Original subtitles

Hey. Hey.

Check out the phone.

Whoa. You think those are still legal?

A call come in on that? No, it came from the phone booth across the street. A

neighbor reported shots fired.

Somebody was looking for something here. No, full office strip search.

Oh, God, I feel like we stepped into a time warp. We should be in black and

white.

Is it the private dick? Used to be. That's the father.

It's a family business.

These days, not exactly Philip Marlowe. Most of the cases I looked at were low

rent, divorces, and insurance scam.

No Falcon statues?

Robert?

Probably not. There's camera equipment here worth at least a couple of grand.

Huh. My daughter.

It's Chinatown, Jake.

Did you know that there are more private investigators in San Francisco than

there are in any other part of the world?

I don't believe it.

No, it's true. I read it in the thing we got up... No, not that stuff.

Big sleep.

Victim is Quan Wang.

Shot twice, close range.

21 years old.

First year law student at Bolt.

I'm an investigative assistant, boom and boom.

Dangerous job.

He's only dead a few hours. Time frame's consistent with your anonymous tip.

Any idea what case he was working?

Not a clue, Danny.

All right, buddy, let's see how we're doing here.

What is it now?

101. But I'm feeling better.

I know, sweetie pie, but that's what you said yesterday.

I'm not taking that stuff again.

It sucks.

Benjamin, it stinks.

That's what you mean to say.

You taste it then.

Okay.

Good, huh?

Mm -hmm.

I'm sorry, sweetie, but you gotta take it. Come on.

All the way. Come on.

Really, Vernon, you know, you don't have to live like this.

You don't have to drink.

I told you.

It's not a problem.

Are you just crazy?

You've had two DUIs in the last seven months.

You've lost your license, your apartment, your marriage. Hey, that was

choice. I left her.

Okay, great. Then, right. You're right. You got no problems then.

You like seeing your kids every other weekend, taking the bus. What I don't

or need is some little white girl getting up in my face, especially a cop.

know what? You're not drinking enough, Vernon, okay? And you're not going to

that until you're sleeping in a box someplace.

Okay, stop. Please. No, what is this white girl crap?

I don't appreciate that.

It's not about you.

It's about you trying to help him.

You didn't even ask me if I was an alcoholic or if I even wanted to quit.

On a 12 -step call, off the top, you have to ascertain those first two

Otherwise, what's the point?

Okay, great. What is this?

Some sort of test?

He got eight months sober.

You have to start working with other alcoholics. Now, Vernon's another one of

sponsees. I thought we'd get some coffee, give you a little practice.

Yeah, that's really good. My day off, you're jerking my chain.

Hey, everything I said was the truth.

It's just how I was five years ago. But if you were the first person I met in

AA, I wouldn't have lived in a box.

Oh, man, I gotta go. Got a conference at my kid's school.

Nice meeting you, Jenny.

Oh, yeah. Real pleasure.

Man, I remember how angry I was at eight months.

Good for you.

Later.

And what are you laughing at?

Sorry I'm late.

These all -night sessions are killing me.

And this producer, he doesn't even listen to a third or fourth tape. He's

phone, in the booth, making a deal for his next record.

Yeah, well, your son is killing me.

Don't listen to her. She's driving me crazy.

Well, that's why they call her Mom.

Yeah, well, we gotta get her out of here before she smells me.

I'm going, okay?

She's late to work.

Fighting crime's a lot easier than dealing with the two of you anyway.

And we are the lucky guys to have you.

That's right.

And don't you forget it, either.

Say goodbye, Mom. Come on, you can do it. Oh, my son, the comedian.

Check his temperature every half hour, babe, and then call me and let me know

how he's doing, okay? Don't worry.

Could you guys please do that in private?

Ben, we're your parents. It's okay. Yeah, you're married parents.

Yeah, get used to it, okay? Love you guys.

Love you. Bye.

All right.

I'll be this way.

Can't sleep and lie there staring at the ceiling.

Thinking. What?

No money.

You're alone.

No relationship.

You can't drink.

That sort of thing.

My head just feels like it's on fire.

Well, help somebody else.

Get out of your own brain. You'll sleep like a baby.

Trust me.

Her father was the real McCoy.

He closed the Hillsborough jewel case.

Found Senator Ramsey's daughter in 66.

We're going to make a movie on him. Big movie. Harrison Ford.

Can't be easy living up to that.

Yeah, you think it's hard being a female cop. Try running a one -woman P .I.

operation. You make one mistake.

There's no big movie in this stuff. It's just small collections and missing

pets. Had a pretty high -profile case in the late 70s, just after she took over

her father's store. The doctor over in Marin hired her to find his wife.

And she didn't? The cops did.

In about nine Ziploc bags.

In the doctor's freezer.

Her client. They said he chopped her up.

Ouch. Even after they found the body, Aggie believed in her client all the

The news media raked her over the coals. And destroyed her reputation. It was

just downhill from there.

Yeah, but you know, I took a look at the trial transcripts. I don't think her

guy did it. But, you know, it's not good to make one mistake.

Forensics struck out.

The only prints in the place belonged to Aggie Boone, Kwan, and the cleaning

crew. No bullet sticks.

What do you mean?

No bullets.

Killer dug them out of the body, took them with him.

Macerations around the entry wounds are consistent with the saw blade of a Swiss

Army knife.

This is, uh, not just for camping anymore.

So, we got a dead investigator and a missing PI.

Is there a bolo out in the vehicle?

We flagged her credit card as we went through a Rolodex. There's no Aggie

We gotta find her.

Quick.

The point is, Kwan wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but Aggie Boone

his head around with all these private dick romance notions.

I mean, it only took like three seconds to figure out that her whole operation

was going nowhere.

You had the intern job, too?

Yeah. Last fall for like a day and a half.

Total waste of time.

See, I've been taking these surveillance pictures of this dog that was allegedly

laying stink cables on her client's lawns. It was for like $8 an hour.

Please. When was the last time you saw Kwan?

I don't know.

A month ago.

Hey, man, I told him. Philip Marlowe doesn't exist anymore.

Real private detectives? They're gone.

The missing persons case these days. You don't hire Aggie. You go get yourself a

computer, chase him down online.

Digital footprints.

Marlowe .com.

Was Kwan on the job when you talked to him?

Nope. But he kept on saying that Aggie was going to give him his big chance,

though. You know, the next big thing that comes on in, you're going to be a

part of it. She promised.

She was always thinking that something huge was just going to come walking on

off the street.

She wanted her black dahlia murder.

You know, some beautiful, mysterious blanche cut in half.

Something epic to redeem her whole life.

Maybe you should.

Grab a jacket, some shoes.

We're going out.

Come on in.

I was answering phones down at the AA central office.

A woman called in. She needs help.

We're going to help her.

I'm dreaming this, right?

Really? Thought you couldn't sleep.

Come on. I don't believe it. Pinch yourself.

Come on. Get a move on.

Great. No one's home. Let's go.

Dusty? Yeah, that's me all day long. This is Ginny. She's one of us.

Oh, God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming.

I'm all alone here. I don't know anybody in San Francisco. And the couple next

door are trying to set some kind of sex record or something.

So, I guess nobody really hugs you guys, huh?

Come in.

Well, we found a car stripped and abandoned

over in Daily City. No Aggie.

We just got a new ride.

Wait, did you just use your dad's car?

I just switched the registration. That's why it didn't show up on the first

search. And the new owner's name is Ray Chandler.

Nice touch.

Emery's got a couple of unpaid parking tickets from about three months ago.

What do you know? Right in front of Maggie's office.

So I'm thinking she's going to use the caddy to get to the QA and appointment.

What are you morons doing?

Calm down, Aggie. Get out of here. You're going to screw everything up.

are you going?

Like I'm going to tell you?

Come on, you're the cops.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. I can't slow down.

This guy killed Kwan. Who?

Who? Hey!

You called out the whole goon squad? I'm Inspector Basso. This is Inspector De

La Ranzo from the San Francisco Police Department.

And so?

Can you keep your hands where you can stand, please?

I just want to talk to you about last night.

Well, you just go right ahead and talk.

Look, why don't you take your hand out of your pocket? Back off. You don't know

what you're doing.

You got something in there?

Fine.

You got me. Go ahead. You got me.

I'm not going to need it now anyway. You've already made me late.

You going to catch him with this, Aggie?

It's not real. Get over it.

Rubber.

