"'In New York City's war on crime, 'the worst criminal offenders are pursued 'by the detectives of the Major Case Squad." "'These are their stories.'" " I want the kind with the stars." " We only have noodles." "Do I have to go to school if I'm sick?" "No." "They'll just send you home." "I'm gonna see if Daddy read my e-mail." " 'Check your mail.'" " Who's sending Daddy mail?" "Sexy Rita." " Who's that?" " Don't open it." " Go wash up, I'll get lunch ready." " OK." "Go wash up now." "I'll be home by 6:30." "Why?" "What's wrong?" " 'Nothing.'" " I can hear it in your voice." "Just make sure you're home on time." "These are the pension-fund files for the Mancuso meeting." "Everything OK?" "Oh, it's Mandy." "She's on a tear about something." "She called wanting the who, what, where of your recent lunch hours." " I hope you told her." " I told her what you tell me." "And I didn't mention the woman who calls and never leaves her name." "Next time Mandy calls, tell her." "Tell her I told you to tell her." "OK." "We can't be bulls in a china shop." "One individual has resigned." "I pulled the records, Mr Mancuso." "You still have nearly a dozen people whose status is questionable." "I won't sign off on the audit until this is rectified." " I know you have a job to do..." " Just do your damn job." "There's no need for that kind of language." "You'd prefer some other language?" "How about kickbacks?" "If you don't clean it up, Mancuso, I'll bring in people who will." " There's nobody, Mandy, I swear." " Do I look like a stupid person?" "I found your personal ad on a website." " You've had it there a month." " That's not true!" "That's not mine!" "I printed it out." "Tell me that's not you." " Mandy, I did not post this." " I called the bank." "That ad was paid by electronic cheque from our account, Ron." "Er..." "Sarah's finished her bath." "Come on, Billy, it's time for bed." "Power Company, for the meter!" "Oh, jeez!" "Sherwood, Ron and Mandy." "He works in the city comptroller's office." "She's a part-time nurse." "Two kids in grammar school, William and Sarah." " Any domestic violence calls?" " No, never." "He chased her down into the kitchen." "What looks like defensive wounds on her arms." "One of the first swings knocks her down." "She tries to duck under the table, but he caught the back of her head." "The Leuco showed blood splatters across the room." "There's a knife missing out of the block." "You'll find it upstairs." "You guys mind stepping off the carpet?" "I want lots of photos of the carpet." "Different angles, heights." "OK?" "They're over here." "This was the son." "Nine years old." "Suffocated with a pillow." "The little girl, six years old." "Put the knife against his chest and fell on it." "Suicide by stabbing." " Is there a note?" " This whole house is a note." "This was in his back pocket." "A personal ad from a website." "Sounds like it could be Sherwood's." "Could be what started the argument." "He kills his wife in a rage." "But the kids?" "No, sir, they haven't made a determination yet." "If it's a domestic gone haywire, we'll kick it back to the 1-0." "Yes, sir." "I swear I could hear him breaking into a cold sweat." "With this budget crisis, the mayor doesn't need an accountant scandal." "Sherwood's ready-made for the part." "Last year he got a desk appearance ticket for cruising prostitutes." "Ron Sherwood's parents are dead." "No siblings." "But Mandy has a mother and sister in Wisconsin." " Either would have been fit guardians." " And?" "Men who kill their wives usually only kill their kids if there's nobody to look after them." "He didn't want them to grow up knowing he was a murdering scumball." "Who cheated on their mom." "We found five e-mails from girlfriends." "Two mentioned play dates he had during his lunch hour recently." "Make sure he wasn't subsidising his fun with our tax dollars." "Mrs Sherwood gave me the third degree on where he spends his lunch hour." "All I know is he didn't spend it with me." "Is there any reason to believe he wasn't just having lunch?" "A few times, some woman called and wouldn't leave her name." " Did you tell Mrs Sherwood?" " No." "Cos Mr Sherwood asked you not to?" "No, actually, he told me next time she called to tell her." "What projects was he working on?" "Audits." "He was under the gun to trim budgets in every department." "He had a lot on his mind." "Mr Sherwood have a problem with his back?" " With his neck." "Why?" " Oh, the bookcases..." "Oh, right." "He had me empty the top shelves cos he said it hurt when he reached up." "Sherwood was being treated for a pinched nerve in his neck and pain and weakness in his left arm." "The ME doesn't think he could've swung a bat with enough force." "Where's your partner?" "What are those lines?" "Marks left on the carpet by a vacuum cleaner." " They're all going toward the door." " Someone vacuumed this way, backing out the door, ran out of the house." "Same patterns on the carpet in the master bedroom." "To the door and out into the hallway." "Any chance it was done before the killings?" "There's no footprints on the carpet matching Sherwood, his