04x21 & 04x22 - The House on Willis Avenue

[bunniefuu]

I think that
somebody k*lled Joe Tooley.

And if you're working
on the same hunch,

I think that maybe we ought to
pool our resources.

Just got a kick off
one of the dormant mikes.

It's an office.

...that you are dealing
with something
way over your head.

I'm gonna let them get
close to us and you guys
blow those turkeys down.

Hold on!

[PHONE RINGING]

ROCKFORD
ON ANSWERING MACHINE:
This is Jim Rockford.

At the tone, leave your name
and message.

I'll get back to you.

[BEEPS]

WOMAN: Good morning,
this is the telephone company.

Due to repairs,
we're giving you
advance notice

that your service will be
cut off indefinitely at 10:00.

That's two minutes
from now.

He just left.

No. I let him go.

Right.
Up the canyon.

[PHONE RINGING]

Hello.

JOE: It's Tooley.

What'd you find out?
I got it, Al.

But you ain't
gonna believe it.
It's spooky.

[BEBE WHINING]
Just be quiet, Bebe.

Please, please.

Did you get evidence?

If I'm right,
we've got plenty.

Well, what is it?
What'd you find?

Well, it's gonna take
some explaining.

Look, I've got one more
address to check out.

Meet me in my place
in an hour.

Okay. Fine.

We got him, Bebe.
We got him good this time.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

All right, Mr. Tooley,
just stand easy.

Pat him down.

You've got a hell
of a nose on you, Joe.

But you can't just let
things sit, huh?

We gave you plenty of warning,
but you've got to play
Jack the Pathfinder.

You got anything
on your mind?

Let's get it over with.

That's nice. Page one,
right out of the book.

All right, somebody take
his car and follow us.

Come on, tough guy,
you got an appointment.

[HELICOPTER WHIRRING]

Sit tight, I'm on it.

The whole thing is coming
unstuck, Garth.

Not anymore.
Things don't come unstuck
till I say they're unstuck.

Go kiss a baby,
leave this to me.

I had a feeling
it would come to this.
I told B.J. Sit down.

B.J. Said
he could put a run on you,

but I punched you
out on the terminal
and your package reads

like an Irving Wallace novel.

What do you eat
for breakfast, Mr. Tooley?
I'd like to get a carton.

You're Garth McGregor,
aren't you?

I really want to talk
to you about this.
You've got the wrong idea.

My jet's warming up
over at LAX.

Would you mind
riding over there with me?

Will I need a parachute?

You've really got
the wrong idea about this and
I'm going to set you straight.

And maybe, along the way,
make you rich.

Okay, Davey, let's go.

Boy, I hate going to
these things.

Well, the older you get,
the more of them
you're going to go to.

You know, it seemed to me
that here a while back,

I was going to the funeral
of a good friend once a week.

Then a couple of years ago,
it sort of started
to steady out.

You know the way
I got it figured, sonny?

Rocky,
have you seen my wallet?

Now take automobiles.

Supposing Detroit was to build


Well, at the end of five years
you're going to lose
half of them red Fords.

They'll be
in the wrecking yard.

Then five years later,
another 30% of them

are going to be gone
because of accidents
or bad driving.

Well, that means that
after that time is all over,

you're going to have
a couple of hundred red Fords

that because they was
put together good
and driven carefully,

are going to be around
forever.

I'm looking for
my wallet, Rocky.

Is it on the desk?

You know, it wouldn't hurt you
none to put your own Ford
in neutral

the way you're always
chasing around and working on
one dangerous case or another.

You know,
you ain't even had time
to go fishing

or hunting with me.

So the way I see it,
that is no way

for you to rack up
on your dash.

Would you like to get
your Ford out of my chair?

I'm trying to find
my wallet.

There it is.
Right in the old
glove compartment.

Sonny...

Yeah, what?

Hey.

What's bothering you
anyway?

I ain't seen you
this riled up in ages.

Nothing, nothing.

Ah, come on.

I know you better
than that.

I just don't like
funerals.

I thought this guy
was a friend of yours.

He was. He was more
than a friend.

I mean, the things
he taught me
kept me alive

my first two years
in this business.

What the hell was he doing
on the freeway?

Well, maybe he was trying
to get someplace.

He never used them.

Ten years I've known
Joe Tooley, he never used
the freeways.

I mean, he could go
across town on surface streets

faster than anybody
else could on a freeway.

Maybe he changed his mind,
huh?

Yeah, maybe.

I got to go, Rock.
See you.

[ORGAN PLAYING]

Hi, Billy.
Hi, Jim.

I never saw so many
private investigators

in one room
before in all my life.

Yeah. Well,
he had a lot of friends.

What a guy.

Yeah.

RICHIE: Don't you see?
He'd never be on a freeway.

VERN: Hey kid,
this is not the time
or the place for that!

See what you're doing?
You're disrupting the service.

Vern St. Cloud.

You want to upset the family?
Is that what you want to do?

All I said was...

I heard what you said.
It's crazy.

Now, shut up.

Just shut up.

Ridiculous.

Mrs. Tooley, I...

I guess that sometimes
it's hard to say

how you feel about people,
but I've got to tell you,

Joe was the most
wonderful man I ever knew.

Well, he's the main reason
I'm doing
what I'm doing today.

Thank you, Rich.

You know how fond
he was of you.

Oh, yes, ma'am.

Listen,
could I ask you a question?

See, I know that...
I know he still had
his office

and that he was
mostly retired,

but was he working
on anything?

I mean, you know,
I thought if you want,

I could go down
to the office

and sort of, you know,
help straighten things out.

As a favor.
If you'd like.

That's very nice
of you, Rich,

but he wasn't doing
much of anything.

Just a little work
for Albert Steever.

They were old friends.
It was more of a hobby
than anything else.

Do you know
what it was?

Well, they were
both concerned with

the environmental impact
in the canyons.

It was housing starts.
That's all I knew.

Well, listen,

if there's anything
I can do for you,
please let me know, will you?

Thank you, Richie.

Oh, that's real cute,
kid.

Trying to sham
that poor old broad
out of Tooley's caseload.

Things must be really rough

if you've got to
pick the bones
on that guy's grave.

Twenty-five years I've been
in this PI business

and never saw anything so low.
Lowest thing I ever saw.

You know, I've about had it
with you, Mr. St. Cloud.

[CHUCKLES]

Who's that?

I don't know.

He's probably family.

Hey, you remember '46,
right after the w*r,

he come back
with a cast on his leg.

He'd stepped on a mine.

Well, anyhow,
they had to open him up,
put a pin in him.

You know, the first four years
I knew him, he was walking
on a cane.

It didn't slow him down
one bit.

Listen, does it bother
either one of you guys that

Joe got hit by a gas truck
on the freeway?

He never used
the freeway.

Yeah, Jim's right.

That is kind of strange.

So, he changed
his mind once.

No, he had bad eyesight.

It was bad depth perception,
I think.

That's why he used
the surface streets.

Yeah, come to think of it.
It was his peepers.

Hey, I got to shag
out of here.

Hey, I got to be
at the courthouse
in 40 minutes.

Can I catch a ride?

Sure. Jim,
I'll see you later.

Billy,
nice to see you.
Okay.

Sam.

Come on, Rockford.

So one night
he puts on his glasses

and he gets
on the freeway.

He's late.

Since he's spooked
by the freeway anyway,
he makes

a dumb lane change
and gets gazpachoed
by a gas truck.

Look, it could happen.
Don't go looking for something
that ain't there.

Well, you're right.
It just didn't seem right.

You know what don't
seem right?
That he's gone.

That's what don't seem right.
Oh, here comes St. Cloud.

I've got to go.
Okay, Sam.

Hey, Sam...

How you doing,
Rockford?

Getting any?

Hey, Sam!

[MACHINE WHIRRING]

[BEEPING]

We just got a kick off
one of the dormant mikes,

number 35679KLW.

It's an office.
Guy named Tooley.

Phone installation.
MAN: Hold it.

That's over
on 6th Street.

It was supposed
to be pulled out.

The location's been
neutralized.

Well, somebody's moving
around in there.

What do you want me to do?

It's got a 216 code.
So, we better notify A unit
priority and leave it to them.

Put it on tape.

That's a wilco.

Hey, Brenda, it's Vern.
Any messages? Nothing, huh?

No, I had a lead
on a bunch of new cases.

