The Detective Page #4

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Yes, he did, that little crumb.

Hallelujah. Did you ever see anybody

with him who looks like this?

Oh, yes. The strange one.

DAVE:
Well, what's his name?

- Tesla. Felix Tesla.

- Tesla. Felix Tesla.

- Maybe he's from out of town.

And maybe he's in Mexico by now.

Sand.

Know what I think? We hit the beaches.

Check every hotel where they might stay.

MAN:
Central to Sergeant Leland, 19th

Squad. JOE:
Sergeant Leland to Central.

Detectives Curran and Schoenstein report their

investigations at the Half Moon Hotel...

regarding the attempt to arrest

Felix Tesla for homicide is negative.

He is known there but not seen lately.

Over and out.

Listen, maybe you better talk to them this time.

Maybe you'll appeal to them more than I do.

- Excuse me, sir.

- Yes?

Police officers.

Did you ever have a roomer

by the name of Felix Tesla?

- What about him?

- Well, have you seen him recently?

- Have you?

- This morning before he went out for breakfast.

- Did he come back?

- He's up in his room.

- Go around back, Robbie.

- Okay.

- Now, quietly, who else is in the house?

- No one else. Just me.

Where's his room?

Number three. It's up the stairs.

Don't be foolish. Stay out of it.

ROBBIE:

Sarge, Sarge, he's heading for the beach!

All right. Cool it.

MAN 1:
Hey, here's our man now.

MAN 2:
What's his name?

MAN 3:
Look this way.

- All right, cool it, move back.

MAN 3:

Come on!

Get close to him, Joe,

you're part of the story.

- Get the hell out of here. Get out of the

way. MAN 3:
Come on, Joe, give us a break.

[ALL CLAMORING]

Come on.

- Did you inform him of his rights?

- I did.

Boys, take him inside

and start talking to him. You, go with him.

I got something to show you.

Kelly, give me that yellow sheet

on the suspect, huh?

[JOE EXHALES]

Get a load of this. "Arrested Toronto,

assault and battery, robbery.

Sentenced two years. Sentence suspended,

condition to military service.

Dishonorably discharged, Canadian army.

Felonious assault, bottle.

Felonious assault, knife."

He's been a pretty busy boy.

Joe, we gotta get that confession now.

If you can crack this,

you can make Davis eat turd.

And you can get your promotion.

CURRAN:

Lift your head up.

Lift your head up.

I said, lift your head up!

Now, take a look at this picture of Teddy.

Look at it!

Look at it!

- That's what you did to him.

- You think you're not gonna talk?

We'll take you down the cellar.

You know what we do in the cellar, Felix?

Felix, just tell us what you used on him.

Huh? Just tell us that. Hm?

What did you do with the knife?

What did you do with the knife, you fag?

Muscles isn't saying anything.

I'll fix that.

- Hey, fag. Fag!

- All right.

All right, all right. Everybody out.

Come on, everybody out.

You too, Nestor. Out.

Want some coffee?

Pretty rough, huh?

You're from Toronto, huh? ls that,

uh, Circus Bar still open up there?

Oh, yes, Felix, I've

been around a long time.

I know all the places. But you know

what I say? I believe in live and let live.

Look, Felix, I know it's rough,

but it doesn't have to be.

Tell me about Teddy.

What kind of a man was he?

Come on, tell me.

I mean, we don't know too much about him,

but I do know he wasn't a very nice man.

And I can understand something happening

to a man like that.

You met him over at the health club, didn't

you? Became quite friendly over there.

And then he asked you to come

and live with him, didn't he?

It wasn't easy living with Teddy, was it?

He wasn't nice, was he?

He wasn't nice.

Tell me, am I wrong? Was he nice?

- He was a b*tch!

- A b*tch.

Nothing was good enough for him.

Nobody was good enough for him.

He laughed at everybody.

He laughed at me.

Oh, he was educated.

Him with his education.

[SOBBING]

Felix.

- Tell me about his body.

- What do you mean?

I mean, what you liked about his body.

- It was nice.

- Nice.

How nice? What kind of nice?

- It was like a girl's.

- You mean, soft?

No, no, no. We say the words.

Soft, like a girl.

It was soft. Soft like a girl's.

[WAILS]

Felix.

- Listen to me, Felix. He teased you, didn't he?

- Oh, yes.

- He called you names, didn't he?

- Yes.

- What kind of names did he call you?

- Bull. Stud. Names like that.

- He said you were stupid, didn't he?

- Yes.

- He laughed at you. And you hated him.

- Oh, I hated him!

I hated him.

[FELIX SOBS]

Felix, tell me about Friday night.

What did you fight about?

- He wanted me to leave.

- And you wanted to stay?

Until I found a job.

But he wanted me to leave right away.

I had those few dollars saved.

I didn't want to spend it.

I didn't have to, but

he wanted me to go out.

- So you left?

- Just to calm down.

Then you came back and argued, didn't you?

He called you some more names, didn't he?

But he went too far this

time and you hit him.

And you kept hitting him until you broke

his skull, didn't you? Isn't that so?

Face it, Felix. Face it.

Say it. You'll feel better for it.

You can't walk around the rest of your life

with a thing like that on your head.

You cut him and then you threw his fingers

and the knife off the Queensboro Bridge.

You did it, Felix. You killed him.

You crushed his skull, didn't you?

- Didn't you? You hit him.

- I hit him.

Louder! Say it louder!

I killed him!

I killed him!

[GAGGING]

[RETCHES]

- Think it'll stick?

- Why not?

I'll buy this one. I'd like to see

Davis's face when he reads the papers.

You got the confession.

It's still got to stick in court.

Is there any doubt in your mind

how it's gonna go in court?

Would you like to bet

on the chances of that fag?

Boy, three homicides in one week.

That ought to shake them

up at headquarters.

MAN:
These pictures were taken

as Sergeant Leland arrived.

Leland is known as one of the most colorful

plain-clothes men in Manhattan.

His running battle with Councilman Davis

has been well-publicized.

The information coming in about Felix Tesla

is that he is a Canadian.

His record included dishonorable discharge

from the Canadian army and felonious assaults.

Joe.

- -Son of the department store owner, occurred

in his apartment at 5 East 72nd Street.

The violent and savage

nature of his death...

brought speculation on his life

and his background.

What a gorgeous little circus.

Everybody out to fry the little fag,

including me.

I was even caught up in the fever.

They said on the news that it was

a terrific piece of work you did.

It wasn't terrific. It was routine.

Then why are you so upset?

Because he's a psychotic and they're

gonna burn him, that's why I'm upset.

- They have a court psychiatrist, don't they?

- Sure, they got a psychiatrist.

But he's a frontrunner

like the rest of those bums down there.

Joe, what can I do?

Why did you come here?

I came here to ball.

Ain't that what you do the best?

Well, ain't it?

[LIGHT JAZZ PLAYING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Hello.

Oh, hi, Joe. Hi. This is Matt Henderson.

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