Law & Order Special Victims Unit s01e04 Episode Script

Hysteria

'In the criminal justice system, 'sexually based offences are considered especially heinous.
'In New York City, the detectives who investigate these vicious felonies 'are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
'These are their stories.
' Now Nicole won't talk to Cynthia and she doesn't want me to.
Oh, and Wendy got her navel pierced.
- Don't even think about it.
- But it's so cool! Your mom said no holes.
Guess what Stephanie got pierced.
That's enough.
Let someone else get a word in.
Kathleen, how was school? My friend Ashley quit.
What, the soccer team? No.
School.
She's pregnant.
Honey.
Stabler.
You gotta be Sex Crimes.
- Elliot Stabler.
- Olivia Benson.
You Homicide? Sorry.
Just Vice.
D'Angelo, 3-1.
This way.
The rookie they saddled me with puked himself.
It's his first DOA.
I sent him for coffee.
- Who found the body? - Couple of lookie-lous.
They veered off from their Frommer's Guide.
They saw Times Square, the Disney Store and a bonus, a dead whore.
You know she's a prostitute? Did somebody ID the body? After 30 years in Vice, I know.
You get to the point where you can just smell 'em.
We got a doozie here.
You wanna go check on your partner, we'll understand.
- Whatever you say.
- Yeah.
Thanks.
We know what happened here? Looks like she came here willingly with a john who tries to asphyxiate her and bash her head in.
The bag still has her facial impression.
- We know which wound killed her? - Only time and the lab will tell.
Her skirt was hiked up, so we'll run a rape kit.
Get anylhing from these footprints? A 60-man crew worked here yesterday but there was one print with blood tracked in it.
Only a partial but we'll see.
Can you get double prints? We could use a set for our bulletin board.
Hey! Little respect here.
Don't get your boxers in a twist.
She's NHI.
- What's NHI? - No humans involved.
It means don't work too hard on this one.
The victim was just a useless piece of garbage.
Kinda like a cop who ought to retire.
All right, let's get started.
What have we got? Black prostitute.
Late teens.
Asphyxiated with a bag.
Severe blow to the head.
Sounds like a case Homicide worked.
A streetwalker, Carmel, turned up wearing a bag on 10th Avenue.
Any ID? No ID on the body and no fingerprints on file.
Maybe she was new to the streets.
We're waiting on the ME report.
Take her photo around.
See if you can find a co-worker.
- Munch, Cassidy, you free? - To do with as you will after court.
Right, Dr Buzzjoy! That's an open-and-shut case.
Try not to screw it up with your insane rambling.
And stop looking at my ass.
You guys, wait up! We're not Vice.
We're looking for the man that did this.
Seen this girl before? Not around here.
Who'd she piss off? A guy who's targeting working girls.
Anybody run into rough trade lately? Other than a slap and a punch? No.
Business as usual.
All perfect gentlemen.
You guys could be in real danger.
Now help us out.
I had a man beat me that bad once.
- Rose! - No.
It's all right.
Rose, what happened? Tied my hands and feet to the bedpost, started raping me.
He came back with his buddies.
I don't remember after that.
Can you give us a description? Could give you a photo if I took the family album when I left home.
This is Victim Services.
- Call them sometime.
- Yeah.
Sure.
Look, the guy that we're looking for uses a plastic garbage bag.
Puts it over the girl's head.
I know somebody that happened to.
Puerto Rican named Lorinda.
Can you tell us where to find her? Nah.
I worked Times Square with her but I don't know where she went after the sweep.
You might check 9th.
Name is Lorinda.
Puerto Rican, 5'7', long dark hair.
Bad red streak job, frizzed to the roots? She moved in with some tramps after Giuliani cleaned up Times Square.
Led to a bit of a turf war.
Guess who won, sweetie.
You must be very proud.
Where'd you chase these losers off to? They were never heard from again.
Lorinda tried to sneak back in here, passing for one of us.
Had to bitch-slap that girl to Tuesday.
That's beautiful.
Perfect comment on the day.
- You seem a little wired.
- It's called no sleep.
Last night Kathleen informs us one of her friends is pregnant.
- Kathleen is 12! - One of her older friends.
Oh! Some girl on the soccer team she really respects.
And by older, I mean she's 14.
