Original subtitles

Mr. Novak has to realize the seriousness of his situation.

There's a very good chance that he'll be charged with first-degree murder.

But I never thought anything like this would happen. I mean... You're not

obliged to say anything. I think we should end this conversation right here,

Ms. Coughlin. No, no, no, wait a minute. I gotta tell her. I gotta explain.

All right. Then why don't we start then with the, um...

Dickie, I think I stepped in at this time, babe.

Eddie's store used to be on my beat when I was a rookie.

What's the problem?

You rigged a shotgun in his store.

Killed a junkie who broke in last night.

God, Eddie.

Look, I'm no killer. You know that, Dickie.

I was just defunding my store, that's all. I have to warn you, Mr. Novak, that

any further... Wait a minute, this is important.

I got no idea how bad it was getting.

I'd had 18, 19 break-ins in two years.

The last five times, this guy's come marching through my stores with guns and

cleaned out the cash register.

And the cops?

They were sympathetic.

They couldn't put a man in there 24 hours a day.

Get an alarm system, they told me. Like I could afford an alarm system.

Yeah, well, I am sympathetic too, Eddie, but we still gotta deal with how this

guy, this, uh... Waylon Hemphill got himself

splattered all over your canned goods.

You're talking like... like he's the victim.

I'm the victim here.

It is not right throwing a guy like Eddie Novak in prison.

The law says it's right.

Boy, are we reversing roles.

You don't feel a little bit sorry for the guy? I do.

Yes.

He took the law into his own hands because...

Of circumstances.

The shotgun he rigged up.

It's all he could think of. He was desperate.

That doctor's justified a murder.

Are you sure you couldn't get yourself another investigator for this one?

Yeah.

That's what I was afraid of.

See you after lunch.

Hello, Tess.

Hello.

I was hoping to apologize.

It's too late.

Look, I confess that things got out of hand, but believe me when I say I can

take a hint.

I won't bother you again.

You go after somebody else.

Should I take that to mean that it isn't enough for me to humble myself in front

of you like this?

That's right.

If you insist on being...

then you better be aware that your career could wind up in a million

pieces.

Tell it to the ethics committee.

The ethics committee?

You just cut your own throat.

We'll see.

If you're here to drink, well, then...

You're still not welcome. No need to lock up the booze. Just stop by to

return something of yours.

Your essay.

I thought you'd be in class to get it.

It wouldn't feel right if I went anymore.

Well, you might change your mind once you see the grade.

A B+. Seems we've unearthed a barmaid with the soul of a poet.

What's this really about, Weldon?

I'm not trying to get back in your good graces if that's what's troubling you.

Just because I'm a sock doesn't mean I'm unprofessional.

I still can't come back to class.

I understand.

I'll miss having you as a student.

I'll miss you. Period.

The Great Gatsby.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's enduring triumph. Perhaps when you read it, you'll

remember.

I'll always remember you, Weldon.

Well, I'll exit before emotion makes me sappy. I wouldn't want to damage my

image as a cavalier, hard-drinking swine.

You're much better than that when you give yourself a chance.

Then I hope you'll remember me the way I could have been.

Goodbye, Kay.

He threatened you.

Maybe he'll understand a dark alley and a lead pipe.

Yes, yes.

Maggie, you need a couple minutes.

Not a good time. I'm late for a meeting.

This is the point.

So I was mapping out strategy with Bruce.

I hope that's some consolation test.

Please proceed, Ms. Kaufman.

The people realize full well, Your Honor, that the man killed does not

readily elicit sympathy.

Doesn't elicit sympathy?

Your Honor, Waylon Hemphill was a career bottom feeder with 37 arrests and 8

convictions for everything from possession to burglary to assault and

battery.

Be that as it may, Judge Strandos, a man is dead because Eddie Novak took the law

into his own hands. He may not have been holding the shotgun that killed Mr.

Hemphill. But he most definitely rigged the trap that triggered it.

Since all the elements for murder are here, it was willful, it was

premeditated, it was deliberate.

The people ask $250,000 bail.

Duly noted, Ms. Kaufman.

Mr. Levenger?

Your Honor, the bail the people are seeking is exorbitant.

In Mr. Novak, we're talking about a lifelong resident of this city.

A man who has done business honorably at the same location for 23 years, who has

never before been arrested, who simply has the misfortune to live in a

neighborhood overrun by crime.

Now, surely there can be no more worthy candidate to be released on his own

recognizance. Mr. Novak, would you please rise?

Now, you understand we're talking about a case that involves murder.

Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

All right.

If you are willing...

to accept periodic visits from a parole officer.

If you agree to keep no weapons and to abstain from any acts of violence.

And if you understand that your daughter is obliged to report you should you seek

flight.

Yes, sir.

All right. I think bail of $100,000 should be sufficient.

Your Honor, that's still awfully steep here. Let me direct the question to your

client, Mr. Lovinger.

Mr. Novak.

Didn't you say earlier that you'd be willing to put up the title of your

store to secure your bail?

Yes, sir.

Well, then, we should be able to do business.

Excuse me, Detective Cobb.

What can I do for you?

Hi, Jenny Tan, Channel 6 News.

I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about Eddie Novak. You were

the arresting officer, right?

No, wrong.

He's an old friend. I work for the attorneys prosecuting.

Now that sounds like an uncomfortable situation.

I said he's an old friend.

So it must be tough for you to see him face a murder charge.

It's a damn shame is what it is.

If I wasn't in Eddie's shoes, I'd probably have done the same thing.

But that doesn't make what he's accused of doing right.

People can't go around using guns to decide for themselves who should live

and who should die. Excuse me, please.

A drink with us is going to ruin your reputation.

For always working.

Go there.

Look.

She's alone every time I see her in here.

I wish I could just get back to worrying about the Cubs, you know what I mean?

Yeah, it'd be nice if that's all you had to do.

All I had to do?

Hell, it'd be a full-time job.

First of all, they never should have let Sutton go.

You know, this doesn't even taste good anymore.

One of those club sodas you're drinking, okay?

It won't hurt you.

Just because of old Weldon?

More like in his memory.

Can we talk about something else?

Kay Lockman?

Yeah. Do you know a Weldon Lewis?

Yeah.

Is there a problem?

Farnsworth?

Yeah, he was in an accident.

We need Miss Lockman to come to the morgue.

The morgue?

Yes, ma'am.

I'm afraid Mr. Lewis is dead.

and didn't care if he lived or died.

Think he wanted to wrap his car in a telephone pole?

No. What he wanted was to get blind drunk and then it didn't matter what

happened.

Not much you can do for somebody like that, Kay. I know you tried.

He just wasn't happy with who he was.

That description fits a lot of people.

Yeah, but they don't let it kill them, Dickie.

And they do things a lot worse than teach about something they love.

I mean, they make a living...

Screwing on rearview mirrors or digging ditches or filing reports, but somehow

they find a reason to keep going.

Maybe Weldon couldn't.

He was good at a lot of things.

Maybe going the distance wasn't one of them.

He was a loser.

Don't, Kay.

Now's not the time to beat him up.

I'm not beating him up. I'm beating myself up.

I always fall for losers.

Every damn time, losers.

You were the only one who wasn't.

You just didn't know how to be...

you partly responsible for this test.

I want you to know that.

You are his immediate superior, after all.

Well, despite what you may think, punctuality does count.

Neatness, too.

You know, that's tough.

I had a rough night last night.

Oh, you're not the only one. Believe me.

Walden Lewis got himself killed in a car crash last night.

Who?

The teacher that Kay was seeing.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend Cobb, but you have problems of your own

to worry about. What the hell are you talking about now?

Well, since I assume you didn't catch the news on Channel 6 last night, let's

just go to the tape.

And it's not just the average man on the street who sympathizes with Eddie Novak.

Just listen to Detective Dickie Cobb, who works as an investigator for the

assistant district attorney who's prosecuting Mr. Novak.

It's a damn shame is what it is.

If I was in Eddie Novak's shoes, I probably would have done the same thing.

And that's what people are saying all over the city.

And now we'll just have to wait and find out if the justice system agrees.

Jenny Tan, Channel 6 News.

What is going on? I said more than that. Where do you get off saying anything?

You are not a spokesman for the DA's office. I never said I was.

And I told her that people can't go around shooting each other.

And naturally, it didn't make it on the air because it's not as interesting as a

cop sympathizing with a murderer.

Haven't either of you ever heard of a soundbite?

If you can't boil your most complex thoughts down to 9.4 seconds, some

genius in a TV station will do it for you.

God.

Prosecuting this Eddie Novak case is uncomfortable enough as it is.

That's what I was trying to tell that reporter.

How do you want to handle it, Arthur?

I don't know yet.

I get such headaches from that guy.

I need to help.

I will do my job, Tess.

But don't expect me to like it.

That's not what I mean.

All I can offer you is moral support, Tess.

If you want anything else, you're wasting your time.

I wonder about you, Maggie.

There should be no big mystery why I do not want to go public with this.

There's nothing in it for me.

That's not what I mean.

I saw you in the bar at Emerson's last night.

You were sitting by yourself.

And all I could think of was...

I wonder if anyone ever gets through to you. Don't psychoanalyze me, Tess.

I just like a quiet drink after work.

Okay. But you came to me about Booth.

So off the record, what do you know?

What happened between you and Booth?

Booth hounded me for months.

So finally I shrugged and said, okay, let's just get this over with.

It was supposed to be wham, bam, thank you, ma'am, you know?

No.

You probably don't know, but I thought I did.

Right there in his chambers, for God's sake.

And you didn't tell anyone?

Not even a friend?

I was 26, I was just out of law school, ready to make the world a better place.

And suddenly everything is tipped on its ear.

I didn't know where the hell I was.

So you put the wall up.

Just raised it a little.

Maybe you can live that way, Maggie.

A lot of the other women that Booth went after...

And this is the hard part, Maggie.

This is where we ask you to have a heart.

I'm flattered that you think I still might have one.

No jail for Eddie!

No jail for Eddie!

No jail for Eddie!

No jail for Eddie! Hey, you're the cop that was on the news, right? No jail for

Eddie! I'm the cop that got had by the news.

Yeah, well, thanks for what you said. I mean, somebody's got to be on a little

guy's side.

Turn the camera off.

Turn the camera off now, or you'll take it back to the station in pieces.

That's enough, guys.

Now, what is your problem, Detective Cobb?

My problem is the way you twisted my interview.

Well, I don't think you can say that you were misquoted.

No, you said what needed to be said.

Why don't you tell them what else I said?

Nah, you can't do that.

That'd ruin your story, wouldn't it?

See ya.

No jail free!

No jail free!

Quite frankly, Arthur, you're not making the mayor very happy with this Novak

thing.

Here you are, gentlemen.

Who's happy, Matt?

I was hoping you could tell me what the mayor could live with.

You can't figure that out for yourself?

Well, my first instinct is to go with murder one with a strong recommendation

for leniency. Are you crazy?

A deal is a humane thing to do. I tell you, humanity has always played very

well in the Ninth Ward.

Number one, I'm not crazy.

Number two, there is nothing humane about Eddie Novak's booby trap.

It wasn't an accident.

It wasn't done in the heat of passion.

It was a premeditated act requiring intelligence, imagination, and effort.

That's called murder one.

Arthur, please.

Novak was just a poor schnook who was frustrated by all the crime in the city.

He's a hero in the Ninth Ward.

You want to be a city councilman, start thinking like one.

Make this whole damn thing disappear.

Are you sure that's what you want?

Arthur.

You busy?

No.

No, not really. Just improving my mind until the boss is ready to roll.

You all right?

I must look pretty bad if you're asking me that.

No.

You look fine. Just a little worried, that's all.

I am, I guess, about Zach.

I mean, Kevin.

I can't do it, Dickie. I can't take Kevin back.

I don't understand you, Joe.

I probably never did.

You suck up the courage to face me.

And to tell me you're ready to be a mother again, and you take me to see

him. Did you really see him? Yes.

Are you sure?

Yes, I'm sure. Because that was a happy little boy.

With a big yard to play in.

And a wonderful house to live in. And two foster parents who are going to do

everything they can to make sure his life is a good one. How can I take that

away from him?

When I don't have a prayer of duplicating it. He is yours, Jo.

Your flesh and blood. That's why I'm doing this.

All in the name of love?

Yes.

And I'll love him till the day I die.

And what do you do until then?

I wish I knew.

Can I help you, miss?

No. No, I take a class here.

There ain't no class tonight.

They're gonna be painting.

Now?

Couple of hours.

But we're gonna start moving the furniture in just a bit.

Do you think I could stay here until then?

I don't see why not.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Your Honor, the ladies would like to have a word with you.

Maggie? I can't believe you'd be a party to this madness.

I'm sure that's what you've always counted on, Anthony.

The fear and shame that make women turn something like this into their own dirty

little secret.

You're twisting things all out of proportion.

Whatever happened to your sense of discretion?

What do you know about discretion, Judge Booth?

You harass women.

You use your position to take advantage of them.

You're not discreet.

You're just a bully. Can't you see that she's gone around the band on this

subject, Maggie?

If you ally yourself with her, you're gonna do irreparable harm to your

professional reputation.

That game won't fly with me.

My career is set.

I get my clients, I do my job.

I'm a good lawyer.

What could you possibly gain?

I plan on sleeping better.

That's assuming people don't ask why you didn't come forward sooner.

I can't even remember how many years ago our little fling was.

I do.

It was 12 years ago.

I guess women don't forget about these things.

Or forgive.

This is where it stops.

One isn't impossible odds What makes you think they're only two did you keep a

diary a scorecard?

You better check all the names on that list you're about to be reacquainted

with some of them

It's past time to do something about Eddie Novak. I want you to make him a

deal.

What kind of a deal?

If he'll plead guilty to manslaughter, tell him he'll get five years and be out

in two and a half. Then we can go back to concentrating on real criminals.

In the eyes of the law, he's a criminal, too.

You want to be strict about your definition, yeah, he is. But you got to

think of the situation Eddie was in.

You cannot hang this guy.

I don't want to hang him.

I also don't want to send the wrong message to every would-be vigilante in

the city.

This isn't about giving a thumbs-up to every vigilante.

This is about helping a decent guy get back to where he belongs.

I'm not saying I want to use him as a symbol.

Well, hell, you could have fooled me.

Because a symbol is exactly what Eddie will become if he gets a sentence that's

any stiffer. Do you think I could have the floor back, Mr. and Mrs. Pickerson?

The debate's very stimulating, but I've already made up my mind, so take your

win, Cobb, and leave it at that.

Our job here is to facilitate the swift administration of justice, so if the two

of you would be so kind, facilitate.

You're wasting your time coming around here with this crap.

We are offering you the best deal possible.

Prison?

Don't sound like any kind of a deal at all to me. Eddie, you have got to listen

to Ms. Kaufman.

She is not trying to trick you into anything.

My father doesn't belong in prison.

I thought you were supposed to help him.

That would be a lot easier to do if we were having this meeting in my office,

where it ought to be.

I told you, I gotta keep this store open, and I'm not gonna leave Martha

here by herself.

I understand your feelings about your daughter's safety, Mr. Novak, but what

we don't understand is why you won't at least... hear what we have to offer. Why

don't you think about my father's life?

Please, honey, it's okay.

No, it's not.

Dad, I've seen what working in the store has done to you.

I know how you sacrificed to keep it open when Mom was sick, and I know how

you've scrimped and saved to send me to school.

These people ought to know it, too.

Look, I'll get through this. I promise.

