Original subtitles

Hey, I've been getting the runaround for two hours and I'm coming up on

deadline. Well, can you tell me approximately how much money was

Was it over a thousand dollars?

So, I'm going to drop a few more pounds, huh?

Yes, sir.

I don't know. Those pills seem to work real good, but that last five, it's

to get off.

It's all that junk food you kids eat. It's empty calories, son, especially

fake milkshakes.

Oh, yes, sir.

Do you have any troublesome side effects from the dexedrams?

Well, I have trouble sleeping at nights, but I don't think that's a pill. It

must be the pressure of school, you know, senior year.

Yeah.

You want something to help you sleep?

All right, you take this to this pharmacy and tell them to give me a

How come you never write any prescriptions?

Son, I don't want you taken advantage of by some druggist I don't even know.

Be sure and pay Eileen on the way up. I will.

See you in a month.

42.

Blue is number 42.

Well, I'm off. Remember, you're heading up the budget meeting.

Of course, Charlie. I remember. You're giving a lecture today.

Oh, no, it's not a lecture. I'm just giving a little talk to these high

journalism students. I don't even know why I agreed.

Here's the stuff, Mr. Hume. Want me to run it down to your car for you? Thanks,

Lee. I know. I'll take it.

What have you got there? Just a few little things.

That's a good idea, visual aids. Just a few little things.

Hey, great! A book!

It's what reporters write on.

Oh.

And some wire copy?

what reporters write from.

Oh. I figured one picture's worth a thousand words.

That's a hell of a thing to say in a room full of reporters.

Ready? You going too?

Sure. These kids are liable to be a little awed by an old gray managing

so I asked Billy to come along.

I just hope they won't be afraid to talk.

No problem.

If nobody asks questions, you can show them how to fold the newspaper into

little hats the pressmen wear.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Charlie. What?

You forgot your visual aids.

18,

19, and 20. There you go.

Hey, how many are in here? This can't be 30.

That's right, it's 15.

Well, I always get 30.

Dr. Bonham called in 15.

Then why am I paying so much?

Everything's gone up.

Boy, if I didn't need these... Come back and see us again, will you?

Brief.

The feds are claiming a victory in their battle against dope.

What else is new?

No, this time they really clamped down on the pill traffic coming across the

border. Sealed off the Mexican connection.

Street sales are down. I'm glad to hear that.

Ross, you only have about four books. Put in column three under the floor.

Burroughs handed it to me as I came in.

Anybody know Nick Carnal?

That punk rock star?

Must be.

Anyway, the Board of Health is keeping him from entering the country with his

orangutan, whom he claims is his business manager.

Are we talking about a real person? Yeah. According to this, Colonel is

as saying, Bong is a filthy beast, but he's a whole lot cleaner than I am.

What do you think?

I think I don't want either one of them using my bathroom.

Because of the folks in entertainment.

What's next?

Anyway, so this big pug ugly has got me by the collar. It's one of these guys.

And my feet are about three inches off the ground. And he says to me, if it's

the truth, Charlie, print it.

And I say to him, well, truth is relative.

Anyway, if the reporters are the

eyes and the ears of the newspaper,

What is a city editor?

A hair.

Close.

No, a city editor is the brain.

Now... Excuse me.

Yeah, what?

Mr. Hume, how would you evaluate the Trib's coverage of young people in Los

Angeles?

Well, of course, I'm biased, but I'd say we do a solid job.

I mean, our education coverage is better than ever.

But how would you say we do?

Well, I'd say out of the 2 ,500 students here, 50 of them read the trip, 40 for

sport. No, no, Jerry, I think you're way off.

I certainly hope so.

It couldn't be more than a dozen.

A dozen?

Really?

Well, you know, our research shows that young people just aren't reading much

these days.

Isn't that what our research shows, Billy?

Well, I... I guess I haven't seen that particular research yet, Mr. Hugh.

Well, I guess that didn't get down to the reporters.

But that's what it shows.

Remind me to give you a copy of that research.

