Original subtitles

Who's he?

Never mind. Just do what he says.

Who's he? Who are you?

Quincy, coroner's office.

He saved the kid's life.

Who's the medical examiner?

Quincy.

Oh, no.

I am the presiding medical officer.

If I tell you you've got a homicide, buddy, you've got a homicide!

Oh, I don't believe it. If you can't find

a dead body handy, you dig one up.

That kind of talk is very dangerous.

Dangerous?

Jump!

No.

I want to thank you.

Are we being a little formal?

No, I mean for everything.

I couldn't have done it without you.

I love you.

That makes it hard.

That sounded kind of final.

I just wanted you to know that I cared.

Steve. Steve, you're hurting my neck!

Steve! Steve!

You call it, honey.

Should we shoot across to Bora Bora

or dip down across Papeete?

I think Bora Bora could be a bit drafty.

Drafty? In the tropics?

I meant below deck.

I could promise, in a couple of months,

I'd have the boat fixed and everything like that.

Takes a lot of time to restore a beauty like this.

Want chili on your dog?

You bet.

I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking I'll never get around to it?

I don't make any more promises.

Because when you do, you end up feeling guilty

and apologizing for the rest of your life.

What you're really talking about is us.

As far as I'm concerned,

we have no obligations to each other.

You can come and go as you wish.

Well, answer it.

Oh, I don't believe it, Sam,

I'm sorry, Quince.

Well, can't you get somebody else?

I'm working on a sunset you wouldn't believe.

I tried. But Browdman's already out.

You're on call.

All right, what is it?

Well, maybe it won't take so long.

It's just down the coast from you.

A homicide.

Give me directions, will you?

I'm sorry.

No apologies, remember?

Yeah, but you probably had to trade

with a girl to get the time for a date.

Oh, no, I don't trade with the girls.

Being one of the oldest active airline stewardesses,

they have to reschedule entire flights

around my social life.

It's a company rule.

Listen, uh, I'll tell you what you do.

You go down there, you arrange everything.

Get it all comfy and cozy.

And I'll be back before you can finish your hot dog.

Oh, honey, I know you're mad.

Coroner's Case Number 76, 10835.

Jane Doe, 143.

External findings:

Contused cervical abrasion right of midline.

Nails clean and well-kept, no fractures present,

No prominent defense wounds present on hands or forearms.

An old shin contusion present,

Note: Material adhering to sole of foot.

Good evening.

Good evening, Brill. Well, what do we have?

All the signs of a textbook rape.

Who's the medical examiner?

Quincy.

Oh, no.

Is this all she had with her? Yeah.

Bathing-suit top here, uh, pack of cigarettes in the pocket.

That's about it. You know, nothing special.

Well, wh-what I mean is that there didn't

seem to be anything especially... special...

Pack of cigarettes in her pocket, you notice the brand?

Yeah, they're, uh...

I... I was very, very careful.

Evening, Quincy. Nice to see you.

Well, what does it look like to you?

It looks like you still haven't told your men

what not to do at the scene of a homicide.

I suppose we've obliterated the fatal scientific clue

that could have nailed this rapist in his tracks.

We may never know, Lieutenant.

Look, Quincy, I work with other medical examiners all day, all week.

They don't get in my way, I don't get in theirs, and we solve a lot of cases.

In other words, they stay out of the way of my detectives.

I don't let my boys put their fingers in your cotton-picking swabs.

I was wondering how she got here.

Didn't you ever hear of public transportation?

In Los Angeles?

Now, Quincy, stop trying to make

out of this more than a simple rape.

I never knew there was such a thing.

You know what I mean.

I know what you mean.

We've got a live one not far from here.

There might be a connection. All right, let's go.

Naturally, with an APB on the murder

down at the beach, we took pursuit.

I did what I thought was right, Lieutenant

Take it easy!

He's in shock.

Two bullet wounds.

He's hemorrhaging internally.

When you get him on the road, start pumping the plasma.

Kid's in pretty bad shape. What's he supposed to have done?

He assaulted and murdered that girl down the beach.

You clutching at straws?

This officer spotted the kid just after he had stashed the purse

in a gasoline station, in the men's room.

That's purse snatching, maybe.

No, there's a wallet inside the purse.

A picture of a very pretty girl,

the girl we left down on the beach.

Was there any more questions, Doc?

Yeah, how you gonna justify pumping that kid full of lead,

if he isn't the one who killed that girl, and I don't think he is.

Oh, is this your opinion, or a medical fact?

Right now, it's an opinion.

I think he's too small to have subdued that girl.

Oh, now who's clutching at straws?

Look, a guy gets all worked up, he can be awfully tough.

Besides, who said he was alone?

Look, Doc, if you get any more brainstorms, put them in writing, will you?

Through channels.

Sam! Sam, you in there?

Yeah. Good.

It's 3:00 in the morning. I'll get you for this, Quincy.

It was very important. They bring in the girl yet?

She's in prep.

Set up a latent print lift.

Done.

What else would you be going for at this hour of the morning?

We've got about as much chance as a...

Chinaman in hell?

Quincy, that's a slur against the Chinese.

I keep on telling you, I'm Japanese.

What's the difference?

C'mon... Oh, wait. I'll be right with you. I gotta make a phone call.

At 3:00 in the morning?

Who do you hate this much? Astin?

Not even close.

Yeah?

Listen, honey, I'm sorry. I had to run down to the lab.

There's one chance in 1,000 that I can lift

a fingerprint off a murder victim's neck.

See, it's a new technique I've been pioneering and, well, it could be vital.

Well, don't apologize. I understand.

I know I should've called you sooner.

You said up front,

no commitments, no obligations.

I would like to go back to sleep.

There you go. I woke you up, I forgot, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to, Lee. I didn't... Lee. Lee!

