Matinee Cagney and Lacey

Liz gets back a week early and walks in on Brad and Devon in Brad's flat.

Brad shot Liz? No.

Devon shot Liz? No way! Devon was in the shower.

Who shot Liz? My money's on Lance. Her ex-husband?

He's still real hung-up on her.

If you never watch these shows, how come you know everyone?

I got hooked on Beyond The Horizon working nights.

I found I really missed it when I went over to day shift.

So work nights - like me!

My daughter got me a video recorder for Christmas.

I tape the shows and catch up on weekends.

Not a terrible idea!

I could use one for the summer. How's that?

I work days in the tourist season!

Right over here! I've been to the West Chester Police!

They won't even look for her! Please!

I can't just sit around and wait. Your wife was last seen at the Sullivan Theater, Mr White?

She goes to a matinee every Wednesday with her girlfriends. I never liked the idea!

The city's dangerous for women!

Mr White, this is awkward, but we have to ask. All right.

West Chester Police already asked -

no, my wife and I were not having marital difficulties. She's a good wife and mother to our two girls.

Please...find her. Yes, sir. We'll do what we can, Mr White.

The West Chester Police had the right idea. Who'd run from this?

People that want more.

Come on! What more?

Two beautiful daughters, a husband that adores her, a nice home,

and every Wednesday a day out with the girls - shopping and culture. I wouldn't need much more.

I grew up here.

Around here?

With your mother, right?

And my grandmother and my brother.

Oh, yeah. How come I never hear about your brother?

He lives in California now. There's telephones, Christine!

BARKING

Yeah...it's been a long time.

I haven't talked to him since my mother died.

I'm sorry.

Was your home as fancy as these?

Yeah, I guess... Is it close?

We could go by later, take a look. No, I don't think so.

Helen left in the middle of the second act to go to the ladies and never returned. You look for her?

Of course. Then, what? You call the police? Report it?

I told an usher. I see.

..Did Mrs White ever indicate she was having trouble at home?

No, no problems.

..How about you?

You mean, did she run away from home? Is that a possibility? Anything's possible!

Did she have friends or family in the city?

Er...I don't know...

Do you?

No-one her husband wouldn't know about - check with him.

There's Chet! ..Be with you in a whizz, Chet!

We don't mean to be rude, but we have a tennis lesson at 3.00.

You were a half-hour late. Right.

Their friend disappears and they're worried about tennis. Different ways of dealing with emotions!

Can the good-cop routine! They even have their hair done for tennis!

Mary Beth, you had a call. I left a message on your desk.

Thanks. Bad day in court, Isbecki? Hmm?

You get dragged through the mud?

Who cares about court? Real police work is done in the streets!

Car thief - we caught in the act.

Oh? Just you and Petrie, huh? No SWAT squad?

Hey! ..I don't have time to make small talk with you, Detective!

I got reports to fill out. Come on!

Hey, Petrie! What's with your collar?

Kid ran, we chased him through a muddy salvage yard.

Victor hit him with a flying tackle. No? That explains the suit!

His best and only suit!

Your perp looks like a kid.

He may be a juvenile. No ID and he won't tell us his name.

Is the Lieutenant in? Haven't seen him. Christine! Morgue might have Helen White.

They'll lose the personal touch. A computer's just a tool.

Yeah, yeah, I know. That's what...

..What are you doing here?

I asked you a question!

We're processing a grand larceny auto, Lieutenant.

What do you think...?

You told me you were through with it! This is how you keep your word?

Come on, Lieutenant! Hold it! Come on - relax!

Get him out of my sight!

What did you ever do to him?

I made the mistake of being his son!

Should we say something to Samuels? What do you say?

Imagine your kid arrested, brought into the precinct... I'd die if it was one of mine. It happens.

A lot of cops' kids get in trouble. Not all cops' kids!

I did.

You did?

Why? Shoplifting - ice skates. 12 years old.

My mother let me stew in juvenile hall overnight. You're kidding?

You were 12! I sat there till my dad found out - he sprung me.