A PI I know
got caught in a bottle.

I figured maybe I could
get some of his slop over,

but he wasn't doing nothing.
It was a bust.

Look, I'll check
with you later. Okay?
Right.

Operator, I'd like to
call Franchot, Tennessee.

Person to person.
Mr. Harry St. Cloud.

Right. Area code 615...

Where do you come off
making a cr*ck like that,
Harry?

Is that the way to talk
to your brother?

Look, I called you, didn't I?

I didn't call collect
this time.

Well, how about
a little respect for me, huh?

Well, look...

Okay, okay,
keep your shirt on.

Hang it up.
Now!

Come on, on your feet.

Listen.
I'm a friend of Tooley's.

I just came up here
to help him
with the caseload.

Look, put that away, will you?
Put it away.

Well, now. What is
a Vern St. Cloud?

You're a gumshoe, huh?

Well, look, I'm an old friend
of Tooley's, like I said.

I went to his funeral today.

Mrs. Tooley was asking me
to come down here
and make sure that

good old Joe's cases
were all up-to-date.

I'm a sucker
for a widow in distress,
you know?

"What the hell,"
I say to myself.

If I can do
one nice little thing
for big Joe, why not?

Yeah, well,
you left these in the door.

Mrs. Tooley out of spare keys?

Are you guys cops?

Let's go.
You got an appointment.

Take him down, Smitty.

You're not cops?

This is B.J.

Alert 216,
we just trapped a gopher,

and tell Operations to
leave this dormant in and
upgrade surveillance to 1A.

Yeah,
we still may be
in trouble here.

I could tell
you're really busy.

I could come back.
I could wait a little bit.
You know, I...

I want to make it
as easy as possible

for you 'cause I know
it's a lot of bother,
but you know how it is

with these companies.
They've got more red tape
than 3M.

Let's see it.

Here it is.

$25,000 life, huh?

Yeah.

You know,
it's kind of unusual.
I been here a year

and you're the first
claims adjustor

that ever wanted to
see the coroner's file.

Yeah, well, you see,
the thing of it is, is
we've got this new executive,

a Mr. Shusterfeld,

and, well, apparently
when he first started out
with the company,

they paid off on a big policy
and the guy was still alive.

So now old Mr. Shusterfeld has
all us claims investigators
running all over

everywhere, double-checking
the coroner's reports.

If you ask me,
it's a giant waste of time.

I'm not even certain
the file's still down here.

Hey, I know it's a pain.

But the thing of it is,
is if I don't get a look
at that thing,

I can't file a claims report,

and old Mr. Shusterfeld
is not going to
approve the payment.

And I got to tell you,
of all the claims this company
should pay quickly,

this is right at the top
of the list.

You see,

Mrs. Tooley, she's out
at the Spring Garden Hospital.

It's an old folks home.
There's a $4,000 bill due

and they're about to
pitch her out onto the street.

Which is okay, I guess,
except for the fact
that she's a paraplegic

and she needs a place
with ramps for her wheelchair,

which lets out most of
your inexpensive housing...

Let me take a look.

Sometimes the files
hang around down here.

I really appreciate this.
Honest.

Just a minute.

Hey, we got lucky.
Here it is.

Holy mackerel.
Thanks a lot.

I'm afraid I don't understand
your problem.

You understand the problem,
Councilman Nardoni.

In my opinion,
you created the problem.

You know, I've endured an
awful lot of slander from you
over the years,

Mr. Steever.

You've falsely accused me
of every misuse of power
in the book.

Even the news media have
stopped covering your slander.

Now, when are you going to,
as the kids say,
get off my back?

I want to hear why those lots
are being cut up
in Deadrock Canyon.

Now, that's supposed to
be a wilderness area
and in County Statute 1767,

it clearly states that
no homes can be built
in that canyon area

without a full debate
and a hearing.

Now, I want to know why
bulldozers and skip loaders

are cutting
those pads up there.

No, it's all right.
It's my district.

I'll deal with him.

Oh, you won't deal with me,
Mr. Nardoni. You never have.

Now, when are you going to
start being responsive

to the people who are
trying to keep this state
from being overrun

with franchise eating
establishments and billboards?

NARDONI: Can we have
a little quiet in the room,
please? Thank you.

All right, Mr. Steever,
you refer to
County Statute 1767:

That's right.

Now, I suppose
before you came down here
to spew all this...

Hey, didn't I see you
at Joe Tooley's funeral?

Oh, yeah.
Richie Brockelman.

Yeah, Jim Rockford.

Jim Rockford?
The Jim Rockford?

I mean,
the famous private eye?

Famous?
Yeah.

What are you doing here?

What, here? Nothing.

How about you?

Nothing.

Boy, oh, boy,
Jim Rockford?

Yeah.

Holy mackerel.

STEEVER:
I want an answer now.

NARDONI: Mr. Steever.

I mean,
I...I...

Mr. Steever,
you don't even
live up there.

It seems to me that
you live in Torrance.

Now, why don't you
go back to Torrance

and harass
that city government.

Now, please,
clear the docket.
That's all.

We have a lot
of people waiting.

Mr. Nardoni.
Mr. Nardoni.

Have that man evicted,
please.

Why don't you
answer my questions?
I am a tax payer.

I have a right to know.
It's my right to stand...

No, no. This is...
Take your hands...

All right,
I have witnesses here.

I want my briefcase back.

And if I don't get
some answers to my questions,
I'm going to file a suit.

Boy, Jim Rockford.
I got to tell you,

I've really admired
some of the things
you've done, sir.

Like, for instance,
the time you busted
that trucking scandal

and made all the papers.
Man, that must have
been hairy.

Yeah. Hey, hey...

What are you doing here?

Well...

The thing of it is,
is I'm a private investigator
like you.

No, really.
No kidding. I am.

And Joe Tooley, he was
a real friend of mine.

You see,
when I first got
out of college,

my parents wanted me to
join Newhaven Mutual,
which was offering me

a big job in their
claims adjusters division.

Well, you know, not so big.
Well, pretty big.

Anyway, I wanted to
be in private
investigative endeavors

and Joe Tooley,
he was the one
that encouraged me.

Helped me get my license
and then when I had
some of my, you know,

really tough cases to cr*ck,
you know, we'd talk about it
and, like that.

Yeah. All of which doesn't
answer the question.

You noticed.
Yeah.

Well, I hate to be premature
on this thing, but...

I'm working on his m*rder.

Joe Tooley was hit by a truck.

The thing of it is,
is somebody
was hit by a truck.

Not necessarily Joe Tooley,
is the thing.

See, he had just one case
he was working on,

that guy Steever who just
took the Black Maria
to County.

Yeah, I know.
And I figured

as long as I'm working on
his m*rder,

I'd come down
and check out his client.

Yeah, well, you keep
using the word m*rder.

Now, do you just throw
that word out all the time,

or do you really
have something?

Did anybody ever tell you
about Tooley's leg?

He did.
Yeah, he stepped
on a land mine in France

and they put a pin
in or something.

Yeah, well,
I just saw the morgue X-rays

and they don't show
any pin in his leg.

Come on.
No, honest Injun,
Mr. Rockford.

I'm really smoking here.
Now, I think that
somebody k*lled Joe Tooley.

And if you're working
on the same hunch,

I think that maybe we ought to
pool our resources.

You have a client?
Client?

Yeah, client.
Somebody to pay the freight.

Joe Tooley was
a friend of mine.

I'm working off an old debt,
so I guess you could
say that, you know,

he's my client
in absentia, so to speak.

Listen, Mr. Rockford,
if you've got
something on this,

I really would appreciate it
if you'd give it to me.

'Cause I know that
you're not down here
to feed the pigeons.

Yeah, well,
I don't have anything.

You know,
I have a hunch.

I don't know.
I just keep thinking
about Joe.

What was he doing
on the freeway?

Hey, that's the same thing
that got me started off.
He hated the freeways.

Do you mind
if I finish a sentence?

No. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

I went up to Tooley's office
and I found his expense sheet

and these.

Glasses?
Sharp.

That's exactly
what I thought
they were, too.

No, no.
That's not
what I meant.

Oh, Joe...

What was he doing
on the freeways,
which he was afraid of,

at night,
without his glasses?

Two pair, maybe?

No. I called Mary.
He only had one pair.
No others.

Listen, Mr. Rockford,
we're onto something here.