Really got her mad, huh?

Furious. But she won't admit it.

She smiles at everything I do.

Never complains.

She's driving me nuts.

Come on, let's see if we can find the girl's killer.

Okay, patch it up on the screen.

Right index finger, go in on it.

Next finger.

We were too late to get a fingerprint, Quincy.

Even under optimum conditions, it's a long shot.

Still, we have an outline of the killer's hands.

Looks big.

You know what Monahan would say?

That only proves she didn't strangle herself.

Good morning, Lieutenant.

Oh, really? When did that happen?

Last night?

Oh, I could promise that within an hour.

Uh, let me see who handled that call last night. It was, uh...

It was, uh, Dr. Quincy.

No, no, no, Lieutenant,

I... I gave you a deadline and I will stand by it.

No, I will be in touch.

Uh, Sylvia, would you tell Dr. Quincy that, uh...

Well, Sylvia, never mind. I-I'll tell him myself.

Quincy, is this your case?

Naturally, we're all bereaved

by this senseless death that has taken

one of our most loyal and beloved workers.

But we must commend the police department

for the efficient and diligent manner

in which it continues to make lawlessness unprofitable,

under this mayor's administration.

Thank you.

A girl dies and they hold a rally.

Meanwhile, a new development on the City Hall murder,

A young transient, Peter Gordon,

was apprehended by police shortly before dawn

not more than 3 miles

from where Dianne Johnson's body was found

brutally assaulted, a few short hours before,

The boy was shot resisting arrest,

In other news today...

Looks like they're sure they have their man.

Bright kid. Assaults a girl, then flees the scene at 3 miles an hour.

Morning. Morning, Sam.

Morning, Dr. Astin.

Morning, Dr. Quincy.

Dr. Astin.

I, uh, just got a call from It. Monahan.

Well, naturally, I assured him...

My report is not ready, sir.

But I understand that we've been working all night.

Surely, we've arrived at the cause of death and the mode.

We have, sir.

Well, good. Then I'll just...

No. We'll just have to wait, sir.

Now, Dr. Quincy,

you may not feel that it's necessary

to maintain diplomatic channels

with our police department but I am charged with the responsibility...

Of supplying complete and accurate information,

which we just don't have right now.

Not if you spend all night wasting time

on that... that... that

experimental fingerprints- off-the-human-tissue theory of yours.

That is not theory, Doctor, that's fact. I've proven it twice.

Neither effort proved to be admissible in court.

Neither case demanded the assailant's fingerprints

on his victim's body.

This one might.

Well, I didn't realize that...

Well, uh, what did we come up with?

Well, uh,

we were late.

The salt air, the sand,

the oils from the fingerprint...

They were gone.

Gone!

I will tell Monahan that the girl died of strangulation,

was assaulted.

And that will be that.

Don't forget the broken neck.

It was snapped like a dry twig by powerful hands.

I'll mention it.

Uh, Sam?

Yes, sir.

The...

The Lieutenant would like a blood type on the alleged assailant

to be sure that it matches with the semen smears taken from the victim.

Why don't you check it out?

Read this.

I'm sorry, Quincy.

Well, listen, thanks for trying.

About that blood type, forget about it. I'll take care of it.

I don't know. He seemed to want me to...

Sam, what is this, coolie labor?

Can't expect a man to work all day and all night.

Now you go home and get some sleep.

That's an order!

Banzai.

You're welcome.

Dr. Quincy, coroner's office.

I'm here in reference to a Peter Gordon.

You're early. He's still alive.

Things are a little slow.

Take this to Dr. Morgan.

May I see his chart, please?

You have to speak to Dr. Stone. He's the resident.

Well, all I really want is his blood type. You know what that is?

Could have phoned for a blood type.

I was hoping I might be able to speak to the patient.

I didn't know the coroner's office was into live patients.

Oh, we are into things, my dear, that would astound you.

Not around here. This is the intensive care ward,

in case you hadn't noticed.

Yeah, I noticed. It is rather intense around here.

Cardiac emergency. Get Dr. Stone.

You have to leave. Your Mr. Gordon is dying.

Where's Dr. Stone?

He's on a break. I had him paged.

Get me 1 cc of epinephrine and some calcium gluconate.

Make it 2 cc, and move it!

Who's he?

Never mind. Just do what he says.

Give me those paddles!

Who's he?

Give me some juice!

You got it up to maximum? Right!

Give it to me again!

Give it to me again!

That seems to be stabilizing.

You better get your lab work done right away.

Who's he? Who are you?

Quincy, coroner's office.

Coroner's office?

He saved the kid's life.

Yeah, well.

Give me your city number.

I have to fill out 50 forms over this mess.

Sorry to have caused you all that trouble, Doc.

Lieutenant. Quincy.

You didn't have to deliver it in person. There was no rush.

There might be.

The blood types match. The kid did it.

No, no, no. That's why I came over personally.

Now this report only shows that the kid could have done it.

There are 3 million people out in this city with the same blood type.

But they weren't found with the victim's purse.

Maybe he found the body, ripped off the purse.

Quincy, why are you doing this to me, huh? It's an open-and-shut case.

Wait till you see this. Then let's see what you gotta say. How about that?

What's this?

It's an outline of the killer's hand on Dianne Johnson's neck.

Now this is an outline of Peter Gordon's hand.

You see how small this is, how large this is?

Whoa, whoa, hold on, Quincy. Look, I may not be a super sci-boy sleuth,

but I do know that a hard force

against a pliable surface

does not leave a representative imprint.

Did you ever walk on the beach?

Look at your footprints in the sand.

They're like a giant's.

You're not even gonna try, are you, Lieutenant?

Sure, there's reasonable enlargement, but this isn't reasonable.

Look at the difference! You're not being reasonable.

Will you have pity on me?

