The Sniper Page #4

---

and keep them there.

Anthony Debiaci.

Tony's a rapist, two-time loser.

We had him in last week on the same charge

and couldn't make it stick.

That woman just picked me out.

I never saw her before.

Still saying it, huh, Tony?

Well, maybe she did make a mistake.

Soured you on women.

Turned you into a real killer.

Is that what it did?

- You can't pin anything on me this time.

- Not even a rose?

What a shame.

What have you been doing lately, Tony?

- Minding my own business.

- What business is that?

- I got a job. I make deliveries.

- Get you into a lot of houses?

I do my job.

Yeah, I'll bet you do.

All right, you three can go now.

- I'll see you later, Andy.

- Leaving already?

- We got a dozen more to run through.

- You still won't find the man you want.

See you, Captain.

- He's a great help.

- Keep your shirt on. He knows his job.

Yeah, but does he know ours?

Next is Dan Wormel.

Dan's a tough guy with small animals.

- Kafka?

- Hello, Doc.

- Meeting somebody?

- No.

- Come on, sit down.

- Thank you.

- Hello, Lieutenant.

- Hiya, Tom.

- Get me an order of tomato beef, will you?

- Sure thing.

Dig in.

- I didn't know you liked Chinese food.

- It's good and it's cheap.

They're not breaking their arms

paying us, you know.

You can say that again.

Me, I just happen to like it.

Been eating it ever since I can remember.

It's funny I've never seen you in here.

Well, I eat here a lot,

but half the time I'm out in left field.

- Find your man in the show up?

- Are you kidding?

Just asking.

You know,

this sniper thing is driving me crazy.

There's some things I understand

and some things I don't.

If a guy blows his top

and sticks a knife into somebody,

on the spur of the moment, that is,

I understand it, so does the law.

It's second degree.

And if a guy decides to knock off his wife

and spend six months

figuring out how to do it,

I understand that, too.

That's first degree.

- But this thing I don't get.

- You will.

- Will what?

- Get him.

Sure. After he's shot down 30 or 40 dames.

- By that time, I'll be back pounding a beat.

- No, it won't take that long.

Though I'll tell you one thing.

You won't get him by running show ups

like the one I saw.

Look, Doc, those show ups

pay off more than you think.

Not in a case like this.

Look, Kafka, let me tell you something

about these people.

Anderson calls them nuts.

Psychiatrists use $10 words,

but whatever you call them,

they run to a pattern and they don't overlap.

They're all in...

In little water-tight compartments.

Well, so are most criminals, for that matter.

If you have an armed robbery, you don't

waste time rounding up pickpockets.

- Sure. That's right.

- It's the same thing in this case.

Now, you had a peeping Tom

in the show up.

All right. Now peeping Toms

don't kill women. They stick to peeping.

Rapists don't write poison pen letters.

Obscene letter writers don't commit rape.

All criminal types and especially

sex offenders stay in their own grooves.

So, if you keep dragging

everyone in the book into a show up,

- you're just wasting your time.

- Okay. What type are we gonna look for?

I'd look for somebody who's been getting

tough with women from the very beginning.

Maybe he started small, slugging them

on a dark street or something like that.

But whatever he did,

it'd be a crime of violence.

- That you can be sure of.

- Cute kid.

- Very.

- How'd he get that way?

Could be one of a thousand reasons.

Maybe some woman did something mean

to him when he was a kid.

He may not even remember what it was,

but something in here remembers.

Perhaps it was his mother.

Usually is in these cases.

Whoever it was, it was probably

a brunette in her late 20s.

Of course, it doesn't matter now.

He's past the stage

where he could have been talked out of it.

And whoever it was,

he's killing her over and over again.

What's the matter?

I guess I better stick to a fork.

He's killing her over and over again.

He's been doing it in his mind for years.

Now that he started doing it for real,

he's gonna keep right on doing it.

- For how long?

- As long as he doesn't get caught.

And as long as his cartridges last.

Nelson is running to third.

The ball bounces off the left-field wall.

A quick pick up, but Nelson is streaking

for home plate. He's safe.

Jackson holds it up at second.

What a ball game this is!

And you say this will be a costume ball,

Mrs. Fitzpatrick? What will the motif be?

Well, it's American history, but before 1900.

No costume after 1900.

That sounds wonderful.

Will it include Indians?

I hope it will include hundreds of Indians.

- I love Indians, too.

- After all, Indians are part of our history, too.

Indeed they are,

and a very important part, too.

Well, tell me, Mrs. Fitzpatrick,

where will the public be able to buy tickets

for this charity ball given for the benefit

of Saint Stephen's Hospital Guild?

Well, they can buy them

at the Women's Civic League.

Or those wishing to come

can write me directly at my home.

It's 380 Kendel Drive. They're $10 apiece,

and we just hope that everybody

who can come will come.

I'm sure they will.

Well, thank you so much,

Mrs. Warren Fitzpatrick,

for this clear picture of the activities

of the Women's Civic League.

Now, look. You can't block the door like that.

People want to come in and out.

I wish I talked to Dr. Kent before.

Might have saved us a lot of time

and a lot of trouble.

- We've still got a lot of trouble.

- Come on. Come on.

We're a lot further along.

We know one thing.

These psychiatric offenders don't overlap.

Get him. Okay, so they don't overlap,

- but we still got a lot of them.

- What's the matter with you?

- You had a fight with your girl?

- Yeah.

She doesn't like the kind of hours

I've been keeping lately.

Hey, here's one that might fit the pattern.

He's out on parole now.

He's had one, two, three, six convictions.

Likes to use a club.

Six convictions? That probably means

he's gotten away with 12 others.

Man, you're just overflowing

with information tonight.

I sure am.

Here's a guy who had his first conviction for

cracking a girl's skull with a baseball bat.

She must have struck him out

and he got mad.

What'd he do then?

Go on to bigger and better things?

That's right. Bigger and better things.

Three suspicions of assaults against women.

One assault where

there was no suspicion at all.

He got an 18-month stretch for that one.

I think we'll look into Mr. Miller.

- Tom Kafka?

- Yeah.

Just came over the Teletype.

They want you out there.

- Out where?

- 380 Kendel Drive.

There's been another murder.

Looks like the sniper again.

- What's the name?

- Warren Fitzpatrick.

It was Mrs. Fitzpatrick that was killed.

Warren Fitzpatrick?

That will blow the lid off.

What do you mean will blow the lid off?

It's already blown it.

Come on, let's go.

- What's going on?

- They killed someone.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes