns.
We put a wire in there two months ago.
It's on the other side of the room,
that's why we can't hear
anything that they're saying.
But five minutes later,
Andre and Sirenko
get close enough that we get this.
This dude Rublev scares me, bro.
It is what it is.
Yeah, I guess.
It's just you seen his eyes?
Cold, it's like he doesn't even see you.
And the dude's best friend is Putin.
Man, I don't want to be
messing with any of this.
This is good.
It proves Sirenko knows Rublev,
knows who he is,
- knows who his connections are.
- Yeah.
It doesn't necessarily prove
that Rublev is the boss,
or that he was connected
to any of these crimes.
Okay. So we need more.
We need Andre.
- Andre.
- Who are you?
Hey, we need to talk.
Yeah, sure.
But I've got to call my
lawyer first, you know,
- make an appointment.
- Okay.
Yeah, yeah, I could do that,
or I could just
bust your dumb ass right here right now
in front of all your friends.
What, are you going to do something?
You want to punch me?
- Nah.
- Nah.
It's not my style.
It's not your style, right.
You just like beating up
little girls, right,
and then you pimp them out
to rich Russian pedophiles.
Yeah?
Tell you what, you either go with us
voluntarily right now hey
Or I go over in front of your friends
and I tell them I'm a cop,
you and me are friends,
and you've been cooperating.
- Yeah, right?
- You trying to get me killed?
You know, I'm just
telling you the way it is.
Yo, guys
All right, all right, let's take a ride.
- Walk that way.
- Mm-hmm.
Let's start with Rublev.
Is he your boss?
Maybe, but I'm not sure.
What?
I report to Sirenko.
I got no idea if he
answers to Rublev or not.
Okay.
What about the yacht he rents?
Were you on it the morning
Ava was murdered?
Okay.
You have to talk for this
to be worth anything.
Yes. Yes, I was on the boat.
Tell me what happened.
Why did Ava run away?
Why did Sirenko chase and kill her?
Rublev thought she was recording him.
I heard him yelling and
screaming, "Give me your phone."
Next thing I know, I see
Ava running off the boat.
Did Rublev tell Sirenko to kill her?
I don't know.
What about the bombing?
Was that Rublev's idea?
Did he tell Sirenko to do that?
I don't know.
Look, look, I wasn't in
the loop on any of that.
I knew Sirenko was
working on something big.
But I just try to mind my own business.
Hold on, people who
mind their own business
don't get good deals, they go to prison
for a very long time.
- Now
- I can't tell you something
I don't know, and I don't know.
You're under arrest.
Under arrest for what?
Accessory to murder, aiding and abetting
an act of terror, sex trafficking
Hey, hey, hey, hold on a second.
I didn't say I was done talking.
I did find something.
What the hell are you talking about?
I found her phone near the boat.
She must have tossed it
when she was running.
Whose phone?
Ava.
You girls will move to Russia some day,
live with me.
But it's so cold over there, no?
When it's cold,
we're going to go to my house
- and serve dinner.
- A-ha.
It's nice and warm, huh?
So you're rich then?
Ha, and,
powerful, too, eh?
Soon, I'll be even more powerful.
That's so cool.
The whole world will know
how powerful Russia is.
America will realize.
Why? What are you going to do?
I can't tell you this,
but it's going to be big.
It's going to be all over
the news and the internet.
And it's going to
be a very loud boom.
Yeah, that's that's so cool.
Rublev figured out
she was recording him,
went nuts, started attacking her.
Arrest this son of a bitch.
Daniel Rublev, you're under arrest.
Hold on. Arrest?
That's ridiculous.
No, no, no, no.
Hey, not a decision you want to make.
Hey, hey, hey, step back.
All right, all right, all right,
I'll take a ride with you.
Like I was saying,
Daniel Rublev, you're under arrest.
You're under arrest, too,
now, turn around.
Look, I know you speak English,
so just turn your ugly ass around.
You know, it's so much easier
if you just do what you're told.
Click him.
We're sure we want
to try these two together
in the same trial?
They are equally
culpable and despicable,
and part of the same
criminal enterprise.
There's a lot more evidence
against Sirenko than Rublev.
But the video on
Ava's phone helps a lot,
confirms Rublev was, at a minimum,
aware of the plan to bomb the hotel.
And that he's a pedophile and a rapist.
Yeah, that, too.
