Original subtitles

Tonight on Spencer for Hire. Excuse me for not knocking.

I know it's rude, but so is talking about me behind my back.

The man has a gun!

Alright, it's not as big as mine. Choose. Between good and evil?

Passion does a lot more for my socks than French mustard.

My my, your life's just full of coincidence. I dabble in prostitution.

Well, isn't that what losers do? You're a dead man! Clinton!

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Bye.

again.

Take care.

You did your line. I'm so nervous.

facing a historical monument in this demeanour.

George Washington had to worry about was defeating

the redcoats and founding a new nation.

He never had a lunch day turn into a knife

But don't misunderstand.

I wasn't thinking about getting my picture on the dollar bill

I was just interested in getting some answers.

You gotta get my bag. You got it. Please.

I'm dead. I am dead.

Why? I better get it. Lydia, we'll try.

What was that all about? I don't know. Maybe she's in shock.

What?

A woman out of jail on parole, begs you to meet her,

won't explain why, then says she's dead if we don't get her purse back.

You don't think the attack was a coincidence? Not a chance.

I'm going to the hospital to be with her.

I got the right to remain silent. Just go like you don't have any.

Spence, come on, come one. Fancy. I got right

to remained silent.

And I got to right to a lawyer. Cards in my jacket pocket.

All you have to do is call him. Tell him to meet me at the station.

Biggest. Bryce Taylor.

We attacked him with a knife, we struggled, I

subdued him and turned him over to Officer Ryan.

You make it sound so easy. Why don't you come back here and work for us?

Not a chance.

Can you give me a make on the kid who stole the purse?

Can't you squeeze it out of that kid I just called him for you? What was his name?

Valaya? Are you serious? Taylor will have that kid out of here in one hour. Talks.

Bryce Taylor is really representing a sleaze like that?

May Lee is one of the cleaner ones. Not Taylor, left town.

Maybe he's a ghost.

But with that many kids, half of whom, fit the description of my client,

how can any witness be sure that my client's here salient? I can.

Now that kid gets your car. Well, the first month I was back in Boston,

I had no business at all. Very few people remembered me and those who did. Well.

Anyway, I gave out my cards to every bail bondsman in town.

Are you the attorney of record for that punk? Not yet.

How about Lydia, the girl he put in the hospital? Would it lessen your indignations?

And oh, she's a recently convicted prostitute out on parole. I already know that.

Well, then you should also know that the possession

of a weapon, never mind wounding someone with it,

is enough to send her back to jail.

Look, defending her own life puts her back in jail. And that punk goes free.

There's something wrong with the law. You don't say.

What are you asking me to do, Spencer?

Choose. Between good and evil? So really,

that's off.

Bryce Taylor had been a man I'd respected.

And seeing what he'd become did things to my stomach I didn't enjoy.

A little elemental detective work would improve things.

But a trail as easy to follow as Rick Melea's wasn't much of a challenge.

I hope the personal confrontation would be more interesting.

How you doing, Rick? I'm suing you, Spencer, for assault and battery.

Oh, you don't want to do that? You see, you might win.

Then I'd end up in prison with you. You wouldn't like that.

You got no business with Rick.

You know, are you right? I'm actually looking for your pal, the purse snatcher.

Lydia Wilson's purse. We don't know no Lydia Wilson or anything about a purse,

do we, Conan? Nope.

Conan. That's right. Conan.

Look, Rick, you're not always going to have the big guy here to intimidate me,

so why don't you reconsider and try to operate him? Go.

Now I'm sure you're both gonna want to see me again.

So why don't you do it for whatever reason? Now I'll make the phone look.

Name is Spencer. Nice.

The doctor says you're going to be all right. Lydia, can you hear me?

I'm a friend of Spencer's. My name is Bryce Taylor. I'm an attorney.

I want to help you. Look, here's my card. Sir, you're disturbing this patient.

Nonsense. I'm here to reassure her.

She's retained me.

That was one of the most disgraceful scenes I've ever witnessed.

And who are you, young lady? Susan Silverman.

I can't believe you're a friend of Spencer. Bryce Taylor, a good friend of Spencers.

That's why I'm here. He told me about Lydia. Really?

Did he also tell you to talk to her now? Or is it your practice to acquire clients

while they still under anesthesia? A good defense requires preparation.

The sooner I begin, the greater the likelihood of a successful defense.

Just a minute. I need help. I need your help. Now, how is it you know Lydia?

She's part of a group. A support group of women just out of prison.

I'm working with them on an internship from Harvard. What's your opinion of her?

She's bright, very eager to improve herself, but very much...

Do you really think you can help her?

I am going to defend Lydia Wilson. I'll

do the best I can.

Believe it or not, sitting on stake out is not

the most exciting part of detective work.

You can't read. You can even listen to the radio, because that's distracting.

And the moment you get distracted, the cat's out of the bag, or the rat's out

of the hole, depending on your preference of metaphor.

In this case, Rodin was definitely the subspecies I was dealing with.

Some guy I don't know came into the bar today asking about Lydia's purse.

Malaya said...

Excuse me for not knocking.

I know it's rude, but so is talking about me behind my back.

Who the hell are you?

You look like a bright guy. How about you can guess? How about I can too?

Clayton, right? It's

what you are that's still in doubt. Sergeant Clayton.

Boston PD. Vice.

There's a branch office? No, a man who likes to stay close to my work.

I can see that, whether the company you keep.

Tell me about Lydia Wilson.

You know, pal, you're a little bit confused. Cops ask the questions.

Dirt bags like you answer them. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

And he told me he wanted to continue this interrogation. You just let me know.

Just don't charge me with civilian brutality.

You picked the wrong side.

This is at stake here in Martin. And soon we'll be on trial.

That's the reason for this...

to have been a prostitute out on parole and having served time for the offense.

Find out from Clayton what went wrong. Yes, sir, Mr. Comares.

I think it was Jack Dempsey who said to be fit is to be ready.

As a would-be world-class detective, I aspire to regular work hours.

And I knew Jack wouldn't forgive me if I skipped the gym. Very sad.

Hey, Hawk. That's what I like about you,

Hawk, get a capacity for understatement.

You're the one with a flair full of dramatic,

all over the news about you and this Lydia Wilson.

A lawyer, Bryce Taylor's the man of the hour.

Of course, you've probably been too busy to keep up.

I've been discussing current events with a vice cop. Damn, Clayton. My, my, my.

Your life's just full of coincidence.

You know? No, of him. Where it is, he uses his juice as a vice cop

to keep the gals and lying down in the zone.

He's an enforcer. Thanks, George. Yeah, a lady gets out of line with her daddy.

First thing you know, she's busted by a clique on the way downtown.

Funny things happen. They resist and these forces will do them.

I ran into one of his pals. Muscles on top of muscles.

Calls himself Conan the Barbarian. I call him Conan the Runt.

One difference between he and Clayton

is when he beats up on a woman that's strictly business.

Clayton does it just for pleasure. Mm-hmm.

Oh, tell me.

Why'd you really come down here today?

Fortune tellers say you pitching a twine-night double-head

of hair be real sensible to hire me. Not today.

What you should be saying is maybe tomorrow.

Baby, no.

It's scary. When you meet new people, you feel

like you're wearing a big sign, you know? Jail bird.

It's like these two different worlds. They don't know.

Them on the outside what it's like on the inside,

and I don't anymore what they're thinking. You shouldn't do that to yourself.

There's no mark on you. Some people, when they know, will be hard.

But most people will try to give you a break.

Well, so far, only met one person who's done that. Amen. Amen.

Good to see you.

What's that?

All Scottish prayer begs protection from things that go bump in the night.

For Ricka was more than a child's nightmare.

In the enigma of life, I wondered what frightened

him enough to send him into my front door,

which was a philosophical question compared to Rick's last thoughts.