That was rough of her. Why? It was me that got in trouble. Yes, but leaving your kid in jail...

You must've felt... It worked, didn't it? I never stole again.

What do you think?

Strangulation? Apparently manual. Where was the body found?

Manchester Hotel in the West 40s.

Fully clothed, but evidence of a recent coitus.

Rape? Doubtful.

I'll send you a complete report as soon as we do the autopsy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll never get used to dead bodies. Yeah.

Who's gonna call Richard White? You. Why me?

You've got more compassion, Mary Beth.

You say that, Christine, cos you don't wanna make the call.

I'm not good at it. I blurt it out. That's the best way. No...

Hey, hey!

Heads.

Mr White?

Hi, this is Detective Cagney.

We found your wife.

They sign in, they pay, I give them their key!

After that, it's their business. Now it's police business.

Jones, Smith... Original thinker - Brown(!) This isn't the Ritz.

Would your memory be refreshed at the station? I told you - she came in two or three times a month

with some guy. Same guy? Every time.

Sometimes, he came in with other women, but she was loyal.

She really had the hots for him. Didn't even wait for the elevator. So this man came in once a week

and you can't describe him?

Two arms, two legs...

You are pressing your luck!

Sue me! Fine. Let's go. Christine! No! Christine... Come on, lady, we're looking for a murderer!

He had this scar, ran from here to here.

He was dark and swarthy...

and really put together. What about a name?

Could be Smith, could be Jones. Could be Brown? You got it!

It's that late already, huh?

Thelma!

Hello, Paul.

It's been such a long time.

Why are you here so late? Things to take care of.

Bert didn't say you were coming down. He didn't know.

I tried to arrange bail for David.

I was hoping I could take care of it without appealing to Albert.

Sit down.

I want to have a word with him. No.

He's upstairs. Can't I even talk to him? He's been here all day! This isn't a playground!

You're talking about our son! And he broke the law!

He has to learn that actions have consequences!

You always think I can bail him out! My kid - thinks he's untouchable!

I'm not asking you to bail him out! No, but to co-sign a loan on the house! My loan. Yeah, your loan?

I won't let him ruin you! You have your way of dealing with him - I've got mine!

If I want to take out a loan, that is my choice! No, it's not.

Not while I'm still paying for it!

I won't allow you to do that - not to yourself or for him!

Still controlling our lives? No, Thelma... You hide in here, don't wanna know anything about us...

Thelma!

I can't believe you'd let your own son sit in jail when you could get him out!

This isn't a runaway wife any more.

You were the last two women to see her. We told you everything.

No. Your friend died between noon and 3.00pm. She never went to the theatre, did she, Marsha?

You don't have to talk to them. That's lousy advice, Mrs Reynolds.

Seeing everything you've said up to now has been a lie, I would say that made you a very good suspect.

At least the best one we've got. It'd be so much easier to tell us what happened.

Come on...

H-Helen...er... wasn't at the theatre...

Neither was Linda...

It was just me.

Wednesdays... we'd go into the city...

but only one of us would go to the theatre...

meanwhile, the other two would, er...

..have an adventure.

You had lovers?

Who was Helen involved with? I don't know.

Right! We didn't tell each other, so wouldn't have to lie to cover. Thoughtful!

My...my husband...

will he find out? You're a material witness. It's likely that he will.

He'll divorce me. I know it! You should've thought of that before.

Wow! Why didn't I think of that?

I saw my mother sitting there.

Oh, Chris, is that why she and Charlie got divorced?

No! My mother didn't have affairs...

at least none I know about.

She was just lonely.

She cut herself off from everything, especially after the divorce...

Maybe she still loved your dad?

I never asked her.

She and my brother were closer. How old were you when she died?

19. I was in Europe in school at the time.

So you had to come back? For the funeral?

No, I didn't.

There it is!

That's your house? That's it. It's a mansion!

Six bedrooms, three baths, a den, a sun port, servants' quarters...

three-quarters of an acre of land.

For you and your mother, your brother and your grandmother. Fantastic! That enormous house!

