Transcript

Cole: LAPD. We'd like a word with you.

Stuart: Save it for someone who's interested. They're fascists come to move us on and steal what little we have left!

Cole: Six rounds won't get us far.

Rusty: I need you to stay copacetic here, Phelps. We need to hold out until the cavalry arrives.

Cole: How do we do that?

Rusty: Like this.

Man 1: Gunshot, [inaudible 00:00:44].

Stuart: If you want your rightful share we need to . . .

Cole: Does killing make you feel powerful?

Man 2: What do you think you're [inaudible 00:01:03]?

Cole: What's your name?

Stuart: Comrade Stalin.

Cole: Very funny. We'll find out from your personal effects.

Stuart: Stuart Ackerman.

Cole: You're under suspicion for murder, Ackerman. We're taking you downtown.

Stuart: You? You can't do anything more to me than what the Japanese have already done.

Rusty: The Kremlin's over here, Phelps. Toss it and see what you find.

Cole: Looks familiar. Safe bet it'll match the mark under Theresa Taraldsen's chin.

Ackerman doesn't look like much of a dancer.

You drive. I need to go over the case notes.

Rusty: And where exactly are we going?

Cole: The husband has an alibi but no real motive other than neglect. Jessop's alibi checks out. Bates is a recidivist. He'll be pulling the same shtick until we put him away for good. Ackerman has history, opportunity, hard evidence, but what motive?

Rusty: We have the evidence. We know she was here. All we need is a confession, and we can charge the bum with murder.

Cole: We're going this way.

Ackerman, you were in the Marines.

Stuart: How do you know?

Cole: The Corps selected big guys for flamethrower duty. That's how you got the burns.

Stuart: Life expectancy was five minutes for a guy on flamethrower detail. What kind of a government puts weight like that on a man's shoulders?

Cole: You'll get no argument from me. It was a heavy load.

Rusty: You're feeling sorry for this smell fuck?

Cole: Why did you kill Mrs. Taraldsen?

Stuart: I have no recollection of the people I have killed.

Cole: Are you denying that you strangled Mrs. Taraldsen with a length of rope?

Stuart: I'm not denying anything. You have to have proof, lackey.

Cole: We found a matching piece of rope in your lean-to. I think we'll find the blood will match too.

Stuart: I own no property. How could it belong to me?

Cole: A bus driver dropped Mrs. Taraldsen near your camp around 2 AM. Why did you take her up to the hill?

Stuart: Which hill? I have many places. I go where I please.

Cole: You are clearly insane, Ackerman. The state of California does not execute mental patients.

Stuart: I don't know the names of the women I have killed, but I have killed many of them. Their necks are so fragile.

Cole: Where were you around 2 AM last night?

Stuart: At the camp.

Cole: You were up on the hill. You were seen during the day. We have a witness. We have evidence. Come clean with me, Ackerman, and I'll see what I can do for you.

Stuart: I despise your pity. You have nothing that links me to this woman.

Cole: We have you cold, Ackerman. Her purse and the ballroom ticket were in your lean-to. Tell us why you did it.

Stuart: I kill because people need killing. It's what I was trained to do.

Cole: Stuart Ackerman, I am charging you with the murder of Theresa Taraldsen.

Captain Donnelly: A man down on his luck, I can abide, but a filthy red who chooses to live outside the rules of society, I cannot stomach. Maybe poor Theresa Taraldsen will provide the catalyst we need. I've spoken to the chief and the mayor, and I think it's time we sent some men in to remove the godless and send them on their way over the county line. A grand day that will be, gentlemen. And a grand result you have brought me. You two are fast becoming my finest crusaders.