Original subtitles

- Jack Lachman burned to death last night.

I didn't start those fires, okay?

- You think he's your guy?

- Definitely in the running.

- He burned women, and old people and kids,

and burned them like to ashes, man.

- Gotham City's counting on you, Batman.

- And don't throw threats at me.

See, that's not healthy.

- Better not upset him, Henry,

he might light you on fire.

- If I see you around again, I'm gonna blow your head off.

Film at 11:00.

- Works for me.

♪ Oh my God what time is it

♪ I've been up all night

♪ No appetite except for you

♪ It's been abused

♪ Torture of the sweetest kind

♪ Play the part of your fool

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning

♪ Every breath I take

♪ I feel like I'm gonna break

♪ I made another mistake

()

♪ Senseless devotion

♪ I carry a torch for you

♪ I wanna die in your arms

♪ I wanna tell you I love you

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning candles

♪ I'm burning candles

♪ For you

- Sorry I'm late.

- What happened to I'm going to stay in tonight

and rest and watch the game, McCall?

- Nothing.

I just had to go to the store and I met her.

I'm gonna give her a ride home.

Meet her in the produce section?

- Who won the game?

- Somebody won, somebody lost.

By my calculations I haven't even had a date

in last six weeks.

I was even desperate enough to try to get you on the phone

to see if you wanted to go to a movie paid for by me.

- Look, McCall, you're pressing here.

You're in a dry spell, relax, it'll all happen for you.

- The fourth suspected arsonist in the last two weeks.

Police at the scene have told us that the homicide division

has now been called in,

meaning that tonight's fire may have claimed

its first casualty in the series of fires.

Excuse me, officers, may I get a word?

- Jake Tibett, arson.

- Hunter and McCall, homicide.

I understand your firebug had some unexpected company.

Watch your step here.

- Well this guy didn't have a chance, did he?

Any marks on the body?

- No, he was too well done.

But if you're looking for bullets

you're gonna have to wait for the coroner

to come and take him apart.

Same M.O. as the last three fires?

- Varies a little depending on what Mr. Hibachi feels like.

They've all been abandoned buildings,

but judging from the scorch marks they keep on finding,

he's using a flame thrower.

- That's a pretty ugly weapon, isn't it?

- You wouldn't want to shake hands with it.

- Excuse me, officers, Matt Gold, Channel Three News...

- You're wasting your time, Mr. Gold,

we're just beginning this investigation now.

The department will hold a press conference when it's ready.

- You can't even tell us how many people died in there?

- You wanna shut that thing off?

- Cat.

Look guys, it's late, we've been out here a long time.

Could you give me something more than ash on my clothes?

I'm trying to do a piece here.

- Let me ask you something,

you guys cover a lot of fires with that thing?

They call me the king of flames.

I'll make you a deal, you guys help us out now,

and we'll give you first crack at the story

when we decide to break it.

- Deal.

That's the crowd stuff from fire number one.

- What are you after here, huh?

- Oh, a pattern is all.

- Fire number two.

Fire number three.

- Wait a minute, run that back for me.

That guy right there with the jacket on.

He was in the crowd of fire number two.

- And?

- Well, arsonists usually return

to the scene of the crime more likely than not.

- You think he's your guy?

- Definitely in the running.

- Let me see last night's file.

Hey, wait a minute.

Our groupie's back.

Always at the back of the crowd.

He can't seem to stay away, can he?

- Okay, listen, we're really rocking here, folks.

Cat, get me a blow up of this guy, right?

We throw it on the six o'clock with a:

have you seen this guy, we sit back

we wait till those lines light up.

- Why don't you just sit back and relax

and let us worry about the tactics, okay?

- I thought we were a team here.

- Well, we are a team and I'm the head coach.

I just hate to have you get fried

trying to get tape on this guy.

Now, can we get a copy of those tapes?

- Yeah, but I'll need approval from Matt.

No way, I have to protect my story.

Look, Matt, we know you have a reporter's right

to protect your information.

- You got that right.

- But this would really help us out.

- You need it, you got it.

Looks like maybe we're starting to get someplace.

- Some of us more than others.

What's that supposed to mean?

- Nothing.

Nothing.

You're lying.

- What?

- You are, I can always tell when you're lying,

you get that little sound in your voice.

- What in the hell are you talking about?

- See, there you go again, there it is?

Look, today we started out just fine

and now things are not so wonderful, so,

that means there's either one of two things wrong here.

- What might they be?

- One, you're upset because

I'm the one who got us the tapes,

or you just don't like Matt Gold.

- I don't like Matt Gold.

- Hunter, look, he's a nice guy.

He's being nice to me, okay?

You know what I'm saying?

- Look, McCall, maybe you're groping

for the first man that smiles at you

because you're on the rebound.

Will you give me a break?

♪ Come

♪ When I call

♪ Don't

♪ Run at all

♪ Die from your pain

♪ Just

♪ Live again

♪ Free

♪ My dead soul

♪ Don't

♪ Do what you're told

♪ Call

♪ Out my name

♪ Come

♪ Come, come

♪ I am the demon seed

♪ I'll set your senses free

♪ You need the demon seed

♪ I am the one you need

♪ Cry

♪ Day and night

♪ Keep

♪ Out of sight

♪ Break

♪ All the rules

♪ Don't

♪ Act like fools

♪ Beg

♪ On your knees

♪ Come

♪ And play with me

♪ Call

♪ Out my name

♪ Come

♪ Come, come

♪ I am the demon seed

♪ I'll set your senses free

♪ You need the demon seed

♪ I am the one you need

♪ Don't

♪ Follow light

♪ Dark

♪ Blinding bright

♪ Call

♪ Out my name

♪ Come

♪ Come, come

♪ I am the demon seed

♪ I'll set your sense free

566 there's a warehouse fire

at 7th and Sante Fe.

- There it is, empty building three days after the last one.

- Just like Matt said.

- Yeah.

Why don't you check the crowd before they lose interest,

I'll talk to arson.

Penny for your thought.

Hunter!

Hey, you, hold it!

Drop it, police.

Sorry, you'll have to leave now.

There'll be a departmental statement

as soon as we have some information.

- Oh you mean you're not the spokesman.

- Not the official spokesman.

- You know, that is a shame, you know,

'cause you certainly have the right look.

- Be that as it may, there's nothing...

- Ter-will-ijer.

- Terwilliger.

- Terwilliger!

Even the name has that feel to it, doesn't it?

- Yeah! - Huh?

Some guys got all the luck.

- What are you saying?

Well just that the public is getting so tired

of the same old PD PR faces

always rattling off the same lines.

They could use somebody different to look at,

somebody...

they can instinctively trust.

Cat, let's see what the light is on Mr. Terwillijer.

- Terwilliger, by the way.

- Terwilliger. - Yes.

I took a couple of communications arts courses

in night school...

- Oh, looks great.

- Thank you very much.

What questions do you want to ask?

- Well, this arson investigation

you homicide boys have jumped on to.

Mmm, no, nevermind.

What's the point, right?

We gotta go.

- Actually, actually I am conversant

in that particular jacket.

- This suspect you have up here on the hot seat,

has he been formally charged yet?

- Uh, there's some questioning being done, yes.

- Rumor about it being a deliberately set

insurance fire, is that true?

- With a flame thrower?

No way, no way in the world.

- And the only suspect you got is the one

that McCall and Hunter rounded up, right?

- Excuse me.

I wouldn't bring them into this.

Departmental black sheep.

Why drop a couple of flies

on the proverbial cake as it were.

What time do you guys go on the air, 5:00 or 6:00?

- Look, I didn't start those fires, okay?

Why are you doing this to me?

- Yeah, we know.

You say it's some guy called Donnie Warrick,

and it's his face that you're looking for

at the scene of the fires, right?

Why?

- I don't know.

Can I go, please?

- Why'd you run, Jack?

- I don't know.

- Now, listen to me, very carefully.

I'm only gonna ask you this one time

before I lock you away.

Why did you run?

- I saw Donnie's face.

- Where?

- Driving by.

It was him, I saw him but he didn't see me.

I know it was him.

We served together in Asia, you don't forget

who you were there with, man.

We were a secret recon squad, there were six of us.

We had orders to go over the border into this village

to gather information concerning enemy troup strength,

that was all, nothing else.

Nobody heard us coming, things were cool,

we had it, man.

But then...

Something went crazy.

What?