This the first time you've seen it since the family sold it? No, I've driven by.

What a lucky start, huh?

I mean, all of that - you and your brother...

You must have wonderful memories.

Yeah, let's go. Better hurry or we'll hit that traffic going back.

David...I...

You OK, son?

Huh?

Detective Isbecki got an inquiry from another precinct about you - that's why they're holding you.

I didn't know whether anyone had explained to you why you were still here.

Your mother was...

was by here...yesterday...

She seems to think that, er...

..that I'm the bad guy...

..in this whole deal.

I suppose you do, too, huh?

David...

..I...

I know you think you got some kind of a raw deal...

I never had enough time... for you kids...

I know that!

I did the best that I knew how.

DAVID WHISTLES

You know, Davy, when...

I was a kid...

men were taught...

..people were taught...

different things...

than what...today...

what kids are taught today. It's different.

Please don't whistle. I wanna talk to you.

I was supposed to be the best damn cop that I could be!

And I was supposed to put food on the table for your mother and for you kids...

and I did that, Davy!

And you were supposed to love me and respect me...

I don't know nothing else.

That's the way we're supposed to be...

Davy, it's complicated for me too...

Do you know that?

I don't know all the answers, Davy!

Look, David...

..I spent a lot of time...

..feeling guilty...

about all the time that I put into my work and about divorcing your mother.

But, Davy, I want you to know...

that if I could do it all over again,

I don't think that I could... I don't think that I would...

do it any differently.

And now, Davy...

you've got to make a life for yourself...

..and you've got to quit blaming me for the mess you've got yourself into.

I'm telling you the truth, Davy.

Harv?

Huh?

Have we got enough excitement in our marriage?

Thinking about those women, sneaking around, fooling around...

Depressing, Harv...

Harvey? Uh...

I don't know if I'm more depressed about them or Chris or Samuels and his kid...

I mean, Harv, you know, you think you know people...

He hit his kid...

And you ought to see the palace Christine grew up in!

Unbelievable, it's unbelievable!

But sad too, you know...

She hasn't talked to her brother since she was 19...

and there's a lot of unfinished business with her mother!

I worry about her, Harv, I do.

She keeps everything inside... Yeah...

Thank you, Harvey Lacey, it's been scintillating!

Scintillating having you ease my mind through this!

Get your very cold feet on your side of the bed, please! Sorry.

You're my husband - you've no right to have feet that cold.

Night, babe. Good night.

I was going through some of Helen's...personal items...

and I came across this...

..this filth.

Do you know the man in these pictures, Mr White? No.

No, but...this letter was enclosed.

And, evidently, whoever this...

slime is, he was threatening to send me the photos of their activities unless she gave him $5,000.

You checked your bank account, sir? Nothing unusual.

Your wife have access to funds of her own? No... Manhattan postmark, last Friday.

No return address. And the letter is signed the Marquis de Sade.

We got a new development in the Helen White homicide, sir.

The husband found some photos. What type? Compromising photos and a blackmail letter.

Run it through forensics. We're doing it, sir. Good.

Let me know where that leads.

Is there something I can do, sir?

Maybe you should rethink it.

Look at everything again with a fresh eye...

talk to the husband...

talk to the victim's friends.

Somebody knows something - probably everybody does.

You'll find it.

Something else?

No.

Thank you, sir.

You can't get a lab trace on this?

No, one of those instant jobs. High-speed film.

What can you tell us about these photos? Kinda rococo, huh?

Did you catch the black cape? Yes.

What we need is some forensic evidence. Forensically speaking, we got male and female Caucasians,

apparently in flagrante delicto, in a room 15 by 18.

Time of day from the soap opera on TV is 2.30 to 3.00pm.

Don't you love it? They're watching TV during the festivities!

The bedspread is cheap fabric, probably polyester...

We know all that - we need an ID on the man.

The Marquis de Sade? Yes.

I love the outfit. A little outre maybe, but...

Yeah... 6ft, 6' 1.

175-190lb,

25-30 years of age.

