Original subtitles

Once upon a time,

there were three little girls who went to the police academy,

two in Los Angeles...

the other, in San Francisco,

and they were each assigned very hazardous duties...

but I took them away from all that,

and now they work for me.

My name is Charlie.

♪ Tripping To the morning ♪

♪ Need a friend tonight ♪

♪ Can you spare a dollar For the fare? ♪

♪ But if I'm tasting sunshine In the morning light ♪

♪ I'm hoping All my friends... ♪

What you're hearing, ladies and gentlemen,

is a recording made earlier this evening

by the WLTR mobile news unit

of the Amy Waters performance at the Concert Hall.

The internationally acclaimed singing star

appeared to suffer an emotional breakdown

halfway through her performance.

She ran from the stage,

and as yet, there has been no report...

Listen... I keep forgetting your name.

Lenny.

Right.

I gotta make a phone call.

Then we'll go to the police station.

Okay?

I forgot.

He took all my money.

You know, I'm good for the fare, Lenny.

I know that, Miss Waters.

I... I need a dime.

You're good people, Lenny.

Yes?

Daddy?

Honey... Where'd you go? Where you been?

I don't know.

I've just been riding around.

Daddy... Can I come home?

Do you have to ask?

I really want to come home, Daddy.

I want to...

I want to make things right this time, you know?

I know, dear, I know.

I've been worried sick about you.

Everybody has.

Police are here asking about you.

Would you keep them there, Daddy, because...

I have something I want to tell them.

I love you, Daddy.

We don't have to go

to the police station now, Lenny.

They're at my dad's.

We'll go there.

Whatever you say, Miss Waters.

This is the place.

Good night.

Okay.

Good night, Lenny.

Hey, Amy!

Hey, Amy... How are you?

Hey.

What... What are you doing here?

No! No! No!

Shh.

Shh. Quiet. Quiet, Amy.

Quiet.

Please... Oh, please, don't.

No... Let go of me...

♪ Tripping to the morning ♪

♪ Need a friend tonight ♪

♪ Can you spare a dollar For the fare? ♪

♪ But if I'm tasting sunshine In the morning light ♪

♪ Sure I'm hoping All my friends are there ♪

♪ Tripping to the morning ♪

They've been briefed, Charlie.

Amy Waters was one of my favorite artists, Angels.

I want to know why she died.

Well, Charlie, the newspapers said

it was a heroin overdose.

I know, Sabrina.

Amy did have a history of drug abuse,

but her father insists

that she was straightening herself out.

Interesting thing, Charlie.

All her arrests were for cocaine.

I mean, as far as anybody knows, she never touched heroin.

Another thing, Charlie.

The police report said there were bruises on her face.

Right, Kelly, so we've got to ask

was the heroin administered under protest?

Well, her father said that she was rational

when she called him, Charlie.

From the amount of heroin that was found in her system,

that would have been impossible.

So the overdose came after the phone call.

So it would seem, Charlie.

Let's find out why it happened, Angels.

♪ Tripping to the morning... ♪

What a waste.

♪ ... Need a friend tonight ♪

♪ Can you spare a dollar For the fare? ♪

She was getting a hold of herself,

and she wanted to live, and live right.

You mean she was trying to quit using drugs?

She was quitting.

She knew it was wrong to mess around with that stuff.

And you're sure

she was all right when she called you?

She was tired.

It'd been a hell of a night,

falling apart on stage like that.

Why did she fall apart, Mr. Waters?

Problems, pressures...

People coming at her from all sides,

making demands.

It just caught up with her.

She said she'd been riding around in a cab?

She never liked to drive.

Limousines made her uncomfortable.

Any time she came to town, she used a cab.

Guess she used them wherever she went.

But I know one thing...

When she called me and said she wanted to come home,

it meant just that.

Something or somebody she saw that night

stopped her,

and you gotta find out what happened...

because if you don't,

I'll go crazy for sure.

We'll find out, Mr. Waters.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Lenny?

That's me.

Hi. My name is Kris Munroe.

I'm a reporter with Country Music Quarterly.

This is my editor, Mr. Bosley.

Hi, Lenny.

Hi.

The dispatcher told us that you were the one

that was with Amy Waters a couple of nights ago...

the night she died.

Yeah. That was some night.

Boy, when I heard she was dead, I didn't know her,

but still, it went down pretty heavy.

The dispatcher's log said that you picked her up

at the Concert Hall at 9:30.

Yeah, that's about right.

And you dropped her off

at her father's place at 12:10.

Right.

Can you tell me, what kind of shape was she in?

Well, she was pretty strung out.

Did she have any bruises

when she left you, Lenny?

Yeah, she did.

Do you know how she got them?

Yeah, she picked them up at the first place we stopped.

Lenny, um, we've been wanting

to do this special feature on Amy Waters

for a long time, and we just...

we haven't been able to find the right angle.

I think we've got it now,

"The last few hours of Amy Waters,"

and we sure could use your help.

Me? What can I do?

I'd like you to take me

every place you took her that night.

I don't understand.

I want to know where she went, who she saw...

I want to know who gave her those bruises.

Now, I want you to understand, Lenny,

that my magazine

will pay you and the company for your time.

Well, it's okay with me.

Maybe you can find out what happened to her.

She was a good lady.

So, I'll just sign in and we'll roll, huh?

Great.

Got your purse.

How we doing?

Okay, we got our work cut out for us.

She made a lot of stops.

Okay, Sabrina and I will follow

in separate cars and check each place out

after Lenny takes you there.

Okay, good. I got my microphone here.

Did you guys check your receivers?

Yeah, it's working fine.

Okay, I figure Lenny's

going to be a little more relaxed,

maybe remember more,

if he doesn't know he's being monitored.

And I'll get copies of the dispatcher's logs,

take those, go back to the office,

and just oversee the operation from there.

Sort of like a field marshal.

Yeah, you could say that.

Oh, please don't.

See you later.

Mm-hmm. Bye.

What's the matter with her?

Ready?

Yeah, if you are.

This was her first stop, right?

Right.

How long was she in there?

About a half an hour.

Do you have any idea who she saw in there, Lenny?

She didn't say,

but when she came out, she'd been slapped around,

and she was minus her cash.

You mean somebody robbed her?

Well, I don't know what you'd call it,

but somebody took her money,

because she couldn't pay the fare.

The company's collecting it today...

from her father, I think.

You're doing good, Lenny.

I'll take this one and check out the apartment.

Check you later.

Yes?

Well, Amy's taste in music was a little off-beat,

so I guess her taste in men ran the same.

Lady, what are you running?

Some kind of riddle contest?

Cutting out, huh?

Lady, what are you jawing about?

Amy Waters.

You remember Amy Waters?

The manager said she spent some time

in this apartment...

and she dropped by the night she died.

So I knew the girl. So what? Big deal.

Well, she left here with a face full of bruises

and an empty wallet.

Just who the devil are you?

The point is, who are you?

And how does Amy Waters figure in your action?

You're not a cop?

I could fix it so it is a cop asking you these questions.

Okay, okay.

Look, Amy hired me as back-up guitarist

a couple of months ago in Phoenix.

We hit it off,

so naturally I stayed with her.

Hit it off as in punching her out?

Now, wait a minute. That wasn't my fault.

She stormed in here, started screaming at me.

About what?

She was crazy.

Said I was... using her.

Told me to get out.

Of your own apartment?

Well, look, baby, she paid the rent.

And your plane fare back to Phoenix.

Look, Amy's been picking up tabs for guys like me

for a long, long time.

I can't imagine what you did for her.

What they all did for her.

Gave her a nose full of coke

and tell her what she wanted to hear.

You must play terrific guitar,

because the rest of your act... It stinks.

Yeah, what time does the plane get into Phoenix?

Okay. Thanks a lot.

Hey, Freddie.

What are you doing here?

First, I'm asking questions.

Hey, man, why the gun?

Who was the girl?

What girl?

The foxy one that just walked out of here.

Man, she wouldn't say.

What'd she want?

She just asked some questions.

About who?

Amy Waters.

What'd you tell her?

Nothing. I swear. Put the gun away.

Now, listen, I want to know exactly what she asked

and exactly what you told her.

I told her nothing.

Now, I'm telling you,

put that gun away before I take it away from you.