It would be real if you guys would give me back my carry permit.

There was no Floyd Houston registered at the Embarcadero Plaza Hotel. There was

also no Vita Houston living at 2368 Sacramento or anywhere else in the city,

that matter.

A guy walks into my office.

He tells me his name is Floyd Houston, says he thinks his wife is having an

affair, wants me to follow her, find out if it's true. He plunks down $500 cash

in advance.

I do not see the need to run a credit check.

And did you follow her, the wife?

I gave it to Kwan.

He'd been bugging me for a real job. He says he wanted to follow a case from the

beginning all the way through to the end, and he had this new digital minicam

he'd been practicing with, so I gave it all to him.

And did Kwan get the pictures?

Yeah, he said he did, but he just said that there was something really weird

about this case and wanted to talk to me right away. He didn't tell you what it

was? Started to, but my damn cell phone kept cutting out. I was in a...

Michael Connelly reading his new detective novel up in North Beach.

Lots of witnesses.

So I told him to meet me at the office, bring the pictures, and when I got

there, he was dead, and there were no pictures.

He was a really good kid.

Then the phone rang.

Houston.

And he said, I don't come across with the pictures. He's going to kill me,

I told him I had the pictures. But you didn't.

I can see how you made him, Inspector.

So I tell him I will meet him at the park at 2 a .m. You know, Aggie, we

searched the park, except for the usual junkies. It was a pretty quiet night.

You know, Houston said that if I didn't show, he was just going to hang around

and wait until the cops picked him up. He didn't do that.

My husband, Chuck, he threw me down the...

when I wouldn't get him a beer.

Did you call the cops?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's when he punched me.

It wasn't such a good idea to see Chuck's a cop.

We can help with that.

The ER that night, you know, I just got to thinking.

You know, I got 38 days sober, and Chuck the pig's still using me as a punching

bag.

Next day, I went home, packed up all my stuff.

Got a bus ticket here.

I'd sent my tape to some of the clubs. See, I'm a comedian.

She keeps forgetting who her daddy is.

Tough room.

Shiner.

The busted leg.

Calling AA in the middle of the night because I know that I'm going to drink

these people have sex on my wall just one more time.

Come on, that's funny stuff, right?

You really don't want to be here, do you?

Nope.

You know, I was sober for two years once.

18 months after that.

My sponsor, she made me go with her to jail to visit this woman.

This really horrible alcoholic.

Middle of a heat wave, she leaves her kid in the car.

14 -month -old baby who died.

She disgusted me.

So what, you, uh, talked to her about alcohol?

I was supposed to.

But I couldn't separate her from this thing that she did. I walked out.

Six days later, I'm loaded.

I was out for almost four years, living on the streets.

So you, uh, you think that if you had just stayed and talked to her, things

would have been different?

All I know is that right now I won't do anything, not to drink or use anything.

But you really don't want to be here right now, so why don't you go and get

sleep?

You know what?

You don't know me, all right? And you don't know what I'm thinking.

Well, you can, you know.

You can leave.

It's okay. I'm not going to drink tonight.

Great. Good for you.

Kathy, patrol.

What?

Stop!

Stop!

It is not time to go yet.

For me, it is.

Look, either you trust me and you trust this program, or you don't. You know

what, Kathy? Take a look around you.

All right? No one is drinking here tonight. Not you, not me, not our new

friends.

I just want to go home and get some sleep.

I'm okay.

The new antibiotic is doing nothing. He's getting worse. Mrs. Ramirez, we

finish the treatment.

I thought that was clear when we began. What's clear is that you don't know what

the hell's wrong with my son or how to make him better, sir. I know you feel

that way, but we are doing our best to ensure... Your best?

Your best is making my son thicker, okay?

Gabe, no. Please stay over there with Benjamin.

The boy's symptoms present as bronchitis. I'm the mother.

If it turns out that he has a different type of bacterial infection, then...

You know what? Thanks for nothing.

Come on, baby.

This is Ramirez.

Is Agatha Boone your true name?

Yes. Do you reside at 4450 Divisadero Street?

Not for long. I have to come up with some rent.

Yes.

Did a man named Houston come to your office on the afternoon of May 6th? Yes.

Did he ask you to surveil his wife?

She's passing.

Blind colors.

