"Marve not at this, for the hour cometh wherein a I that are n the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God." "And they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." "Light eternal shine upon her, oh, Lord, with thy saints for heaven." "Isabella:" "You English." "I still cannot understand what you're saying." "Of course you understand us." "No." "You understood the opening?" "No, it was so English." "All clever words, no passion." "Passion, right." "Wait till I get you home." "Aah!" "Oh, my God." "Oh, my..." "Oh, no." "Oh." "M y Lord." "Priest: ... and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." "Amen." "Sir." "Corby:" "Commissioner sends his deepest regrets." "We know you asked for a private ceremony, but he wanted somebody here to convey his deep, deep sadness." "I had no idea he was so deep." "He knew..." "we all knew..." "Isabella meant everything to you." "You knew nothing about my wife." "You know nothing about anything." "You prefer not to." "And, actually, if Isabella had meant everything to me, she might still be living." "Tell the Commissioner..." "Tell him I'll be asking for my pension." "That'll cheer him up." "Oh, God, sweetheart!" "Oh, God." "Ricky:" "And out of the darkness, there she is again..." "The Goddess!" "Me balls are freezing off here, Ricky." "Lawrie Elton, born without a brain." "Billy Lister." "Billy Lister, you've been riding with us for two months, and you've asked to be accepted as a member of The Durham Defenders." "Are you ready for the ceremony?" "Yeah." "Man:" "Go on, Billy." "Man:" "Go on." "Whoo!" "Whoo!" "Yes!" "Whoo!" "Welcome to the family." "China:" "It was my fault." "No, it wasn't your fault." "Don't be melodramatic." "But I'm supposed to keep you informed." "I didn't hear a dicky bird, M r." "Gently." "Not a dicky bird." "I never thought Webster would do this." "Nobody's seen him since." "You want me to find him, M r." "Gently?" "No." "Forget about him." "And forget about me." "I'm finished." "No." "No, no, M r." "Gently." "I come to pay my respects." "Don't booze it." "No, no." "I'll spend it sensibly." "Spend some of it on a bar of soap." "Goodbye, China." "You take care." "Goodbye, M r." "Gently." "Thank you, M r." "Gently." "Whoo!" "Yeah!" "Ricky:" "R oberto!" "Coffee for me and your monster fry-up for Billy Lister!" "R oberto:" "Okay." "Coming up." "Shirley:" "Hello, Billy." "You all wet?" "Come here, you." "Get off, Lawrie, man!" "R oberto:" "Wait a minute, eh." "Come on, sit down." "Shirley!" "Shirley:" "You're soaked." "What's the matter with you?" "I don't like him." "Well, that's funny, 'cause you brought him in." "Aye, well, I didn't know he was trouble then." "Billy:" "Thanks." "What did they do to you?" "Like a drowned rat." "Have some of that." "You've been asking for this!" "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Shirley:" "Get off of him!" "Stop!" "Everything's cool, R oberto." "Keep it that way, eh?" "!" "I have to talk to you." "See?" "Trouble." "Shut up, will you?" "!" "So, talk." "Not here." "Can I come and see you?" "Come back tonight, about 8:00, and we'll go for a ride together, yeah?" "That what you're playing at?" "!" "Man:" "Whoo-hoo!" "Sorry." "I just need to talk to you." "I'm gonna sort him out." "Leave it, Lawrie." "I will sort Billy Lister out in me own way tonight." "And I won't need to use my fists." "Billy:" "Please don't!" "Don't, please!" "Please!" "I'll do what you want!" "I'm sorry!" "I'm sorry!" "Please!" "Please!" "Please!" "I'll do what you want!" "Please!" "I'm sorry!" "God!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "China:" "Sorry, M r." "Gently." "Didn't want to intrude, but I thought I might find you here." "I've told you I don't need you anymore." "I'm retiring." "I've been asking around." "The bloke you're looking for, Joe Webster," "He's gone." "He went to a funeral and never come back." "I'm not looking for anybody." "You're just gonna let him get away with it then, M r." "Gently?" "Yes." "That's exactly what I'm going to do." "What?" "M y one-man mission to clean up the Met cost Isabella her life." "She was a lovely woman." "I don't think she'd have wanted you to stop." "She was proud of the way you always done