Did you talk to her about it? She locks herself in her room, but we're gonna have a talk.
Now? I'm calling Children's Services about Rose.
She ain't legal.
We promised we wouldn't bust'em.
She's a baby.
All bets are off.
Why don't we stop by the 3-1, talk to Vice and see if they have anylhing on our victims? Quarter to twelve.
They should be at lunch.
No.
Well, look who's slumming it.
We're working a case here.
We may have a link to last night's attack.
Did you ever run across a Carmel, working Vice? What's a Carmel? Another DOA who was wearing a bag.
Also a prostitute.
The one who bought it last month? Yeah, that one.
You knew about that? Garbage bag case.
It didn't occur to bring that up at the scene? No one seemed to want my opinion.
We have a third possible vic.
Prostitute named Lorinda, but she got away.
- Do you know her? - I never heard of her.
Let me get a bite and I'll form a search party.
You busted a Lorinda Gutierrez outside Penn Station my first week on the desk.
- And you are Officer? - Ridley.
- You Vice? - 23 years.
Last two months on a desk, though.
Hm.
Maybe she's new.
Aren't you guys late for a sensitivity training class? She was so young.
One side of her face was bashed in.
And the guy just stood there and he goes, 'No humans involved.
' Next time I hear that crap, I'm gonna bust some balls.
Yeah.
I'd like to bust D'Angelo's.
Whoo! Wait till we get our hands on the perp.
Yeah! Haemorrhaging inside the eyelids indicates death by asphyxiation.
- How about the blows to the head? - Overkill.
He hit her so hard, a piece of bag lodged in the wound.
Our guy's pissed.
- He rape her? - Negative.
As were the drug tests.
Not many clean hookers out there.
OK.
Thanks.
Oh, and here's something you don't see every day.
Perfect teeth from expensive orthodontia.
Stomach contents include soybeans, vegetables, whole grains.
A health-conscious hooker.
How '90s.
Detective, you were on duty the day Miss Weber came in alleging Dr Ott molested her.
Is that correct? She seemed to be see-sawing between anger and humiliation.
Classic symptoms of molestation victims.
- Objection.
State of mind.
- Sustained.
Did she say why she was so upset? She said she went to Dr Ott to obtain a prescription for Prozac.
The good doctor, diagnosing hysteria, recommended an alternative to chemical dependency.
And what was that treatment? Miss Weber was told to disrobe, put her feet in stirrups and try to picture David Hasselhoff.
Objection! This witness is not qualified to testify about hysteria.
Actually, I am.
Up until 1952, hysteria was a commonly-diagnosed illness in women.
The medical treatment was hysterical paroxysm.
Could the witness spell that? O- R-G-A-S-M.
- Objection! - Oh! Does it surprise you that, historically, the onus fell upon physicians to bring about the relief of symptoms? Your Honour, please instruct counsel to withhold his questions until cross.
I don't mind, Your Honour.
I believe the manual version of this treatment dates back to Hippocrates, and was attested to until the Middle Ages, up to the 1890s, when the vibrator was invented.
- Objection! - Sustained.
Detective, is this practice currently against the law? Yes.
And so is videotaping it.
- How did it go in court? - I think I won the case.
Possible match from Missing Persons.
Matches height and weight on your Jane Doe.
African-American.
19.
Tracy Henderson.
- Lives in Bronxville.
- Missing how long? Two days.
Nice neighbourhood.
- Think we're on the wrong track? - If not, this girl fell pretty far.
- Yes? - Detectives Benson and Stabler John! Did you find Tracy? We're not sure.
We need to ask you a few questions.
When did you last talk to your daughter? Sunday.
She calls every Sunday.
Are you aware what your daughter does in Manhattan? Of course.
She majors in cultural studies at Columbia.
A sophomore.
And she volunteers at a literacy centre.
We need for you to look at a photo.
We don't mean to upset you but it is rather graphic.
Oh, no! No, no, no! How did it happen? She was found in Times Square.
She'd been attacked.
Why? Why? That's what we're trying to find out.
What? Sorry, but your daughter was dressed rather provocatively.
What are you saying? We have reason to believe Tracy's attacker was targeting prostitutes.
Prostitutes? Yes, sir.
Your notification went well.
- The mother cold-cocked you? - No.
- We're reassessing the hooker angle.
