Law & Order (1990) s09e05 Episode Script
Agony
NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
I'm not going, Amy.
The wedding will last a lot longer than the marriage.
She's your niece! Yeah? Well, then she should've found herself a nice (SIREN WAILING) (COPS CHATTERING ON RADIO) Well, I heard the elevator come down maybe a few minutes before I came out.
You didn't hear a scream or a struggle? No.
Anybody with you? My wife.
How many units in the building? We've got six.
Two on the ground floor, and upstairs we've got one loft per floor.
Five stories in all.
All the tenants here? Well, the tenant on the ground floor leaves for work around 7:00.
But the rest of them, they don't leave me their schedules.
BRISCOE: Thanks.
What've you got? Three stab wounds to the chest.
What kind of knife? Not a knife.
I don't know what it was.
Check with me later.
What do ya bet nobody heard anything? No bet.
Hello? Anybody home? Lennie! BRISCOE: Mother of God.
Kath, it's Morgan.
Where are you? I've left three messages since yesterday.
Are you out of town? Anyway, I've got the tickets for Tuesday night.
Call me.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Sunday, August 4th, 9:16 p.
m.
Line one.
That was your last message.
Almost two days worth of messages not picked up.
LAMOTTE: You think this psycho was here that long? You didn't see this girl.
He was here quite a while.
Sponge is still wet, cleaned up after himself, took out the garbage.
You got anything? She paid her bills on time.
Get some uniforms.
See if you can find that garbage bag.
What've you got? Big job for the lab.
Specifically.
A lot of blood, some black hairs, all long.
No other hairs? Not so far.
I'll check the drains.
Some of these guys, they take showers before they leave.
Her flesh was sliced with a knife, maybe a razor blade, arms, legs, back.
He cut through the right calf muscle.
BRISCOE: What about the marks on her neck? A ligature.
Not a rope.
Something smooth.
He strangled her but didn't kill her.
He tried to.
Stab wound in the chest missed the aorta by millimeters.
Rape? There was bruising but no semen.
What are her chances? Talk to the surgeons when they're done.
Be another three, four hours unless she dies on the table.
If you hadn't found her when you did, she'd have Her parents are in the lounge.
Thanks.
Mmm-hmm.
The doctors won't tell us what happened to her.
Someone mistreated her.
They told us she could die, you say she was mistreated? What the hell happened? She was hurt very badly.
ANNE: What? What? I'm sorry to have to question you at a time like this, Mrs.
O'Brien.
It's Roger.
Anne, Roger wouldn't do this.
BRISCOE: Who's Roger? Her husband.
Takes cocaine.
Abused her for six years till she finally got out.
WILLIAM: Roger's a bully, he's not a monster.
Then why did Kitty have to get a restraining order against him? What about all those times he called you at 3:00 a.
m.
In the morning, ranting and raving about her? WILLIAM: He wanted her back, Anne.
I told him I couldn't help him.
Don't waste your time on Roger.
Where should we look, then? WOMAN: Roger punched her, slammed her into walls, dragged her by her hair, isolated her from her family and friends, and then was furious when she left him.
Where do you think they should look? Roger Lansing? Yes.
CURTIS: Can we talk to you? What about? Your wife.
What's wrong? She was attacked.
Where were you? I'll take this back to the art department.
What happened? Why are police involved? Where were you this weekend, Mr.
Lansing? From late Saturday night till early this morning? Why come after me? Well, we hear you're one of those guys who get all bent out of shape when their woman leaves 'em after years of abuse.
You've been talking to her parents.
They'd be in the street if I hadn't helped them.
Bill lost his job, I talked Pageant Cola into giving him a distributorship, and they point the finger at me? You're such a great guy, why'd your wife need a restraining order against you? She didn't.
She's positioning herself for a big settlement.
She doesn't wanna be with me, fine.
I've moved on.
New girlfriend.
The woman we just saw you with? Yes.
Is that who you were with this weekend? No.
She went to a friend's wedding in Connecticut.
Saturday night, I was with Jack McKinney.
His apartment.
We watched the game, kicked back for a while.
I got there around 6:00 and left at 2:00 a.
m.
And went straight home.
Yes, he, uh, left a little after 2:00.
Is Katharine going to be all right? We don't know.
She was still in surgery.
You guys are on the wrong track here, you know.
Roger wouldn't do that to Katharine or anybody else.
Who would? Who could? Check the men that she's been dating.
Who knows what she picked up? Which men would that be? I don't know their names, but I hear she's been active.
Lansing get upset about that? Why would he? He's got a new girlfriend.
He's got his hands full with her.
What's that mean? Roger's a great guy, but he's got a radar for demanding women.
Look, I'd like to help you, but I don't know anyone who could do this.
At least I hope I don't.
She got out of surgery a couple of hours ago.
The hospital has her listed as critical and unstable.
What's the lab got? Nothing yet.
The guy really cleaned up after himself.
He even cleared the drains.
There's nothing in the P-traps but some traces of Drano.
There were five separate sets of prints.
The computer didn't match 'em to anybody with priors.
What about the mailman? Three stabs to the chest with something that left one-inch U-shaped wounds.
Force broke two ribs and the sternum.
Three inches deep, give or take.
M.
E.
Have an opinion about what kind of implement was used? No.
Are the Feds gonna take the mailman? They said if we find out the mail was interfered with, they'll think about it.
Otherwise, they wish us luck.
The husband has an alibi.
Move on.
He's not the only man in her life.
Well, it could've been some stranger.
Well, clear the underbrush first, talk to the friend who left messages on her machine.
Katharine finally gets it together to leave that son of a bitch, and Jack McKinney makes her sound like a slut? Katharine been seeing anybody new? (SIGHS) Oh, don't you start.
Somebody tortured her and left her for dead.
Roger Lansing has an alibi.
She's gone out with three or four guys since she left Roger, but nothing clicked.
You know their names? There was a Paul, and a Randy.
A Bill.
I don't know.
How does she spend her time? She's been reading a lot.
She's taking decorative arts classes.
BRISCOE: Where? Some antique dealer who holds night classes.
He's probably in her Rolodex.
Tom's going to take care of these items.
I'll be at St.
Mark's if you need me.
Katharine says he's a great guy.
She has God-awful taste in men.
Good Lord.
Is she, uh Intensive care.
You go out with her? Five or six dates.
Will she be all right? You ever go to her place? Couple of times.
You have keys? (SCOFFS) Never accept keys.
Too much implied commitment.
God forbid.
I help ladies get through their divorces.
Makes them happy to know they're still desirable.
CURTIS: And what do you get out of it? Great sex.
Breakups make women go out of their way to prove it wasn't their fault.
Where were you last weekend? I was in London last week.
Went for a couple of auctions.
Flew back late Sunday afternoon, British Airways.
(EXHALES) Let me ask you something.
Out of all the men in Manhattan, how did Katharine Lansing find you? Mutual lady friend.
Another lucky recipient of your charms? That's right.
DIANE: He helped me.
I thought maybe he could help Katharine.
He ever do anything kinky? DIANE: You'd have to define kinky.
S&M.
Gavin's talent is he figures out without asking what pleases the women he's with.
He's a big-hearted guy.
Yeah, well, he gets what he wants, too, after all.
What happened to Katharine, it's just not Gavin.
Anyone in Katharine's circle of acquaintances you can think of? No.
Not unless Roger went totally around the bend.
Has he? He has an alibi.
Yeah, I'm sure he does.
Nothing's ever his fault.
Who'd he say he was with? A man named Jack McKinney.
Not Saturday night, he wasn't.
I saw Jack at La Goulue, and he certainly wasn't with Roger.
What time was that? Around 11:30.
He was with his current pouty, young thing.
I know how Jack spent the rest of his evening, and it wasn't with Roger.
Unless they had a threesome.
You might as well come off it, Lansing.
Your friend, McKinney, told us you asked him to lie for you.
Okay.
I was at a hotel.
Who with? If Michelle finds out about this, she'll kill me.
You know how women are.
You mean they tend to get upset because you follow your crotch down the street every time they turn their back? It was just one night.
