Original subtitles

Tonight on "Hunter"...

Liquid cyanide was poured in a manhole

somewhere near the area.

Mixed with acid that was already in the sewer and the result

was cyanide gas, odorless, colorless.

Poor kid didn't know what hit him.

The DA is not willing to prosecute

until we can prove intent.

If you allow us to treat this as a homicide,

we'll prove intent.

It's our stuff.

The cops think they can trace it back to us.

Can they?

What was the truck doing driving

through a residential area?

Whoever's responsible for this boy's death

is going to go to prison for second degree murder.

Smooth move!

I've been working on it.

Hey, you want to come over for dinner tonight?

I can't.

Dimmer said she might give us a pop quiz tomorrow.

Bring your books and we can

play some Nintendo afterwards.

Cool!

Cyanide gas, huh?

Yeah.

Toxic Waste Force says that liquid cyanide

was poured in a manhole somewhere near the area.

Mixed with acid that was already in the sewer and the result

was cyanide gas.

Odorless, colorless.

Poor kid didn't know what hit him.

Yeah.

There's Frankie.

Frankie Mason, head of the Toxic Waste Strike Force.

This is my partner, Sergeant Hunter.

Hello.

Ms. Mason, how are you?

Any idea how this happened?

Some jerk tried to save a lot of money

by dumping cyanide in the streets

instead of going to a hazardous waste site.

Any idea who?

No, but we got a good lead.

Yeah, she's right.

One of the guys found this glove in an area

about six blocks over where we think the cyanide was dumped.

We found traces of cyanide on it and on the street

around the manhole cover.

Oh, good.

I'll run the inside of this glove for prints.

Unfortunately, this isn't a homicide.

You guys can't really get involved, you know that.

- She's right. - I know that.

But we'll run it for you anyway.

- I like your style. - All right.

Jimmy!

Jimmy!

Jimmy!

That's my boy's bike!

That's his bike! - Ma'am.

Ma'am.

Ma'am, listen to me.

I'm a police officer.

- That's my boy's bike! - I know.

Please, listen to me. Step over here now.

There's been an accident.

Oh, God.

Yes.

Mrs. Morgan, take this.

You'll feel better.

Thank you.

We're very sorry about your son.

I know you'll do everything you

can to find out who did this.

Mrs. Morgan, we're with Homicide.

Your son's death will be investigated

by the Toxic Waste Task Force.

I don't understand.

Well, what she means is we will not

be treating this as a homicide.

But... he... it's...

It's not like he was riding his bike in front of a bus

or he fell or something.

Someone poisoned him with... with cyanide.

He was murdered.

It's murder!

Hey, I'd love to prosecute one of these midnight dumpers,

believe me.

You want to know why we don't in cases like this?

We can never prove intent.

Let me tell you something, if some screwball decided

to put a bomb in the schoolyard, we

could prove intent all right.

That's exactly what this is, a toxic time bomb,

and it went off.

I know that, but I have to deal with reality.

There's just no legal precedent connecting

toxic dumping with homicide.

Well, I think it's about time we establish one.

Sergeant, a few years ago a case landed on my desk.

Product liability, gross negligence.

A mother of three young children died.

I tried to make a criminal case out of it.

In fact, I became a little obsessed with it.

In the end, the judge threw it out with a reprimand.

Now, I didn't mind that so much.

The look on the husband's face, on the children's faces,

for them, the law had just flat out failed,

and it was my fault for trying to stretch it.

So what are you saying, we don't even try it?

Hunter, I'm saying it's a case for the civil courts.

I'm sorry.

I wish it wasn't, but it is.

He's right, you know.

The DA is not willing to prosecute

until we can prove intent.

If you allow us to treat this as a homicide,

we'll prove intent.

Look, Captain, whoever dumped the cyanide

is going to do it again.

I think you're way out of line on this one.

Look, Charlie, just give us a couple of days.

A couple of days, huh?

All right.

I guess everyone needs at least one impossible case.

Keeps you humble.