- Cos she's from a good family? - Model family.
- She does charity work! Why would she sell it on the street? - Drugs.
- Not a trace.
So, what was Miss Goody-Two-Shoes doing wearing rock-my-world pumps, not to mention a micro mini and belly shirt? It was hot.
That's what I'd wear to go clubbing.
Ooh! - Are you saying she asked for it? - I'd never let my girls wear that.
Just wait! What does that mean? We digress.
Back to the dead whore.
Have some respect for the victim.
I respect hookers.
They earn their money up front, unlike ex-wives.
Oh, so, you're saying all women are whores? I don't know all the women in the world.
Children! OK, our possible living vic, Lorinda Gutierrez, has herself quite a rap sheet.
Assuming she was attacked, and not a figment of a hooker's crack pipe, - let's find her.
Who wants this? - Cassidy and I.
I'm already on it.
The Hendersons told you Tracy had a boylriend they don't know much about.
We're leaving now.
Look, if he can't play with the big boys, cut him off.
- Dennis Caulfield? - Detectives Stabler and Benson.
We're investigating the murder of Tracy Henderson.
- Phillip, cover my lines.
- Sure, Dennis.
- When? - Two nights ago.
Oh, my God.
That's why.
Why? We had tentative dinner plans but she didn't call.
- Did you call her? - No.
I just assumed she got caught up with her work.
She was so dedicated.
What did you end up doing? I ended up watching the Yankee game with my friend Bill Griswold.
I owe him 50 bucks.
This is just a formality but could we get Mr Griswold's phone number? Of course.
Oh, I forgot.
He gave me this.
Anyone else she might've been meeting? Another guy? Another guy? No, she didn't date anyone else.
- You sure? - Absolutely.
Maybe one of her friends from the literacy centre? Out clubbing with the girls? - Had the talk with Kathleen yet? - We tried.
She freaked.
You know the damage of not dealing with it.
I know.
I know.
What? Tracy's volunteer centre.
Carmel was killed six blocks from here.
Tracy have trouble with anyone here? No.
Everyone loved her.
Just ask all of them.
We'll have to speak with each one of them.
Anyone not show up today? Er, Travis Hall.
But he's missed the last few classes.
- What's his story? - He's a short-order cook.
And a parolee.
Out of Rikers.
Whatever they think Travis did, I think he did it.
We appreciate your help, but there's no need to see us all the way.
- What do you think he did? - It's best if you stay here.
That bad, huh? Oh, man, that smell! - Even with the heat - He must've been dead a week.
Guess he has an alibi.
OK, let's fill this in.
Carmel's dead prostitute number one.
Lorinda, a prostitute attacked a year earlier, is MIA.
Jury's out on the honours student-prostitute.
Maybe wrong place, time.
Maybe the perp needs glasses.
Carmel received blunt trauma to the head.
She was asphyxiated with a bag and left in a sexualised position.
Cut and paste that for Tracy.
And Lorinda.
Except asphyxiation was only attempted, she escaped, so there was no body to position sexually, plus she's not dead.
Carmel was black.
Found in an alley.
Black.
Construction site.
Lorinda was Latina, escaped from an alley.
Whereabouts unknown.
No luck finding the fille de joie, huh? - Anylhing else? - I got crime scene contamination.
Powder from latex gloves, police-issue, three fingers.
- Forensic tech got sloppy? - Uh-uh.
It was Chau.
He's as meticulous as they come.
So, how did we get contamination? I can tell you how we didn't.
Why not Travis Hall? He OD'd a week before she was killed.
You take something away, it'd be nice if you could add.
I say the key is finding Lorinda.
How close did you get? The trail went cold on 9th.
Where the girls aren't girls, but boys being girls.
They weren't forthcoming about where they chased the female hookers.
Gansevoort by the Meat Market.
What? I remember it from canvassing.
What are you looking at? My man.
Let's go.
Hey, maybe that's her.
The elusive Lorinda Gutierrez? Hey! - Hey! - Hey, wait up! - Come on back here! - Stop! - Relax! - We're not Vice.
- We're not Vice.
- We're not here to bust you.
We're looking for the man who attacked you last year.
Come on.
Freak is right in front of me.
- But you didn't get a look at him.
- Nah! He shines his light in my eyes, blinding me, then, bam, he hits me with the flashlight.