your duty." "Duty?" "" M r." "Gently serves the public, China." "It's his life. "" "That's what she said..." "" It's his life. "" "Webster ain't never gonna stop killing." "Not till the day you stop him." "Gone where?" "If I knew that, M r." "Gently, I wouldn't be standing..." "Where was the funeral?" "Oh." "Hexham." "I looked it up." "It's up in the north..." "I n Northumberland, yes." "Who died?" "Young lad come off his bike." "Could have been an accident, could be something else." "Local plods seem to think so." "Well, I think we can leave the R utland murder to the locals for the time being." "John, you're doing Suffolk." "And, Trevor, you'll be covering Eastbourne next week." "Yes, sir." "Which brings us up to date." "Right." "Thanks." "Enjoy the weekend." "What's left of it." "You forgot the boy up in Northumberland." "I didn't forget it." "The locals have made an arrest." "They don't need..." "Joe Webster was at the funeral." "Any idea why?" "This obsession with Webster, George, is doing you no favors." "There are very senior ranks round here who seriously doubt your sanity nowadays." "You're gutless and so are they." "You've stood by and done nothing while criminals have come to work in the Met." "You said you were retiring." "Well, there's time for one more... while they work out my pension." "All right, George." "Have it." "Are you Lawrence Elton?" "Dunno." "Am I still Lawrie Elton, John?" "You can call me "Detective Sergeant"" "or "Sir" or " M r." "Bacchus. "" "Or else what?" "Or else I'll come over this desk and I'll smack your face." "He allowed to threaten us?" "Yeah." "So you just happened to be on that road, and you came across Lister dead beside his bike?" "It's the quickest way to the Dice." "The what?" "The Dice Cafe, governor." "It's where they all hang out." "Okay, so you were on your way to meet your mates, the coffee bar cowboys, and you came across Lister dead." "Why didn't you ring for the police?" "Hmm, I don't know." "Why do you think?" "Why did you try and hide the bloodstains?" "Blood?" "What, you never heard of forensic science?" "What?" "Thick as ever, aren't you, Lawrie?" "Thick as a copper's wallet." "Hey!" "Right, that's your last warning." "Now you tell us about the blood that we found on your boots and on your leathers." "Which you'd obviously spent half the night trying to wash off." "Well, who wants blood on their boots?" "Are you stupid or what?" "Right, that was your last warning." "That's police brutality!" "Do you want another one?" "!" "According to M r." "M inchella, the owner of the Dice Cafe, your girlfriend was a bit sweet on Billy Lister." "What?" "He was a poof." "Right." "Is that your scarf, Lawrie?" "No." "We found that in your garage hidden in a box of spanners." "What was it doing there?" "What?" "What's this about?" "Did you find it the night Lister died?" "What's he on about?" "Right, I'm going to ask you one more time and you're gonna answer me truthfully!" "Otherwise, you're gonna find yourself in serious trouble." "Is this your scarf?" "We know it's his scarf." "We found it hidden in his garage." "Why, Lawrie?" "Why'd you hide it?" "Lawrie Elton wear a white silk scarf?" "He'd rather wear a bikini, man." "Okay, clever clogs." "Right." "Lawrie Elton found the scarf at the scene and hid it to protect someone." "He was there." "He had a motive." "He's tried to conceal evidence." "What motive?" "What?" "His girlfriend gave Billy Lister a kiss?" "No, man, no." "This is manslaughter." "Possibly... right?" "..." "possibly murder." "Which means somebody could hang." "And I reckon that person is the rightful owner of this scarf." "Well, if that scarf's not Lawrie Elton's, whose is it?" "Any idea?" "Oh, yes." "Ricky Deeming knackering batteries for a fiver a day." "Who'd have thought it?" "Do I know you..." "officer?" "Oh, very good." "Who else wears shiny shoes these days?" "Anderson Street Grammar School." "Clue me in." "I was one of the mere mortals you looked down on." "How's life treating you, John?" "You do remember us!" "Who could forget such a sustained exhibition of arse crawling?" "Was anyone ever more pathetically grateful to get the prefect badge?" "So little John Bacchus joined the cops." "You have a