Anyway, hookers don't count.
Where'd you find the hooker? Paramour In-Calls.
Very high quality girls.
I'm a massage specialist.
What part of the body do you, uh, specialize in? Whatever part needs relief.
Saturday night, your agency sent you to the Hotel Royale.
What time did you get there? About 10:00, 10:15.
I figured the guy must be married.
Why else rent a hotel room for a massage? How long did you stay? He left at 9:30, Sunday morning, and the rest of us stayed till checkout time.
The rest of us? The guy was all coked up.
I called in reinforcements.
Guys on coke have problems.
You know, they can't Get relief? Yeah.
Anyway, by 3:00 a.
m.
, there were five of us massaging him and putting on little shows for him.
(MOBILE PHONE RINGING) Okay, so, uh, five girls for, like, uh, 11 hours? This guy must've dropped a bundle.
$25,000.
(LAUGHS) He had lots of problems and lots of plastic.
The perfect client.
The victim's conscious.
(GROANS) CURTIS: Did you go to the club alone? Just to dance.
Mom? Yes, tell me.
Something for the pain.
What time did you leave to go home? Alone? Yes.
Did anybody follow you? No.
No, I always check.
Did you lock your door when you came in? I I thought so.
I I don't know.
I I had some drinks at the club.
I got some water, I heard a voice Voice behind me.
"Lf If you turn around, I'll kill you.
" Whose voice was it? I don't know.
I don't know.
Your man sounds like he's still honing his fantasy.
Fantasy? Katharine Lansing might disagree.
These men construct scenarios in their heads and then act them out.
They get off on humiliating, degrading and torturing another human being.
Fact he didn't kill her means he's still taking baby steps.
He tried.
If he was seasoned, he'd have made sure.
You're saying we've got a serial killer who screwed up? This may be his first.
It won't be his last.
He'll refine his operation as he goes.
He's already well organized and careful.
He sure cleaned up good.
He's probably studied crime scene procedure.
He planned this down to the last detail.
Except the postman.
Again, shows he's new to the game.
If he had his act down cold, he'd have walked right past the mailman.
Maybe smiled and said, "Good morning.
" So he's confronted with something he didn't plan for.
Then he acts decisively.
So there's one thing you know about him for sure.
What else? Uh, he's meticulous, organized.
In a line of work where he deals with minutiae and doesn't have to stay in one place.
Travels a lot.
Uh, probably white.
No prior relationship with the victim.
Seems normal to others.
May or may not be married.
Collects sadistic pornography.
Most likely keeps a detailed record of his cruelties.
A lot of white men in New York City who travel have no prior relationship with Katharine Lansing.
This was not a one-time deal.
He's been out there trolling.
Pull any incident reports that look promising.
Women who had narrow escapes, hookers who got more than they bargained for.
And send the crime details to all precincts.
See if they got anything that matches.
I told the police officers I didn't want to press charges.
Well, a guy tries to strangle you and you want to let it go? I want to keep my job, okay? What does your job have to do with it? I met this guy in a bar.
We went to his place.
Things got a little out of hand, so I left.
Patrol unit found you at 68th and Madison.
You were dazed and half-dressed.
You had ligature marks on your neck.
I'm into S&M, okay? It's not a crime.
This guy wasn't responding to any of the safe words.
It's a game, you know, you Only he wasn't playing.
BRISCOE: This guy have a name? Matt.
Any point in asking you his last name? I didn't care what his name was.
What's he look like? Thirty-ish.
brown eyes.
Clean-shaven.
Where's his place? You see the papers? You read about that woman who was tortured last weekend? Where's his apartment? No, this isn't my apartment.
The owner, Ms.
Fowler, has been in the Middle East since August.
Anybody staying here with you? No.
What's this about? How long have you been here? Since the fourteenth.
Who was here before you? Oh.
You're looking for the pervert, aren't you? Why do you call him "the pervert"? This was in the VCR.
I guess he forgot about it when he left.
I watched 10 seconds of it.
It was disgusting.
BRISCOE: Do you know his name or where he went? Uh, when I moved in, there was a package by the door.
I don't remember the name.
You remember who sent it? Who delivered it? Sorry.
I asked the doorman to send it to the rental agency.
That'd be Matt Bergstrom, one of our regulars.
Travels a lot.
Is he in trouble? CURTIS: He's from out of town? Seattle.
Calls us a couple of times a year.
He's coming in, needs a place to stay.
Town's full of hotels.
We've got clients who need somewhere to stay.
We've got other clients who don't want their apartments vacant while their gone.
Everybody wins.
What do you know about Bergstrom? Not much.
I never met him except on the phone, uh Freelances.
Something to do with computer games.
Why'd he leave the co-op early? Said he needed to be closer to the office.
BRISCOE: You know where he went? What'd you do with his package? Sent it back to the company where he's working.
Matt Bergstrom? Sure, he's the one who Well, I'm not exactly sure what he does, but it's something about the content of the video games.
Is he here? No, he left.
What do you want him for? Need to talk to him.
You know where he's staying? He won't be there.
He went to dinner with Miss Kurtzman from Product Development.
They left maybe a half hour ago.
CURTIS: Matt Bergstrom? Yes? We've got some questions for you.
You want to come down to the station? Questions about what? We can discuss it at the precinct.
Are you arresting me? BRISCOE: Not unless we have to.
Some mistake.
Guess I better clear it up.
Do you want me to call anybody, Matt? No.
No, it'll be fine.
I'm sorry.
I'll call you later.
Lead the way.
So you wrap this around the woman's throat and tighten it until she passes out.
But you don't kill her, right? 'Cause that wouldn't be any fun.
That's the sickest thing I've heard.
I've told you, those are gifts for the women I'm working with.
Oh, yeah.
This is a great gift idea.
And who are these for? Katharine Lansing? Why do you keep asking the same questions? I don't know anything about any Katharine Lansing.
CURTIS: You know about Erica Davies, though, right? You tried to asphyxiate her.
I told you, she kept saying, "Rougher, rougher.
" Then all of a sudden, she kicked me, grabbed her clothes and ran out.
Katharine Lansing want it rougher, too? I don't know Katharine Lansing.
Okay, once again.
Where were you from Saturday night till Monday morning? It hasn't changed since the last time you asked.
I did some paperwork at the hotel, and then I walked around the city.
I like to walk.
Thirty-six hours.
You didn't see anybody you knew, you didn't talk to anybody you knew, you didn't call anybody, nobody called you? If I had seen or talked to anybody, now, don't you think I'd say so? I'm not even from here.
We've asked the Seattle police to check you out.
What are they gonna tell us? Look, you have kept me here for five hours.
You searched my hotel room, you took my picture without telling me why.
You accused me of something I didn't do.
Now, I have tried to cooperate here, but I'm done.
Arrest me or let me go.
And I want my stuff back.
The club Katharine Lansing went to, I found two people who ID'd Bergstrom in the neighborhood.
The night she was there? No, a couple of days before.
A bar right down the street from the club.
Bartender says Bergstrom was there.
Some blonde babe hit on him, he wasn't interested, and then he locked onto a brunette, and he spent about an hour trying to get her out the door.
She go with him? No.
Also, he sweet-talked some clerk in a CD store.
She wasn't interested 'cause she's got a girlfriend.
Well, we can't hold him on what we've got.
Let him call a lawyer, and then get that girl in here.
The one he tried to strangle.
How many people do I have to tell? I'm not pressing charges.
You think you're the only woman this guy goes after? Then talk to them.
I work for a politician, and I need the job.
I can't get mixed up in this.
What do you think would've happened if you hadn't knee-capped this guy and run out? It was in his eyes, wasn't it? He was gonna kill you.
Maybe I over-reacted.
Mmm.
Her name is Katharine Lansing.
Those are knife wounds.
These injuries here, we don't know what they are.
Marks where he tightened something around her throat.
You know how this feels, don't you? He's pulling it tighter and tighter, and you don't know if he's gonna stop or keep going.
But you did know, didn't you? You knew if you didn't get out of there, you were gonna end up like this.
Look at her.
