Narrow Margin

- How long will you be? - Oh, I don't know. Uh, not very long.

Carol?

- Yes. Are you Michael? - Yes.

Nice to meet you.

- Am I late? - Not at all.

- Brian was right. You are lovely. - Oh, thank you.

Uh, our dinner reservations aren't until 9:00.

- Would you like a drink? - Sure.

You didn't have to drive. I'd have been happy to pick you up.

No, no, that's okay. Sometimes I have to work late.

Anyway, I prefer to drive myself.

In case you need a quick getaway?

I know how you feel. Blind dates can be a bit grim sometimes.

Ever since Brian joined the firm, he's been trying to marry me off.

- Are you divorced? - Uh, widower.

- I'm sorry. - No, that's all right.

What kind of work do you do?

I work with a publishing company. I'm one of many editors.

Believe me, it's no big deal.

I read manuscripts and take a lot of work home at night.

I've known Connie for years.

After my divorce, I think she took me on as something of a project.

She thinks I work too hard.

I hope you don't mind my asking, and, believe me, I'm thrilled that you did...

but why did you accept a blind date?

I don't know.

You know, Connie was seeing Brian...

and the three of us had been out to dinner a couple of times.

He seemed like a really nice guy.

And one clay Connie said that the senior partner in Brian's law firm was coming to Los Angeles...

and that you were some kind of heavy-duty lawyer...

supposed to be a really nice guy.

I said I was busy. And she said, what did I have to lose?

The worst thing that could happen is I'd have a nice meal in a good restaurant.

Well, your friend's right about one thing: Dinner will be very good.

- Mr. Tarlow? - Yes.

- Message for you, sir. - Oh, thank you.

Excuse me.

I'm sorry but I have to go upstairs and make a phone call.

- Anything serious? - No, no, no. Just an anxious client.

Would you like to come up? I won't be very long.

I know it sounds fishy. I feel really awkward.

If you prefer to stay down here, it's fine. I'll just be a little while.

No, it's all right. I'll come.

Thank you.

- Wow, this is beautiful. - Yes, it is, isn't it?

Have a look around. I'll just be a minute.

Yeah, hi, it's Tarlow. Is he there?

Are you sure? I got a message to call him.

Tell him I returned his call, okay? Yeah, yeah, thank you. Okay. Bye.

Leo?

I just got a message to call you.

Hello, Michael.

- I thought you were in New Orleans. - Yeah, but...

I decided to come home a day early.

Well, I wish you would have let me know. I would have given you a call.

No, there's no need for that now, is there?

- You gonna invite us in? - Uh, yeah. Sure. Excuse me.

Wootton, this is Michael Tarlow, my lawyer.

Michael, Jack Wootton.

How do you do?

Well, uh, sit down. Can I get you something to drink?

No, thank you.

- So, I take it you've been busy. - Yeah.

- What brings you to Los Angeles? - I'm just closing the Gallway deal.

I should have papers on your desk by the end of the week.

You didn't have to come all the way out here just for that.

- You could have clone it by phone. - Well, you know how it is.

When you do things face to face, it's just a lot clearer.

1 agree.

You seem edgy, Michael. That's not like you.

No, I'm fine.

So, what can 1 do for you?

I have a problem. Need your advice.

Now, that's what you pay me for.

Yes, that's right. That's what I pay you for.

There's a man who works for me.

- He's close to me. I trusted him. - So, what's the problem?

The problem is that he got himself into some financial trouble.

He made some investments.

He leveraged himself up to his eyeballs.

The investments didn't work out, he got himself in serious debt.

Now, this man didn't come to me and tell me his problem.

He didn't come to the man who trusted him and ask for help.

What he did was, he just took my money. Took a lot of it.

He was very clever, so it was very hard to find out about.

So, I need your advice, Michael. What should I do with this man?

- Leo... - What do you think?

- What would you do? - Now, you-you don't understand, Leo.

- I understand. - No, I can explain it. I can.

Good.

I would like you to.

It's not what you think. I would never...

Please, Michael. Have enough respect for me not to lie.

I. I was desperate, Leo.

I took some funds from the Con-Amakgate account, I...

To cover a loan. I...

I was gonna pay you back, Leo! I swear!

I'm so disappointed in you, Michael.