But I think you two are pushing rocks up the hill

with your noses on this one.

Hydrochloric acid is basically harmless and fairly common

in the city sewers.

But when you mix it with liquid cyanide, you get cyanide gas.

And that gas killed little Jimmy Morgan.

Listen, I think you should know this.

We're not treating this case as a homicide.

Oh, Hunter, if you could find the people who did this

and get the DA's office to charge them with homicide,

it would pave the way for other DAs to take a shot.

Hi.

Hi.

You were right.

There were latent prints inside that rubber glove.

NCIC traced them to a Larry Taylor.

And Mr. Taylor is currently working

at Linder Chemical Company.

This is at Linder Chemical Company.

May I help you?

I'm Sergeant Hunter, LAPD.

Is Mr. Linder in? - No, I'm afraid he's not.

He's in Washington DC.

Oh.

Do you know when he'll be back?

Tomorrow.

Is there something that I can do to help?

Yeah, perhaps so.

Uh, where can I find Larry Taylor?

Mr. Taylor? - Yeah.

Sergeant Hunter, LAPD.

Investigating illegal dumping of toxic materials

into an LA city sewer.

A young boy was killed last night.

Man, that's awful.

So you're checking with all the chemical companies, is that it?

Well, not exactly.

You see, we found a glove near the site.

It has your fingerprints on the inside.

- A glove? - Yes.

Must've been one I lost two or three weeks ago.

It fell off the back of the truck.

Where'd you find it?

Right near the manhole where you dumped the liquid cyanide.

That's a bunch of bunk.

Everything I do is strictly by the book!

Where does this company dump its cyanide?

All the cyanide we use is processed legally at the Nelson

Disposal in Chino.

Legally, huh?

Yeah.

We'll see about that.

The boy was identified as 12-year-old Jimmy

Morgan of Northridge.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at a local emergency...

Honey!

Back from the wars.

How are you?

Great, just great.

We got the government contract.

I'll tell you, things keep going like this,

we're going to have the best year ever.

Wonderful.

What's wrong?

Oh, there was just something very upsetting on the news.

A 12-year-old boy died of cyanide poisoning.

Somebody dumped it in the sewers.

Oh, god.

That's terrible.

I wish you didn't have to work with it.

It's so dangerous.

What if there was an accident at the plant?

Julie, I've told you a thousand times.

All our waste is processed.

It costs a lot of money, but we do it just so something

like this won't happen.

The mother of that poor child... if you

could have seen her face.

That's what you get for watching the late news.

It just depresses you.

Hey.

I've got a terrific idea.

I was thinking on the plane, why don't you

and I go up to the cabin this weekend?

Hmm.

We'll go fishing.

You'll fish, I'll watch.

And you have to clean what you catch.

Fine.

It's so late.

I'll bet you ten to one it's the night foreman.

I'm home what, five minutes?

Hello.

Ben, it's Larry.

You see the 11:00 news about that kid?

Yeah, I heard something about it.

Why?

Well, it's our stuff, Ben.

- Really? - Yeah, really.

The cops have been out to the plant.

They think they can trace it back to us.

Can they?

I don't know.

Look, there's nothing we can do about it now.

I'll talk to you in the morning.

Is something wrong?

No, no.

It's, uh, just a power shortage at the plant.

They're working on it now.

It'll be done in a couple hours.

Oh, I'm sorry.

It happens.

Hey, you're just who I'm looking for.

Linder's secretary called, said that he

would like to meet with us...

If it's convenient.

How long have you known Larry Taylor?

Larry?

Oh, ever since I founded the company.

Actually, we go back farther than that.

He served under me in the military.

That's why after all these years,

I just don't see how it's possible Larry would have

dumped cyanide in the sewers.

We both had the same feelings about corporate responsibility.

How do you explain the glove?

Well, you yourself said that it was found less

than two miles from the plant.

It probably did just fall off the truck.

Well, wait a minute, Mr. Linder.

What was the truck doing driving through a residential area?

He's probably looking for the shortest route.

