" Hello." " Good morning." "Damn." "Nathan!" "What are you doing, Nathan?" "We're going into the bank!" "Here, quick." "Grab that pole there." "I can't do anything!" "Cut the engine, Nathan!" "(Screams)" "Nathan!" "What is it?" "(Sighs)" "Come on, Lewis." "Approximately seven hours." "What happened?" "I can't tell you, exactly." " A man in his early 60s, about 5'1 0" tall." " (Light aircraft flies over)" "There's not a lot to go on." "What's that supposed to mean?" "The head's been hacked off, the arms below the elbow, the legs below the knee." "I'm only guessing at the height from the trousers." "Quite neatly done, really." " By a surgeon, you mean?" " Anyone could do it with a hacksaw." " Shall I show you?" " Thank you, my dear. I'll leave that to Lewis." "I do wish you wouldn't call me your "dear", Morse." "How does one address a lady pathologist first thing in the morning?" "Well, "Doctor" would do." "Well, Doctor, I look forward to your full report." "If I had to hazard a professional opinion, I'd say the Chief Inspector was not a morning person." "I shouldn't worry about it." "He's got toothache." "Need any help?" "My mother always insisted I should have a proper breakfast." "Medical opinion would agree with her." "What about you, Doctor?" "I can barely manage a cup of coffee." "Hello?" "No third degree." "I didn't get to bed till four." "We all have our problems." "Well, it kills you in the end." "What are you lot here for?" "Suicide?" "Rape?" "Cattle rustling?" "Illegal immigrants?" "Murder, actually." "A nasty one." "Decapitation, to be precise." "I don't suppose anybody came in last night with a severed head?" "You think you're joking?" "A bloke comes in offering to sell me a fresh chicken." "We keep a few hens." "I can never bear to kill them, so I says yes." "He comes back minutes later, the bird plucked and ready." "It's only when I go out later to shut the hens up against the fox, I notice one is missing." "Then I find a bag full of feathers and guts." "And the head." "The beggar's only gone out and knocked off one of my own birds to sell me." " (Puts coins on the bar)" " Come on, Lewis." "Duty calls." "What kind of people live in the cottages down the towpath?" "Locals?" "Weekenders?" "I don't think the locals could afford these prices." "My auntie used to swear by a clove, you know, sir." "Has she still got her own teeth?" "I'll settle for coffee, Lewis, and plenty of aspirin." "Extra sugar as usual?" "And don't forget the aspirin." "That's all Dr Russell found in the pockets." "I was worried about tearing it." ""..to discuss appearing."" "For what, I wonder." "Television, sir?" ""..our studios in Dockland."" "You watch the stuff." "What sort of programmes are made in Dockland?" "EastEnders?" "Not that I get time to see it." "Maybe one of them game shows." ""Meet me at the..."" "I can't read it." "Something "club in Pall Mall."" "Does that sound like a game show?" "You never know, sir." "They use all sorts of ruses." "When someone goes to the trouble of inviting you to an exclusive gentlemen's club, where you pay handsomely for the privilege of keeping alive public school manners with dreadful public school food, it must be to flatter the subject's vanity." "That suit came from a university tailor," " didn't it, Lewis?" " Mm-hm." "Let's assume our victim is a university man." "What would flatter the vanity of a university man in his 60s?" " A pretty young woman, sir." " Wrong sort of club." "Appearing on television in something intellectually respectable." "The South Bank Show, sir." "Get onto all the TV companies." "Find out who invited an Oxford man about 5'1 0" tall, in his early 60s, to a London club in the last couple of weeks to discuss a Iate-night chat show." " How do you know it's late-night?" " I may not see much television, but they don't put that stuff on during the day!" "(Phone rings)" "Chief Inspector Morse's office." "Yeah, one moment." "It's the Master of Beaumont College, Sir Alexander Reece." "Morse." "Thank you." "Alex?" "Yes." "Yes, it's been ages." "No, I didn't know." "Well, I don't have time to keep up with all your activities." "I suppose congratulations are in order." "Lunch?" "Yes, well, why not?" "Yes, I'm free." "I'll be there." "Offering you a fellowship, is he, sir?" "Knowing Reece, he probably wants free advice on guarding the college silver." "I'll leave you to sort out those TV companies, all right?" " Right." " And check on that suit." "Tailor-made - we should get the owner's name." "I'll get onto them first." "Then you can chase up your friend Dr Russell." "That should give us all something to look forward to." "Chief Inspector Morse?" "I am he." "Now, Deborah!" "(Chuckles)" "Over-educated women." "My dear fellow." "How long has it been?" "Quite a while." "Come in." "Come in!" "Right." "Sherry?" "Scotch, if you've got it." " Toothache." " Oh." "Is all this stuff yours or the college's?" "Mine, I'm afraid." "You always were quite a collector, weren't you, Alex?" "Do take a seat." "What was wrong with the girl just now?" "Oh, er..." "Deborah Burns, yeah." "Such a pity." "Highly gifted student." "She's just completed her DPhil." "I supervised her myself, actually." "Will she get it?" "Oh, she'II get it all right." "But she was hoping for a research fellowship." "I had to tell her just now she's been turned down." "She took it very hard, as you saw." "Rather highly strung." "But I didn't get you here to talk about my students." "As Virgil pointed out, there's no such thing as a free lunch." "Mm." "I'm very concerned about Dr Kerridge, my Vice Master." "It seemed to me that someone like you, who understands the university, could...make discreet enquiries." "What about?" "He took off for London at the end of term, and was supposed to be back four days ago." "I was supposed to chair a conference on constitutional law at Sussex tomorrow, and he's supposed to be in charge in my absence." "MORSE:" "Four days isn't very long." "Oh, he's very punctilious." "Untidy in appearance, perhaps, but highly organised." "We've checked his flat in Bayswater and his cottage in Thrupp - he's a keen angler - but he doesn't appear to have been there either." "Two desirable residences?" "People pay economists vast sums of money in order to avoid taking their advice." "Perhaps he fell in love." "It can happen to anybody." "That's what concerns me." "Kerridge is not a ladies' man." "Quite the contrary." "So if he has fallen among...bad company," " we can't afford the scandal." " Why do you think he has?" "I had a call from a young man." "All he would say was that Dr Kerridge would be delayed." "When I asked to speak to Kerridge himself, the man rang off." "I still don't see why." "But you must realise that my college's reputation is at stake." "I appointed Kerridge." "I thought it was a good idea." "Heal the divisions after my election." "He was popular with most of the fellows... except DrysdaIe, of course." " Arthur Drysdale?" " Yes, do you know him?" " l used to." " He has cancer, you know, of the brain." "Six months, they reckon." "Maybe less." "He's gone to Rome. lt's his favourite city." "One last visit." "What about him and Kerridge?" "They were famous as enemies." "I mean, are." "Rivals for the Sheldon Lectureship, you see." "Some people consider it the most prestigious post in the entire university." "Who won?" "As a matter of fact, I did." "Which no doubt put you on the road to your present eminence." "Yes, I expect it helped." "But