I can feel it.
Joe Tooley was m*rder*d.

And it's got something
to do with all this,

with that construction
in Deadrock Canyon,
that guy Steever.

I can feel it. I really can.
Maybe it all ties together.

Well, would you like
a few more maybes?

Yeah.

Well, maybe Joe exaggerated
about his w*r injury.

Maybe the guys
down at the morgue put

the wrong X-rays
in Tooley's file.

Maybe it's just hard to
bury a friend.

Maybe we're just trying to
keep him alive
by working on this.

Then you are
working on it.

Nice to meet you, son.

Hope I run into you again.

[HORN HONKING]

Out.

Back in the car.

MAN: You need not
be frightened,
Mr. St. Cloud.

We will not hurt you
unless you lie to us.

Let that be understood.
You are being hooked up
to a polygraph machine.

The impulses are broadcast
electronically to me,

picked up by a receiver
here in my car.

If you lie, I will know.

All right?

What the hell is this?
I mean, what did I do?

I try and help a widow lady
and end up talking
to an Italian car.

I mean, what do you guys want?

I'm going to ask you
some questions.

I want you to answer
with a yes or a no.

Well, yeah, yeah.
Sure, yeah.

Were you working
with Joe Tooley?

Are you kidding?

Work with Tooley? Me?

The guy was a bumbler.

Yes or no, Mr. St. Cloud?

No.

Did Joe Tooley ever
discuss with you

anything about the project
he was currently working on?

I hardly ever seen the guy,
except...

It's no. No. The answer is no.

Why were you in his office?

How can I answer that
yes or no?

Just answer it.
That's all, mister.

Answer it
and stop wasting my time.

Well, I was there because
his old lady wanted me to
help him clean up

his current caseload.
You know, his old caseload.

Is that statement a lie?

Well, all right.
Okay, look,

not that you should
think less of me,
but I figured that

maybe if I stole
his caseload,
made a few calls,

maybe I could end up
with a case.

Things have been tough
this year.

I mean,
my property taxes went up.

I got to have a double hernia
fixed in June.

This has been a bad year.

Is that statement true?

Oh, yeah.

All right, gentlemen,
that's all.

Take him out someplace
and cut him.

Cut him?
What's he mean,
cut him?

Cut you loose, Vern.

Now, when they fix the hernia,
be sure they don't let
any guts fall out.

You're running
kind of short as it is.
Okay, Smitty.

You're very persistent, son.

Oh, you should see me
do crossword puzzles.

What is this place?
It's got something to do
with Tooley?

It's an address
I found on a card
in Tooley's desk.

Okay, let's go.

What do you say
let's make a deal?
Sure.

Let's just not turn this
into something that it isn't.

Sometimes it's easy
to see a case
where there isn't one.

Chances are
Tooley just got hit
by a truck.

I know that.

No, no, you don't.

You're working
on a m*rder case.

I'm just poking around,
trying to fill up
an afternoon.

Fair enough.

RICHIE: Hey, Mr. Rockford,
can you come here a minute?

ROCKFORD:
Yeah.

What is that?

Looks like a commercial
air conditioning unit.

Look at this thing.

This thing could cool
a five-story building.

Well, what's it doing here?
I mean, an empty house

with an air conditioning unit
that's worth more

than the house
and property put together?

What is going on here?

Boy, it beats me.

They didn't put this in here
just to cool this house.

They must have
had some kind of

big piece
of electronic equipment
in here.

You want two more maybes?

Maybe Tooley isn't dead.
Maybe he's still alive.

Maybe.

How does all this
tie in with Steever
and Nardoni?

I don't know,

but I'm beginning to
get interested.

Look, Mr. Rockford,
I'd really like to
work on this with you.

I mean, what I mean is,

either you let me in
or I do it myself.

So I figure,
if we work together,

at the very least,
we can pick up
some coordination.

Maybe we should
spend some more time on it,

but we do things my way.
All right?

Hey, just lay it on the line.
I'm all yours, boss.

Great.

Morning.

How'd you sleep?

Lousy. And you?

Well, I wouldn't say lousy,
you know, fitfully.

Did you get to
the hall of records?

Oh, yeah.

Took me almost all morning,
but I finally dug it out.

The owner of the house
on Willis is
John David Russell.

All right, let's run him,
see what he's all about.

Hey, you know, when you
first said your name there
in the city council room,

you know,
it was like meeting someone
you'd always admired.

Come on, Richie,
put away your grease g*n.

I already told you
you could work with me
on this one.

Hey, no,
what the hey?

I mean,
I'm really honored.

You're a living legend.

Remember that
Financial Dynamics case

you were
involved in last year?
Front page of the Times.

You busted the crooks.

Oh, sure, they had you in
jail for a little while, and,

sure, you had to b*at
a B and E charge

and you ended up
doing 30 days...

Ninety.
Yeah, whatever.
That's not important.

You didn't do them.

Yeah, well...

Hey, listen, how do you get
an outfit like this
to run this stuff?

I mean, you'd think
that a credit company would
be pretty tight on security.

They are. That's why
I wait until noon
and run them myself.

You're kidding.

Yeah, well,
you got to cut corners,
you know.

Look,
we're going to
get in two minutes

what it'd ordinarily take
to get in two days.

Now you just stay with me
and don't say anything.

But...
Anything.

I don't know what's
gotten into Mort lately.

I mean,
only sending two men up
to do that patch through

on the computer
in Sacramento.

I mean,
that's a two-day job.

No per diem,
no expense money.

I don't know
what's gotten
into him lately.

I'm sorry I'm late, honey.
I got hung up
on the second floor.

The AG terminal
microspooled again.
That thing takes forever.

I'm sorry?

Maintenance check
on Mr. Davis' terminal.

He's getting
a ghost printout
of 50 lines per second.

Mr. Davis and his secretary,
they've both gone to lunch.

Fine. I'll just

take off the housing,
check the terminal gates,
see they're clean,

check that spooler.

But I didn't
have any word
you were coming.

Hey, fine with me.
I'm two hours late already.

You just be sure that
you tell Mr. Davis
that I came by. Okay?

Let's go, d*ck.

Wait a minute.

I suppose
if they called you...

They did call you,
didn't they?

I didn't come all the way
out here just to drink
a bottle of water, honey.

Well, go ahead.

Come on.

Just try to
stay with me,
will you?

Boy, you sure know
a lot about computers.

I don't know anything.
I just make all that stuff up.

Nobody around here
knows the hardware.

You're kidding.

Okay. Everybody in the country
is on at least



You'd be surprised
what you can learn by
just punching out a name on

one of these control banks.
It's spooky.

This is a whistle job.

You did five years
in the state prison?

What?
Yeah, it says here

that your credit is subnormal,
you did time in state prison,

and you owe
the bank $2,500.

Hey,
there's no need
to get sore.

"What the hey."

That ought to
take care of it.
What was wrong?

Well, you see,
the 1600 docking
transfer button

was jammed and it was
hitting against
the deactivator tripod.

But, you know,
like he says,

it's going to
be just fine now.

But you better tell Mr. Davis

to degauss every
six weeks from now on.

Degauss?
Sure.

That saves
the telemetric system.

You want to
come along, d*ck?

We got
a whole building
to service.

Oh, sure. I'm sorry.
Got to go. Bye-bye.
Bye.

You're right.
She doesn't have a clue.

What'd you find out?

I don't know.

It says here he has
a checking account
for $5,000 at First Federal.

They never heard of him.

How could that be?

Mistake, maybe.

Yeah, like the X-rays
at the coroner's office?

No, I think we ought
to go talk to
this Albert Steever.

All right.

You want to follow me?
Yep.

Look, this guy actually
lives in a trailer.

What does that mean?
Well, I don't know.

It just seems to me like
living in a trailer is
kind of the bottom.

I live in a trailer.

Well, you know,
not exactly the bottom.

More like the middle and,
of course, depending on
the kind of trailer,

it could be
the upper middle.

For instance,
I saw one in a magazine

a couple of months ago
that could expand out
into a 2,000-foot home.

Now, a guy living
in a place like that
would have the...

Just save yourself, son.
It's not important.

Look, it's better off
if only one of us
does the talking,

so you let me do it.
All right?

Hey, I'm just learning
and taking notes, sir.

[BEBE BARKING]

Yeah?
Hi, my name's Jim Rockford.