Don't be smug. You should tell me the truth with some of your answers.

DeLorenzo.

Yes? Okay.

Thank you.

The Emmy found the pictures.

I'm afraid to ask where.

Kwan's stomach.

Swallowed them before he died. Digital chip.

Captain, I just heard over the radio an off -duty officer was in a TA. Got

popped before deuce.

Oh.

You're not gonna like me.

Who is it?

The captain, Jim.

Hey.

Cap, what are you doing here?

Can I come in?

Yeah, sure.

Haven't really, uh, sort of set the place up yet.

It's Dusty. He was in a car accident.

Paul came in over the radio. He's okay. He's in the hospital. He got scratched

up a little. He's got a broken arm.

What happened?

He was drunk.

He had a blood alcohol level of .12.

Jen, I can only imagine how tough this is for you.

I'm okay.

Should you call someone?

Someone on the program?

Isn't that what you're supposed to do? No.

I could drive you to the hospital.

Do you want to go see him? No.

No.

Thanks for coming by, though. I appreciate it, really.

I'm okay.

How long you been here?

How long you been drinking?

Jenny. A month?

Two months, what?

The whole time you've known me?

A few weeks ago, I...

Had to go to Sacramento for a forensics conference.

Yeah, I remember that.

You told me how great the meetings were.

I lied.

I didn't go to any.

Right.

Yeah, right.

So, what am I supposed to do now?

Forgive you?

There was a bar outside my hotel.

I walked past it, I don't know, 50 times.

And one time I stopped.

The door was open.

What? It was a real hot day.

You were parched.

I don't want to hear it.

I don't want to hear how great...

The beer looked. I don't want to hear how you thought about it for a while. I

don't want to hear how you decided, oh, what the hell, I'm out of town. Nobody

will know. I can just have one.

It's a bunch of crap, Dusty. It's all crap.

Everything that you have told me about the miracles of this program.

How we're all here to keep each other sober.

You're a lie.

I didn't think about it for even half a second.

I walked in, I ordered the double scotch, and I threw it back. You know

I'm sure you've got all kinds of great reasons. I'm sure you have been lying

there just thinking about exactly what to tell me.

Because I'm an alcoholic, and that's what we do.

We drank, and it doesn't matter how long I've been sober.

If I'm not going to meetings, if I'm not working a solid program... You know

what? I heard you.

Dusty, you're an alcoholic.

I forgot. That excuses everything.

Jimmy... You know what? I am sorry you drank. I am sorry you totaled your car,

and I hope you get well real soon. But you know what? Right now, I gotta go.

Jimmy... What?

Did you drink today?

You don't get to ask me that.

Not anymore.

That's her. Yeah.

We'd be tough.

There you go.

He was right.

You know, he hired us to...

Follow her. He probably killed this guy she's hooking up with and he wants the

pictures to cover his tracks.

She's the key.

If I could just find her. Although I'm not sure why she's not listed at this

address. I mean, obviously she exists. She's right where he said she'd be.

Well, it all fits. It all fits together, right?

Look.

I can help you with this if we could just find her. We can find her, all

Aggie. We even know who she is.

And her name's not Vita.

She's lying.

I don't think so.

Come on, did she look like a cheating wife to you?

Yes, absolutely, if I didn't know who she really was.

It's just like Aggie said. She didn't check it out. It was a simple

surveillance, and she passed it on to Kwan.

Look, Aggie believes in people, and that's what gets her hurt. Come on, you

don't go into the P .I. business because of your trust and faith in mankind.

I mean, there's only money in it if people lie to each other, if people rip

other off.

Except in Aggie's case, if you really love your father and you want to be just

like him.

So you don't think she's in on it with Houston? No, I don't.

But I do think she knows something.

How do you know?

Gotta have a little faith.

He's finally down.

Hey.

Hey. Hey.

I don't want to sit.

What's going on here, Gabe?

Our son's got some aches and pains and a fever.

In other words, it's the flu.

Now, the first antibiotic didn't do the trick, but the second one definitely

will. That's not it.

Mothers have been feeling like this since the beginning of time.

You're protecting your baby.

And when it's all over, we'll take him to another doctor because this one will

be too scared to give him an aspirin.

What, you think I'm wrong?

A mother and a cop.

So what?