Not till you tell me what I want to know.

Okay, Freddie.

Okay, man, she just...

You say you and Amy got here about 10:20?

Yeah, about then.

Do you know

who she went in to see in that restaurant?

The owner, I think.

Cooperman?

How long was she in there, do you know?

Not very long.

Mobile office.

She was crying when she came out.

You know, I didn't figure it was my place to ask.

I got the feeling she was a very private lady.

Uh, Bosley? Yeah, it's me.

I need a computer run-down. Cooperman.

Yeah, owns a restaurant, 12th and Jefferson.

That's okay. I'll wait.

I didn't hear anybody say "come in."

Well, I didn't hear anybody say not to.

Well, how about "Please leave.

I'm busy"?

Ah! I understand you're very good

at asking people to leave, Mr. Cooperman.

You don't know me, so I'm going to tell you.

I don't like word games.

I don't like ladies who play them.

You got something to say, say it and get out of here.

Very forceful.

You're very forceful, Mr. Cooperman.

Is that how you got control

of Amy Waters' music publishing company?

Lady, you better tell me who you are and what you want,

and you better do it quick.

Okay. Well, you know, um, I could be with the IRS, huh?

Or, um, I could be

with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But I'm not.

I'm a friend of Amy Waters, Mr. Cooperman,

and that's lucky for you,

because, you know, those people,

they take a very dim view

of using legitimate business to...

to wash syndicate money.

Let me tell you something, young lady.

I don't care if you're from

any of those esteemed groups.

I own restaurants, car agencies, furniture stores,

and now a music publishing company.

So far, nobody's tied me into anything illegal.

I know. I checked.

You've got a very good roster of lawyers.

The best. So get to the point.

The point is, Mr. Cooperman, that on the night Amy died,

she visited several people,

and one of the places she came to was here.

Well, now... I'm just wondering why.

She walked in, we talked, she walked out.

You know, I just talked to her father,

Mr. Cooperman, and he said Amy didn't want

to sell that music publishing company

to anybody...

Least of all you, Mr. Cooperman.

She changed her mind.

Or maybe you made her change it.

That's coercion, and for coercion,

you can do a little time in the old slammer.

Since the lady's dead,

you'll sweat proving I made her do anything.

Mr. Cooperman, if you had anything to do with her death,

you're going to have

a few anxious moments yourself.

Good day, sir.

Oh...

Uh... you will excuse me for barging in.

Taylor...

if she starts connecting me with the wrong people,

we've got trouble.

Will you excuse me a minute, Lenny?

Would you like more coffee?

Okay. Is everybody here?

With you, Bos.

Yeah, here, Bos.

Okay. Go ahead, Kris.

Okay. I'm at the Blue Plate Diner, 11th and Mason.

Now, when they left Cooperman's restaurant,

they got here about 11:45, and it's a funny thing...

the lady that owns this place

said that Amy was feeling real good

when she arrived here.

Her boyfriend had just beaten her up

and taken all her cash.

How could she be feeling good?

Yeah, that I can't figure out.

Well, when she left Cooperman's, she was crying.

I just met Cooperman. He's something to cry about.

I don't know, something doesn't make sense.

Well, maybe we'll get the answer

at her next stop,

Which, according to the dispatcher's log,

will be at... South Tower.

South Tower? I'm five minutes from there.

Okay. You take it, Bree.

I've got another little problem.

What is it, Kelly?

I've just picked up a tail... Fellow in a red car.

I think I better find out what he's all about.

I'll get back to you.

Okay. You be careful.

Every day in every way.

How long was she here?

About half an hour.

I don't know who she saw.

Well, it looks like the last stop

is where she made the phone call

to her father.

You want to see it?

Yep, I want to see it.

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

Yes, you do, Mr. Doneger.

You worked for Cooperman and the syndicate.

That was a long time ago.

Yeah, but you and I both know

that once you work for those people,

you can never walk away from them.

Now, that's the reason why

when I saw your name on the registry downstairs,

I knew Cooperman's man had to be right behind me

to see if I'd made the connection between you two.

Listen, I didn't tell anybody to shoot you.

I got no reason.

I don't know that.

