01x18 - Dead on His Feet

[bunniefuu]

Flora was asking for you.

She wants to know how come she hasn't
seen you anymore in the deli.

Oh, yeah?
Well, the next time you see her,
tell her I'm on bivouac with a gorilla.

Come on. She ain't that bad.

Ah!

- Oh, that Flora. I told her lean.
- No, no, it's not the corned beef sandwich.

Everything I eat tastes like
old towel rolls, you know?

These last couple of weeks,
my stomach feels like
something crawled in it and d*ed.

Why don't you drop by this weekend?
Some of Ellen's cooking
will unclog your plumbing, hmm?

Ah, Eddie, thanks.
I'd like to, but...

Fleischman. Wow, look at that valise.

There's gotta be 20 grand in there,
maybe more.

Come on. He may be on his way to
an all-night laundry with some dirty shorts.

Will you stay loose, Benny?
We've been on this case for six weeks.

If he burns us now,
Kojak's gonna bust our chops.
Come on.

- Come on.

You all right?
Yeah, yeah.

- What are you doing?
- I was gonna call in for backup.

Benny, there ain't but two of'em in there,
and Artie Fleischman's
a certified cream puff.

- Now come on.
Cover the back, will you?
- Now, wait a minute.

How can you be sure
there's only two of them inside?

Because Artie's dealing
with Solly DeCicco,

and Solly don't like crowds around when
the balloons are flying.

Now, go on. Be a good boy
and get the alley, will you?

We sit around here
flapping our gums any longer,
this gig'll miss the first edition.

Uh, do me a favor.
Give it 60 seconds, then go ahead in.

Okay.

Eddie!

Being that he was one of the most
decorated officers in your district, Captain,

would you characterize the death
of Detective Ryan as an irreplaceable loss?

Well, Miss Wina, I consider the loss
of any of my officers irreplaceable.

Lieutenant, look at this.

A shotgun.
No way we're gonna trace this guy.

What kind of a load did he use?
Number five sh*t. You saw the body.

At 10 feet, it'd blow a hole
right through that wall.

We dug these out of the back alley.
Three slugs, all from a.38, all in a cluster.

In a cluster?
In soft asphalt with a radius
of maybe two and a half feet.

What does that mean to you?

Come on, Prince!
That's a dead cop,
not yesterday's garbage!

They weren't spent, Lieutenant.
You can see for yourself
they flattened at impact.

It's as if...
as if he fired at the ground.

My fault, Theo. It's all my fault.
I should have stuck with him.

You should have called out
the horse marines!

A layout like this with no backup?

Yeah, well, Eddie said...
Eddie said!
Nineteen years on the force,

you needed his permission
to go to the can?

- Aw, come on, Theo.
- Come on where?

I'm sick and tired of going
to inspector's funerals!

Now, what are you talkin'?
You think I wouldn't have
spared you this if I could?

Okay.

Come on.
Play it back for me.

Well, like, you know,
for the past six months,

we've been investigating this
counterfeit lottery ticket operation.

We knew that Fleischman
was marketing the q*eer,
but, uh, we couldn't firm it up,

not without plugging him into the outfit
that's merchandising the stuff.

Anyway, the, uh, grapevine says
that it's, uh, DeCicco,
but go and prove it.

Yeah, sure.
Tell me about it.

DeCicco's out on parole.
He's seen picking his nose in public,
he goes into the slam for good.

Yeah, well, anyway,
we plant on Fleischman...

thinking sooner or later
he's gonna lead us to the man.

Well, six times he shakes us,
but not tonight.
Tonight, we got lucky.

Yeah, sure.
Tonight, we all got lucky.

Hey, look, you wasted three rounds...
three rounds... and you blew away the alley.

How come?
What do you mean, "how come"?
It was dark. Everything happened so fast.

So fast. How come
you didn't blow your legs off?

All right, what is it?
I tossed the garage, Lieutenant.

And what you see is what we got.

Printing press, counterfeit plates,
ink, paper,

a couple of boxes
full of phony lottery tickets.

No cash, no receipts, nothing.

All right, you get the uniform force
to lock off the premises, you understand?
Put a man on the door.

