" Hit a six and the drinks are on me." " It's a free bar and you know it." "Then why are we wasting our time out here?" "Mr Finch is doing a fine job, don't you think?" "He's... very assertive." "And they do all look extremely good in their uniforms." " Can I help you, Sylvia?" " Lardy cake." "Oh, wonderful!" "Let's hope it's a bit more popular than last year." " Miss Franklin here has made sausage rolls." " They're nothing really." "They're delicious." "And Mrs Hopkins has made a Victoria sponge." "Oh, that's lovely!" "Er, but we do have so much cake." "Sure you don't want to save it for your husband?" "Mr Hopkins is away on business." "There we go." "Come on, Geordie!" "There's only one in it!" " Daddy!" " Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Come on, Inspector!" " Oh, bollocks." " Sorry, Inspector." "The finger." "Good innings, Inspector!" "Zafar!" "Where's Zafar?" "Badgers you to play then doesn't bloody turn up." " Where's that brother of yours?" " He's like the railways, always delayed." "Well, maybe your railways." "Nothing wrong with ours." " Zafar!" " Sorry, skipper." "I was spending a rupee." "Laughing like he's barefoot in the sunshine." "Cherry Bakewell, Neil?" "Annie made them." "Not on the boundary, Ro!" "You're matching." " He noticed." " Mum made me wear it." " Mrs Towler." " Hi, Munir." "I prepared some samosas for the buffet." " People here don't like that sort of thing." " I do." "Couldn't get enough when I rode the Darjeeling." " There's nothing wrong with a bit of spice." " Is there not?" "Come on, Chambers!" "Score a goal!" "Very pretty, Sidney." "It's a shame I'm spoken for." "He nicked it." "The... sun was in my eyes." " He got an edge!" " He's out!" " I don't know how you do it in Calcutta..." " Karachi." "..but an Englishman walks if he gets an edge." "Umpire?" "He was definitely out." "Now look, Zafar, we've got rules at this club." "Skipper, I promise you, I didn't touch it." " Well, he would say that." " I didn't hear any contact either." "All right, let's call it a day." " We're conceding." "Well done, Clive." " Geoff?" "If you won't play properly, there's no point in playing at all." "Everybody in!" "Right." "Come along then." "If it wasn't for his commitment to the parish," "Mr Finch would be at Lords, I imagine." " I got you a dandelion and burdock." " Oh, thank you." " What are you having?" " A pint of ale." "Mmm." "I always... drink pints of ale." "So, when are you coming to the vicarage for dinner?" "If that was a friendly, I don't fancy a league game." "Hm." "I'm taking this lot home." "Always ends like this." "Are you coming?" "Hm?" "No, I'd better stick around in case it all kicks off." "Oh, right, right." "Come on then." "I take it there's no point asking you." " Actually, er..." " Half the village is here." "Think about how it looks if you leave together." "Wait for me behind the pavilion." "Sidney?" "I was wondering if I might speak to you about joining your church." "You've got nothing to repent for, son." "You never touched it." "Thanks, Inspector, but I must respect the skipper." "You'd be welcome to church any time." "I mean joining... joining." " Would I have to be baptised?" " You mean you'd like to convert?" "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we should go." "I have essays to write." " Converting would suggest that I already follow a religion." " You do." "I follow the cricket, but I'd like to know what else is out there." "Excuse me." "I'm... feeling a little unwell." "Neil?" "Dad?" "What's wrong with everyone?" "It's not my lardy cake." "Zafar, we should go." " Are you all right?" " Geordie?" " Talk to me." "What's happening?" " Mr Chambers?" "Mr Chambers!" "Mr Chambers!" "How long have I been asleep?" "30 years." "My name's Gracie and my mother sent me to look after you." " How are Leonard and Dickens?" " They'll live." "Mrs Maguire said you were all up half the night." "And everyone else?" "A couple of people were hospitalised." " It was serious enough for Geordie to call a village meeting." " Now?" "Well, I should go." "Oh, don't worry." "I've already had a peek." "Oh." "I hope I didn't disappoint." "What are you working on?" "Did you know that captain Geoff Towler is a solicitor?" "Specialises in family law and divorce." "Is it wise talking to someone in the village?" "Just to get a preliminary idea." "Plus he's affordable" " and he doesn't work for my father." " You're up, are you?" "Vigil over then." "What the dickens...?" "!" "Cover yourself up!" "It's not a bordello." " So it was during the tea, right?" " I play cricket every week..." " Let me double check." "You had lemonade..." " I'm fine, all right." " It was just the smell of other people being sick." " Right." "Next, please." " So, who..." "You're looking thinner." " How are you?" " Well, put it this way." "I didn't score many at the cricket, but I certainly had the runs last night." " Hospital said the symptoms resembled arsenic poisoning." " Arsenic?" "It was heavily diluted, don't worry." "But we need to find out where it came from... and if it was deliberate." "Looks like the beer's the common factor, especially as it was almost all the men that were ill." "I've already spoken to the brewery and they assured me there have been no other complaints on the batch." "Could anyone have tampered with the barrel?" "Well, who'd want to do that?" "Beer, cricket?" "It's an attack on our way of life." " Attack?" " You know the Indian brother doesn't drink." "I don't think that proves anything." " Zafar was as ill as the rest of us." " So he says." "I'll go and speak to them, just like I'll speak to everyone else, including the brewery." "Inspector..." "If you do visit the brewery, you may discover I have an arrangement whereby Brian there sells me the more... vintage bitter at a favourable rate." "We've drunk it for years." "There's no way it's the cause of this." "So..." "I wouldn't want you..." "wasting your time." " Vintage bitter?" " He means the stuff that's gone, or about to go, off." "But I bet he put it through the cricket club books at full price." "It hardly makes him Dr Crippen." "No, but I didn't appreciate the funny handshake." "You know, rolled-up trouser leg, white ball you're in, black ball you're out." " He's a Mason?" " Yeah." "Enough of them about." "Especially amongst my lot." "Mr Ali." "How are you?" "I'm awaiting an imam from Surrey." "He was vomiting throughout the night." "He said his throat was burning." "I told him to go to the doctor but he refused." "Zafar?" "He won't answer you." "I went to wake him this morning, he always slept late, but he was already dead." "So you moved the body to the bath?" " I needed to cleanse him." " Of what?" "It's Islamic custom." "And the bruises?" "They were from a few weeks ago." "He'd been out, to a pub, I suppose." "Well, you know what goes on in those places." " You weren't with him?" " I'm here to study for a job in the Pakistani civil service." "I only brought him here because my parents made me." "Did he consume anything between the beer at the cricket and you finding him?" "I gave him chai." "Indian tea." " Could we take some for testing?" " What are you testing for?" "Seems strange, the rest of us recover and he doesn't." "Healthy young man like that." "I cleaned it up last night." "Well, we'll just need to see what the postmortem says." "Postmortem?" "No." "He needs to be buried by sunset." "Mr Ali, in both our religions..." "I believe the needs of the living outweigh those of the dead." "If your brother died as a result of the illness we all suffered, then it's even more important that we find out why." " And there was no-one else who came round to visit?" " No." "No female company?" "Unless she was here." "Annie Towler." "Do come through." "Kettle and biscuits, Annie." "Oh, you know Neil Carver, don't you?" "He's come to pick Annie up." "She's working for him now." "And to have a look at poor Bosey." "He's not been well the last week." "_" "Not in front of the vicar, Rosie." "Oh, God!" "Sorry, not God." "Nothing wrong with a bit of escapism." "They're naked in the first chapter of my book." "Did any of you see Zafar Ali after the cricket yesterday?" "Why?" "I'm afraid he died last night." "Er, from what?" "The bug we all had?" " Maybe." " No, we didn't see him." "We were all here." "You were in your room, weren't you?" "She was with me." "At the surgery." "We weren't feeling great either, but we had to take an inventory." "I'd say it's fairly obvious Neil's covering for her." "Yeah, but covering from who?" "Geoff