I got cases up to here. Let me get at them.

One more page. Do me a favor.

Read that page. Go ahead, please.

Quincy, this isn't a medical report, it's a Consumer's Digest,

What's this about cigarette packages?

The victim was carrying a pack of cigarettes when she was murdered.

Medically speaking, this offends you?

Medically speaking, I thought it might be important for you to know

that based on an examination of the girl's lungs,

she didn't smoke.

What's that got to do with anything?

If they weren't Dianne's cigarettes, whose cigarettes were they?

It isn't logical that the rapist asked her

to hold his cigarettes for him.

Rapists don't jump out from underneath the pier only on TV.

Nine times out of 10, it's somebody the victim

has picked up in a bar, sitting on a bench. You name it.

It always starts out as a nice, sociable conversation.

Before you know it, the girl is raped, or, in this case, dead.

Ordinarily I would agree with you, Lieutenant,

but this kid is too small to have snapped her neck!

And I'm telling you, I've seen too many crimes of passion.

The kid did it. Now get out of here. I got work to do.

No, I'm not gonna ask you how it feels.

Hurts like the dickens, right?

Why don't you tell me what happened?

You're the one that saved my life?

I was here.

Too bad!

You're welcome.

You want me to thank you for letting me live?

You ever been to a place where they do hard time?

I've been there.

They like them young.

I got a great life ahead of me.

You're really feeling sorry for yourself, aren't you?

Wouldn't you? No.

Not after I just ripped off a dead persons belongings, no!

Hey, I thought you wanted to help me.

That's right, I don't like to see anybody become

a patsy for a crime they didn't commit,

but that doesn't mean I like you.

You're a punk kid who would rip off a buck wherever you would get it

and I hope they nail you for it!

I'll try to see they don't nail you for what you didn't do!

Why? Not because of you!

But because somebody took a beautiful young life

and they snuffed it out.

And I don't want them to get away with it

because our system was able to lay it off on you!

Don't forget to shine your halo!

I'm Dr. Quincy, from the coroner's office.

Is the Deputy Mayor in?

Don't tell me,

you can't get in to see the mayor, so you're trying an end run?

Are you the end?

I'm not bad.

Listen, if I promise to go away and leave you alone,

will you answer a question for me?

What is it? How well did you know Dianne Johnson?

Another fan club is heard from.

You forgot your Dianne Johnson T-shirt this morning?

What did I do?

What can you want from her now? She's dead.

There are a few things I wondered about, like, did she smoke?

Body beautiful?

Was she a health freak?

I'd like to say she never put anything

in her body that wasn't organically grown,

but I couldn't do it with a straight face.

Am I being overly sensitive?

Or do I detect a lack of sentimentality for the deceased?

She was the pushiest broad I ever met.

I hated her guts the day she moved in.

And did she move in.

Was she here long?

Three months.

But she made the most of them.

Any regular boyfriends?

Dianne had a strict policy of always mixing business with pleasure.

How do you think she jumped so fast

from that little squirrel to the mayor's office?

Squirrel? Her first boss, Mr. Marcus.

He made a fool of himself, he still isn't right.

Yes?

There's a gentleman to see you from the coroner's office, Mr. Marcus.

Well, is it important? I mean, I'm terribly busy.

He'll have to make a more convenient appointment.

We're investigating a case, Mr. Marcus,

a possible homicide.

If it would be convenient,

I can come back anytime you say.

Tell Miss Tolan to make you a more convenient appointment.

Preferably tomorrow. And make it late in the day.

Yes, sir.

Very personable. Did you ever meet him?

I mean face to face.

Mr. Quincy, this is a city hall.

And Mr. Marcus is a very busy and a very important person.

City Hall, wow!

I almost forgot where I was for a minute.

I'm still a little nervous about working here myself.

I'll bet.

Um, how about 4:00 tomorrow afternoon?

Oh, 4:00 will be fine.

Do you mind if I check in with my office?

We just got a new patient in today, came in this afternoon.

You said you were with the coroner's office.

Doesn't that mean all your patients are dead?

Well, I have to make sure he didn't die of something serious.

Something terrible has happened.

I'm really frightened.

Hello, is somebody on this line?

Oh, excuse me, Mr. Marcus.

I didn't know you were on this line.

I'll see you tomorrow at 4:00.

I frightened him,

Do you see the significance in that?

The guy has got something he's trying to hide,

I think I'm on the right road.

Of course, you are.

You want to open the wine or toss the salad?

Toss the salad? Lee, you're not listening.

I'm talking about a homicide, a boy's life that could be in my hands.

Tonight?

I realize it's important, but there's nothing more you can do about it tonight.

You do have to eat, keep up your strength,

if you're gonna be any good to anybody.

I have gone to a great deal of trouble.

Yes, you have. I'm sorry.

I just can't seem to unwind.

I keep thinking about all those loose ends nobody cares about.

Monahan's so worried about that avalanche

of paperwork and cases.

Astin is scared he'll pick out the wrong tie

to go to a board meeting with.

They're worried about little obligations

and their mortgages and... and, uh...

What?

Look at this!

Honey, I was so into myself I didn't really realize

what wonderful things you had done!

The food and the table and the wine.

Cabernet... How did you say that?

Sauvignon.

Sauvignon. '69, wow!

The wine is perfect, the food is perfect, the table is perfect,

candles are perfect, the little flower's perfect

and, of course, you're perfect.

You're not going to get away with it, Lee.

What are you talking about?

This is not our deal, remember?

No strings, no involvement, just plain, simple friends!

Oh, I don't believe this. You're gonna stand here

and make a fuss over my making a fuss?

I like to make a fuss.

It makes me feel good to make a fuss.

Don't you want me to feel good?

Lee, don't you see? Don't you see how you're twisting the words around?