What went crazy?

He had a flame thrower, you see,

and as soon as we got this information he, uh,

he torched it, man!

He torched it.

He burned women, and old people and kids,

he burned them like to ashes, man.

He burned everything.

We thought he'd burn us if we tried to stop him.

- Did you report him to your commanding officer?

- No, Snoopy said we shouldn't.

- Who is he?

- Our group leader, man, his name was Gene Byrd,

he'd known Donnie since high school,

and he said that everything would be okay

and we shouldn't talk to anybody about it,

because we weren't supposed to be there in the first place,

you know, so if they found out about it

we'd all hang for it.

So you decided, all of you guys,

to protect Donnie because this guy Gene Byrd said so, right?

- Yeah.

He said he'd go back to San Diego with Donnie

after we all got home and make sure he's okay

and the whole thing would blow over.

- So Donnie was Gene's problem?

- Yeah.

Anyway, I started coming to these fires

'cause like I knew Donnie was here,

it's weird but I knew it, man.

- What made you think it was Donnie?

He likes to start fires, man, don't you get it?

Hey, what is this?

- What the hell are you doing, Gold?

Hey, freedom of the press, Hunter, all right?

It's the public's right to know.

You want a copy of the constitution

go look at the library.

- Oh, come on, Sergeant.

We're on assignment here, we're just trying to pay the rent.

Well get a part time job at the all-night market,

now let's have the tape.

- No way!

- You're on the premises of a police facility,

we have the right to examine and confiscate

anything you may have brought in here with you.

- Yeah, if you want a copy of the penal code,

get one on the way out.

Now let's have the tape.

- I could go over your head to get that tape back, Hunter.

- I am over his head, no you can't.

- Well if it's the tape you're worried about

we can fix that.

Try a two-parter.

- You can get a refund from the desk sergeant

for the cassette on your way out.

- That guy's got a lot of guts coming up here,

he doesn't know when to quit, does he?

- Well, he wouldn't be with the press

if he knew when to quit.

Now listen, I can only hold this guy in here

for so long on resisting arrest.

You two have got to get started on this right away.

Now where the hell is this Donnie Warrick?

Well the last known address is in San Diego.

Well what the hell are you standing

here for, get going.

- This spot's one of my real favorites.

I like to visit Donnie a lot.

I don't know, when you're here all the time

you get different feeling from all the different graves,

I just like the ones Donnie gives off.

- Did you ever run into any of Donnie's friends

who came to visit him?

- No, that's why I try to give him just a little extra time.

You know, clear the leaves off during the winter

and give him a little extra water during the summer.

I don't know, I just like to

pamper him a little bit.

- Never saw any family or friends come?

- Not a soul.

Seems real wrong, he was just a young guy.

- Well what about the funeral services

like this grave stone here,

somebody had to have bought that.

- Well, you know, it got to the point

where I finally asked about it myself

seeing as nobody ever showed up.

Front office told me that the stone was ordered by phone,

paid through the mail in cash,

and then nobody ever showed up.

Not even a priest the day they put him in.

And after they covered him up I went down there

and I talked to him for a little bit.

I just tried to tell him that,

this was his home and he was welcome here.

Does that sound sick?

- Listen, thanks a lot Judy,

we really appreciate your help.

- Is there something wrong?

Is that why the two of you came down here?

That's why nobody showed up at his funeral, isn't it?

- Well, if we find anything out we'll let you know, okay?

- You don't have to do that.

I mean, it's not gonna bring Donnie back,

whatever it is.

- Yeah.

You can't release Jack Lachman.

We let this guy slip through our fingers now,

we're making a big mistake.

Well I'll think about it, Hunter,

but I don't know how much longer

I can hold this guy on what I've got.

- Well, if we kick this guy loose right now

I'm back to square one.

- No you're not.

You still got your signed statement

from your caretaker in San Diego.

And you still got your crime buster instincts.

Come on, Gotham City's counting on you, Batman.

- Well.

Well, I just got off the phone with San Diego.

Apparently this Gene Byrd was so upset about Donnie

he decided to move to L.A. and just put it all behind him.

Take a wild guess what this guy does for a living?

Yeah, Donnie had trouble emotionally

from the day we met.

I always thought it was just a matter of time

before he hurt himself bad.

