Detectives Christine Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey are high up on the scaffolding of an office tower block under construction — many many storeys above the street.  In the process of confronting and apprehending a corrupt construction worker, Lacey has fallen off and is now clinging on to a metal pole for dear life.  If her grip slips, she will fall and die.  Her loving husband Harvey (the site manager and the one who brought the corruption to the detectives’ attention) tells Cagney, in horror, that his wife is stuck in a ‘death grip’.  Which means that Mary Beth has frozen in horror, and no amount of persuading will make her let go, even if help is offered.  She’ll keep hanging on until she is overcome with exhaustion, and falls to her death.  There’s only one thing for it, he says.  He edges towards her, closer and closer.  And when he is right next to her, he punches her in the face. Continue reading →