Well, why do you think kids don't read the trip?

Well, I don't know.

Many of our stories are lengthy, in -depth probing analyses.

Now, perhaps the younger generation brought up on TV is used to shorter...

you saying it's over our heads or that our attention span is too short to

the trip?

No, no, no, no. I just meant that some young people... Are too dumb to read the

trip?

No, that's not a good word.

I certainly wouldn't use that word.

I would say maybe you're not ready to read the trip.

Here. What's in this?

Those are all the articles we weren't allowed to write in our school

We'd like you to look at them, and then you tell us whether we're ready to read

a grown -up newspaper.

I'd say it went pretty well.

You established a wonderful kind of open atmosphere where they all felt free to

say just what was on their minds.

Actually, it was a terrific opportunity to see firsthand how teenagers can make

an ass out of a managing editor.

Hey, you're being way too hard on yourself.

Those kids love the pencils.

I gave them pencils.

They wanted to discuss issues, and I gave them pencils.

If it's any consolation, this afternoon proved to me that I am on the gray side

of the generation gap myself.

I felt so old.

Can you hear them now wondering how the two of us got where we are since we're

both so hopelessly square?

Straight. Huh?

They call us straight.

Nobody says square anymore.

Roger,

when are you going to stop swallowing hold of everything the PR guys from the

Fed feed you? What do you mean? I checked that out. The Knox hat bottle

flow of illegal pills from Mexico.

Sure. So the dealers find another source.

Always check with your buddies on the fourth.

What are you talking about? Every time I bring up the subject, all you guys say

is, Ross, you quit pumping us. No comment.

Hey, can we get some coffee over here? Hey,

check out Donny and Marie over there. Boy, are they strung out.

I guess they didn't read your article, Joe. Maybe you ought to tell them what's

up with it and get Bill.

What's going on, Bill?

She's out. I can't get her to come, too. What's she got in her?

I don't know. Well, try to remember. I'll call a paramedic.

Rossi, heads up. Take the kids.

Don't hurt her, man.

What's her name?

Maureen. Maureen?

Maureen.

What are you saying?

Maureen.

I'm kind of out of it.

You're who?

I'm a reporter.

Am I going to be on TV?

No, no. I'm from a newspaper.

L .A. Tribune. Heard of it?

Sure.

Hey.

How's Maureen?

Are they still working on her?

I guess they had to pump her stomach, too.

What a night.

You know, you sure made a fool out of me.

I did? Oh, yeah.

I just did a big story on how tough it is for kids to get pills.

What do you mean, pills?

You know, amphetamines, barbiturates, black beauties, robin's eggs.

That's got nothing to do with me.

Come on, Peter. I'm not going to turn you in.

Hey, I don't have anything more to say to you.

Besides, all I want to do right now is sleep.

Okay?

Sure.

Sure.

She didn't make it.

She died.

Stupid kids.

What can you do?

How about a page written and edited entirely by kids once a week, whatever

want to say?

You told me that class really worked them over the day, but I had no idea.

Neither did I.

Come on now, this thing makes great sense.

I've been reading the stuff those kids gave me. It's well -written, it's well

-researched, and it just gave me an idea.

There's a whole market out there, and we're missing it. These are tomorrow's

subscribers. If we can get them reading the Trib, we've got a terrific jump on

the competition.

Charlie, you realize, don't you, that you're running the risk of having a

page of nothing but rock music gossip.

You haven't read this stuff, Lou, or you wouldn't say that.

You're thinking of giving the page to those kids?

Well, sure. Who better?

Yeah, sure. I guess they can make room for a page like that back in the

entertainment section.

Well, that's why I wanted to talk about it with you beforehand.

Oh, no.

I think it's important that this be in section one.

You mean all that space is coming out of our news hole?

At first, yes. But if this thing takes off, we'll be able to go up two pages,

maybe even four, and some of that will go to you.

Now, listen.

I know that this could be duller than the classified, but I'd like to take

chance.