- Or killed himself?

- Jack said you were involved in a secret squad in Asia.

How secret?

- Invisible.

The government never acknowledged the mission.

That's why Donnie got off.

If they'd have locked him up,

they woulda had to admit that

it happened in the first place.

None of us ever said a thing about what happened that night,

but the army figured it out.

Is that why he's not buried in military cemetery?

- You got it.

- What about his childhood, anything about that?

- Real messed up.

He had a history of starting fires

ever since he was a little kid.

He told me that,

that was all behind him

when we got to know each other in high school.

You never know, huh?

- Yeah, well I guess you knew

when you saw that village, though, huh?

- Yes, we did.

- Coffee? - Yes, thank you.

- But I tell you, sergeant, a lot of us felt like

those people were the enemy,

no matter how you cut it.

Maybe Donnie did the right thing, maybe not.

It was war.

I thought at the time maybe he wasn't crazy,

I thought maybe he was a better soldier than me.

- Maybe you should've tried to get him some help.

- I did.

But Donnie wouldn't hear of it,

he thought he was as normal as you or me.

He swore on it.

- I wouldn't be a bit surprised

if that automobile accident wasn't a suicide.

- Head into a pole to blow himself up?

No way, man, it was an accident.

- Well whatever it was, at least we know now

that Jack couldn't have seen him.

- Uh, no ma'am.

In fact, I was the last one to see him.

I went down and ID'ed the body personally.

I handled the whole funeral myself.

- Really? - Yeah.

I bought the headstone and arranged for flowers

to be sent every other week.

Donnie wasn't just some casual acquaintance with me,

we were about as tight as it gets.

I go home, I visit his grave all the time.

- What a bunch of crap, huh?

- Well you know, it's possible he lied to us

about visiting the grave and everything

because he's ashamed he never did.

- Come on, would you lie to two cops about that?

- What about the fact he said he personally

went down to San Diego to order the headstone,

when we know for a fact it was ordered over the telephone?

Now this may be a little rash, but I think the guy is lying.

L26, please come on.

This is L26.

I got that info for you,

Jack Lachman was released about an hour ago,

Captain's orders.

♪ I feel like I'm gonna break

♪ I made another mistake

♪ Since this devotion

♪ I carry a torch for you

♪ I wanna die in your arms

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning burning candles

- I'm in my trailer watching TV

and all of a sudden I hear something like an explosion,

then I got one look out of my window

and I mean, I couldn't believe what I was looking at.

- And that's when you went to get the fire extinguisher,

you were telling us about before.

- Absolutely.

I've kept one ever since one night

I saw a trailer burn up on Pojack.

- But you were too late to save Mr. Lachman?

- Oh yes, that car was real bad.

I mean, those fire department boys

must've had a heavy dinner,

because they sure took their time.

- You know, I don't think your TV buddy

gives a damn what happened to Jack, you know that?

I think he runs strictly on ratings.

- Why don't you give him a break, huh?

He's not that bad.

He's not the enemy, you know.

- Not unless you make me mad.

Listen, we gotta take off,

I was just wondering how things were coming.

- Well, we got a burned body and someone's murdered her car,

other than that, everything's fine.

- Oh, look, Dee Dee, you know, I have a friend

in the car business,

I can arrange the whole thing for you,

I'll get you a real sweet deal.

- I can take care of it myself, really.

But thanks, anyway.

- Well you know, you change your mind,

you just say the word, okay?

- Okay.

- Let me know when my story breaks, huh.

Oh and we should do that dinner soon.

- Hey, look at this.

Here's Jack and here's Gene Byrd.

- So which one's Donnie?

- Right there, with the grin, what's this all about?

- Jack Lachman burned to death last night.

- What?

- You know, Gene, it's real tough for me to believe

you're not covering up for your old buddy, Donnie again.

Hey, what're you talking about?

You did it once, how do I know

you're not doing it again?

Covering up what?

- He's dead. - Yeah, we don't think so.

Jack saw him, remember?

Now there's flames all over the damn place.

- Hey, come on, this doesn't make sense.

If a guy's alive he's gotta be somewhere, right?

So where is he, why can't anybody find him?

Well, maybe you're covering up for him again,

like you did before.

You lied to us, Gene, and that's not good.

