[siren wailing]
[dramatic music]
* *
[indistinct chatter]
- Thanks, Officer. Excuse me.
Some kind of altercation.
The hot dog got into a dispute with the victim.
- Did anybody witness it?
- Patrons heard a commotion.
They came over and they found him like this.
- Security cameras? - Nothing so far.
- Interview all the patrons. - Okay.
- Collect the footage from surrounding vendors.
- Okay.
[police radio chatter]
- Sir, I'm Detective Avraham.
- He went berserk, he--
I just pushed him off of me, I swear.
- I need you to come with us to the police station.
- He just attacked me.
- We can talk about it at the station.
- Is he dead?
- It appears so.
Keep him in the costume.
- Really? - Please.
- Okay.
Officer, just load him in the front RMP.
[car horns beeping]
[sirens whooping]
[soft dramatic music]
- [praying in Hebrew]
* *
[tense music]
[indistinct chatter]
- I'm here to report my son is missing.
[police radio chatter]
* *
- Let's put him in the box. See, I'll be with you shortly.
- We know what happened? - He'll tell me.
- Oh, we just got a walk-up, if you don't mind.
She's in the break room. She's a mother.
Avi, you're good with the mothers.
* *
- Hello. Detective Avraham.
- Joel Hamlin.
- I miss anything? - No, he just started.
- Oh, okay. Good.
God help me, I love watching Avi work.
- Do I need a lawyer?
- I wouldn't think so.
Can you tell me how the altercation began?
- He made a comment about this,
It wasn't even that clever.
I sniped back.
Next thing, he's attacking me. So I pushed him off,
and he fell, and...
hit his head.
- What was his comment?
Do you remember?
Do you remember what he said?
- Something about "wiener dick."
Like I said, not even that clever.
- You get that a lot?
Comments like this?
- I do.
- How long have you been working as...
Mr. Footlong? Is that your actual title?
- It is.
- How long have you been working as Mr. Footlong?
- Almost six months.
- And before that?
- Before that, I was COO at Stake Side,
which closed down--COVID.
- You have family, children?
- Three kids.
- A wife? - We're divorced.
- When did you divorce?
- Recently. It's been a difficult year.
- What did you say that caused him to attack you?
- I don't really remember.
- No one does passive-aggressive like Avi.
- You remember what he said,
but you don't remember what you said?
- I don't really remember. It all happened so fast.
All I know is that he just came at me.
- And you pushed him off? - That's right.
- Did you punch him?
- No--I just pushed him, I--
you know, shoved him.
- I noticed he had blood on the back of his head,
a laceration, a gash,
as if he had been struck with great force.
Is it possible, sir, that after he made his remark,
he turned to walk away,
and you just swung
and hit him in the back of the head?
- No, no.
- Sometimes people snap,
not because they're criminals,
but in fact because they're human.
People can only take so much.
I can't imagine the abasement
of having to dress up as a hot dog,
to be ridiculed by people on the street,
losing your career, your wife,
seeing yourself in that costume through your children's eyes.
We can only take so much.
I know you didn't mean for this to happen, Mr. Hamlin,
but it did happen. - [sobbing]
- And the best thing now for you, your children,
would be for you to be forthcoming.
* *
- [exhales]
- Wow.
Is he always that good? - Always.
- Just not usually that fast.
It must be some kind of damn record.
- [laughs] - Keeping him in the costume--
it's almost not fair.
- Hello.
My name is Detective Avraham.
- Nora Conte.
This is my son, Vincent.
He's missing.
He didn't come home from school today.
He didn't call. He's not picking up his phone,
and it's almost 10:00.
- How old is your son?
- 16.
- You're sure he was at school today?
- I spoke to his friend. He was there.
But school lets out at 3:30, and he's missing.
- Well, 16-year-old boys can sometimes
choose to be missing,
often with 16-year-old girls.
- He's not having sex with a 16-year-old girl.
He's--he's missing.
[cell phone rings]
I'm sorry. Hello.
No.
I'm with the police now.
Okay.
My husband. - Where is he?
- Austin, Texas.
He left this morning for a business trip.
- Is he also convinced something
has happened to Vincent?
- Yes.
Please. He's my heart.
- Next week's class assignment, I want it all in the narrative.
