Original subtitles

Smith.

Okay, thanks.

Got the warrant.

What the hell is that?

Teresa!

Teresa!

I'm not.

I'm not.

Come on, just cut a big one.

Hi, what's your name?

Sean Dornan.

Sean, do you know where you are? Yeah, Los Angeles.

I can't believe it happened.

Do you know what day it is? Yeah, it's Thursday.

It's a nasty cut on your chin, Sean.

I didn't even feel it.

Anybody get hurt?

My partner's checking now. Here, keep some pressure on that until I get back,

okay? Yeah.

Driver's DOA, I'm checking the passenger.

Where's that engine come from?

Should be here any minute.

Randy?

Someone's alive in here.

How's he doing?

I don't know anything yet.

Except he's gonna wake up and off.

Was he about seven?

Yeah.

Same age as my boy Willie.

Well, his grandmother's coming in from Indiana.

Bad weather kept her clean on the ground.

Teresa, I'm going to need to talk to you about the accident.

Things aren't quite as simple as we thought.

Should we go talk in the hall?

I'd rather stay here if you don't mind.

I just don't want him to wake up alone.

I just don't want him to wake up alone.

What? A neck model. A neck model?

Yeah.

Oh, God, you know, sometimes people in coma, they can sort of hear what's going

on.

I'm sure that's such a good thing.

It's good for him to hear laughter.

John Dornan, the trucker, tested positive for methamphetamine.

Is it in the report? Yeah, it's in the report.

A DUI with two fatalities, he's looking at murder one.

Well, that's why this case gets dropped off on your desk.

Yeah, he says it wasn't his fault.

Yeah, he says that the guy cut him off.

jammed on his brakes, and that's why he lost control of his rig. Anyone

interested to corroborate that? In the report.

I have an 18 -wheeler on speed.

Well, that's what happens these days. They deregulated the shipping rates, so

these guys got to drive two or three shifts straight through just to make

meet for their family. Mr. Dornan can make his own excuses, Ray. So who was

first on the scene?

I'm Maddox. That's Reese and Randy.

Oh, yeah.

By the way, there's this claims adjuster from the insurance company. She wants

to shadow the investigation.

You can make her go away if you want.

Claims adjuster.

Excuse me.

I'll call you back.

Bobby Smith.

Hello, Vicki.

When did you move from fraud to homicide?

About three years ago.

It seems to suit you. You look good.

Thanks.

You too.

Yeah?

Yeah.

You know, I always thought you'd call.

Well, you said you were involved.

And you could have called me. I considered it.

Except you told me it never makes business a pleasure.

Yeah, so I guess we're back to square one.

Except I'm no longer involved.

Oh. Oh.

Maybe...

We should take care of this business.

All right.

This is my partner, Joel Stevens, Vicky Pineda, Garamond

Casualty Insurance.

How are you? How are you doing?

I'm going to go to the hospital, talk to Teresa, see what's going on with this

truck driver.

Okay, cool.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

So, same deal as before?

You run the show, I get a front row seat and fill in where I can.

Works for me.

Great. Okay.

No, thanks. That's all I need.

The fifth person I've talked to, and they all say that Sean Dornan is a stand

-up guy.

We don't let him hire just anybody to drive his trucks.

Bobby, as a friend and a risk assessment professional,

I suggest that you not light up.

And if I ignore your advice?

Then I'll join you.

So what are you still doing investigating insurance claims?

Because when we worked that phony home invasion, you were pretty disillusioned

with the job.

With the company, not the job.

And I didn't want to start at the bottom of a new field. I'm good at what I do.

I like the puzzle.

So I guess I just figured a way to make it work for me.

Hey. Hey.

Talked to Teresa?

Yeah, I did.

Anything confirm that trucker's story?

Well, she said she remembered a small four -door car, maybe ten years old,

stopped on the shoulder just past the accident scene, said it looked like it

might have been rear -ended.

Did she get up late?

No, she said it took off too quick. It was faded green with a red left rear

door.

It's not a lot to go on. No, it isn't.

Listen, guys, I need to get back to the office.

Keep me posted, okay?

You know I will.

Good to see you again, Bobby.

Good to see you.

Bright lady.

Seems like you two might have worked on more than a case together.

Yeah, we kind of danced around each other.

The timing wasn't quite right for either of us.

And what about now?

Now we get to find this vehicle.

Okay.

I'll have communications put out an info -only broadcast.

You know, if these guys really did cause this accident and they're smart, they'd

ditch the car.

Yeah, you're right.

How many wrecking yards do you think they got in L .A.?