whatever the case, if something unsavoury has happened to Kerridge, it will reflect badly, not only on the college, but upon me." "Can you think of one good reason why I should help you, Alex?" "Professional pride." "Better get into lunch... or it'll all be gone." "Come on, come on." "Thanks." " Morning." " l'm Dr Kerridge." "Mr Christopher Stoneley is expecting me." "Straight through to the smoking room, sir." "Thank you." "Nice lunch, sir?" "I had an eminent chemist on my left, who talked throughout the whole meal about the operation he'd had on his piles." "Very nice!" "And the world-famous mathematician on my right demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that the best au pairs come from Portugal." "That's what you go for, isn't it, sir?" "The conversation?" "True, Lewis." "That's why I prefer pubs." "What have you got?" "Not much." "No luck with the university tailors yet." "Those TV people were no help at all." "And we're still waiting for Dr Russell's report." "I've got a missing person." "A distinguished economist." "Duty roster, sarge." "He's called Kerridge." "He's Vice Master of Beaumont College." "is he on the list?" "No Kerridge." "Were you thinking he might be the body?" "It'd be convenient, wouldn't it?" "Let us hypothesise." "Let's say that Kerridge is the recipient of that letter." "He goes to London, something goes wrong." "A young man calls to say that he'll be delayed." "And then we find a headless body in Thrupp... ..the place where he happens to have a cottage." "It sounds all right to me." "You take the cottage in Thrupp." "I'll do the pied-à-terre in fragrant Bayswater." "Fortes fortuna adiuvat." "Fortune favours the brave?" "My school motto, sir." "(Drunken giggling)" "(Glass shatters)" "Look here, David... ..I don't want to see you hurt." "I am not hurt, Christopher." "Chris." "Please call me Chris." "Chris. I've had a lovely time." "But I must admit to being just the tiniest bit irritated." "You've kept me in London when I ought to be in Oxford." "I'm still waiting to see the contract for this show of yours." "There is no contract." "Nor a show, nor a studio." "Then what on earth...?" "Just a little acting job... while I'm resting... as they don't say in the trade." "I do not understand." "Someone wanted me to play a TV producer." "It's the second time they've asked me, as a matter of fact." "I was supposed to persuade you about this programme, and lure you down to the Isle of Dogs, pretending that's where the studio is." "Who approached you and why?" "He didn't tell me his name." "I can tell you what he looks like, though." "The sort who should play old-fashioned headmasters." "Tall, fussy...upright for his age." "He claimed to be a friend of yours." "Though he's not wearing nearly as well as you are." "Thanks, Chris." "Did he tell you why he wanted you to go through this charade?" "No." "No, I... I didn't care for the first one." "But you're different." "I must be on my way." " No, please stay." " No, I'm afraid I must." "I believe the person you describe to be abroad." "If he's not, I must prepare myself." "Goodbye." "Thank you for my lunch." "TANNOY:" "The 16:30 service from Oxford, due at 1 7:32, is now arriving at platform 9." "Your Intercity service for plymouth is also boarding at platform 2." "It calls at Reading, bristol Parkway, bristol temple Meads" "Taunton, Exeter St David's, Newton Abbot and plymouth." "Who is it?" "It's Chief Inspector Morse." "I'm looking for Dr Kerridge." "(Buzzer sounds)" "Of course I know the Doctor." "I've lived here since the war, when it was a respectable place." " l'm sure, madam." " Of course, it was very boring then." "Fascinating, the things that go on now." "I wouldn't live anywhere else." " How long has Dr Kerridge had his flat, Mrs...?" " Miss." "Tree." "Miss Tree by name, mystery by nature." "(Giggles) I don't suppose you want to know about my private life." " lf you would just tell me about Dr Kerridge." " What do you want to know?" "When did you last see him?" "Oh, I haven't seen him for weeks." "I've heard him, all right." "He has the flat above me." "Not that I'm complaining." "He doesn't go in for wild parties, more's the pity." "He keeps himself to himself." "Rather dull, really." "I mean, all he really likes doing is sitting by the canal in the rain, trying to catch fish." "I prefer dancing." "When you say you've heard him..." "Just a bit of banging about." "Chopping the head off some poor herring, I dare say, to feed his friends." "How anyone can eat fish when you see the state of the water..." "Does he often have friends in, Miss Tree?" "He lets people stay here." "They come to me for the key." "When was the last time that happened?" "Last week." "An elderly gentleman, very nicely turned out." " And he didn't say who he was?" " lt wouldn't have meant anything to me anyway." "If I could borrow the key to have a look around, as a friend of the Doctor's... I must finish getting ready for my tea dance." "Do you tango?" "No, I thought not." "I might be able to do something with you." "Perhaps not." "Yes, guv?" "Scotch, please." "86p." "May I?" "It's Dr Burns, isn't it?" "Who the hell are you?" "My name is Morse." "Our paths crossed in the Master's lodgings at Beaumont." "Can I get you a drink?" "I'm waiting for someone." "Your glass is still empty." "All right." "A white wine, thanks." " That seat is taken." " A Scotch and a white wine, please." "Did you hear what I said?" "That seat is taken." "Excuse me." " Here we are." " Thanks." "How did you know my name?" "Well, Alex told me." "We're old acquaintances." "So are we." "Cheers." "Cheers." "By the way, I'm not a doctor yet." "Well, Alex said there'd be no doubt." "That's what he said about my fellowship." "Academics don't know what it means, stuck in their little ivory towers." "They've more or less got jobs for life." "But would they share them with someone new?" "Someone who also happens to be a woman?" "I'd like to see some of them on the dole, I can tell you." "Like Alex?" "Alex and I... ..we worked very closely together on the new book." "I should havejoint credit, really." "Still...it might get me my doctorate." "It should have got me my research fellowship." "Are you connected with Oxford, Mr Morse?" " ln a manner of speaking." " You must have some idea of what it's like." "A vicious, backbiting, petty-minded, parochial town that thinks it's the centre of the universe." "Pretty, though... for a city." "It's the people that spoil it." "People like Beaumont's Vice Master, Dr David bloody Kerridge." "Why Kerridge in particular?" "He's the one who voted against me." "How do you know?" "Alex..." "The Master told me." "That's who I'm waiting for." "You might have a long wait." "I've got a train to catch." " Can I get you another?" " No, thanks." "I wish you luck, Miss Burns." "(Drunken exchanges)" "Good evening, Dr Kerridge." "Miss Burns!" "What on earth are you doing here?" "You vetoed my fellowship. I want to know why." "Dear good woman..." "Come on." "Come on!" "This may sound melodramatic, Miss Burns, but there is someone after me." "Me, Dr Kerridge." "I am quite serious, Miss Burns." "So am I." "Give me one good reason why you were so against me." "I was not!" "I am not!" "I had nothing to do with turning you down." "You have my word." "Then who was it?" "Do you really want to know?" "Very well." "It was the Master." "?" "Valeta" "Aargh!" "miss TREE:" "Dr Kerridge?" "Dr Kerridge, we are trying to master the