Rublev's lawyer just
filed a motion to suppress.
Suppress what?
Your Honor, there is no one
to authenticate the veracity
of the video found on
the phone since the person
who recorded that video is dead.
Right, right, because your client
ordered his henchmen to kill her.
That's enough, Mr. Price.
Mr. Braun's argument is ridiculous.
Rule 9 of the New York
Rules of Evidence,
it states that the person
who records video
- is not required to testify
- Yeah, but
Meaning that it is up to the jury
to decide if it's authentic.
But the burden is on
prosecution to provide
evidence of authenticity.
And since the people
allegedly obtained this phone
from some unknown
confidential informant,
whose name they refuse to reveal,
they have failed to meet that burden.
Mr. Price, are you willing to disclose
your informant's identity
and have them testify?
We can't. We've agreed
to keep this person's name
out of the public record.
Which means there's no way
to authenticate the phone
and, therefore, the video.
Well, if that's the case,
and there's no one else
willing to provide context
as to where and how this phone
was recovered, it's out.
- Motion granted.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
You sure we can't persuade
Andre to testify?
We can sweeten the terms of his deal,
downgrade a few of the charges.
I already tried.
His lawyer laughed at me, literally.
Okay.
But we don't have a lot
of evidence against Rublev,
and what we do have is circumstantial
A few texts, a few emails,
a few wire transfers,
but nothing that
directly implicates Rublev
in the bombing or the murders.
If Andre's out,
there is only one other person
who can testify to what Rublev
was actually saying in that video.
I'll set up a meeting right away.
We're keeping Nicole
at a safe house for now
until the trial is over,
until we can locate someone
who's willing to take her in.
No family?
Not really, not anybody
who's willing to get involved.
She was living with her mother,
and everything seemed to be going fine.
She was in school,
she got decent grades.
And then two years ago,
her mother died
COVID, she had
a pre-existing lung condition.
So then she went to live with an aunt.
It didn't work out.
Then foster family, and then
she decided to run away,
decided that she would be
better off on her own
out on the street.
At 15?
That's why we need
to take care of this girl.
We need to protect her 'cause
God knows nobody ever has.
No, I get that. I do.
- Good.
- But right now, we
We need her to testify.
If there was another way, hey,
trust me, I wouldn't be here.
Can you arrange a meeting?
If you can keep her off the stand.
That's a hard thing to guarantee.
I will try my best.
You have my word.
But I can't make any promises.
Yeah, got it.
Hey.
Well, sometimes you should
let the other guy
come to you instead of
always being on the attack.
No, playing it safe is no fun.
Okay, if you say so.
Do you want to play?
No, we actually have
to head back to the city.
Captain Benson and the prosecutor
want to talk to you again.
Okay.
Um, can we go to Delphina after,
the one on 42nd Street?
Sure.
You get your own personal makeup artist,
and you get to try on as many
lipsticks and beauty samples
as you want. It's really cool.
It sounds amazing.
I get to play DJ in the car, right?
That depends.
- Come on, I have to play
- Well, no more Taylor Swift.
- No more Taylor Swift, okay?
- Oh, my God, fine.
Oh.
Down, down, down, down.
Get down. Stay down, okay?
Stay down on the ground,
you understand me?
You okay?
No, no, no, no, no.
No, Nicole!
No, no, no. Please.
10-13, 10-13. Shots fired.
Suspects fleeing northbound
in Lancaster Road
in a black Escalade.
Officer down.
- Copy that.
- Stay there, sweetie.
Do not move.
Hey, it's okay, it's okay.
All right, look, look.
You're going to be fine.
All right, help is on the way.
Just gotta hang in there.
Just hang in there.
Dawson, how's Amanda?
Tell me. Tell me that she's alive.
I tried to stop the bleeding,
but she was alive
when she left, all right?
The EMTs were working on her,
talking to her,
so that's a good sign, right?
Yeah, that's that's a very good sign.
That's a very good sign.
Dawson, what happened?
Where were the shooters?
How did they even know
that you were here?
I have no idea, they were just here.
They were sitting in the car,
I think, over there.
It was about three, maybe four of them.
I don't know. I heard gunshots.
Amanda grabbed Nicole,
pulled her behind the car,
and then I saw Amanda get hit.
And then a shooter ran up on her,
you know, to finish the job.
Then I shot him.
Okay. Yeah. You did a good thing.
- You saved Amanda's life.
- I hope so.
Where's Nicole?
She's inside.
You're sure that you're not hurt.
They didn't they didn't touch you?
No, no. I I stayed
I hid and I stayed on the ground.
Amanda, she she pulled me away
and she saved me.
I'm glad she did.
What happened to her?
Is she
She's on the way to the hospital and
she lost a lot of blood.
So we're going to see.
This is all my fault.
- No.
- If she dies
No, Nicole, she's not going to die.
She's not going to die.
And this is not your fault.
Whatever happened,
- this has nothing to do with you.
- No, I screwed up.
- I
- Nicole
I didn't know.
Don't do that. Don't do that.
Somebody Snapchatted me this morning
Wait, what?
And I responded.
But I
I asked you to give me all your devices.
I know. I
I-I kept one.
I'm so sorry.
It's okay.
It's okay.
Listen to me.
There's a million ways that these people
could have found out
where you were staying.
She was hiding a cell phone?
Look, she's a kid.
Yeah, well, I'm glad she's okay.
She's fine physically, anyway.
What about Detective Rollins?
The doctor said that
her surgery went well.
She's in stable condition but
hoping for the best.
We can still nail Rublev and Sirenko,
but we need Nicole's help, all right?
She's the only person who
She can tie Rublev to Sirenko.
She's been through a lot,
and if there's any way
that we can do this without her
But there isn't.
We need Nicole's testimony.
It's too risky.
We'll protect her.
- Is that a joke?
- No.
I know it's a hard thing to promise
It's an impossible thing to promise.
Well, that doesn't mean
we just ignore the fact
that she's a witness,
and Rublev and Sirenko are monsters.
They have no boundaries.
They sell young girls, they kill people.
Hell, they blew up a damn building.
- They gunned down
- Okay.
Are you kidding me?
I know very well who these
people are, trust me.
And I want them just as much as you do.
Well, then for God's sake,
help me put these two animals in prison
for the rest of their damn lives.
Did you call my mom's sister?
Her name is Allison.
We did, but she's
She's not doing so well right now.
So
She said no?
Yeah.
But we're going to find you
someplace to live, Nicole,
someplace safe to live,
I promise you that.
But right now,
I need to ask you about the case.
Mm-hmm.
About Sirenko and Rublev.
The guys who
Yes.
And if you don't want to talk about it,
that is okay with me.
Mm.
Where's Nicole?
She's in Toronto.
Excuse me?
I finally found a relative
that was willing to take her in,
somebody who would help her
and care for her.
What are you saying?
I'm saying that she's
not going to testify.
You sent her away?
You put her on a plane
without consulting me?
I did what I thought was best for her.
Even if that means
letting Rublev walk free?
Right now, nothing is more important
than giving this little girl a chance,
of a semblance of a normal happy life.
I don't care what Captain Benson thinks.
She doesn't get to play God.
Get a court order and bring
this girl back to New York.
Not that easy, according to our
extradition treaty with Canada, anyway.
If a request for extradition
is made under this treaty
for a person under the age of 18,
and it is determined that
extradition would disrupt
the social readjustment of that person,
may be recommended that
the request for extradition
be withdrawn.
Still. Worth a shot.
But to what end?
Excuse me?
I think Benson is right.
This girl, Nicole, is
She's seen too much.
She's endured too much.
We're not social workers.
Exactly, we're prosecutors.
And our job is to provide
the most compelling evidence possible.
And right now, given what
Nicole has been through,
the defense could use all that trauma
to its advantage on cross.
It doesn't matter how composed she is,
the jury will view her
as emotionally disturbed
and unreliable.
So what's your solution?
We cut a deal with Sirenko.
What?
He's as big a thug as Rublev.
But he's less shiny.
The Feds just released a high-profile
political prisoner
so we could try Rublev,
meaning Rublev is a higher
priority than Sirenko.
Jack, Sirenko is just as bad.
He murdered that young girl, Ava,
he shot her two times at
close range like it was nothing.
I never said he was a saint, Nolan.
I'm just telling you the way it is.
The mandate is to convict Rublev.
That's what you pushed for.
How you convict him,
I don't really care,
that's up to you,
but you need to get this done.
So you want to know about Rublev.
Correct.
That's simple.
He provides protection,
contacts, and capital.
If I need something, you know,
something big, I call him.
You know, in exchange, we pay
We pay a royalty, 10%.