friend, R oberto M inchella, owns the Dice Cafe." "Witnessed an embarrassing scene between you and a very pretty boy called Billy Lister, later found dead with his brains dripping down a dry stone wall." "Apparently, you said you were gonna "sort him out. "" "Billy was a very mixed-up boy." "Who mixed him up?" "At school, we used to call you "flamboyant. "" "Are you still flamboyant, Ricky?" "Lost anything bright and lovely lately?" "How did you get that?" "Is it yours?" "Where did you find it?" "Where'd you lose it?" "Ricky Deeming in a holding cell." "Ricky Deeming in a holding cell." "He admits the scarf is his, and guess what." "He can't remember where he lost it." "You don't seem very interested." "Why should I be?" "I'm no longer running this inquiry." "What?" "Says who?" "Your father-in-law." "Why?" "Because the Yard wants it." "M m." "I'm going to the mess." "Do you want to buy me one?" "No, no, no." "Wait, wait." "The Yard?" "M m." "Yeah, but..." "Am I still on it?" "I don't know." "Ask your new boss." "Well, who's that?" "Chief I nspector George Gently." "He's their top man, isn't he?" "He used to be." "He's a busted flush these days." "Well, hurry up." "He's waiting for you." "Are you John Bacchus?" "Yes, M r." "Gently, sir." "Very impressive." "Aye." "Very popular with ramblers and..." "Well, ramblers." "I prefer city life, personally." "I meant the MG." "Oh, right." "Not standard issue up here, is it?" "No, no, no." "Wedding present that." "M um and Dad?" "Me M um's dead..." "me Dad got me one of those pop-up toaster things." "No, I bought the car for meself." "You needed cheering up?" "I've been having a look at where Billy Lister hit the wall back there." "Very nasty." "Aye." "According to I nspector Setters' notes, you've taken a bit of a wrong turn yourself." "Ricky Deeming." "I don't think so, sir." "Because of a silk scarf?" "Aye, he's up to his neck in this." "He may have, you know, had an illegal relationship with the dead lad." "Oh, I see." "So why was Lawrie Elton arrested in the first place?" "Second set of tire marks... you can still just about see them here and here." "Now the best matches of any of the bikers' wheels were Lawrie Elton's Bonneville and Ricky Deeming's Manx." "The second bike needn't have belonged to one of The Durham Defenders." "It could have belonged to anybody." "Yeah, yeah, but then we found Lister's matching blood type all over Elton's boots and leathers." "Then the scarf turns up and changes your mind." "Who actually discovered the scarf, incidentally?" "I did." "Who reported the body?" "A passing motorist." "So you let Lawrie Elton go and arrested Ricky Deeming?" "It's his scarf." "I believe Elton was on his way back to the Dice Cafe, discovered the body, found the scarf, and hid it to cover up for Deeming." "Why?" "He worships him." "They all do." "I see." "W-will I still be on it, sir?" "I'll let you know." "Well, shall I set up an interview with Ricky Deeming?" "No." "I want to start again from the beginning." "Get Lawrie Elton back in." "Today, please." "Gently." "If you think I've made a mistake letting Elton go, you can just say." "R oger." "Yes, you made a mistake." "Yeah." "Yeah, that's Lawrie Elton." "Gently:" "Been moved at all?" "Man:" "No, sir." "Who found him?" "Gentleman over there, sir." "Arms outstretched." "What does that tell you?" "That he was already dead when he came over the cliff." "Number of wounds on the side of the skull." "Caused by what?" "I n my opinion, something like a sledgehammer." "Back to your friend, Ricky Deeming." "Who just so happens to swing a hammer from the left." "Which would give a wound to the right side of the head." "Exactly." "If the victim was facing him." "Aye, which I imagine he was." "Do you?" "Deeming has a pretty good alibi this time." "He was with you." "Depends how long Elton's been dead." "He's stiff as a board." "Tell me, Sergeant Bacchus, do you always decide who's guilty and then look for the evidence to support it?" "Is that how you do things up here?" "No, sir." "I know two Home Office forensic scientists who specialize in it." "C. I. D. Goes to them, "We nicked somebody for murder." "We haven't got any evidence." "Can you supply it?"" "I don't think that's correct procedure, sir." "No, nor me." "I'm old fashioned." "I prefer to assemble the evidence, see which way it points." "Could've been an accident, of course." "Think so?" "You had a good look at Elton when you questioned him?" "Known him for years, sir." "Perhaps you can tell me then if he had any eyebrows." "Eyebrows?" "Because he hasn't got any now." "And one of his fingernails is missing." "I don't understand." "What does it mean?" "It means he had no eyebrows when he died." "Well, shall I go to Deeming's yard and look at the hammers?" "Yeah, if you like." "Yes, in fact, do." "Are you going to question him?" "Not yet." "But don't let him go." "If necessary, invent something to hold him on." "I'll talk to him after I've talked to M rs." "Lister." "No, no." "I've already done that." "Searched her son's room, did you?" "Well, I had a look around." "I'll take that as a "no" then." "Looking for what?" "Evidence." "Sir." "The Chief Constable invites you to dinner tonight." "What are you?" "His social secretary?" "No." "L-I'm his son-in-law." "Are you?" "Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear." "Does this finish me chances of working with you, sir?" "Doesn't help them." "Look, look." "Can I be frank with you?" "I've applied for a job at the Met." "Ah." "The thing is, it wouldn't do us any harm to work on George Gently's last case, would it?" "Who told you that?" "That it's your last case?" "That it wouldn't do you any harm." "I've gotten off to a very bad start with you, haven't I, sir?" "Yes, very." "You don't like me car, you don't like me suit." "Both too flash." "You don't like the way I work on hunches instead of evidence, you think I'm sloppy, you think I'm unobservant." "And then l-I cap it all by trying to impress you with me wife's father." "Who, incidentally, would probably tell you" "I know even less about criminal investigation than I do about male contraception." "Yeah, I made a mess of that, as well." "Is that why you want to leave?" "Partly." "Would your wife like to go to London?" "I doubt whether Lisa would go with us." "There's only one thing" "I really don't like, Sergeant, and it's not what you've said, it's what you haven't said." "Aye." "Fair enough." "Yeah, biggest mess of all," "I've let Elton go, and now he's dead, and that's my fault." "I was right about this being your last case though, wasn't I, sir?" "I read about your wife." "Sorry." "Hit-and-run drivers, man." "I'd..." "I'd string them all up." "M y wife was murdered, Sergeant." "Please send my apologies to the Chief." "I'm somewhat monastic at present." "And I'll see you tomorrow morning at 8:00 sharp." "If you want to stay on the case." "Yes, sir." "Thank you, sir." "Are you unwell?" "What?" "It's peaceful here, isn't it?" "Pevsner... calls the cathedral overpowering." "I call it brutal." "I prefer this." "See that?" "Used to be a wall there." "I'm new here." "Called an anchorage." "You'd have a hermit holed up in there." "For life." "Little slit in the wall for his food." "And outside, ready dug, a grave just waiting for him to drop into at the end of his meaningless days." "Do you fancy that, vicar?" "The cathedral itself is..." "Built by Catholics." "People like me." "Entirely a left-foot building project." "Now it's owned and run by C of E nancy boys in two minds as to the truth of the R esurrection." "Look at Jerusalem." "Jew says to the M uslim, "Sling your hook, Abdul." "We built this, we're having it back. "" "When was the last time you heard a Catholic saying," ""Can we have our cathedrals back?"" "We're soft." "I'm not exactly sure I understand..." "Well, that's my point." "You can't even do a decent burial service." "You got no class." "You're not a proper religion." "Is there someone you want to bury?" "M rs." "Lister:" "Your colleagues" "M rs." "Lister:" "Your colleagues have already been through Billy's things." "I'm sorry to bother you again." "Thank you." "Who among my colleagues exactly?" "Sergeant Bacchus." "And the older one, his boss." "M r." "Setters?" "Together?" "No, separately." "I see." "Can you remember who came first?" "The older one." "He wanted to search the room the night Billy died." "Looking for clues, he said." "Your son