All language subtitles for Homicide Life on the Street s07e15 Sideshow.eng

- It's a conspiracy.
- A conspiracy?

A conspiracy reaching to
the highest levels of federal authority.

Look to the CIA. Look to the Cubans.

Follow the money.
Check the grassy knoll.

- The grassy knoll?
- I'm speaking in metaphor.

You're speaking in tongues.

Think about it,
a DC bureaucrat, Janine McBride,

relocates to Baltimore and is murdered.

She was deputy director with
the Social Security Administration.

Then her body's
made to look like a suicide.

Most of the blood is still inside her.

- She was dead when she was shot.
- Suffocated.

I got an anonymous call from a man.
He told me that Janine was a lesbian.

We were friendly. Doesn't
mean there was anything weird.

Diligent, conscientious and gifted
police investigators

identify and arrest
one Chesley Purcell.

Everybody down now!

Who has in her possession a phone
number listed to the White House.

But before our noble detectives
can question this Chesley,

she is herself shot dead
by the demoralised, deranged,

and totally Jack Ruby-like
ex-boyfriend of Janine McBride.

She took her from me!

Wow, I pick up the phone,
I get a drug murder in the projects.

He picks up the phone,
he gets one of them LP Everett novels.

- Who's gonna play Munch in the movie?
- James Woods.

Don't think I won't be
peddling movie rights.

If it shakes out. Now Purcell is dead,
you ain't got no case.

As we speak, the best prosecutorial
minds in New York and Baltimore

are calling for answers,

demanding we delve deeper
into the shocking scandal to be.

William Dell, the Independent Counsel,
wants to see us.

I'm told that you are relying
on a statement and an identification

by one of Ms McBride's friends.

- I'd like a look at that statement.
- Why?

It's relevant to my investigation.

- So the lawyers are talking?
- Yeah.

I got it.

A gunfight, a couple of car chases,
you got a movie deal,

but Ed Danvers and his pals
waving their briefcases at each other?

Yeah. Who's gonna line up
to pay theatre prices for that?

That ain't a movie. That's Court TV.

So that McBride case
turned out to be a hell of a ride, huh?

Danvers is still up in New York
sifting through the pieces.

Heard you went through a door
on this one.

Looking to arrest your shooter.

- No big deal.
- No big deal?

Yeah, I don't know.

Working with Munchkin there,
how did that work out?

Munch is OK.

"Munch is OK." That's three words
I never expected to form a sentence.

Actually, I've been partnered up

for most of the case
with this New York detective, Curtis.

- Curtis, huh?
- Good looking creature, too.

Yeah, well, and he's very,
very, very, very married also.

With the look of the dog about him.

- You're a home-wrecker now, huh?
- Just window shopping.

So I guess you...

Guess you're not hurting
for partners now, huh?

Me? I'm fine.

Sorry. Had to take that phone call.

Trouble in Baltimore?

Only if you have any regard
for American jurisprudence.

What's going on?

The Judicial Nominating Committee
just named me to the bench.

I still need to be approved
by the legislature, but...

Your Honour.

I've seen you in black.
You'll carry the look.

Well, sure beats working for a living.

So where were we?

Well, we got one killer dead,
and another one in custody.

Not in our custody.
The feds are holding Ned Burks.

Even though
he's charged with a murder?

The Counsel's Office got a US judge

to issue a writ
and pull him out of Rikers.

He was transported to DC this morning.

Why is William Dell interested in this?

The whole case is lumpy.

Who is this Chesley
and why is she killing bureaucrats?

You don't think a pick-up
in a lesbian bar can go wrong?

If it's a bar pick-up, why drive the
body to New York and stage a suicide?

With questions like these,
it's not time to close the file.

I can get Baltimore
to work back on Chesley Purcell,

look at her connections
in Baltimore and Washington.

Curtis and I can run down what we can
find on that White House number.

We can talk to Mr Dell about Ned Burks.