Dark hair and complexion... There's a 3-inch scar under the right eye...

distended navel...

How clinical do you want me to get? You've gone far enough! Any objects we can connect him with?

Some keys on the table, but that won't go anywhere.

Yeah, you've got a package of cigarettes in a holder.

Brand name is non-decipherable and a match book. Can you read it? What do you think they pay me for?

'It's one of those strip joints for females only, the Male Room on Bleecker St.'

APPLAUSE

What do you think, ladies?

Do you love it?

Is he primitive enough for you?

I know what it sounds like, Harv, but I am not having a good time.

All right!

From the Stone Age to you! Let's hear it for the Barbarian!

Get your mind out of the gutter! I'll see you later!

Now, ladies, get ready for a special delivery from the Male Room!

Come on out here, guys!

OK, ladies, our ten gorgeous hosts, ready and willing to please you!

How's Harvey? Button it, will you, Chris?

You missed the Barbarian!

That's all right. Ogling half-naked men is not my thing.

Think of them as half-naked suspects.

Thank you, guys! Let's put them to work!

And now, ladies, hang on to your seats.

For those who treasure the dark side of fantasy,

the Male Room presents the Marquis de Sade!

Same outfit as in the picture.

6ft, 6' 1...dark...

same body...

Is he something, ladies?

Does he give you what you want?

Thank you.

You want him to take it off?

Scar on the right cheek.

Let's get out of here. Wait! Let me see his act!

He's not going away in that outfit.

He can be so good when he's bad!

Gonna have to talk to him sometime. What's he gonna say?

"Cagney! Lacey! Get in here!"

What? Watch me. "This is shoddy police work!"

He's the man in the pictures, the note is signed Marquis de Sade!

"You'll take this to court?

"You got nothing!

"No handwriting match, no positive ID from the desk clerk,

"no prints, you don't have a weapon!" She was strangled, sir!

"Very good, Lacey. And your guy's got two hands!

"Huh? Open-and-shut case! Get outta here, the both of you!"

Yes, sir.

Sir, he admits knowing Helen White and he sees a lot of women, sir.

"So he's a hustler, Lacey!

"There's no law against that!

"I'm telling the both of you, I'm not going to the DA to press murder charges with no evidence!"

The blackmail motive. "Let me ask you something, Lacey." Sir?

"Sit down." Yes, sir.

"You wanna do some good police work?" Yes, sir!

"How can he be taking pictures when he's hustling her? Is he Houdini?"

He must have had an accomplice.

"Very good, Cagney!" Hey! I would have thought of it!

That's it!

Find the accomplice, we got a case.

You know what he's gonna say to us?

Did we look for peepholes and windows? We didn't know about the pictures yet! We know now!

So?

BOTH: Back to the hotel!

This is definitely the angle.

Wait a minute.

Maybe the accomplice worked from out here. Every room has access to it.

So what do you think? Some guy could've climbed up off the street.

Look at this...

How do they do it?

You're the mother of two - you're asking me(?)

Not that! Logistics!

Logistics? Well... They've got kids to take care of...

tennis lessons, a house to look after...

Where do they find the time or energy? Domestic help and vitamins!

I mean, how do they meet the guys?

I mean, how do they get them to take them to, like, this?

Let me see...

I'd go to a nice cocktail lounge on Madison or Lexington in the 40s...

Little perfume, strategically placed...

buy yourself a sweet dress... and three buttons undone on you, Mary Beth!

Are you asking professionally? Nobody likes a wiseacre! You asked!

Knock-knock! We're kinda busy, OK? Would you hurry? I need the room.

Now? Businessman special...

Cagney, it's 9.30. Why are you still here?

Just cleaning up some work. You went off shift four hours ago.

So did you. Crossword puzzle?

Helps me relax.

Lieutenant...

I wanted to say I was sorry about David.

What is there to say?

You turned out all right...

and your old man was a cop. My problem was with my mother.

No matter what we do for you kids, you gotta stick it to us parents!

Maybe Freud was right! Don't smart mouth me!

Sometimes I think that kid of mine hates me so much...