That's not a great combination dealing with your average overworked doctor.

I have a bad feeling about this, okay? Yes, Sheila, I do too.

I mean, our boy is sick.

But this guy deals with, what, 35 kids a day? So what is he, 35 kids a day? One

of those 35 kids happens to be our son.

Forgive me if I'm showing a little concern.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way.

We're doing it by the book.

Hey, here, give me...

It's the flu, baby.

Come on, sit down.

You just got to let the medicine do its work.

Okay?

Yeah, it's the flu.

She knows something. She's got a way to contact Houston, and she's holding out

on us.

She wants to do it all by herself. We can't let that happen. We have to push

hard. Got a plan?

Yeah, you ever hear of good cop, bad cop?

Rings the bell.

Yeah, well, we're not going to do that.

What's going on?

This?

This is Emily Mulholland.

She's an assistant U .S. attorney.

See? We got the real deal here, Aggie.

Her name's not Vita.

And this guy here is Henry Slusser.

Not her lover, but a witness in the murder trial of Nicky the Beak Sago.

The only witness, actually. See, he used to be Sago's driver until Ms.

Mulholland flipped him for the government.

See, by buying Houston's story without apparently checking up on a single thing

in it, you almost got this witness killed.

And Ms. Mulholland wants to bust you for obstructing a federal prosecution.

Nothing happened. The pictures did not change hands. Oh, great. So only one

guy's dead because of you, huh? Well, maybe we should just bust you for felony

stupidity. Joe, you get this?

Houston worked for Sago. He hired you to ID his secret witness so he could kill

him. I get it.

Hey, are you in on this?

What did you say? You heard me.

I think maybe Houston gave you the real deal here, huh?

You ID the witness for him? Maybe he gives you a bonus?

You are way over the line here, buddy. Way over the line. You saw how I did on

that lie box.

Maybe we didn't ask you the right question. A little money from Houston

back rent.

Oh, my God.

It's not your fault he killed Kwan.

Kwan figured it out. You couldn't have anticipated that. See, everything fits

here. Houston gets the pictures, you get the dough.

Huh?

Who taught you how to lie, Aggie?

Huh? Was it your client? The one who chopped up his wife? He didn't do it.

He didn't do it. He was set up. You copped. You're all alike.

It was your father who taught you.

Maybe that's why you're such a great detective.

You really don't want to do that.

You don't know anything about my father.

Or me.

What we do know is that Quan is dead.

20 -year -old kid.

And this guy almost died.

So how do you feel about that?

I feel awful.

Hi. It's Magda.

Hi. I need to get a blood test for my son, Ben.

No, right away. I can't wait. It's pretty important.

Yeah. Thank you.

Okay. Bye.

You're late.

I know. I know. I'm sorry. My kids' ball practice ran a little over.

Whatever. You called me.

What do you want? I'm not here for the coffee.

There you go.

Happy, joyous, and free. The poster girl of A .A. My sponsor drank.

You got a slogan for that?

Better him than me.

How's that?

That's it.

Ginny, we gotta talk, and this is all I get.

Find a new sponsor.

And while you're looking, sponsor Dusty for a while. Yeah, I don't think so.

What have you found here?

You're a bit too hard case for me. My guys follow directions or I drop them

hot coals.

I don't have Dusty's tenacity.

For what?

Lying? You know what he's doing to himself in that hospital bed all beat up

way worse than anything that'll cross your mind.

He's back to day one.

And just because he drank don't mean he didn't help you.

You're still sober.

How do you know?

Maybe I'm just like him. Maybe I put a shot of bourbon in my coffee before you

got here.

No.

But sooner or later, you sure will if you don't stop making this about how bad

you got hurt in this mess.

You didn't cause this.

You can't cure it, and you can't control it.

Ah, the three Cs, yet another great slogan.

You know, you really do need to cut the guy a little slack here.

No.

I'm done.

Okay, I'm still on the program, but as far as Dusty is concerned, that part's

over.

You know, even in the books and the movies they write about the

great detectives, they're always...

Men of honor.

Aggie, come on.

My father was a man of honor. This isn't about him. This is about catching a

killer. Now.

Houston still wants the pictures, Aggie.

That day my dad asked me to work with him. The pictures.

That's our hook.

It was the greatest day of my life.