wife, the kids." "Only prints are from our personnel." "The prints that someone didn't want us to see belonged to the people who killed the Sherwoods." "Something wrong, Mr Mancuso?" "I don't like the fish." "I don't like seafood." "You ought to eat fish." "Salmon, sardines, they're filled with Omega-3." "Brain food." "That's why my girls eat fish." "Miss Randolph?" "I have to tell you, I am disturbed about what happened." "It is disturbing." "How a man can lose touch with his soul, kill the people who love him." " The repercussions..." " The only repercussion is if you lose touch with yourself, Mr Mancuso." "I have to be home." "Hold up." "Your doggy bag." "The vacuuming marks didn't match the Sherwoods' vacuum." "The one used was larger, possibly industrial." " What about fingerprints?" " They belonged to the family." "If anybody else was here, they didn't leave anything behind." " You have Sherwood's shirt." " Yeah." "We found his blood on it, of course, and his wife's." "The bat?" "Mandy Sherwood was down, and she was crawling under the table." "If Sherwood had killed her, he'd be standing somewhere..." "right about here." "Ready for his next swing." "He swings at her like this, her blood splashes back toward him." "Blood spatter on the right inside sleeve, the lower front of his shirt and the lower part of his left sleeve." "The table would've blocked the blood from going any higher on the sleeve." "So...why is there blood splatter up on his left shoulder?" "Shouldn't be." "The blood was applied to the shirt after Mandy was killed." "They knew enough to know there'd be blood spatter, they got the general angle right." " Everything but the left shoulder." " Staged murder scene." "Staged by somebody who knows forensics." "Who knows procedure." " Cops?" " Cops." "I won't witch-hunt cops over a few blood spatters." "It's not just that." "Sherwood's ticket for cruising hookers?" "The officer who wrote it passed away of a heart attack." " People die." " Nobody can find the paperwork." "Nobody can locate the affidavit." "Then there's Sherwood's website pals." "They're all dummy accounts, paid for with cribbed credit cards." "We're being gaslighted." "By professionals." "They needed to get rid of Sherwood." "They invented a cover story." "The sex-obsessed milk toast who slaughters his family and suicides himself in an orgy of shame and guilt." "But cops killing a whole family?" "Planting a summons on our system's a tall order for a civilian." "Cops it is." "Somewhere along the line, Sherwood got on their bad side." "None of his audits touched on the police." " His big fish were tax assessors." " I doubt tax assessors killed him." "What's this memo to the pension department?" "It concerns an audit he was doing at a city school security division." "Some of their security officers are retired city workers." "Some of the city workers in this memo are retired cops." "Sherwood was looking for double-dippers." "My dad got in trouble for doing it." "He retired from the force and got a job with the city parks." "He drew a pension from the city and worked for the city." "That's a no-no." "That's cops and money." "I had two meetings with Mr Sherwood." "I like to keep things agreeable, but he was fists-up from the start." "Right." "What's so disagreeable about ex-cops taking the city for a ride?" " I'm sorry?" " The double-dipping, Mr Mancuso." "We got that all sorted out." "I asked the individual involved to resign." " Any fines or restitution?" " No." "I made a determination it was unnecessarily punitive." "That's awfully agreeable of you." "What about the other dozen officers whose pension records Sherwood was examining?" "Those were clerical errors, forms that weren't properly filled out." "Well, you must be a very er... agreeable guy to work for, Mr Mancuso." "I like to think of myself as fair." "These are brave men who put their lives on the line for the city." "They deserve the benefit of the doubt." "If you don't mind, we'd like the name of the brave man who resigned." " Those pension rules are crap." " My partner's with you on that." " My old man got caught in that bind." " No kidding?" "But he had to pay back 50,000 to the city." "How'd you get away clean?" "Clean nothing." "I gave up a good job." "All I got now is the pension." "Hasn't kept you from living large." "What you got in here?" "Prime rib." "Huh!" "Is that a lobster down there?" " Get out of my stuff!" " A $50 bottle of wine!" "Here's what we think, Mr Legrand." "You and your buddies were kicking back your wages to Mancuso." "Sherwood started sniffing around." "Mancuso got nervous." "He needed to throw Sherwood a bone." "You drew straws, you came up short." "Now your buddies take care of you." "But one resignation wasn't enough for Sherwood." "So your buddies did something about him." "You guys!" "I wanted to make dinner for my girlfriend." "I couldn't afford what she likes, so she paid for these groceries." "That's who's taking care of me!" "So now that I've humiliated myself, take your Mutt and Jeff act off my property!" "Gee, I need a hankie." "Yeah?" "Don't feel too sorry for him." "Did