As a lawyer and as Amy Waters' personal manager,

you could influence her

to sell her music publishing company to Cooperman,

and maybe you even sold it to him yourself

and you didn't tell her and she found out,

and that's why she came here that night.

You can't prove any of this.

I bet I can.

I bet there's evidence

that could put you and Cooperman in prison,

and that's why he had his guy follow me

and he told him to shoot me if I came near you.

You're just trying to bluff.

No, I'm not. I'm not bluffing, but you are,

and you're doing it very badly,

and if you were smart, you'd pick up that phone,

you'd call the police, and you'd try to make a deal,

because now that we've talked, we're both targets.

Listen, I...

I didn't want to sell to Cooperman.

I... he... He threatened to get rough,

and I remembered how rough he can get.

I have her power of attorney.

I signed all the papers without telling her.

And she found out the night she died, is that right?

Yeah. She threatened to expose me and Cooperman.

So you killed her?

I had nothing to do with her death.

I've never seen her

after she walked out of here,

and I can prove that!

I hope you can.

I hope you can prove that, because you just might have to.

And I wasn't kidding about that police protection.

Like you said, Mr. Cooperman can get mighty rough.

What tangled webs we weave, huh?

Nora, Robert, Ina, 217.

Okay, Kelly.

I'll run it through DMV and get back to you,

but until we know who he is,

maybe you would be better off if you were behind watching him.

Good idea, Bos.

Hello?

Bree? Kelly. How you doing?

Oh, I'm terrific.

Other than getting shot at a couple of times,

I'm just terrific.

Who shot at you?

Well, some guy I picked up at Cooperman's.

Listen, I found out that Cooperman and Amy's manager

had a little conspiracy going.

Well, are you all right?

Oh, yeah. I said I'm terrific.

Where are you?

Well, I'm now behind the fella in the red car,

but he might spot me. Can you take him?

We're going east on Pico, just past Vista.

Sure. Look, I'll pick you up at La Brea,

and then you lay back behind me, huh?

You got it.

Bosley, we followed him

to a laundromat at 16th and Alvarado.

All right. Kris, are you with me?

Yeah. I'm with you.

Okay. Now, Kelly...

When did you say that the fellow in the red car

started to follow you?

Right after I left the guitar player's apartment.

Well, maybe the pieces are starting to fit.

What you got?

Well, a half an hour ago,

the police found Amy's guitar-playing boyfriend

shot to death in his apartment.

Wait a minute, hold on, everybody.

What is it, Bree?

Now they're coming out of the laundromat

with a soap machine.

Yeah, and they're putting it in the back of a pickup truck.

I tell you what.

Kelly, why don't you come up here and ride with me?

We'll follow them.

Bos, Kris, we'll check in with you later.

Right.

The soap machine, a launderette...

I don't get the connection, Bosley.

Well, maybe I'm beginning to.

All right, well, listen,

I'm going to be in there in a few minutes.

You can explain it to me, all right?

What's that for?

Get in the cab. You drive.

Lenny... Now!

Okay, okay, just...

Who were you talking to on the phone?

My editor, Mr. Bosley.

What does he know about the launderette?

What do you mean?

I heard you mention a soap machine

and the launderette. Now, what did he tell you?

Uh, nothing... Yet...

He said he had something to tell me and that...

or he'd heard something and we'd get to it later.

You're lying.

I'm not lying, Lenny.

I'm traveling too. I don't know anything.

Listen, I stop, I make a phone call,

I hear something I do not understand,

and all of a sudden, you pull a gun on me.

I mean, let's talk about this

before we make any dumb moves, okay?

Now, what's going on?

What's always going on... Survival.

Yeah, well, we all know how to play that game.

How did you play it with Amy Waters, huh?

She had certain needs. I helped her out.

Needs?

You mean cocaine?

When things got a little rough around the edges?

Everybody needs something.

Yeah, well, what do you need, Lenny?

Look, I'm no cop, I got no ax to grind with you.

Maybe we can work something out.

No. You're too close.

If you and your editor friend put it all together,

you could hurt me bad,

so just drive and keep your mouth shut

so I can think.

Come on, Lenny.

I said to keep your mouth shut and drive!

Six-nine?

You still with the pretty blonde lady?