Better start making phone calls.

Doctor says I can't keep breathing this stuff.

I gotta sell the business.

Go with the air is better, but nobody will give me a fair price. What about

car?

Well, it was right here.

You know about that? I saw it just after lunch. Hell yeah!

Hey, Fred!

Where's that green and red job you put here this morning?

You mean that one?

Come

on,

come on, man.

The guy buys the Accord from you last week, then he sells it back to you as

this morning.

You didn't think to mention that to us earlier?

I was out sick with this cop all last week.

One of my guys handled the sale.

Neither of you have a lozenge.

I'm thinking this accident was no accident.

We think the driver of the vehicle may have been looking to get into an

accident. LA should be proud. It's the insurance fraud capital of the world.

Yeah, we're talking about a really small car up against a semi.

This guy must have had some stones.

Well, they pay these guys to lure well -insured target vehicles into accidents.

Happens all the time.

They got these fraudulent rings running 24 -7.

Costs up to millions.

Why do you guys pay if you know the claims are fake?

Cheaper to settle most claims than to fight them.

I guess so, because you can always send the cost back to the customer.

I'm not trying to justify it. I just want to let you guys know how the system

works. Now, the guys at the top, the lawyers, the doctors who are helping

running these scams... They're making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year,

too.

And there's almost no risk.

Yeah.

Unless you happen to be one of the guys who drives the car.

$300, $400.

Ruben, my man.

This must be the car guy.

These are a noble name. I like it. I like your friend's name.

Sammy, two Guatemalan coolers. You guys might appreciate a little taste of home.

Actually, I'm Mexican and he's Ecuadorian.

That's the beauty. This is the nation of immigrants, my friend.

Step into my office over here. Come on.

Sit down, Caesar.

Top of squat.

Back to crack.

Okay, what color car are you driving?

It's green.

It's green.

Okay, green it is.

You guys are in the green machine, and over here, a big fat town south grocery

truck.

You with me?

Okay, so it's simple, simple.

You're going along. You're going along. You're going along. All of a sudden, you

cut in front of them.

He'll back off. You back off. You slow down.

Mess with them. Piss them off. Wind them up.

And all of a sudden, you just slam on your brakes.

Wham!

Whiplash. Dios mio, that hurts.

You pull over. You exchange information. Then you go out and get breakfast and

wait for my call.

Four -seater, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So you find two more guys. Remember, more next to my car means more money in

your pockets.

Problem? No, it's okay.

It's okay.

These are my friends.

I've been doing this forever.

Nobody gets hurt, and we get these big companies, big companies, to share some

of their ill -gotten gains.

Like Robin Hood and his merry men.

Drink up, amigos.

Everything's going to be fine. No problema.

That's the one, Cal -Cal Grocery.

The big damn truck.

Yeah, big insurance.

All right, here we go.

It's okay.

It's okay.

It's good.

Here we go.

Caesar? We're looking for Caesar.

Are you Caesar?

Yeah. Detective Stevens, my partner, Detective Smith.

Guy named Mack Vosell told us you sold a car for scrap earlier today.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Oh, well, he owns the wrecking yard where you buy your parts.

Gave us a couple of receipts with your signature.

So what?

What happened to your face, Caesar?

Looks like you might have had an accident.

Ah, ah, ah, come on, Cesar, not a big deal.

You know we got you.

We have a witness who ID'd the car in an accident over on Don Castle.

You want to talk to us here or you want to come down to the station?

Hey, well, you're supposed to be a fender bender, okay?

But then you just got messed up.

Oh, man.

You're real.

We were going to fill out some papers for the insurance.

And these guys are going to pay us $400 for this guy.

I don't know his name.

What did this guy say he was going to do to you if you gave him up?

I don't know.

You don't know if he threatened you?

You just don't get it.

I worked my ass off, and I still don't make enough.

You know, my kids get sick, I have to choose between the rent or the doctor.

Cesar, there is a seven -year -old boy in the hospital right now. And when he

wakes up, he's going to find out that he doesn't have a mother or father. And

guess what?

That's on you. Yeah, that's on you and this guy.

What's

his

name?

I don't know his own name.

They just call him Hugo.

Hugo.

What the hell's going on?

The driver messed up, man. He went crazy and lost control. I think somebody got

killed. We had to get the hell out of there. Why?

When you came here, why?

Well, I didn't know what you wanted us to do. I'm sure Sel didn't want you

coming to my house.

Get out of here and get rid of the car.

What do you mean get rid of it? Where?

I don't know.

Your buddy Cesar found this heap. He can figure out a place to dump it.

