Episode 3
Aired March 18, 1987

     The story begins in Matamoros, Mexico, with a well-dressed American visiting a dusty border café.  He is not there to sample the food, however, and as he leaves a young girl dies.

     Fast forward to Houston, Texas, where, as usual, Joe LaFiamma is complaining about the heat and the music his partner, Levon Lundy, listens to while they drive.  They are called to break up a bar fight and when they arrive at the bar, they find two men standing face to face in the center of the room, each one holding a gun at the other’s head. They learn that the fight is about a pimp named Serpiente.  They break up the fight, but one of the men escapes after dropping his gun.

     Levon learns that the gun the man dropped belonged to a Matamoros police officer and Joe assumes that the man must have killed the cop, but Levon reasons that the man may have only stolen the gun.  Lt. Beaumont tells them about "Mr. Lester 'showbiz' Farnum", a lawyer upset with the way his client was treated by the Houston police department in general and Lt. Joanne Beaumont in particular.  She also gives them the name of a hooker who was once one of her informants so they can begin looking for Serpiente.

     When Joe and Levon begin their search for Serpiente they find the man from the bar fight instead.  This time, he does not get away.  It turns out, the man looking for Serpiente is the Matamoros police officer.  Sgt. Esteban Gutierrez is very uncooperative but the Lieutenant learns that he came to Houston because a young girl who was a friend of his family had been murdered.  The Lieutenant tells Sgt. Gutierrez that he has two days to find Serpiente and that he will be working with Joe and Levon.

     Katy Loomis, Lt. Beaumont's informant, is stubborn and uncooperative and Esteban is somewhat distrustful of the Americans.  Esteban questions a young woman in Spanish and tells them that she knows nothing.  Joe, however, understood the conversation and tells Levon that Esteban has lied to them and the girl told him where Serpiente was staying.  Joe and Levon are now completely out of patience with Esteban and when Levon notices a blue and white that has made a traffic stop, he turns Esteban over to the officers and asks them to merely hold on to Esteban for a couple of hours.

     When Joe and Levon confront Serpiente at his hotel, there is an explosion and Serpiente is killed.  Serpiente seemed to have been expecting someone named “Lester.”  While the crime scene is being examined, they learn that Esteban got away from the officers and they wonder if he could have set the bomb.  The next day, Esteban is arrested at another bar fight and Joe and Levon learn that he has seen Lester Farnum in Matamoros.  They begin to realize that Farnum is the man responsible for the death of the girl and Serpiente.

     When they queston Katy Loomis again, they realize she knows Farnum.  So they decide to question him and it is obvious their questions have hit their target.  Esteban convinces Joe and Levon that he needs to meet Farnum alone to try to get him to say somthing incriminating.  They reluctantly agree to leave but their instincts tell them Esteban is in danger. Before they can get back to him, however, Farnum stabs Esteban and excapes.

     Joe and Lt. Beaumont go to Katy Loomis to try to convince her to testify against Farnum while.Levon waits at the hospital.  Levon convices Esteban to return home and assures him they will get Farnum.  Unfortunatley they cannot convice the D.A. to pursue the case so, together, Joe and Levon decide to take matters into their own hands.  They confront Farnum and “invite” him to take a ride with them then proceed to drive to a deserted spot on the border where Esteban is waiting.   With Joe and Levon on one side and Esteban on the other, Farnum has no where to go and he reluctantly walks across the shallow creek bed.   As he closes the van door behind Farnum, Esteban turns and gratefully salutes Joe and Levon before he drives away.