Fuss is the operative word here!

If you make a fuss, I become special.

I don't wanna be special. I just wanna be your pal!

So answer the phone, pal.

I'm sure it's for you.

Why should it be for me? I don't live here.

It's probably one of your boyfriends and you're embarrassed.

You shouldn't be embarrassed. Hello, yeah, just a minute.

What are you calling me here for, Sam?

Quincy, I've been looking all over town for you.

What am I supposed to do, leave a trail of breadcrumbs? Besides, I'm off tonight.

I know that.

And I'm sticking my neck out a mile,

but I knew you'd want to take this one personally.

You're crazy! Why would I?

It's Harold Marcus!

My Harold Marcus?

Yeah. The city controller you were telling me about.

He's just been found dead in his apartment.

Murdered?

That's what you're supposed to find out.

You're the medical examiner.

You're very funny, you know that?

Okay, thanks, Sam,

That was Sam.

Very important development.

Yeah, I really ought to go. You know, really important.

Wow!

Boy, that's terrific, honey.

Does it freeze well?

I'm sure glad we have, you know, the kind of relationship we have.

No explanations, no apologies, you know.

Pals.

He was a wonderful tenant.

Never even made a sound.

All right, you just relax, dear. Quincy.

You gonna give us a hint, or do I have to wade

through one of your reports?

The neck was broken like a hanging.

The body was positioned like a hanging.

All outward appearances would indicate a hanging.

Will your report list the cause of death as suicide?

Homicide.

Homicide?

Made to look like suicide.

How can you be sure?

Lieutenant, when a person hangs,

the vertebrae separate by elongation.

They pull apart.

Marcus's fourth and fifth vertebrae were snapped.

Wait a minute.

You don't mean the way Dianne Johnson's neck was broken last night?

Hey, Lieutenant, you could be on to something.

Look, put it in writing. If I think you got something, we'll follow up.

Now you're talking...

The boys who went to Marcus's office called.

And? Suicide, all right.

They found a note in Marcus's handwriting. His secretary identified it.

The office was locked. He had to have left it there before going home.

Suicide is medically impossible.

The vertebrae would have been elongated!

So are your theories, Quincy.

Do me a favor. Stop playing detective.

You're a doctor, okay?

Come on, Brill.

Want to freshen it up?

No.

What've you got for a headache?

How bad?

Terminal.

Oh, I still got some of those painkillers you prescribed for my back.

Do you any good?

Yeah, I can now press 200 pounds.

How many?

Hey, that reminds me. You know, my wife,

she's got tonsillitis again.

Her throat is dry, she can't...

I know. I know.

Oh, Doc,

when I bring those doilies into the pharmacist he, uh...

But I don't have anything.

I got some prescription pads.

Picked them up at the stationary store.

Look at that, huh?

I don't believe it.

Uh, you're aces, Doc.

Uppers or downers?

Load levelers.

How are tricks, Marilyn?

How can you sell it when everybody's giving it away?

May I buy the young lady a drink?

I don't mind if I do.

Relax, Marilyn.

This guy is only interested in bodies that are dead.

I heard about guys like you.

What is it they call it?

Pathology.

It's pathetic.

Hey, excuse me, honey.

You're into weightlifting, right? Yeah.

How hard would it be to lift a dead body over your head?

See what I mean? Dead bodies.

Come on.

Hey, wait a minute. That's bulk weight.

That's tough. Why would anybody want to?

To reach the noose, make it look like suicide.

No kidding.

How big would the body have to be?

About Marilyn's size.

No, you're better off hoisting her up on a rope.

But that would leave marks along the beam and slivers along the rope.

The murderer wanted to make sure

there wasn't a trace of a body being hoisted.

So he lifted it into the noose.

I figure the guy had to be very, very big, right?

I think I can lift somebody her size.

Let's try.

Not in here.

My place.

Hey, whatever you fellas got in mind, forget it!

Marilyn, wait a minute.

This guy's a very important official.

Now wouldn't you like to participate in a murder case?

What do I get to be, the corpse?

Yeah.

Goodbye. Oh, Marilyn, Marilyn.

Let's buy Marilyn another drink.

Look, no matter how drunk you guys make me,

I'm still not going to change my mind.

Besides,

I never drink alone.

♪ We're gonna go home in the morning ♪

♪ We're gonna go home in the morning ♪

♪ And start drinking all over again N

That's okay with me.

Ordinarily, I get my money up front.

Oh, yeah.

Where does this go to?

It goes right on up to the deck.

The deck?

Ah, yes.

Oh!

It's a boat.

He lives on an ever-loving yacht?

Welcome aboard.

I just love boats.

Okay. Okay, Danny, go ahead.

Go limp, Marilyn, don't fight him. Go limp.

Attaboy, go ahead.

I hate to tell you fellas this,

but we're gonna have to turn back.

I'm getting seasick.

I don't think I can do it, Quincy.

Now that proves my point, Danny!

Marcus' killer must have had almost super-human strength.

Why, it's impossible for an ordinary man to lift

a dead body up this high into a noose.

Impossible!

Are you sure it was this high?

Maybe he had help. Let me give you a hand.

We'll do it together, okay? Okay.

All right.

Hold on, okay? Yeah.

Here we go, got it? Right. Up, here we go.

Good. Go ahead. Attaboy! Here we go.

Yeah, come on, get in there. We can do it.

Hi, Lee. What're you doing here?

Oh, Quincy, you're a sick man.

We're either looking for multiple assailants

or a giant of a man capable of great feats of strength.

I, personally, lean to the giant theory. Mmm?

Well, the way the two necks were snapped.

See, the neck is far more durable than most people think,

plus the fact that it would be impossible for a normal human being

to lift a... a body into a noose 10 feet in the air

without help.