Find out who the owner of the property is,
a lessee if there is one.
And what's Artie Fleischman's address?

Uh, Elsinore Apartments.
437 West 54th Street.

You got that?
Yes.

I want this Fleischman.
He's probably split already. Put out an alarm.
Okay, Lieutenant.

And what's the number on the cab?
652-T1.

But how the hell can he testify?
I mean, all he can say is that
he dropped a fare off.

Fleischman waited till the cab took off
before he went inside.

- And DeCicco was already here?
- Yeah, well, sure.

"Yeah, well, sure" what?

Did you see him?
No, but, uh, in the alley...

"In the alley."
In the alley, you couldn't see anything.

In the alley it was so dark,
you couldn't find your mouth
with a five-dollar pizza.

Come on.
Let's do some business.

Where do you think you're going?
Where do you think I'm going?

I'm going to interview a cop k*ller.

I wanted to call up a backup team,
but he wanted to make the first edition.

Don't worry about it.
He did.

It's the heat.

You're so obvious.
Must be those tacky threads.

We gotta do something
about changing your image.

I just thought I'd invite myself in, okay?
Why stand on ceremony?

When old acquaintances get together,
who needs the formality of a warrant?

Well, look at this.
All this amazement, this mute surprise.

Why in the world would
a lieutenant of detectives come calling
at such an unearthly hour?

What do you say, Kojak?

Lieutenant Kojak, you cockroach.

Well!

As I live and breathe.
Warren G. Harding.

The name is Gance, Lieutenant.
I believe we've met before.

Of course we have, counselor.
I book 'em and you bail 'em.

Between us,
we make a great revolving door.

And last but not least,
this cluster of debutantes.

Hey, look, Diedre, I'm sorry
I missed your coming-out party.

I heard you were crowned
Miss Silicone. Is that right?

Hey, Kojak, did you come here
to break in a nightclub act,

or was there
something special you wanted?

Hey, counselor, you tell your client
to have his mouth behave,

or he's a prime candidate
for a "get well" card.

He threatened me!
You heard that. He threatened me!

Greeks, they don't thr*aten.
They utter prophecies.

Naturally, Lieutenant, Mr. DeCicco
desires to cooperate, but...

But, uh, would I get to the point.

The point is, counselor,
one of my detectives, Eddie Ryan...

Does, uh, that name ring any chimes?

Captain Midnight,
the darling of the Daily News.

All of that and she can read too.

And that's right.
And he went from page one
to the obituary columns,

and I was wondering if Solly
could tell us how that happened?

That don't sound like
no brain-stumper to me.
I'd say that Ryan must be dead.

- You'd say? You knew he was dead!
- Hold it!

- You crud!
- How could I know a thing like that?

'Cause at 1:17 in the West Village,
Artie Fleischman was present...

went you pumped a load of number five
into Eddie Ryan's gut.

At 1:17 a.m.,

I was goin' down doubled,
redoubled and highly vulnerable
in a six no-Tr*mp.

And so say you all, right?

Lieutenant, would you be kind enough
to explain to me the basis
for this preposterous allegation?

Well, there are
two alternatives, counselor.

I know Artie Fleischman didn't do it.
I mean, with no priors before.

What could he get on a counterfeiting rap,
zip to five?

In other words,
he wasn't motivated, counselor.

And, uh, Mr. DeCicco has a motivation?

A two-time loser? Parolee?

If he goes up again,
he gets life plus 10.

Motivated?
He'd wipe out an entire precinct.

You're shadow boxing, Kojak.

If you could tie me to the lottery action,
you'd have pulled me in.

If you could make me on the Ryan hit,
I'd be wearing bracelets.
Let's face it. You got nothin'!

You forget one thing, goombah.

Artie Fleischman puts you
at the scene of the m*rder.

He put you there with a g*n in your hand.
Is he gonna sing?

He's gonna warble like
a speed-freak nightingale.

DeCicco residence.

Just a minute.
It's for you, Lieutenant.

- Yeah.
- Lieutenant, I just left Fleischman's pad.

Missed him about five minutes.
The alarm's out already,
but don't hold your breath.