seems to have been very close to Ricky." "They were fond of each other, I think." "Ricky came here sometimes." "He sat for Billy." "Billy wanted to be an artist." "So they spent a lot of time alone together?" "It was a schoolboy crush." "It happened to Billy quite a lot." "He'd have done anything for Ricky, I think." "I don't know why the world has to scoff at it so much, do you, M r." "Gently?" "No, I don't." "Forgive me." "You're a lot younger than I imagined." "I had Billy when I was sixteen." "Oh." "His father?" "He died when Billy was little." "This is all very sad for you." "I lost my wife quite recently." "I'm sorry." "People told me the funeral would be a healing experience." "I wasn't." "Was it for you?" "No." "But perhaps his friends did." "I don't know." "Were there people at the funeral you didn't know?" "Well, I didn't know all of Billy's friends." "Anybody older?" "Anybody who seemed out of place." "No." "Why?" "M rs." "Lister, have you ever heard the name Joe Webster?" "No." "Never?" "No." "Would you like some coffee?" "Um, yes." "One more question." "What did your husband do for a living?" "Philip was a stoker in the Merchant Marine." "One day, he came off ship from Rio de Janeiro, went for a drink with his friends down at Tyne Dock, and was never seen again." "We think he went back aboard ship and perhaps fell into the water." "He was never found." "Forgive me, but you live rather well for the widow of a stoker." "The pension scheme is very generous." "I've had much to be grateful for." "Not now." "I'll make you that coffee." "M r." "Gently?" "Your Sergeant Bacchus is here." "Ricky Deeming's brief's arrived." "She's having a hissy fit." "Get these to the lab for me." "What are they?" "Speed, I think." "Dexamphetamines." "I found them in Lister's room." "What?" "How come I missed them?" "You weren't looking for them" "How much do you think the pension is for the widow of a stoker in the Merchant Marine?" "How would I know that, gov?" "Find out for me." "Since Billy Lister's funeral, been any strangers on the manor?" "Anybody looking for trouble?" "Only the bloke at the cathedral yesterday." "What was that?" "Aye." "London accent." "Bit of a mental case, Hit a canon over the head with a pair of binoculars." "Anybody with him?" "Not as far as I know." "Check that." "Did you go to Deeming's workplace to look at the hammers?" "Yeah." "And?" "We're examining them." "Anything else?" "Like what?" "Had anybody been looking for him?" "Like who?" "Look you're going to have to trust somebody." "Why not me?" "Let's go and talk to Ricky Deeming." "Excuse me." "No." "You can't be present." "Be prepared for the biggest load of shite you've ever heard in your life." "25 years in the Met, Sergeant." "And the big cheese arrives." "Why am I here?" "Two of your friends are dead." "Billy and Lawrie touched the darkness." "That's all." "It happens when you ride." ""Touched the darkness"?" "You wouldn't understand." "You have to love speed." "Speed?" "Talk to me about that." "When you and the bike are one." "The machine, the ghost inside the machine." "Sounds like a spiritual kind of thing, a heightened experience." "You're starting to get it." "Did you get that from riding?" "You don't need anything else?" "You mean drugs?" "Not my scene." "M ind?" "The Durham Defenders." "What's being defended?" "We are, I suppose." "From?" "From the bullshit." "Dead-end jobs, hand-me-down values, second-hand opinions, mortgages." "No offense, but the sort of life John here leads." "And what sort of life do I lead?" "40 years of chasing guys like us up and down the street so the world will be a safer place for other mediocre people to live their banal lives in." "You and your little woman on the front at Whitley Bay, and the world rolling on forever, and the whole structure never skipping a beat, nothing ever changing except the weather." "So... you're saving your apostles from the dead hand of the uniform society?" "What did your world offer a little kid like Lawrie Elton?" "R eal dad dead before he were born, mother abandoned him." "Your straight world pushes him and pushes him into ever tighter corners." "Failed at your schools, couldn't hold down your bullshit jobs." "Life of crime