Is your job really worth this? How many other women do you want him to savage? All right, Mr.
Bergstrom, you win.
You're under arrest.
I didn't do anything to that woman.
You can't possibly have any evidence.
Which woman are you talking about? Erica Davies filed a complaint.
The charge is Assault in the First Degree.
You have the right to remain silent.
You have the right to an attorney And you're not getting your toys back.
They're going to the lab.
KATHARINE: That one, too.
You know this man? No, just looks familiar.
So this one and this one you might have seen somewhere before? Can you think of where? Mmm-mmm.
Is it one of them? We need to know everything you remember about the incident.
CARMICHAEL: Anything he said.
After he told me not to turn around, he never said anything else.
For a day and a half? I don't know.
I just remember the pain.
Mr.
Bergstrom is the aggrieved party here.
Ms.
Davies attacked him.
He had to see a doctor about his knee.
She kicked him because he was strangling her.
LAWYER: You can't sustain an Assault One charge.
It was a misunderstanding.
Her word against his.
Drop it.
JACK: I'm much more likely to up the charge than I am to drop it.
Are you off on Katharine Lansing again? You don't have one thing to link my client to that.
You make it sound like they just haven't found anything yet.
There's nothing to find.
I didn't do anything to that woman.
You say you didn't do anything to Ms.
Davies, either.
I didn't do anything to her that she didn't ask for.
Was Katharine Lansing asking for it, too? That's not what I meant.
JACK: What about Leslie Dawes in Seattle? Who? Misdemeanor assault, three years ago.
She accused him of trying to strangle her.
Bad habits die hard.
LAWYER: He'll plead to Assault Three.
Pay a fine, promise to never do it again.
We'll let you know.
You have till Monday.
Then I move to dismiss.
You've got the assault charge.
And a victim with an off-beat sexual history.
And even if we convict him, he only gets put away for a year at best.
It's one year that he's not killing people.
Abbie, the assault case is smoke and mirrors, and we've used them up getting prohibitive bail on a relatively minor charge.
Have the police go over it again.
If they still come up with nothing, and if Miss Davies can't be persuaded to cooperate lf, if, if.
Take the misdemeanor plea.
Best we can do.
Aside from the unidentified saliva, there is nothing on these.
You checked every piece of clothing? Everything means everything, right down to the soles of his shoes.
The sole of this sneaker had creosote on it.
There was a sliver of wood embedded in it.
Wood? From what? Maybe a railroad tie.
So Bergstrom submitted restaurant receipts to the computer company for reimbursement.
Even psychos gotta eat.
Yeah, well, mostly he ate in his neighborhood.
But three times in one week, he went way the hell uptown to a place near Fort Tryon Park.
Don't they call this clutching at straws? MAN: Yeah, he came three nights in a row earlier this month.
All three times, he asked for that table like it meant something to him.
He do anything besides eat? Just sat there.
Looked out the window, smiling.
What was he looking at? At the park.
At what in the park? The leaves.
(LAUGHS) How do I know? We've got a K-9 unit up there.
Sniffed through several acres.
The dogs didn't find anything.
We talked to two uniforms who saw Bergstrom leaving the park at 4:00 a.
m.
On the sixth of this month.
The exit nearest the restaurant.
They stopped him, didn't like his attitude, so they hung onto him while they looked around some.
Zip.
The park, train tracks.
What the hell is he up to? We checked his travels the last few years.
Houston PD was investigating him on a case where a woman disappeared, January last year.
What made them lock onto Bergstrom? He was with her the day she went missing.
They couldn't tie him in, but the case is still open.
I don't like where this seems to be going.
How long's he been coming to New York? The past five years.
Pull all the reports of missing women, open murder cases with a sex angle.
See if anything matches up.
I have friends in the Houston D.
A.
's office.
I'll give them a call.
Do we have a deal? Does the name Anna Lasky mean anything to you? You had lunch with her in Houston on January 7th, a year ago.
Nobody ever saw her again.
God, not this again.
I had lunch with her.
She left in her car.
I walked back to the house I was renting.
Her car was found at the San Antonio airport a week later.
Blood in the trunk.
Did they find my fingerprints on it? No.
They didn't find one damn thing.
Not one reason to suspect me because I didn't do it.
CARMICHAEL: We've heard how well you clean up after yourself.
Washing the dishes, taking out the garbage, Drano down the drains.
Unless you've annexed Houston into New York County, I don't see how this is any of your business I'm still not hearing any evidence against him in the Lansing case.
We asked the Houston PD if there was a park near where you stayed when you were down there.
They said, "Yes.
" We told them they might wanna send a dog and handler to check it out.
Where you going with this, Mr.
McCoy? Death Row.
Either here or in Texas.
This is the most colossal bluff I've ever seen.
You have nothing! We have Fort Tryon Park.
The train tracks.
Houston K-9 units sniffing away.
We're closing in on you.
Us or Houston.
Either way, we're going to put you down.
They throw the switch a lot faster down there.
I want to speak to Mr.
Lazar.
Alone.
You okay? With that butcher looking at me like I'm a carcass on a meat hook? Sure, I'm fine.
Premature to threaten him with the death penalty.
Last I heard, the cops had over 600 reports of missing women still to go through.
You have to separate that from Bergstrom.
Against my advice, he'll plead to Aggravated Assault on Lansing and Man One on the postal carrier.
Murder One for the postman.
Life without parole.
Murder Two.
25 to life.
And there's a condition.
You agree not to extradite him to Texas.
Or any other death penalty state.
Extradition is up to the governor.
You know that.
Get a promise from the Attorney General's office not to extradite.
He'll want something in return.
Something big.
You get to clear a case you can't even bring to trial 'cause you got squat for evidence, and you want to dicker.
I'm just telling you what I need to make it work.
You put something on the table.
I'll see what I can do.
Otherwise, you can take your chances.
How would you like to close some open cases? What cases? He doesn't say anymore till you get him out of range of the death penalty.
Bergstrom's giving you a gift.
Take it.
I don't like the wrong end of a sucker bet.
You may have no choice.
He's a serial killer.
He's going to show you bodies you may never find without his help.
We make this deal with him, he gets those bodies free.
DR.
SKODA: This could be your last chance to stop him.
We're not going to get perfect justice here.
He accepts life without parole, I can live with that.
Why not buy the cops some time to put a case together? We try him for the assault on Davies.
Maybe he gets a year.
More likely not.
We make this deal with him, we've got him.
So he shows us two bodies.
Four, ten.
What do we say to the families of those women? JACK: If we don't stop him now, what do we say to the families of the women he kills next week, next month, next year? You want to risk their lives just for the satisfaction of ending Bergstrom's? What'd the Attorney General say about extradition? They saw it's the only way we can hang onto him.
Make the deal.
Murder One for the mailman.
Assault One and Attempted Murder Two for Katharine Lansing, and you open up on the cases you know about.
Life without parole.
Murder Two for the mailman, Assault Three for Lansing.
No.
You make this deal, or Mr.
Bergstrom and I are out of here.
Did you talk to the Attorney General's office? JACK: Yes.
No extradition to a death penalty state.
LAZAR: No admission of guilt in any case he tells you about.
But if we uncover independent evidence in those cases, we're free to prosecute.
What independent evidence? Anything you find will be based on what he tells you.
We can argue that out with a judge.
Done.
Let's hear it.
I can show you six bodies.
LAZAR: No admission.
If you didn't kill them, how do you know where they are? I heard.
I'll draw you a map.
RODGERS: Four of them had already been discovered.
BRISCOE: Exactly where Bergstrom said they'd be.
RODGERS: Three were buried as Jane Does on Hart Island.
The fourth was ID'd from dental records.
Beth Aldredge.
She was shipped home to Minnesota.
BRISCOE: We didn't ask to dig her up.
We figured we had enough.
JACK: Autopsies conducted at the time? All they had were bones.
I can give you approximate times of death.
May be off by months.
They all had some chipped bones, knife wounds, delivered with some force.
The other two? CURTIS: One was in Fort Tryon Park, one in a train tunnel.
Bergstrom visited them.
Probably got himself off reliving the good old days.