The super said he took off like a man
who's five years behind on his alimony.

So that's it... the little spot?

I'm afraid so.

The biopsy we took last week
confirms it.

You don't have to walk
on eggshells, Doctor.

I get the feeling that
you're spending my time.

Do you want it straight?
I don't want it at all.

I'd give anything for a 10-foot pole
I didn't have to touch it with.

It's the big casino, isn't it?

Advanced stomach cancer,

malignant and inoperable.

I figured l...

I had, like, a bleeding ulcer.

I didn't think it was anything
that was going to k*ll me.

How long?

Under optimum conditions,

nine, 10 months.

Maybe a year.

I can, of course,
recommend certain diets,

prescribe medication
to alleviate the pain, the nausea.

What kind of work do you do,
Mr. Fiore?

Hmm?

What kind of work do you do?

Oh, I'm, uh...

I'm a social worker.

Unless we find out different,
we're gonna figure that Fleischman's
holed up in this borough someplace.

Well, I want him.
I want him alive, and I want him now.

What about DeCicco?
24-hour surveillance.

I don't think of him to do anything stupid.
We'll stay on top of him just in case.

And Crocker?
Yeah?

Get up a list of Solly's
best known associates.

Let's see. He's been away on that farm
for 11 months.

He came in contact
with new faces, didn't he?

Shook a few new hands?
Stavros?
Yes, sir?

Check with the D.A.
How many prosecutions in connection
with the lottery operation?

Every name on that list I want!
You got it, Lieu...

Not enough!

I want them to pick up the tab
for a change.

I want them to know that
we don't come cheap.
And how we gonna do that?

Pressure! You're gonna pressure
every pimp, every shylock,

every bookie, every foot soldier,

every hit man, every streetwalker.

They sneeze in the subway,
bust their chops.

They ask you the time of day,
you lock 'em up.

Let the word go out loud and clear!

That's the way it's gonna be
until Eddie Ryan's k*ller's in the Tombs.

Mmm!

Don't forget to read them their rights.

Come in.

I would have been here sooner,
Ellen, only l...
It's all right, Ben.

Theo was over.
Oh, Theo was over.

I guess he's got it down to a science.

Another death,
another callous reasoning for...

Come on in the kitchen.
I have some fresh coffee cooking.

Oh, no. No, no.
No coffee for me.

No?
No, I worked too hard
getting this buzz on.

Oh. I, uh...

I thought you'd like to have this
for the scrapbook.

What is it?
Eddie did good.
He made front page.

Slops over to 17.
Photographs and all.

He was always hard copy.

He's gone, Ellen.
I can't believe it.

I can't believe Eddie
won't be with us anymore.

I can't believe we'll never see
Eddie around here anymore.

I know.

I know.

Hey, that's a lot of peaches.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, l-I was, um,
putting up some preserves.

I was doing it when the call came.
So, you know, what do you do
with 40 pounds of peaches?

Oh, Ellen, Ellen.

I loved him.

All I ever had was love for him.
You know that.

I know.

You know, when I was a kid,
people would ask me,
"What do you wanna be when you grow up?"

Well, I wanted to be like Eddie Ryan.
Honest to God.

Honest to God.

I, uh...

I was going through his clothes,
and I was looking for something
to bury him in.

And, uh, you know,

he didn't have anything
that you could really call a... a suit.

I can't lay him out in, uh,

rhinestones and recycled blue jeans,
can I?

I mean, he'd look like David Bowie.

Why not?
I mean, Eddie would dig that.

Can you see the commissioner's face?

Oh, God!
Oh, God!

Oh, Ellen, why does it hurt so much?

Oh, gung ho Eddie.

Fast Eddie. Crazy Eddie.

"He'll get you k*lled,"
they said to me.

Get me k*lled? I mean, every time
there was a door to go through,

he was the first one to go through it,
laughing at death like God
had a bulletproof vest around him.

What am I gonna do, Ellen?

What you've always done... hang tough.

Is that what you're gonna do...
hang tough?

All the nights that we robbed you.

All the Sunday picnics.

Oh, not you, Ben.

You never robbed me of anything.

Weren't you ever lonely?

Were you?