or us?" "Well, Dickens hasn't been too well since yesterday either." "Maybe he needs a visit to the vet's." "Looks like he's got a mild dose of whatever we had." "Give him two drops of this, twice a day, plenty of walks... and no more beer." "Do you have a copy of that inventory you did last night?" "Am I that bad an actor?" "Go on, Annie." "There's no point lying." "So you did visit Zafar last night?" "I just wanted to see if he was all right, after you were all sick." "Did you take him anything to eat, drink?" "Just tea." "Earl Grey." " It was his favourite." " Did you drink any?" "I don't drink tea." "Why?" "You think there's more to it than whatever made the rest of us ill?" "We'll see." "Why did you decide to cover for Annie?" "You saw Geoff at the cricket." "He's hardly Zafar's biggest fan." "I doubt he'd welcome his daughter seeing him." "You knew?" "Of course I did." "Sneaking off to the cricket pavilion at lunchtime." "Him bringing in stray cats just to see you." "He was a nice lad." "We were going to tell people." "We were going to tell Dad." " But we were waiting..." " For what?" "To get married." "That's why Zafar wanted to convert, isn't it?" "He thought people would accept us if we could prove how much we loved each other." "The bruises on his body." "Do you know how he got those?" "He wouldn't tell me." "It could've been anyone." "It seemed like everyone was against him in this stupid village." "Is it just me or was there something odd between them?" "She's just scared and upset." "You know, she was the only woman to be ill at the cricket." "One way to cover up your tracks." "Why would she want to kill Zafar?" "I think she loved him." "You can't blame them for sneaking around, the way people are round here." "You'd know." "All right, it's not like we're not short on suspects." "Let's see what the postmortem finds, but it's looking less and less like an accident." "Now, what's your poison?" "Too soon." "_" "Is Mr Hopkins violent towards you?" "No." " Does he drink?" " No more than the rest of us." "Is he unfaithful?" "I suppose he may have had dalliances while we've been apart." " Anything you can prove?" " I don't want to villainise him." "I just want to divorce him." "And for that you need reasons." "If they're not going to be your reasons, they're going to be his." "And I'm assuming you don't want those to come to light." "Oh, come now." "We've all seen the late-night bicycle rides with Mr Chambers." "Mr Chambers is an old friend." "I went to school with his sister." "Which mitigates you how?" "You do recognise the gravity of the situation?" "If you go through with this and your husband decides to put up a fight, you will be branded as a whore." "You'll be stigmatised, as will your daughter." "And, given the church's position on divorce," "I'd be very careful about any relationship with Mr Chambers... if you want him to keep his job." "I told you to be more careful." "Well, I'll leave you to it." "No, stay." "And close the door." " Archdeacon." " I hear that you represented the parish" " with distinction at the cricket yesterday." " Oh, I..." "I tried my best." "Leonard made a fine umpire." "Wonderful." "Umpiring is very much like being a clergyman, enforcing the rules, setting an example." "I was more of a footballer myself." "Goalkeeper." "I tried not to let anything get past me." "I understand you were accompanied to the cricket by a married woman." "Amanda Hopkins." "She's an old friend of mine." "And her husband is comfortable with your relationship?" "Er, I didn't realise that there was an eleventh commandment, thou shalt not be friends." "Mrs Maguire is married." "Should we avoid being seen with her?" "Well, I'm afraid Mr and Mrs Hopkins are currently separated." "What a shame." "It's fortunate she has a friend in the church to counsel her in the institution of holy matrimony." "Hm?" ""Those whom God hath joined together..." "let no man put asunder."" "Indeed." "Thank you, Archdeacon." "If that's all?" "You must help him, Mr Finch." "Sometimes it's not just the flock that need a shepherd." "I'm sure Sidney understands." "Make sure he does." "As well as this 'friend' of his." "Hm?" "Sorry." "So sorry." "Forgive me." "I'm terribly sorry." "I'm a little out of practice." "Mr Ali." "I didn't