What the hell happened to him? Nothing. He's all right.

Vamos.

That's why I tell you guys to wear seatbelts.

What about our money?

Get out of here.

Now go!

Boss.

Yeah, we, um, got ourselves a little problem.

You go.

You go.

I'm Detective Smith.

This is my partner, Detective Steven.

Mind if we sit?

Would it matter if I did?

Not really.

Pretty nice little old joint you got here, man.

All original, too.

None of that retro crap.

Check this.

Hawaiian spare ribs.

Same recipe since 1962.

I swear, it's like a poem.

A food poem.

What can I do for you?

We want to talk to you about a little incident.

We heard you had something to do with that big accident down on Doncaster.

Semi Jack Knight killed a couple of people.

Yeah, yeah, I saw that on the news.

Yeah, yeah.

Left their little boy in a coma.

Terrible.

It's a tragedy.

Hey, but I didn't have anything to do with it.

I was in bed asleep when it happened.

Now, there's a plausible scenario.

Man asleep in bed, Jack Knight semi on Doncaster Boulevard.

Car stopped short in front of the semi trying to get hit. It's called a

squat. You hired the driver of the car.

You're grasping at straws. We have a witness.

Witness to what? It never happened.

That's all I'm going to say.

Fine. Let's go.

What?

Well, we've been to your office. Now you come to ours.

No. No.

No.

No.

Excuse me, sir. Just step back and let them work.

You the driver here?

Yeah, that's my truck.

Got any ID? Is it true people are dead in there? I don't know, sir. The

paramedics are working on them now.

You have any ID?

Yeah. Could you remove your eyewear, please, sir?

Want to tell me how this happened?

Yeah, a guy got pulled out in front of me.

Damned on his brakes.

I hit mine and rear -ended him.

Trailer fish table.

Sir, I can't help but notice your pupils are rather dilated for the sunlight

here. Hey, I did not cause it, thanks. Have you been taking speed?

Oh, come on.

There's a bunch of grass. The guy pulled out in front of me. I hit his damn car.

That's that.

All right, sir. Let me ask you to step over here, sir, by the car.

You're going to have to go downtown, and you're going to have to give a

statement and a blood test.

Just calm down, sir.

Put your hands behind your back.

Good news.

DA's dropping the felony charges.

Still looking at his DUI, but...

You can go home now.

I've got a wife and four kids to support.

Well, you can't do that in here.

Come on, let's go. Look.

If I drive by the book, my family starves.

I've got to work double shifts and short turnarounds just to make ends meet.

That's what the meth was for.

I just can't work those kind of hours without it. I don't recommend using that

defense in court. Come on, I've got to sign you out.

My wife's going to walk out.

She's going to take the kid. She's going to leave.

I don't know what I'm going to do.

What am I going to do?

Well, you're going to do whatever you got to do.

Look, Sean, you're not the first guy to ever get his marbles in a vice of

crossing an ethical line. My life is over. Your life is not over.

Right.

Listen, Sean.

Now, listen to me.

You may have been the victim of a crime.

What are you talking about?

The guy that cut you off.

He forced it to happen.

It was his setup.

Insurance?

Probably.

Come on, let's go.

Did they find these guys?

There's an investigation underway.

Mr. Dornan.

Right, got some papers here for you to sign.

You got a ride home?

Yeah, yeah, I'll call my wife. She'll probably come pick me up.

Okay, good. Well, this will enable you to get your rig out of impact.

Detective Smith?

Leonard Glassman. I represent Hugo Kingston.

Great. Well, I'll be with you in just a second there, Mr. Glassman. What is it

with you guys? I mean, you just suspended the Constitution and the rules

evidence? All right, sir, just wait back there. You don't have a case. My client

was in bed asleep at the time of the accident. Right back there, sir. Ah, for

crying out loud. Ray, Ray, Ray, did you escort Mr. Dornan to the front door?

Come on, Sean.

What was that all about?

He's talking about the guy that sent me off, isn't he?

Look, Sean, just call your wife.

Go home to your family.

Tell them you love them.

Just start putting this thing behind you.

Just start making it right, okay?

Are you going to do that?

Yeah, officer.

It's Ray.

The telephone's first left there.

Thanks Ray.

I'd rather stay here if you don't mind.

I just don't want him to wake up alone.

Sure.

How you doing? You alright?

Yeah.

Yeah.

We heard you had something to do with that big accident down on Doncaster.

my Jack Knight killed a couple of people.

Yeah, yeah. I saw that on the news.

Left their little boy in a coma.

Terrible.

It's tragic.