He led us right to them.
Skeletal remains.
Chipped bones, like the others.
Five of the six had three to five knife wounds.
This guy gets away with six murders.
And who know how many more.
His allocution is in two weeks.
He'll be doing If anybody ever deserved the needle The deal's for Katharine Lansing and the mailman.
What about these? The deal includes these.
You got any paper clips? DD-fives are ready? My wife and I brought Kitty back to the loft from the hospital this morning.
This was in the entry, like somebody slipped it under the door.
Anne and I were at the loft yesterday afternoon to make sure everything was ready for Kitty to come home.
The note wasn't there then? No.
If you caught the man who attacked my daughter, who the hell left this note? "Dear Kitty, if you think that was bad, just wait.
" He pled guilty.
He didn't leave the note.
Who else would have, except the man who attacked me? How many people call you Kitty? Umm, my family and Roger, and a friend I've known since we were kids.
There must be some other people who knew.
You're not listening.
What if What if you've got the wrong person? What am I supposed to do? (CRYING) The police will look into it and find out who left the note.
I can't sleep.
I can't eat.
Anybody who touches me, I cringe.
Somebody made my life not worth living, and now he's going to kill me.
Roger Lansing was in Chicago, meeting with a client when the note was left.
The childhood friend who calls her Kitty lives in Denver.
The antiques dealer was in Europe, servicing another divorcee.
What about Lansing's friend? McKinney was in the Hamptons.
VAN BUREN: Lansing has a girlfriend.
Uh, she went to visit her parents on the island.
Old man owns a carpentry shop there.
Where's the autopsy report on the mailman? Right here.
These U-shaped wounds, you guys know anything about wood-working tools? Yeah.
A little.
Learn more.
And get a search warrant.
My father's retired.
I run the business now.
What's this about? You been to the City lately? Not for a few weeks.
Why? Hey, Rey.
Shaped like a U.
Twist it, you get an O.
How about that? You lied to the police about where you were that weekend.
And you missed a little blood on the gouge when you cleaned up.
One of my workers must've cut himself on it.
It fits the wounds on the mailman, right down to the nick in the center.
And we'll have the blood match by the end of the day.
Why Katharine Lansing? Your sister's dating Katharine's husband.
How did you get in the mix? Mr.
Ashford has told you he's not your man.
Fine.
I'll get an indictment.
Murder One.
Attempted Murder Two.
What can you do for him? What can he do for me? Are you willing to come down from Murder One? It's possible.
So my sister hooks up with this Lansing guy.
He's loaded, but he keeps obsessing on his ex-wife, and Michelle's afraid she's gonna lose him.
And this is the solution you came up with? It wasn't my idea.
She tells me to get rid of the competition and make it look like some psycho did it.
Guess what? Some psycho did do it.
Did Roger Lansing know? You think she told him? She's still trying to hang onto him.
And how's that working out for her? Not too well.
He's more focused on her than ever before.
Calling her, sending her flowers.
Blowing off Michelle.
Just so we're clear, you tortured Katharine Lansing for 36 hours, you stabbed her in the chest, you left her for dead.
LAWYER: At his sister's instigation.
Did his sister tell him to be sure to kill the mailman on his way out? The next announcement's gonna be the police can pin the six bodies on Bergstrom.
They can't.
He killed those six women.
He led us to them.
That isn't evidence.
Any word from the other jurisdictions? CARMICHAEL: Houston PD found a body.
Bones.
No forensics.
We can't hold him for Mr.
Ashford's crime.
Well, we sure as hell can't let him go.
Bergstrom knew we'd find those bodies sooner or later.
He preempted us.
He played us.
Arrange for his release.
You're not serious.
If the police come up with anything Yeah, that's great.
That'll work.
If we need to find him, we can just follow the trail of blood and bones.
Don't rant.
Let's hear a solution.
Ashford and his sister killed a postal employee.
That's a federal offense.
We turn them over to the US Attorney's, gift-wrapped.
And Bergstrom? We keep the Ashfords under wraps until after he allocutes.
Do you know what you're proposing? There's no conflict, Jack.
The Ashfords'll be convicted under a federal statute, Bergstrom under a state one.
Of a crime only one of them could've committed.
New York State expressly allows inconsistent pleadings.
(PHONE RINGING) (SIGHS) Yep? Thanks.
The Ashfords have closed ranks.
They've hired a new lawyer.
LAWYER: How long were you gonna wait to tell us, Mr.
McCoy? You've already got somebody in custody for this crime.
A serial killer named Bergstrom.
He confessed, and he's scheduled to allocute at the end of the week.
Who said he confessed? I have my sources.
You put my clients on trial, I'll call Bergstrom as a witness and watch your face while he tells the jury he did it.
I'm moving to dismiss.
Don't tell us.
The US Attorney's office has agreed to take over prosecution of Mr.
Ashford for the murder of the mailman.
That's a federal crime, in case you didn't know.
And you, Miss Ashford, will be prosecuted as his accomplice.
You said it was over.
This was just a formality.
Let me handle it.
You've handled it right into a federal charge.
Shut up, Michelle.
If you weren't such a stunningly incompetent moron we wouldn't be here at all.
That sounds like an admission of guilt, Mr.
Kaufer.
My client is upset.
There's no admission.
CARMICHAEL: So they'll plead not guilty in federal court.
When pigs fly.
JACK: We settled this.
We left it open, and I called the Feds.
Call 'em back.
Tell 'em we made a mistake.
Jack, we cannot let the Ashfords get away with what they did, and we can't lose Bergstrom.
We've already lost him.
Not if the Feds take the Ashfords.
The New York County District Attorney's office can't No, won't knowingly convict a man of the wrong crime.
What are you thinking? Well, I'm just taking a page from the Jack McCoy playbook.
Nobody gets to bend the rules but you? I've bent the rules to convict the right person of the right crime.
This isn't bending, this is turning the law against itself.
You once hid a witness to get the result that you wanted.
And I was wrong then.
You're wrong now.
Don't wait till you're facing a disciplinary committee to realize it.
Jack, you know that Bergstrom will torture and kill another woman, and another, and another I want to stop him, too, Abbie.
Hey, do you still have letterhead from the Houston D.
A.
's office? Yes.
Good.
I want to check with Skoda, but maybe we can play Mr.
Bergstrom for a change.
A jealous girlfriend, huh? Women.
This changes everything.
My client is recanting his confession and changing his plea to not guilty.
As for Miss Davies, we're gonna fight you on We dropped the assault charge.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth here, but, uh, mind if I ask you why? We don't want anything keeping Mr.
Bergstrom here.
You're wanted elsewhere.
Houston PD found Anna Lasky.
What was left of her.
They sent a request for extradition.
It's all official.
Signed, sealed, delivered.
You can't extradite me.
We have a deal.
Deal's gone.
You recanted.
He said it, not me.
I'm not recanting anything.
We can't have you plead to a crime you didn't commit, Mr.
Bergstrom.
That would be wrong.
You bitch.
A week from tomorrow, you'll be on a plane, sandwiched between two of Houston's finest.
They can't do this.
You'll have a speedy trial.
Your lawyer will file a couple of appeals.
He'll lose, and bang, before you know it, there's that pesky needle.
You, what are you doing? You're just sitting there.
Make her shut up.
Ms.
Carmichael I'm not done.
I'm going to be there.
And if they'd let me push one of the plungers, I'd do it, and pray it's the one that delivers the fatal dose.
Get her out of here.
Get her out.
How does it feel, Mr.
Bergstrom? You killed all those women, and now a woman is going to return the favor.
You won't.
Pretty damn ironic, isn't it? You can't kill me.
I won't let you.
Try and stop me.
I'll plead to one of the others.
The one by the train tracks.
Hang on Murder One.
Life without parole.
Mr.
Bergstrom BERGSTROM: Yeah.
Okay.
She doesn't say what happens to me.
Fine.
If you change your mind, I'll be waiting.
No, you sit! You listen to what I did to her.
I cut her, and she screamed.
I burned her, and she screamed louder.
I pushed my fist into her, and she passed out.
I made her say she admired me.
