Prime Suspect

You know, you don't have to talk about what happened, Detective,

or about how you feel. It's just, uh...

The only mandatory thing here is your presence.

I took a shower that morning at home,

before I went to work,

and I left my underpants

on the floor in the bathroom.

You know, my mom lives in the same building,

different apartment, and she had my laundry basket.

I mean, I would've put them in it,

but she had it so... I left them there.

And I'm in the woods,

this guy's shooting at us, and I'm thinking...

Whoever comes to my apartment after I'm dead

to get my... effects...

Is gonna see my underpants on the floor,

and they're gonna think, "that's what he does.

Who he is."

I'm thinking, why did I leave them there?

Stupid, right?

Worrying about my dun-dun-dahs on the floor.

I'm--I'm sorry, your what?

My, you know...

My briefs, you know?

Dun-dun-dun-daaaah!

- Detective Timoney. - Yes.

Detective Velerio here.

Witnesses are all here in the dining area,

victim's in the basement. Basement stairs are that way.

- Who called it in? - Anonymous.

I hate that guy.

Hey, there, miss Patty. Hey.

Ooh. I hear male victim of homicide

in a restaurant basement in Chinatown,

I do not picture a white businessman.

Well, .44 through the stomach

and out through the spine, it looks like.

We got a lot of little bits of bone on the floor,

and the slug was in the wall.

I.D.? Cell phone?

- Right there. - You got it.

- Lemme see the phone. - Yeah.

Oh, we got a family man maybe.

Hmm. James Paget is the family man's name.

Lives off of 10th Avenue around near Manhattan Plaza.

He eating here with his family,

- or what? - They're not here if he was.

So what's he doing down in this neighborhood?

- Or down in this basement? - Well, although I don't know

what he's doing down in this basement,

they got a poker game here. On the second floor.

Maybe he was here for that.

By which you mean the type of poker game

that seeks to advance and profit from unlawful gambling--

- Yeah. - Poker game?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Man, if I had that kind of scratch,

I'd be right up there with him.

In a hypothetical world that is not this one,

- because that would be illegal, Janie... - Come on.

- Uh, prints and blood work. - Got it.

Please.

Wait. Do you hear that?

Don't hear anything.

Exactly.

That seems not good.

- What? - The hell happened?

I talked to all the witnesses I could

before everyone just left.

Once he showed up, they couldn't get out of here fast enough.

Who's he?

Hello, there. I'm Detective Timoney.

And you would be...

Richard Zee-hoo,

- Attorney at Law. - Close.

Uh, Zhou, legal counsel to Mr. Ma.

He's the owner of the restaurant.

Uh-huh. Does Mr. Ma need legal counsel?

I mean, I'll just tell you right up front,

the first thing I'm gonna ask him

is why there's a dead body in his basement.

So that can't be too surprising.

Well, my number's there, so...

If you need to talk to Mr. Ma, of course I'll be happy

to arrange for him to come to the precinct.

Is there any other assistance I can offer at this time?

Well, yes. I've been hearing as soon as you showed up,

all of our potential witnesses took off.

So did you say something to them perhaps?

Oh, of course not. Now please excuse us, Detective.

'Course not...

That's Richard Zhou? Never actually seen his face.

Why, is he somebody?

He's the lawyer for the president

of the Pinyin Benevolent Association.

George Lin.

- Is he somebody? - In this neighborhood?

He's the somebody.

Well, okay, like... He's a mobster, or--

A benevolent mobster, apparently, Ev.

Guys, it's ringing.

Uh-uh-uh, no, no, no, no, please.

Please, you answer it. If that's the wife

and she hears my voice first, she's gonna think

he's been having an affair, and it's a whole thing.

Right, sure. My voice will just tell her he's dead.

Yep.

Hello.

I just... Had this feeling.

So--but we didn't call the police till midnight,

and you're telling me he was dead by then.

I don't--I'm sorry, I don't understand

what happened to James.

You said he was shot, but where?

- Chinatown. - What--what does that mean?

Where in Chinatown? What does that mean?

Uh, in a building where they were running

an illegal poker game, and...

We're looking into whether your husband

might have been one of the players.

He wasn't.

I don't know what he was doing there, but it wasn't that.

So he didn't gamble at all.

Not any more. Not for years.

He did, though.

And how many years is "not for years"?

No, I am telling you he didn't do that any more.

Okay, I-I always knew when he was lying before.

- I would've known now. - Wait--

I'm sorry, what do you mean "lying about it"?

You mean he'd fallen off the wagon before,

started gambling again and tried to hide it from you?

Is how I know it's different this time.

What's, uh, Mr. Paget's partner's name again?

Walt? Could you write down his name

- and number for us, ma'am? - Listen to you.

I am telling you that he was not down there for gambling, okay?

Whyever he was down there, I don't know.

It is your job to figure out another reason, isn't it?

Okay? And he bet on horses. He hated cards.

Horses was always his thing.

He didn't wanna sit around with other people

and talk to them when he bet, okay?

And if he was gonna put us through that pain again,

it wouldn't have been to play poker.

No, please. He was such...

It cannot be what it looks like.

It's okay. Mrs. Paget, we're very sorry for your loss,

and I promise you we're gonna look

into everything that you told us--we are.

But you also have to think about the possibility

that we may come back with something that, uh...

- You're not gonna wanna hear. - You won't.

You won't. And i-i-if you do,

it means you failed.

Prime Suspect 01x11 "The Great Wall of Silence" Original airdate: December 22, 2011

So between you and Mr. Paget, who did what around here?

Well, I was basically the design guy.

James did all the heavy lifting,

and the approvals, the financing.

You know, getting the building actually built.

Did you see Mr. Paget

- the night he was killed? - We were here.

There was a zoning variance we were dealing with.

And how late did it go till?

Till about 8:00.

Then I asked him if he wanted to grab a beer,

and he said he couldn't, and I, uh...

Something seem like it was going on with him, sir?

- Is that it? - Look,

I don't wanna be that person that says anything,

'cause that's not right with me.

That doesn't seem right.

Mr. Paget's wife had mentioned to us

that he had had issues with gambling, sir.

Look, I know James for 20-some-odd years,

and it never infected anything that was going on around here.

But it's an addiction, right?

And it's something that you're born with.

It never goes away completely. You got it for life.

But he was doing really well for a long time.

So I convinced myself that it was nothing.

So whatcha thinking?

I'm thinking that Mrs. Paget's not gonna be too happy with us.

And, uh, I need to stop at the dry cleaners

- before I forget. - Forget what?

My dress for the, uh, racket.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait.

So not only am I getting a major award tonight,

but you're gonna be wearing a dress while I do it?

- Uh, yeah. - Whoo!

- Short? - No.

- Heels? - Yes.

- Arms? - Maybe.

Whoo, I like it.

Detective of the month. It's just a plaque from

the Retired Detectives' Association,

so have some perspective, will you?

Well, I'm gonna have it made into a belt buckle.

So you get ready for that.