Wait a minute. You've got a co -conspirator who's willing to testify

Pinkston orchestrated the accident, offered him money to partake in it, told

where the target was and how to dispose of the car when he's finished.

Am I missing something? We want to charge the guy now. If you want to kill

snake, you've got to cut off the head. Yeah, I've heard that before. Look,

pretty convinced that Hugo is the capper. He hires the talent. He puts on

show. But these scams don't even work unless you've got crooked lawyers in

medical clinics processing these insurance claims. Look, guys, I didn't

fall off the turnip truck, okay? I know it goes to the top, but where's your

case? We looked into Hugo Pinkston's lawyer, Leonard Glassman.

He does some criminal work, but the bulk of his cases are accident and personal

injury. That's not a small coincidence.

So what are you saying? That Glassman is the head of the snake?

Yeah, that's a pretty good possibility. Yeah, well, that's not good enough. Why?

Because Glassman's going to claim that he didn't know the insurance cases were

bogus. There isn't a judge in the world who's going to let you go fishing

through someone's file if you don't have probable cause. And guess what? We

don't have probable cause.

Bird in the hand, guys.

You want Glassman, go after Hugo and then flip him.

As soon as we pick Hugo up, Glassman's going to destroy the evidence.

It's going to be Hugo's word against the lawyers.

Hugo's going to get a deal and his lawyers are going to get off on

doubt.

I've said this before.

It's an imperfect world.

That's it.

These guys get off the hook. Sorry about your parents, kid, but it's an

imperfect world.

Look, Joel. We're not asking you for that. I appreciate your moral

but if you don't have a case, let it go.

What that BDDA is going to do is give us a search warrant for this guy Hugo

Pinkston's house. So if we want to get to his lawyer, we're going to have to

find something there that incriminates him.

So what do we do? What's the smoking gun?

I'd look for paper. What kind of paper?

Accident reports, legal retainers, medical file.

Maybe a ledger. Wait a minute. These guys keep ledgers?

Sure. They track their cases.

So if we find the ledger, then we should... Then you've got your smoking

Case closed.

We'll leave you downstairs.

All right. Two minutes.

I feel like doing.

Maybe we can go to Catalina.

Oh, the weekend.

Very ambitious.

Yeah.

Take a little out.

Looks like he's home.

Yep.

Just got to wait on the morning.

How's it going with you and Vicky?

It's going.

You know, I woke up really early this morning, man. Took a long walk in the

park. You know, it's just one of those days where you just look at your life

you go, is this my life?

Is this all that there's ever going to be?

Look up. A couple of hours later, bam!

There's Vicky.

It's like someone answered your question.

An answer.

Maybe not.

But for the first time in a long time, at least, I'm open to it.

I mean, I don't know why.

You know, I look at your life sometimes.

You know, and I think, that's how it's supposed to be. Get yourself a sweet

wife. Have a great kid.

You know, become a part of the whole chain of being.

Yeah.

Chain of being.

It's poetic.

I guess it ain't all poetry, though, huh?

Smith.

Okay, thanks.

Got the warrant.

How you doing?

Well, I woke up this morning asking myself the same question as you.

Did you get an answer?

My boy Willie gave me a hug.

What the hell is that?

and what the hell happened?

He followed Hugo and his lawyer here.

Who got his truck out of impound and decided to administer some street

What the hell did you do that for? Why didn't you go home to your family?

We were going to nail the guy.

He had it coming.

You know it.

Get him the hell out of here. Let's go and watch your head.

Hey, look at this.

Son of a bitch.

He's shot.

Looks like he was dead long before this truck was out of M -Town.

So strange.

Entry wound right behind the head.

Yeah.

Tap to tap.

As far as we know, his lawyer is the last person to see him alive.

It wouldn't be too hard to get a third one.

Oh, beautiful.

The guy could rent an office on the ground floor.

What does he do when he wants to impress a client? Take him next door for a corn

dog?

You watch. We're going to be carrying files up and down those things all day.

What are you, saving for the third master?

Police, open up.

Please open the door, ma 'am, so we can talk.

What is it?

There is a search warrant. Go away!

I would love to, ma 'am, but you have my baton caught in the door.

Get out! I want to see a search warrant. Ma 'am, open the door, please. No! Get

out! Let me!

Let me!

Let me!

Get out!

Sir, open the door.

Step away from the shredder.

It's destroying evidence.

Step away. I'm complying. I'm complying.

All right, all right, all right, all right. Hands behind your back.

This is a violation of my civil rights. I want your name. I want your badge

number. Shut your mouth.

All right, in the car, ma 'am.