- Nobody showed up for Donnie's funeral.

Not you, not anybody.

Yeah, and nobody sends him flowers anymore.

Plus the headstone was ordered over the telephone,

followed up by an anonymous cash payment,

now how do you explain all that?

- Look, I tried to help you.

You don't have any right to come back in here

and start accusing me of anything, man.

It's history, Donnie's over.

He's dead.

- Are you sure?

- I think you'd better leave.

- I don't think you're gonna like it when I come back.

- Well, he's nervous enough to be involved.

- He's involved, all right, you can count on that.

- Then why don't we go back in

and take him downtown for questioning?

- Because all we have to work on so far

is circumstantial evidence,

we need something a lot stronger.

- Like what?

This is not one of your brighter ideas, Hunter.

- Just open the door.

- Your crime, sir.

- No, whoa.

Moral imperative in defense of the public good.

- Nobody's gonna buy that.

- Look, we're saving lives and property here.

We're preventing a bigger crime with a much smaller one.

Oh, a bigger with a smaller.

I see, what do you call that,

Hunter's law, right? - That's right, Hunter's law.

- Right.

- Seek.

- Zero. - Not quite, read that.

If you've got a flame thrower,

you got to feed it right?

Better killing through chemistry,

this place is right here in town.

Yeah, and here's the good part.

Unified Chemical Warehouse.

Dear customer, your order for chemicals has just arrived,

please claim as soon as possible.

Sincerely et cetera, et cetera, Unified Chemical Warehouse.

Postmark, day before yesterday.

Maybe we scared this guy so bad

he's gonna go to ground on us.

Nah, he'll show up, believe me.

- Here comes our boy.

Very weird.

- Yeah, tell me about it.

- Not only if he covering up,

he's helping to buy supplies for his friend.

- Two firebugs? - Heavy odds.

- Maybe there's only one firebug and it's Donnie.

Which means Gene Byrd never helped Donnie vanish

in the first place, Donnie did it himself.

- That means the body in that grave could be Gene Byrd's.

- Yeah.

It fits, he kills his own best friend,

assumes his identity.

It's the perfect cover.

- He's not going to any barbecue, let's go.

- What the heck's that?

I don't believe this guy, he's following us.

You know, you keep sticking your nose into police business,

I'm gonna break it for you.

- This story is public business, Hunter,

and don't throw threats at me.

See, that's not healthy.

Especially when I can go on the air at any time,

I can tell all my viewers about your illegal entry

into Gene Byrd's apartment.

I was down the block when that happened.

And I'll tell you something else,

if I'm in the mood, I might just mention

how you two always seem to manage to show up

just a little bit too late.

- Now roll this around in your fat, empty head, Gold.

There's a screwball out there trying to fry

half the people in this city,

now they want him caught and that's what I'm gonna do.

- Justice?

- That's exactly right.

Now do yourself a favor and stay away from me.

Because you and I aren't friends anymore.

And if I see you around again,

I'm gonna blow your head off.

Film at 11:00.

- We had a deal, Matt.

- Look, I know I haven't helped you guys out,

but it's not exactly my business to stay out of the way.

When we broke this case is was gonna be yours,

so what happened?

- The station needs footage, Dee Dee.

I make a living my way, you make one yours.

Look, I don't often say this, but I am sorry.

Come on, Dee Dee, I admit it, I'm human.

You know, if your partner's getting to be a real hard nose

and I don't feel like getting stonewalled

when this case cracks.

You know what I was thinking?

Maybe you and I should go have dinner,

the one we've been talking about,

just as a way of saying thank you

for getting Hunter off my case, huh?

It'd be my treat.

- Not hungry.

Right on time.

- You know, you're breaking about 500 laws

following them like this, Matt.

Look, we're getting paid to get film, let's do it.

♪ I've been up all night

♪ No appetite except for you

♪ Torture of the sweetest kind

♪ Play the part of your fool

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning

♪ I made another mistake

♪ Senseless devotion

♪ I carry a torch for you

♪ I wanna die in your arms

♪ I wanna tell you I love you

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning candles for you

♪ I'm burning candles

- Okay stop here, let's see where he's going.

I'm gonna take off and get this.

- Matt!

- You stick with Hunter.

- What in the hell are you doing here?

Matt, he wanted to find out what was going on.

- Where is he?

Help, I can't get out!

Help, I can't get out, help, somebody, help!

- Nice going, Matt.

- You have the right to remain silent.

If you give up the right to remain silent

anything you say can and will be used against you

in a court of law.

- Read the rest of them in the car on the way Downtown.

I'm on to your secret, stand up.

I ain't got no secrets.

Hey, what's with the cuffs, man?

- Hey, calm down, Donnie.

- I'm not Donnie, you're talking my best friend.

I'm not gonna let you trash him over some stupid theory.

- You want to talk about theory?

You know when I saw your squad picture of Vietnam,

you know what hit me right between the eyes?

How much you and Gene look like brothers, Donnie.

- The name's Gene, damn it.

- You guys got the same build, the same height,

the same coloring, I bet you were mistaken

for each other all the time, right?

- You're gonna hold me in jail just because we look alike?

No, you're under arrest for suspicion of arson,

suspicion of first degree murder,

and suspicion of second degree murder,

no matter what you look like, now come on.

I want to talk to a lawyer, I got the right.

Yeah, you'll call him Downtown,

but listen to my theory first.

So you see, it doesn't make a difference who burned up

in that car fire 15 years ago,

the one who lived could assume the other one's identity.

Might have pulled it off too

if he'd played his cards right, right McCall?

- Yeah.

With burns covering 99% of his body, it'd be easy,

it'd be a simple way to assume a new identity,

especially if you burnt down the village.

- Except for one problem...

- Right, it's bull.

- So aren't you curious to know how you blew it?

X-rays.

You see, we went and talked to Gene Byrd's pediatrician

yesterday and he was very helpful, wasn't he McCall?

- Yeah, he told us that when Gene was a kid

he broke his right leg playing pop warner football,

now he sent me the x-ray.

I bet if we checked your leg

there wouldn't be any sign of the break.

- So we're going to drive down to San Diego,

dig up that body and check out his leg.

How does that sound, Donnie?

- You two are insane.

- You'd know. - You can't do that,

it's wrong.

- Better not upset him, Hunter.

He might light you on fire.

- And when I come back from San Diego,

you're gonna be sorry you even saw a book of matches.

- Well, you were wrong, Hunter.

You went down and dragged a guy off his civil service job

on nothing but circumstantial.

- We followed this guy right to the fire.

- And you didn't see him do a thing, did you?

- We saw him jump through the window.

- And you couldn't ID him in a million years.

The guy you saw was all greased up,

he had on goggles and a breather, didn't he?

- Didn't he? - Yes.

- So you couldn't ID him in a lineup then, could you?

- I guess not, no.

There.

You see how easy it is to be a defense lawyer?

I'm sorry but this department has no choice

but to let the guy go.

And I hope, for his sake, he finds himself

a good hospital.

Lord knows he needs it.

- Oh, that'll be great, he'll like that.

That'll give him something else to burn up.

Well, I'll tell you what, Hunter,

next time you catch him in the act,

otherwise I don't want to see him, you got me?

- Oh, we're gonna catch him all right.

- So?

- So, he knows we're going down to San Diego,

let's get down there and see what kind of trouble

we can dig up.

- This plan of yours better fall together quick,

it's freezing out here.

- Not if you're the one doing the digging.

- Well if Donnie's gonna show, he's gonna do it pretty soon.

I'll be watching.

- I'm counting on that.

Why don't you come on out, Donnie?

I'd like to help you, Donnie.

So why don't you drop that flame thrower.

- Shut up. - Come on, Donnie.

We both know you don't want to do what you did to Gene.

- I said shut up.

That's not gonna get it, Donnie.

You know that.

It never did.

Donnie?

- Gene.

My name is Gene.

- You don't have to lie anymore, Donnie,

we know what your real name is.

And remember that story I told you

about Gene's football injury?

I just told you that to get you to follow me down here.

Now, why don't you drop that flame thrower

and let me help you?

- I don't want your help.

Donnie!

- End of the line, Donnie.

What a thing to happen.

Ah, you get used to it.

No, you don't.

Why would anyone invent a thing like that?

- I hope they give him the no smoking section

at the hospital.

- Officers, could we get a word or two here?

Come on, guys, it's late.