think that you drank." "Well, some of us have to be responsible." "May I trouble you for another?" "It must be difficult with no other family here." "Stiff upper lip." "That's what you British say, isn't it?" "Not always for the best." "You know, at home we are taught that everything you do is the best." "Best schooling, best manners, best bitter." "That's what I told Zafar when they made me bring him." "But it's not the best." "It's a lie." " You're liars." " I know you're upset." "Zafar believed it." "He wanted to be like you." "I wanted to be like you." "But I couldn't." "I don't drink, I don't curse, I don't play your stupid games." " You don't have to fit in." " Yes, you do." "Or you end up alone, like me." "Or like my brother; dead." "Mr Ali." "Mr Ali!" "You live this way." " I can bowl too, you know?" " Munir?" " Murderer!" " Hey!" "That's enough!" " Bloody savage!" " Mr Towler, please." "He's drunk." "I'm taking him home." " She killed him!" "She killed my brother!" " That is enough!" " She did it, I'm telling you." " We don't know it was anyone for sure." "You were the ones who suspected, you came asking questions." " Munir, she loved him." " That's the biggest lie of all." "I told her the truth." "What truth?" "How do you kill someone that you love?" "What did you tell her?" "That Zafar was engaged." "At home." "Our parents have chosen wives for us." "And that's why she did it." "Because I told her." "Because I brought him here and..." "I didn't protect him." "Phil, is Geordie still in?" " I've got a potential lead on the poisoning." " What sort of lead?" "Not the Towler girl, is it?" "Look, you've just got to leave it." " According to whom?" " Who do you think?" "The people upstairs that you don't work for." "Look, just leave the family alone unless you're one hundred per cent." " Does Geordie know about this?" " I don't know." "He left a couple of hours ago." "Around the same time as er..." "Margaret." "He told me he was working late." "Well, it's a serious case, the poisoning." "It's not the first time, recently." "Sidney, you'd tell me if you knew something, wouldn't you?" "Of course I would." "I'll tell him you called." "Come on, off to bed." "On behalf of the Church of England," "I must ask you to cease and desist from your relationship with Sidney." "Hm." "Are you going to arrest me?" "You're a married woman." "You have obligations to honour." "That's a bit rich coming from a religion that was set up by someone wanting a divorce." "Henry VIII had a number of issues with papal authority." "And, more pertinently, it's not good for Sidney's job." "Did Mrs Maguire send you?" "The Archdeacon." "Does everyone know?" "Everyone that matters." "The solicitor suggests I book a guesthouse in Hunstanton, tip off a private detective and pretend to commit adultery." "Sounds rather fun, doesn't it?" "If it wasn't so bleak." "But at least then no-one would be able to blame Sidney." "It must be awful, not being able to love who you want." "You know where the church stands on divorce." "But you and Sidney can always be friends." "Hey!" "What are you doing?" "I was working." " I saw you." " Then why are you asking?" " Get off." " You're married." "So's Amanda." "So spare me the sermon." " We're not doing anything." " Oh, come on." "We are not doing this." "'Thought, word and deed', Sidney." "That's one of yours, isn't it?" "Don't you be bringing your murders in here." "You'll put Mr Finch off his stride." "The thing about Dostoyevsky is..." "It's the conflict between the characters and their worlds." "Yes!" "Oh." "Hello, Sidney." "Please." "Don't let me interrupt." "You're not right, are you?" "This medicine isn't doing you much good." "Come on." "Come on." "Good boy." "I got a call from Geoff Towler saying Munir broke his window yesterday." "He said you were with him." "That right?" "Come in." "So, how long's it been going on?" "You and Margaret." "Since you and me had that fight." "I let you get that lucky punch in, remember?" "I'm not blaming you." "I was just..." "I was on my own, Sidney, and she was there." " Cathy was there." " It's not the same." "I work." "Cathy cooks." "She loves you." "You love her." "You can't throw all that away for some... stupid fling." " It's not a fling." " Well, then what is