I wondered if he even knew what killed him.

You know, something expensive, you're a lucky man

to be a regular customer of the department. We usually charge extra for house calls.

You got any idea why the deceased was knocking on your door?

Maybe after the run-in, you had this afternoon,

he was going to get even, and then somebody else nailed him. Who? You mean Hawk?

Maybe. That guy was a weasel, Marty.

The only reason he'd come here is because he was more afraid of somebody else.

Like who? You know a vice cop named Clayton. Oh, yeah.

Hey, you're not afraid of playing dirty, are you? What kind of cop is he?

Temporary one, I hope. He's on suspension under investigation

of my internal affairs. I met him this afternoon. Seemed to be the zealous type.

Yeah? Well, the charges. They're no secret.

Clayton was bringing in a prostitute. She resisted arrest.

He subdued her, and she died. Concussion.

You'll probably get a chance to ask him about it yourself, Spencer.

Clayton's pet name in the department is the Elephant.

And not just because of his size, either.

He never forgets. And he's real patient about getting even.

How come you thought it was Hawker tonight? And don't tell me into wishing.

I'm surprised you didn't hear about the dead hooker. How's that?

Your pal, Hawk, he claimed the body. Paid for the burial.

It was first class all the way.

I didn't know why Clayton would kill a street kid like Rick Malaya.

But since the kid was coming to me,

it must have been tied to his attack on Lydia Wilson. That tied Clayton to Lydia.

And Quirk said he was directly responsible for another hooker's death.

I got to thinking maybe he wasn't just beating up women for kicks.

Maybe he was part of something bigger.

The death of the other girl explained why Hawke had come to me too.

He'd never talk about it, but it was clear he had a personal score

of his own to settle with Clayton.

Officer Clayton, you looking for something?

Who are you? Let's just say we had a mutual friend.

Missy Porter.

Missy.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You're not her pimp.

No, no, no. I'm not.

from a student of medical phenomena, however, with an insatiable curiosity.

For example, how does a 95-pound girl of 17

get to be so strong that the only way you can subdue her is to kill her?

Why don't you do yourself a favor, Mr. Don't stick your nose into police business.

I have great respect for law and order. It's you who make tragic mistakes.

First, Missy Porter, now Lydia Wilson.

You know, guys like you, you don't make threats.

Guys like you you say yes, sir, and you mean it.

I'm going to be watching you, Officer Clayton, all the time.

Don't bother looking behind you because you won't see me.

But from now on, you will never walk alone. You blacks.

Who the hell do you think you are? I know who I am. The name is Hawk.

Well, Spencer, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?

I hear you've decided to represent Liddy after all.

Well, yes, after we had our talk. I figured it was the right thing to do.

Right thing to doing. Bryce, I heard about your press conference.

What the hell is this? You used to have contempt for lawyers who tried their cases

in the press. Well, maybe times have changed and tactics along with them.

Maybe the only way to get Lydia a fair shake

is to let people know what she's up against. Remake your reputation in the process.

Is there something so wrong with that? No, not unless it's the primary reason

you've taken the case.

No matter. You've picked the right client. Lydia, not Rick. Oh, yeah? How's that?

Rick's dead.

Last night out in front of my place, a saloon unknown.

Why did Rick come to see you?

Ask for help? Tell me something? Because of what was in Lydia's purse?

That's what I figure. Susan and I waited for her yesterday morning.

She said she needed help.

Had some information she was afraid to go to the police with.

You think the police are mixed up in this? Not the police.

An ex-pice cop named Clayton.

flight.

He was part of Lydia's arrest file, part of the court record.

He was the officer who brought her in.

She didn't happen to try to resist her, did she? How did you know that?

It contributed to her going to jail. She reportedly attacked Clayton with a knife.

He had to hit her several times to... Subduer.

in the case of Lydia Wilson, is the defendant present? No, Your Honor.

She's still in the hospital.

In that event, this hearing will be recessed until such time

as the defendant can be present. Your Honor, before we recess, it

is my obligation to bring some new evidence to the court's attention.

This morning, operating under a warrant, police searched the defendant's apartment.

They decided to go to the police station

discovered there were controlled chemical substances, as well as drug paraphernalia.

Your Honor, the defense has no knowledge of these alleged new developments.

That's why the prosecution is making this disclosure, Your Honor.

If it pleases the court the defense needs time to examine these charges,

I request a continuance. Continuance, granted.

What's going on? I didn't know Lydia had a drug problem.

She doesn't. I've worked with her for two months, and if she did, I'd know about it.

It's Clayton. It's got to be.

I mean, he probably planted the stuff there and then tipped off the cops.

With her back in jail, she's no problem to him. What are we gonna do?

Well, we get something on Clayton! But what?

I don't know. Some piece of evidence that'll make him back off.

Well, what kind of evidence are you talking about? How are you gonna find it?

We manufacture it if we have to.

How could you do that? He's already done it to Lydia. We fight fire with fire.

I'm going to keep that girl out of jail.

That lawyer? Taylor. Right.

Did he hire you to help with Lydia's defense? Not exactly.

Now, the secret of what I'm about to do this sauce is the French mustard.

Madam, get ready, because it's going to roll your socks up and down.

Then why are you helping him?

Eight years ago, when I quit the force,

Taylor was one of the biggest lawyers in town.

He was always slugging it out for a good cause,

always on the side of the little guy. And you were one of his good causes.

He gave me my first job as a private investigator. And my second job.

And my third job. By then, people realized that he trusted me,

so they trusted me too. And the rest, as they say, is history. What happened

to him?

How did he get this way?

You got a personal problem.

That's why I've died of cancer.

It wasn't easy, but he stayed with her. Lurian.

Spencer, that happens to a lot of people, and they don't fall apart the way he did.

Then he ran for DA. He was close, but he lost.

Any quit as practice?

Tell to their head and see him.

Do you really think he can help Lydia?

You owe him that much that you'd risk sending another client to jail?

Bryce Taylor believed in me when nobody else did.

You know what I believe.

Why?

I believe that a little compassion does a lot more for my socks than French mustard.

Alright, let's dump this crud in the river and let's get out of here.

Let's do it.

Hey, whoa. Spread out! OK.

There he is!

Who are you? Brenda Spence is not get out of here. My camera. Move!

You can't see in the dark.

and resist an arrest!

BOOM!

Now's too easy.

Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha!

You made a big mistake!

Because you are dead. You have me?

You're a dead man!

Shakespeare wrote, Temp not a desperate man. Taylor was proof he was right.

But he was more than desperate.

He was also a stranger.

But I'm gonna ask just one. Why'd you do it? Oh, to save the girl. Oh!

If that's the reason, if that's what you think,

then what you did wasn't just dangerous, it was stupid. Easy, man.

It's been through a rough night. It's going to get a lot rougher.

What were you doing at the Charles River tonight? Demonstrating modern salesmanship.

See, first you give the customer a free introductory offer, then you close the deal.

OK, here on. Good. I hate to pay my own dry cleaning bills. You know what I mean?

I know what you mean.

What happened to you, Bryce?

Where'd it go wrong?

Corrosion.

You work every day with the dregs of society.

Most of them guilty, almost all of them bad.

Oh, you tell yourself that everyone's entitled to a good defense.

You talk about the law and all its power and majesty.

And all the while, you're using it to save these terrible men.

And slowly, they're staying where's off on you.

There were these two kids in Texas. Very, very poor.

They were accused of raping and murdering a woman very, very rich.

I knew they were innocent. I knew it. But all the evidence was against me.

But all of the evidence is circumstantial.

These two young innocent men were going to die.

So I... So you manufactured something to get them off?

Yes. And they were equivalent.

And 18 months later in California, they

raped and killed a 16-year-old girl.

So you quit because you were wrong. Nothing so noble. That was found out.

It was either disbarment or a 10-year retirement.

A few months ago, after I started up again,

I told myself I'd never get involved with a client emotionally again.

But then, of course, Lydia came along. You saw it as a ticket back to the top.

except Clayton planted the drugs in her apartment.

It started to happen all over again. It was terrified I was going to lose.

Not just a case.

Maybe my last case.

Well, isn't that what losers do?

You understand you had a moment of excitement last night

when you delivered the payroll to the drivers. Yeah, a little trouble.

A little trouble?

Somebody takes pictures out of the toughest mussel and guns in Boston, beats you up.

We could all go to jail till they forget we're there,

and that's your idea of a little trouble. We found the camera was busted.

Hawk ain't going to go to the cops between him and me.

That's someone as dumb as you ever make the cops. Somebody was out there.

That somebody got away, and that somebody knows enough to take care of all of us.

Yeah. It was Taylor. My lawyer's got the hooker case. One of the guys saw him on TV.

There's nobody.

Taylor. Bryce Taylor? Yeah, I think I've got a way to take care of it.

Let me handle that. Thinking's not what you do best.

In Clayton. Yeah.

There are millions to be made dumping waste.

If I thought anything else was going wrong,

I wouldn't hesitate to dump the source of my irritation on the Charles too.

Even you should be smart enough to understand that.

who's gonna take my word against that cop, Clayton.

Lydia, what are you saying? Spencer's working to help you.

What I had could've got him knocked right off the police force.

Might've sent him to jail.

That's why they took your purse, because you had evidence against him.

I hate that man, Clayten. I was looking through all this

stuff in his apartment,

trying to find something, and I did. Bottom of a check. Partcha keep.

from Camaris trucking for one week's pay. What was the check for? I don't know.

But I do know it must have been something bad to be worth four grand.

You don't get that for driving a truck. You sure it was $4,000?

And the reason you hate Clayton so much

is because he arrested you and sent you to jail. Not really.

He helps Conan and the other pimps punish us.

Beat this up.

awful.

enjoys it.

What were you doing at his apartment?

Was he trying to force you back into prostitution?

Not exactly.

You see, Clayton's got a thing for me.

I'm his favorite.

God knows I don't want to be with him.

But when I got out of jail, he said I was his.

That I had no choice.

Either do whatever he wants

or go back to jail.

I'm scared of him, Susan. One of these days, he's going to kill me. I just know it.

Rice.

I haven't seen you in years. Not long enough.

Well, but I'm disappointed.

I mean, you'll excuse the pun to see how low you've fallen. Oh, oh.

You actually live in there? At least it's honest.

How do you expect they'll attract customers with an attitude like that?

And they have a potential customer. Come here to talk a deal. Yeah?

What do you need all these employees?

It's just approved to you. I'm serious.

Look, I don't want to waste time.

You have a client, a black hooker. If she gets on the stand, she could...

possibly hurt me. Your name never has to be mentioned in this.

I can get her off by proving brutality on a part of the vice cop.

Well, unfortunately, that vice cop works for me.

You see, I've expanded my interests.

I am a devil in prostitution.

Clayton was my enforcer.

When he got suspended from the department, I made him one of my pay masters.

Sort of like unemployment insurance?

that.

It's a man in your position who can still make jokes. Just what is my position?

Assuming I'm around beyond this evening. Oh, I can see an immensely profitable one

assuming you've learned anything. First, you plea bargain your client.

But that would send her back to jail. She's used to jail?

How accustomed are you to die?

However, if you cooperate.

If you're neat and tidy about this thing.

I can throw a lot of business your way.

Just imagine what kind of business that is.

It's like I said.

That's an attitude problem.

Now when's the hearing? Tomorrow morning, 11 o'clock.

Then by noon, you'll be on your way to being a wealthy man.

And I'll be there.

I like to see my employees at work.

John Paul Sarcher wrote about hell as a place of our own creation.

Bryce Taylor, some people said, had been marked with greatness.

Now I suffered with him the pain of expectations denied.

It's got to be the spot. It's filthy. You can see all the plant life is dead.

Look at the pollution and the water. What are we going to do about it?

Oh, you want to rouse the masses? You think they care?

Unless they can see it or smell it in their own backyard?

Well, let's just talk about your backyard.

You lost someone you loved very much to cancer.

What's that's nothing to do with Emily? It has everything to do her.

What they're dumping in this river is toxic. It doesn't just kill fish.

It kills men, women, and children. Damn it, Spencer, leave me alone.

I can't do that. Look at yourself, Bryce. I mean, really, look.

Now, what's happened to you? And don't give me that crock about corrosion.

I'm not buying it. What do you want me to say, that I'm afraid?

Yes, at least that's honest. Well, I am.

The damn right I am, Canaris threatened to kill me. Then bury him with this case.

Put him away.

You're the one that needs to look at me, Spencer. But the way I am right now,

not the way you think I was 10 years ago, what is it?

I don't like what you see because you're afraid

that if it could happen to me, it could happened to you.

I don' like what I see because it's a bigger waste than all that.

It's a waste of a good man.

Let go of me, Spencer. I don't have it anymore. I don' want it anymore!

You think you can save the world by good intentions? With integrity? With honor?

Well, it doesn't happen. If I find Clayton, he turns state's evidence,

then you got a case.

Don't you ever give up? Give up is a bad habit. Somebody told me that once.

Somebody was wondering if that's why I was leaving the police department.

who told me that if I was going out on my own,

that the main thing that I had a guard against was myself.

That part of all of us that wants to quit when it looks like

we can't have it the way we want it. That's somebody I'll always owe, Bryce.

somebody who gave me my first case, who gave him my first chance to prove

I can make it on my own.

It's your choice.

Have you thought about what might happen if you can't bring Clayton in? Yeah.

Then you'll have another choice to make.

Oh, me, huh? My honor is my life.

Both grow in one.

take honor from me.

And my life is done. Richard II.

Dryden said it was an empty bubble. Are we going to find out?

Let's do that.

But if it doesn't work out, you don't owe me anything else, okay?

deal.

Excuse me, sir.

Are you here for a checkup? No.

You're gonna look well at all. Mm! Mm!

Nurse.

Get this man right down to emergency. I think he has a concussion.

BAM!

a chance for a acquittal? Very good, I think.

There's a rumor around that you've made some sort of a zeal.

The hearing will answer all questions.

You think you'll be going back to jail, Ms. Wilson? That's always possible.

But there's every hope the judge will rule against it. I'm sorry. I'm Sorry.

There's no cameras or reporters without clearance.

I'll see you after the trial.

This could be the beginning of a very useful relationship.

Come on, lady, it's time.

I hate courtrooms. Lydia won't get no breaks in here.

Well, maybe this time it'll be good every time. That's justice.

Hey, what's that?

Clinton!

In this hearing of the Commonwealth versus Lydia Wilson.

that the prosecution and the defense has come to an agreement?

Your Honor, I'd like to make a statement. Very well, Mr. Taylor. Proceed.

Uh, the defendant, uh, Lydia Wilson,

was an innocent in this situation, and she still is.

Unlike most of my recent clients. Thank you.

Lydia was the oldest of six children. Her mother worked to support them all.

At eight, Lydia became the real mother to her siblings.

She fed them, took care of them, washed their clothes, cleaned the house.

And when the children were over. Your Honor, the people have already

reached an agreement with the defendant. Counsel's oration, however emotional,

is completely irrelevant. Counsel is advised to get to the point expeditiously.

Counsel, how do you plead your client?

Counsel.

Ah, I withdraw my plea for L'Ea, Wilson.

Speak up, counsel. What did you say?

No plea bargaining.

My client is not the guilty party here.

I am prepared to defend her against all charges.

Your threat on his life is on to file with Quirkin homicide.

They're gonna be charged as file for dumping toxic waste.

Better think about saving your own skin.

Thanks.

Many times.