I'd like to talk to you
about the situation
with the city council.

Are you guys media?

Not exactly.

We're friends
of Joe Tooley's.

Well, I don't
believe much of what
anybody tells me anymore.

Hey, you can call
his wife Mary.
She knows us.

Look, I mean, I've had
a long day. I've been hassled
by everybody.

Would you guys
just come back later?

You know,
I think that Joe Tooley
may be alive.

Do you mind, son?

Listen, I'm sorry.
I'm just trying to
get the ball rolling.

Go ahead.

Well,
I don't think he's alive,
but why don't you come in.

Bebe, be quiet.

[BEBE BARKING]

STEEVER: Just calm down.
They're friends. Okay?

Bebe.

Shut up, you crummy dog.

All the time barking,
driving me crazy.

So what makes you think
that Joe Tooley may
still be alive?

Well, right now,
it's just a theory.

Well,
it's more than a theory,
Mr. Steever.

We actually have
some hard evidence on that.

You see, Joe Tooley had
a pin in his leg...
Mmm-hmm.

...and the morgue X-rays,

well, they show a man
without any pin in his leg.

Do you mind?
I'm sorry.

What we'd like to know is

what was Tooley working on
for you?

Well, Mr. Rockford,
he called me
the night he disappeared.

And he said he had
something so big
it would scare me to death.

And he had
a few more addresses

he said he wanted to
check and we'd meet

at his office in an hour.

I went down there
and he never showed up.

Four hours later, his body was
pulled out of a burning car
on the Ventura Freeway.

There's not much doubt
that Tooley's dead.

What if somebody else
was in the car?

Patch me through to 216.
We've got a fire burning here.

We have a kick on post 775.

Monitor request
patch through to 216.

MAN: Negative.


Tell post 775 to record
and transmit.

We'll respool and transmit.

That's a wilco.

Record and transmit.
We'll respool and retransmit.

This thing has got to
be stomped on.

And I need to talk to 216.
I've got a watch
and report priority.

This is an alert.

I'm sorry,
we're doing the best we can.

Okay, give me
a data transfer
on Jim Rockford

and run a make
on a tan Firebird,



That's a wilco.
Stand by.

[BARKING]
Okay, Bebe,
that's it.

If you can't behave,
you have to go
in the other room.

All right,
excuse me, gentlemen.

I'll tell you though,
ever since that day in 1974

when he had me arrested
the first time,

I've known
that Tom Nardoni was corrupt.

Now, you stay in there, Bebe.
Big people are talking.

I've never stopped trying
to prove it since then.

And I turned up
all kind of things,

illegal
campaign contributions,

but I didn't have
the right kind
of evidence, see,

and the witness I had
d*ed of some kind of

pulmonary infection,
so I never got to court.

[BEBE BARKING]

Well, there were
a half-a-dozen
other things, too.

Misuse of county funds.
Hold it a minute, Bebe.

You know,
billboard advertising
kickbacks.

Okay?

But nothing I could get
the D.A. To believe in.

Then about two years ago,
I thought I really had him.

I hired Garth McGregor.

Garth McGregor?
The Garth McGregor?
McGregor, D.C.B., Inc?

That's right.
See, this was before his
data control bank got so big.

I guess he's
into all kinds of,

you know, Telecredit and
computerized nonsense now.

Anyway, back then he was
just doing security work,

debugging political
campaign headquarters,
stuff like that.

You put Garth McGregor
on Councilman Nardoni?

That's right.
And, you know,

he couldn't turn up
any evidence
that Nardoni was crooked.

And he hit me
with a bill
you couldn't believe.

Anyway, right about then,
I started working
with Tooley just trying to

rehash the old evidence,
you know, prop it up,
find new witnesses.

Tom Nardoni does not
belong in city government.

And I'm going to get him,
Mr. Rockford.

I think Tooley was
onto something.

I don't know what it was,
but he sure sounded excited.

You ever hear of anybody
by the name of
John David Russell?

No.
He owns a house

at 1414 Willis Avenue.

Did Tooley ever mention
that address?

No. But he did say
that he wanted to check
a few more addresses

before we met that night.

Well, okay,
Mr. Steever.

I think we'll poke around
a little longer.

Okay.
But I'll tell you,

I think Joe is dead.

I knew him pretty well,
Mr. Rockford,

and he wasn't the kind of man
to sell out at any price.

He just lived too long
to sell out for money.

Yeah, well, something happened
to him, Mr. Steever,

and I'm beginning to believe
that Richie was right.

I think maybe we attended
somebody else's funeral.

We'll be in touch.

Garth McGregor.

That puts a real shark
in the goldfish bowl.

Yeah, I think he may be right.
Joe Tooley would
never sell out for money.

He must be dead.

A minute ago,
you thought he was alive.

So, I changed my mind.
I've got a right to
change my mind, don't I?

Don't you ever
change yours?

Never.

Why don't you ride with me?
We'll pick up your car later.

They're pulling out now.

I did try to get through
to McGregor,

but those clowns
down at D.C.B. Wouldn't
patch me through.

Rockford, 29 Cove Road.

All right,
I'll take care of it.
I can pull a few favors.

All right.
And I'll keep trying to
get through to Mr. McGregor.

Forget about McGregor.

He's probably out having lunch
with a computer.

All right,
I'll take care of it.

[TIRES SQUEALING]

Hey, get under. Go on, get.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

Hey, you're hit.

Come on, let's go.
You drive.

We've got to get close enough
to get a license plate.

[GROANING]

You missed them.

How could you miss them?

Gil, keep moving.
They're following us.

You all right? All right,
go get him. Go get him.
Yeah.

This is nuts.

I'm gonna let them get
close to us and you guys
blow those turkeys down.

Okay, Gil.

If I could just
read the plate.

Get over behind him
where I can see it.

E999288.

It's a county car.

Hold on!

All right.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

All right,
you did all right, son.

[CHUCKLES] Thanks.

Well, guess
things could be worse.

How?

I was just making small talk.

Just trying to fill
these first few
awkward moments.

You know,
I've been thinking,
Mr. Rockford,

and if you want my opinion,
we may be barking up
the wrong tree.

We're sure getting some strong
feedback from the wrong tree.

No, no. Let's just look at
the facts for a second.

Now, Joe Tooley
hated the freeways.

But, what the hey,
who doesn't, right?

I mean, many times I've been
caught in those 5:00
fender benders

and I swear I'm never
going to ride them again
and then

find myself late and I say,
"Okay, once more," right?

Richie...
No...

Let me finish. Okay?

Now, we've got the problem
of why would he be
on the freeway

without his glasses
when he had
such bad vision.

Now, in itself,
that would appear to be
very damning evidence, right?

It is.

Unless you view it

with the assumption that he
had two pairs of glasses and
his wife didn't know about it.

I was thinking about going
down to Mexico, myself.

You know, Joe's dead
and all our poking around and
maybe turning up something

is not going to put any more
candles on his cake, right?

Hey, hey, hey.
I'm not just folding here,
Mr. Rockford.

There's nothing wrong with
folding. I've gotten out of
some very touchy games

just by pitching them in.

No, I'm simply trying to
view this from a new
perspective, that's all.

Sure, sure.

Okay.

Now, we've got this thing
with the switched X-rays.

Which isn't such a big wow.

I mean, thousands of stiffs
a month going through
the county deep freeze.

Some guy comes back
from coffee, he chucks
the X-ray into the wrong file.

Richie...
Now we've got the house
on Willis Avenue.

Which in itself is
a very strange little item.

Of course, there's
all sorts of wackos
running around out there.

I knew this one guy,
he had electric trains.

I mean, he had electric trains
running all over his house.

He'd ask you if you
wanted a drink,

and if you said yes, he'd fire
up this little locomotive

and it went out over
the dining room trestle

and into the kitchen.

Then he'd go running
into the kitchen,

he'd fix you the drink
and he'd put it on
a little flat car

and send it back out to you.

Talk about fruitcakes,
he had this little

engineer's cap...

Boy, it just doesn't float,
does it?

It doesn't have to.

Look, son,
we're in stagnant water,
chest high.

I don't like it,
you don't like it.

But there's something
going on, right?

So either we can stay,

maybe end up like
Joe Tooley,

or we can find somebody
to feed the cat
and leave town.

Mexico, huh?

Cabo San Lucas.