I had total control.
Total.
These are their stories.
I'm not going, Amy.
The wedding will last a lot longer than the marriage.
She's your niece! Yeah? Well, then she should've found herself a nice (SIREN WAILING) (COPS CHATTERING ON RADIO) Well, I heard the elevator come down maybe a few minutes before I came out.
You didn't hear a scream or a struggle? No.
Anybody with you? My wife.
How many units in the building? We've got six.
Two on the ground floor, and upstairs we've got one loft per floor.
Five stories in all.
All the tenants here? Well, the tenant on the ground floor leaves for work around 7:00.
But the rest of them, they don't leave me their schedules.
BRISCOE: Thanks.
What've you got? Three stab wounds to the chest.
What kind of knife? Not a knife.
I don't know what it was.
Check with me later.
What do ya bet nobody heard anything? No bet.
Hello? Anybody home? Lennie! BRISCOE: Mother of God.
Kath, it's Morgan.
Where are you? I've left three messages since yesterday.
Are you out of town? Anyway, I've got the tickets for Tuesday night.
Call me.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Sunday, August 4th, 9:16 p.
m.
Line one.
That was your last message.
Almost two days worth of messages not picked up.
LAMOTTE: You think this psycho was here that long? You didn't see this girl.
He was here quite a while.
Sponge is still wet, cleaned up after himself, took out the garbage.
You got anything? She paid her bills on time.
Get some uniforms.
See if you can find that garbage bag.
What've you got? Big job for the lab.
Specifically.
A lot of blood, some black hairs, all long.
No other hairs? Not so far.
I'll check the drains.
Some of these guys, they take showers before they leave.
Her flesh was sliced with a knife, maybe a razor blade, arms, legs, back.
He cut through the right calf muscle.
BRISCOE: What about the marks on her neck? A ligature.
Not a rope.
Something smooth.
He strangled her but didn't kill her.
He tried to.
Stab wound in the chest missed the aorta by millimeters.
Rape? There was bruising but no semen.
What are her chances? Talk to the surgeons when they're done.
Be another three, four hours unless she dies on the table.
If you hadn't found her when you did, she'd have Her parents are in the lounge.
Thanks.
Mmm-hmm.
The doctors won't tell us what happened to her.
Someone mistreated her.
They told us she could die, you say she was mistreated? What the hell happened? She was hurt very badly.
ANNE: What? What? I'm sorry to have to question you at a time like this, Mrs.
O'Brien.
It's Roger.
Anne, Roger wouldn't do this.
BRISCOE: Who's Roger? Her husband.
Takes cocaine.
Abused her for six years till she finally got out.
WILLIAM: Roger's a bully, he's not a monster.
Then why did Kitty have to get a restraining order against him? What about all those times he called you at 3:00 a.
m.
In the morning, ranting and raving about her? WILLIAM: He wanted her back, Anne.
I told him I couldn't help him.
Don't waste your time on Roger.
Where should we look, then? WOMAN: Roger punched her, slammed her into walls, dragged her by her hair, isolated her from her family and friends, and then was furious when she left him.
Where do you think they should look? Roger Lansing? Yes.
CURTIS: Can we talk to you? What about? Your wife.
What's wrong? She was attacked.
Where were you? I'll take this back to the art department.
What happened? Why are police involved? Where were you this weekend, Mr.
Lansing? From late Saturday night till early this morning? Why come after me? Well, we hear you're one of those guys who get all bent out of shape when their woman leaves 'em after years of abuse.
You've been talking to her parents.
They'd be in the street if I hadn't helped them.
Bill lost his job, I talked Pageant Cola into giving him a distributorship, and they point the finger at me? You're such a great guy, why'd your wife need a restraining order against you? She didn't.
She's positioning herself for a big settlement.
She doesn't wanna be with me, fine.
I've moved on.
New girlfriend.
The woman we just saw you with? Yes.
Is that who you were with this weekend? No.
She went to a friend's wedding in Connecticut.
Saturday night, I was with Jack McKinney.
His apartment.
We watched the game, kicked back for a while.
I got there around 6:00 and left at 2:00 a.
m.
And went straight home.
Yes, he, uh, left a little after 2:00.
Is Katharine going to be all right? We don't know.
She was still in surgery.
You guys are on the wrong track here, you know.
Roger wouldn't do that to Katharine or anybody else.
Who would? Who could? Check the men that she's been dating.
Who knows what she picked up? Which men would that be? I don't know their names, but I hear she's been active.
Lansing get upset about that? Why would he? He's got a new girlfriend.
He's got his hands full with her.
What's that mean? Roger's a great guy, but he's got a radar for demanding women.
Look, I'd like to help you, but I don't know anyone who could do this.
At least I hope I don't.
She got out of surgery a couple of hours ago.
The hospital has her listed as critical and unstable.
What's the lab got? Nothing yet.
The guy really cleaned up after himself.
He even cleared the drains.
There's nothing in the P-traps but some traces of Drano.
There were five separate sets of prints.
The computer didn't match 'em to anybody with priors.
What about the mailman? Three stabs to the chest with something that left one-inch U-shaped wounds.
Force broke two ribs and the sternum.
Three inches deep, give or take.
M.
E.
Have an opinion about what kind of implement was used? No.
Are the Feds gonna take the mailman? They said if we find out the mail was interfered with, they'll think about it.
Otherwise, they wish us luck.
The husband has an alibi.
Move on.
He's not the only man in her life.
Well, it could've been some stranger.
Well, clear the underbrush first, talk to the friend who left messages on her machine.
Katharine finally gets it together to leave that son of a bitch, and Jack McKinney makes her sound like a slut? Katharine been seeing anybody new? (SIGHS) Oh, don't you start.
Somebody tortured her and left her for dead.
Roger Lansing has an alibi.
She's gone out with three or four guys since she left Roger, but nothing clicked.
You know their names? There was a Paul, and a Randy.
A Bill.
I don't know.
How does she spend her time? She's been reading a lot.
She's taking decorative arts classes.
BRISCOE: Where? Some antique dealer who holds night classes.
He's probably in her Rolodex.
Tom's going to take care of these items.
I'll be at St.
Mark's if you need me.
Katharine says he's a great guy.
She has God-awful taste in men.
Good Lord.
Is she, uh Intensive care.
You go out with her? Five or six dates.
Will she be all right? You ever go to her place? Couple of times.
You have keys? (SCOFFS) Never accept keys.
Too much implied commitment.
God forbid.
I help ladies get through their divorces.
Makes them happy to know they're still desirable.
CURTIS: And what do you get out of it? Great sex.
Breakups make women go out of their way to prove it wasn't their fault.
Where were you last weekend? I was in London last week.
Went for a couple of auctions.
Flew back late Sunday afternoon, British Airways.
(EXHALES) Let me ask you something.
Out of all the men in Manhattan, how did Katharine Lansing find you? Mutual lady friend.
Another lucky recipient of your charms? That's right.
DIANE: He helped me.
I thought maybe he could help Katharine.
He ever do anything kinky? DIANE: You'd have to define kinky.
S&M.
Gavin's talent is he figures out without asking what pleases the women he's with.
He's a big-hearted guy.
Yeah, well, he gets what he wants, too, after all.
What happened to Katharine, it's just not Gavin.
Anyone in Katharine's circle of acquaintances you can think of? No.
Not unless Roger went totally around the bend.
Has he? He has an alibi.
Yeah, I'm sure he does.
Nothing's ever his fault.
Who'd he say he was with? A man named Jack McKinney.
Not Saturday night, he wasn't.
I saw Jack at La Goulue, and he certainly wasn't with Roger.
What time was that? Around 11:30.
He was with his current pouty, young thing.
I know how Jack spent the rest of his evening, and it wasn't with Roger.
Unless they had a threesome.
You might as well come off it, Lansing.
Your friend, McKinney, told us you asked him to lie for you.
Okay.
I was at a hotel.
Who with? If Michelle finds out about this, she'll kill me.
You know how women are.
You mean they tend to get upset because you follow your crotch down the street every time they turn their back? It was just one night.
Anyway, hookers don't count.
