Original subtitles

Hey lady, are you going to sleep here?

It's not allowed.

How old are you?

Five years and three months.

And you already know about forbidden things.

Go ahead and play.

That's not forbidden.

Yet.

Yes?

It's closing time.

You can't sleep here.

Miss? Lady?

No, she's not the one.

I only had a general description. Sure.

It's a girl we're looking for. She's at least five years older.

All right, then.

Wait.

Who is she?

Don't know yet.

No identification on her. She was found in the grand playground last night.

She died on the way to the hospital.

Such a waste.

What happened?

Massive internal hemorrhage.

Abort.

Chief Ironside's office.

Chief, there are things about this case that affect me as a woman.

She's busy right now. Can I take a message?

I don't understand you, Eve. I sent you in and out to make a simple

identification and you come back to me with another case.

I didn't come back to you with any other case, Chief. I was simply asking if we

could... Never mind.

Eve. Yes? That call was for you from...

The medical examiner.

What did he say?

That his first touch was right, criminal abortion.

Of course.

Why, of course? You said there were no papers, no identification.

That's the way an abortionist works, just in case something goes wrong.

Well, at least it's official.

Now homicide can take over.

You're hooked on this?

Just looking at that girl.

I couldn't help thinking how many other girls a child has conceived through an

act of love.

No matter how momentary or how much of a mistake, you shouldn't have to pay for

a mistake with your life.

But as you always say, homicide is a very efficient team and we have a very

heavy caseload.

Extremely.

These the girls' effects?

Yes. Why?

I suppose Ed is trying to find out who she is.

Well, if he has time.

He'll make the time.

You following up the usual leads, criminal record, driver's license,

persons? Medical labs. She was pregnant. There must have been time.

I'm glad to see he's efficient, even unofficially.

But maybe we can give him some help.

What do we have here? Some clothes and a handbag.

Tell us something.

You, Chief, maybe, but... I'd say the girl was from out of town. Came to San

Francisco recently. She lived in a hotel.

And she was studying foreign languages.

Now, you're going to have to spell that one out, Chief, slowly.

Clothes. Simple design.

Conservative. Inexpensive.

Do you think they reflect current fashion here in San Francisco, Eve? No.

Well, a check of the labels would be a little bit more positive.

And the purse and the contents.

Lipstick, blue change, makeup.

Concentrate on what's missing.

What do you usually carry around in your purse?

About the same.

Wallet, keys, pen and keys.

She didn't have any keys.

Where can one live without having to carry a key constantly?

A hotel. That fits in with coming from out of town.

All right.

What about the foreign language bit?

Didn't you notice this paper in her purse?

Yes, but I couldn't make out a tale of it.

A -I -A -S -A -O -N -S -E -Z -O -N -T.

Some kind of code? You should have gotten it here.

We will love.

You will love.

They will love.

So?

Say it in French.

Vous aimerez.

Vous aimerez.

Vous aimerez, of course, to clench into the future.

She must have jotted them down to memorize them.

So it's possible to assume she was studying French.

Give this one more lead. I'll check all the schools that are giving foreign

language courses. You will.

Chief Einsight's office.

Ed.

Yes, Ed? Just got a report from missing persons in Denver.

The girl we were looking for, they found her last night alive and well. Bringing

her back today.

Good. Anything else?

Uh, no.

Is he back yet?

Sergeant, I'm fully aware of your extracurricular activities. Now go

Oh.

Well, Baker Laboratories did a pregnancy test on an Arlene Dobbs about three

weeks ago. She answers a dead girl's description.

Did she leave an address?

Yeah, I checked it. A phony.

Doctor ordered the test?

An obstetrician, Dr.

Manners, 22 East Sutton.

All right, I'll meet you there.

I have work to do, Eve, so do I.

Let's go, Mark.

This would have been her first child.

Such a waste.

We know very little about Arlene, Dr. Manners.

Now, anything you could tell us would be helpful.

Well, the file on Mr. Armstrong. Thank you.

I saw her only two or three times.

Oh, here it is.

Her first visit was three weeks ago.

May I?

Same phony address she gave Baker Labs.

How did you meet her? She called and asked for an appointment.

General examination.

She was pregnant.

I arranged for the test to verify, and then I saw her again the next week to

tell her.

How did she take it? She was ecstatic.

Did you see her after that?

Yes.

For the last time.

Two days ago.

She came in the evening.

After office hours.

She wanted to get rid of the baby.