vaIeta." "(Electronic whine)" "Rinse, please." "Have you got a tissue?" "You've got a nasty infection there." "There's nothing I can do until it's cleared up." "I'll give you a prescription for some penicillin and you can come back on Friday." "Can't you just take it out now?" "We no longer condemn teeth to death without just cause, Mr Morse." "If you had visited a dentist in the last few years, you would know that." "Make an appointment with the receptionist." "And cut out the sugar." "Good day to you." "Thanks for your help." "Hello." "Oh, hello, Sergeant Lewis." "I've obviously got you wrong." "I thought your wife bought your clothes." "Not around here, she doesn't. lt's a bit rich." "Go on, let's have a look." "You've seen this once already." "No, definitely not your style." "Still, at least we know now whose it was." "It was tailor-made for Dr Kerridge." " lt cost him an arm and a leg." " Oh, please!" "Sorry." "The Chief Inspector found out that Kerridge went missing recently." "He more than likely ended up in the canal at Thrupp." "Oh, um...how is Morse's toothache?" "Still making him impossible?" "He's gone to the dentist." "He'll be all sweetness and light now, I promise." "We'll see." "Actually, you can probably help me." "I'll try." "Believe it or not, I've been made godmother... which makes me feel very old." "I'm not quite sure what you get nowadays." "Girl or a boy?" "A boy, aged three." "One thing I wanted when I was a lad was a tin drum." "But my mam wouldn't have it." "She said it'd be too noisy." "I'm sure she was right." "No, I need something smaller." "They're going back to India." "We used to work in the same hospital." "I shall miss them." "What about a mug?" "A pewter mug?" "There are some nice shops on the high street." "Oh, yes." "That's a good idea." "But he may not turn out to be a drinker." "It's hot out there, isn't it?" "Sugar?" "No, better not." "Dentist's orders." "is this yours?" "Sort of. I pinched it from my local." "is their beer any good?" "Why don't you try it sometime?" "I might just do that." "What news of the Master?" "I spoke to him this morning." "In fact, I was going to call you." "Dr Kerridge has been found in London." " He's perfectly all right." " Is he?" "Who found him?" "Miss Burns, apparently." "She rang here last night in a most peculiar state." "What did she say?" "She seems to have got it into her head that the Master has ruined her career." "In fact, she made all sorts of threats." "What sort of threats?" "well, you know academics." "They're forever accusing each other of plagiarism." "She said she'd expose him." "The usual kind of thing." "How would she do that?" "Well, there are people in the media who are ready to believe anything, aren't there?" "Especially about Oxford." "But I think Miss Burns was just being hysterical." "Why?" "Because she claimed Dr Kerridge supported her against the Master." "That's completely unlike him." "He's totally loyal to the College." "May I?" "Miss Burns doesn't exactly get the most generous of acknowledgments, does she?" "I've no doubt the Master gave her what she deserved." "Of course, she could have been greedy for more." "Does she know what he's put?" "She insisted on knowing." "That's what caused her intemperate reaction." "And you told the Master about that?" " Of course." " How did he react?" "Calmly... as always." "Find anything at Thrupp?" "The cottage is as neat as ninepence, sir." "Like his London place." "Dr Russell has Forensics' report on that piece of skin you brought back." "It belongs to the body." "But whose body is it, Lewis?" "It's Dr Kerridge's." "The suit was his." "Dr Kerridge is alive and kicking in London." "We'd better have that canal dragged again." "Arrange it, will you?" "Cheers." "I trust your excellent taste is as much appreciated by your employer as it is by me." "Difficult, is he?" "Just...difficult to keep up with." "But the effort is so worthwhile." "Tell me about the Sheldon Lectures." "One of the greatest honours the College can bestow." "Guaranteed publicity, guaranteed publication, guaranteed future career." "So the Master was very fortunate to get the job?" "Not fortunate." "Deserving." "But, of course, he wasn't Master then." "That followed later." "How is the post awarded?" "The college council decide between those fellows who've been put forward." "How would people like Kerridge and Drysdale get defeated?" "You know Oxford." "It only needs someone to put about the wrong sort of gossip about a candidate." "That his work wasn't original, or that there was something in his private life that would gain the Lectures the wrong sort of attention." "So Kerridge and Drysdale might have assumed that each had slandered the other?" "I suppose so." "I feel so sorry for Mr Drysdale." "For an academic to contract cancer of the brain..." "But he does seem to be enjoying himself in Rome." "We've all had postcards." "Damn it, Lewis!" "I'm off duty." "Sorry, sir." "Sorry, miss." "We've had a call from the Chief Superintendent about Dr Kerridge." " Come back to Oxford, has he?" " l'm afraid not, sir." "They found him in his Bayswater flat, battered to death." "Go ahead." "Over." "Roger." "Bring it up and come in." "Over." "Good man, Al." "Mm." "Hacksawjob." "Yep. I thought it might be." "What's a nice girl like you doing a job like this for?" "How do you know I'm a nice girl, hm?" "You sound just like Morse." "I will take that as a compliment." "No, I mean you'd have made a smashing GP." "What made you prefer dead bodies?" "Well...you have the same challenge of diagnosis but without the responsibility of prescription." "The dead man was at least 5'1 0", but I can't tell you much more till the head is found." "I'll go and see the boss." "You really like him, don't you?" "He's the best there is." "If you say so." "It doesn't make sense, Lewis." "Two people killed in the same flat." "By the same person, do you reckon?" "If so, why cut up one body and bring it all the way to Thrupp?" "Why dress it in someone else's suit when you're going to kill the owner of that suit soon afterwards?" "Unless Kerridge did the first killing, sir, then got killed himself." "Why would Kerridge want to dress up a corpse in his own clothes?" "Whoever killed our first victim planned it very carefully." "Kerridge, on the other hand, was battered to death in a way that seems almost casual by comparison." "There obviously is a connection." "It's one the Yard will never find, that's for sure." "Look at that." "Sir Christopher Wren, 1 669." "Well done, Lewis." "The SheIdon Lectures are delivered here, in front of the great men of the university in all their robed finery." "To be the centre of attention in such a place... ..to have your peers hanging on your every word." "Worth killing for, would you say, Lewis?" "I don't know, sir." "I was meant to speak in a balloon debate in my first year at secondary school, but it was cut short by a fire drill." "Get back to the office." "Check on all missing persons over 5'1 0"." "I'm popping into Blackwell's to see if they've got anything by the late Doctor." ""By their works shall ye know them."" "Look at that." "Simplicity of line, Morse." "The older one comes, the more unobtainable and expensive simplicity becomes." "Mary, my dear." "How well you've recovered." "Lady Reece doesn't share your taste in art, I take it?" "Rachel is not fond of crowds." "Being in a wheelchair, she gets bored with other people's groins." "I didn't know." "No." "It