It was like women talk about their weddings or having their first kid.

how it felt to me.

He had this guy write boon and boon on the door while he took me out to lunch.

He was such a gentleman, and he was pretty funny, too.

And he was really smart.

He would have seen the setup coming before it ever got to the door, and he

as hell wouldn't have turned it over to a kid like Kwan.

Do you know how to get in touch with Houston?

Gotta look for the lie, Aggie. Always look for the lie, and I...

Didn't do that.

He didn't do it.

I'm not like him.

I never will be.

Aggie.

I have a telephone number. It's an 800 voicemail. You can leave a message.

That's great.

I'm supposed to take care of this myself.

Well, Aggie, we're going to have to work together on this one.

Yeah.

Benjamin.

Ben. Puppy. Wake up.

Ben. Hey.

Hi. Do you remember Mommy's friend, Danny Brown? He works with me.

Hi. Hi, kiddo.

Danny's going to take a little blood from you, okay?

No. It's going to hurt. No, sweetie pie, I'm going to squeeze your hand so tight

you're not even going to notice, I promise.

Okay? I'm very good at this.

And I'm excellent at this.

Why is Houston going to trust Boone? He knows Kwan wouldn't give him the

pictures. Well, she's not going to give them to him. She's going to sell them to

him for $10 ,000.

Yeah, see, he figured her for a chump in the first place, and he'll buy her as

corrupt. We don't really have a choice.

We're going to wire her.

She says she can get this guy to confess that he killed Kwan.

She better.

If we catch this guy, she's our only witness.

In the trial, her credibility would be destroyed.

What credibility?

Our guys are going to be there the whole time.

So we've got to stick to the plan.

Let's get him talking, get him to confess.

Yeah.

You know, I'm not so sure this is a good idea.

Hey, look, I know, I know I screwed up. I've screwed up a lot in my life, but

not this time.

I can pull this off.

If I don't throw out the second bolt, you know that.

I'm all you've got. I can do this.

I can do this.

Danny Wong said that you wanted to see me in person.

Yeah.

You were right to have his blood checked.

It's not the flu. His white cell count is over 50 ,000.

I'm sorry, Miss Ramirez. This will probably be the worst thing you'll ever

to hear.

We ran the blood twice.

Your son Ben has leukemia.

His blood... It's record territory. The normal range is... I'm sorry, can I

please have a pen and some paper? I'd like to take some notes, please. Thank

you.

Thank you.

We'll do a complete workup.

Typically, by catching it at this stage, there are more options available for

treatment.

First of all...

which should be able to significantly reduce his white count by a combination

chemotherapy and a procedure called leukoparesis, which filters out white

cells.

You hear me?

I was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.

What happened here?

Here we go.

Looks like someone made a big mess.

I figure you might know.

You got the pictures?

If you've got the cash.

You raised your price.

Ten thousand's a lot for a single roll of snaps.

I'm in business to make a profit, Mr. Houston. You killed my assistant to get

these pictures, so I figured you might be good for the extra dough.

You got nothing on me.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Yeah. But I got the money. Well, unlike Kwan, I am a realist, and I do have a

price. Kwan?

Who's Kwan?

Did you offer him any money? Or, I mean, I'm curious. Did you just shoot him?

Yeah, well, keep your hands where I can see the lady.

Don't blow gas, because I'm just getting your pictures.

You know, what's going on here?

What is she doing?

I'm looking for the lie.

What? And I found it.

You.

Police! Drop your weapon!

Save me!

Come on.

He wouldn't talk.

Well, at least you got him for killing me.

I can walk, you know.

Yeah, I'm sure you can.

We're just following the rules here.

Following the rules. That's good.

Thanks for picking me up. My wife and kids weren't really in the mood.

Yeah, I can understand that.

I'm just saying I appreciate you showing up for me.

I'm not doing it for you.

The induction...

Protocol is followed by a six -month consolidation therapy regimen.

And then she recommends that Benjamin receive... Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Induction protocol?

Yes. To induce remission. Are you not listening to me?

I'm just trying to keep up for you.

Well, and if that doesn't work, she recommends that Benjamin get a...

and a bone marrow transplant.

A bone marrow transplant.

I mean, our insurance should cover it. I know it's expensive.

Damn it.

It's going to be all right.