Where'd you find the hooker? Paramour In-Calls.
Very high quality girls.
I'm a massage specialist.
What part of the body do you, uh, specialize in? Whatever part needs relief.
Saturday night, your agency sent you to the Hotel Royale.
What time did you get there? About 10:00, 10:15.
I figured the guy must be married.
Why else rent a hotel room for a massage? How long did you stay? He left at 9:30, Sunday morning, and the rest of us stayed till checkout time.
The rest of us? The guy was all coked up.
I called in reinforcements.
Guys on coke have problems.
You know, they can't Get relief? Yeah.
Anyway, by 3:00 a.
m.
, there were five of us massaging him and putting on little shows for him.
(MOBILE PHONE RINGING) Okay, so, uh, five girls for, like, uh, 11 hours? This guy must've dropped a bundle.
$25,000.
(LAUGHS) He had lots of problems and lots of plastic.
The perfect client.
The victim's conscious.
(GROANS) CURTIS: Did you go to the club alone? Just to dance.
Mom? Yes, tell me.
Something for the pain.
What time did you leave to go home? Alone? Yes.
Did anybody follow you? No.
No, I always check.
Did you lock your door when you came in? I I thought so.
I I don't know.
I I had some drinks at the club.
I got some water, I heard a voice Voice behind me.
"Lf If you turn around, I'll kill you.
" Whose voice was it? I don't know.
I don't know.
Your man sounds like he's still honing his fantasy.
Fantasy? Katharine Lansing might disagree.
These men construct scenarios in their heads and then act them out.
They get off on humiliating, degrading and torturing another human being.
Fact he didn't kill her means he's still taking baby steps.
He tried.
If he was seasoned, he'd have made sure.
You're saying we've got a serial killer who screwed up? This may be his first.
It won't be his last.
He'll refine his operation as he goes.
He's already well organized and careful.
He sure cleaned up good.
He's probably studied crime scene procedure.
He planned this down to the last detail.
Except the postman.
Again, shows he's new to the game.
If he had his act down cold, he'd have walked right past the mailman.
Maybe smiled and said, "Good morning.
" So he's confronted with something he didn't plan for.
Then he acts decisively.
So there's one thing you know about him for sure.
What else? Uh, he's meticulous, organized.
In a line of work where he deals with minutiae and doesn't have to stay in one place.
Travels a lot.
Uh, probably white.
No prior relationship with the victim.
Seems normal to others.
May or may not be married.
Collects sadistic pornography.
Most likely keeps a detailed record of his cruelties.
A lot of white men in New York City who travel have no prior relationship with Katharine Lansing.
This was not a one-time deal.
He's been out there trolling.
Pull any incident reports that look promising.
Women who had narrow escapes, hookers who got more than they bargained for.
And send the crime details to all precincts.
See if they got anything that matches.
I told the police officers I didn't want to press charges.
Well, a guy tries to strangle you and you want to let it go? I want to keep my job, okay? What does your job have to do with it? I met this guy in a bar.
We went to his place.
Things got a little out of hand, so I left.
Patrol unit found you at 68th and Madison.
You were dazed and half-dressed.
You had ligature marks on your neck.
I'm into S&M, okay? It's not a crime.
This guy wasn't responding to any of the safe words.
It's a game, you know, you Only he wasn't playing.
BRISCOE: This guy have a name? Matt.
Any point in asking you his last name? I didn't care what his name was.
What's he look like? Thirty-ish.
brown eyes.
Clean-shaven.
Where's his place? You see the papers? You read about that woman who was tortured last weekend? Where's his apartment? No, this isn't my apartment.
The owner, Ms.
Fowler, has been in the Middle East since August.
Anybody staying here with you? No.
What's this about? How long have you been here? Since the fourteenth.
Who was here before you? Oh.
You're looking for the pervert, aren't you? Why do you call him "the pervert"? This was in the VCR.
I guess he forgot about it when he left.
I watched 10 seconds of it.
It was disgusting.
BRISCOE: Do you know his name or where he went? Uh, when I moved in, there was a package by the door.
I don't remember the name.
You remember who sent it? Who delivered it? Sorry.
I asked the doorman to send it to the rental agency.
That'd be Matt Bergstrom, one of our regulars.
Travels a lot.
Is he in trouble? CURTIS: He's from out of town? Seattle.
Calls us a couple of times a year.
He's coming in, needs a place to stay.
Town's full of hotels.
We've got clients who need somewhere to stay.
We've got other clients who don't want their apartments vacant while their gone.
Everybody wins.
What do you know about Bergstrom? Not much.
I never met him except on the phone, uh Freelances.
Something to do with computer games.
Why'd he leave the co-op early? Said he needed to be closer to the office.
BRISCOE: You know where he went? What'd you do with his package? Sent it back to the company where he's working.
Matt Bergstrom? Sure, he's the one who Well, I'm not exactly sure what he does, but it's something about the content of the video games.
Is he here? No, he left.
What do you want him for? Need to talk to him.
You know where he's staying? He won't be there.
He went to dinner with Miss Kurtzman from Product Development.
They left maybe a half hour ago.
CURTIS: Matt Bergstrom? Yes? We've got some questions for you.
You want to come down to the station? Questions about what? We can discuss it at the precinct.
Are you arresting me? BRISCOE: Not unless we have to.
Some mistake.
Guess I better clear it up.
Do you want me to call anybody, Matt? No.
No, it'll be fine.
I'm sorry.
I'll call you later.
Lead the way.
So you wrap this around the woman's throat and tighten it until she passes out.
But you don't kill her, right? 'Cause that wouldn't be any fun.
That's the sickest thing I've heard.
I've told you, those are gifts for the women I'm working with.
Oh, yeah.
This is a great gift idea.
And who are these for? Katharine Lansing? Why do you keep asking the same questions? I don't know anything about any Katharine Lansing.
CURTIS: You know about Erica Davies, though, right? You tried to asphyxiate her.
I told you, she kept saying, "Rougher, rougher.
" Then all of a sudden, she kicked me, grabbed her clothes and ran out.
Katharine Lansing want it rougher, too? I don't know Katharine Lansing.
Okay, once again.
Where were you from Saturday night till Monday morning? It hasn't changed since the last time you asked.
I did some paperwork at the hotel, and then I walked around the city.
I like to walk.
Thirty-six hours.
You didn't see anybody you knew, you didn't talk to anybody you knew, you didn't call anybody, nobody called you? If I had seen or talked to anybody, now, don't you think I'd say so? I'm not even from here.
We've asked the Seattle police to check you out.
What are they gonna tell us? Look, you have kept me here for five hours.
You searched my hotel room, you took my picture without telling me why.
You accused me of something I didn't do.
Now, I have tried to cooperate here, but I'm done.
Arrest me or let me go.
And I want my stuff back.
The club Katharine Lansing went to, I found two people who ID'd Bergstrom in the neighborhood.
The night she was there? No, a couple of days before.
A bar right down the street from the club.
Bartender says Bergstrom was there.
Some blonde babe hit on him, he wasn't interested, and then he locked onto a brunette, and he spent about an hour trying to get her out the door.
She go with him? No.
Also, he sweet-talked some clerk in a CD store.
She wasn't interested 'cause she's got a girlfriend.
Well, we can't hold him on what we've got.
Let him call a lawyer, and then get that girl in here.
The one he tried to strangle.
How many people do I have to tell? I'm not pressing charges.
You think you're the only woman this guy goes after? Then talk to them.
I work for a politician, and I need the job.
I can't get mixed up in this.
What do you think would've happened if you hadn't knee-capped this guy and run out? It was in his eyes, wasn't it? He was gonna kill you.
Maybe I over-reacted.
Mmm.
Her name is Katharine Lansing.
Those are knife wounds.
These injuries here, we don't know what they are.
Marks where he tightened something around her throat.
You know how this feels, don't you? He's pulling it tighter and tighter, and you don't know if he's gonna stop or keep going.
But you did know, didn't you? You knew if you didn't get out of there, you were gonna end up like this.
Look at her.
Is your job really worth this? How many other women do you want him to savage? All right, Mr.