it?" "Margaret's half your age for a start." "I'm sorry what I said about you and Amanda." "No." "No, no, you were right." "It is the same thing." "We went to see Guy the other day." " He cried." " Guy cried?" "No wonder she's leaving him." "He's lost his wife, his daughter." "If that's how he feels, imagine how Cathy would feel." "I've tried to tell myself Guy brought it upon himself, that Amanda and I are doing nothing wrong." "But it's not true." "And the more I push it away, the worse it feels." "It needs to end." "So, what happened with Munir?" "He thinks Annie poisoned Zafar because she found out he was engaged." "We got the postmortem back." "They don't know what the poison is yet, but Zafar had a lot more in his system than the rest of us." "So we have to assume that he was poisoned again, afterwards." "You still trust Annie though." "Don't you?" "She loved Zafar, like you said." "Being in love doesn't mean no-one gets hurt... ..as you and I both know." "It's really important that we speak to Annie." "It's the Indian you should be speaking to, not my daughter." " She's gone." " What do you mean she's gone?" "She's not in her room." "It's too early for work." " Does she have a friend she could've gone to?" " I'm her best friend." "She wouldn't go somewhere without telling me." " What if the Indian came back?" "He could be ravaging her." " Enough, Rosie!" "We need to see Annie's room." "There's no sign it's been forced." "Maybe she knows we're getting close, does a runner." "It looks like Annie had an admirer." "Zafar?" "NC." "Neil Carver." "I've never seen these before." "You were jealous of Annie's relationship with Zafar." " I have no idea what you're talking about." " You poisoned him to keep her for yourself." " Inspector!" "Annie's a child." "The truth is, I've got a daughter." "She's younger than Annie." "When my wife left me, she took Ruth with her." "That's why I moved here." "To get away from the scandal." "But I like having Annie around." "She reminds me of Ruth." " The handwriting's different." " Exactly." "So, what?" "Zafar sent the gifts?" " Why would he use my initials?" " Or Annie has another admirer" " who wanted Zafar dead." " Same question applies." "Or Annie made them up to muddy the waters." "Like poisoning everyone, including herself, to make the murder look like an accident." "Do you have any idea where she'd go to hide?" "I do." "Wait here." "Annie?" "Annie?" "Sidney?" "Hey!" "Don't make me go home!" "When you left last night, my dad said some horrible things." "How he wished Munir was dead too." "And after everything you asked me about what Zafar drank," "I was scared it was dad who poisoned him." "Did you see him put anything in the tea you gave Zafar?" "No." "But he was there when I made up the flask." "Your dad's strict, but you really think he'd do something like that?" "Zafar's bruises." "It was Dad's friends from the lodge that beat him up." "He told them to do it after he caught us together." "Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" "Because I thought you were one of them, in the police." "I didn't think he'd actually kill him." "But now... ..I'm scared of what he'll do to me." "Well, why would he hurt you?" "It's over." "You're pregnant." "That's why you were sick at the cricket." "If Dad finds out, he'll make me get rid of it." "He has more 'friends' at the hospital." "And these?" "Who sent them to you?" "They're not from me." "You know my scrawl, it's barely legible." "Look." "It's not the same." "So who?" "Give him two drops of this, twice a day, plenty of walks and no more beer." "The medicine you gave to Dickens, what is it?" "Antimony." "It's a bit old-fashioned, but it flushes out the system." " Similar to arsenic?" " Yes." "Could that have made us all ill at the cricket?" " Possibly." " And killed Zafar?" "In a large enough dose." "It's done nothing for Dickens." "No odour." " It should be bitter." " Someone must've stolen the medicine from your bag to poison the beer." "Who can access your supply?" "In the surgery, only Annie and me." "And the last time I took it out of my bag was when I went to your house to treat your dog." "Your father let me in." "And we know Geoff wanted to get rid of Zafar." " Drink it!" " Ugh!" " Drink it!" " Get off him." "I'm