I'm woozy.
Then he puts a bag over my head and tries to suffocate me.
- He's behind you? - Pulling the bag tight.
I'm clawing at his hands but they're too smooth.
- Cos he's wearing gloves.
- I told you already.
Like a doctor's.
He ain't letting up.
So I reach back, grab his cojones, and jerk, and tear ass out of there, like I'm fixing to do now.
There's no description you can give? Why you working this so hard? He attack somebody who matters? He's right in front of her.
He blinds her, he hits her.
He gets in back of her, pulls the bag across her face.
She claws at his hands but he's wearing doctor's gloves, - so she twists his cojones and runs.
- Never even saw the guy.
- Doctor's gloves? Latex? - Yeah, why? Carmel had powder from latex gloves on her fingers.
But that was determined to be police issue, not from the perp.
Say he is wearing the gloves, she starts clawing at his hands.
- Maybe the fingers slip inside.
- Hello! He was right in front of Lorinda? Yep.
You're sure she shielded her eyes like this, not this? We went through it a dozen times.
Civilian.
And who does this look like? Clue Non-gun hand, held to the side.
- A cop.
- Pow! No offence but all cops are pigs, as far as I'm concerned.
- Who's the biggest? - Fat Irish guy.
What's his name? Come around all grabby-ass but he don't wanna pay.
O'Brien.
- Girl, O'Brien went down.
- No! In the midtown south brothel scandal.
Don't you read the papers, loca? - Why you always? - Girls! Easy words! Easy words.
We're looking for a cop with a nasty temper, roughed you up.
Last time I got busted, the pig nearly dislocated my shoulder.
I wasn't even resisting.
- You remember this officer's name? - He gonna know I said anylhing? If it's him, you will never hear from him again.
Big Italian vice dick.
Spit his toothpick right in my face.
D'Angelo.
- Sal D'Angelo.
- We polled the streets.
- His job is to arrest these girls.
- We know this guy.
He's a jerk.
First officer at the scene of Tracy's murder.
He knew the other victims.
- Make some calls.
- Already did.
Abuse of his badge, bilking overtime.
Slaps on the wrist.
So he's not clean but he's not dirty by street standards either.
- What precinct is he out of? - The 3-1.
Lennie Briscoe used to work the 3-1.
I'll give him a call.
See if he can shed any light on what's not in D'Angelo's file.
When you were at the 3-1, did you know a cop named D'Angelo? - The '70s are a blur.
- Tell me about it.
- Closest I ever came to time travel.
- The good old days.
'75, I'm in Atlantic City sweating in a room with no air conditioning.
I go to the bar, order a double vodka on the rocks.
Next thing I know, I'm eye-to-eye with a worm in a tequila bottle.
- I look around, I'm in Mexico.
- Me, too.
Only I wake up eye-to-eye with my service revolver, crying.
And somehow we stayed ahead of our squads, wise guys like D'Angelo.
D'Angelo? What a piece of work.
Last year, PBA golf tournament, he's there.
Same little snot.
Loud, obnoxious, always picking his teeth.
He threw a club on the 13th.
- So he has a temper.
Excessive? - Nah, it's mostly bluster.
He and his partner came in second, D'Angelo bought drinks.
See? You didn't kill that many brain cells.
And you still know how to interrogate the hell out of a guy.
The reason I'm asking, we're looking for a Vice cop with a cruel streak.
D'Angelo's a bastard.
So are you.
So am I.
We're all bastards.
But his partner, there's a real wacko.
- How so? - That same day, this guy sinks a 45-foot putt.
Now, everybody goes crazy, yelling, 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not!' No, Ridley, that was his name, Ridley.
- Strange.
- What's strange about a lucky putt? Not the putt.
The guy's reaction to it.
When that ball fell in the cup everybody went nuts.
Ridley doesn't even crack a smile, like he's got ice water in his veins.
So he's cool under pressure.
No, but the very next hole, he slices one into the woods, he goes nuts.
Attacks a ball washer.
Completely destroys it.
- Something to drink? - Perrier.
Still drinking that French swill? Pellegrino.
You always gotta trump me.
Elliot, anylhing new on D'Angelo? - We're spinning our wheels.
- Briscoe give you anylhing? Yeah.
I want you to check out an officer named Ridley.