Oh, I suppose you've some expertise in lifting dead bodies?

Part of our basic training, Lieutenant.

All right, I'll study your conclusions

and pass them along to the detectives in charge.

Was there anything else?

As a matter of fact, there is.

I was wondering about the results of the cigarette pack.

Were there any fingerprints, beside the cop's, I mean?

Yeah. Yeah, the dead girl's, the police officer's

and some unidentifiable smudges

that could have belonged to anybody,

including the salesgirl in the store who sold them.

Or the murderer?

We got the murderer. Peter Gordon.

But Peter Gordon couldn't have murdered Harold Marcus.

He was in the hospital.

Quincy, Mr. Marcus wasn't murdered.

He committed suicide. Remember the suicide note?

Remember my report?

Suicide was medically impossible?

Quincy, let it drop!

Let it drop? Is that what you said? Lieutenant, let it drop?

Quincy, if you'll excuse me, I got work to do, huh?

Wait a minute, whoa here!

I am the presiding medical officer.

If I tell you you've got a homicide, buddy, you've got a homicide!

We'll see.

What is that supposed to mean?

We have another medical examiner reviewing the case.

By whose authorization?

I suggest you check back with your department.

You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll do that...

Wait a minute.

Quincy, there are only two possibilities.

Either you deliberately ignored

departmental practices

to involve yourself where you do not belong,

or you're trying to connect two unrelated deaths

in some misguided effort to clear that boy.

Now, whichever it is, don't get in my way again!

There's always room for doubt.

Come on. Whoever wrote this report is full of beans and you know it!

I did it.

You did it?

Who's leaning on you?

Quincy, Quincy, are you suggesting...

No, no, no. I wouldn't want to imply that somebody

waved the budget under your nose.

But it is rather hard to accept as coincidence,

the fact that bodies are turning up all over City Hall,

assaulted, strangled, hanged,

and we're treating it like a rash of head colds!

Hey, I suppose if a bus came to rest on the mayor's chest,

we might issue a bulletin against illegal parking.

Oh, that's really funny. You're not even on this case anymore.

What am I wasting my time for? Quincy.

It's a terrible loss.

I really don't want to talk about it.

Cared a lot about Mr. Marcus, huh?

Everyone did.

Not everyone. Somebody killed him.

It was suicide.

Homicide.

I don't want to talk about it.

Peggy, I'm worried about you.

Me?

The pattern.

What pattern?

The girl on the beach, Harold Marcus,

they both came from this office.

Golly. I hadn't thought about that.

There's no need to be superstitious.

I mean, bad things don't have to happen in threes.

It wouldn't matter.

Good. I'm not superstitious either.

Oh, I am. But it wouldn't make any difference.

There's already been three.

Are you telling me a third person died out of this office?

Oh, it was an accident, and it happened a long time ago.

Over six months.

But that does make three.

Who? Who died?

The girl who worked here before Dianne Johnson.

She died?

Not here.

Her prince charming swept her away

from this desk on the wings of a dove.

A dove?

A 747.

To Mexico.

That's where she died.

They said she was killed instantly in the crash.

A plane crash?

No. Their car went over a terrible cliff.

Was her fiancé killed, too?

No, he was very fortunate.

Did you ever talk to him about the accident?

I never met him. I don't know anyone who did.

We all thought it was kind of odd

that he never came back here to pick up any of her things.

Must have been too painful.

Peggy-Peggy, I want you to listen to me very carefully.

Now, think hard.

Did you ever hear anyone discuss the exact nature of her death?

Yeah. It was awful.

I don't want to talk about it.

Oh, Peggy, please. It's very important, please!

Well...

When the car went off the cliff,

she was apparently strapped in.

They said she died of a broken neck.

Quincy, what is so special about this case?

Bob, my work is my life. Either I'll do it right, or I'll hang it up for good!

You insist on pushing?

To the top.

This is Dr. Astin.

I would like to make an appointment for Dr. Quincy

to meet with Deputy Mayor Collins.

4:00? 4:00?

4:00 is fine.

4:00 will be fine.

Oh, yes, he'll be there. Good. Thank you.

You're surprised?

Yeah, to tell you the truth.

We're all on the same side, Quincy!

It's just that some of us have learned

to appreciate and work within the system...

4:00. Now, just a minute! I haven't finished!

One condition... Uh-huh.

You tell the mayor everything you know about this case,

then you come back here and you do your job,

and you let them do theirs.

You got yourself a deal.

This is hard to believe, Doctor,

Does anyone else support your theories?

Oh, these aren't theories, Your Honor.

The girl on the beach had her neck broken.

It was made to look like rape.

Mr. Marcus had his neck broken.

It was made to look like suicide.

Now there's a girl in Mexico whose neck was broken.

I haven't checked it out.

But if I'm right,

it was made to look like an accident, too.

How you guys scientifically figure these things out is beyond me.

But isn't it, uh, normal procedure for you

to work directly with the police?

This isn't a normal case.

You use the word "case," but you were talking

about three separate murders.

With one common denominator: City Hall.

Then you believe there is definitely a connection?

Someone's telling the police to lay off.

Any idea who that could be?

Nope. I'm more interested in why.

Conspiracy's a nasty business.

I hardly know where to begin.

Uh, if I can be of any help, just let me know.

You've done more than enough already. I'll take the ball from here.

And I can't tell you how grateful I am.

Oh, one more thing.

When you find out anything, will you let me know right away?

A boy's life is on the hook.

In fact, other lives may be at stake.

I have an important conference tonight at 6:30

with the top people of this administration.

This will be number one on the agenda.

Thank you, sir.

N'

Hi, everyone, this is Jerry Doggett

and here we are back at beautiful Dodger Stadium

for Game 1 of our double-header.

It'll be a short home stand for the Dodgers

before going back on the road again.