Why the sudden change?

She just said she wouldn't have it.

It wouldn't be...

Fair to the baby.

What about the father? Didn't she mention him at all?

Not a word.

What did you tell her?

The truth.

No chance of a therapeutic abortion.

The baby didn't jeopardize her mental or physical health.

Then she asked that you perform the abortion.

I turned her down.

Thank you, Dr. Manners.

You've been very helpful.

Helpful? Well, I know how you must feel.

But you're not to blame.

You did the proper thing.

Did I, Mr. Ironside?

I behaved according to law.

But Arlene is dead.

At the hands of an incompetent butcher.

The autopsy established that the abortion was performed within the 24

preceding Arlene's death.

Ironside.

Yes, Eve.

Say that again?

I found the school where Arlene was taking French lessons.

Parlayed that into her address.

Good, let's have it. You were right on that count, too, Chief. It was a

residence for women, the Vermont.

One more thing. A man generally picked her up in the evening after class.

Think you can get a line on him?

I'm starting to work on it right now.

All right. Stay in touch.

Right.

Criminal abortionists usually stick to their own M .O .s. I'm going to dig into

the files.

See if I can find other cases where the abortive method was similar to Arlene's.

And me?

The Vermont.

Resident for women.

Helen Stroud, Joe Lyons, Betty Ross,

and Lana Howes.

Girls, this is Sergeant Brown of the San Francisco Police Department.

I suggest you tell them everything, Sergeant.

It's a tragedy, but the girls can learn from it.

What was that all about? Compensation.

She never had any children. Very Freudian, but quite harmless.

Oh, Mrs. T is a first -class drag.

I wish she'd stop looking after virginities.

She certainly did a lousy job with you, Lana.

Wishful thinking, Joe.

Thank you for your cooperation, ladies. Now about Arlene.

What do you want to know?

Well, for openers, what kind of girl was she?

A wonderful girl.

There was a beautiful honesty about her. Very sensitive.

That about says it.

I see.

Why is it that when someone dies, he instantly becomes a paragon of virtue?

Yes, Arlene Dead is wonderful, sensitive, and honest. Now, what about

Alive?

She was wonderful, sensitive, honest, and stupid.

Joe! Would you mind explaining that, Miss Lyons?

She was so revoltingly good.

You know.

Deep in their hearts, people are kind.

Love makes the world go round.

All that jazz.

Not your bag, I take it. You're a cop.

You should know how it is. Arlene was rather naive.

Everyone took advantage of her. Even us. Not me.

All right. What about boyfriends?

What about them?

She dated someone, didn't she?

Sure. Poor Arlene.

She'll do the first thing about a man.

Playing hard to get.

Not Arlene.

She was in love with this man?

He was a knight on a white charger. Any of you ever meet him?

Do you think any man would come here with that old dragon standing guard?

did Arlene ever talk about him?

Really?

Well, then how can you be so sure she was serious about him? Because Arlene

wasn't in love like the rest of us common mortals.

It was more like a state of grace.

Did she tell you she was in trouble?

What do you mean, trouble?

She was pregnant?

Early? How awful.

He was just the kind who'd get caught.

Then she didn't ask any of you about an abortionist.

Not me.

That's how she died.

Poor thing.

We didn't know.

Sergeant Brown, a telephone call for you.

Be right there.

If there's something else any of you would like to tell me, you can reach me

this number.

Thank you for your help.

Can you meet me at the corner of Sutter and Montgomery right away?

Something great? Wide open.

I just found the man Arlene was dating.

You don't imagine I had anything to do with it, do you? Well, let's start at

beginning, Mr. Chase, and stick to facts.

Did you have an affair with Arlene Dobbs?

Well, I wouldn't put it in exactly those terms. Our relationship was more...

Let's skip the semantics, Mr. Chase. Yes or no will do fine.

Yes. When did you see her last?

About ten days ago.

Just after she received the test results.

One of your usual dates?

After her language class?

Well, not exactly.

She wanted to talk to you about something special.

No, I asked for the meeting.

Why was that? Certain things I wanted to discuss with her.

Such as?

Well, this is getting awfully personal. Perhaps.

But it's police business now.

Well, you know how it is. You meet a girl.

She's from out of town.

Show her some of the high spots, have a couple of laughs, and right away she

starts to get serious.

Thinks you're getting serious.

Wants to get married.

Obviously, you didn't have the same idea.

Now, I played fair.