Who? Ridley, Peter Francis? This is from IAD.
How did you get this? Don't ask, don't tell.
Look at this.
Two assault complaints by prostitutes, both dropped.
Domestic abuse complaint filed by his ex-wife, also dropped.
- You should see the psych report.
- Red flags? Looks like China.
Pull everylhing on him.
Question anybody he worked with.
If you can, go back to the first sandbox he ever farted in.
- Which is? - Kew Gardens.
- The kid was a nightmare.
- Things weren't easy for that boy.
- How can you defend him? - Poor thing.
That mother of his.
- What about her? - Saltines.
That was the sign.
If crackers were outside the door he wasn't to go in.
That meant she had a customer.
You know, a john.
He'd sit outside the door all night in the cold.
He could hear the goings-on.
Saltines for dinner.
Imagine! - This'll take weeks.
- He moved around a lot.
We gotta get a better system.
I'll pull assaults in his precincts, you pull his arrest records.
I understand how Ridley could hate his mother but this Frustration, resentment, self-pity.
The guy's stayed a low-level officer for 31 years.
He'll get enforced retirement never having made his mark.
- His wife left him a bitter loner.
- That's a trigger.
These are them.
And that's a trigger for me.
I gotta go kick soccer balls at Kathleen.
- That should get her to talk.
- I don't even know if she'll come.
- She's goalie, huh? - Yeah.
Stress how aggressively she needs to protect the goal.
Wow! You coming? - No, I'm gonna stay.
You go ahead.
- OK.
I'm taking the aggro.
Night.
- You didn't come out again, honey.
- So? So one ball can change the game.
It's like life.
When I get close to you, just come on out.
Cut off my angle.
Let's try it again.
- OK, come on out, come on out.
- Thanks, that was great advice! Honey, you did great, but the players in this game know a lot of tricks.
Never commit until you know where they're coming from, and even then you gotta be careful.
You understand? Whatever.
Good.
OK, that's good.
Because they'll be attacking you from every angle.
Just guard it with your life, sweetie.
- Oh, boy.
- OK.
Come on, kick it back.
Dad, I'm a virgin, OK? OK.
Olivia? - Mm? - Hey! - Hey.
- Hey.
- How late did you work last night? - Is it morning? - What were you doing? - Checking attacks on prostitutes against precincts where Ridley worked.
- How far did you go back? - 29, 30 years.
OK, what have you got for me? Take a look, tell me what you think.
See a pattern? It's like a string of paper dolls.
Detectives.
Officer Ridley, we need you to come to the precinct with us.
I know what this is about.
I won the policeman's raffle, right? So, let's do it.
- I'm gonna need your weapon, sir.
- Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Second weapon! How goes the psychological warfare? It's working on us, at least.
How long has he been in there? He acts as if he's looking at a Van Gogh exhibit.
He's ready.
That's some nice police work.
Only took you 31 years.
Can you believe not one of those morons in Vice ever picked up on it? The irony is, I almost had it out of my system.
The need to cleanse? I even let one get away last year.
Yeah.
After she nailed you in the gonads.
That night, I had a cold.
Almost didn't go out.
'Glad I did, though.
' 'She was a particularly rancid piece of meat.
20 dollars a pop.
' Course, those were 1979 dollars.
And this little junkie whore weighed about 80 pounds.
I remember pulling the bag so tight it lifted her clear off the ground.
I know the drill.
- But you gave me too much credit.
- What's that supposed to mean? It's not mine.
Its name is Tracy Henderson.
Don't jerk us around.
18 counts gets you the same lethal injection as 19.
Yes, I know.
And that's why I want my record accurately documented.
For posterity.
OK.
You took the FBI seminar on pattern killers.
MO, signatures MO is how a perp operates, signature distinguishes him from others.
- He didn't kill Tracy Henderson.
- Why, because he says so? Because he's a pattern killer.
All his vics were found in remote areas, all were placed very carefully into position.
He has them holding hands! What about the bag over her head? The crushed skull? I don't know.
Coincidence? Copycat? No.
- First-timer, impulsive.
Young.
- All right.
Young.
Impulsive.
My gut tells me the killer knew Tracy.
- Did you call the Hendersons? - Next on my list.
- Cross it off.
Father's here.
- Detective? I owe you an apology.