Now, I could be arbitrary and give the youth page a green light without your

approval, but I'd like to think that you will back me enthusiastically and

spontaneously.

How are you feeling?

I'm fine.

They're letting me check out.

I just heard about Marie. I'm sorry.

It was just an accident.

Doctors tried everything, but she must have eaten something weird.

Yeah, they're not sure. It was either a grilled cheese sandwich or eight

oratrines and enough alcohol to kill a horse. What kind of stupidity is that?

Oh, God.

How's this whole thing going to read in the paper?

What's this going to do to her mom and dad?

I don't want everybody to think she was a doper.

She didn't do it that much. I did, but she didn't.

She was a nice person.

I'm not going to use her name, but I want to know something.

When the police asked you how you got the pills, what did you tell them?

And I didn't do anything illegal that I got him from a doctor.

He should have told me this could happen. Why didn't he tell me?

You didn't know?

They tried to scare us in school, but I got prescriptions for these.

What was the doctor's name?

Bonham. H -A -M?

You're really not going to mention her name?

I won't, I promise.

And this, this is the situation.

Now, you'll be over here.

Space is kind of tight, but we wanted you to feel that you're a part of this

operation, which you are.

To do a desk, huh?

Is that a problem?

No, no, that's okay.

I guess if we're doing things right, we'll be out most of the time anyway.

Right. Oh, Lou, look.

Lou Grant, meet the staff of our newest section, News of Our Youth.

Hi. Hi. Hi, Lou.

News of Our Youth, huh?

Is that yours, Charlie? Yeah.

You got it all there.

Youth, news, maybe a little subtle.

All right, you guys, all right. Now, Lou is in charge of all this, but our

Donovan, our assistant editor, is going to be your advisor.

Advisor?

What do you mean? You promised us a free hand.

Oh, absolutely.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Donovan is only there to help you with procedure.

I mean, your section is autonomous. You are on your own.

I take him up on his offer, kid. It's more than he gives us in Metro.

You people just have to keep it down. I refuse to shout these numbers.

Thank you.

Seventeen.

Seventeen!

Seventeen, that's me. Coming through. Coming through. Excuse me, please.

Seventeen. All right.

Joseph Rossi. What seems to be the problem?

Well, I'm trying to lose a little weight.

How are you planning to pay for this?

Cash. How much is it going to be?

Twenty dollars. Do you have that on you?

Yes, ma 'am.

Let's leave that door. Thank you. Excuse me, please. Excuse me.

Please keep it down.

Hello,

young man.

Hi.

Please.

So you're Joseph Rossi? Joe, yes, sir.

You in college?

No, I quit.

You work?

Well, I'm working on a novel.

And you're 22 years old?

Yes, sir.

How'd you come to pick this clinic?

My friend told me about it.

One of my patients? Who's that?

Carl. Carl Woodward.

I see.

Excuse me, doctor. We've got some trouble out here.

Just a minute.

and she won't give me credit for $20.

Now, you know the rules.

If you've got the cash, I examine and treat you. Next week. I can bring it in

next week. Next week? You think I'm going to continue seeing you after the

you just treated Eileen?

Will you not cut me off?

It looks to me like you've lost all the weight you wanted.

There's no reason for me to treat you anymore.

Thank you, Doctor.

Everything okay?

Oh, yes. Just one of the hazards of running a clinic.

What can I do for you?

I'd like to lose a little weight.

You look in pretty good shape to me.

Well, not a whole lot, just five pounds or so.

My advice to you is to exercise and eat sensibly.

Right, I will.

But can't you give me some pills or something to take it off faster?

I think the best route for you is to stay away from the junk food and get

of exercise.

Well, thank you, Doctor.

You're welcome, sir.

May I send him the next patient, Doctor? All right.

But try to screen him a little more carefully from now on.

Wait a minute. Let me get... You tried to pass yourself off as a high school

student? No. No.

College.

Besides, I got asked for my ID a lot.

White wine?

Scratch rocks.

