Law & Order

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.

Sure I can afford it.

Mr. DeLuca, he knows one of the waiters.

So, he's going to call him up

so we can get served wine.

Well, they got... They got table cloths. They got candles.

Yeah, and they sing opera.

Well, you know, maybe I can get them to sing Happy Birthday for you.

Hey, look, I think I'm coming up on the address.

Let me call you when I get home, all right?

Yeah. I love you, too.

Hey, excuse me. I'm looking for number 127.

Do you know which door that is?

(WOMAN CHATTERING OVER POLICE RADIO)

He was tapped once in the back of the head, .25 caliber.

We got three casings in a group back there,

and four more spread out along the sidewalk.

The shooter was running after the van.

Yeah. The kid tried to get away.

Matthew Wheeler, 20 years old last month.

It's his van.

He was just like this? Uh-huh.

The perp must have pulled him out.

Yeah. He left the cash. And the watch.

And the four buckets of chicken.

DeLuca's, 41st and Sth.

Good place.

They make their own chicken soup.

I never saw this kid there.

Detective, this is Mr. Sheehan. He saw it happen.

Well, not the whole thing, actually, l...

Well, we'd appreciate anything you can tell us.

I was walking along the street here, going home,

when I heard three shots.

So I looked up to the corner here,

and I saw this van here roll by the intersection.

There was somebody running along the passenger side

shooting into the van.

Can you describe this somebody?

Well, I didn't run up to get a good look. I was pretty scared.

And then what?

Then nothing. I ran home.

Until I heard the sirens.

Okay. The detective will take your statement. Thanks.

Lennie, the address on the delivery ticket, 127.

You want to deliver the chicken?

127 is an empty store.

I should've never sent him out this late,

but four large buckets...

You got to make a living.

He was only working here a couple of weeks.

Nice kid. (SIGHS)

This is really screwed up.

Who took the order?

He did.

We didn't find a phone number on the delivery ticket.

I told him to always get a number.

Come on. Come on.

I'm sure it's here.

Why don't we check the caller ID box? They save the numbers.

Oh, right. I forgot.

The call came in right after 10:00.

The early news just started...

Here. it's this one.

Mr. DeLuca, you been having any trouble with anybody?

You know, maybe somebody you pissed off.

Or maybe you buy your chickens from the wrong supplier?

Nothing like that. Why?

Well, the phony address. No sign of a robbery.

Almost looks like somebody's trying to send you a message.

Hey, I pay my bills, I don't owe no Shylock.

And I get my birds from the right people.

He's a good kid. He never hurt anybody.

What kind of a sick bastard would do this?

We'll get him.

Can you think of anyone who might've wanted to hurt him?

No. He got along good with everybody.

I don't mean any disrespect,

but was he ever mixed up with a gang or with drugs?

No. He told me that he tried pot.

But, I mean, show me a kid that doesn't.

Oh, God, I should call Lauren.

Lauren?

Yeah. That's his girlfriend.

He met her at City College.

He goes there part time.

We're going to need to talk to her.

Yeah.

I'll get the address.

Excuse me, it's Profaci.

I'm telling you right now,

the son of a bitch who killed my boy,

you better pray you find him before I do.

The call to the chicken place came from here.

I got people canvassing.

Two witnesses in one day? We should be so lucky.

You checking that for prints or what?

Soon as I take it back to the lab.

This year?

It's up to him.

I can't just disconnect a payphone.

I have to have a work order from my supervisor.

And he needs a paper from his supervisor,

who needs a paper from the city.

Tell you what. I'm going to give you a piece of paper.

Now, this is my card, see.

I'm going to write a little note on it.

And the next time you get stopped for speeding,

you just show this to the officer. Deal?

Yeah? Okay.

Check the coins, too, huh.

We got a match from a thumbprint on two shell casings

to partials on five coins in the phone.

So the shooter made five calls.

Looks like.

There was a second set of thumbprints on the casings.

Can you put a face to the prints?

They're not in the system.

You get any more good news, you hurry on back.

We talked to the victim's girlfriend, to his friends.

The kid was the boy wonder. I don't see any motive here.

People don't kill for no reason.

This doer made a phone call from Central Park

for a delivery 40 blocks away.

He wanted a nice, quiet street.

There are quiet streets closer to the park.

Tell me about this bogus address.

Repair shop for small appliances.

Went out of business about 14 months ago.

So our suspect knows that

because he lives in that neighborhood.

Yeah. Along with 40,000 of his neighbors.

I got the dumps from the payphone.

Twenty-three calls made in the hour and a half before the murder.

Six to take-out places, including the last one, DeLuca's.

Five coins, five calls.

He was trolling for victims.

Until he found a place that delivered.

Would be nice to find someone who actually talked to this person.

Okay. I got this covered.

I'll pick you up around noon?

Yeah, we'll be out front.

Oh, they were calling from a phone booth.

It didn't sound on the up-and-up.

There were two of them?

Yeah. First the one guy orders the buckets,

then the other guy gets on to give me the address.

Young, old?

Young, I think.

The first one talked through his nose. White guys.

They wanted two large buckets.

Yeah. They ordered four buckets from DeLuca.

Four? Yeah, for four I would've gone out myself.

I'm really scared, Rey.

I know you are, baby.

But you're going to be all right.

I'm sure it's nothing.

See you tonight, all right?

I love you.

So?

She's got to come back for more tests.

What's wrong with her?

She's got some numbness in her right foot. It comes and goes.

They just want to rule some things out.

So, what's up with our shooter?

Well, there might've been two of them.

Young, probably white.

They called four other take-out places.

The other two calls were legit orders.

That accounts for four of the coins.

Might've used the fifth to call a number on the list.

Well, here's the LUDs. Take your pick.

It was him who called me.

He forgot what he was supposed to get from the store.

He never remembers anything.

I remembered our phone number.

You had it written down in your wallet.

Mr. Hemmerick. Yeah?

Did you see anybody hanging around

the phone booth the other night?

Maybe a couple of kids? They might've been white.

Yeah, sure. Two boys, they was laughing it up.

One of them looked a little Puerto Rican.

They were laughing it up about what?

I wasn't listening to them. I was listening to her.

What did they look like?

Maybe one of them had red hair.

I didn't get a good look.

He can't see at night.

I see just fine!

They had loose-fitting clothes,

and one of them had skates

with those plastic wheels.

You mean roller blades.

That's right. Roller blades.

With green wheels. Lime green.