Yes. I was lonely.

You didn't have to be.
There were all those girls
that you could have had.

I remember a movie once...

where, uh, Clark Gable
was a test pilot.

And he was married to, uh,
Myrna Loy.

And then there was Spence.
Good old Spencer Tracy.

Ben, I've used you.

Can you ever forgive me for that?

Ellen, don't ever think that.
Spence was very happy.

Was he?

Sure he was.

Just being around Myrna
meant the world and all to him.

Hey, how do I look, huh?

Right on! Look at this!
Hey, Lieutenant?

Yeah?
Would you believe this?

Hey! Right on, man!

Hey, right on!

So, what do you think, huh?
What do you think? Tell the truth.

Right on, huh?

Fiore!

- What's the gag?
- What do you mean, "what's the gag"?

You told me you wanted me
to change my image.

Oh, yeah.
I forgot about that.

So if I ask you to lose some weight,
what do you do, cut off your left arm?

You're three hours late,
and you show up looking like
Zsa Zsa Gabor's Christmas tree.

Oh, yeah.
Well, I had something I had to do.

Like what? Make a breakfast tour
of the West Side soak holes?

Sit down, will you,
before I get you some Dramamine.

Saperstein?
Yeah?

Bring two cups ofblack coffee.
Right.

What are you trying to prove, Ben?
And what are you doin'?

Auditioning for Ryan's spot
as resident leading man?

Aw, come on, Theo.

Well, I'll be damned.
You are.

Here.
What is that?
What is that?

Here, drink the coffee.

Benny, I'm gonna tell you something
I never told anyone.

Eddie Ryan,
he wasn't my kind of a cop.

My kind of a cop is a guy like you.

Hey, I'm not kiddin'.
Oh, yeah.

Every department needs
its authentic folk hero.

And as a P.R. Man,
Ryan got us a lot of good press,
and that's why I tolerated his, uh...

his offhanded tactics,

his total disregard for regulations,
his sloppy investigative procedures.

Hey, I wouldn't care if he had
press clippings from here to Passaic.

I would have flopped him years ago,
Benny, if it wasn't for you.

Are you listening?

It was you who made
Eddie Ryan shine so bright.

Good old Ben Fiore
digging up the evidence,

making sure that
it would hold up in court.

Hey, Benny, if it wasn't for you,

Eddie Ryan would have had
as much razzle-dazzle as a wet firecracker.

Is that what you think?

Is that what you think
Eddie Ryan was like?

A grandstander?
Well, let me tell you something.

Eddie Ryan had more guts
than anybody on the Island!
What do you think got him k*lled?

Dumb got him k*lled.

Dead is not guts.
Dead is dumb.

Well, you're the lieutenant.

That's right.
I'm the lieutenant.

And what I don't need right now
is the second coming of Eddie Ryan.

What I need is Ryan's k*ller.

Well, that's what I wanted to tell you, Theo.
I'm going to hand him to you.

I'm gonna hand him to you on a platter.

Thanks, Ben.
With an apple in his mouth, right?

No. What you want is satisfaction.
What I want is justice.

- What do you mean by that?
- You want me to deal it to you straight?

Hey, Benny, you're all bits and pieces,
and I got a very important case here.

And I can't have it blown because
your head ain't on straight.

Tomorrow, I'm putting you on the charts
and teaming you up with Armus.

No! You can't do this to me, Theo!

I'll go to McNeil.
I'll tell McNeil!

Go. He's gonna tell you
the same thing I just did.

That's the way it is,
or go on vacation.

Lieutenant, the list of, uh, DeCicco's
and Fleischman's known associates.

Lieutenant?
This is Inez Wilder.

I'm okay.
I'm calling for Artie Fleischman.

I don't know,
but he wants me to tell you
he wants to deal.

Hello.

Artie's okay, you know?
Mmm.

And if he was Catholic,
he'd be first in line for sainthood.

Come on, Kojak.
Don't dump on him like that.

He's got good qualities.
Ethics, you know?

Like, k*lling, he don't go for, man.

Now, would you stop trying
to razzle-dazzle me?

He's in a hot box.
We're lookin' for him.