Don't you want to see his ID?

All right.

You cut school.

You went to see that doctor and you came up empty.

Why don't you try it from another angle? Don't you know a guy with state

narcotics? McElroy? Yeah.

He hasn't been much help since he got busted for possession.

Did you talk to any of the kids?

I talked to them. I don't think they heard me. That doctor's got some very

satisfied customers.

I just don't know. That guy is there.

I know what he's doing. I can't touch him.

You can't touch him, you can't touch him.

There's only so much a man can do.

What else you working on?

Oh, please don't, huh?

No, it's not such a big deal.

You have a guy making 200 grand a year pushing pills to kids. You have kids

running around finding their brains out. He's already killed one girl, and there

are probably 50 more behind her.

You can't touch him. You can't touch him.

What are you working on, Billy?

Oh, that was really low.

Hi, Peter.

Came over as fast as I could. Hi.

You eating?

No, just this.

Is that fresh wheat and orange juice?

No.

Good. Another one of these please.

You guys have one?

I want to talk to you about Bonham.

All I can think about is Maureen and how I'm going to get Bonham for this.

Look, Peter, it's not my plate to give you advice, but...

You could make things a lot worse by getting yourself in trouble.

Oh, it's already done.

What did you do?

You said on the phone you wanted to nail him, right?

Yeah, him and the others.

Well, I got you some stuff.

These real records, too.

Don't tell me how you got them. I'm not afraid.

Not now.

No, no, no. It'll really screw things up if you tell me. I can't know.

Oh, okay.

You want them?

Could be useful.

You've got to write about it, though. I promise you'll use this stuff to get

him.

I will do my best, Peter.

Thank you.

Okay.

You've got to do it.

I mean it. I will. So long.

You mean you've got the doctor's private records?

Yeah, there's a ton of evidence.

Well, tell me how you got it. Right.

No, no, I mean it. I can't know.

Of course.

It's pretty scary stuff, huh?

Dexedram, what's that, speed?

Yeah, speed.

It'll put you in the Daytona 500 without a car. It's one of the newer

amphetamines. Hmm.

Oratrines, are they new, too? No, no, they've been around forever. The Model

of downers.

Dependable, affordable, and they take you wherever you want to go, very

Mix them with liquor, you can bring your life to an abrupt halt.

That's what the girl was doing.

Uh -huh.

Can you imagine a guy who goes through college, medical school, internship,

residency, starts up a practice and then uses it like this? How many years is

that? It's got to be 11.

Now, you're someone with training and knowledge to help people, to cure

and he's pandering to their weaknesses.

A guy like this is worse than a street pusher.

Does that mean I have your blessing?

I would love to see us put this guy out of action.

Page looks good, Jerry.

How come only half your staff is doing all the writing? What happened to the

other three?

Oh, they're our investigative team.

Your investigative team? It's what they want to do. You know, Woodward,

Bernstein. I have the feeling it's more like Hoffman and Redford. Oh, yeah.

It's a real drain on our manpower.

But if what they're working on pans out, it's going to be an incredible follow

-up to a story we've got like... Whoa, whoa.

What? Jerry, what is this?

Oh, that's a story on graffiti on bathroom walls in the city schools.

We can't print this.

Oh, sure we can.

I gave it a lot of thought before I decided to go with it.

It's a list of obscenities.

This one's new to me.

And that was in the girls' bathroom, too.

We've broken it all down. Some political, most of it sexual.

It is all hysterical. It's all very good.

Of course, you'll never be able to run it.

I feel it's a very worthwhile story.

Now, Mr. Hume said he'd give us a free hand.

Look, I appreciate your opinion, but we're going to go through with it. Okay.

Oh, Lou, would you like to read the lead story for the youth page?

Forget it. Lou, Mr. Hume said... I don't care what Mr. Hume said. We are not

going to print this. Wait.

Second, Lou, I made a promise to these kids. Read it, Charlie.

I trust their instincts and the news judgment.