trying to help him!" " Mr Towler?" " You..." "I was trying to help him." "I came to apologise for my behaviour last night." "Whatever my suspicions, I should've left it to you." "I rang the bell but nobody answered." "I could hear struggling inside." "Drink it!" "Drink it!" "He was clutching his stomach like my brother." "I tried to make him sick with saltwater." "And everything else is as you found it?" "Uh-huh." " What is it?" " A suicide note." "It says Geoff poisoned Zafar and he couldn't live with himself." "It's the same writing that was on the presents for Annie." "So what?" "He was trying to get Annie and Neil together and that's why he killed Zafar?" "It fits." "Poisoner poisons himself." ""I cannot live another minute with what I did," ""any more than I could bear Annie wasting her life with a boy she never truly loved." "True love is a man strong... and kind."" "_" "This isn't Geoff." "This reads like a bad romance novel." "Neil?" "!" "Annie?" "!" "Rosie Towler, I'm arresting you for the murder of Zafar Ali and the attempted murder of Geoff Towler." "Mum?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "You sent your own daughter round to kill the man she loved." "You've made a mistake." "I..." "I need to get home to cook." "You're not going home unless you can refute the allegations made against you." "We know you wrote this." "Just like you sent these." "No, Neil sent those to Annie." " Mrs Towler." " Rosie, we know it's a fantasy." "We all have them because real life is hard." "It's like those books you escape into, when you're feeling unhappy at home." "I've got a beautiful home, a daughter." "My husband's a pillar of the community." "And Neil would make a perfect addition." "Yes!" "He's a lovely man." "Dashing." "And... and he's a vet." "Annie loves animals." "But she doesn't love him." "She'll come around." "Even now?" "With the baby?" "Where does that fit in with your fantasy?" "It was that Indian's fault." "He tricked my Annie." "Zafar loved her, she loved him." "They were going to get married." " Over my dead body." " That's why you killed Zafar." " No!" " You poisoned everyone at the cricket to make it look like an accident." "Then you gave Annie poisoned tea to take to him." "He shouldn't have been here in the first place!" "He didn't fit." "He..." "He didn't belong." "Not like us, not like we do." "And where do you belong Rosie?" "At home, with Geoff?" "Yes." "That why you tried to kill him too?" "Because we were getting close" " and you needed a scapegoat." " No." " Or because you hate him and can't bear another minute with him?" " No!" " He bullies you." "He belittles you." " Shut up!" "You don't want Annie to end up like that," " married to the wrong man." " She deserves better!" "So instead you had her kill the man she loves, without her even knowing." "And now she's all alone because of you." "This isn't how it's supposed to end." "Annie is supposed to be with Neil." "I..." "I should be at home." "This isn't where I belong, is it?" "Look at me." "Ohh..." "There's the world as it is... and the world as we would like it to be." "Zafar Ali was that rare thing." "Someone who lived the life they wanted to live." "He didn't pray as he was supposed to pray." "He loved someone... he wasn't supposed to love." "He held firm when others told him to walk." "The problem is, we don't all want the same thing." "One man's happiness... is another man's sorrow." "Zafar was killed because he didn't fit into somebody else's world." "I'd like to say we should all be more like Zafar." "The truth is... ..the world won't let us." "Oh, hello." " I wasn't expecting you." " I'm not coming in." "I'm glad you're here." "I was going to pop over." "I'm sorry I've been so... busy." " It's just been the case, Zafar's memorial service..." " I know." " Drink?" " Yes, please." " Look, there's something..." " I don't know how to say this." " Can I go first?" " No, I've been rehearsing this and I'm scared it'll go out of my head." "Amanda, this is going to be hard enough as it is." "We can't do this any more." "I'm still leaving him, it just can't be for you." "It's... it's too difficult." " I know." " You know?" "How it looks." "What it means." " It shouldn't matter, but..." " But it... does." "We even agree on this."