Sense of place, no dialogue.
And I beg you, please, no more than three pages
'cause I'm only human.
And prose only, Julia. No rhyming.
I double beg you.
Zack, hang back, would you?
Sit a sec, will you?
- Uh-oh, being held after class.
- I finished the manuscript.
- Oh. And?
Oh, I did that much, huh? [chuckles]
- This is a very difficult thing for me to say.
It'll be more so for you to hear.
I don't think you were meant to be a writer,
at least not a novelist.
There are ways to make a living
utilizing your writing skills, but--
- What does that mean? I am a writer.
- Fiction is not your calling.
- That's not true.
No, that's not true.
Just because you didn't respond to something doesn't--
you're the one that said,
"Don't let anyone tell you you can't write."
Those were your words.
- Yes, they were.
- Well, I'll get better.
[distant siren wailing]
That's all. I'll just get better.
- You'll remember I made an admission early on
that I did not think this craft could really be taught.
Plot, convention, story structure, sure.
But at the end of the day,
either a person can write or he cannot.
You cannot.
[door bell jingles]
[dark music]
* *
[car horn honking]
[tires screeching]
* *
- How do you do that?
- I'm sorry?
- It's almost like he wanted to confess.
- Many do.
People tend to be burdened by their wrongdoing.
- That's what you picked up on, his burden?
- What did you see?
- I saw a man who had been utterly reduced,
and you valued him,
but we all do that.
We're all taught that trick.
- Perhaps it shouldn't be a trick.
The Talmud teaches us to see a single human being
as the whole world,
that each person is entitled
to infinite respect and concern.
Everyone is precious.
I believe that, Janine.
Mr. Hamlin saw and felt as much.
This job...
it would be easy to lose faith in humanity.
It would be a mistake.
- Hey, I'm home.
- I'm in the tub.
- Wow.
Look at you.
- Living the life. - Mm-hmm.
- It took me over an hour to put him down tonight,
so I earned every last bubble.
How was class?
- Good. Good, yeah, he, um--
liked the book.
- Oh, my God, that's fantastic.
- Yep.
- I am so proud of you.
What's wrong?
- Nothing. I'm just looking at you.
A man can still objectify his wife, right?
[chuckles]
- A man certainly can.
You just looked a little sad there for a second.
Puppy doggy.
It's actually nice to be objectified.
It's been a while.
[soft dramatic music]
* *
[chuckles softly]
Let me get out of the tub. - Mm.
Have I ever told you how much I love bubbles?
- [laughs] Zackary.
- Should I stop?
- Mm! - You okay?
- Yeah, I just--maybe it makes a little more sense to--
[laughs]
Oh.
[moaning] [water splashing]
[dark music]
[both grunting]
* *
[beep] [printer whirs]
- [exhales] [door opens]
[sighs]
- I hear breathing.
- I'd like to partner with Avi.
- No. - You want me to learn,
so who better to teach me?
- You can't learn what he does.
- Yes, I can.
Wouldn't it be great to have two detectives
with that skill set?
- No.
- Okay.
Um, open or closed?
[tense music]
* *
- Zack.
- You're up.
- Yeah, I got up to feed Luke. You...
didn't hear him crying?
- I guess I didn't. [chuckles softly]
* *
- What's going on?
- What--what do you mean?
- I'm a little freaked out about what happened in the tub.
- What?
- Well, I asked to get out of the tub,
and then I slipped.
Then you were on top of me
in a nanosecond, then inside me.
And I'm not saying that I wouldn't have consented,
but there wasn't time. - Wait, what are you saying?
- It was a little aggressive for my taste.
- Aggressive? We were making love.
- You imposed yourself.
- Are you serious?
- I will not be fucked like that, Zack.
* *
- [praying inaudibly]
* *
- I'm retired detective Sgt. Wally Zeitz,
and this is "Breaking the Case,"
a podcast series written and produced
by the New York City Police Department.
We're going to take you back to a case from August 2006.
This is the story of how one individual
terrorized the roadways of Queens for seven hours.
We'll hear from officers who crisscrossed
the highways that night on the lookout for a green car.
* *
- You pour it so slowly. - [scoffs]
You got rituals, I got rituals.
I like to pretend I'm in Europe somewhere,
one of those cafés with the French press thingies.