Every crook in the world
is turning doorknobs looking for him.

And even DeCicco's torpedoes
are out on a seek-and-destroy.

No, no, he's gonna get clobbered
whichever way he turns.

Okay, maybe he's a little twitchy,
but he ain't caving yet, man.

He wants to plea-bargain, you know?

And what's he got for collateral?
You know!

He was there, Kojak.

Okay, if he can cop
to the counterfeit rap...

and take immunity on the homicide,

he'll finger the iceman.

But he wants the guarantee delivered
personal by an assistant D.A.

You got the hooks for that, pussycat?
Who loves ya, baby?

Okay, 3:00.
I'll phone you.

If the deal's on,
we set up another meet.

Okay?

It's like looking for
a snowflake in a blizzard.

Well, you know,

if there's anything to tie DeCicco
to that garage, well, I can't find it.

What about his known associates?
I mean, maybe one of them's
fronting for him.

Fiore! Knock it off!

Fiore!
Knock it off!

Get away!
Get your hands off me!

Knock it off!

Come on.
All right, outside.
Out, out.

Let's go, fellas.

Outside.

Yeah, well,

"Till death do us part"
I never expected.

But cooperation,
esprit de corps...

All right, what started it?
Nothin'.
We're-We're incompatible.

Incompatible?
Would you believe...

that they're incompatible, Mac?

Now that we know how it started,
who does this belong to?

It's mine.
What do you mean, it's...

My man, Mac!

Go get your face fixed up.
You look like a subway accident.

Come with me.

Come up here.

Except for Inez Wilder,
I want you to hold all calls, all right?

Okay, Lieutenant.
Sit down.

Saturday-night special.
And I thought Ryan was dumb.

A rookie cop coming
out of the academy knows...

possession of an unauthorized w*apon
is immediate grounds for complaint.

It's a throwaway piece, Lieutenant.
You know that.

A plant? You?
Why not? What do I care?

I'm goin' downslope and I'm coasting.

In a couple of years,
I'll get a pension.

What do you think, I'm the first cop
that ever carried an extra piece?

You're chasing a suspect.
You have every reason to believe that
he's armed and dangerous, all right?

Now, you don't wanna hit a vital spot,
but the b*llet doesn't know that.

And what makes it worse, he's dead,
and he's not carrying any-any heat.

There goes the pension.
There goes all my tomorrows.

Look, I'm gonna ask you again,
and on the emmis.

What are you doing
with that piece of pig iron?
What the hell are you up to?

I gave you my answer.

All right, now, look.
You've got six weeks' accumulated vacation?

Take it.

- What if I refuse?
- Do you want me to suspend you?

I thought you'd never ask.

Ben?

What's wrong?

Nobody's perfect.

Theo Kojak, how could you do
a thing like that?

Do?
Ellen, I had no choice.

Please, sit down.

It's not enough that I'm
a newly made widow?

You have to take from Ryan's partner
his very manhood?

Fourteen years standing
in my husband's shadow.

And now that a ray of sunlight
has finally found him,
you snatch it back.

Death is cruel,
but at least death is democratic.

Yeah, well, don't tell me
about democratic, uh, Ellen Ryan.

My ancestors invented it.
And lost it too.

Oh, Theo.

Theo, he... he's blaming himself.

You can see that,
and it's k*lling him by inches.

You can listen. You know,
you're not the smartest guy on the block.

Somebody once, uh,
asked T.E. Lawrence...

why men go to w*r.

And you know what he said?

He said,
"Because the women are watching."

Ben knows I'm watching, Theo.

Don't look for any shame,
because l-I don't have any time for that.

We're talking about a man...

and what's best to be done
with what's left of him.

You... You love Ben, Ellen?

You wouldn't like my answer
whichever way it goes.

Anyhow, my... my private feelings
are not at issue here.

I owe him.

All those years doing for me,

always for me,
and never a complaint.

Remembering the birthdays...

and the anniversaries.

You know, when our little Michael d*ed,
it was...

it was Ben
made the funeral arrangements.

He was ever there,
smoothing out the bumps.

I've had two husbands, Theo...
a first team and a backup.

Life has spoiled me surely.