Read it, Charlie. Don't forget what we brought these kids in for. New blood,

pap, a little zip.

You know Mr. Hume better than I do. Is that a yes or a no?

I think that's a rewrite.

No way.

Those words were on the wall, and the First Amendment gives us the freedom to

print those words.

There's a difference between freedom and license.

I don't think it's license to want to give your readers a dose of reality.

Shake them up.

We aren't going to shake them up if they stop reading.

Jerry, you're a natural, isn't it?

You've got to learn to pick your fights.

From where I sit, this story isn't worth it.

Wait for the real problem.

Luke, believe me, there are enough of them.

I just checked with the legal. I got a feeling this guy Krasner's going to try

and screw up my story.

Oh, easy, Rossi. Walter Krasner's one of the more reasonable guys in legal. He

probably just wants to ask you a few questions.

I can't tell him where I've got this stuff.

You won't expect you to.

His questions are probably just to ease Mrs.

Pinchon's mind about getting the trib into legal difficulties. Sure.

Now, let's just take a hypothetical case.

Let's say that one of our reporters has in his or her possession some valuable

information which he or she has reason to believe was obtained illegally.

Ideally, of course, this reporter would have checked with the legal department

before doing anything like this. Now, you just hold it. A very weird kid is

handing me a bag full of dynamite evidence, and I'm supposed to say to

excuse me a second, I've got to call my lawyer?

Rossi, relax.

Maybe we should all wear little beepers hooked up to his office.

Take it easy. We're trying to work something out.

Okay.

Let's say the reporter's already got the records.

But he doesn't, nor she.

I am just trying to keep it hypothetical.

Go ahead.

He, she, or it doesn't know for sure they were stolen. But if you

find out they have been stolen, then the trip is an accessory. After the fact,

yes.

Breaking the law for a story.

No. Only if they can prove we knew they were stolen.

But that's the only way the source could have obtained them.

Probably. So you see, we are talking about breaking the law.

Mr. Grant, in order to get a story, would you run a red light?

If that were the only way, sure I would.

Would you trespass?

I can think of times I would.

I have in the past.

I don't think I would anymore.

Mr. Grant, would you kill for a story?

Of course not, Mrs. Pinchon.

Oh, so we newspaper people are only above some laws.

I'm not saying we're above any law. If I get caught trespassing or running a

light, I would expect to pay the fine.

Well, I should hope so.

Listen, we've got a chance to put a pill -pushing doctor out of action.

Besides, what about the Pentagon Papers? They were stolen, weren't they?

But that was a matter of national importance. I don't think this case is

comparable.

Oh, oh, so stealing's okay if the stakes are high enough.

I don't enjoy losing these hypothetical arguments, Mr. Grant.

Listen, can we deal in real life for a second?

Mr. Rossi came into possession of certain documents.

I didn't hear that.

This hypothetical guy has handed an envelope full of hypothetical documents

which we are 99 % certain are stolen. Is he going to jail or is he not?

Well, there are a couple of ways to answer that. Pick one.

Did he get his fingerprints all over them?

Ask him. He's right there.

Did you?

No.

No, I used gloves when I made copies of everything.

All right.

Mail the originals back to the doctor right away, but don't use the Tribune's

envelopes and don't use our postage meter.

Walter, we still don't have an answer to Lou's question.

If you go with this story, you can expect some intense heat from the DA's

office. Investigating the burglary and demanding to know where you got that

material.

We could run her without a byline.

Make it tougher for them to trace it to Rossi.

What? No byline? Are you kidding? This is a great story!

Dummy up. You could end up in jail over this.

How about just my initials? You know, just J -R lowercase.

Okay, fine. Do whatever you have to do.

If we go with this, we're in for severe legal problems. Severe and costly.

And we risk the Tribune's reputation.

Is it worth it, Mr. Grant?

Yes.

Mr. Rossi? Yes.

Mr. Hume?

Yes.

Mr. Krasner?

Well, it's not my place, of course, to offer editorial opinion, but I... You're

quite right, Mr.