Makes this shit taste better.
My wife gave me an article about attitude
and outlook and whatnot.
- Avi, I've decided to partner you with Janine for a while.
- Because? - Well, because she asked,
and the more I thought on it, it makes sense.
- I prefer to work alone.
- Well, who was it that said you don't
always get what you want?
- Janine's cool. You might actually like her.
- I won't intrude, promise.
- You already have.
- Well, the Talmud says it's forbidden for a teacher
to reject a student.
So, I mean, Halakahkly speaking,
if I ask you, you kind of have to teach me.
- [laughs]
[tense tone]
* *
- He's still missing.
[tense music]
* *
- Hey, hey.
Are you seeing this?
- Vincent's missing.
- What? - Evidently,
he didn't come home from school yesterday.
- Wait, are you serious? - Yeah.
A detective knocked on the door.
There were two. They said they'd be back.
- They knocked on our door?
- Yeah, all the neighbors.
* *
[indistinct chatter]
- The last time I saw him was...
- Excuse me, sir?
Can I help you?
- Um, yeah, sorry. I'm one of the neighbors.
I live on the floor below. Zack Miller.
I was told that the police
wanted to speak with me and my wife.
Can you tell me what happened?
- We'll be right down after we finish up here.
- Okay, but is Vincent all right?
- We'll be right down, Mr. Miller.
- Yeah, of course.
- Okay.
- We were arguing for...
- Something bad's happened. - Like what?
- I don't know. I was shooed away.
I mean, it's like a crime scene.
- Oh, my God. What do you suppose?
[baby crying]
- They were interviewing a lady.
- Mr. Miller? - Yes, Zack.
Please, come on in.
This is my wife, Dania.
- Yes. I'm Detective Avraham.
This is Detective Harris.
Could we speak with you both for a moment?
- Yeah, of course. - What's happened to Vincent?
- We don't know. We only know that he's missing.
When did you last see Vincent?
- Um, that would be Monday.
I'm his tutor. Or, I--I was his tutor.
I would tutor Vincent about twice a week.
I was helping him with his writing skills.
- Zack's a writer.
- You last saw him Monday?
- In the evening, yes.
We passed on the stairs.
I was going down, he was going up.
- Did you notice anything unusual about his behavior?
- No, he seemed like normal,
which was quiet, polite.
- Yeah, he's a lovely young man.
- What about his family?
- What do you mean?
- Are they close-knit?
- I have no reason to think that they're not.
- A few of the neighbors said they heard fighting
from upstairs on Monday night.
- I heard something, uh, yelling.
I couldn't tell who it was,
but it was definitely an argument of some sort.
- Were the voices male or female?
- I think it was-- they were both male voices.
- Do you think he did something to Vincent, the father?
- I wasn't expecting that question.
Do you have reason to believe the father
did something to Vincent? - No, no, no, no, no.
He's just a mercurial man, you know, a little aggressive.
- Did Vincent ever talk to you about his father?
- Not much, no.
- Did you and he ever talk about things
going on in his life?
Sometimes students confide in their tutors.
- Nah, we mostly just talked about his writing.
- He never mentioned plans to run away?
Problems at school, maybe?
- Uh, no.
- Any suicidal ideation?
- Suicide?
- In his writings, maybe? - No, no, never.
- Is that what you think happened?
- We have no idea what's happened to him.
Quite possibly nothing at all.
- Sorry, is-- is there a reason
you're looking at me like that?
- Like what?
- Like I'm a suspect or something.
- People tell me I do that sometimes.
It's not my intent.
- Yeah.
- You were looking at him kind of funny.
- Funny how?
- Well, your eyebrows kinda bulge.
Like, they bulge, like-- like that.
- No, I don't do that. - Yeah, you do.
You're doing it right now, and you did it to the tutor.
And that's why he asked you
why you were looking at him funny.
- I was looking at him curious
because he's withholding something.
- Okay.
[eerie music]
What are you looking at now?
- Avi, you still out there?
- Just leaving.
- We've got a 10-10. Shots fired at Art's Deli.
- I know Art.
[siren wailing]
[tense music]
- We've got eyes on them through the security cameras.
Looks to be about ten hostages. We've called for a negotiator.