The last Dodgers stand, very successful, they won 8 out of 9

and their last road trip was also very successful,

they won 8 out of 11.

So 16 and 4 is the Dodgers record for the last 20 ballgames.

The Dodgers have one more road trip back to San Francisco.

And after they return from San Francisco, they'll come back

for a 9-game home stand.

My appointment was canceled at the last minute,

so I decided to go the game.

You a season ticket holder, sir?

No, why?

This game has been a sellout for weeks.

You know anything about sellouts, Mr. Collins?

Look, Quincy, you're into something here

that has to be handled very carefully.

Or not at all.

It'll be handled.

By who? You?

I don't trust you.

Now you're being abusive.

Not very smart for a city employee.

What are you going to do, Mr. Collins?

Fire me?

That would be overkill.

And I don't personally get involved with, uh, peanuts.

N'

Conspiracy? That's right, conspiracy.

Now just a minute. Isn't this getting out of hand?

I'd say so. Three homicides, nobody's doing anything.

Two homicides, one suicide...

And a partridge in a pear tree.

You in on it, Astin?

Quincy, I don't like your tone of voice.

Oh!

Wait till you see it in print.

Doctor.

Oh, you still recognize the term.

Oh, wow! That's really terrific!

Because that's what you are, Doctor.

You're not a detective, you're not a crime reporter,

and you're not a one-man posse out to string up everybody in City Hall.

Quincy, Marcus committed suicide,

that boy robbed and murdered Dianne Johnson.

What happened in Mexico, it's out of our jurisdiction.

It must be under somebody's jurisdiction.

Peace?

Hey, you're looking better.

Yeah.

Couple more days, I'll be well enough for them to take me to jail.

Keep eating the food here, they'll never let you out.

How're we doing?

Oh, we're doing great. Great.

The odds drop?

What do you mean?

We're off the same street, remember?

Yeah, I wish we were back there.

At least then we knew who we were fighting.

What happened?

I don't know.

I can't hear the splash.

It's a bottomless well.

It's a secret and I get the feeling everybody's in on it but me.

And I'm still the fall guy?

That's why I came to see you. I want you to know I'm still working on it.

I don't like being pushed around.

I don't like it.

I don't like it, either.

I'll see you later.

Okay.

Where'd you get them? At a funeral?

You know what's the matter with us?

Yes, you.

We should get away from everything.

Go to a place where a phone call has to be a wrong number,

doctors do nothing but deliver babies.

You know of such a place?

How's Mexico grab you?

You come into an inheritance?

Don't the airlines still give free tickets to employees?

No, that's just for family.

Oh! Yeah.

We're brothers and sisters under the skin.

Crazy.

This is the place I was looking for.

It's one of Mexico's most exclusive honeymoon retreats.

Honeymoon retreats. Oh, Quincy, it's beautiful.

Oh, you're a doll! What're you doing?

Heading for our motel.

What's the matter with this one? It's beautiful!

It should be. It's for Mexican millionaires.

But I'm taking you here for dinner.

Few questions I want to ask the manager.

Well, where are we going?

To a place that has a little touch of heaven.

Okay, honey. All set.

Where's the key?

You don't need any. There are no locks on the doors.

Great atmosphere. I mean, this is the real Mexico!

No turistas here.

Honey, you're not gonna believe this, tips are included.

In what?

Honey, I-look. What I want you to do is go inside, relax,

take a nap, and when I come back, we'll go down the road for dinner.

You're not going to leave me alone.

I have to make some inquiries.

About another motel?

About a lot of things.

Honey, now look, I want you to go inside, relax, and enjoy yourself.

I'm relaxed.

Then you gotta let go.

♪ J'

The people of the village would be offended.

Tampering with the dead is out of the question.

But there's a chance the girl was murdered.

Murdered? Yes.

But how? No, no. I was at the wreck. I checked her body myself.

Her boyfriend, too?

He was fortunate. I only found bruises.

Doctor, was there anything suspicious about them?

Why suspicious?

Maybe something you didn't notice.

Something that seemed unimportant at the time.

Doctor, if there was something wrong to notice,

I would have noticed.

For your information, I am fully trained.

In the usual sense of the word I'm sure you are, sir, but

any doctor might miss the kinds of things I'm talking about.

But not you, of course.

Well, I am trained differently.

It is my specialty,

like a pediatrician or an obstetrician.

Exactly what is your training?

Paranoid training. Pathology.

I was taught never to trust anything

and to disbelieve everything else.

I take it for granted there's something wrong at every autopsy.

Why?

Look, do you want the bottom line?

The bottom line?

After you cut out all the bull.

Go ahead.

Okay.

There's one thing about life I could never get used to.

That's the mystery of it.

Something goes tilt in me when I see life dead before its time

and I wanna do something about it.

I wanna find out who made that terrible thing happen.

And most often,

the victim can point a finger in the right direction

just as if it were still alive.

But only if we know how to find it.

Quincy.

Lee, what're you doing here?

Oh, I just happened to be in town on a holiday.

Quincy, what are you doing in this cemetery?

Doctor, go ahead.

It's all yours.

Thank you. Yours?

Yeah.

Oh, I don't believe it. If you can't find

a dead body handy, you dig one up.

She's a great kidder.

Don't do that!

N'

Hi, honey. You okay?

You know what kind of a person I am, don't you?

I can take anything.

But I've gotta hand it to you.

You've broken me. I wanna go home.

Okay. I'm finished here, anyway.

What'd you find out?

Just in general, no details.

Well, she was dead before the accident.

Well, then the accident was a cover-up for murder?

Yep. By her boyfriend, whoever he is.

What happened to him?

Well, he reported the accident,

stayed around for the burial, just to make sure, then he left.

The name and address he gave to the Mexican police was a phony.

I just checked it out with LA.

Hey, did you eat yet?

Here's where it happened.

It's along drop.

Are you sure it couldn't have happened during the accident?

No question about it. Come on.

Think it's the man who killed the girl on the beach?

Most likely.

Necks were broken the same way.

Does that take strength, or is meanness enough?

Takes strength, and a lot of it.

Get down!

Jump!

No!

Jump!

Lee! Lee!

Quince, over here!

Honey, you all right?

I think I'm hurt.

How does it look?

Probably just a strained hip.

We'll know as soon as the x-ray is developed. Pedro.

Please take Miss Porter to her room now.

No, I can do it. No, no, no, it is your turn.

My turn? I don't need an x-ray. I am the doctor here now.

I would know if I had something broken.

Bottom of the line, Dr. Quincy.

Bottom of the line. I'll see you later.

Okay, bye.

Well? Off with your shirt.

Oh!

You were lucky today, Doctor.

Yeah, but the truck driver wasn't.

This his stuff?

All we could recover. 10 pesos,

a sharp knife, and an address book.

You see something? Yeah.

A US telephone number.

Maybe it's a relative.

No, I don't think so.

How can you be so sure?

Because it's my number.

Your number?

A lot of ours. City Hall.

Any idea whose extension this is?

Nope.

I don't think I ought to try to find out from here, either.

When are you going?

Oh, wait. I mean, you're here, I...

Hey, hey, hey. I don't believe it. What?

Quincy on a guilt trip.

After all, I shouldn't have gotten you involved in the first place.

Why shouldn't I feel a little, kind of...

Well, I wanted to come, remember?

I'll tell you what I could do.

I mean, it's up to you.

I could bring Monahan everything I've got,

get back here as fast as I can, I...

I'll be waiting.

Quincy! What?

Your plane ticket.

What about it?

It's in the drawer.

You're terrific.

Quincy, where've you been?

Astin's been looking all over for you.

What do you mean where have I been?

I've been working... Quincy, Quincy, Quincy.

And where've you been?

You're the man I've been looking for.

Yeah, but I'll do the talking, Quincy.

You know, what it has taken this department years

in developing organizational duties and routine,

you are trying to destroy and demolish

in a matter of days.

Would this be a good time to discuss

my out-of-pocket expenses in Mexico?

Dr. Quincy,

if you would condescend to notice, the schedule.

We see here

six young police recruits waiting patiently

since 9:00 for their indoctrination lecture

on the medical aspects of homicide.

You were scheduled to give it.

You are scheduled to give it and you will give it,

and there will be no more discussion

until this lecture is given, and that is final!

Yes, sir.

And you will observe the lecture,

and report to me if he attempts to cut it short

in order to duck out of here and play detective.

Sam, have somebody bring the wagon out front in 10 minutes.

10? It usually takes an hour-and-a-half.

Sam.

Gentlemen,

you are about to enter the most important

and fascinating sphere of police work,

the world of forensic medicine,

where untold victims of many homicides

will reach back from the grave and point their finger

accusingly at their assailant.

You see before you a man who was found floating off Point Loma.

Unfortunately, he was in the water

a few days before we found him.

Now, to determine the exact cause of death,

we must examine the vital organs.

This is going to be brutal.

Quincy's in a hurry.

Now, see, there are many types of incisions,

but today I think I'll try the lazy "S."

Leave him be! There'll be nobody to baby-sit with them out in the streets.

You're policemen now. That's the way it is.

This'd be hard to take for a third-year medical student.

Horton!

And now, for the final phase.

Sam. See that they're comfortable.

And are you sure there's no record of the call?

I'm sure.

Com. Bower's extension number was in this man's address book.

It's in the phone book, too.

That doesn't mean everybody who's got one calls him.

Mmm-hmm. May I see that list, please?

Be my guest.

Thank you. That's very nice of you.

You're welcome.

Uh-oh, what have we here? I'll bet it's something

you don't do very often.

What?

Is that a mistake, right there?

Oh, I guess it is. I must have written the wrong name down.

Or the right one?

Then why would I change it?

Because Com. Bower asked you to.

Think of it this way, Doctor,

if someone had asked me to change

the name of this in-coming call,

why in the world would I want to tell you who it was?

Oh, because you didn't want to go to jail.

What?

Where's Com. Bower?

He's, uh, he's on vacation.

He won't be back until Monday.

And is he reachable?

Um, uh...

Hope I didn't keep you waiting.

Such a nice day, I didn't hurry.

It's all right. It's all right. I understand.

You care for a little snort?

Oh, no, thank you, Arnold. I never touch it.

Any problems?

Why, should there be?

It's easy for you to be so cool.

Nobody knows who you are.

Nobody knows there's any connection

between you and the stolen checks.

I'm on the firing line.

If anything goes wrong, it's my head.

What can go wrong?

There are no leads to you.

Maybe, maybe not.

My secretary just phoned.

She said a Dr. Quincy from Pathology

was in the office asking questions.

So let him ask. There aren't any answers.

Every lead to you and me is gone.

When will the checks be cashed?

I'll be in Switzerland tomorrow morning.

Shouldn't be any problem

about them making the payments.

The pattern has been set but let's make sure it clears

the Harbor Commission international account

while I'm still on vacation.

Consider it handled.

Why did I get into this in the first place?

Original sin.

Women. A man has to have a weakness.

It's the best way to go.

Not if they belong to you.

Belonged.

You know, Arnold,

I was really beginning to like you.

I really was.

But like you said,

nobody else knows my connection to the money,

but you and me.

Is it true the police have been watching Com. Bower?

Watching him? What for?

We've been hearing rumors of a scandal surrounding City Hall.

Could this have anything to do with it?

I was told it was a diving accident.

Did you talk to the medical examiner before you came?

What medical examiner?

