- Sgt. Joe Friday: This is the city. From one night to the next it's never the same. They make it that way. Counting the suburbs, there's four million of 'em. Most of the people have something to add. A few of 'em are out to take it away. In my job, they're the ones that keep you on the move. I'm a cop.
- Sgt. Joe Friday: It was Wednesday, September 28th. We were working the night watch out of homicide detail. My partner's Ed Jacobs; the boss is Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives. My name's Friday.
- William Tanner: September...
- Sgt. Joe Friday: September? What would that have to do with it?
- William Tanner: I don't know really. September has always been the time, that's all. I always seem to work into some kind of trouble every September. I don't know what it is. It always seems to be the best time. September... it's always September.
- William Tanner: I didn't really want to kill Adele. There was nothing I could do. Adele was a sinner.
- Sgt. Joe Friday: Yeah.
- William Tanner: Drinking and running around. She committed sins all the time. The worst kinds of sins. Terrible.
- Sgt. Joe Friday: Yeah, well maybe you better check the Book, Tanner. You were way ahead of her.
- William Tanner: What do you mean?
- Sgt. Joe Friday: What kind of sin is worse than murder?
- Sgt. Joe Friday: It was 11:48 p.m. when I got back from the crime lab. The call came in a few hours earlier. An attractive blonde secretary was found beaten to death in a downtown office building. A length of steel pipe wrapped in heavy paper was on the floor beside her. There was no trace of the killer, no apparent motive for the killing. For every murder, there's at least one of each. My job: to find 'em.