Well, I don't buy that.

Look, Sergeant, I'm just as concerned

about this as you are.

Remember, it was me who called you.

Yeah, after Larry Taylor called you.

Of course he did.

He was upset about your suspicions and so am I. Diane,

you want to come in here for a second, please?

The point is, I'm willing to open

my books to you right now...

Today.

Diane, would you make copies of all the transactions

between us and Nelson Disposals and give them to the officers.

Certainly.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Look, Mr. Linder, Larry Taylor may be saying one thing

and doing another.

If you suspect he may be cutting corners for personal gain,

I suggest you tell us right now.

Let me tell you something.

I've known Larry a very long time

and I'll stand behind him because I

honestly believe he wouldn't do something like this.

Linder's records are pretty straightforward.

He can account for every ounce of liquid cyanide

he's disposed of.

You believe him?

Please.

If I believed every document I got

from the chemical companies, we wouldn't

catch anyone for dumping.

It's just that I'd be more skeptical if it wasn't Nelson

Disposal handling his waste.

What do you mean?

Howard Nelson runs the most reputable firm in the state.

He's a decent guy, not the kind to be involved

in something like this.

And you don't think I should check him out?

Check him.

Howard Nelson?

That's right.

Sergeant Hunter, LA Homicide.

Oh, yeah. Your office called.

Little off the beaten track for you, isn't it?

Well, a little bit.

I'm investigating a homicide that occurred in Los Angeles.

A little boy, Jimmy Morgan, was killed from cyanide gas.

Oh, yeah.

I read about it.

It was terrible.

What can I do for you?

I understand you handle all the toxic waste

disposal for Linder Chemical.

Yeah, I have for more than five years now.

Would it be all right if I took a look at their records?

You think Ben Linder had something

to do with this thing?

Well, it's a possibility.

I don't understand.

I mean, we handle the disposal of all their cyanide.

If there was anything unusual, we'd know about it.

What do you know about Larry Taylor?

Well, he delivers all of Linder's waste products

out here, but I barely know him.

I see.

This paperwork only covers the last 12 months.

I can get the rest of you on microfilm if you need it.

Yeah, I greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

The Toxic Task Force people usually

investigate these incidents.

Yes, they usually do.

But whoever's responsible for this boy's death

is going to go to prison for second degree murder.

It's about time!

Calm down, Howard.

It's not the end of the world.

Don't tell me to calm down!

That cop knows this moron dumped that cyanide in the sewer!

Watch your mouth!

That was never the deal!

He was supposed to be dumping it out in the Mojave Desert!

Business is up, Howard.

They put the squeeze on Larry.

Nobody ever expected anything like this to happen.

The boy's dead, Ben.

Don't you understand?

God knows, we're all sorry about what

happened to the boy.

But we have to go on.

Nothing anybody can do is ever going to bring that kid back.

Well, it's not going to happen again.

What does that mean?

It means I'm out.

Find someone else to cover for you.

It's not that simple, Howard.

I did what you wanted.

I covered for you with that cop.

But that's it!

It's not enough.

Look, I just landed a government contract.

That means we're all going to make a lot of money.

But I can't do it for the price I bid without you.

Look, Larry's not going to dump in the sewers anymore.

We're going to find something else to do.

How... Howard, don't let me down.

I'm sorry, Ben.

You're sorry?

Well, I'll tell you, you'd had been

a lot sorry if I let your company slide into bankruptcy!

I saved your butt!

Now you're going to hang me.

We're going on, Howard.

We're going to be careful, but we are going on.

You could be dead wrong about Linder on this one.

What do you got, a glove?

Yeah, with Taylor's fingerprints on the inside.

There are still people out in the street killing each other.

I am having a tough time justifying

the man hours on this one.

Well, just a second now.

McCall is doing an in-depth background check

on Nelson Disposal as we speak.

Sergeant Hunter.

Oh, Ms. Morgan.

Yeah, come on in.

This is our Captain, Charles Devane.

This is Ms. Morgan, Jimmy's mother.