If our suspect is saying anything worth
hearing, I intend for us to be in the room.

That private White House number
is a cellphone.

One of a pool of 40 leased
to the West Wing last year.

Any way to pin it to anyone?

There's no way to connect
an individual with a number.

One staffer might use
the cellphone one day.

Another might use
the same one two days later.

What about the LUDs from that
cell number? Anything to Baltimore?

Only one. Incoming from a law firm,
Brown and Epstein.

No connection to McBride.
Not to Purcell either, for that matter.

So we're still left to wonder
how the hell this Chesley Purcell

has an unlisted White House number
in her phone book.

I knew it was a mistake, your asking
to be this department's FBI liaison.

What?

It was a mistake to let a investigator
from another agency into our shop.

Can I ask you what this is about?

You can't serve two masters, Michael.

And what's becoming clear to me

is that you're only answerable
to your bosses at the bureau.

- Oh, man!
- You pimped us.

You watched us put a case
against the murderer of Janine McBride!

You told your bosses
we were about to arrest Chesley Purcell,

and what evidence we had.

I talked to a supervisor
in Washington, informally.

Informally! He told everything
to the Independent Counsel's Office!

- How was I to know?
- We could have turned the shooter.

Found out what this case
was really about.

Instead, your ham-fisted friends
at the bureau

snatched her up...

...and then got her killed.

The guy I talked with.

He's a big suit
from national headquarters.

He asked me how the case was going,
I told him.

That's all it was.

And you never thought to ask him
why he called you?

You never thought about that? Why
he's so interested in our little murder?

You wanted to see us?

We're finished here.

I didn't know.

I said we're done.

I want you to find out everything
you can about this Chesley Purcell.

Background, associates.

Anything that's connected
with this Ned Burks.

You got it, Gee.

Mr Burks waived his right to counsel.
He'll testify before our jury.

He hasn't contested extradition.

Burks is unhinged and unable
to contest anything whatsoever.

You have a nerve
dragging him 250 miles without counsel.

Mr Burks is being given
a grant of limited immunity.

What he says to my grand jury
will not be used against him.

What kind of railroad are you running?

Burks talks to your grand jury, and
he's still vulnerable in state court.

You have him bargaining his testimony,
for which he gains nothing.

He's not much of a horse trader,
I'll admit.

Access to counsel might have
helped him to do better for himself.

Maybe. Now, what can I do
for you two gentlemen,

seeing as how
you've both come so far, so quickly?

Duelling writs, Mr Dell.

One member
of the federal appellate bench

thinks the state of New York
has a right to be present

when a defendant agrees
to answer questions about his crime.

You talk to Ned Burks about the murder
of Chesley Purcell with us present...

...or not at all.

Chesley Purcell. 34 years of age.
Well, she's gonna stay that way.

What else have we learned?

She was in that '80s DC party scene.
One of Marion Barry's hangers-on.

Somewhere around '93, her name
starts popping up on DEA wiretaps.

Reports link her to major traffickers in
the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

In '94, she's suspected
of the killings of two Nigerians

in Prince George's County,
execution style.

Street talk credits her
with nine kills,

four of them
for Little Walter Boyce's Westside crew.

Little Walter? He's locked up.

Federal racketeering charges. Still
running his organisation from the inside.

Let's talk to Little Walter.

If he's got life,
he might just be bored enough

to want to chat
about the recently departed Chesley.

Can I say something?

What was used in that arrest warrant
was used without my knowledge.

If I get a call
from a Bureau supervisor,

I am gonna have to talk.

So from now forward, it's best I know
nothing more about the McBride case.

Sheppard, doing that warrant
the other day, how did it make you feel?

Routine.

It was er... street work.

How did it make you feel?

Police, don't move!

Like I had no choice.

Are you saying you shot Chesley Purcell
out of grief and grief only?

She killed Janine.

What she did to her,
what they're saying about Janine,

it's not true.

She wasn't... We...

She was gay, Mr Burks. A lesbian.