was her own fault." "Hunting." "What do you expect?" "You...never married, did you?" "What was the name of that girl we both knew?" "Wendy." "Wendy. (Chuckles)" "Let's talk about Kerridge." "What if it were... ..rent boys, or whatever they're called?" "It would be very helpful if you could curb speculation." "Scotland Yard are officially dealing with this." "Not you?" "Oh, well, that's all right." "I know the Commissioner quite well." "They sometimes call me in to talk about civil liberties." "Yes, I'm sure you're everybody's favourite expert." "As a matter of fact, I dropped into the Cabinet Office on the way back from Sussex." "They're setting up a commission to look into the feasibility of a bill of rights." " Which means they'll never do anything about it." " l'll probably be chairman." "I'm told it's almost definite." "Well done." "You'll soon be in the House of Lords." "That would make Rachel happy." "You didn't by any chance run into Miss Burns when you were in London?" "No... I was very pressed for time." "Come on, alex." "She was threatening to blacken your name." "I can handle Miss Burns." "And Dr Kerridge?" "Wasn't he prepared to back her up?" "Kerridge is far too sensible to be swayed by anything an overwrought young woman might have told him." "You didn't run into him by any chance?" "No, I told you, I was in London for only an hour or so." "Do you want the name of the person I was with?" "The Yard might." "It was Mitchell." "Robin Mitchell." "Excuse me." "Martha!" "I thought you were in the Rockies with Eddie." "Yes, we were, alex, darling." "WaIter's business commitments, I'm afraid." "?" "SCHUBERT:" "String Quartet" "(Doorbell rings)" " Hello, Lewis." " Sir, listen, I think I've found something." "You'd better come in." "Pour yourself a drink." "Er, no." "No, thanks, sir." "Well?" "About this missing person." "There are one or two people the right height." "Let's have them." "Mr J Williams, who's described as a financial adviser." "To the government, do you mean?" "No, more like telling old ladies how to invest their savings and then walking off with the cash." "So some old pensioner might have caught up with him and extracted a terrible revenge?" "Unfortunately, he had a tattoo." "If it was on one of the limbs that was chopped off..." "A writhing serpent, sir, right across his back." "I checked with Dr Russell." "Not a snake in sight." "All right, Lewis." "Now tell me the good news." "Well, there's one... 5'1 1 ", early 60s, last seen about five days ago, and who has the Oxford connection, sir." "Name?" "Balarat." "Nicholas Balarat." "He's a very senior civil servant." "He has the ear of the Prime Minister and all that." "If it is him, that would explain why Scotland Yard have kept quiet." "What's his connection with Oxford?" "He's an honorary fellow of Beaumont College, sir." "It looks to me, Lewis, as if we ought to pay a visit to the wicked metropolis." "If you say so, sir." "Go on." "Get home to your wife and kiddies." " They need you even more than I do." " See you in the morning, sir." "?" "String quartet resumes" "is he in?" "He's at lunch in All Souls." "Can I help?" "is that a rhetorical question?" "Toothache still giving you hell?" "Mm-hm." "Would a beer help?" "undoubtedly." "But I don't want to keep you from..." "The College Buttery serves a perfectly acceptable ale." "And... ..I do owe you one." "Thank you." "Does the name Nicholas Balarat mean anything to you?" "Of course." "He's one of our honorary fellows." "Do you know anything more about him?" "That he's an internationally known economist who advises half the world's governments." "including our own." "He's also a whizz at moneyraising." "He made the new building programme possible." "Who nominated him for the honorary fellowship?" "The Master, I think." "Why?" "I've been reading Kerridge's book." "He attacks Balarat quite viciously." "I wouldn't have thought that made for harmonious high table gatherings." "I'm told they could do with a bit of livening up." "Mm-hm." "Besides, Balarat gives as good as he gets." "He made a speech at the Union that was quite obviously aimed at Dr Kerridge." "Everybody here was talking about it." "Well, Kerridge was an angler." "They're very philosophical." "Like policemen." "(Carol chuckles)" "You know, Alex built his reputation on people like them." "He wrote their constitution when they became independent." "He understood their needs so well that within a year they'd torn up all his rules and become a one-party state." "I'm sorry to disturb you, my dear... ..my dear Doctor." "You're very squeamish, aren't you, Morse?" " Very." " l can understand that." "You can?" "Max never did." "Well, I'm not Max, am I?" "No, I would say you weren't." "You don't know anything about toothache, do you?" "The bloody pills haven't done any good." "I don't trust doctors, let alone dentists." "So what can I do you for?" "The Balarat murder." "Have you had anything from the Yard?" "Yes." "Much of what they sent is not much use, as we don't have his head to check his dental records." "The blood group's the same." "The height matches." "The age is right, and... also the time of death." "You said he was cut up by someone who knew what he or she was doing." "Thank you." "Where the hell did you get the name Grayling from?" "Blame my father." "I was his seventh daughter and..." "well, he was a keen fisherman." "Desperate for a name, he decided to call me after what he pulled out of the river." "Lucky it wasn't a chub, eh?" "Yeah." "Sorry." "Maybe you'd like a drink sometime?" "Maybe I would." "Once I've got rid of this bloody toothache." "(Car horns blare)" "God, sir, how do people live in a place like this?" "It's no worse than Kidlington." "And the buildings are considerably finer." "Some were designed by Inigo Jones." "You should see Newcastle, sir." "I once knew a girl in Burton on Trent, Lewis." "Further north than that, I have no desire to go." "Turn right here." " Are you sure?" " Of course I'm sure." "Inspector, first on the right." "I'm a frequent visitor to the corridors of power, Lewis." "Good." "Look, I'm sorry if I'm not being much help, but... well, I suppose we in the Cabinet Office get into the habit of telling as little as possible." "And I assure you, you wouldn't get any more out of Mr Mitchell, even if he had the time to see you." "We are talking about a murder, Mr Collins." "I know." "But it could happen to anyone, couldn't it?" "I mean, you asked me if Balarat had any enemies." "Quite frankly, we all have." "It's one of the penalties of being a public servant." "Though I imagine you two know all about that." "What do you know about the Royal Commission on the Bill of Rights?" "What do you know, Chief Inspector?" "The cid sometimes get information, sir." "Have you found yourselves a chairman?" "To be quite honest, I don't see what this has to do with your enquiries." "I could find out in any Fleet Street pub, Mr Collins." "I'd rather have it from the horse's mouth." "Well, I suppose it will be made public fairly soon." "In actual fact, we have found a chairman." " I can't tell you who, of course..." " Sir Alex Reece?" "No, certainly not." "Whoever gave you that idea?" " Who made the final recommendations?" " These are matters of national security." "Was it Mr Balarat?" "Look, all I can say is, he is, or rather was, someone by whose advice the PM set great store." "lewis:" "Thank you, sir. I hope we haven't taken up too much of your time." "Look