you see this?" "Sullivan River Homeowners Association?" "Somebody's got a nice home in the country." "He's made more recent purchases." "A brand-new trailer hitch, for a boat, a big one." "Dealer's name's on it." "Phil isn't handling it well." "Those detectives rattled him." "Maybe he ought to take his boat out on the river, calm himself down." "I don't know." "CSU's crawling all over..." "I know all about that." "Stop your worrying." "It's like what I tell my girls - don't suffer future pain." "Take care of business here and now." "Hola, here he comes!" " Hold up!" "Stay right there!" " Hold up!" " Terry, chill!" " You chill, moron!" "You're late!" "Come on!" "Come on, I got detention!" "You'll be in permanent detention." "Wise up!" " You're a day late!" "Let's go!" " I got it!" "That's my working capital!" "That's the fine for trying to duck me." "Lady, you ain't even a real cop!" "But you're a real dope dealer." "And I am a badge." "I have authority to arrest you and mess you up." "That's before I turn you over to real cops." "You live and breathe at my pleasure." "Remember that." "Stolen right out of his driveway?" "I'm sorry to hear that." "Mr Legrand took delivery just a few weeks ago." "It's a shame." "We need a copy of the sales contract for our report." "Sure." "He bought a 30-footer." "All the amenities you can imagine." " How much?" " Just under 100,000." " How'd he pay?" " Instalments." " How many instalments?" " I'd have to look at the contract." "Off the top of your head, Mel." "More than one instalment?" " Yeah, of course." " Less than ten?" " Could be." " Was it cheque or cash, Mel?" " I er...don't really..." " You don't?" "He doesn't really." "I'll just assume it was cash." " When was the last payment made?" " Yesterday." "Has it been deposited yet?" "Er, there's a chance it could be in the safe still." " Let's take a look." " OK." "The cash you gave the boat dealer had traces of ecstasy and ketamine." "High-school party drugs, Phil." "Were you selling drugs to the kids you were paid to protect?" "I know the drill." "I don't have to say anything." "Forget about the drugs." "Forget the cash." "Remember the number four." "Four murders." "Four counts of conspiracy." "Four bites at the death penalty." " I want my lawyer." " Who went in their house?" "I want to go back to my cell!" "It wasn't him." "He doesn't have the front for it." "26 years in the force, you never got out of the back." "Took the sergeant's exam once, you never finished it." "And everything in your file says..." ""worker bee"." "So, who gave you orders?" "I want to go back to my cell or I'm gonna file a complaint." "Do you see what's happening?" "Don't you want to get out from under this?" "Tell us you had nothing to do with this directly and we'll go with that." "Just talk to us!" "I want to go back to my cell." "He's been around the dance floor too often." "The search team called from his place in the Catskills." "Found 100 grand." "We've got a very enterprising crew of security guards." " What the hell happened here?" " We just got the cuffs off." "He just grabbed my weapon out of the holster and blew himself away." "There was nothing I could do." "OK, Johnston, let's go sit in the squad room." "No, sir, I take full responsibility." "Things are gonna get pleasant." "If you have good news, share it now." "We're looking for someone with an alpha personality, the organisational skills to plan the Sherwood murders and the ruthlessness to carry them out." "The knowledge to plant disinformation about Sherwood." "Maybe it's someone with a military background." "There is a platoon dynamic here." "When they cut Legrand loose, they took care of him by giving him cash and a new boat." "Legrand repaid that loyalty by killing himself." "Death before dishonour?" "This guy was afraid of spending the rest of his life in jail." "As a cop, the guy was...average." "They'll probably all turn out to have average service records." "Cops who feel they never got their due, they need to prove something." "They decided to be the best bad cops they could be." "Smoke the bastards out." "This guy got forensic experience on the force." "He goes here." "Here's a Desert Storm veteran." "This guy got suspended for procedural mistakes." "A disaffected cop." "He's got potential." "This one served in the Marines." "12 years on the force, retired on a disability with the rank of sergeant." "Took courses in computers." "He was attached at various times to two CSU teams." "Kept getting turned down for a spot on the detective bureau." "Terry Randolph." "He's been with the school security almost two years." "He was Phil Legrand's supervisor." "Here's a reason Randolph may have been denied detective." "Terry Randolph's a woman." "Funny how that detail escaped your powers of observation." "We need to talk to whoever was her rabbi on the force." "I haven't been in touch with Terry for years." " How'd you meet her?" " I gave a class at the Academy, she was a recruit with lots of questions." "A year later, she called me for a recommendation to a crime unit." "We saw in her file that she volunteered for a lot of