Yeah, I know a guy
down there that
runs a fishing boat.

Oh, boy, will you look
what they did to my car?

This thing has
county corruption stenciled
all over it.

You know,
down Cabo San Lucas
this time of year,

they got broadbills that,

I'll tell you,
they run 100, 150 pounds.

We don't even know
where this jerk Nardoni
fits in.

He could put
a lot of pressure on us.

You get one of those
broadbills on a line and he's
up there on his tail

and wanna
shake that hook, man...

It's a feeling
like nothing else.

I like marlin fishing.

I say, it's...

Joe Tooley
was a good guy,
but he's dead.

And I don't think that he'd
want us going getting k*lled
trying to solve this thing.

I suppose we ought to
start at the county garage.

Yeah. They've got logs
for these kind of things.

Maybe we can get a look at it,
you know.

RICHIE: See,
she was being brought in

by the county medical examiner
in a county car.

I'm sorry, son,
I don't see what that
has to do with anything.

Well, see, I'm from the County
Medical Examiner's Office.

Right there. And, see,
we work with the
Disease Control Center in L.A.

For two semesters
and then they take us down
to Houston and we work

with NASA Disease Control
for two semesters.

I like those moon sh*ts.

Especially when they're
on the T and V.

Those fellows walking
around the moon saying,
"Roger, Houston."

It's a great show.

Well, everybody thinks so
until maybe we bring back
a bacteriological strain

that nobody can
defend against.

Yeah. Right. Bac...

Bacteriological strain,
that can be real deadly.

No kidding.
That's why that car should
have been given a DDW

and quarantined for 86 hours.

DDW?

Detergent Disinfectant Wash.
I don't even know how
these things can happen.

That's why we have to find
that guy who was driving
that car all this morning,

sh**t him over to
the ME's office for O and E.

Huh?
Observation and Evaluation.

Well, I'm not supposed to let
nobody see this log without
Mr. Fanderman's approval.

Look, Mr. Kenner,

the woman was picked up

off an airliner at the airport
at 10:30 this morning.

She was transported
in county car
license plate E999288.

She was diagnosed
by county staffers at 11:17

of a critical triganiseptic
pulmonary infection with
miracarnial complications.

Now, that was even before
Dr. Maxwell noted that

she had
a radiant discoloration

of the didactic
femoral appendages.

Of course, everybody knows
what that means.

Not me.

Plague, Mr. Kenner.
Middle European
viral incarsus.

The Black Death.

E... E what?

E999288.

[IGNITION BUZZING]

[KEYS JANGLING]

[BUZZING CEASES]

[EXCLAIMS]

Yeah, here it is.

That car was taken out
by a fellow named Russell.
David Russell.

All righty, we're going to
get on this right away.

Do you have
his address there?

Ah, no.

Okay. Listen, I'm going to
check it out right away and
I want to thank you very much.

You, there.
Where you going?

You're supposed to
check in here first.

It's okay. I'm on my way out.

Well, what are you doing?
You got no business in there.

It's all right.
I'm with Chase Food Products.

We're putting in the new
food machines downstairs
in the coffee room. Okay?

Oh.

Well, it's about time.

What'd you get?
I got another Russell.

John Russell?
No.

The guy who used the car
is named David Russell.

[PRINTER CLATTERING]

I got David Russell.

How you doing
on Russell David?

Yeah, well,
it's just coming in now.

Well,
I guess we ought to try
John David, David John,

all the other permutations
you can think of.

Okay.

I think it's a good idea.
But I think what
we ought to do is

use the same system that we...

What are you
doing in here?

Computer terminal repair.

We'll be through in a minute.

You want to patch me
through to Computer Central

and then we'll run
a scan printout.

Oh, right.
You want me to microspool

and see if we're
still ghosting
at 1,600 LPS?

Good idea.

What are you two
talking about?

That's computer talk.
It's probably
a little confusing.

That's gibberish.

We'll be through in a minute.

You're through right now,
mister.

I happen to have a degree
in computer technology.

Excuse me. Do you happen to
have a .38 caliber a*t*matic?

I beg your pardon?
He has
a .38 caliber a*t*matic.

Show him, Jack.

I never like to
pull this thing unless
I'm going to use it.

You want me to run
the rest of these?

Under the circumstances,
I think we can do it later.

You guys want to
move over there and
don't do anything dumb?

You know, I hate to
use shopworn phrases,

but do not leave this room
for 10 minutes.

My little .38?

Let me see those.

Hey,
they're all the same guy.

Yeah, except for the name
and the address and
the social security number.

Same banking references,
same $1,200 check guarantees.

Everybody's 35,
married, one child.
Mr. National Average.

Yeah.
John Russell lives on Willis

in an empty house with
no interior and a 1,500-pound
air conditioner.

Russell David lives on
Pinehurst and David Russell
lives on Moorpark.

You think we better go
check out those addresses?

You want to split up?

Do you?

Well, I don't want you
to think of me
as being a chicken.

Me, neither.

See if you can
get in the garage.

[BEEPING]

Same thing.

We have a kick
at 2365 Moorpark.

Look at this stuff, will you?

That's a relay station
in the Valley.

It's a trespass.

MAN: Thank you.
We've got people nearby.

We'll get somebody out there.

That's a wilco.

Holy mackerel.

Well, this explains
the air conditioning.

ROCKFORD:
Must be a relay station.

Oh, boy, we tripped off
an alarm somehow.
Let's get out of here.

[TIRES SQUEALING]

Headed south down the alley.
Cut them off. Come on!

Go with him, Smitty.

It was Rockford
and Brockelman, sir.
They b*rned this place.

Great. Just great.

I have Halsted coming in
from London, Gunderson from
Munich. They arrive today.

I'm sorry.
I know the timing is bad, sir.

All right. We'll have to
consolidate the operation.

They're obviously on to
the David John Russell code,

so neutralize all four shops
and reroute the feed through
the Menlo Atherton circuit.

Do it now.

I'm not sure we can
strike them all, sir.

You don't have any choice.
I'll get Nardoni on it.

If we have to
use county crews,
we'll just have to risk it.

I'll leave that to him.
What about those two guys?

I think somebody should
bring them down fast.

They already know
more than Tooley did.

We'll do that, B.J.

First they have to be
isolated, then debriefed.

[SIGHS]

Leave that to me.

You just close up
those four shops.

[WOMAN CHATTERING
O VER POLICE RADIO]

Thank you.
Thank you very much.

What's going on?

They say there's a gas leak.
We can't get through.

You think the
Sheriff's Department's
in on this?

I don't know
what's happening here,
so why do you keep asking?

Hey, what the hey?
You don't need to get sore.

You're the one
with 10 years experience.

You're the one wants to
run this whole thing.

So if I ask a question
now and again,

you don't have to
come all unstuck.

You need a mentor,
go back to college.

Find an old
criminology professor.

Tooley moved very quietly.

He was a cautious man.

This thing
snuffed out his light

before he could
send up a flare.

Hey, if you're scared,
take off. Go fishing.

You're darn right
I'm scared.

Anybody with normal reflexes
would be running like
a scalded dog right now.

You got computer people
who own houses full
of electronic cables

leading to who-knows-where.

You got a bunch of houses
in desolate no man's land

out near the airport,
you've got county equipment
running around everywhere,

county cops
running interference.

Listen,
if I ask you another question,

are you going to
take my head off?

No.

I'm sorry. Go ahead.

What do we do now?
Where do we go?

I don't know.

Why don't you come up
with something for a change?

You know,
I think we should risk it
and call the police.

Yeah, where's your phone?

It's in here
on the desk.

Right there.

Well, well...

How you doing down there,
Vern?

Getting any?

Oh, great.
What the heck do you think
you're doing here?

What am I doing here?

Is that what you're asking,
kid?

Is that what
you want to know?

Is that the question?

Yeah,
that's the question, Vern.

And you better be
quick about answering

or you and I are going to
have some trouble.

You know what this
kid is doing, Jimbo?

He's going after
old Joe's caseload.

Oh, come on!

I tell you something else.

I caught him trying to
sham my old friend,
poor old Marie Tooley.

Mary Tooley.

Well, Joe and I have never
been all that tight,

everybody knew that,

but if you toss out
the fact that

he had me arrested
in Tucson once

and you throw out the time
that he testified against me

in that insurance
recovery case,

I figure we didn't have
all that bad a relationship.

So I figure, why should I
let this little two-bit
junior G-man here

take the bread out of
what's-her-name's mouth.

Vern,
you're in here illegally.
You're breaking and entering.

Now, how would you like me
to take that beef downtown

to Lieutenant Chapman,
see how he deals with it?

Don't you thr*aten me
with a brown-shoe lieutenant.

You got more trouble
than me, boy.

Okay, Vern, I wanna know
what you're doing here.
Now, tell me.

Hey,
you're wrinkling the tie!

Spit it out,
or you and I are going to go
one round right here now.

All right. Let go.
Let go, will you?

I went to Tooley's office
to see if I could help,
you know?

ROCKFORD: Sure, sure, Vern.

Well, two guys jumped me.

At first,
I thought they were cops.

You know, they had short hair
and narrow ties.

Then they turned out
to be independents.

And they take me
over to this garage

and they give me
a lie detector test

and then this guy
in a black Italian car,

he was talking to me.
I couldn't see him.

Asked me all about Tooley.
Do I know what Tooley
is working on?

Do I talk to Tooley
and all that.

And then he peels out.

That still doesn't answer
why you're here.

Well, I figure the kid here
pilfered Tooley's caseload.

I figure the guy
in the black car maybe

was going to pay
for some information,

so I poked around.

Maybe I make some dough,
maybe not.

Now, look... Look,
we're not joined at the hip.

I don't owe you
or that child star anything.

It's a dog-eat-dog business
and no dog is gonna eat me.

Okay, Vern.
If I see you,

if I hear about you,
if I even read
your name in the paper,

I'm gonna put a bad hitch
in your get-along. Now, go.

Tough guys.
Everybody's a tough guy.

I'm not.

Who knows what
the hell you are, kiddo.

[DOOR CLOSING]

Do you know
who that reminds me of?

Who?

Garth McGregor.

Particularly that car-to-car
polygraph test.

That's just the kind of
gadgety thing
he'd go crazy for.

Last time I heard of him,
he was trying to set up
some kind of

information center
along the lines of ASPIC.

ASPIC?
It's an acronym

for Atlanta Southern
Personal Information Center.

It's a conglomeration
of computers.

He was trying to set one up
in Massachusetts and then
he got run out

because of some
local ordinance.

Well, what is it?
Some kind of
private computer center?

Well, I don't know what it is,
exactly.

But there was a big flap
about it in Massachusetts
and then all of a sudden,

overnight,
somebody slammed the door.

It just smells
of powerful people

and one hell of an invasion
of personal privacy.

Hey, wait a second.
Wait a second.
Hang on here.

Now, Steever hired
Garth McGregor

to find out if
Supervisor Nardoni was
crooked, right?

Now, suppose McGregor
turned something up?

I mean, something that
would really squeeze Nardoni.

Wouldn't that give him the
leverage he needed to set up
his computer center here?

It's not bad. Not bad.

Yeah, it sure fills in
a lot of the variables.

McGregor tells Steever
that he found nothing,

then he turns right around
and blackmails Nardoni

and gets county assistance
in setting it up.

Yeah. Of course,
it doesn't explain the houses
or the computer people.

But that's not bad.

That's not bad.
Good boy, Richie. Good boy.

Hey, didn't you forget
the pat on the head?

Oh, hey, well...

No, no.
That's okay. That's okay.

When you get a little older,
I'll call you Pop.

Probably won't
bother you, either.

Now look who's getting sore,
huh?

No, I'll call my father,

tell him to move my address,
then I'll call the police.

I got a friend there,
Sergeant Becker.

Oh, yeah, I got
a police contact, too.
Sergeant Coopersmith.

We better call him, too.

Yeah, well, we better hope
that this fix isn't in
all the way to the police.

WOMAN ON RADIO:
All units, all frequencies,

stand by for felony warrant
on two male Caucasians.

Pick up and hold
for questioning
James Rockford.


black and brown.

Suspect last seen driving
a tan 1977 Firebird,



Also wanted,
Richard T: Brockelman.



Known to drive a 1965
red Mustang convertible,
Edward Tom Union 887:

Both suspects wanted
in felony B and E:

Both suspects have extensive
police records and may be
armed and dangerous.

Thank you.

You know, Garth, one of these
days you're going to tire
of all this hardware.

Or, perhaps,
it will tire of you.

There is nothing wrong with
precautions. I support that.

Yes, of course you do.

Drink, gentlemen?

Thank you.
A touch of Scotch.

Not for me, thank you.

Ice?
No, thanks.

So, Garth,

how is the project coming?

Are we still going to
see completion schedules
as discussed?

Well, we're a little
behind schedule, Franz,

but nothing we can't make up.

I understand
your county supervisor

has lost control
of the environmentalists.

Not so.

Now, gentlemen,
why don't we just
enjoy a drink, huh?

You sure you won't have...

No, thank you.

Well, a little later on
we'll have some dinner.

I mean, I just hate to
plunge right into this thing.

After Massachusetts,

I always felt that
Los Angeles was a mistake.

Northern Scotland would have
been much more suitable.

There's nothing
going wrong here.

You'll see when we
get out there tomorrow night.
This location is perfect.

You are running a circus
out there with those lots.

I prefer quiet.

When things get in the papers,
I sleep badly.

That is a necessary
smoke screen.

I think when you see
what we've done,
you'll be very pleased.

Well, we've already
sold our services to

several international banking
corporations

and one Middle European
government.

Now, we must deliver
on schedule.

How are things going
with Interpol?

HALSTED: When they see what
we're doing, they'll change
their minds and join us.

After all, they're running
a company just like we are.

Frankly, I don't think
they can stand
the competition.

Still, I wish
we had them with us.

They will be.

You just get the location
ready. Make sure that
this thing stays quiet.

We must remain unknown
for fear of public outcry

or even
governmental intervention.

Yes, at least for
the first two or three years.

After that, I don't think
it will matter much.

[MAN CHATTERING ON RADIO]

Hey, what's that?

Oh, that's
a police band radio.

My Uncle Hermie gave it to me
for my birthday.
I hardly ever listen to it.

Does it got Tac-2?

Yeah. Right there...

[MAN CHATTERING ON RADIO]

Why don't we just
show up late?

If Becker and Coopersmith are
sandbagging us,

we ought to pick up
some chatter on this thing.

Hey, they said they just
wanted to meet and talk.

Listen, Richie, the same thing
that makes cops wear
gray suits and white socks

makes them itch when there's
a warrant on the board.

Let's just play it safe. Okay?

Okay.

Yeah, well, this...
This looks good.

Can I ask you something?

Sure, sure.

Well, you see,
my dad wanted me to
join an insurance company.

My mother wanted me
to be an engineer.

And, you know,
it's kind of hard to
disappoint them.

I mean, how do you tell them
you want to be a private eye,
right?

So what I want to know is,
I mean, your dad understands,
doesn't he?

Rocky? Oh...

Yeah, sure,
he understands, sort of.

I mean, do you ever
go to him with stuff?

I mean, the thing of it is,
I can't go to my dad
and sound things out

'cause he hates what I do.

Well, that's a shame.

You know, it's always good to
have somebody you can
talk things over with.

Do you do that with Rocky?

Rocky?
Yeah. I mean,
like discuss cases.

You know, I used to
do that with Joe Tooley.
But now he's gone.

And I...

I just think that sometimes
it's good to sit down

and talk things out like
you and I have been doing.

Yeah, well, I...

I run some of this stuff
by Rocky.

He has his own ideas
on most of it.

Like what?

Oh, you know...

No, no.
I'd really like to hear.

I mean, what kind of advice
does he give you?

Oh...

"Life is like a red Ford."
That's one.

And, "It's better off
keeping that Ford in neutral

"than revving your engine
all the time."

What's that got to do
with being a private eye?

Nothing, nothing.

It doesn't have anything
at all to do with it.
It's just something he said.

But I'll tell you
what does.

You know, it doesn't make
any difference what

anybody else thinks
about what you do.

It's what you think about
what you're doing
that's important.

Oh, yeah.
Well, I really love it.
I really do.

You know, even now,
with all this
crazy stuff going on.

If you think about it,

we're the only two guys
who have a chance to
uncover something really big.

If you're happy with
what you're doing,
that's the important thing.

BECKER ON RADIO:
Hey, Coopersmith,
you in place?