Krasner. Thank you.

Gentlemen, run.

Your story.

Come in.

You Grant?

That's right. I'm Arthur Locatelli from the DA's office.

I think you know why I'm here.

No idea.

We're investigating the theft of medical records in the possession of Dr. Arnold

Bonham. We have reason to believe your paper is involved.

Why?

The article in Monday's Trib made reference to certain information

the missing documents.

I see.

You've probably gotten quite a response from the public on those stories.

You're right.

A lot of people are wondering why that doctor hasn't been prosecuted.

You know, they've been asking us the same question.

But you see, Mr. Grant, when we go after someone, we have to proceed in a legal

manner. We can't steal Dr. Bonham's private papers and then use them against

Stolen evidence is inadmissible.

You're not accusing the Trib of the theft of Bonham's records.

How did you get them?

I don't know.

Which reporter wrote the story?

It wasn't credited.

Uh -huh.

But listen, even if I told you who wrote it, you're not going to be any further

along because around here reporters protect their sources.

Coffee? No.

Let me give you some deep background on this, Mr. Grant.

The DA is taking a personal interest in this case.

He feels the Trib has put law enforcement in an embarrassing light.

He would love to see the thief of those records brought to justice, especially

if it reminds journalists that the laws against stealing apply to them, too.

We're not going to change our position.

You know the narcs have been working very hard to get this doctor.

They'll be looking for your source, too.

We can't tell them either.

Okay. See you in court, Mr. Grant.

Seems like a terrible waste of the taxpayers' money.

Save it for the editorial page.

They'll be hearing from you.

What makes you think the burglar's in here?

A suspicious -looking young man came in here a couple of days before the break

-in.

Next thing I know, the Trib is slandering me.

I'd say the odds are pretty good that that man was from the trip, wouldn't

Well, I'd say we're a reporter and photographer with a police press card.

take your time.

Excuse me, Doctor.

Getting pretty crowded out here.

Ask them to wait, please, Eileen.

Look, I can go back another time.

You don't have to. There he is. Big as life.

You sure?

Yeah. Joe Rossi. Same name he used when he came in here.

How stupid did he think I was?

Good morning, Mr. Grant.

I've got a feeling this is not an invitation to a dance.

This happens to be a search warrant allowing us to search the desk of Joe

for material relevant to the investigation of the burglar of Dr.

office. I think this stinks.

I don't care if you have a warrant or not. I don't think the police have any

right to enter a newspaper office, go through a reporter's desk, and

privileged information.

You know and I know that we're doing this in keeping with the recent decision

the Supreme Court.

What's going on?

Search warrant, that's what's going on. Oh, yeah, well, I want it on the record

that this newspaper objects to this search as a violation of our rights. The

Constitution explicitly protects freedom of the press. I'm afraid it's all in

order. Now, which one is Mr. Rossby's desk?

Go to hell.

Charlie, we don't have a choice.

It's over here.

I don't believe this is happening.

I need a key for that.

Good luck.

Nobody here has the key.

That's private.

Rock, open it up.

I'm pretty sure he's got a permit for those.

What the hell's going on here? Take it easy, Rossi. They have a search warrant.

It's my desk. They can't do that.

I guess they can.

You're not going to find anything in there. Are you Joseph Rossi? You're damn

right I am. Now, what do you think you're doing? Mr. Rossi, we want to ask

few questions.

Excuse me. Roger, come along with us, please.

Are you arresting Mr. Rossi? No, we just want to ask him a few questions. I

think you better arrest him, then.

Well, what are you doing?

Until you're arrested, they don't have to let you have an attorney.

And they don't have to tell you what they're thinking of charging you with.

Isn't that right, Walt?

That's right, I'm afraid.

Okay. Arrest him. All right, Joseph Rossi, you're under arrest as a suspect

the theft of property belonging to Dr.

Arnold Bonham. You have a right to remain silent. If you give up the right

remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you on the court of

law. You have the right to speak with an attorney. You have the right to have

him present during questioning.