For God's sake, you got to believe me! You-you know I was gonna pay you back, Leo!

Michael, don't be afraid.

You're acting like you think I'll harm you. Michael...

Even though we were close...

even though you betrayed me, and I trusted you...

I would never harm you.

Here's what you're going to do:

You're going to go back to New York.

Someone else will close the Gallway deal.

I will never do business with you again.

You will pay me back what you owe, with interest.

If you have to sell your nice apartment with the David Hockneys on the wall...

then you'll do that. You will pay me back.

I will never speak to you again.

You're right, Michael.

It's better to talk these things over face to face.

It's clearer that way.

Goodbye, Michael. Don't get up.

Oh, Michael?

I lied.

Yeah?

Caulfield here.

What?

How soon can you be here?

Five minutes is too long.

Rig ht.

- He's in a conference. - Right.

Good morning. Won't you come in?

Martin, James, detective sergeant Benti.

Nice to meet you.

This is James Dahlbeck. Like Caulfield, he's a deputy D.A.

He goes to trial tomorrow with the Atwater case.

That's what we were in the middle of discussing. That's why my door was closed.

I believe it's called a conference.

Remember those latents that we found on the bathroom glass...

- in Michael Tarlow's hotel suite? - Yes. They never checked out.

They didn't check out in California.

While the city sleeps, detective sergeant Benti's been hard at work.

- I'm impressed. - Go ahead, detective sergeant.

Make me look good.

We ran those prints through the federal computer.

Turns out they belong to one Carol Hunnicut.

She's arrested for disorderly conduct in 1981, in Oregon.

Some kind of anti-nuke bullshit. She works for a publishing company.

She hasn't been there since the clay Tarlow bought the bar.

- This is riveting. - Give 'im a minute, he'll get your attention.

I checked through our logs.

Two clays after Tarlow got ice, we got a call.

Some broad by the name of Constance Billings said her friend was missing.

She seemed upset.

We told her she could come in and file a missing persons report.

Seemed to change 'er mind, and said maybe her friend just went away for a few days.

She never gave us the friend's full name. Just the first. Carol.

- Are you with us so far? - I'm holding my own.

I got the address of this Constance Billings, and I went to see her this morning.

Really early.

You see them before they had their first coffee, and they rattle easier.

Oh, she didn't wanna see me from nothing. She said she didn't know anything.

She had total amnesia. She was scared shitless.

I told her we'd protect her and her friend if she helped us...

but we couldn't protect her if she didn't.

She was as easy to crack as a raw egg. Then she comes out with it.

The reason why this Hunnicut broad's fingerprints were on the bathroom glass...

is because she was in the hotel suite when Tarlow got hit.

She saw it. She was there.

It gets better.

It gets a lot better.

Guess who was in the room with the button man?

- You're kidding? - Leo fucking Watts.

In person. In living color.

The woman was in the other room. She saw everything. Everything.

- Nobody knew about her. They still don't. - Where is she?

She understandably freaked and took off.

She called her friend from the road, told her what had happened...

and that she was still alive.

She's hiding out in a cabin some place in East, Jesus.

- There is a God. - Unbelievable.

I've chartered a plane. It'll fly into a small strip.

We'll be met by a helicopter, flown to where she is...

I'll pick her up, come back the same way.

Nobody knows anything about her. Leo's in for a nice surprise.

While I get her tucked away, here you get your warrant.

- What if she won't talk? - Oh, she'll talk.

- You know this for a fact? - Yeah, she'll talk.

I'll promise her protection, I'll offer her relocation.

She'll talk. She has to.

Don't you think you ought to find out if she's gonna cooperate before you go to see her?

Well, there's no phone in this place. Anyway, she might just take off.

- Where is this place? - It's up in Canada.

I can't authorize that kind of expenditure...

without checking with the director of branch and area operations.

You know that. I have to follow procedure.

This is Leo Watts we're talking about. We've got him for murder one.

- You understand what that means? - Yes, I do.

- I still have to check. - What's the matter with you?

- There's nothing the matter with me. - Why are you doing this again with Watts?

- Doing what? - Last year we had a chance at him.

And you put me in your bureaucratic blender, and we lost 'im.

Your idea of a chance at him...

was uncorroborated statements from an informant who was doing hard time...

and who would sell his own mother to get his sentence reduced.