• Summary
• Episodes
• Cast
• News
• Videos
• Photos
• Downloads
• DVDs
• Similar
• Reviews
• Blog
• Forum

When the body of a strangled woman is found, shortly after two similar incidents, Lt. Samuels believes there is a serial killer on the loose. His boss, Insp. Marquette, plays that theory down, but Samuels talks to the press about his suspicions. It is one of many such clashes between Samuels and Marquette. Samuels, who's already stressed by his failing marriage, tells Lacey that he has some issues with Marquette. They both started in the force around the same time, but Marquette's career has proved to be more successful.

On the body of the latest victim, Roseanne Fiello, a check was found, written out to Mary Anne Stewart by Pierre's Restaurant. Cagney and Lacey discover that there is no such restaurant. It's the name that appears on credit card receipts when people phone a particular erotic hotline.

Very quickly the detectives find out that all three victims worked for that hotline, usually under a different name. (Mary Anne Stewart was Roseanne Fiello.) This proves Samuels right and causes even more friction with Marquette. Marquette's public relations aide confides in Cagney and Lacey that Samuels is on the way out.

Lacey interviews the owner of the hotline, who assures her that his business is totally legal and not connected to prostitution. Cagney's talk with the girls at the hotline also turns up nothing. Then the computer finds the name of a customer who talked to all three victims.

Respectable businessman Colton Wyler gets picked up and interrogated at the police station. Samuels even makes him take a lie detector test. The confused man denies ever meeting the girls, but he mentions that someone, a messenger, once offered to set up a date with the girls. A phone call interrupts the interrogation: there's a fourth victim. Colton Wyler cannot have been responsible for that one.

Worried about the lieutenant's state of mind, Lacey warns Samuels of Marquette's machinations. Samuels does not seem to be surprised: the bad blood between them has been obvious on for a long time. When Samuels mentions the messenger Wyler talked about, Cagney and Lacey are reminded of Manny, the messenger they met in the hotline building.

Unfortunately the name Manny gave to his employer proves to be fake and so the detectives have to wait for Manny to show up at work again. Some fingerprints on a bottle he left behind show that Manny is in fact Marvin Woodhouse, a man with a record for violent behavior.

The next day Cagney and Lacey get a warning that Manny has started his workday, but when they call the hotline, they hear that Manny has already picked up the paychecks and is delivering them to some of the girls. Frantically Cagney and Lacey call all the girls, warning them not to let Manny in.

One girl, Paula, cannot be reached. Some uniformed police officers rush to the scene. Meanwhile Manny tries to convince Paula to work for him. When she claims to be uninterested, he becomes violent. Cagney, Lacey and the uniformed men arrive just in time to arrest the man.

Lieutenant Samuels is in a remarkably better mood now that the case has been solved. He may even try to save his marriage. But first, he'll enjoy giving a press conference.