I don't think that's true, Lieutenant. That right?

What are you telling me? Everything is OK with you and your mother now?

No, but... You got a responsibility to your parents!

Parents are people too!

It's like a two-way street!

Cagney...

call your mother!

Bupkis! Bupkis? Nada, nothing! You don't have enough evidence!

You think district attorneys make cases out of air? The desk clerk made a positive ID!

They went in together, he came out alone. Bupkis! Stop the bupkis!

A lawyer will say there was someone else up there. Two-month trial - not guilty!

Reasonable doubt!

Thanks, but no thanks.

So he just walks away? Dances! He's an exotic dancer!

Hiya, Josie.

How the Lieutenant? Hasn't come out his office yet.

Coleman went in and he nearly took his head off. Arraignment's at 4.00.

Tracy, Elroy Tracy.

Hey, Paul...

I hope you don't mind...

What's to mind? It isn't going anywhere. Good.

The DA dismissed it. Good.

Why good? I think I have a new theory about your case.

You do?

Could we go somewhere private? This is a little embarrassing.

Ladies' room. Good.

I don't think it's gonna work.

It always worked for Columbo! You're not Columbo! Watch me!

HE KNOCKS

Someone say come in? I thought you might wanna talk! You thought wrong!

Close the door on your way out.

He's kept us waiting 13 minutes!

Columbo would never have stood for this!

Detectives Cagney, Lacey. We are so sorry to take up your time!

Something come up? The DA dropped the charges against our suspect.

Ah...

Some legal technicality?

No, it was our fault. We just had the wrong guy.

The man we had was being set up.

Yes, sir, but we learned something from it, didn't we?

Sometimes, you get a piece of evidence and look at the wrong things.

Do you have one of those video tape recorders? I don't see what this... Prices have really gone down!

Anyways, this fellow we work with got one for Christmas.

When he was working nights, he got hooked on a soap opera...

Beyond The Horizon...and, now he works days, he can record it. Detective Lacey...

I'm rather busy. There's something I wanna show you. Not the photos again. I'm sorry to do this.

I wish you'd look - it's interesting. Look at the TV set. What's it got to do with anything?

Guess who the woman is on the TV. What? Liz. Liz? Right.

I would never have known it, but this fellow tells me Liz did not come back till Wednesday...

I don't understand what you're saying. I think you do.

The envelope was postmarked five days before your wife's death. So?

The pictures couldn't have been in it. They were taken on Wednesday. You sent the envelope to yourself

and dropped the pictures in later.

Wednesday 19th, you waited on the fire escape at the hotel and you took those pictures.

After the boyfriend left, you went in and murdered your wife.

Before you say anything, you do have the right to remain silent.

If you give up the right to remain silent,

anything you say can and will be...

Was I right?

Full confession!

The soap opera stuff was perfect! You should take the collar! Be my guest! Don't tell anyone I watch it!

Our lips are sealed.

Where is he? Central booking talking to his attorney. Champagne? Who's buying?

I'll buy! I don't think this is exactly the time.

36 minutes.

Never gonna make it. You think someone should tell him the time?

Petrie, you wanna tell him? No.

La Guardia ought to go in. He's closer to his generation.

He obviously doesn't wanna go - it's none of our business.

Petrie's right - it's his decision.

Making him crazy. What?

It's tearing him up. How do you know? That's his son!

Whatever happened can be repaired - that's family.

You love and hate and fight, but you don't walk away!

Lieutenant...last night, you told me to call my mother.

I didn't, because my mother died... I'm sorry... It's OK - it was a long time ago.

But what I needed to say to you was I wish I had... Cagney, please...

Now I wish I could...

So I guess what I'm telling you...

..is I'm just telling you...

What did you say to him?

Nothing.

I got an appointment.

I'll be back in a couple of hours.

He'll never make it. Unless he goes lights and sirens.

He hasn't done that in years.

Probably doesn't even know... SIREN

You said something to him!

It's 12.35 in California, right?

Right.

Hello, Annie?

It's Christine.

Is my brother home?