So he's your boss?
Partner.
But I can't really say no
to him, you understand.
I do.
What about the murder
First murder, I should say, Ava.
Look, I feel bad. It's
There's no need for
any of that, Mr. Sirenko.
- Any of what?
- Hollow remorse.
I don't buy it, and it certainly
won't move the needle
from a legal perspective.
So do us all a favor,
just tell us what happened,
nothing more.
Rublev likes to tell these girls
how important he is,
how his friends are very
powerful men back in Russia.
So Ava started recording him,
you know, with her phone.
But Rublev found out what she was doing.
He starts beating on her.
Now, Ava freaks,
was smashing him with a bottle.
She ran off the boat.
Did you see this?
Are you in the same room
as Ava and Rublev?
No, I was upstairs having a smoke.
Now, when I seen Ava,
you know, running down the dock
and still walking towards the bow.
That's when Rublev comes running over
and tells me what happened.
He says, "Ava's got a video.
She's going to the police."
Did he tell you to kill her?
Yeah.
He said she knew too much.
And so I so I shot her.
What was Rublev bragging about?
Why was he so upset?
Why'd he want her dead?
Because he told her about the bomb.
But can you believe that?
You know, big-shot Russian politician,
and here he is drinking
a mimosa on a Tuesday morning,
you know, bragging to some hooker.
Don't you dare call
that little girl a hooker.
Okay.
Let me try this again.
Now, here he is drinking
a mimosa on a Tuesday morning
telling some little girl
'bout how he's going to
blow up a building.
No, that's why he wanted her dead.
If you want the jury
to hear any of this,
you'll need to dismiss the murder one
and terrorism charges, and,
take life without parole off the table.
We didn't have a choice.
20 years is still a long time.
But life is longer.
World ain't perfect.
Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky
and he'll get stabbed in prison.
I'm not joking.
Price.
Cosgrove gave me a call,
said that you had cut
a deal with Sirenko.
Is that true?
That is correct, yes.
Sirenko is pleading guilty
to murder two,
aiding and abetting an act of terror
That's a bunch of crap.
That's a bunch of crap.
Yeah, you're right.
But given the complexity of the case
Is that what you tell yourself?
You know what you did?
You baited the hook with
Sirenko to chase a headline.
Oh.
Senior Russian official gets convicted
of murder, domestic terror.
That make you and all
the frat boys down in DC
feel all warm and fuzzy?
Slow down, detective.
You don't know me.
But that doesn't change
the reality of the situation,
which is that we're following orders,
you understand that.
Orders that are coming down
from the attorney general
of the United States.
Huh.
Here's the reality.
This case cost me
the life of my undercover,
so tell all this to his mother.
His name was Vincent, by the way.
In case you forgot. Vincent.
I've known Daniel Rublev for six years.
Was he your boss?
I guess so.
What do you mean you guess so?
I mean, he doesn't do any of the work,
but he still gets a piece of the action,
you know, 10% of the money we bring in.
How come?
'Cause he's Daniel Rublev.
What's that mean?
You know, he's got a lot of friends,
powerful friends.
So if I need a, you know, a favor,
you know, protection or a loan,
you know, I go to him.
Did Daniel Rublev ask you
to kill Ava Marchenko?
Yes.
Did he ask you to kill Vincent Lowe?
No, no, that one I did on my own.
And why's that?
Because he was a pain in the ass.
He made me nervous.
He asked too many questions.
That's why you killed him?
Yeah, yeah, pretty much.
What about the bombing
of the Dunlap Hotel?
Did Rublev order you to do that?
Yeah.
Did you have any choice in the matter?
Well, yeah, I could say yes and live,
or no, and have some Russian assassin
put two shiny ones
in the back of my head.
So I say yes.
Nothing further.
Mr. Sirenko, you've entered
into a cooperation
agreement with the district
attorney's office, correct?
Yes.
They said that they would
reduce your sentence
if you helped convict Mr. Rublev?
Yeah, something like that.
So your agenda is to make sure
that Mr. Rublev is convicted.
My agenda is to make sure
I get out of jail before I'm 60.
But to do that, you've got
to deliver for Mr. Price,
and make sure that
Mr. Rublev is convicted.
No, I'm not sure about that.
Nah, he just told me to tell the truth.
The truth?
Is that possible?
Excuse me?
Well, you've been charged with a litany
of heinous crimes
Murder, sex trafficking,
domestic terror.
You're a career criminal.
Today alone, you've
admitted to two murders,
and a bombing that killed
three more innocent people.
How can anyone possibly
believe anything that you say?
You know, just because I kill people
doesn't mean I'm a liar.
Wow.
You know, that may be the
greatest line I've ever heard.
"Just because I've killed people
doesn't mean I'm a liar."
Nothing further.
Rublev is willing to
disclose state secrets
in exchange for leniency?
His lawyer says Rublev
is terrified that he'll tell us
everything he knows about
the Russian oligarchs,
the Russian president,
the way he does business,
his plans to take over Eastern Europe.
Who cares?
The State Department already knows
how the Russian president does business.
That might be true,
but we need to run it
by the State Department.
No, we know what they'll want
to do, Jack, is cut a deal.
I think you're right.
So if we know the answer,
why even ask the question?
We can't let the State
Department drive the train.
They don't care about victims,
about people, about Ava,
about Stabler's CI, who got
two bullets in his brain,
three bodies incinerated
Don't do that.
Once again, I agree with you, Nolan.
But if you're asking me
to bury Rublev's offer
to disclose state secrets,
the answer is no.
I know everything about the man
The way he thinks,
the way he does business
the way he kills.
But before we get into specifics,
we just need to know that
you're willing to immunize
Mr. Rublev.
Immunize?
Are you out of your mind?
He's responsible for four murders.
He's the single most important witness
in the history of this country.
Russia is this country's greatest fear,
its greatest threat.
And my client sitting right here
knows everything there is
to know about it everything.
And he's willing to share these
intimate and haunting details
- with the State Department.
- Immunity is not an option.
Then we'll go over your head.
We'll call the Secretary of State.
Well, call him.
Call the president, too. I don't care.
The DA's office is in charge
of this case, not the Feds,
which means right now,
I am the only person
that matters, no one else.
And immunity is off the table.
I don't care what he knows.
Don't go.
Please.
I need your help.
I need you to help my family.
Keep them safe. Please.
You feel good about yourself?
Couldn't do it, Sam.
Just couldn't bring myself
to roll over for this pig,
regardless of what he knows
or claims to know.
I know, but the State Department
is going to give this bastard
whatever he asks for.
- It's our case, not theirs.
- For now.
Come on.
- Hey!
- Come on!
Right there! Let's go!
Call 911.
Jasper has been shot.
Please. Help.
Help. Please.
Please.
All right, just Just keep breathing.
Just hang on. Hang on, hang on.
The ambulance will be here soon.
Hey. Hey.
Daniel Rublev was
pronounced dead at 3:42 PM.
The New York Police Department
and the FBI
are working together in conjunction with
the Manhattan District Attorney's Office
to investigate this matter.
Mr. Price, with Rublev dead,
what happens to Mark Sirenko?
You cut a deal with him
in exchange for his testimony
against Rublev, so now what happens?
Mr. Sirenko pled guilty
to five counts of murder two.
He also informed on his organization.
So Sirenko still gets to ride
the benefit of the plea deal,
even though Rublev was killed,
is that what you're saying?
What I'm saying is,
though this case was highly unusual,
in many respects,
and the trial was cut short
due to unforeseen circumstances,
we feel that justice has been served,
that Daniel Rublev, Mark Sirenko,
and all of their accomplices, will be,
or have been punished
for their reprehensible
- Let me see your hands.
- Actions.
- Against the wall, now!
- Hands up, now.
Hey, ah, it's okay.
It's okay, I'm here to help.
I'm here to save you.
20 years.
20 years is a long time.
Not long enough.
Not for what that man did.
You said he'd pay.
I'm a cop, not a judge.
There has to be some way
to punish these people so we feel safe.
I wish there was, sweetie.
I wish there was.
But there isn't.
It's impossible.
There's no magic wand I can
wave or speech I can give.
So we do the things we can do,
like rescuing the victims
and helping them feel safe and whole.
It's not always easy
or possible, but we try.
And we do our best to arrest
the criminals and predators
so they can't hurt anyone else.
But there's still a lot
of good in this world,
so we need to focus on that.
Although, simple, priceless
moments we seem to overLook,
like right now, you and me having lunch,
or watching the sunset
or the view of Manhattan
late at night from
the 59th Street Bridge.
The world isn't perfect, Lily,
but it's still beautiful.