here, Chief Inspector... I wouldn't want any unauthorised information being wrongly attributed." "Of course not, Mr Collins." "You haven't told us anything, have you?" "We could hit the road, sir." "Think of the traffic, Lewis." "Besides, the pubs will be open any minute." "What's your opinion of Mr Collins?" "I thought he was an arrogant pillock, sir, and you more or less told him so." "Did I?" "I thought I was the soul of politeness." "That's what you always think, though, isn't it, sir?" "Have you got any bread, Lewis?" "Miss Burns?" "Miss Burns?" "Oh, I'm sorry." "Nice try, sir!" "Shut up, Lewis." "It's opening time." "Alcohol-free lager time for me, I suppose." "You always complain about my driving, Lewis." "Think of my pension and slow down, will you?" "Why didn't you say?" "Actually, I was thinking about Balarat." "I still can't fathom out why he was dumped at Thrupp." "If you'd been promised something and were then disappointed, something that would crown your career, wouldn't you harbour murderous thoughts against the person that disappointed you?" "I doubt it, sir." "Let's assume the murderer doesn't have your forgiving nature, Lewis." "The victim is...someone prominent." "So prominent that the minute the death is discovered, the entire nation's police forces are in action." "Now, what would you do to put off the moment of discovery?" "Chop him up into little bits and dump him somewhere miles away." "Precisely." "If you know of a flat in London where you can perform the act of butchery, or of a cottage by a canal where you can jettison the bits..." "Dr Kerridge, sir." "No." "That's who you're meant to think of." "The person I think it was... (Siren walls)" "You were saying, sir?" "I was thinking, Lewis, of Sir Alex Reece, the Master of Beaumont." "(Drill whines)" " Argh!" " For heaven's sake, be a man, Inspector." "If this is the way you behave when facing some slight discomfort, no wonder violent crime is on the increase." "Argh!" "Let's see the details on that one." "I don't know anything about that." "You'II have to ask MaIcoIm, I think." "Yeah, put him in cell number 3, because he hasn't been charged yet." "I'II be down later." "He's all right there." "The rest are fine." "That's good." "The Chief Superintendent wants to see you, sir, like an hour ago." "Thanks, Jean. I'll be in the office." "And you barge in without informing the Yard." " Sir?" " You threaten one of the Cabinet Office staff." "A very self-important member." " That's no excuse!" " And uncooperative." "You know what these bureaucrats are like." "Don't go picking on them." "I thought we parted very amicably." "You must be getting even more insensitive in your old age." "What's wrong with you?" "Teeth." "Nevertheless, it does not do this force any good to have one of its chief inspectors behaving like a rustic yobbo up in Whitehall for the Cup." "I was at Oxford with half the senior ranks of the Civil Service." "That's where you learnt to behave so badly, I suppose?" "Thank God my daughters went redbrick." "Civil servants respect a bit of effortless superiority." "It's what they're always trying on the rest of the world." " And what good did it do you?" " We believe the torso is that of Nicholas Balarat, the senior government advisor." "Dr Russell's forensic skills identified him." "Always happy to pay credit where it's due, sir." "What about his killer?" "That's why my interview with Mr Collins at the Cabinet Office was so useful." "Balarat was an honorary fellow of Beaumont College." "The new Master of Beaumont, Sir Alexander Reece, recommended him personally." "In return, he expected Balarat to get the Prime Minister to nominate him chairman of a Royal Commission, a certain route to a peerage if you come up with the right conclusions." "Well?" "According to Mr Collins, Balarat did not put forward Reece's name." "Are you seriously suggesting that a public figure like the Master of Beaumont would murder a civil servant just because he didn't get the chair of the Commission?" "I've known Reece for a Iong time." "He's always been intensely overambitious." "Kerridge found out that he was claiming as his own the work of one of his female pupils." "Reece also happened to be having an affair with her." " l don't see what that has to do with anything." " Reece called me informally when Kerridge disappeared, because he didn't want any scandal sullying his own good name." "So he could have killed Kerridge to keep him from speaking out." "Could have?" "!" "It's pure speculation, and on a case being dealt with by the Yard." "If Reece could kill his own Vice Master, he could certainly kill a man like Balarat, who he believed had robbed him of his crowning glory." "If?" "If?" "Don't give me any more hypotheses, Morse." "I want facts." "Morse?" "I'm sorry, sir." "The jaw's still rather tender." "Coffee, sir?" "Extra sugar." "It didn't last long, did it, sir?" "The self-denial?" "I know." "You need the energy." "Lewis, I've already had a bad time from both the dentist and the Chief Superintendent." "Sorry, sir." "What did he say?" "We need more to convince him that Reece is a killer." "What if we were to eliminate all other possible suspects?" "Like Drysdale?" "He had a motive for killing Kerridge." "They were old enemies." "I've checked on him." "The hospital's confirmed he's dying of brain cancer." "Besides, he's in Rome." "Still..." "What are the twin bases for successful detection, Lewis?" "Confession and information, sir." "well done." "What we need is information." "And who are the best-informed people in any college?" "The scouts, Lewis." "They put the drunks to bed, they clean up the vomit, they wake the sober, whether singly or in pairs." "They are discreet, maternal, devoted, exploited... and they know everything." "Start with Kerridge's scout." "Find out all the college gossip." "Off you go." " Dr Kerridge?" " Who?" "(Shouts) Dr Kerridge." "Turn left and up the stairs." "Thanks." "This will set you up, sir." "It's a bit early in the day for me, Mr...?" "Just Ben, sir." "If I had a last name, I've forgotten it." "Well... it's only for when you're in trouble, isn't it, sir?" "Law, taxes and elections." "That's when they want to know, don't they?" "Bottoms up, sir." " What's in this?" " Bits and bobs, sir." "It won't do you any harm." "(Coughs)" "How long have you been here, Ben?" "All my life, sir." "Terrible, isn't it?" "Never been to war, never been to sea... never been to London... never been a football hooligan..." "..never been unemployed, never been rich, never voted Tory." "There you have it, sir." "My whole story." "You're..." " You're from up north, aren't you, sir?" " Newcastle." "But my wife's from Oxford, born and bred." "Now, can we talk about Dr Kerridge?" "What was he like to look after?" "Was he fussy about keeping things just so?" "I wish there were more like him, sir." "He was that tidy, you'd scarcely know he was there." "What about his private life?" "He didn't have one in college, sir." "I imagine he left that for those other places he had." "Friends?" "Enemies?" "He was one of those people everybody got on with, sir." "Well, except for Mr Drysdale." "And that wasjust one of those stupid things that got out of hand." " Mr Drysdale's away, I gather." " Yes, sir." "We got a card from him only yesterday." "Er... ..to show you how things were between them, when Dr Kerridge heard about Mr Drysdale's cancer..." "..he actually smiled." "I think I'd like to take a look at both their rooms, if that's possible." "Of course it is, sir." "I've got the keys right here." "I've got six dons to look after, and 95 undergraduates." "Their little war's quite famous, you know." "When Mr Balarat attacked Dr Kerridge in the Union," "Mr Drysdale was that delighted, it was all over the College in no time." "What kind of attack did Mr Balarat make?" "The usual Oxford kind, sir." "An attack on his reputation." "You can imagine the trouble I have getting to water all these plants when he's away." "You didn't know Mr Balarat, did you?" "Of course I did, sir." "He used to be a great friend of Mr Drysdale's." "When was that?" "When Mr Drysdale first got his fellowship." "A regular visitor, Mr Balarat was." "Mr and Mrs DrysdaIe used to entertain him all the time." "Mrs Drysdale?" "Oh, he was married, sir." "Didn't you know?" "Though I don't know why you should, considering how long ago it was." "What happened to her?" "She ran off...with Mr Balarat." "Mr Drysdale wasn't half upset." "Ready to kill himself, he was." "He was a different gentleman after that, I can tell you." "How do you mean?" "Sort of moody, sir." "Much more withdrawn." "And the funny thing is," "Mrs Drysdale died three years after." "Maybe Mr Drysdale put a curse on her." "I wouldn't put it past him." "Depends on how heavy it was, and what's been going through the lock." "If it was a busy day..." "Was it busy seven days ago?" "It's high season now." "The place is full of trippers." "Even the fish fall about laughing." "So if something the size of...say a football..." "Only heavier." "..something weighing...say about ten pounds, was thrown in from here a week ago, what's your expert guess as to where it wouId be now?" "The water will shift anything every which way each time the locks open." "What is it you're looking for, exactly?" " Well..." " A head, actually." "A head?" "A man's head." "We know it hasn't gone straight to the bottom." "An angler would soon holler, hooking something like that." "So what you're saying is, it could have been washed to the right or left of where it was dumped?" "Upstream or down, sir." " Thank you, Lewis." " If it was me," " l'd start at the next lock up." " And go which way?" "Upstream or down?" "I'd go north." "Thanks." "Thanks very much." "We already know who the body belongs to, sir, so why bother about the head?" "You know the legend of Orpheus?" "The singing Greek?" "The very same." "They did teach you something in the frozen North." "I went to a Demis Roussos concert as a kid, sir." "That's who they compared him with." "(German accent) This is the way to the lock?" "This is the way to a lock, yes." "Thank you, old boy." "Combat, huh?" "Ich hatte gesagt, wir müssen diesen Weg gehen..." "Orpheus, Lewis, was torn apart by women jealous of his love for his wife." "One of the hazards of being a pop star, eh, sir?" "His head was carried down the river into which it had been thrown, still singing." "When it came to rest, it uttered a stream of prophecies." "That's not going to look very convincing in court, though, is it, sir?" "We have to establish the cause of death, Lewis." "If we find a battered skull..." " l say..." " a battered skull, Lewis..." "Excuse me, sir." "Can I help you?" "Would you be awfully sweet and untie the painter for me?" "Will you be able to handle this on your own?" "Of course I will." "But thanks, anyway." "I don't like to interrupt you, Lewis, but as I was trying to say..." "Sorry, sir." "If we find Balarat's battered skull, the chances are he was killed by the same person that killed Kerridge." "That's what the Yard, in their sloppy way, are assuming." "And if the skull's got a bullet hole in it..." "We can assume there are two killers." "That, at the moment, is my theory." "Reece and...?" "Not sure yet." "Maybe Deborah Burns." "Maybe even Drysdale." "He's still abroad." "The College has had postcards from Rome." "Postmarks can be deceptive." "A foreign stamp and a smudged bit of franking does not mean it was posted abroad." "Let's get the Underwater Search Unit out here again." "And while we wait... (Police radio)" "HA receiving." "HA receiving, over." "Thank you, Dave." "Cup of tea, sir?" "Coffee?" "medicinal brandy?" "Take deep breaths." "I'm sure it's the formaldehyde." "What were you saying, Doctor?" "Shot in the back of the head at close range." "The bullet's a .32, I'd say." "Quite old, by the look of it." "Ballistics will know what fired it." "Guns are as distinctive as typewriters." "Not like those blasted word processors." "Robots used by robots." "You can't tell the difference." "You knock them, sir." "But if you knew how to get them to tell you what you wanted... I still prefer a pen." "So do I." "One with a nib that you fill from a bottle." "You'd better get someone to identify the...thing, Lewis." "And if there's no next of kin, I think our friend Mr Collins will do nicely." "And if he's too busy to come, tell him we'll send it...in a dispatch box." "How's the toothache?" "As if it had never been." "What about that drink?" " Why not?" " Tonight?" "Er...no, I can't tonight, I'm afraid." "I'm going to a concert." "I like concerts." "What are you going to see?" "Metric Conversion." "is that one of those serialists?" "No, a pop group." "Not your kind of thing, Morse." "Maybe another time?" "Mm. I trust so." "I can't join you, I'm afraid." "I'm rather pressed for time." " Now, what was it?" " Scotch." " Tell me about Balarat, Alex." " Balarat?" "Didn't I tell you?" "His was the body we found at Thrupp." "Balarat?" "Perhaps I will." "Why hasn't this been made public?" "We weren't absolutely sure." "We've only just found the head, you see." "My God." "Nasty, isn't it?" "The lengths to which people will go." "Yes, it is a shock." " We were quite close." "Professionally, of course." " l thought he was an economist." "He put forward a few of my ideas to the PM, which I gathered were...favourably received." "Do you know if he put them forward as your ideas or his?" " He was a gentleman, Morse." " l repeat the question." "I'm sure he never stole another man's thoughts." "It happens, doesn't it?" "It's an accusation that's often made... ..by those with few original thoughts of their own." "Balarat would never have done such a thing." " l'm sure of it." " People change, don't they?" "You don't." " If you'II excuse me..." " Heard anything from Miss Burns, by the way?" "Why are you so interested in her?" "is it professional, or...merely libidinous?" "Like you, Alex." "A little bit of both." "I've heard nothing." "And if you saw my diary..." "Well, ask Carol." "She knows my every move." "I hope to be back by midnight, but you know this sort of delegate." "They always feel cheated if they don't drink till dawn." "Don't do too much." "Good night." "Morse." "Well, you heard His Master's voice." "Dinner?" " Where?" " You choose... bearing in mind that I am only a poor policeman." "I know just the place." "I've been wanting to try it for ages... but I haven't had the courage on my own." "Will I like it?" "You're broad-minded as well as broad-shouldered, aren't you?" "Trust me." "You do promise I will find it interesting?" "Oh, yes. lt's very unusual." "And you're still not going to give me a clue about where it is?" "?" "Reggae music" "I still don't forgive you." "You will." "After you denied me the fellowship?" "You were going to claim my work as yours." "I wasn't going to have that." "It is mine." "You think that, but who gave you the