Still shaking.

I can imagine how Rossy feels.

You think he'll hold up okay?

Poor guy.

I feel kind of sorry for him.

Are you kidding?

You come out of this a hero.

If we're not careful, before long we'll be seeing his face on T -shirts.

Free the Italian ones.

Hi, Billy.

All right. Hi, guys.

I hear it was kind of heavy in the city room today. It's too bad you guys missed

it. There's a chapter out of your journalism and the law textbook.

Who thought the excitement was in the newsroom? I mean, we've been out of the

office practically the whole time.

What are you working on?

We're part of the investigative team.

What are you investigating?

What should we tell you?

Better not.

I see you've been hanging out a lot with Animal, huh?

Yeah. You two know the dressing right is only half the job.

Hey, we better go.

Why don't you sit down and join us? No, we have to relieve the other guys. We're

tailing some kids.

Go get them.

Yes.

They're on the way up.

Thank you, Tim.

Good night now.

Yes, I'm speaking on the record.

The arrest won't stick because Rossi didn't do it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw the kind of play you gave it on the 7 o 'clock news, and

I'm hoping you'll be just as enthusiastic with the story of his

Here we are.

Rocky, how are you?

Please, sit down.

Listen, I gotta go now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll let you know when he's released.

But get it straight, will you?

They won't get it straight.

You okay?

Yeah, I'm fine. Would you care for a sandwich?

Oh, you bet I would.

I ordered some of that orange soda pop.

Thank you.

Didn't they feed you?

Oh, yeah, they served us dinner.

I just didn't feel like eating much.

They treat you okay?

Fine, fine. They treated us just fine.

I mean, there was nothing to complain about.

Just that feeling of someone else being in control.

You know, you're in a locked room and a stranger has the key.

I mean, I knew I was getting out. I knew I wouldn't even have to spend the night

in there, but...

When that door closed and that guard walked away, I felt... panic.

I think we'd better talk about the next step.

We're all probably exhausted tonight. There's plenty of time to talk about it

tomorrow.

Um, what next step? You mean there's more?

Well, hypothetically speaking, if I were prosecuting this case, I'd grant you

immunity. Well, I'm for that.

I'm not so sure you are.

Once you're immune from prosecution, then they take a sworn statement, asking

you who your source is.

Well, I can't tell them that, so that's the end of it. Oh, no.

Because they'll repeat the question in front of the grand jury, and this time

when you don't answer it, they'll cite you for contempt.

Can they make it stick?

That's up to the judge.

Meanwhile, we are appealing, and you are back in jail.

How long is meanwhile?

It all depends.

If the judge wants to make an example of the trip, it can be indefinite.

When Rossi decides to speak, Rossi can get out.

I don't have any choice. I can't redo my source.

I guess that means jail again.

And I can assure you, Mr. Rossi, we'll do everything in our power to see to it

that you don't have to spend another day behind bars.

Hey, how you doing?

Fine. So, really, how are you?

I'll tell you, Lou, I hate it.

But it's not as bad as I thought it would be. And I feel that my being here

isn't just a waste of time. It serves a purpose.

Well, sure it does.

Besides, the guys in here are all right.

I've already got offers from two armed robbers, a forger, and a wino to co

-author their memoirs.

Hey, a lot of people out there really respect what you're doing.

Yeah, I'm getting all kinds of letters, and the Trib's coverage has been great.

I just have one criticism.

You know when they keep calling me that feisty little reporter?

Yeah. Can we lose the little?

Yeah, yeah, sure.

I just want you to know that we're doing everything we can to get you out of

here as soon as possible. Krasner's working on nothing else. Mrs. Spincott

very concerned.

I know. Tell her I appreciate the basket of fruit you tried to send. Nothing got

through but the note.

They don't let anything in here.

I'm glad you told me. I'll have to cancel the tropical fish.

You know, Lou, something's really bothering me. I get a chance to read the

papers very closely now. I haven't read anything about Dr. Bonham getting

arrested.