How do you do?

Uh, very sorry to hear about your son.

Thank you.

I realize that you're very busy.

But I... I just spoke to Mr. Reyes

in the district attorney's office

and he told me how difficult it was

going to be to prove anything.

Well, it's... it's a very complicated case,

unfortunately.

I wanted to tell you how grateful

I am that you're pursuing this.

Something like this should never happen again.

If one child's life can be spared...

Thank you very much.

Ms. Morgan, we're going to do everything we possibly can.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll let you get back to work.

Thanks for coming down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Keep digging.

Hey, I've been looking for you.

What's up?

I've been going over public records trying to figure out

who's behind this dummy corporation

called Majestic Investors.

They bought into Nelson Disposal at 51%,

and that's when Nelson was deep in the red.

Well, who owns Majestic?

Well, this is the part I like.

The chief operations officer is listed as a Julia Fitzgibbons.

Fitzgibbons is the maiden name of Linder's wife.

Mrs. Linder?

Yes.

I'm Sergeant Hunter, LA Homicide.

I was wondering if I might be able to have a word

with you and your husband.

Of course.

Thank you.

What is this about?

It's about your company, Nelson Disposal.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Well, Majestic owns 50% of Nelson Disposal.

Majestic?

Yes, your company.

Excuse me.

If you want to know about Majestic,

I suggest you talk to me.

Come in.

Excuse me.

Yeah, sure.

You know, Mr. Linder, the one thing I still don't understand

is, why did you buy into Nelson Disposal

through a dummy corporation?

Why didn't you just buy into it through Linder Chemical.

What are you implying?

Well, why did you have to disguise it?

Disguise?

Look, Sergeant, if my competitors

knew I was doing business with that company,

Nelson would've lost all the contracts.

It would've been a conflict of interest.

Look, you got any more questions to ask me,

I'll meet you in your office with my attorney.

OK.

I want to thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Linder.

I'll let myself out.

What's this about Majestic Investors?

It's not important.

Then why was he here?

Well, they're just doing their job.

Probably checking with every chemical company

in Los Angeles.

I just happened to be on his list.

Hey, look at me.

You don't really think I'm involved with something

like that, do you?

No.

No, of course not.

Hunter, Ben Linder can own or purchase any company

he wants under another name.

I understand that, but this guy's guilty.

You can't confuse circumstances

with the hard facts I need to prove it in court.

Well, wait, wait a minute.

What do you think I'm going to do, give you a bad case?

Look, I feel the same way you do.

But you've got to come up with a strong enough case for me

to justify giving it priority.

There are pressures here that you don't know about.

And there's a mother who deserves to have

an answer for her son's death.

Boy, you are some piece of work.

What do you want me to do?

If I prove intent, will you prosecute Ben Linder

for second degree murder?

Find me that evidence.

Get that thing outta here!

What?

I'm not doing business with you anymore!

- What are you, nuts? - Move it!

Hey!

Tell Linder to find another dump site!

Yeah, I'll tell him.

I'll tell him he can't dump on his own property.

It's still half mind and I run this operation!

Are you having a problem, Mr. Nelson?

No, there's no problem.

I'll tell Mr. Linder what you said.

Move it now!

That guy is squirrelly, man.

I'm worried.

Take it easy.

In a few days, this whole thing will blow over

and Nelson will calm down.

Yeah, and what if he goes to the cops?

He wouldn't do that.

Well, I'm going to have a private little conversation

with him just to make sure.

No, you leave him alone.

Don't you understand, he's got the same problem we have.

What he's got is a guilty conscience.

If he talks, he goes to prison, too.

So forget it.

Besides, he's got a son he adores.

He wouldn't do that.

Now get out of here. I've got a customer coming.

Right.

Yes, I... I understand.

OK.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

What's up?

I've been talking to some of Linder's competitors.

Every one of them says that Linder has been a real problem

for them in the past year.

The guy has underbid all of them on government contracts,

and some of the managers have come out

flat and said that they don't know

how this man can bid so low.