Bergstrom, you win.
You're under arrest.
I didn't do anything to that woman.
You can't possibly have any evidence.
Which woman are you talking about? Erica Davies filed a complaint.
The charge is Assault in the First Degree.
You have the right to remain silent.
You have the right to an attorney And you're not getting your toys back.
They're going to the lab.
KATHARINE: That one, too.
You know this man? No, just looks familiar.
So this one and this one you might have seen somewhere before? Can you think of where? Mmm-mmm.
Is it one of them? We need to know everything you remember about the incident.
CARMICHAEL: Anything he said.
After he told me not to turn around, he never said anything else.
For a day and a half? I don't know.
I just remember the pain.
Mr.
Bergstrom is the aggrieved party here.
Ms.
Davies attacked him.
He had to see a doctor about his knee.
She kicked him because he was strangling her.
LAWYER: You can't sustain an Assault One charge.
It was a misunderstanding.
Her word against his.
Drop it.
JACK: I'm much more likely to up the charge than I am to drop it.
Are you off on Katharine Lansing again? You don't have one thing to link my client to that.
You make it sound like they just haven't found anything yet.
There's nothing to find.
I didn't do anything to that woman.
You say you didn't do anything to Ms.
Davies, either.
I didn't do anything to her that she didn't ask for.
Was Katharine Lansing asking for it, too? That's not what I meant.
JACK: What about Leslie Dawes in Seattle? Who? Misdemeanor assault, three years ago.
She accused him of trying to strangle her.
Bad habits die hard.
LAWYER: He'll plead to Assault Three.
Pay a fine, promise to never do it again.
We'll let you know.
You have till Monday.
Then I move to dismiss.
You've got the assault charge.
And a victim with an off-beat sexual history.
And even if we convict him, he only gets put away for a year at best.
It's one year that he's not killing people.
Abbie, the assault case is smoke and mirrors, and we've used them up getting prohibitive bail on a relatively minor charge.
Have the police go over it again.
If they still come up with nothing, and if Miss Davies can't be persuaded to cooperate lf, if, if.
Take the misdemeanor plea.
Best we can do.
Aside from the unidentified saliva, there is nothing on these.
You checked every piece of clothing? Everything means everything, right down to the soles of his shoes.
The sole of this sneaker had creosote on it.
There was a sliver of wood embedded in it.
Wood? From what? Maybe a railroad tie.
So Bergstrom submitted restaurant receipts to the computer company for reimbursement.
Even psychos gotta eat.
Yeah, well, mostly he ate in his neighborhood.
But three times in one week, he went way the hell uptown to a place near Fort Tryon Park.
Don't they call this clutching at straws? MAN: Yeah, he came three nights in a row earlier this month.
All three times, he asked for that table like it meant something to him.
He do anything besides eat? Just sat there.
Looked out the window, smiling.
What was he looking at? At the park.
At what in the park? The leaves.
(LAUGHS) How do I know? We've got a K-9 unit up there.
Sniffed through several acres.
The dogs didn't find anything.
We talked to two uniforms who saw Bergstrom leaving the park at 4:00 a.
m.
On the sixth of this month.
The exit nearest the restaurant.
They stopped him, didn't like his attitude, so they hung onto him while they looked around some.
Zip.
The park, train tracks.
What the hell is he up to? We checked his travels the last few years.
Houston PD was investigating him on a case where a woman disappeared, January last year.
What made them lock onto Bergstrom? He was with her the day she went missing.
They couldn't tie him in, but the case is still open.
I don't like where this seems to be going.
How long's he been coming to New York? The past five years.
Pull all the reports of missing women, open murder cases with a sex angle.
See if anything matches up.
I have friends in the Houston D.
A.
's office.
I'll give them a call.
Do we have a deal? Does the name Anna Lasky mean anything to you? You had lunch with her in Houston on January 7th, a year ago.
Nobody ever saw her again.
God, not this again.
I had lunch with her.
She left in her car.
I walked back to the house I was renting.
Her car was found at the San Antonio airport a week later.
Blood in the trunk.
Did they find my fingerprints on it? No.
They didn't find one damn thing.
Not one reason to suspect me because I didn't do it.
CARMICHAEL: We've heard how well you clean up after yourself.
Washing the dishes, taking out the garbage, Drano down the drains.
Unless you've annexed Houston into New York County, I don't see how this is any of your business I'm still not hearing any evidence against him in the Lansing case.
We asked the Houston PD if there was a park near where you stayed when you were down there.
They said, "Yes.
" We told them they might wanna send a dog and handler to check it out.
Where you going with this, Mr.
McCoy? Death Row.
Either here or in Texas.
This is the most colossal bluff I've ever seen.
You have nothing! We have Fort Tryon Park.
The train tracks.
Houston K-9 units sniffing away.
We're closing in on you.
Us or Houston.
Either way, we're going to put you down.
They throw the switch a lot faster down there.
I want to speak to Mr.
Lazar.
Alone.
You okay? With that butcher looking at me like I'm a carcass on a meat hook? Sure, I'm fine.
Premature to threaten him with the death penalty.
Last I heard, the cops had over 600 reports of missing women still to go through.
You have to separate that from Bergstrom.
Against my advice, he'll plead to Aggravated Assault on Lansing and Man One on the postal carrier.
Murder One for the postman.
Life without parole.
Murder Two.
25 to life.
And there's a condition.
You agree not to extradite him to Texas.
Or any other death penalty state.
Extradition is up to the governor.
You know that.
Get a promise from the Attorney General's office not to extradite.
He'll want something in return.
Something big.
You get to clear a case you can't even bring to trial 'cause you got squat for evidence, and you want to dicker.
I'm just telling you what I need to make it work.
You put something on the table.
I'll see what I can do.
Otherwise, you can take your chances.
How would you like to close some open cases? What cases? He doesn't say anymore till you get him out of range of the death penalty.
Bergstrom's giving you a gift.
Take it.
I don't like the wrong end of a sucker bet.
You may have no choice.
He's a serial killer.
He's going to show you bodies you may never find without his help.
We make this deal with him, he gets those bodies free.
DR.
SKODA: This could be your last chance to stop him.
We're not going to get perfect justice here.
He accepts life without parole, I can live with that.
Why not buy the cops some time to put a case together? We try him for the assault on Davies.
Maybe he gets a year.
More likely not.
We make this deal with him, we've got him.
So he shows us two bodies.
Four, ten.
What do we say to the families of those women? JACK: If we don't stop him now, what do we say to the families of the women he kills next week, next month, next year? You want to risk their lives just for the satisfaction of ending Bergstrom's? What'd the Attorney General say about extradition? They saw it's the only way we can hang onto him.
Make the deal.
Murder One for the mailman.
Assault One and Attempted Murder Two for Katharine Lansing, and you open up on the cases you know about.
Life without parole.
Murder Two for the mailman, Assault Three for Lansing.
No.
You make this deal, or Mr.
Bergstrom and I are out of here.
Did you talk to the Attorney General's office? JACK: Yes.
No extradition to a death penalty state.
LAZAR: No admission of guilt in any case he tells you about.
But if we uncover independent evidence in those cases, we're free to prosecute.
What independent evidence? Anything you find will be based on what he tells you.
We can argue that out with a judge.
Done.
Let's hear it.
I can show you six bodies.
LAZAR: No admission.
If you didn't kill them, how do you know where they are? I heard.
I'll draw you a map.
RODGERS: Four of them had already been discovered.
BRISCOE: Exactly where Bergstrom said they'd be.
RODGERS: Three were buried as Jane Does on Hart Island.
The fourth was ID'd from dental records.
Beth Aldredge.
She was shipped home to Minnesota.
BRISCOE: We didn't ask to dig her up.
We figured we had enough.
JACK: Autopsies conducted at the time? All they had were bones.
I can give you approximate times of death.
May be off by months.
They all had some chipped bones, knife wounds, delivered with some force.
The other two? CURTIS: One was in Fort Tryon Park, one in a train tunnel.
Bergstrom visited them.
Probably got himself off reliving the good old days.
He led us right to them.