I want you to know that.

I'm not one of those guys that'll promise anything to get what he wants. A

sense of ethics.

That's supposed to be rare these days.

What happened during this meeting?

I told Arlene that she was... Taking our relationship too seriously. She was

getting too involved.

I did my best to make her understand. The fun was over.

Now, that's not what I said.

You didn't have to.

Arlene took your words at face value.

She was that kind of girl.

What else happened?

Well, that's about it.

Didn't she have anything to tell you?

That she was pregnant.

Pregnant?

No, she never... She went to a criminal abortionist, Mr. Chase.

And she died.

I didn't know.

I mean, you've got to believe that. The newspapers didn't say any... Well, why

didn't you tell me?

Ethics, Mr. Chase.

A word you'll have no problem understanding.

20, found dead by her landlady in October 66.

Barbara Gelson, 23, died March 67.

Graduate of Berkeley, 65.

Wasn't that your class?

Yes.

Jerry Schmidt, 31.

And finally,

I can't see it, Chief.

See what?

The girls lived in different parts of the city. They worked in entirely

different fields.

With such divergent backgrounds, how are we going to find a common denominator?

I'm with Ed, Chief. We'd have to go over the lives of all those girls. It'd take

months. Well, I'm open to suggesting.

The abortionist must have succeeded more often than he missed.

Some of his customers might still be around.

And you think you could get them to talk even if you did find them?

Any other suggestion?

Back to the common denominator.

But we don't even know what we're looking for. It could be anything. We

our search to specific areas.

Now, how would Arlene have gone about finding an abortionist? By asking

How did you find out that Arlene was pregnant?

The lab people.

Ed and Eve, you find out everything you can about the obstetricians and lab

technicians involved in all four cases.

You look like you need resuscitation.

Yeah. Strong and black.

Same here.

If there's any left, I'll soak my feet in it.

Where's the chief?

He's downstairs.

Be back in a minute.

Anything?

All point zero. Thank you.

The common denominator, if there is one, has escaped us so far.

Did you two tell him about your idea?

Not yet.

Well, do me a favor.

Give me a chance to make a fast exit before you do.

Nothing?

In spades.

I checked out... Chase's whereabouts during the 48 hours preceding Arlene's

death. He's clear. He never got even close to her.

I started checking out the other girls.

Preliminary prognosis.

Not the slightest inkling of a common denominator.

We haven't looked hard enough.

We haven't.

All right.

Why don't you come out with it? You think you have a better approach.

Arlene spent most of the 24 hours preceding her death at the Vermont. We

she got the lead to the abortionist from somebody there.

Let's suppose that a girl from out of town checks into the Vermont.

A girl in trouble, like Arlene.

She might be able to get the same kind of help.

The risks aren't that high, Chief.

Suppose you do get to the abortionist.

You realize what you're in for?

You'll have to go on pretending.

You'll have to go through the waiting.

Sort of dirty room.

Have to watch him as he gets ready.

Number 17.

At the top of the stairs and down the hall.

Who stole my towel?

Hey, come on, bring it back, will you?

Look, this is no joke. It hurts.

Very funny.

Very funny. I found it on the floor.

I thought it was one of the girls being cute again.

You just checked in, huh?

Yes. I'm Laura White.

I'm Jo Lyon.

I've got the room right next to you.

I don't snore, but I like my music loud.

Hope you won't mind.

No problem.

What brings you to the Pearl of the Pacific?

Career? Modeling.

Not enough up here.

But you'll do all right.

Look, I'll let you get settled and introduce you to the rest of the gang

Hello, Dr. Manor's office.

I'd like to make an appointment, please.

As soon as possible.

Yes, this is an emergency.

5 .30.

And the name again?

Yes. Miss White.

Thank you.

Remember, you don't have to... to faint every ten minutes. That only happens in

movies.

Watch your diet. Eating for two is a sign of gluttony, not pregnancy.

Well, that about covers it. Any questions?

None that I can think of.

As far as anyone's concerned, you'll be one of my patients.

Lois, will you please have Miss White fill out the necessary forms and arrange

an appointment with Baker Labs, Bloodworkup and Gravindex. Yes, Doctor.

Thank you very much, Dr. Manners.

Please, try not to worry.

Everything will be fine.

I hope so.

This really gives me this warm talk about color balance and lenses.

I'd really like to come back for another bikini change.

You didn't.

You know, three full days work is top pay. Are you kidding?