Anyhow,

now you know why
you have to reinstate him.

I'm sorry, Ellen. I can't.

Theo.

Lieutenant?

That call you were expecting
from a Miss Wilder?
Well, you can forget about it.

- All right, who discovered the bodies?
- 911 got a call, anonymous.

911 runs a tape
on all phone calls they get.

See if you can't get a copy.
We can I.D. The voice.
Lieutenant?

Yeah.
Been dead about an hour.
You know, you got a real cheap job here.

What do you mean?
One sh*t per customer, small caliber.

Waste not, want not.
That Solly's a real conservationist.

Hey, Lieutenant, DeCicco did this?
How could he?

He's up in his penthouse there
playing skin games with the Dolly sisters.

But it's one-for-five on the morning line
that he ordered the hit.

Now, you call the squad room.
Get Vine to get every man
down here from the charts.

And bring photos with them
of Solly's known associates.

I want a house-to-house.
Somebody must have seen
the k*ller entering or leaving.

It's a lousy deal.
That's what it is, a lousy deal.

Nineteen years on the force.

Nineteen years.
And I've been straight as an arrow.

And what does it get me, huh?

You know what galls me the most, Manny?

They'll never nail that bum,
never in a million years.

And while I'm freezing my keister off
in a warehouse as a watchman in Brooklyn,

he'll be riding around
in a heated limousine.

But I can spoil that.

Spoil? How?

I want you to get word to Solly.
Tell him that Ben Fiore's coming after him.

You know what you're saying?

A thr*at like that buys
a midnight dip in the East River.

They gotta find me
before they can waste me.

I got the advantage.
I know where DeCicco is.

He's a parolee out on good behavior.

He can't run, he can't walk,
he can't hide anywhere.

He could put a hundred cannons
on the street looking for me...
I still have the upper hand.

What's the percentage?
So you blow him away. What then?

You're still a flopped ex-cop
filling out job applications, right?

He took my partner off,

and he got me busted.

Now, something like that ain't on the house.
He's gonna pay for it, Manny.

So sell him life insurance.
It's worth a try.

He turns you down,
that's his mistake.

In one hour,
Solly is to call me at this number.

One hour.

We've been over the entire block six times.

If anybody saw anything,
nobody's admitting it.

Well, what'd you expect?
A neighborhood like that.

Either they hate cops,
they're afraid of reprisals,
or they just don't want to get involved.

What are you doin'?
You bringing your own lunch now?

It was intended for Fiore.
Ellen Ryan brought it in.

Speaking of which, where is he?

I don't know.
Could have dropped through
an open manhole for all I know.

Crocker, you're a treasure.

Stavros, get in here!
What did I say?

Right down the street
from the Wilder apartment,
some Con Edison equipment, remember?

Lieutenant, there's
Con Edison equipment everywhere.
I mean, it's like subway graffiti.

I don't see it anymore.
You called, Lieutenant?

Check with Con Ed.
Find out if they had a crew working...

on the 400 block of East 16th today.

And if so,
what time they knocked off.

Yes, sir.

Yeah. Yeah, this is Fiore.
Solly?

Hey, paisan. What's this I hear,
you wanna peddle me some life insurance?

That's the message.

You must be suffering from brain damage.

Wait a minute.
Let-Let me get this straight.

I'm supposed to pay you
not to hit on me, huh?

Hey, I'm not joking, Solly.

Now, maybe you'll believe me
when they put the pennies over your eyes.

Hey, come on.
I don't like that kind of talk.

I don't care what you like!
You owe me!

I owe you?
How do you figure that, I owe you?

Come on, Solly.

Those sh*ts I got off in that back alley...
every one of them a miss.

Think about it.
Listen.

I don't know nothin'
about any back alley.

Well, then that's too bad.

I'll be k*lling the wrong man,
won't I?

Hey, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.

I ain't said no, have I?

Let-Let me...
Let me get this straight.

You know I don't know anything
about any back alley, right?

But...

I heard you got a raw deal
and that you're hurtin' for bread.

I'll-I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll lay off the ponies for a week or so.

What are we talkin'?
Twenty-five G's, cash,

hand-delivered by you.

- Come on. Come on.
- We'll meet at Wu Kim's
Shanghai Palace, South Bronx.

Your people got a plant on me.
How am I gonna shake 'em?

That's your problem.
You figure it out.

Okay, okay.
What time?

Judging by my present location,

it'll take me at least
a half hour to get there.

Uh, look, just to play it safe,
let's say, uh, a quarter to five.

Ciao, Benny.

He says it'll take him about 45 minutes.

I figure it should take you about 20.

Hello?

Ellen, I, uh, I love you.

Where are you?
I can't hear you?

I love you!

Well, both Con Edison men
made positive I.D.

They were just knocking off when
Izzy comes flying out of the building,

jumps into a bronze Nova
and takes off like a bat.

All right, you issue a pickup.

Check with the motor vehicle bureau,
get a license number on the Chevy Nova.

And put that on the airwaves.
Izzy Shugrue.

Yeah, itjives.

If the price was right,
he'd take off theJolly Green Giant.

- Sweat shop.
- Theo, this is Ellen Ryan.
Yeah, uh, I'm worried.

Welcome to the club.
No, listen to me, Theo.

Ben just called, and-and...
I don't know. He-He...

Maybe it's my imagination or something,
but he sounded as...
as if he were saying good-bye.

- Where'd he phone from?
- Well, that's just it. L-I don't know.
I couldn't hear him.

- Couldn't hear? Why?
- That's what I'm saying, Theo.

There was a lot of noise,
like a train or something.

Well, you think, Ellen. Penn Station?
A subway stop? The EI?

It sounded like the EI.

Ellen, let me get back to you, okay?
And don't worry.

The EI, but which one?
Brooklyn or the Bronx?
And what's he up to now?

Saperstein just called in.
DeCicco's given him the slip.

Shanghai Palace?
Yeah, I've got that.

It's under the EI.

They've spotted Izzy's car.

Hold on a minute.
I gotta go check the john.

Solly!

I'm gonna save you a trip, Solly.

Your friend Izzy...
Your friend Izzy, he checked out.

Cashed in his chips.

Go ahead, pick it up.

Pick it up!
Pick it up!

Pick it up!

Ah.

Solly, did you believe that for 25 G's,

fifty, a hundred... a hundred...

I would sell out
my partner, my shield, my life?

Did you believe that?

You know, Solly,
everybody has a price.

Everybody has a price.

But sometimes, the price
doesn't always mean money, Solly.
Isn't that right?

- Then what is it? What do you want?
- That's what I want!

That's what I want!
Your fingerprints on that g*n!

I knew they wouldn't nail you for the job
that you did on my partner... Eddie Ryan.

I knew they wouldn't nail you.
So they left it up to me.

I had to get you out
in the open somehow, somehow,

in a situation where
there was no surveillance,

where I could claim self-defense.

You're crazy!
You... You've freaked out!

Yeah, how about that?

Crocker, take the rear!

Freeze!

It was self-defense, Kojak.
I swear on my mother's eyes,
it was self-defense.

When Fiore came gunning for me,
there was nothing else I could do!

Listen, a citizen's
got a right to protect himself
even from the cops, don't he?

Like hell it was self-defense!
Fiore wasn't even armed!

Get an ambulance.

Huh?

Captain?
No, thank you.

They'll be bringing him down
to intensive care in a few minutes.

Now, while his condition appears stable,
it'll be several hours
before the anesthesia wears off.

Was the operation a successful one,
or wasn't it?

In that we were able
to remove the slug, yes.

Unfortunately, we couldn't do
as much for the carcinoma.

You didn't know?

Detective Fiore
has advanced stomach cancer.

My God.

- How long has he got?
- Optimistic estimate... eight months.

You stay with her.
Yeah.

Let's get out of here.

Uh, one dirty word
and it all falls into place, right?

Yeah.

Eight months.

I can squeeze
a lot of living into eight months.

I'll make it good, Theo.

Hey, look, uh,
you gonna wait around?

Home is where the heart is.

Look, when he comes to,
uh, will you give him this?

Just tell him he dropped it, uh,
in my office and I picked it up.

Oh, Theo.