beckoning." "Predictable." "But maybe not." "Just maybe not." "He got himself a bike, a family, and a set of shared values, and you know what, George?" "He took one look at your world, and he wasn't interested in it." "And neither am I." "Your world is coming to an end, George." "It's inevitable." "You won't know England in 20 years." "I fear you might be right." "Okay, so," "Billy Lister ran his bike into a wall because he wanted to dance with the ghost of the machine." "And Lawrie Elton drove off a cliff because he wanted to have fun touching the darkness." "Oh, man!" "And you talk to me about bullshit?" "You want to do some thinking, Ricky." "Hey, why don't you start with this... how comes Lawrie Elton left the scene of Lister's death with a white silk scarf in his possession?" "It was found hidden in his garage." "Who found it, George?" "That wouldn't be" "John Bacchus by any chance, would it?" "Meaning?" "The same John Bacchus who, according to my solicitor, was criticized in open court for lying about a piece of prosecution evidence." "Maybe you need to do some thinking, George." "You're free to go." "Good." "But I'm advising you to stay." "Why?" "It's possible..." "That this man will come looking for you." "If he does, your life will be in danger." "Nice meeting you, George." "I had to lie to protect a source." "I had to." "If I hadn't..." "Look, okay, yes, the judge criticized us, but the bloke went down for eight years." "I had to do it." "And the scarf?" "I never laid eyes on that until I found it in Elton's garage." "I have to ask." "The dexys?" "I never saw them until you put them in me hand." "Now do you mind if I ask who's in that photo?" "Somewhere secure." "Right, well, the office." "You're not listening." "Right, um, yeah, okay." "I know a place." "Call forensics first." "Oh." "Pevsner calls it "overwhelming grandeur. "" "What?" "It's beautiful." "Oh." "Yeah." "But you'd rather have Big Ben." "I'll be honest with you." "North East, it's the back of beyond." "I can't wait to get out, governor." "Stop calling me "governor, " will you?" "Save it for the Met." "What did the lab report say?" "They are dexys." "Cut with a lot of vitamin C and caffeine." "So nobody's gonna get a really big hit out of them." "So, was Billy Lister part of an outfit distributing medium-grade amphetamines, or was he just a user?" "The outfit being The Durham Defenders?" "Yes, possible." "But how did a small-scale thing like that lead to two murders?" "Yeah, go on." "Explain it to me." "Right." "Ricky and his pals, including Lister, run drugs up and down the county." "Ricky kills Lister 'cause he was gonna blow the whistle?" "Anyway, Elton finds a scarf, right?" "Hides it, goes to Ricky and tells him, and Ricky kills him to cover up for the first murder." "Ricky Deeming's on another planet." "The only way I can imagine him killing two people is by talking them to death." "Okay." "Who did kill Billy Lister?" "I don't know." "But I know who killed Lawrie Elton." "No, no, no." "Wait, wait." "Don't tell us." "Let me guess." "Joe Webster." "1 0 out of 1 0." "Knew it." "I spent last night trawling press reports." "I knew somewhere down the line, there was somebody whose M. O. Was a blowtorch and a pair of pliers." "Did Webster kill your wife?" "He made it happen." "Well, can't the Met move against him?" "I know of seven... a minimum of seven..." "high-ranking police officers in the Met who are on his payroll." "I know who they are, and they know that I know." "And I got no proof." "Yeah." "That's the look everybody gives me." "You need to decide whether you want to stay on this case." "You don't have to." "Make no mistake." "If he's come up here to make money, and he finds you standing in his way, he will not hesitate to kill you." "Where do I start?" "Billy Lister." "We don't know who killed him, so let's look for a motive." "See if he was dealing." "You know the likely places." "Have yourself a night out." "Find out who among The Durham Defenders could have had possible links to Webster." "Webster might have friends up here." "What sort of friends?" "People who'll help him." "Are you talking about policemen?" "You're talking about my colleagues?" "It's possible." "W..." "Well, what