You changed bikinis in front of him?

Sure, but I wore one on top of the other.

You should have seen his face.

Aren't you hungry?

Not very.

Yes,

she's here.

Just a minute, please.

It's for you, Laura.

Excuse me.

It's about time.

I've been holding my breath every time that blasted phone rings. This is the

first time he's returned her call.

She looks ghastly. And what do you suppose is wrong?

She's hung up on him. What else?

Well, I don't know. Your room is linked to hers.

Well, I haven't been eavesdropping, if that's what you're subtly implying.

Mrs. Twickenham told me that she got sick again this morning.

Is anyone thinking what I'm thinking?

We all are.

Well, then she needs help.

Yeah.

Friends, dates, doctors, work colleagues, it's all there.

The lives of four girls.

And somewhere in there is the link to the abortion.

I just talked to Eve.

She thinks she can make contact tonight.

She's in the best position to decide the proper timing, Chief.

All right, phase three.

Ed!

Don't worry, Chief. We won't let anything happen to her.

I'm sure he didn't give you some sort of message for me.

I love you, baby.

Well, the boss wanted me to tell you that he had to scrape through this.

Where is he?

Why didn't he come himself?

Well, he got tied up.

You going to take this?

Like a charm.

Chief Ironside's office, please.

Ironside. Phase three completed, Chief. Now we wait.

Waiting, waiting.

Nothing in those reports?

Nothing that I've been able to find.

These doctors change their personnel as often as they wash their hands.

You keep in touch.

Ironside Can you spare a driver for me?

Good five minutes Come

in

No. If you're tired or if you want to be alone.

No, it's all right.

That guy that you've been trying to reach for the last couple of days.

Yes.

Is he going to help you?

What are you talking about?

Please don't do it.

I went through it once.

You understand it's ruined me for life.

Don't do it.

There's no other way.

Do you know somebody?

He?

No.

All must mean something.

Yes.

Don't go by yourself.

It can be so lonely.

Joe, I won't do anything without talking to you first.

Saw some lights, so I decided to share with somebody.

My folks sent them. They're fabulous.

No, thanks. I'm not hungry.

Well, your loss, my gain.

My note said 300.

Did he give you enough?

Empty it out. No identification.

All right.

Just leave the wallet.

Betty Roth, friend of Arlene's.

Sup, friend?

Alpha Foxtrot Zebra 202.

Seating west on Grant Avenue.

Stand by in case she spots us.

Got you. Roger.

Roger.

Round to car 36.

Now south on Columbus.

Looks like they're heading for the tenderloin.

Car 36.

Roger.

Skip.

Let's go.

I lost them after they turned into an alley a block west of DeRoy. Did you

them up?

No sign of them yet.

All right, close in.

Haven and DeRoy.

Bring in Car 36 and the Embarcadero cruisers. Out.

If you'd told me over the phone what you were looking for, I could have gone

through the files myself.

It's all right, Doctor.

I found what I want. I was a common denominator after all.

Common denominator?

Yes, the biographies I had of the other doctors indicate that they all changed

secretaries. Now, Dr. Evans' secretary left him in June 66. Dr.

Smith got his new secretary in August. She left him in March 67.

Dr. Rogers had a new secretary from July 67 to January 68.

Could have been the same person working under different names.

Lois started to work for me last March.

It fits.

She made the appointments, followed through with the tests.

She was in a perfect position to spot unmarried pregnant girls from out of

and get their addresses from the files and approach them.

Brilliant in its simplicity.

Lois Ballingston.

Dr. Menna.

It's for you.

Ironside.

Yes, Sergeant.

Where is he?

All right, get back to him.

Tell him I'll be there as soon as I can.

That's right.

You'll hear from me.

We'll cover a three -block radius. You take DeRoy north and south. Take Haven

east and west.

Check any garages, too.

Keep in touch with Delaney.

Sergeant Brown.

Yes, Chief.

What's happening?

You picked up that car yet? No, I'm sure they're holed up somewhere in this

area.

Where are you?

Haven and DeRoy.

Haven and DeRoy. I'll be there in five minutes.

And, Ed, call in as many units as you need.

Already have. Right.

See you.

Let's do it.

This is your first time, isn't it?

Well, it isn't mine There's nothing to worry about You're in very good hands

Come on, hurry up

Thank you.

You okay?

Mark.

Eve? I'll be all right.

I only wish

somehow Arlene could have known.

Other girls will.