No. You don't know her.

That's why she was killed.

You're lying about that.

OK, then, if it wasn't just some
bar pick-up that went bad, what was it?

Did it have to do with who she knew in
Washington, with the administration?

Who did you talk to
in Washington, Mr Burks?

- Who were you in contact with?
- What?

You didn't stumble into that precinct on
your own because a reporter called you

and let slip where Chesley Purcell
was being held.

You were sent for. You were used.

No, it was for Janine.

Are you gonna let them
use you in that way?

No one used me.
Not Janine. Not anyone.

- You're a fool.
- End game, Counsellor?

You're more than a fool, Mr Burks.

You killed her
because she wouldn't marry you,

not cos she was a lesbian, but
cos she knew you were an imbecile!

Purcell was a potential federal witness.

By killing her,
you violated her civil rights.

I'm gonna see that you die an old man
in a federal correctional facility.

Get ready for a federal subpoena.

What are you talking about?

They laid one on us in New York.
Took the evidence we had on this case.

I figure you folks are next.

You drove 200 miles to tell us that?
Good job, Paul Revere.

- I'm on my way to Washington, anyway.
- What's going on there?

The Independent Counsel
shanghaied Chesley Purcell's shooter.

When they found out he had nothing
to say, they got bored.

They're returning him to our custody.

McCoy wants me to transport him back
to Rikers, put him on suicide watch.

So Ned Burks killed Chesley Purcell
over a lesbian's love lost?

And Jack Ruby was a grieving patriot.

A cancer-ridden grieving patriot.

Amazing how all those years
on the mean streets of New York

have had little effect
on your childlike brain.

Detective Munch, Agent Faistrap,

assigned
to the Independent Counsel's Office.

I have a subpoena for all the evidence
collected by your agency

in the McBride-Purcell investigation.

What does the Independent Counsel
plan to do with it?

Collect the stuff.

You couldn't track a bleeding elephant
through snow.

Welcome back, Lennie.

- Bayliss, right?
- Yeah.

So you can only cross
the Mason-Dixon line

if you bring
a screwed-up case with you?

If it doesn't make sense,
it belongs in Baltimore.

How did you make out
with Little Walter Boyce?

We're working through Boyce's attorney.
I've been told he's at the Lewisburg Pen.

He'll be happy to help us
in whatever way he can,

as long as we write a letter to his file
indicating he was fully cooperative.

- Who's his attorney?
- Morton Epstein of Brown and Epstein.

What did I say?

That's the firm with a
telephonic connect to the White House.

Coincidence or conspiracy?

Why ask a sweet, innocent rube like
me? You already know the answer.

Guys, I gotta go.

Come on, Lennie. A little joie de vivre.
Wanna tag team on this interview?

You guys handle this yourselves. I'm
already late for DC to pick up Burks.

Mr Boyce?

Oh, my!

You are a sight for any man
who's been away from home too long.

Rene Sheppard. This is John Munch.

We're both Baltimore Homicide.

Call me Walter.

We want to talk to you about Chesley
Purcell. Get some background on her.

Chesley Purcell?

Pretty. Likes to run
with men and women both.

Sounds like I should know her.
Sounds like I want to know her.

She took some of your contracts.
She was a hitter. Now she's dead.

Contracts? Hitters?
What are you tryin' to say?

We need background on Purcell.

Right now, we're looking past
your part of the story.

I don't know no Chesley whatever,

and I don't know nothin'
about no contracts.

But you're welcome to stay a spell.

Talk about more pleasant things.

Your law firm, Brown and Epstein.

You called that firm from this
penitentiary. The call lasted 46 minutes.

I can talk to my attorney
any damn time I please. So what?

On the same date and time,

someone from that law firm
dialled a White House cellphone.

That call also lasted 46 minutes.

Someone at Brown and Epstein
conferenced you into that number.

It's all in the logs.

The same number Chesley Purcell had
when she was arrested in New York.