My wife was in shock and she feels terrible.
We're very grateful to you for catching Tracy's killer.
We wanted to thank you.
Mr Henderson, I am sorry but the man we have in custody is not your daughter's killer.
But in the papers it was the way Tracy You said it was the guy.
We intended to call you this morning.
Mr Henderson, I give you my word, we are going to find Tracy's killer.
OK.
All right.
- God, do I feel crappy.
- Not your fault.
So now we go for a perfect record.
Did you ever find out why Tracy was in Times Square? No.
She had tentative plans with her boylriend but she never called him.
You confirmed that against her phone logs? - We pulled them but - We got diverted by Ridley.
- Now you're diverted back.
- Dennis's alibi checked.
If Tracy was leading a double life, the boylriend would know.
Did he seem to be holding back? I didn't get that from him.
He was very forthcoming, helpful.
- Too helpful? - He was pretty quick with that card.
His alibi's business card, right in his pocket.
He just He was with his best friend.
I know my best friend's number by heart.
You know what they call accomplice in prison, Billy? Bunk mate.
from the old lifestyle.
OK.
Dennis's real girlfriend is a buyer for Prada.
- They're probably getting married.
- How'd Tracy feel about that? Dennis wanted a little strange before he settled down.
He saw Tracy at a club.
Very hot! Every guy wants her, Dennis gets her.
But the package doesn't match the wrapping.
- She's very inexperienced.
- A virgin.
It was her first glass of wine! She wakes up the next morning, hung over and in love with Dennis.
- Poor Dennis.
No jungle fever.
- More like iced mocha.
- What happened that night? - She calls, wants to go dancing.
Says she's even going to wear something wild for once.
But Dennis stood her up and went home alone.
So he asked me to lie.
- He's my friend.
- So get a new one.
Nothing links the boylriend to the crime scene.
There's gotta be something.
We need something concrete.
Bet his lawyer's slicker than he is.
What are we not seeing? What is there to see? We have no hair, no fibres, no prints.
At the crime scene they had a partial footprint.
It was the vic's blood in the shoe print.
- What have you got on the shoe? - Size 11C.
Exotic Italian.
- Valleti Brothers.
- You mean the Valenti Brothers? - Er, yes, I do.
- How did you know that? They run an ad in the Times.
They're exclusively available at one store.
In that size, we've sold maybe a dozen pairs.
They're new this fall.
- They're beautiful.
- They're $820 a pair.
Are you in the market? Yes, I am, for those 12 receipts.
Would you pull them for us? Know what kills me? Even if we prove he owned the shoes, he had plenty of time to ditch them.
Trust me, that jerk did not throw away $800 shoes.
This is what we got from his place.
This kid's a closet Imelda Marcos.
He's got everylhing but the ugly-ass shoes you're looking for.
Dammit.
We cover everylhing in that warrant? We searched his office, we searched his gym locker, everylhing.
Everylhing but the house he grew up in.
Current voter's registration card.
Still his legal address.
That was taken spring in Vermont.
She loved to ski.
She's quite pretty.
Not any more.
You couldn't stomach the photos from the crime scene.
- Why are you telling us this? - She was your son's dirty secret.
Though she was a lovely, decent girl from an affluent family like yours.
Except she was black.
Would that have bothered you? No, of course not.
- But he never mentioned her to you.
- This is insane.
- You don't know our son.
- Do you? - What are you doing here? - Mind if we look in your bag? - Yeah, I do mind.
- Too bad.
Why did you kill her, Dennis? Problems with your real girlfriend? - Take her out for one last fling? - Perhaps I'd better call my lawyer.
Perhaps you should.
So what, you took her for a quickie outside in the open? Pretty kinky.
She refused you.
Your friend Griswold said she was kinda square.
- That's so frustrating.
- You got so pissed off when she refused, you got rough.
Try to shake some sense into her? When she didn't get up, you panicked and dragged her into the alley.
'What am I gonna do now? Whatever, I'll just dump her body and run.
'I'll wake up the next morning, 'go to work, pretend nothing ever happened.
Maybe it'll be that way.
' - No.
- No? - But it did happen.
- I don't know what this is about.
Really? Then why didn't you mention her? - Well, I was going to, but - Oh, my God! He's wearing them.
Nice shoes.

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