Well, I know how he's doing it.

He's cutting corners.

Which allows him to get the big contracts.

Which means he's producing more toxic waste.

Absolutely.

How much toxic waste do you think he's dumping illegally?

Well, I couldn't tell you exactly,

but it's enough to pose a major hazard to the community,

and Linder has to know that.

Would you be willing to testify to that?

Oh, I would look forward to it.

OK.

Look, what I got to find out now is how much toxic waste

he's given to Nelson and how much

he's putting down the sewers.

Yeah, but for that you need documentation.

Yeah.

Do you think he's keeping two sets of books?

It's possible, but how are you going to find those books?

That's my problem.

Hello.

Hello, short stuff.

OK.

So you're big stuff.

What's up?

Of course I haven't forgotten about your ball game

on Saturday.

I wouldn't miss it for anything.

Look, tell your mom I'll pick you up at 9 o'clock sharp, OK?

You know I love you, don't you, Blake?

I love you very much. So long, slugger.

Hunter, Homicide.

Listen, I've got some information for you

on this illegal dumping case...

And the little boy.

Yeah, who's this?

Hello?

Hello?

I don't believe this.

This isn't happening.

He was on the phone to a cop.

How could you?

Your friend Howard was going to sell us out.

You don't know that.

Well, now I know he won't.

Don't worry, Ben.

Don't worry.

Shut up!

Hey, get your hands off me.

Get outta my sight.

Why won't you tell me?

I told you, I have a meeting at the plant.

What, at 9 o'clock at night?

A foreman called.

Something came up.

When?

When did he call?

No, that is not good enough.

Well, it was always good enough for you before.

Since when are you worried about my work?

All you ever cared about was whether or not

the money kept rolling in.

Now, I got to go.

I want to know the truth about why you used my name

on that dummy corporation to buy part

of Howard Nelson's company.

Was it so that you could dump cyanide in the sewers?

I told you it was for tax reasons.

You tell me what you think I want to hear!

But right now, I want to know...

The truth, Ben.

Are you responsible for that child's death?

I never expected it to happen.

It was just a freak accident.

Oh, my god.

Oh, my god.

Julia.

If I could have died instead of that kid, believe me,

I would have.

You did this?

For what?

To save money?

I did it to keep the company from going under.

I wanted to keep it alive.

How do you think I made payments on this house?

How do you think I paid for every single thing you got?

Your clothes, your car, all your constant trips to Europe.

Now... now...

Now it's my fault?

I didn't expect this to happen.

What are you going to do?

I could go to this Sergeant Hunter.

Tell him everything.

I'd go to jail.

We'd lose every single thing we've got.

Julia, I would do this...

I would do this if you would forgive me.

No, I don't want that.

Oh, Ben.

I love you.

I have to go.

Hi.

What is it?

You said you would tell her.

I know.

You said you would tell her when

you got back from Washington, and you're back.

Diane, this isn't the right time.

Isn't it?

Well, you know what, I don't think

there's going to be a right... - No, wait, wait, wait.

Wait a second.

Just give me a second.

Please, listen to me, just listen.

First of all, I've got a lot of major problems in the business.

And I can't just go to Julia and tell

her I'm leaving her without...

Without lawyers and things.

I want you to have the best of everything,

and I can't do that if the company goes belly up.

Well, why didn't you tell me that you were having problems?

Beca... because I didn't want you to worry.

I know the kind of stress you've been under...

Pretending at work, meeting in secret.

Besides, I think you're wonderful.

Come on, let's eat.

Oh, Ben.

All right, so this guy Linder's cheating on his wife

or maybe he's just looking for some shoulder to cry on.

How does this help us?

Captain, there's a case building here somehow.

- Yeah, I thinks she's right. - All right.

So what about you?

What do you got on Howard Nelson?

Well, I tried his house.

He's not home.

His secretary says he hasn't shown up for work this morning.

Sounds like he got cold feet.

Yeah, well, maybe.

Look, I'm going to drive back out there.

