Without a Trace (TV Series)

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (2003)

Anthony LaPaglia: FBI MPU SSA Jack Malone

Quotes 

• Graham Spaulding : Jack... you look good.

  Jack Malone : Yeah. I wish I could say the same for you. I hear they're quite fond of child molesters in prison.

  [Spaulding laughs] 

  Graham Spaulding : I thought we had an understanding.

  Jack Malone : We do.

• [after Sam's OPR interview] 

  Samantha : He asked me about us. He had all this stuff. Um, security card access records of nights that we left together; phone logs.

  Jack Malone : And what did you say?

  Samantha : I told him it wasn't true.

  Jack Malone : You have no idea of what he knows or doesn't know. That's his ace up the sleeve - that's how he wins.

  Samantha : I was just trying to protect you.

  Jack Malone : Yeah, but you didn't have to lie. Even if he had hard evidence, there's nothing he could do about it.

  Samantha : We broke at least half a dozen conduct codes.

  Jack Malone : And lying to an OPR investigator could get you fired.

  Samantha : And sleeping with an agent under your command could get you fired. I'm sorry I lied. I was just trying to save your ass.

• [Once again, after Sam's OPR interview] 

  Jack Malone : You want to take me down, that's fine - give it your best shot.

  Agt. Jason Farrell : We weren't scheduled to meet, were we?

  Jack Malone : [livid]  You come into MY house and you mess with MY people, you better not miss, you little piss wad!

  Agt. Jason Farrell : I'm gonna ask you to leave right now.

  [Farrell points to the door] 

  Jack Malone : [ignores him]  This is where I work, you pencil-pushing little maggot!

  [knocks a mug of pens and pencils off the desk] 

  Jack Malone : This is where I work! And not the kind of crap that you do - I don't push through other people's garbage.

  [Farrell stands up] 

  Agt. Jason Farrell : Are you threatening me, Agent Malone?

  Jack Malone : You take it any way you want!

• [about the Spaulding trial] 

  Vivian : Jack, you can't.

  Jack Malone : Yeah? Just watch me.

  Vivian : You can't lie in court.

  Jack Malone : You think I'm going to let Spaulding walk away? He kills and abuses children. He's done it twice, and he's going to do it again.

  Vivian : Oh, so could you live with yourself?

  Jack Malone : Hey, I can live with one less pedophile being on the street.

  Vivian : You compromise your sense of Right, and there's one less of you.

  Jack Malone : I have a feeling there's about to be one less of me anyway, and if I'm going down, I'm taking Spaulding with me.

  Vivian : All right, we know that Farrell's a bastard, but he can't beat you unless you let him.

  Jack Malone : What do you want me to do, Viv? I am screwed either way.

  Vivian : I know.

• [Jack confesses to refusing to give Spaulding a lawyer during his interrogation] 

  Judge H. Adderly : Agent Malone, you knowingly and willfully violated this man's right to be questioned with an attorney present. What were you thinking?

  [Jack looks at the Judge] 

  Jack Malone : I can tell you exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking it was 38 degrees in the Coleman Caves, and that there was a terrified young man in one of them, tied up like an animal, shot full of drugs so that Mr. Spaulding could have sex with him. I was thinking that if I turned around and went back to New York, so Mr. Spaulding could consult with his attorney, Andy Deaver would be dead by the time I got back. I can also tell you what I was not thinking. I was not thinking about his constitutional rights. I was not thinking about evidence suppression or even this trial. That's the job of this court. And this court will decide whatever it decides. But I can say this without reservation:... Given the same set of circumstances, I would do exactly the same thing because my primary responsibility was to save Andy Deaver. That's my job.

  [quietly] 

  Jack Malone : That's my job.

  [Note: this is what Jack did instead of lying in court] 

• [after the trial, on a bench in front of the courthouse] 

  Jack Malone : [amused]  So you guys just tore them up?

  Samantha : Well, Farrell had the originals. We tore up copies. It was more of a symbolic gesture.

  Jack Malone : [smiles]  I appreciate the gesture and the symbolism.

  Samantha : You were right, you know.

  Jack Malone : About what?

  Samantha : It was dumb to lie to Farrell.

  Jack Malone : Not as dumb as what I just did in there. I think I let a killer walk free, and I lost my job all in one hit.

  Samantha : You know, when Farrell asked me about us, my instinct was to tell him the truth... because it's been really hard for me not telling anyone... being around you all the time and pretending like nothing never happened, you know?

  Jack Malone : [quietly]  I know.

  Samantha : I don't think I was lying to save you. I think, in that moment, I thought maybe... if I say this, if everybody knows... then it really will be over.

  [pauses and looks over at Jack] 

  Samantha : It is over, isn't it?

  [Jack reaches out and brushes some hair out of Sam's eyes] 

  Jack Malone : Yeah, it's over.

  [Sam leans onto Jack's shoulder. Jack put his arm over her, and rests his cheek on her head]