Hands to your head.

Ah, detectives. I see you're finding everything to your satisfaction.

Yeah, nice job, guys.

There's a couple of dumpsters over there. Might have some shredded papers,

documents. Why don't you guys check it out?

Maybe it's my history in Vista Heights. They figure I'm used to wallowing in

garbage. Yeah? Who's in the dumpster?

Just be careful for razor blades, used needles, radioactive waste, you know,

usual. I got your back.

Hey.

I got something.

Fearless!

Yeah?

What caliber gun was your suspect shot with?

380.

380.

I think it's been fired.

Too little, we can always throw it back.

Let's tag it back.

Nice job.

Very nice job.

Thank you.

Bobby.

When you told me you were going to take me someplace special, I was thinking

maybe Pago.

So you've never been here?

No. I think I would have remembered if I had.

Well, this is living history, because there aren't that many authentic tiki

left. And that's a bad thing?

Thank you.

I hear the Hawaiian spare ribs are to die for.

You're kidding, right?

You've never been here.

I thought I saw the bartender give you one of them looks.

Well, I've been known to turn a few heads, you know.

Some women are beautiful because God put them together just right.

And some are beautiful because of what's on the inside.

Smarts, humor, experience.

Baby, you got it all.

I think you've been listening to a little bit too much Barry White.

Let's go have a smoke.

I can't find my lighter.

I must have left it on my desk.

You got matches? Yeah.

You said you'd never been here before, but you had these matches yesterday at

the precinct.

Bobby, I, uh... I...

How

long have you known?

You're a strong woman, Vicki. You wouldn't spend three years in a dead

So I guess I just figured a way to make it work for me.

When we came here to question Hugo, I remembered your matches. Figured he

use someone like you to make this scam work.

Hmm?

I'm always picking up matchbooks. I don't even think about it.

That's what I've been saying all along, that we'd make a great team.

You're the boss.

The boss.

What?

Liam.

Got ourselves a little bit of a problem.

We're the insurance underwriter for Pacific Roadway. That is one of our

You're here already?

You must be a fast mover.

As soon as a driver calls in the accident, we're at the scene.

Especially when there are fatalities.

I wasn't working you, Bobby.

My feelings were real.

When I turned around and saw you, I almost ran.

I'll call you back.

You planted the gun in the dumpster.

You shot Hugo.

No.

I'd like to believe that.

I'm not the kind of guy who rules over on people.

I am nothing if not loyal. I can't take that chance, Hugo.

I bought you a ticket to Mexico City.

Mexico City?

Plane leaves in three hours.

I'm taking you to the airport.

Mexico City?

I don't see myself being happy in Mexico City.

Do you?

You're getting on that plane.

Oh, please.

What movie did you see that in?

Robbie, the company kept bringing in all these college kids.

Vicky, this is Jeff. He's going to be your new supervisor.

You mind showing him the ropes?

The message was loud and clear. You are a Hispanic woman with no college degree.

You ain't going any higher.

I started thinking to myself, if I want to get somewhere, I got to do it myself.

No one was supposed to get hurt.

And the money was so good.

This was the last time, Bobby.

I swear.

I

really

wish I'd gotten this one wrong.

What are you doing here?

Just taking care of a few things.

I thought you had a date with Vicky. What are you doing here?

Something I should have shared with you, partner, but I didn't. It wasn't you.

You sound pretty sure now. What is it?

Vicky's in processing.

She's the head of the snake.

I just don't want him to wake up alone.

I just don't want him to wake up alone.

Are you putting that in your story?

Not if you don't want me to.

It makes me sound like I'm gunning for sane time.

Everyone will identify.

No one likes to wake up alone.

Are there times I wish I was alone?

Lewis. Little.

About the insurance fraud story.

Listen, I want to hold off until the kid's back in Indiana.

A couple of days, at least.

Yeah, there's a snowstorm.

I know it's a heartfelt story.

That's why I want to hold off.

Two hours after we run it, the kid's going to be inundated with flowers and

teddy bears and get -well posters from local third -grade classes, and I think

what he really needs right now is to be alone with his family.

Tomorrow.

Sure.

Sorry, I didn't realize what time it was.

Yeah, go tuck your kids in.

We'll talk in the morning.

Okay. Good night.

Hey, what are you guys doing here?

I came to check up on Jamie and see how you were.

I'm okay. I'm just having a hard time keeping my eyes open, that's all.

Listen, if you want to go home, I'm happy to stay. I'm okay, thanks.

Well, maybe we can all stay.

The company.

That'd be nice.

Bye -bye.