groundwork?" "Who showed you the method, pointed you in the right direction?" "Who got you published?" " ln a Scandinavian journal?" " There'll be others, if you..." "Keep my mouth shut?" "If you do, then I can help shape your future." "If not..." "Does that future include all this?" "We make rather a good team, don't you think?" "We can continue together or not." "It's your choice." "And if I choose not to?" "That would be very sad... ..for both of us." "Let me get you some more champagne." "It's a great persuader." "(Door creaks)" "Deborah?" "Now, Miss Sharp..." "Carol." "You got in about nine?" "Ten to." "The traffic was good." "Was the door to the study open or closed?" "Closed." "If it was open, that was a sign that he wanted me to go straight in." "And if it was closed?" "Either he wasn't there, or he didn't want to be disturbed." "So you left it shut and got on with your work?" "Until I got a phone call from Lady Reece asking if her husband was in." "Apparently she couldn't get through on his private line." "So, naturally I got up to see if he wanted to speak to her." "You mean, sometimes he didn't?" "Well, as you know, the Master is... ..or rather, he was...a very busy man." "He might have been in the middle of something or on the phone." "Surely your sergeant intercepts calls you don't want to take." "So you opened the door and found him lying there?" "would you normally be the first one to see him?" "There wasn't a scout attached to the lodgings who'd wake him up with a cup of tea?" "The lodgings has a cleaner who comes in later." "The Master doesn't live here permanently." "He and Lady Reece have a house in north Oxford." "He only stays here... ..stayed here when..." "..work dictated." "So you would be the first to see him?" "Would anyone else know if he was in residence?" "Did he come and go via the porter's lodge, or is there a private door to the street?" "Yes, there is a private door to which he has... ..had the key." "Only he had one?" "And Lady Reece." "Were you expecting him to sleep here last night?" "He often did after one of those conference dinners." "They go on very late." "Since we were hard at work finishing the book..." "Say he'd come back with someone." "Do you recognise this?" "Miss Burns." "Do you reckon it was Miss Burns, sir?" "I don't know, Lewis." "Highly strung, bent on revenge... yet the pieces don't quite fit." "If she was going to kill him... ..why would she sleep with him first?" "Passion, sir?" "If you were a young girl, had gone to the trouble of obtaining a gun," "had travelled to Oxford all ready to use it, would you be in the mood for love?" "What if he'd tried to rape me?" "All right." "But what about Lady Reece?" "If he was carrying on, she must have known about it." "Everybody knows everybody's business in this university." "Maybe she thought it was time to put a stop to it once and for all." "Good try, Lewis." "Unfortunately, Lady Reece is confined to a wheelchair." "Come on, let's see what Dr Russell has to say." "Make sure you get this area too." "Great." "Thank you, John." "Come on, you little devil." "There." "From the same gun that shot Mr Balarat, I'd say." "The same marks from the rifling of the barrel." "I'll send the bullets to Ballistics for confirmation." "Ballistics said that other bullet could have been left over from the war." "You wouldn't think they'd keep that long." "Careful, Lewis." "I've kept that long." "You realise this means Miss Burns is highly unlikely to be the killer?" "Where would a girl like that get wartime ammunition?" "There's plenty of collectors about, sir." "Maybe her father or an old family friend." "What else can you tell us, Doctor?" "The time of death's around midnight." "From my examination, I'd say he'd recently had sexual intercourse." "I think I'd better go and see Miss Burns." " She could be anywhere, sir." " I'II start with her parents in London." "Meanwhile, you check what kind of wartime gun used .32 ammo and could take a silencer." "One was obviously used if no-one in a college full of carousing delegates heard a thing." "Find out what kind of people were issued with it." "By the way, how was Decimalisation?" "What?" "Oh, you mean Metric Conversion?" "Dreadful." "I must be getting old." "Mrs Burns?" "My name is Morse, from Oxford." " ls Deborah in, by any chance?" " I'm so sorry, she's not here, Mr Morse." "She's just taken Sabena, our other daughter Rachel's little girl, to the zoo." "That's all right. I'm sure I'll find her." "Thank you." "(Seals honk)" "(Elephant trumpets)" "What on earth... lt's all right." "You never said you were a policeman." "I just want to know what happened." "Would you like an ice lolly?" "It's all right, Sabena." "You wanted a camel ride, didn't you?" "Yes, you did." "Come along." "We'll come back to the elephants later, I promise." "Come on!" "I was never any good with children or animals." "I realised I'd lost the earring when I got home, but I was in such a panic..." "Why did you go and see him in the first place?" "I wanted to confront him, as I had Dr Kerridge." "I couldn't understand how someone who'd been so close to me as Alex could have treated me that way, robbing me of both my job and my reputation." "You'd already threatened to expose alex." "Why didn't you?" "Because I still loved him, I suppose." "So you went to see him?" "How did you get into the lodgings?" "I sent him a note at high table saying I was waiting for him." "He came as soon as he could get away." " And then?" " He can be very persuasive, you know." "I know." "Do you?" "He persuaded you into bed." "What else did he persuade you of?" "That if I was a good girl and kept my mouth shut... ..we could carry on just as before, and he'd help me with my career." "And if you didn't?" "I asked that." "He said that it was up to me, but if I made the wrong choice, it would be very sad for both of us." "What did you think he meant?" "The tone of his voice... it made me go cold all over." "He was threatening you?" "Letting me know how easily he could destroy me if he chose." " So then what happened?" " He went to get some more champagne." "To celebrate..." "I don't know... ..in the study. I stayed in the bedroom." "Then I heard a couple of pops... ..like champagne corks exploding... then a crash." "I came out and there he was." "You saw nobody else?" "The door closed." "I froze." "Then I ran to put on my clothes and got out as quickly as I could." "You could have reported it to the police, Miss Burns." "I thought about it." "And then I thought, "l'm the obvious suspect." "I haven't an alibi or any witnesses."" "I just couldn't..." "You can understand that, can't you?" "But Drysdale could still be armed." "There'll be no need for guns." "He managed to kill Reece with one he must have kept from his wartime days in the SOE." "According to the War Museum, they were issued with Welrods." "It may look like a kid's popgun, but it's lethal." "Come on, let's pick him up." "He's not going to kill any more." "You can never tell, sir." "Sometimes they get a taste for it." "After three murders... I know the man, Lewis." "He thinks of himself as a man of virtue." "His disease has turned him into a lunatic." "It's in the best classical tradition." "The man of virtue puts right the wrongs that have been done to him." "Meaning?" "You got old Ben to spill what everybody knew except us, that in the dim and distant past, Balarat ran off with Drysdale's wife." " You mean revenge?" " The oldest motive of