overtime." " Did she have money pressures?" " She was single with two kids." "You said she was in a hurry on the job." "Did she like quick fixes?" "She was efficient." "Very territorial." "To get respect from the street, she would pick out the baddest homeboy, put the bracelets on him, take him to a quiet place for a beat-down." "Why are you investigating her?" "The Sherwood family murders." "There's a connection to corruption in the school security division." "She's a hothead, but I can't imagine Terry would be involved in that." "Terry was a smart, driven, young officer who was denied advancement, a promotion that would have brought her a raise." "That breeds bitterness, a sense of entitlement." "I know it does." "I always hoped that Terry wouldn't be defeated by it." "Excuse me." "Randolph's hitting all the marks." "Not to mention she's territorial." "Let's go mark up her territory." "I don't know no Phil Legrand." "I don't do dope!" " We saw you hand a blunt to a buddy." " It was a cigarette, I swear!" "A cigarette?" "You're in deep serious now, kid." " Those things will kill you." " Heads up." "If you don't spit out a name in the next five seconds," " I'll play ball with your head!" " What's going on?" "We're interviewing witnesses." "The security division weren't told that you'd be interviewing here." "Oh!" "I didn't know we needed to check with the security guards." " Security officers." " The security officers." " A sergeant no less." " Cluster Sergeant Terry Randolph." " Phil Legrand's supervisor." " Yes, ma'am." "Thanks for your help, kid." "Lay off the smokes!" "Can we talk to you about Phil?" "Legrand did his job well." "About his psychological problems, I can't say." "Actually, er, Randolph, he had other problems." "Detective, I prefer being addressed by my rank." " Cluster Sergeant!" " Sergeant," "Legrand was involved in drug dealing." " I'm surprised." " It went on right under your nose!" "Right." "Well, you talk to her." "We'd appreciate any guidance you can give." "Guidance?" "Tell your partner I'm a 12-year veteran of the NYPD and I attained the rank of sergeant..." " Look at you now!" " Goren, knock it off!" "Go ahead, laugh." "I got a record to stand on." "Since I took over, crime on school property in my district dropped 50%." " It's just good timing." " It's respect." "I know how to earn it." "I earned it from these kids." "Nice talking to you, ma'am." "She "earned respect"." "I wonder which homeboy she beat down to earn it." "Rudy Suarez is still an open case." "You didn't mention it in your call, but I got you the autopsy." "We kid the school security people, but you gotta admit, they've done a good job." "Especially Terry Randolph." " Statistics don't lie." " Doesn't hurt that Rudy, the baddest dope dealer in our schools, was killed last year." "Shot with his girlfriend, execution style." "How locals take each other out." "They see it in movies." "Living room carpet was vacuumed." "And look, on the kitchen floor." "Somebody sprayed Leuco on the floor looking for blood." "CSU did that." "The report says CSU sprayed Leuco in the bedroom and in the bathroom." "Doesn't say they sprayed it in the kitchen." "Randolph killed Suarez." "That's how she got a handle on the dope trade." "They killed Sherwood and his family because his investigation might've uncovered the dope dealing and Suarez murders." "The only thing in common between the murders is a vacuumed rug." "And Leuco crystal violet." "Randolph may have sprayed it in the kitchen at Suarez's" " when cleaning the scene." " And at the Sherwood home." "We found Leuco where it hadn't been sprayed by our people." "Leuco is made in batches." "Each batch has unique chemical characteristics." "If we find out which batch Randolph's Leuco belongs to, we can trace it through the serial numbers." "We just need Leuco samples from all the CSU teams she trained with." "I'll get a 49 up to the chief of detectives." "All it needs is your signature." "I'm not gonna discuss it with you." "You are too young to wear lipstick!" " Nyeesha wears it!" " She's a neighbourhood girl." "If I wanted you to be like her, I'd send you to a local school." "Your mother pays a lot for your schooling." "Be thankful." "I don't want thanks." "I want them to have opportunities I didn't." "There's nothing special about a girl who wears lipstick and you two are special girls who have a claim on every special thing in this world." "Hm?" "Now go wash up." "Yes?" "Yes, hello." "Repeat that again." "No, I'm sure it's just routine." "Thanks for telling me." "Oh, how's your granddaughter?" "That's good to hear." "Thank you." "Mom, I'm going to the store." " Which one of you's Arliss?" " I am." "Can we see your supply of Leuco?" "Sure." "I got cans here and in the van." "You ever work with Terry Randolph?" "She was a patrol officer." "I might." "I don't know." "Her record says you did a six-month training stint with her in '96." "Could be." "These cans are the wrong batch numbers." "Same here." "Did you just get these cans?" "Yeah." "I ran out a few days ago." "You should have at least eight cans left with this batch