Skeletal remains.
Chipped bones, like the others.
Five of the six had three to five knife wounds.
This guy gets away with six murders.
And who know how many more.
His allocution is in two weeks.
He'll be doing If anybody ever deserved the needle The deal's for Katharine Lansing and the mailman.
What about these? The deal includes these.
You got any paper clips? DD-fives are ready? My wife and I brought Kitty back to the loft from the hospital this morning.
This was in the entry, like somebody slipped it under the door.
Anne and I were at the loft yesterday afternoon to make sure everything was ready for Kitty to come home.
The note wasn't there then? No.
If you caught the man who attacked my daughter, who the hell left this note? "Dear Kitty, if you think that was bad, just wait.
" He pled guilty.
He didn't leave the note.
Who else would have, except the man who attacked me? How many people call you Kitty? Umm, my family and Roger, and a friend I've known since we were kids.
There must be some other people who knew.
You're not listening.
What if What if you've got the wrong person? What am I supposed to do? (CRYING) The police will look into it and find out who left the note.
I can't sleep.
I can't eat.
Anybody who touches me, I cringe.
Somebody made my life not worth living, and now he's going to kill me.
Roger Lansing was in Chicago, meeting with a client when the note was left.
The childhood friend who calls her Kitty lives in Denver.
The antiques dealer was in Europe, servicing another divorcee.
What about Lansing's friend? McKinney was in the Hamptons.
VAN BUREN: Lansing has a girlfriend.
Uh, she went to visit her parents on the island.
Old man owns a carpentry shop there.
Where's the autopsy report on the mailman? Right here.
These U-shaped wounds, you guys know anything about wood-working tools? Yeah.
A little.
Learn more.
And get a search warrant.
My father's retired.
I run the business now.
What's this about? You been to the City lately? Not for a few weeks.
Why? Hey, Rey.
Shaped like a U.
Twist it, you get an O.
How about that? You lied to the police about where you were that weekend.
And you missed a little blood on the gouge when you cleaned up.
One of my workers must've cut himself on it.
It fits the wounds on the mailman, right down to the nick in the center.
And we'll have the blood match by the end of the day.
Why Katharine Lansing? Your sister's dating Katharine's husband.
How did you get in the mix? Mr.
Ashford has told you he's not your man.
Fine.
I'll get an indictment.
Murder One.
Attempted Murder Two.
What can you do for him? What can he do for me? Are you willing to come down from Murder One? It's possible.
So my sister hooks up with this Lansing guy.
He's loaded, but he keeps obsessing on his ex-wife, and Michelle's afraid she's gonna lose him.
And this is the solution you came up with? It wasn't my idea.
She tells me to get rid of the competition and make it look like some psycho did it.
Guess what? Some psycho did do it.
Did Roger Lansing know? You think she told him? She's still trying to hang onto him.
And how's that working out for her? Not too well.
He's more focused on her than ever before.
Calling her, sending her flowers.
Blowing off Michelle.
Just so we're clear, you tortured Katharine Lansing for 36 hours, you stabbed her in the chest, you left her for dead.
LAWYER: At his sister's instigation.
Did his sister tell him to be sure to kill the mailman on his way out? The next announcement's gonna be the police can pin the six bodies on Bergstrom.
They can't.
He killed those six women.
He led us to them.
That isn't evidence.
Any word from the other jurisdictions? CARMICHAEL: Houston PD found a body.
Bones.
No forensics.
We can't hold him for Mr.
Ashford's crime.
Well, we sure as hell can't let him go.
Bergstrom knew we'd find those bodies sooner or later.
He preempted us.
He played us.
Arrange for his release.
You're not serious.
If the police come up with anything Yeah, that's great.
That'll work.
If we need to find him, we can just follow the trail of blood and bones.
Don't rant.
Let's hear a solution.
Ashford and his sister killed a postal employee.
That's a federal offense.
We turn them over to the US Attorney's, gift-wrapped.
And Bergstrom? We keep the Ashfords under wraps until after he allocutes.
Do you know what you're proposing? There's no conflict, Jack.
The Ashfords'll be convicted under a federal statute, Bergstrom under a state one.
Of a crime only one of them could've committed.
New York State expressly allows inconsistent pleadings.
(PHONE RINGING) (SIGHS) Yep? Thanks.
The Ashfords have closed ranks.
They've hired a new lawyer.
LAWYER: How long were you gonna wait to tell us, Mr.
McCoy? You've already got somebody in custody for this crime.
A serial killer named Bergstrom.
He confessed, and he's scheduled to allocute at the end of the week.
Who said he confessed? I have my sources.
You put my clients on trial, I'll call Bergstrom as a witness and watch your face while he tells the jury he did it.
I'm moving to dismiss.
Don't tell us.
The US Attorney's office has agreed to take over prosecution of Mr.
Ashford for the murder of the mailman.
That's a federal crime, in case you didn't know.
And you, Miss Ashford, will be prosecuted as his accomplice.
You said it was over.
This was just a formality.
Let me handle it.
You've handled it right into a federal charge.
Shut up, Michelle.
If you weren't such a stunningly incompetent moron we wouldn't be here at all.
That sounds like an admission of guilt, Mr.
Kaufer.
My client is upset.
There's no admission.
CARMICHAEL: So they'll plead not guilty in federal court.
When pigs fly.
JACK: We settled this.
We left it open, and I called the Feds.
Call 'em back.
Tell 'em we made a mistake.
Jack, we cannot let the Ashfords get away with what they did, and we can't lose Bergstrom.
We've already lost him.
Not if the Feds take the Ashfords.
The New York County District Attorney's office can't No, won't knowingly convict a man of the wrong crime.
What are you thinking? Well, I'm just taking a page from the Jack McCoy playbook.
Nobody gets to bend the rules but you? I've bent the rules to convict the right person of the right crime.
This isn't bending, this is turning the law against itself.
You once hid a witness to get the result that you wanted.
And I was wrong then.
You're wrong now.
Don't wait till you're facing a disciplinary committee to realize it.
Jack, you know that Bergstrom will torture and kill another woman, and another, and another I want to stop him, too, Abbie.
Hey, do you still have letterhead from the Houston D.
A.
's office? Yes.
Good.
I want to check with Skoda, but maybe we can play Mr.
Bergstrom for a change.
A jealous girlfriend, huh? Women.
This changes everything.
My client is recanting his confession and changing his plea to not guilty.
As for Miss Davies, we're gonna fight you on We dropped the assault charge.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth here, but, uh, mind if I ask you why? We don't want anything keeping Mr.
Bergstrom here.
You're wanted elsewhere.
Houston PD found Anna Lasky.
What was left of her.
They sent a request for extradition.
It's all official.
Signed, sealed, delivered.
You can't extradite me.
We have a deal.
Deal's gone.
You recanted.
He said it, not me.
I'm not recanting anything.
We can't have you plead to a crime you didn't commit, Mr.
Bergstrom.
That would be wrong.
You bitch.
A week from tomorrow, you'll be on a plane, sandwiched between two of Houston's finest.
They can't do this.
You'll have a speedy trial.
Your lawyer will file a couple of appeals.
He'll lose, and bang, before you know it, there's that pesky needle.
You, what are you doing? You're just sitting there.
Make her shut up.
Ms.
Carmichael I'm not done.
I'm going to be there.
And if they'd let me push one of the plungers, I'd do it, and pray it's the one that delivers the fatal dose.
Get her out of here.
Get her out.
How does it feel, Mr.
Bergstrom? You killed all those women, and now a woman is going to return the favor.
You won't.
Pretty damn ironic, isn't it? You can't kill me.
I won't let you.
Try and stop me.
I'll plead to one of the others.
The one by the train tracks.
Hang on Murder One.
Life without parole.
Mr.
Bergstrom BERGSTROM: Yeah.
Okay.
She doesn't say what happens to me.
Fine.
If you change your mind, I'll be waiting.
No, you sit! You listen to what I did to her.
I cut her, and she screamed.
I burned her, and she screamed louder.
I pushed my fist into her, and she passed out.
I made her say she admired me.
I had total control.
Total.