Just let me do it my own way, okay?

All right, babe?

The answer is still no.

You really want to roll the dice with the jury?

They will wind up convicting you of murder.

Eddie, I have known you a long time.

You are no gambler.

You know me so well?

Tell me, Dickie, how long do you think I'm going to last in prison?

We are pretty sure that Judge Triandos will agree to a five-year sentence.

That means you are out in two and a half. Oh, I don't want to hear that,

okay?

I've seen what goes in and out of prison.

They got respect for nothing or nobody.

They got dead eyes, Dickie.

You put me in there with them, more than my eyes are gonna come out dead.

I got shows I gotta stop and I gotta stall around.

of a cheap trick was that there was nothing cheap about it you heard the

judge it's perfectly legal i never thought the law i practiced was very

genteel but opening up my bank records for god's sake bruce all we're gonna you

are a little bastard you don't want to play hardball bruce you shouldn't have

thrown the first pitch you know where you can stick your baseball metaphors

i'm getting out of this sewer talk to you later he's a little too emotional

for my taste someday burke

I'm going to make you beg for mercy.

I know. It's totally amazing.

Yeah, well, thanks for the information.

Okay. Bye.

Do you want to tell me what you did to Judge Booth?

What you did to Judge Booth?

What happened, Arthur? The judicial system's foremost latch is resigning.

Quit.

You sure?

He issued a press release 45 minutes ago.

Yeah, well, congratulations.

You won. Thank you. You're welcome. Don't thank me.

Maggie Zombrow helped you a lot more than I did. You unleashed Maggie Zombrow

on him?

Talk about a man paying for his sins.

Where is he going?

Booth. Um, to be counsel for the Hessling Corporation.

Then he hasn't finished harassing women.

He's just changed his base of operations.

I'm still going to the ethics committee, Arthur.

Let me know if you need any help.

But in the meantime, I need to know how you fared with Eddie Novak.

We did it.

He said no?

Is he out of his mind? Yeah.

Yeah, he is, with fear.

He'll never survive in prison.

He doesn't care if it's two and a half years or two and a half minutes.

Does nothing come easy?

You've got history with him.

Grab his attorney and go down there.

Talk sense to him. Talk hard.

You know, even if I pull this off, Arthur, I'm still not going to be in

time for your debate.

Let me worry about my political career.

You know, I think that was the most relaxed dinner I've had in a month.

Thank you.

Next time you're back.

No, I mean, thank you.

So there's talk around the courthouse that you're offering this guy Novak a

deal. Yes.

What kind of deal?

Mass murder.

Five years.

And he's out in two and a half?

That's nuts.

He killed someone and he could wind up... Serving less time than me. And all

I did was borrow money which I fully intended to pay back.

What a system.

He didn't take the deal.

He didn't? No.

He's afraid of prison.

I know the feeling.

Actually, I don't know why I'm angry at this guy.

I feel sorry for him, really.

Worry about yourself.

I do.

Every hour I'm awake.

But if you don't mind, I'm going to root for Novak.

Do you want to prosecute Eddie Novak or don't you, Mr. Gold?

I think there are larger issues in this election than one isolated case, no

matter how many headlines it makes. Well, if you really believe that.

Why did you have to wait until Mayor Devan instructed you to offer Mr. Novak

a plea bargain?

You're badly mistaken, Mr. Corbridge.

I've never spoken to the mayor on this subject.

Ah.

Well, I'm sure Pat Quinlan was only too happy to deliver instructions.

If you are suggesting any impropriety, I resent it.

Mr. Gold, I'm not suggesting any impropriety. I'm suggesting puppetry.

And if the voters of the Ninth Ward want a councilman who's dancing at the end of

the mayor's string, then you're their man.

To be perfectly honest with you, and with myself, I think that's exactly what

the mayor and Pat Quinlan have in mind.

It's not a very easy thing for me to admit, because in doing so, it strikes

at my pride.

My integrity and my worthiness as a candidate.

But the truth is, the mayor is trying to use this case for political gain. I'm

trying to use this case for political gain.

And Mr. Corbridge here is trying to use this case for political gain.

Where does that leave Eddie Novak?

Eddie Novak is a signpost for us all, a warning of the direction in which our

society is heading.

He was a desperate man who committed a desperate crime, and it was a crime.

But Eddie Novak isn't a disease.

He's a symptom.

Prosecuting him is like prescribing cough syrup for tuberculosis.

And why does this condition exist?

Partly because those of us in politics do things

not for the people, but for self-interest, self-aggrandizement.

For power!

For my part in this, you have my apology.

For what it does to your lives.

You have my sympathy.

I don't know where Gold found the guts to do it.

But he did.

I guess he does have his moments.

I've just missed most of them until now.

So?

So, I think that gold is king for a day.

I just hope he has enough courage left in his tank to help Eddie.

You know that Eddie's...

Not gonna take the deal.

Why make me go out there to see him again?

Why not?

Because... Because every time

I see Eddie, oh, hell, I mean, every time I even think about him, I start

worrying about how bad we're out of control, Tess.

All of us.

You know what I'm saying?

Well, I think we have lost our way.

But I'm not quitting. No, no.

I'm going out to see Eddie.

I am not dragging his lawyer with me.

Do you want me to go see him or not, huh? What do you think?

Bye-bye.

I thought I made myself clear when you came around with that lady lawyer of

yours. I thought you deserved a chance to change your mind.

Dickie, spare me the pity, will you? Eddie, I am way past pity.

I am trying to help you. Hey, if you really wanted to help, you should have

started a long time ago with more cops on the street.

and places that take care of junkies, so they wouldn't be coming in here breaking

into my store. Yeah, and maybe we could give poor people some choices besides

crime, too, but that's not the way things work right now. So I take it in

the neck?

We will do everything in our power to try to make sure that you get minimum

security. What does that mean?

That means no Stateville.

That means you'll be doing your time with the Bruce Kaufmans of the world.

Who the hell is Bruce Kaufman?

He's not a scary guy.

He's a scared guy, just like you.

The judge, is he gonna go along with this?

I would be willing to bet on it.

Look, let me, uh, let me sleep on it, okay?

Hurry up and wait.

Some things never change.

My apologies.

The day just seems to have gotten away from me.

Do you mind?

How are things going with Eddie Novak?

Go to butter.

I talked to Eddie again today. If we were able to promise him minimum

security, I think we'd have a sale. Good.

I think Judge Chandos will go along with that. I'll talk to him in the morning.

Okay. I'll go see Eddie and tell him.

Are you okay, Arthur?

Are you talking about the way I shot myself in the foot last night?

What he said was right.

Yeah.

And took real stones.

Thanks for the compliment, I think.

I was lost.

Now I'm found.

Now I can get back to doing my job. I'm sure the two of you won't mind.

What about the election?

We'll just have to see if brutal honesty plays in the ninth ward.

I doubt it does Well, just tell your supporters to do what the machine always

did Vote early vote often Yeah

Cadiz? I understand you knew the guy.

Yeah.

That's rough.

I'm sorry.

Was Eddie dead when the first car arrived?

Afraid so.

He had just enough strength to call 911.

Said he'd been robbed.

Again?

So you have a suspect?

Yeah. Tall guy wearing a stocking cap, waving a gun.

That's about it.

But you got a witness.

Yeah, a lady down the street.

It wasn't anybody in the store, but the robber and the victim.

Poor son of a bitch had to die alone.

Martha.

You find the man that murdered my dad.

I hope you're as tough on him as you were on my father.

We'll push it as hard as we can.

Thanks, guys.

I could have saved him, Tess.

What do you mean?

I mean that Eddie was ready to take the deal we were offering him, and I backed

off.

I thought I was being a good guy, but what I was really doing...

is giving him time...

To get killed.

That's not true.

Yes it is.

Yes it is.

Makes me want to cry.

You can cry.

Don't be so sure about that.