number." "Must be a clerical mistake." "Sorry." "Clerical mistake, my ass." "She got to him." "According to supply records, Arliss got new cans of Leuco on Wednesday." "Which means he was tipped off Tuesday or Wednesday morning." "The leak's coming from somewhere in this building." "I checked who the requisition went to in the chief of detective's office, besides the chief." "Well, I can vouch for his assistant." "Denise?" "You dog!" "I need tracking information on requisition number 2436-17, sent last Tuesday." "Who in your office handled that requisition?" "Spell that." " Thank you." " Randolph's file." "There." "Go for a walk?" "Meet Cecilia Wang," "AKA Deep Throat." "Randolph pinched her granddaughter in a drug sweep four years ago." "Charges were dismissed when Randolph didn't show up to testify." " Randolph did her a favour." " Wang's paying it back." "Bring Mrs Wang in." "I can think of a dozen statutes she's violated." "Most we'll get from her is she tipped off Randolph about the requisition." "So put the CSU technician through the wringer or the head of the school security, Mancuso." "But I doubt they have any first-hand knowledge of the murders." " All they could offer is hearsay." " Find Randolph's accomplices." "Accomplice testimony with no corroboration?" " The dealers they've shaken down?" " Witness credibility problems." "You'd make a hell of a defence attorney." "Randolph's the main domino." "We make her fall, they all fall." "The best way, the most certain way, is if she implicates herself." "And you have a plan?" "It speaks to your good character you have qualms about this." "You have a legitimate search warrant." "Why do you need me to phoney-up official documents?" "I knew you'd have concerns about the legality of this plan." "I'm here to assure you we're on solid ground." "I'm concerned you're going after the wrong person for murder." "This is one way to find out, isn't it?" " Be careful over there!" " I'm sure he knows what he's doing." "No argument here." "Nice house." "How'd you swing it?" "That's none of your business." " Just an innocent question." " Nothing innocent about that." "I had savings from my late husband and Terry had savings." " That's how we paid for it." " We're done." "The place is clean." "I'm not done yet." "Your girls." "They go to Maryhill." "That's 10 or 15,000 a year for each." "How do you afford it?" "If something's important enough, you find a way." "We're very frugal." "Oh." "Oh!" "My partner's a miser, I'm frugal." "And neither of us could afford a house, two kids in a private school." "You're not that frugal." "You buy nice clothes." "Pay full price." "Nothing in your size is ever on sale." "You buy good-quality accessories like that leather case." "You're not married, so you spend money on dates." "You like good food." "You have someone clean your apartment every week." "You have lots of interests and hobbies and spend a fortune on them." "No wonder you don't have money for a house." "I wonder how you make subway fare." "Well." "That's very good, Randolph." "But you, you didn't answer my question." " How can she afford private school?" " Leave my mother alone." " Where does the money come from?" " She works hard." "She murders dope dealers and steals their money." " She murdered a whole family." " That's enough!" " Where is it?" " Goren!" " Tell me where she keeps the cash!" " Goren!" "I need to talk to you." " You're outta line." " She's a disgrace to the uniform." "We're hitting dead ends." "Doesn't that tell you something?" "We're not wrong about her." "You heard what they said at the 2-7." "We're done here, OK?" "We're going." " I'm sorry for my partner." " There's no reason for animosity." " I still have friends in the police." " Well, watch your back." "To Ronald Carver, District Attorney's Office, in re Sherwood family murders." "Per your request, I reviewed my files concerning Terry Randolph and discovered incriminating information pertinent to your investigation." "You can access this information on the department database under archive number 74772." "Signed Lieutenant Anita Van Buren, 27th Precinct." "Cover copy to the chief of detectives." "It's Cecilia." "You were asking about correspondence from the 27th Precinct?" "I found one." "Evening, Morris." "Everything locked down?" "Yes, ma'am." "I just did my rounds." "I have to check up on you now." "I'll be back in 15." " That's your virtual arrest." " This is your actual one." "This is a mistake!" "I didn't do anything!" "You stole a confidential police file." "That's grand larceny." "An overt act in furtherance of a conspiracy to commit murder." "One of my hobbies is studying the laws you were once paid to enforce." "It's er...surprisingly cheap." "Please don't take my girls away from me!" "I did it for them!" "I sacrificed everything for them!" "The Sherwood family sacrificed their lives." "Four innocent lives." "Two children you smothered with the same hands you tuck your daughters in bed with at night." "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that you won't be around as a role model for them any more." "The best intentions..."