Six-nine, this is Dispatch.

Hey, Lenny, you being a good boy?

Six-nine, do you read?

Do you read, Six-nine?

Kelly? Bree?

With you, Bos.

Listen, I think we've got trouble here.

Now, I've been going over my copy of the dispatcher's log,

and something keeps bothering me.

What do you mean, Bos?

Well, Lenny's cab

logged 83 miles from the time he picked Amy up at the concert

until he dropped her off at her father's place...

So?

So I've computed the total distance

between each stop

that he entered on the dispatcher's log,

and it comes out to 63 miles.

Then that means there's an error of 20 miles.

Exactly...

unless you include a stop at the launderette.

Then the mileage does check out.

Bos, are you sure?

Well, I've gone over this ten times.

And that means Lenny's been lying.

A distinct possibility,

and I've got another piece of disturbing news for you.

Kris was supposed to be back here 15 minutes ago,

and she hasn't shown.

We haven't heard from her either.

Maybe the transmitter batteries are fading.

Bosley, if you're right

about the 20-mile discrepancy

and the launderette,

then that means Lenny could be tied in

with these two that we're following in the truck.

Exactly, and when that thought occurred to me,

I called the cab company,

and they told me they lost contact with Lenny,

and they couldn't reach him on the radio.

Turn right here.

Get out.

So, this is home, huh, Lenny?

Do you like it?

Why not?

Yeah, why not?

Cheap, dirty, run down...

good enough for the likes of me, right?

I don't know. You tell me.

I'll tell you one thing...

We ain't gonna be here much longer.

We've made enough scores now to get some of the good places.

We?

Yeah, we.

Yeah, like the song says,

"With a little help from my friends," huh?

Right. You gotta have friends.

What did you bring her here for?

She got to know too much.

She ain't the only one.

What do you mean?

I mean whatever her scene is,

she ain't working it alone.

You know, her foxy girlfriend,

the one you told me about?

She got to Eban before I could get to him.

I followed her when she left Eban's,

but she ditched me.

Okay, okay!

Let's go. Flat down.

Get your hands over your head.

There you are. Go join your friends.

You okay?

Yeah. Next time, I think I'll take a bus.

I'll call a cop and an ambulance.

Right.

Nobody move.

You don't have to look at me.

Okay, what's the trick?

Maybe some special coin or something, huh?

Let's have it.

Come on, come on.

All right.

Now, what do we have here, gentlemen?

It's cocaine.

High-grade stuff.

Well, you sold a lot of dreams, didn't you, Lenny?

Everybody needs something... Right?

Whatever you say.

♪ Tripping to the morning... ♪

Amy was trying to clean herself up, Charlie,

but she was hurting pretty bad that night,

so she made one more stop at the launderette.

That's why she was feeling so good

when she got to the diner.

I understand Freddie, Hank, and Lenny

are all facing murder one indictments, Angels.

Well, it was a team effort, Charlie.

See, Hank and Freddie would approach visiting artists

at the concert hall.

Now, the ones who were interested in drugs,

they'd sell them one of those little coins,

and they'd tell them to take a cab to the launderette.

And Lenny's cab just happened to be handy.

The customer never knew

that Lenny had set the whole thing up himself.

Just before the customer arrived at the launderette,

Hank or Freddie would put the cocaine

in the soap machine.

No way to trace their moves,

and no way for the police to get suspicious.

Unless a customer decided to tell the police.

Right,

which is what Lenny was afraid Amy was going to do that night,

and that's why he had Hank and Freddie kill her.

When they saw me go into her boyfriend's apartment,

who was also a customer,

they were afraid he might have told me something,

so they killed him

and took the evidence out of the launderette.

They would have probably killed me too,

if I hadn't given them the slip.

Yeah, well, Lenny and his friends

didn't kill Amy all by themselves.

Do you know something we don't know?

Cooperman, Doneger, her boyfriend...

They were all using her.

They all got their pound of flesh.

Like Bree said, it was a team effort.

I guess you're right, Kris,

But they didn't get all of her.

She left us all with something very special.

I guess you're right, Charlie.

♪ ...tripping the morning Whoa ♪

♪ Tripping to the morning ♪

♪ With you ♪♪