all." "Why kill Reece?" "Because he'd pipped Drysdale for the Sheldon Lectureship and ended up Master." "And Dr Kerridge had been an enemy for years." "Which leaves only one to conquer." " The police, sir?" " No, Lewis." ""The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."" "Sir?" "The New Testament." "My school assemblies were multicultural." "I still don't understand how he could..." "To the classical mind, the way to conquer death is to become an Olympian," "a hero who spends the afterlife being fêted by the gods." "And how do you manage that, sir?" "Well, the best route to heroism is via valiant deeds." "Killing people isn't very valiant, sir." "It is to a deranged mind." "You're agreeing with me, then." "You think he's a nutter." "Cancer of the brain, according to the best available medical advice..." "Would that be Dr Russell, sir?" "Cancer of the brain can lead to profound character changes." "The trivial slights of a lifetime can assume gigantic proportions." "That's surely why we should protect ourselves." "How do we know he's in the college, anyway?" "When a man's lived there for most of his adult life, where else would he go to die?" "Mr DrysdaIe?" "Look at the mess you made me make." "It's Ben, isn't it?" "This is Chief Inspector Morse." "Where's Mr Drysdale?" "You just missed him by two minutes, sir." "He only showed up this morning." "Very peculiar state he was." "Come on, Lewis." "How will you recognise him, sir?" "It has been a few years, and if he's ill..." "Once you're taken to the university's bosom, Lewis, you're preserved like Sleeping Beauty in a rarefied atmosphere of hot air and alcohol." "Ageing is unknown." "Not that Drysdale was ever young." "There he is." "Mr DrysdaIe?" "Mr Drysdale!" " Mr Drysdale!" " (Cycle bell rings)" "Like Laius on the road to Thebes." "Though I don't suppose you remember much of your Greek, eh..." "Morse?" "Where Oedipus killed his father." "Send for an ambulance, would you, Lewis?" "Right, sir." ""l fled him, down the nights and down the days." "I fled him, down the arches of the years." "I fled him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind." "And in the midst of tears, I hid from him, and under running laughter."" ""But with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace, deliberate speed, majestic instancy, they beat." "And a voice beat more instant than the feet." "All things betray thee who betrayest me."" "Maybe I was in error, having your scholarship taken away." "I wondered if you'd remember." "Cancer hasn't got to my memory, you know." "If you'd done any work at all, you could have got a first." "I doubt it." "I have a good memory but a prosaic mind." "Perfect qualifications." "For a policeman, you mean?" "Or a junior fellow." "Why did your work go all to pieces?" "I suppose it was a woman." "Here!" "Where do you think you're going?" "He needs his plant, sir, to cheer him up." "Cheer him up?" "He's not just getting over a hernia operation." "He's being charged with murder." "It'll never come to court, though, will it?" "I mean...he's not going to live that long, is he?" "Maybe not, but I'm not going to let you barge in..." "Let him have it." "What harm can it do?" "I'll see what I can do." "Off you go." "Can we talk about Balarat?" "Not a man to be trusted." "Not with anything." "How did you get him to Kerridge's flat?" "simple." " His vanity." " Ah." "You wrote him the same sort of letter you wrote to Kerridge, about appearing on television?" "I'm told there are some people who would kill to get before the cameras." "Mine was an appropriate way of turning the tables, don't you think?" "And you cut up the body?" "Yes, wonderful invention." "The hacksaw is remarkably cheap, remarkably efficient and simple to use." "There must have been... quite a mess." "To cleanse the Augean stables," "Hercules diverted the River Alpheus." "I made do with plastic sheeting and a J-cloth." "And you went to all that trouble in order to delay detection until you'd disposed of the rest of your victims?" "The Hound of Heaven could not be deprived of its quarry." "Why bother taking the bits all the way to Thrupp?" "You could have implicated Kerridge by letting the corpse be discovered in his flat." "I didn't want him to find anything untoward." "I hoped to kill him when he least expected it." "You thought Kerridge had blackened your name to the College Council in order to get them to vote him in as Sheldon Lecturer." "He thought the same about you." "In the event, Reece got the job." "But you and Kerridge became implacable enemies." "That's why you killed him." "As a theory, that has much to commend it." "Unfortunately, your conclusions are false." "Oh, I tried." "I waited in his flat." "And when he finally succeeded in shaking off that tiresome Miss Burns, I went to him." "I would have shot him, but I had only four bullets left... ..some of which might have been duds." "And you wanted to be sure of a bullet for Reece?" "That man was a Cronus, Morse, devouring anyone who might conceivably threaten him." "He achieved dubious eminence by destroying my good name and that of Kerridge." "Whom you destroyed by bashing in his skull." "I did no such thing." "I attempted to strangle him...but failed." "miss TREE:" "Dr Kerridge, we are trying to master the vaIeta." "I lay in wait until he emerged from his flat, showed him my gun, got him to unlock the gate to the gardens where I intended to dispose of him." "Why didn't you?" "Because he convinced me that it was not he who had slandered my name to the College Council, which, as you correctly stated, was my assumption." "Never let it be said I am deaf to persuasion." "So it must have been Reece." "That was my inevitable... ..and, if I may say so, correct conclusion." "And Reece who killed him." "Because of his overweening ambition, he couldn't bear to be exposed as a plagiarist and a liar." "I rather doubt Kerridge would have gone so far." "He was rather fond of the quiet life." "But it was to be denied him." ""Ever and anon... a trumpet sounds... from the hid battlements of eternity."" "And finally you made the trumpet sound for Reece." "Would you deny that he deserved it?" ""My days have crackled and gone up in smoke, have puffed and burst like sun-starts on a stream." "Yea, faiIeth now even dream the dreamer" "And the lute the lutenist."" "Thank you, Mr Drysdale." "I thought the Chief Superintendent was quite generous, didn't you, sir?" "You got it right about Reece when he warned you off." "I didn't get it quite right, Lewis." "Not in the academic sense." "We're not academic, though, sir, thank goodness." "(Knock at door)" "Morse..." "Do you believe in birthdays?" "Do I have a choice?" "It's my birthday today and I have no-one to celebrate with." "So...what about that drink?" "My dear..." "Grayling, I..." "Sergeant Lewis tells me that you're a great connoisseur of country pubs." "Will you take me to one...as a treat?" "I'll pick you up at seven." "Thanks." "Hold on a minute." "Happy birthday." "You shouldn't have." "Sam!" "What a lovely surprise!" "This is Sam, Morse." "A very dear friend." "We were at medical school together." "Chief Inspector Morse, one of my colleagues." " What are you doing here?" " Birthday weekend." " Your office told me where to find you." " Oh, Sam!" "Can I get you a drink, Sam?" "Oh, great, thanks." "Half a lager." "Grayling?" "Thanks, I'm fine." "Oh, it's really good to see you." "You look great." "Thank you." "How have you been?"