He hasn't been.

He's still pushing his pills.

Well, I guess I'll go to lunch.

Remember, you have to change for the Carter speech tonight at Century Plaza.

They're still checking on that. The last word is he's going straight back to

Washington. If you don't do that, we want you covering the martial arts

at the Olympic.

Lou, how do I dress to cover either a presidential dinner or a karate

I don't know.

Maybe a cocktail dress with a black belt?

Did we get any news on Rossi's appeal?

Nothing. They've been down there all morning. You'd think we'd have heard by

now. It can't be very much longer.

Why don't you go grab some lunch?

I'm not hungry. I'll just stick around here.

We could give you a call as soon as we get the word.

Krasner just called.

I wanted to tell you personally, Mr. Rossi's appeal has been denied.

Lou Grant.

Yeah, the appeal's been denied.

Well, it's hard to say how long.

Who is this?

I'm his boss.

What kind of friend?

Hold it right there, son.

Where are you?

Right across the street is McKenna's. You see it?

Okay, I'll be over there right away.

Right away?

Okay, okay. Goodbye.

Look, Grant, we're better off if I don't know your name, all right?

I know.

So you don't have to tell the cops who I am.

How much longer is Rossi going to be in jail?

Hard to tell.

They're going to keep him there until he reveals his source.

Could be weeks, could be months.

Oh. Well, how about the person who stole the stuff from Bonham? If he turned

himself in... Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Listen, I am not an uninvolved party in this. It would be wrong of me to advise

you. Very wrong.

You need the help of a lawyer.

Whatever decision you make has got to be your own.

Well, I've got to do something. Look what Rothie's doing.

Rothie made a promise to his source.

I'm sure he knows.

His source respects him for keeping it.

Why did you tell us about it?

We talked about it. But with all the censorship trouble, we decided it really

wasn't worth running the risk of having it killed.

What do you think of it?

It's the perfect companion piece to Rossi's stuff on Bonham. It can't have

a coincidence.

No, no.

We wanted to try a different approach to the same story.

Now, Rossi's got the connections and the experience, and we knew we couldn't

touch him there.

But what we have over him is manpower. So we walked our socks off for two

We followed the patients coming out of Bonham's office. Almost every one of

went right to a pharmacy.

And of the 260 kids that we followed, 246 of them went to the same three

Meaning they were tied in with Bonham. Drugists are obliged to report any

doctors who are prescribing abnormal amounts of dangerous drugs.

We asked Mr. Driscoll to check with the state pharmacy board, and none of the

three had.

Did I tell everybody they'd come through? I knew they had.

Let's not forget who their advisor is.

What's the matter, Billy? Hey, you guys, Ross is being sprung.

Hey! You didn't have to turn yourself in, you know.

Yeah, I did.

Is anybody giving you any idea what's going to happen to you?

I don't know. My lawyer thinks I'll probably get probation.

I have a personal stake in this, but I think what you did was terrific.

Thank you.

If you're still here in a couple of days, I'll come see you.

Great.

There are about 20 of your friends from the media waiting to ask you some

questions. Oh, no.

Lou, can we go out the back way? I don't want to make a statement. I just want

to go home and pet my dog.

Rossi, what about the public's right to know?

Yeah, I know. If I were covering me, I'd be furious. But please, Lou.

Okay. I guess you earned it.

If somebody spots you, don't expect me to run interference.

You're going to have to talk to them. It's a deal.

with me.

I'm free.

You know what I want? What?

A bath and a bathtub.

You got it. And to walk through the produce section of the supermarket and

all the wet vegetables.

Okay. And a tennis partner who doesn't cheat.

Why not ask for world peace or winning season for Tampa Bay?

I'm telling you, Lou, I feel so good right now, nothing is impossible.

I mean, we gave him the slip.

Yeah, you'd think at least a couple of them would know I tried to duck out the

back way.

You're lucky they didn't.

What the hell? I'll give him five minutes.