City Hall Page #7

---

Stand up.

I just need to see...

...how many people...

...that I'm talking to.

It's just me.

All right.

Eddie called me from Manhattan South.

The night before?

He wanted me to come up there with him.

You didn't go.

- You did the right thing.

- No, I didn't!

He had no business there

without a ghost.

That should have been me

plus backups.

But Eddie was such a hothead...

I mean...

...the kind that never cools off.

What do you want to tell me?

There was another probation report.

This one...

...it set Tino up for the max,

What happened to it?

I don't know.

Who wrote it?

That's all I got.

The probation officer...

Name?

James Wakeley.

You won't find him on Leonard Street.

Where is he?

Upstate, working parole.

I told you not to come up here.

You made a long trip for nothing.

Do you want to tell me the truth

now or under oath?

You looking to grow

brass balls, miss?

I'm doing well without them.

Do you want a subpoena,

or may we continue?

What brought you here

from Leonard Street?

New York State parole officer.

Better pay and pension.

- Nicer surroundings.

- Think so?

- What happened to Tino Zapatti?

- He's dead, isn't he?

I'm talking about two years ago.

He got probation.

What sentence did you recommend?

Ten to 20.

I saw the rap sheet.

Tino was pushing drugs to kids.

Not doing it himself,

but having kids deal for him.

Weapon from a previous homicide?

Disappeared in the second report.

Who ordered it?

That I don't know.

Why didn't you ask?

Sudden urge to move to the country.

I forgot about it.

Now if you'll excuse me...

...you'd better get out of here.

My lumbago tells me that

snow is coming.

You better hurry.

Buffalo gets socked in pretty fast.

Thank you for your time.

Watch your step. It's slippery.

Thank you.

- How long?

- About an hour.

You don't want to suffocate

in a tunnel.

They got to dig one out ahead.

Meanwhile, enjoy the snow.

We can't eat snow.

- Try that diner over there.

- Any good?

Lemon pudding's not bad.

Be back in half an hour.

Like a sauna in here.

- My toes are like icicles.

- Warming up?

Slowly.

What'll it be?

A burger, fries and a Coke.

How is the lemon pudding?

- Homemade.

- I'll give it a shot.

- To go.

- You got it.

Say, why is this called The Floyd Diner

instead of Floyd's Diner?

Because you're in Floyd, New York.

Who'd have thunk it?

Floyd, New York.

Like Clyde, New Jersey.

Could you imagine spending your life

in a place like this?

I can.

I grew up in one.

Ferriday, Louisiana.

There's something special

about small-town life.

So what are you doing in New York?

Every Louisiana boy

catches politics like a disease.

I didn't know that.

That's a fact, and I was no exception.

After law school, I headed where?

Floyd, New York.

Washington. Leapfrogged...

...from staffer

to congressional assistant...

...until the mayor of New York City

came down to testify.

And he gave a speech that day...

...that will stay with me

for the rest of my life.

I went up to him and told him

I admired him and what he stood for...

...and while I was thanking him...

...he asked me if I liked stone crabs.

Halfway through dinner, I had a job.

At the end of dinner,

I felt like I had a new home.

And here we go.

I hear the curve in your voice.

I've been with Pappas for 3 years...

...and I finally found a place, where

you can make a difference.

Well, you did.

You made a difference

to Elaine Santos.

You cleared Eddie's name,

got their pension.

Yeah, but not so fast.

We gotta keep Wakeley on ice

till I find that report.

We don't need the report.

We just take Wakeley's deposition.

No, that's all you need.

I gotta get that report,

see where it leads.

What if,

while you're playing detective...

...Wakeley decides

it'd be healthier to disappear?

Then we're left with nothing.

How's Elaine

supposed to feed her kids?

That's a risk we gotta take.

I don't need you

to get Wakeley's deposition.

If you talk to him on your own...

...you'll feel the full weight

of the mayor's office upon you.

It's not a pleasant feeling.

You're a mean prick, you know that?

Where I come from,

that's a compliment.

Hold on a minute.

To what?

Your ambition?

John Pappas' coattails?

Burger, fries, Coke

and a lemon pudding.

I'll take these.

The mayor's boy gets the lemon pudding.

Mr. Schwartz?

Kevin Calhoun.

I've just been talking

to a friend of yours.

- I've got the probation report.

- Where are you?

Right around the corner.

At Franklin and Hudson.

Schwartz?

- George.

- Abe called me.

He's in the back.

That's the only way in.

The back door's gated.

All right.

I got a couple marriages.

Abe.

It's your play.

Throw the card for me.

You've been practicing all your life.

Freddie, give us a minute.

He's dead!

Schwartz is dead.

I heard it on the phone. I was...

Get ahold of yourself. It's okay.

You were right.

You knew it from the minute

we saw him that day.

It wasn't kosher.

There was a second report.

That was only a feeling.

Now it's a fact.

Stern looks so judicial.

How could he be so corrupt?

The sweater unravels.

I'll give you one this time.

"The only thing new in this world is

the history you don't know. "

New Testament?

Harry Truman.

Judge Stern's a good man.

He's good? 5 people are dead!

- What's your point?

- You throw the book at the guy.

Embrace Detective Santos.

Max death settlement for her.

Medal of Honor for the deceased.

I'll make sure Leslie

makes the morning editions with it.

So you got this all figured out?

- That's my job, isn't it?

- That's cold.

That's cold.

I mean you don't just...

It's more complicated than that.

Forgive me.

I know the two of you are old friends.

Be careful how you judge people.

Most of all, friends.

You don't sum up

a man's life in one moment.

There are no cold answers, are there?

There's no simple yes or no.

A man's life is not the bricks.

It's the mortar.

It's the stuff that lays between.

The stuff...

The stuff you can't see.

I've known Walter my whole life.

God! He's a decent man.

- He's a good man.

- But this is tough stuff.

This is body-bag stuff.

Tell me if there's some other way.

There isn't.

Die's been cast.

It was cast a long time ago.

Go easy.

Give him a blindfold and have mercy.

Walter Stern was a tough man,

but he was fair.

We give back the same. No?

And you be careful.

Keep George with you. Let him drive.

I gotta go in here.

I knew James Wakeley would surface...

...just as I knew

when that bullet hit that boy...

...it would keep traveling.

And find its way...?

To me.

If only it had found me first.

If only I could have stepped

in front of him.

Regrets are pathetic, aren't they?

I was tired of being

the white-shoe litigator.

Defending the arbitrageurs...

...and the '80s go-go boys.

All it took was $50,000

to change my life.

Fifty thousand,

and the judgeship was mine.

Absurd, isn't it?

The mayor has the highest

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes