Collateral Page #3

you know.

Just give me a break.

This is my first fare.

Get out the cab. Open the trunk.

Come on.

Step out. You too, sir. Please.

This is Rampart Division dispatch.

Shots fired at 83rd and Hoover.

All available Precinct 26

units respond. Over.

Hey, partner, we gotta roll.

Roger. En route.

Go straight to the garage.

Have a nice night, sir.

Stop here.

Hands on the wheel, 10 and 2.

- Why?

- Because I say so.

- Max. Max.

- Sh*t.

You out there, you son of a b*tch?

- Who is that?

- That's Lenny. Just dispatch.

Max, I know you're out there.

Answer the goddamn call.

- What happens if you don't?

- He just keeps calling me.

Max, answer.

Don't blow it.

- Yeah, Lenny, what's up? It's me.

- Just got off the phone with the cops.

Desk sergeant called to check

you brought the cab in.

- Yeah, so?

- So aside from I hate talking to cops,

they tell me you crashed

the goddamn cab?

No. No, I got crashed into.

I didn't...

Do I care what, where or why?

You're paying.

It was an accident. You're not liable.

- It was an accident. I'm not liable.

- Bullshit. I'm making you liable.

It's coming out

of your goddamn pocket.

You tell him to stick this cab

up his fat ass.

- I can't do that. That's my boss.

- So?

- I need my job.

- No, you don't.

You still there? I'm talking to you.

Max! Max!

- He's not paying you a damn thing.

- Who the hell is this?

Albert Riccardo,

assistant U.S. Attorney,

a passenger in this cab,

and I'm reporting you to the DMV.

- Let's not get excited.

- Not get excited?

How am I supposed to

not get excited,

listening to you

try to extort a working man?

You know goddamn well

your collision policy

and general-liability umbrella

will cover the damages.

Now, what are you trying to pull,

you sarcastic prick?

- I was just trying to...

- Tell it to him.

Here, tell him he's an a**hole.

Go ahead.

You're an a**hole.

Tell him he pulls this sh*t again,

you're gonna stick

this Yellow Cab up his fat ass.

And next time you pull any sh*t,

I'm... I'm gonna have to stick

this Yellow Cab up your fat ass.

Sh*t!

Things like protective orders,

because you think of domestic stalking

where a husband wants his wife back

or boyfriend-girlfriend kind of thing.

We always hear,

"Get your protective order."

Well, a protective order's

a tool that we use,

but oftentimes, it's just

a piece of paper to the stalker.

- Yeah.

- Mr. Clarke,

there's a notary here to see you.

Well, did he identify himself

as a notary?

Yes, he did.

All right, sure, send him up.

Or shoots them, you know?

That happens all too often.

- But we use it as a tool.

- Yeah, a lot of times, though...

I say a lot of times... In this situation,

strangers may write or call.

But how often, in fact, are stalkers

people that the recipient

of those affections knows?

Hey! Hey, I'm in the cab!

Hey!

Sh*t. Down here in the... In the alley!

Sh*t!

Hey, hold up.

Oh, man, yeah.

Hey, yeah, right there.

I'm in the cab, man, I'm stuck.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hey, man. Hey, look,

I gotta get out of here.

- What's up, man? What's going on?

- I'm tied up in here.

This guy tied me up,

but he's in this building...

...wreaking havoc, doing wild sh*t.

I need to get out of here.

- You all tied up in there, huh?

- Get me out so we can call the cops.

Why don't you give me

your f***ing wallet.

- Are you kidding me?

- Do I look like I'm kidding you?!

Listen, don't you see that my hands

are tied to the steering wheel?!

I don't give a... what they're tied to.

I'll f*** you up.

- Don't shoot, man.

- Then get your ass up.

- F***.

- Yeah.

F*** else you got in here? Jackpot.

That was for real.

Yo, homey.

- That my briefcase?

- This your briefcase?

Yeah, it is. Why, you want it back?

How about your wallet?

What else you got for me, huh?

F***!

Where's the button?

Under the dash?

Mind getting it?

You attract attention, you're gonna get

people killed who didn't need to be.

You understand?

- Yeah.

- Yeah?

But, hey, new news:

We're ahead of schedule.

- Like jazz?

- Sorry, what?

- Jazz. You like jazz?

- Not that much.

Guy told me about this place

off Crenshaw.

Leimert Park.

All the West Coast greats played there.

Dexter Gordon, Charlie Mingus,

Chet Baker. Like that.

Come on, finish up. Buy you a drink.

This informant of yours,

what's his name? Ramone?

Ramone Ayala. Supposed to meet him

in Bellflower last night.

He doesn't show up,

I roll here, find this.

Yeah, how long

you been working this guy?

Four months. He's a low-level player.

Part of a distribution network

that hooks up to Felix.

Felix Reyes-Torrena?

Feds are all over him.

They don't want us anywhere near it.

Since when's L.A.P.D. Working

for the Feeb?

If they're into it,

they're just gonna take all our stuff,

build their case, take all the credit.

So, what is the point?

The point is, is my guy

flew out a window.

So if my CI flies out a window,

Is there a crime here? A homicide?

You got a body?

- I just see a bunch of broken glass.

- And blood.

Down here, in the glass.

Here's some more.

And there's some spatter patterns

over there and over here.

- Richard?

- Yeah, it's me.

Ramone went through that window,

splat.

Glass here, then tires rolled over it.

- Maybe he jumped.

- Sure.

He's depressed, so he jumps four

stories out of a window onto his head.

"Wow, that feels better."

Picks himself up.

"Now I think I'll go on

with the rest of my day."

- Come on, man.

- Hey, Ray! Catch.

- Recent?

- You can still smell the cordite.

Old guy across the alley

watching late-night TV

says he saw a cab parked here

earlier tonight

with two guys

walking around the hood.

Description? He see anything?

Kind of saw.

Guy's got glasses like Coke bottles.

There are 4,000 taxicabs

in L.A. County.

- You got anything else?

- That's it.

Okay. Keep knocking.

Let's keep knocking.

Remember that

Bay Area deal? Oakland?

Cabby drove around all night,

killed three people,

then put the gun to his head.

The guy flipped out. So what?

So that Oakland PD detective,

what's-his-name, never bought it.

Cabby had no criminal record,

no history of mental illness.

Pops three people, then himself?

Anyway, that detective always thought

there was someone else in that cab.

I never learned to listen to jazz.

It's off melody. Behind the notes.

Not what's expected.

- Improvising, like tonight.

- Like tonight?

Most people, ten years from now,

same job, same place, same routine.

Everything the same.

Just keeping it safe

over and over and over.

Ten years from now.

Man, you don't know where you'll be

ten minutes from now.

Do you?

- Who is that on the trumpet?

- That's Daniel, baby, he's the owner.

He's terrific. Would you be so kind

as to invite him over after his set?

- I gotta buy him a drink.

- Sure thing, darling.

No, now, see, I was about 19,

bussing tables right here.

The money wasn't sh*t,

but that wasn't the point.

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