[gunshot]
- The ceiling again.
He shot the roof twice and the register once.
- Is he making demands?
- He's just screaming.
Schizophrenia, drugs, maybe both.
He's a vet, name is Kyle Henderson.
That's about all we know.
- Has anyone been hurt? - Not yet.
- He's got everyone lying down now.
- Janine. - Yeah?
- Stay here. Hold this. - What?
No, no, no.
Avi! - What's he doing?
[siren wailing]
- No more medicine, no more hospitals.
It didn't have to be this way!
It's your fault! Your fault! Stop moving!
You made me do it.
Stop moving! [hostages crying]
[laughing]
I'm just following orders.
[panting]
- Hello.
- What the hell?
What the hell is this?
- What's happening?
What's happening?
What the fuck do you think is happening?
[woman screams]
Don't look at me.
You just walked into the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Please, sir. - Please, sir?
[cocks gun, fires]
- Kyle.
- How do you know my name?
How do you know my name?
[hostages crying]
[grunts]
[screaming]
[pained groans]
[panting loudly]
- You'll be okay.
You'll be okay.
- You're not a hostage negotiator.
- It didn't feel like it could wait.
- Yeah, it could wait, Avi.
It could wait for a hostage negotiator.
- It didn't feel like an option.
- You are not here to save humankind.
I just need you to solve crimes--
who did what to whom and why.
Those are the questions that you tackle.
For you to walk into a hostage situation, for which
you are not trained-- - I'm trained.
I grew up in Crown Heights.
- Seriously, Avi?
[mouse clicking]
- I mean, not to overstep... - 'Cause you would never.
- But it did strike me as a little self-destructive.
I mean, like, not just saving other people's lives,
but maybe risking your own.
- You pretend to be a psychologist.
- Oh, what? Like you don't.
Avi, we are not trained to disarm terrorists,
unless maybe you are.
Oh, my God, are you a spy? CIA? Mossad?
You can tell me.
- You just made a face. Hm.
It's not a superpower. The screen reflects.
There he is.
- Who? - His name is John Wentworth.
He used to teach philosophy at Rockefeller,
and was discharged six years ago for teaching Mark 9
with a little too much vigor.
He's homeless now.
I saw him on the street this morning,
and video surveillance placed him there yesterday morning.
He walks that street a lot.
He sees and he hears. He might have some information.
- Whoa, you really have that eyebrow thing going on.
- Did you feel anything in the Conte house? Sense anything?
Sometimes, places talk. - Okay.
- What did it feel like to you?
- Not good.
- I need to go back.
- Right.
[soft suspenseful music]
- Who the fuck are you to tell me I can't write?
You are wrong. - Zack--
- That's what I came to tell you.
I came to tell you you are so, so wrong.
I can write. I am a writer.
You're the one that's a realtor.
- Have a seat.
- I don't wanna sit.
- Okay. Yes, I have a job. - Mm-hmm.
- I have a life, which helps me to write with authenticity.
Do you think it's a coincidence that my best stories
are about real estate?
Look, maybe it's the only world I know,
but what's the world you know, Zack?
I have no idea.
It certainly isn't evident in your material.
- It's the whole point of class.
You're the teacher. Maybe that's your problem.
Aren't you supposed to be giving me something?
- You need to dig your guts out, Zack.
It's why we all write at the end of the day,
to reveal ourselves,
to be heard.
Who are you?
I have no fucking idea.
[soft dramatic music]
* *
- I wonder if I might see Vincent's room again?
And you say it's always this neat?
- Yes. I think it gives him a sense of calm and order.
He can get anxiety sometimes.
- No. I know this.
The luggage.
My mother gave me this very set.
In my youth, I had big plans to travel the world.
- That's Vincent's class schedule.
He laminated it.
- Before he left the house for school,
did anything seem different?
- No.
It was like any other day.
He ate his breakfast, loaded up his backpack,
and then he was out the door.
But that's his old backpack.
He actually just got a new one, actually.
Here. Yep.
And that's the coat he was wearing, too.
- When was this?
- Just a few weeks ago.
But that's his backpack and his coat.
That's him.
- I'm told that your husband and Vincent argued
Monday night.
The neighbors heard.
Certainly, you must have.
- No, actually, I didn't.