COOPERSMITH ON RADIO:
Yeah, Den.

Hey, look, just lay back.
We got this
whole area blocked off.

Where are they?
They said 2:00.

Boy, I hate doing this.

You think I like it?

But we got a
county warrant here, Dennis.

What are we
supposed to do with it?

Why don't you sit on it?

Let's get out of here.

Hey, Jim,
is that you, buddy?

Is that you, Rich,
you little schtunk?

[TIRES SQUEALING]

Let me talk to Halsted
and Gunderson.

I can convince them.

Go home, Tom.
Leave this to me.

What about Rockford
and Brockelman?

Why don't you hire
a couple of maintenance crews

to go after them
with a street sweeper?

A nice, quiet little k*lling
that shouldn't cause
too much of a stir.

Look,
you were unavailable.

I got the call.
I figured something
had to be done.

We can't put them
out of action until we know
who they've talked to.

It's like cancer, Tom.

You can cut out
the malignancy,

but if you don't
remove the lymph gland,

you haven't solved
your problem.

Now, listen...

I can push
the county government
around just so far.

I've already got
a sheriff's department
deputy commander

asking questions
about some of the things

I've done
on my own authority.

Now, these people
will go along,

up to a point,

but they're beginning to
put two and two together.

Go home
and sweat it out, Tom.

And if you make
one move without
checking with me first,

I'm gonna send some
very incriminating stuff
to people in high places.

You won't like it, Tom.

Goodbye.

This Rockford
really gets around.

His loan record stinks.

Look here, morals complaint.
Is that ours?

Oh, yeah.
That's ours. I...

I stuck it in there through
the Denver computer system.

We have a witness
to back it up.

I figured maybe we'd want
the bank to cancel out
on his house loan.

Maybe squeeze him.

There's another ringer
here.

Let's see...
Right here, line 53.

as*ault complaint, not filed.

Very good.

That ties in with these
legitimate arrests.

Yes, sir, Mr. Rockford
looks very unsavory.

The other one?

Twenty-two?

He's just a kid.

Why, didn't anybody
tell you that?

No.

No. No one bothered
to tell me that.

Yeah, we got into his juvenile
package. Punched it out
at the Menlo Atherton bank.

Now, who knows where that
system hooks into the local
police computer.

To the computer
on Pinehurst.
At least it used to.

What an imposing kid
this Brockelman is.

Broke the windows of
a greenhouse when
he was 15, arrested,

charges dropped when
his father agreed to pay.

A real John Dillinger.

How much further?

It's not far.

We've got Rockford's house
covered.

We'll go through it,
set up a bug
and eye surveillance.

Maybe we'll get lucky
and pluck him quick.

Where is it, B. J?
There's no house here.

Just a minute.
It's supposed to be
out here somewhere.

I'll find out.

Oh, I'm sorry, sir.
I guess we blew it.

We got here
and Rockford's place
is gone.

You work for me, mister?

Yes, sir, Mr. McGregor.

Dan Baker. Just in
from the Houston office.

Didn't anyone ever teach you
how to give a report?

Yes, sir.
Then give it properly!

Yes, sir.

Suspect's dwelling
has been located

at 29 Cove Road for the last
three and a half years,

according to persons
in attendance here.

An old man known to be
suspect Rockford's father,
picked up the dwelling

and towed it away by semi
about two hours ago.

Just how do you tow away
a house with a truck?

Suspect's dwelling
is a trailer, sir.

It's a 50-foot house trailer.
It's on wheels.

I guess we're having
breakdowns everywhere.

Well, it wasn't
on the computer, sir.
We thought it was a residence.

I want this guy found, B.J.,
you got that? I want him!

Within the hour, sir.

Come on, Baker,
I'll ride with you.

All right, you fellows.

Where's the other fellow?
I don't know.

He got up
about an hour ago.

Funny kid, ain't he?

You know what he was
telling me last night?

What?

He was telling me that
he is a private investigator.

Did you ever hear of anything
more ridiculous in your life?

What would a nice kid
like that be doing getting
into something like that?

I don't know.
Just for the heartache,
I guess.

And maybe because
it's just great to

get up in the morning
and have the whole world
laughing at you.

Well, you don't have to
get sore.

You know what
I was thinking...
Look, Rocky,

I really don't think
Richie would make much
of a truck driver, huh?

I mean, he's already got
a red Ford parked right there

with a lot of mileage
on the old dash.

So let's just spare him
that little life lesson, okay?

You ain't fooling me at all,
sonny.

You're not making me
think that we hauled

this trailer plumb up here
just to get closer to
some rainbow trout.

We hauled it up here
'cause you're hiding out.

Okay, so I'm hiding out.

Now, where's my trout?

You didn't catch him yet.

You mean you didn't
catch my breakfast?

No, siree, I didn't
catch your breakfast.

I'm gonna make you slow down
some way if I got to
put a rod in your hand,

turn you around and shove you
toward the water like I did
when you was a little kid.

That's what I'm gonna do.
Yes, sir, that's it.

Where's the fly?

Morning.

Yeah. How you feeling?

I like to run in the morning.

Makes me feel great.

I just get
all out of breath.

Yeah, well,
you get used to it.

You know,

it seems different
this morning.

Less threatening.

You know, Richie,
I've been thinking.

There's a couple of moves
we haven't tried yet.

What are you talking about?
The housing development
or those lots

or whatever they are?
Yeah, that's one.

The other's Tooley's office.

What do you mean?

Well, how did those
two guys know that

Vern St. Cloud was
in Tooley's office
going through the files?

I don't know.

Well, I was in the place

and I don't think
anybody was watching.

But then I was only in there
for about four minutes.

Let's say that Vern was
in for 10 or 15.

So?

Well, I think McGregor's
got the place bugged.

He is crazy about bugs.

You figure that
one of us should go
into the office

and bang the drawers
around a little bit and wait
for the sky to fall in?

Not one of us. Me.

You're the one that wanted
to go to Cabo San Lucas,
remember?

I changed my mind.

I'm entitled to change my mind
every now and then.

I'd just like to know
what McGregor's up to.

I have a hunch
that if he grabs me,

I'm gonna learn a lot more
than Vern St. Cloud did.

Maybe we could put McGregor
behind a kidnapping charge.

That'll loosen him up.
Let's face it, son,

things couldn't
get much worse.

We're alive
at Tooley's office.

[BANGS]

[THUDS]

Someone moving around,
using the phone.

This is Jim Rockford.
Would you tell
Miss Davenport I called?

No, no.
No, I'll call her back.
Thank you.

[SLAMS DRAWER]

Guy named Rockford.

MAN ON RADIO:
Record and re-transmit.
Priority One. Notify 216.

That's a wilco.

Well, maybe not, Joe.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

[GRUNTS]

You guys ought to try
swinging in on knotted ropes.

B. J: Very funny.

Go through him, Smitty.

Come on,
take it easy.

Shut up.
Where's Brockelman?

It's not my turn
to watch him.

I can see you're gonna
keep us in stitches.

Well, I try to stay bright
in spite of the company.

Let's go.

Mr. Rockford,
you and I seem to be having
a little misunderstanding.

I thought maybe
we ought to meet,

try to get it
straightened out.

Oh, I think it's more
than a misunderstanding.

It's more like kidnapping,
illegal detention, as*ault.

I think maybe
what we're talking about

is more in the line
of occupational hazard.

I see no reason to get
civil authorities involved

in what is essentially
a personal matter.

Well, you better go get
fitted for a new melon

'cause right about now
I have the urge to pin
that list on your shirt.

Come now, Mr. Rockford,
let's talk business.

I want to find out
what it is you think
is going on here,

what you've told
other people.

I'll bet.

I want to ask you
a few questions. Possibly
give you a polygraph test.

And once I'm certain that you
and I have no secrets
from each other,

I'm sure you and I will be
able to make some sort of deal
suitable to each other.

Possibly employment contract,
cash, whatever you like.

Any kind of a deal you want.

Wealth and riches in return
for a little honesty.

That sounds great.

Of course, I wouldn't want to
end up with Tooley's deal.

It's kind of hard to
enjoy wealth and riches from
the inside of a brass bottle.

Mr. Tooley's
a good case in point.

You see, Mr. Tooley is
the other side of the coin.

Mr. Tooley was convinced

that he could destroy
my project when, in fact,

in the long run,
it destroyed him.