I've got some people to talk to.

I haven't seen Howard all day.

I'm a little worried.

He's usually the first one here in the morning and the last one

to leave.

When's the last time you saw him?

About quittin' time.

He was still in his office.

Was his car here this morning?

No.

Tell me, what's all this out here?

Well, once the toxic waste have been treated,

we bury it in that pit out there.

They found Nelson's car about five blocks away from here

outside a local bar.

No sign of Nelson.

Sergeant Hunter, I think we got something.

Just go through the whole list,

and afterwards I'll talk to you about how far we should go.

Sergeant Hunter.

Mr. Linder, I have an arrest warrant

for a Larry Taylor for the murder of Howard Nelson.

Howard?

Dead?

We found his fingerprints on the murder

weapon buried with the body.

It couldn't have been Larry.

I can't believe this.

Well, I think you can.

Wait, if you think I had anything to do with Nelson's

death, you're crazy.

We'll see what Taylor says about it.

Taylor!

Hold it right there!

Hold it right there, Taylor.

Freeze.

Taylor!

I guess you heard.

I know, Linder won.

Sorry.

Linder claims that Howard Nelson

and Larry Taylor were responsible for all

of the dumping. - Yeah, I know.

And Reyes went for it, right?

Well, he and the Toxic Waste people

went through the paperwork at Linder's office

and they didn't find anything.

Look, you know the score.

Without hard documentation that Linder knew what was going on,

Reyes still can't prove intent.

Now you know, Larry Taylor was our only shot

at nailing Linder. - Yeah, I know.

And he's dead.

So now what do we do?

There's nothing more we can do.

It's over.

Ben.

Julia.

You shouldn't be here right now.

I heard what happened.

Julia.

I had nothing to do with the death

with either one of those men.

I... I know.

If only you hadn't dumped that poison...

I just have to live with that.

Can you really do that, Ben?

What do you suggest?

Maybe you have to go to the police...

That's crazy.

Tell them everything, just explain the circumstances.

They'd put me away for 20 years.

They tried.

They can't, they have no proof.

Because Howard and Larry are dead.

My going to prison isn't going to bring them back.

You'd be alone.

Ben, I got the papers from the bank you...

Oh, uh, hello, Mrs. Linder.

Julia, go home.

We'll talk about this later.

What's the matter?

This woman is going to bury her son today.

And the bastard responsible for his death

is going to get away free.

I know.

You know, if we could have only nailed Linder

for the murder of that boy, maybe the next guy who decides

to dump toxic waste in the city sewer

would think twice about it.

At least Ms. Morgan would have that.

Now what am I going to tell her?

Why don't you just tell her that?

Come on.

Let's go.

Mrs. Morgan, I just wanted to say how sorry I am.

What's Mrs. Linder doing here?

I don't know.

Kind of peculiar, don't you think?

I just read about what happened and I wanted...

I wanted to say how badly I feel for your loss.

I'm going to go talk to her.

I'll be right back.

Ms. Linder.

Somewhat surprised to see you here today.

I read about it.

I just felt badly and I wanted to attend.

You know, your husband's responsible for that boy's

death, don't you?

I have to go.

Are you going to the funerals of all your husband's victims,

Ms. Linder?

What do you want?

I want your help.

Now, there's got to be records that explain exactly what's

going on at Linder Chemical.

Whatever Ben is, he is my husband and I love him.

And he loves me.

Are you sure about that?

You OK?

Yeah, I'm fine.

Uh... kind of a low thing I did to Ms. Linder.

Probably would have found out about the affair anyway.

Sergeant Hunter.

What the hell?

What's going on here?

I have a warrant for your arrest

for second degree murder.

That's nonsense.

We have the evidence, Mr. Linder.

That's impossible.

Your wife gave us a key to a safe deposit box.

Inside it, we found your real set of books.

We also found $500,000 in cash.

That's the money Howard Nelson kicked back to you.

You ought to feel real good about yourself, Mr. Linder.

You're about to make history in California criminal law.