Leonard and I met some friends for a drink,
and he came home early.
I returned an hour later.
But if they did argue, I can guess what it was about.
- Tell me.
- Well, just Vincent is a disappointment to his father.
- Because?
- Because his father is the way he is.
As far as I'm concerned, the wrong person went missing.
- Would you mind if I just sit here for a moment?
- Yeah.
I do that sometimes too, when he's at school.
He can be a stranger to us. [chuckles]
* *
Are you a good detective?
- It would depend on who you talk to.
- I'm talking to you.
- I'm a very good detective.
May I hold your hand?
It can help me to feel him.
[exhales]
[phone buzzes]
- Oh, my God, that's Vincent's phone.
Hello? Hello?
[sighs] Sh...
He must have left it.
- Why would he leave the house without his phone?
- No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't. - Do you know the password?
- No, I don't. He changed it.
It used to be his birthday. - I'll need to take it.
This might explain why he hasn't called.
- No, he could've just borrowed somebody else's phone.
- It's possible your son doesn't want to be found
and he left his phone to avoid cellular tracking.
- No, look, I know that it makes sense to you
that he would run away, but he would never do that.
- Why not? What separates him from other 16-year-old boys
in an unhappy household?
- This is not an unhappy household.
- It's very unhappy, Mrs. Conte.
If we're to find your son,
you must never lie to me.
Your son has been unhappy for a long time.
- You seriously held her hand?
Is that even allowed?
- You wanna learn or you wanna critique me?
- Okay, you can't just touch people like that, Avi.
- Why not? - Uh, because you can't.
- The human fingertip is a profoundly perceptive organ.
- Oh, my God. Okay, so what did she do?
- Who? - The mother.
The female human woman mother whom you fingertipped?
- This is why I don't like partners.
- No, mm-mm. This is why you need a partner,
so that they can follow you around and say, "Don't touch."
- Oh, so we'll make you my female woman mother.
- Oh, okay. Did you learn anything,
from the room or the luggage,
or, I don't know, your finger organs?
I mean, I do realize that you did not walk out of there
empty-handed, but I'm just wondering
if you learned anything.
- Not as much as I'm learning now.
- [sighs heavily]
Do you have a girlfriend?
I'm not hitting on you at all.
I'm just trying to gauge how far out
you are on the loner spectrum.
- Where do you think I am? - Oh, I don't know.
Halfway between interesting and weird.
You like that?
- I like that. - Hm.
- I like candor. - Hm.
- But in small doses.
[cabinet closes]
- Wow, I see somebody's feeling creative.
- Finally.
- What do you mean, finally?
- I need to...
I need to tell you something.
I lied...
about Michael Rosen liking the book.
He, uh...
told me I can't write.
- Excuse me?
- That's what he said.
- Well, he's wrong, Zack.
He's wrong. - Is he?
I mean, I can't get an agent.
I can't get even a sniff from any publishers.
I mean,
who am I to think I have anything to say?
- Well, you do have something to say.
You have a voice.
- I have been feeling just such inadequacy
as a writer, as a husband.
I think that's why I...
I think that's why I, like, acted out in the tub.
I mean, I was--
I don't even know what happened in there, I'm...
[sighs] - Honey.
- I can't just work at a bookstore the rest of my life.
I don't wanna write articles for "Popular Mechanics."
- Zack, listen to me. You can write.
And I've heard this song before.
You know where?
Stephen King right before he sold "Carrie."
- Right. [chuckles]
- Your day is coming, I promise you.
[melancholy music]
* *
- Hey, John. - Detective.
- Out a bit late, are we?
- Am I? I live here.
- Here, there, and everywhere.
- To lead a better life.
- But you need your love to be here.
- Look, I'm kind of busy.
Can I help you?
- What makes you think I need your help?
- Well, the boy who lives in that building is missing.
You wanna know if I've seen him.
- Have you? - Many times.
He's full of melancholy.
- Have you spoken to him?
- Never.
- And yet you know he's sad.
- I can spot them.
When I was a professor, it was simple.
The lecture hall used to be filled
with bright eyes and idealism.
It was easy to spot the disenfranchised.
- But out here is just a sea of blank faces,
people staring into their gadgets or their black holes.