We'll be in touch, Mr Boyce.

You might want to take a little
more time and think about your answers.

Conspiracy to murder
can become a death-penalty case.

- We shook him.
- We'll let him stew for a few days.

From what I hear, you won't have
to go back to Lewisburg to do that.

From what you hear?

Talk around the federal courthouse

is Little Walter's being transferred
to our detention centre,

where he's being held
for reconsideration of sentence hearing.

Reconsideration hearing
for Little Walter?

How does a gangster like that
rate a hearing on his petition?

That's what a friend of mine said
who called me.

Back-room deal.

Somebody owes Little Walter a favour.
But for what?

How's Sheppard been lately?

I got a big problem there.

I'm not saying
that it wouldn't happen to me...

Once you pull your gun,
you've gotta be able to use it.

Right. Otherwise don't pull it at all.

What was she gonna do?
Shoot the guy? He was a witness.

But still. We've both been on some
corner alone, outmanned, outsized.

You know how tempting it is
to go for your gun.

- So that's it?
- I don't know.

Cos when it happened, you know,
you got all wired up.

"No one beats down my partner.
No one takes her gun."

- And you got her gun back for her.
- Yeah, but that was adrenaline.

You know, the next morning, I'm
home alone, I'm shaking in my shoes.

When it happened, I told Rene
I'd have done the same thing.

But, you know, you've got
to carry this job on attitude.

Those two mopes come at Rene,
it is her moment.

You make that moment on attitude
more than force.

Or you don't make it at all
and you get your ass whipped.

You got shot at with me. Junior Bunk
blew the windows out of that Cavalier.

You'd still work with me, right?

But that wasn't behind no move
you made on the street.

I ain't got no question
working with you.

- But you do about Sheppard?
- I just want to go home at night, uh?

The bottom line
is Rene lost control out there.

She got her gun took.
All of us are taking hard looks for it.

And you blame her for that?

A little.

- Celebrating already, huh?
- Governor announced it today.

I'm number two on the nominating list,
and they're taking the top three.

- Congrats.
- Thanks.

Now all I need to do
is not step in any brown mess

before the State Senate
approves the nomination.

We spoke with Little Walter Boyce
in Lewisburg.

Did he give you anything?

On this one, Your Honour, you
better watch where the hell you step.

It looks real wrong.

Boyce files a routine
reconsideration of sentence motion.

The kind that gets turned back
without coming close to a hearing.

But in this instance,

Baltimore's newest member of the
federal bench, Robert Prevain,

specifically requested his clerk
pull Boyce's file,

and he grants a new hearing.

What can Boyce do for Prevain?

The man's already been appointed
to the federal bench.

Accusing a US magistrate of corruption
is not somewhere I want to go.

It screws your nomination to the bench?

Well, it can't help me.

- So what are you suggesting?
- I'm not suggesting anything.

No.

Do you really think
I'd broker a special deal

with some sort of narcotics trafficker?

I picked up Boyce's motion
and granted a hearing

because the legal issues had merit.

- Of course.
- So why are you here?

There's an investigation ongoing.
A murder in New York.

Boyce may be connected to that.

Boyce is under active investigation?

A lot of people will be watching
your reconsideration hearing.

If Boyce were to get
any kind of sentence reduction,

a lot of eyebrows get raised.

That's all I'm saying.

I thought you'd want to know.

Thanks.

And congratulations again
on your nomination.

Motion denied.

The defendant is returned
to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons

to serve life without parole.

- So your drug lord is talking?
- Oh, he's singing a full aria.

- He's waiting for us at headquarters.
- What's his story?

Little Walter, through his attorney, gets
a message to call Theodore Dawkins.

He's told not to contact Dawkins but
to route the call to Dawkins' phone.

An effort to avoid leaving a trail
on any long-distance logs.

Dawkins served eight years
on the DEA's Baltimore field office,

and records confirm he was in contact
with Walter in several cases.