Dr. Quincy.

That's all I can do for him here.

He's all yours.

But I'm gonna want him back later.

What does it look like?

Wasn't an accident.

I suspect it's one more in the City Hall chain.

His neck wasn't broken.

So what other concrete proof have you got?

I'll discuss the connection after I've done my lab work.

All right, Quincy, look, I'm warning you,

now when you go over there with them reporters,

you tell them nothin'. You don't raise their suspicions,

don't let them in on any of your guesses

or any other damn thing, you get me?

I can give you something for that blood pressure.

Quincy!

There are things going on.

I know. They keep winding up on my lap.

We gotta keep the lid on this.

I can't tell you why now, I'm under orders.

Whoever is giving the order is an idiot, or maybe even a murderer.

That kind of talk is very dangerous.

Dangerous?

What do you call mass murder, Lieutenant?

Quincy!

Bye.

Quincy?

Comment ca va?

This is Mexico, not France.

Then this must be Lee.

How you feeling, honey?

Dr. Rivera says I'll be fine in a few more days.

Hey, I just read the paper.

You must feel very important.

You were right all along.

What paper? What're you talking about?

The 30 missing checks.

You mean, you don't know?

The City Hall's been ripped off for $3 million.

Are the deaths of the two city hall women

connected to the missing checks?

Has murder definitely been ruled out on Com. Bower?

We're investigating any and all possibilities, boys. Now that's it.

Oh, come on, Lieutenant!

Okay, that's it. That is it!

We blew it.

Yes, you did!

When did you know about the checks?

We found about it just after the controller did himself in.

Oh, forgive me, was murdered.

Look, we started digging. You were right, of course.

The lid was put on at a political level.

That's probably what gave him enough time to blow us out of the water.

When did he cash the checks?

This morning, Swiss time.

The guy had it figured down to a gnat's whisker.

You know, he must've spent months

sending that dish through secretarial school.

Sending her in for a job when he knocked off the other girl.

Swiss police gonna be any help?

What, the guy could be anywhere.

We don't have a clue.

Yes, we do.

Mmm?

He's big.

Mmm.

Yeah.

I'm going for a drink. You want to join me? I guess I owe you one.

No, thanks. I got an obligation in Mexico.

Hey, wait a minute. You holding out something?

Yes, I am.

But she's got nothing to do with getting you off the hook.

I'll be seeing you.

Uh, yeah.

Take your time.

You ready to go, Lee?

Yes. But I hate leave exotic Mexico.

Oh, it was much more than you promised.

So romantic, beyond a girl's wildest dreams.

I'm sorry. Sorry?

How could it have been better?

We exhumed a body from the graveyard,

had ourselves a real, live autopsy,

and then to top it off, with a grand finale,

got run over a cliff, and nearly killed.

Oh, come on, Quincy. How can that be topped?

Now that you put it that way, you know, you're right.

And we have such beautiful pictures to commemorate it.

What pictures?

My ribs, my spine, my skull.

That's right. Now, that's enough...

That's enough what?

If you were as insistent about taking his x-rays as you were of taking mine...

I had to, for precaution's sake!

I'm not faulting you, Doctor, I'm thanking you.

This is exactly the hard evidence I need.

An x-ray?

Yeah, honey. You see, you can change the color of your hair,

you can fix your nose, you can alter your face, but not this.

What you see is what you get.

You can't fake it, you can't change it.

Thank you, Doctor, very much. Good luck.

Quincy? Yeah? Oh, I'm sorry, honey!

Seems to me that this man, this killer,

he's been so clever,

covered his tracks so carefully,

why would he be so careless as to leave an x-ray behind?

To steal the x-rays would've called more attention

to the girl's death than he wanted.

He gambled nobody would want to investigate the accidental death

of some obscure girl. It was a reasonable bet.

Yeah, but he knew you came back here

to check out the girl's death.

Why didn't he come back for the x-ray?

The timing got in his way. He had priorities.

Before getting back to the x-ray, he had to kill Com. Bower,

and he had to go overseas and cash the checks

before anyone knew they were stolen.

Then come back here.

And get the x-ray.

What is it?

I don't know.

Yes, you do.

See how your nerves are all on edge?

How many times does a girl have to go off a cliff

before she learns her lesson?

Smith?

Honey?

Yeah?

You'll see it was worth the wait.

Oh, I'm sure of it!

What're you doing in there?

Now didn't you once say

that getting there was half the fun?

Yeah.

You know what your problem is?

Does it show all the way in there?

Where's the girl?

What happened?

Call the cops!

Help. Help me!

Help! Help!

My friend had a little too much to drink.

I'm gonna snap your neck like a breadstick!

Quincy!

Oh, my head...

He'll live.

Every cent has been recovered.

The city hasn't lost a thing,

Not one penny.

There are five citizens who are kind of dead.

Chase was, well, a Svengali.

Women found him irresistible.

He placed them in key positions,

They became intimate with certain officials,

then Chase blackmailed normally decent men

into going along with his plan.

I always thought it was kind of hard to blackmail decent people.

Right, honey?

The checks came from

the Assistant Controller, Mr. Marcus.

They were deposited through our late Commissioner's

various city port accounts,

And finally, the money was transferred

to an account in Switzerland. That's it.

I hope they don't ask him who co-signed the checks.

And who signed the checks?

I'm glad you asked!

I, of course, co-signed the checks.

But that's always been a routine,

almost ceremonial procedure.

They know.

Anyone ever get around to thanking you?

No, not in so many words.

But I did sense a kind of gratitude.

How? I wasn't fired.

Why do you do it?

I don't know.

Why do salmon swim upstream?

To lay eggs.

That's not bad.

Well, where shall we go tonight?

How about Singapore?

Ooh, that's good, yeah.

Cast off, matey, cast off.