Then he is dead.

Only not from that
automobile accident.

Well, all right,
as long as we're going to
have an honest relationship,

why don't we start
with Tooley's death?

Indeed.

That's a good place to start,

because I do want to
impress upon you

that you are dealing
with something
way over your head.

And then, having told you,

I want you to understand,
Mr. Rockford,

why I must have the
proper kind of leverage
against you

or you simply
will not be with us.

"Not be with us."

Don't you have
a cute way of putting it?

Dead, whacked, ripped.

I'll feed you
to the sharks, mister.

How did Tooley get
"not with us"?

Who was really in that car?

Oh, some poor slob
on the Ventura Freeway,

b*rned beyond recognition,
hit by a gas truck,
incinerated.

So where's Tooley?

He's currently involved
in the citrus industry.

He's fertilizing a grove
in Northern California.

Somebody in the
coroner's office switched
the fingerprint card

and switched Tooley's prints
for the b*rned John Doe.

That way nobody could
claim it was anything
but a freeway accident.

Would you put these on,
please?

Oh, I'd rather not.

I always do badly on tests.

Come on, come on.

You're not going to let me
walk away from here,

no matter what kind of
leverage I give you.

So I figure the best thing
I can do here is just give you
a few sleepless nights.

What if I told
the newspapers, huh?

What if I had a friend on
the Organized Strike Force?

Here's a good one,
Mr. McGregor.

How about the old letter
to the attorney

to be opened only
in the event of my death?

I don't think you really know
enough to do any damage.

Okay, okay. Let's just see
what I do know, huh?

You are opening up
some kind of
computer center...

Private computers,
information for sale.

On a national or maybe
even an international scale.

You got your hooks
into Tom Nardoni.

He's your county connection,

only he's beginning to
unravel like a cheap sweater,

which means he's probably
going into the citrus business
himself.

You're in the
computer business
in a big way already.

You're tapped
into 15 or 20 computers.

You're in the
private information market,

personal secrets for sale.

With your computers
in the circle,

you can add or subtract
from somebody's credit rating.

You can infer
somebody's a deadbeat,

you can stomp somebody
into the ground

using computer technology
as a club.

How am I doing?

To my knowledge,
none of this is illegal.

Well, it sure as hell
ought to be.

Where do you go from there?

Private security companies
with private police powers?

Companies who employ
ex-cops and FBI agents?

What are you up to,
Mr. McGregor?

B. J!

Welcome to the
citrus industry,
Mr. Rockford.

Let's go, Davey.

Hey, hey, I wasn't finished.
I was still looking
to make a deal.

It's made. Shut up.

You know,
this is not really necessary.

Perhaps we could
get back in touch
with Mr. McGregor.

You see,
I was only trying to build
a negotiating platform there.

I think he took it
the wrong way.

There's no need
for this sort of extreme...

I really hate a talky hit.

[HELICOPTER WHIRRING]

[THUDDING]

Probably the luggage.
Check it out.

[SHOUTS]

[GRUNTS]

Jim!

Nice work, son.

Go up to 10,000 feet.



You heard me,


Jim, I got their handcuffs.
I handcuffed them
to the luggage rack.

Okay,
keep your eye on him.

See those two hills
over there?

That's Deadrock Canyon.

Head for them.

We're going to set down
on the other side.

Where does that road lead
out of Deadrock Canyon?

I'm not saying a thing.
You want to know,
take a look.

I got the pilot hooked up.

Everybody's secure in there.

Not too happy,
but secure.

How you coming
with that thing?

You got everything you need
off of here?

Okay, I guess.

I wired in
a sending unit.

Here, it's gonna be heavy.

Oh, what the hey.
Let me carry it.

You got yourself a deal.

That's not too bad.
Maybe we'll take turns.

Oh, yeah.

ROCKFORD: You know, Richie,
I've got a hunch about
those building sites.

RICHIE:
You think they're phonies?

Well,
they're too public.

The environmentalists
have been crawling
all over this place.

Fire station right down
that road, about a mile.

There's a lot of traffic
going up that
little road there.

Where does that go?

Think maybe somebody
should go up there
and find out what's going on?

One of us is going to
have to be a scout
and the other the CP.

If I get in trouble,

I'm gonna need you to pull in
some help with that thing.

Yeah, well, then maybe
we better take it along
with us.

You see,
the thing of it is,
is I want to go along.

I mean, I'm in it this far.
I did pull you
out of the helicopter.

Yeah. I've got to admit,
you've come in a lot handier
than I would've expected.

I guess people underestimate
you all the time,
don't they, son?

Oh, yeah,
I count on it.

[ENGINES RUMBLING]

All right,

we'll wait till dark then
we'll take a little hike
up that road.

Bingo.

Looks like
an old m*ssile silo.

Do you see
what I see?

Don't point.

Good.
I see you got it.

[MACHINE WHIRRING]

That's Garth McGregor.
Which one?

ROCKFORD: Brown suit.

I tell you, it won't do.
It simply won't do.

Well, I told you
I installed it right.

The computers still have
the manual overrides for the
counter-spun serving system.

Well, it won't work.
Not until you switch to


Now, that won't be
in place until the...

Excuse me. Can I see your
security passes, please?

Sure.
No.

Security break, Tunnel 1.
We need some help.

Hey, what happened there?

ROCKFORD:
Turn on that radio, son.

Calling all police,
all fire units

in Deadrock Canyon.
There's a monstrous fire.

Get all the police,
call the fire units.

MAN ON RADIO:
Roger. We're on our way.

Guard. Guard.

I caught one of them.
Here, you hold this one.

I saw another one
over by the fence over there.

Go, son! Go!

[SIRENS WAILING]

Calmly, gentlemen.
Calmly.

I told you, Garth, about...
Tried to get out of it.

Come on.

[TIRES SQUEALING]

[CHATTERING O VER RADIO]

OFFICER:
What the hell's going on here?

[MEN CHATTERING]

Shall we introduce ourselves?

Officer,
I put in the call.

There wasn't an actual fire,
but there's been
an actual crime.

ROCKFORD: Let's talk
to them up there.
Excuse me.

In a surprise move today,
Supervisor Thomas Nardoni
resigned

and filed a statement
with the D: A:,

resulting in the arrest
of Garth McGregor

for the m*rder
of Joseph Tooley,
a local private detective.

It was all due
to the efforts
of one Albert Steever,

a long-time opponent
of the county supervisor.

[WHIMPERING]
Look, Bebe.

All right.

Yeah, thank you. It's going
very well. I would like to
make a statement.

Of course, I'm very
delighted with what's
happened here today.

However, I think that
we should put out some
credit to Mr. Jim Rockford

and Mr. Richard Brockelman.

That's our boy.
That's nice.

Two close friends
of Joe Tooley's

who pushed this case
forward to its conclusion.

Thank you and goodbye.

You're going to be a star.

Oh, there's Coopersmith.

We're still trying to unravel
exactly what was going on.

It appears to be that
Mr. McGregor and the two men
who were arrested with him

were attempting to
set up a secret system
of computers

which would carry
the personal records

of some 200 million Americans.

When we get more,
we'll issue
a further statement.

Boy, I got to tell you,
you got to admire
that Coopersmith.

He could find a news crew
blindfolded.

Arrested with Mr. McGregor
were Derek Halsted
and Franz Gunderson,

both heads of large
European security firms.

It gives one pause.

It's one thing for our
government to have us
categorized and computerized,

but why does a company
install a secret underground
computer center

right in the middle
of one of the world's
largest cities?

Why indeed.

Here, here.

Elsewhere city planners
discuss new ways to...

You really ought to
be proud of yourself,
Mr. Steever.

I mean, four years
and you stuck with it.

If it hadn't been for you,
they'd have gotten
away with it.

Well,
we all lost a friend.

You all better come on back
and start on this fish.

You ought to be proud, too,
Mr. Rockford.
Stay here, Bebe.

I mean, you should
have seen Jim there.
He was magnificent.

Of course, what the hey,
I had a little to
do with it myself.

It was a team effort
all the way.

How about you, Rocky?
What do you think?

Well, I don't pretend to
understand why you fellows

like to go around
private eyeing,

but I will say, when
Mr. Steever came on that TV
and mentioned your names,

I was proud of both of you.

Well, looks like
you've found a place
to come and talk, son.

Oh, what the hey, Pop.