- When you do that,
it's called dysthymia.
It's the feeling that life's not enough.
[phone buzzing] Something's missing.
You feel it, and so does this boy.
- This is Avi.
Hey, did you see him yesterday morning?
- I did not.
- I'll have to talk to you again.
I'm on my way.
[indistinct chatter]
- Is there a reason I can't talk to Leonard Conte?
He's the missing boy's father.
- It's Avi's case. - And it's mine now, too,
and I'm here and he's not.
- Janine, you say you wanna learn from Avi.
Well, his greatest skill is his capacity
and willingness to observe.
- What's that saying?
Leap and the net shall appear.
- Yeah, and I'll tell you when you can leap.
Oh, Avi, interrogation C.
He's been there almost 20 minutes.
- Okay.
I'm very sorry for this.
- Yeah, well, you should be fuckin' sorry.
Now, I noticed you got ears and eyeballs in here.
I can see the cameras,
so I'm just gonna get this out on the open.
I am very displeased with you people.
But my wife came to you yesterday
and you sent her home.
Now, I know the statistics on missing children.
The first 24 hours are crucial, and you sent my wife home.
That is a fuckin' disgrace.
She told you something had happened.
She goddamn told you. [scoffs]
- Were you as convinced as your wife
yesterday that something had happened?
- Yeah, I was.
- And yet, you didn't return home from your business trip
until tonight.
- Ooh, fuck you.
You imply that a father isn't concerned
about his missing son?
That gets you a "Fuck you."
- I apologize if I offended.
- Well, he's tougher than your average hot dog.
- Mm-hmm. - Now, I'll admit,
I'm very confused by your son's disappearance.
Confusion can be such an oppression.
I can't imagine yours.
- And we're off. - Shh!
- You argued with your son Monday night.
That perhaps gives you hope that he simply ran away.
It's a common reaction to conflict.
But it perhaps fills you with guilt
in that you caused your only son to run away.
What was the argument about?
- Yeah, like a fuckin' boa constrictor.
- Shh! Shut up. - Sorry.
- [clears throat]
We--we were arguing about college.
He wants to go to NYU.
He was telling me about all the cool shit they have--
their student exchange program, a chance to study abroad.
Nora said you saw his suitcases, right?
That's Vincent.
He wants a life to match his luggage.
Anyway, I asked him what he would bring to the school
because that's what these universities,
these admissions people are looking for,
what a person is gonna contribute to the community.
And he'd have to answer for that.
And so I asked him what would he contribute?
Because so far in high school, he hasn't contributed squat.
He doesn't play sports, no chess club,
no student council, nothing.
This kid gives back nothing.
And all the top colleges were gonna take note of that.
And I was pointing that out to him constructively,
and he told me to fuck off.
- From what I know of your son, that seems out of character.
- [chuckles] Yeah, exactly.
- How did you react?
- Loudly, angrily.
- Like a human.
- Look, my son is a very...
[sighs] Weak person, detective.
I take no pleasure in that.
And for him to have said that to me,
"fuck off," to his father, that must come from hate.
So, yeah, maybe I am responsible
for him running away,
but this notion that he's out there on his own--
he is ill-equipped,
that much I know.
- No one's home. - Oh--[snickers]
Okay, um, he doesn't have a criminal record,
and the rest of the neighbors describe him the same.
He's just a bit of misanthrope.
What's with the fish?
- I don't know.
I--I just--
I like to draw them.
- [laughs]
Okay.
- Um,
why did you ask to partner?
Why me?
- I told you, I wanna learn.
And I like missing person cases.
They were always my favorite on "Law & Order."
And yeah, I don't wanna become a missing person,
which, I guess, everyone kind of is in a way--
Vincent, the hot dog man,
that vet you took out in the grocery store,
the father just now,
and cops, especially cops.
We deal with such depravity and despair on a daily basis.
And sometimes, it feels like the only way
that we can survive this job is to wall off our emotions.
But once we do that, we go missing from ourselves.
And that hasn't happened to you.
I don't want it to happen to me.
Yeah, so that's why you.
[phone buzzing]
- Detective Avraham.
We gotta go.
[dramatic music]
* *
- I caught his name on the Amber Alert,
so I called it in.
[music intensifies]
* *
- We better call the parents.