Dawkins went into business
as a private investigator,

doing defence work
in Baltimore and Washington.

Why is this name Dawkins
even vaguely familiar to me?

He's been working for the president's
attorney for the last four months.

His job is to dig up dirt
on Dell and his people. Tit for tat.

A war of mudslinging.

We're in the White House
on a murder case.

So Dawkins contacts you,
and tells you what exactly?

- He needs a hitter.
- A contract killer.

- For some dyke who lives in Baltimore.
- Janine McBride.

That'd be the name, yeah.

Does this strike you as strange?
This Dawkins, he's ex-DEA.

Did anyone from our side
come looking for this work from you?

It's different, I know.

But Dawkins and me go back a way,
so, hey, I'm listenin'.

He wants this woman to get aced
and wants it to look like an accident

or like it was
a messed-up one-night stand.

Did he tell you
why he wanted Janine McBride dead?

No. And I don't ask.

He just says she got to be got.

What do you get out of it?

Dawkins tells me
how he's workin' for the White House.

That he can get things done.

He's talkin' about how
he can get my sentence knocked back.

Talkin' about
how there are federal judges

owin' favours to the president
for their jobs and all.

But you never talked to anyone
in the White House?

- You talked to Dawkins.
- Who else gonna take my call?

"Put the president on the line. Little
Walter Boyce want to rap with the man."

Please. I guess he ain't never talked
to no judge for me.

A magistrate did grant you
a hearing for a reconsideration motion

that was pretty thin.

Maybe Dawkins got the horse to water.

Couldn't make him drink, though.

You used Chesley Purcell
because the target was a lesbian,

and her approach would be easier,
but tell me, Mr Boyce,

why did you have Purcell
take the body to New York?

Why not just leave it in Baltimore?

When someone at the White House tells
you they want some bitch to be aced,

the drama's gonna be thick.

I got business interests in Baltimore.
You know that.

I figured I'd drop the body
somewhere else.

Besides, Chesley wanted
to see some show on Broadway.

Musical thing with the lion.

Part of the contract was
I got a hold of some seats for her.

You paid a hitter
with tickets to "The Lion King"?

Third row, orchestra.

Are you willing to testify
against Theodore Dawkins, Mr Boyce?

What I got to lose now?

Little Walter Boyce told you
I took a murder contract to him?

- Why would he lie, Mr Dawkins?
- Why would he tell the truth?

Well, it's your choice, guys.

Believe an imprisoned heroin
trafficker with multiple convictions,

or believe
a twice-decorated former federal agent.

Phone logs and a statement by his
attorney confirm Mr Boyce's account.

How would Little Walter even know
this White House cellphone number?

How would it be
in Chesley's possession

when she was arrested in New York?

You got me.
His word against mine, gentlemen.

Just barely enough corroboration
to indict Theodore Dawkins.

Not nearly enough for a jury verdict.

If we're crazy enough to indict an
investigator working at the White House,

all kinds of fresh leads
will come through the door.

- Scared?
- Hell, yes.

- One more surprise.
- What's up?

Your victim, Janine McBride,

she was in contact with the Independent
Counsel's Office when she got killed.

I know because Dell requested a
background check on her from the FBI.

She was a potential witness
in a corruption investigation.

- How did you find this out?
- They used me as a source.

I used a source or two of my own.
What goes around, comes around.

Dell's been holding out on us all along.

No wonder he's been
so interested in this case.

McBride had already gone to him
with whatever she knew.

Well, now he's our witness.

We're gonna subpoena
Independent Counsel William Dell,

make him testify as to motive
in the murder of Janine McBride.

I got Ned Burks up here,

and I specifically asked the shift
commander to put him on suicide watch.

Unfortunately, at Rikers Island,

that seems to mean they stand around
and watch you commit suicide.

His wrists, yeah.

So no signs of foul play.
He has hesitation marks on both wrists.

Used a sharpened edge of a bed frame.

We found this underneath
when we rolled him.

- Suicide note?
- Yeah. The usual white-boy angst.

"I gave her my heart
and trusted her with it.

"But now I see that it was all a lie."
Yadda, yadda, yadda.

"I took Katherine Raynor
as Janine's friend,

"but it's clear she was more than that."

Raynor, the one
who got herself transferred

to the Chief of Staff's Office,
said it wasn't any affair with McBride.

A liar in the White House?
Gee, what are the chances?

- Have you seen the suicide note?
- No, but Curtis read it to me.

And Ned Burks specifically named
Katherine Raynor as Janine's lover?

You should take the lead.

She might feel
more comfortable girl-on-girl.

- My, you're subtle.
- Yeah, well, it's part of my charm.

Miss Raynor, Baltimore Police.
I need to talk with you.

I don't have anything to say.

Miss Raynor,
Janine McBride's boyfriend, Ned Burks,

he killed himself last night
in a New York jail cell.

He named you as Janine's lover.
You were her lover, weren't you?

We've uncovered evidence
that Janine's murder

may have been ordered
by the White House.

Look, I came to Washington
to work for the president,

because I believe in his goals.

All this other nonsense
is a distraction.

I don't have
any other comment than that.

We're not reporters
looking for a comment.

We're police officers
investigating a homicide.

What the hell is it with this town?

We're interested in knowing
who Theodore Dawkins reports to

in the administration.

Who supervises him?

Mostly, he serves the president's
private counsel doing investigative work

to prepare his defence against the
initiatives of the Independent Counsel.

He's not on the White House payroll?

We're not going to fund a
private investigator with public money.

His hours are billed
to the president's legal defence.

Does he work for staffers other than
the president's lawyers?

At times, he checks in with my boss,
the Chief of Staff.

He's worked on some projects
with the press office.

- What about you, Miss Bernardi?
- Me?

No, I don't see
all that much of Mr Dawkins.

Whatever he does goes well over the
head of a Deputy Chief of Staff.

You said this had to do
with the death of Janine McBride.

- Yes. You knew her?
- We met.

She used to be
at the Council of Economic Advisors.

Is Mr Dawkins in any way
connected to her death?

We heard it was a suicide.

Then we heard
that it was a, you know, sexual thing.

A murder, I mean.

A Baltimore grand jury

handed up the indictment
of Dawkins this morning.

The implication that could be drawn

is that the administration
had something to do

with the murder of McBride in New York.

- Is that what you're implying?
- We imply nothing.

The indictment names
only Theodore Dawkins,

a private investigator whose clients
include persons in the White House.

Beyond facts stated in the indictment,
we have no further comment.

Mr Abrams, what brings
the Independent Counsel to Baltimore?

We're obligated to go
where the evidence leads.

Now the truth
leads to Theodore Dawkins,

and others yet unnamed
in this administration.

We've only indicted Mr Dawkins.

That's the truth
we're comfortable with right now.

It goes well beyond Mr Dawkins.

Our office has every intention
of getting to the truth,

and getting there faster than you
can manage in a Baltimore courtroom.

Mr Dell is asking you to dismiss this
indictment and turn your evidence to us.

A murder took place
in Baltimore, Mr Abrams.

I'm a Maryland prosecutor.
I'm afraid I can't help you.

Well, then I'm afraid
we can't be much help to you either.

We're here to inform you
that the Counsel's Office

will not be bound by Maryland's offer
of immunity to Walter Boyce.

And if he testifies in your prosecution

as to his involvement in
the contract killing of Janine McBride,

he will be prosecuted under the death
penalty statute for killing a witness.

You can't be serious!

We've informed Mr Boyce's attorney

that cooperation with you
places him at risk.

Boyce is already serving life
without parole.

What's the point of targeting him
instead of using him as a witness?

The office of the Independent Counsel

is not interested in Walter Boyce
and Theodore Dawkins.

We're interested in the president and his
aides. What did they know? When?

So Mr Danvers, I urge you once again
to withdraw your indictment.

Go to hell.

People with a past usually learn
to be more delicate with the world.

What's he talking about, Ed?

What's he got?

I need your help.

Danvers?

I'm as amazed as you are,
but at age 14,

Ed Danvers was a junior member
of the Durham Street Raiders,

an all-white Highlandtown street gang.

In 1972, he and six others
were charged as juveniles

in the beating of a black man,
Roland Singletary,

on the grounds
of the Patterson Park pool.

The incident was racially motivated.

I spoke to Mr Singletary.
He remembers Ed Danvers.

He recalls that out of the six boys
that were charged,

Ed Danvers was the only one to
apologise and try to make amends.

What are you asking us?

Danvers came to me
with full knowledge

that someone had gone to Central
Records to pull his juvie card.

Most likely working
on behalf of the Independent Counsel.

They're looking to trash him.

If he'd have backed away from that
case, this wouldn't have surfaced.

I believe in Ed Danvers for who he is,
not who he once might have been.

If we back him on this,
then he can do his job,

but if we react,
whatever dirt they want to throw on him,

it probably means his career.

He can't function as a prosecutor
without the support of CID.

Do we need to put this to a vote?

- No.
- Thank you for standing fast,

and not letting the past
get in the way of justice.

It's one thing
to back Danvers as a prosecutor

but there's no way he can be approved
for the judgeship by the State Senate.

He knows that.

So you still got something to say to me?

I need to get right
with what happened to you.

The entire unit
needs to get right with it.

OK. So?

You went for your gun right from jump.

Ballard and me, maybe we'd have done
the same thing, maybe not.

- But we're not judging you.
- Everybody judges me.

Lewis, my partner,
he tosses his brim down on my desk.

You know what he's saying?
"Bitch, you almost got me killed."

But not to my face.
Nobody says anything to my face.

Well, I'm standing right here
in your face, Rene.

Congratulations.
I guess this makes you a stand-up guy.

You asked to speak further with us.

I've read the papers, your indictment.

The allegations of that drug dealer,
do you think they're true?

We don't indict people unless we feel
the standard of evidence has been met,

so, yes, we believe the allegations
against Mr Dawkins are correct.

So do I.

I think that Mr Dawkins arranged
to have Janine McBride killed.

I know why he did it,

and I may be partly responsible
in the matter.

I've been having an affair
with Katherine Raynor.

She's a staffer in this office.

Now Katherine had previously
been involved with Janine McBride.

Janine was not happy.

She started harassing Katherine.

After a few warnings,
I took it on myself to see

that Janine received a promotion
out of Washington.

Were you aware that Ms McBride had
contacted Independent Counsel Dell,

and made allegations
regarding you and Ms Raynor?

She told Katherine she might do that.

Miss Bernardi, did you ever discuss
this problem with Theodore Dawkins?

I asked Mr Dawkins
to speak with Ms McBride,

to offer the chance
at other job postings,

if the work in Baltimore
displeased her...

...and if need be, to offer her money.

Did you ask for Mr Dawkins
to try to buy McBride's silence?

Isn't that what it amounts to?

She threatened
to call the Independent Counsel

and tell them that Dawkins
had tried to bribe her.

How did Mr Dawkins react?

He asked me what the administration
could do to protect him

if the allegations of bribery surfaced.

And what did you tell him?

That I didn't know how any of us could
be protected from anything any more.

This William Dell, he's in our closets,
he's in our bedrooms.

This started as an investigation

in the president's business affairs,
policy matters.

This thing has become
its own sick argument.

Did you ask Dawkins to arrange
for Janine McBride's murder?

If I thought for one moment

that someone would die
so I could keep this job,

the president would be reading
my letter of resignation.

In fact, it's on his desk now.

Subpoenaed as a witness
in a criminal trial in Baltimore.

- You'll testify to these matters?
- Yes.

Will that be all?

I have to prepare a press statement.

Thanks for your help.

You'll be talking
with Katherine Raynor, I imagine.

- Of course.
- Please... tell her I'm sorry.

Tell her that she doesn't deserve
to be ruined over this.

- He's been Mirandised.
- Did he make any initial statement?

That he's not committed any crimes and
he's proud of all he's done for his nation.

- He said that?
- As God is my witness.

Then he quoted
Nathan Hale and Patrick Henry.

So Mr Dawkins,

did you arrange this strange
little murder by your lonesome?

Mr Dawkins is in our custody.
He's being charged federally.

And Mr Stanton here
is representing Mr Dawkins,

who will be negotiating to provide
the Independent Counsel's Office

with testimony as a government witness.

Witness? He's a murder defendant.

A Maryland warrant
is good anywhere in the US.

It's a lovely warrant, but in terms
of the custody of this defendant,

an investigation by the office of the
Independent Counsel takes precedence.

Captain, my office
will take custody of this prisoner.

You have five minutes.
I have a press briefing to get to.

You son of a bitch.

You offer Dawkins immunity to get
whatever you can on the administration.

You refuse immunity to Walter Boyce
who's already doing life in prison,

so you can torpedo our case.

There are larger issues at stake.
This is more than a murder here.

- More than a murder?
- Corruption at the highest level.

What proof do you have?
Dawkins has no corroboration!

All you've got
is innuendo and allegation.

That's all he needs. He set it up
so this case never gets to court.

You don't want a jury trial,
a chance to determine who's guilty.

The only case he can make in court
stops with Theodore Dawkins.

But outside a courtroom,

at a press conference
or an impeachment report to Congress,

he can allege about anything he wants.

And never have to prove a thing.

I remember when I was clerking
at the Supreme Court,

a justice asked me
why it was that inside the Beltway

the lawyering seemed
so worthy and dignified,

while outside the Beltway,

the same kind of labour
came off as savage and bitter.

I told him I didn't know.

He smiled and explained

that the lawyers outside the Beltway
seem so damn savage,

because the stakes were so damn small.

It's been a pleasure, gentlemen.

What did I do that was wrong?
I went to work every day. I did my job.

I met someone. I fell in love.

- What did I do to deserve any of this?
- Nothing.

- I'll have to testify.
- Yes.

In public.

I'm gonna be in all the newspapers,
on all the TV shows for the next year.

I'll be the joke on "Jay Leno".

'The motive for this murder
appears to be an attempt

'by high-ranking members
of this administration

'to silence a witness who was prepared
to testify about sexual improprieties

'at the office
of the White House Chief of Staff.'

$40 million worth of misinformation.

And we helped him dig up the dirt.

- To hell with it. I'm almost glad.
- About what?

You think I had the stomach

to drag that girl up and down
the courthouse steps, cameras flashing?

Bernardi, Raynor, McBride.

That crazy boyfriend up in New York.
What's his name?

Burks. Ned Burks.

Are there any winners here?

You want winners? Only Dell.

The weasel who peeps through keyholes
and gets elected tomorrow

will cover himself in the same scandal.

As long as the Republic stands,
it'll never change.

What he said.

- Uh-uh. That ain't it.
- What do you mean?

You can't just say it's on the guys
running the government, can you?

We're the ones
who set the game up, right?

We make the rules,
saying we want the truth

but we don't really want the truth
because the truth is a mess.

This world could do with a little less
truth and a little more trust.

We've gotta trust people are entitled
to screw up and not be destroyed for it.

We've gotta trust that the people
we work with and work for and live with

are gonna think that we're OK.

Until we really give them a reason
not to think so.

I'm not talking
about one or two bad moments.

We've gotta trust they're gonna
judge us on everything, all of it,

and not just some moment
we can't get back.

That's what I'd want for myself.

- Oh!
- Whoa!

- I gotta go home.
- Well, you shouldn't be driving.

I'll take a cab.

What's the damage?

Hell with it.

I'm too damn sober.

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