about me?" "How do you know I'm not one of his friends?" "I don't." "You English." "I still cannot understand what you're saying." "Oh." "Oh." "Oh, God." "No, no." "Newcastle Brown, please." "Cheers." "1 and 6, please." "You've just about missed the band." "Poetry starts soon." "Ah." "Terrific." "Charlie." "Hello, Charlie." "I'm Bacchus." "Er, John, John Bacchus." "Bacchus?" "Yeah." "John Bacchus, everybody." "John Bacchus?" "You'll be having some wine then." "No, no." "Normally stick to beer." "Um, I'm looking for someone called Lister." "Billy Lister." "Somebody told me he might have something I'm looking for." "Too late." "Little Billy's dead." "Man:" "Thank you." "Good night." "M r." "Gently." "China." "Digs okay?" "Oh, Yeah." "Nice grub and all." "And the barmaid..." "whoa-ho!" "Oh, good." "Well.." "I'm glad you're settling in all right." "Well?" "I done some checking before I left London." "All Webster's blokes seem to be still there." "Looks like he come up on his tod." "Don't understand it." "It's not how he does business at all." "He's being reckless, as well." "I've been having a few drinks under the blue lamp, M r." "Gently." "Your M r." "Bacchus is a naughty boy." "Tell me." "Got a right bollocking from the bench a year or two back for telling porkies..." "Yeah, I know about that." "What else?" "Oh, well, this is interesting." "He drives a sports car." "Yes, I know." "How does he afford it then?" "Well, this is the really interesting bit." "His father-in-law is..." "The Chief Constable." "The Chief Constable." "China, I'm beginning to regret paying you good money to come up here and tell me what I already know." "What about Valerie Lister?" "Well, now I'm reluctant to even bother opening me mouth now." "Oh, get on with it." "She's another one that got pregnant." "Well, considering I'm investigating the death of her son, that hardly counts as information, China." "Sixteen she was." "Bit young to be popping her cork." "Yeah, they could do with some contraceptive advice up here." "Ah, but she wasn't up here, M r." "Gently." "She was born up here, and the baby was born up here, but according to the barmaid in the pub at the end of her road, she come home from London pregnant to a sailor." "So what exactly did Billy Lister have that you might want, eh?" "Well..." "What was he to you?" "I think you know that." "Don't you, M r." "Bacchus?" "I think M r." "Bacchus knows more than he says." "Promise me you're not the fuzz." "What?" "On me mother's life." "You're too sweet to be a policeman." "So what do you do now when you need a bit of a lift?" "I mean, did Billy have any mates he came with or ought?" "No, he came on his own." "But there's plenty of stuff around." "I could help you out for tonight if you're nice to me." "Yeah, right." "Yeah." "Sell us a couple?" "How much?" "That's okay." "Just buy me a drink next time." "There will be a next time, won't there?" "Yeah, but let me give you the money for it." "Okay, just give me five bob then" "That's all they cost me." "So, um... what's your name then?" "I mean, your full name." "Well, actually, my very full name is" "The Right Honorable Charlotte Dawson." "Ooh." "But you can go on with Charlie." "Charlotte Dawson, I'm arresting you on the charge of supplying and possessing dexamphetamine." "Now, I must warn you that anything you say..." "Please." "I'm begging you." "M y parents." "Please." "...may be used in evidence against you." "John, how's it going?" "Fine, fine." "How's St. George treating you?" "No, no, he's good." "I like him." "Why, what?" "What?" "No, no, it's just..." "he's been upstairs saying it was gross negligence to let Lawrie Elton go." "Yeah, well, it was, wasn't it?" "You'll be all right, obviously." "You've got someone up there looking after you." "But this is how he works, unfortunately." "Well, he seems pretty straight to me." "You think so?" "Yeah." "He doesn't trust you, John." "He doesn't trust anybody." "You know his reputation." "We're all bent except George, of course." "Well, like I said, he's been straight with me." "Yeah?" "Where's he now?" "What's he doing?" "Who's he talking to?" "I don't know." "Well, the next time you see him, why not ask him why a narc called China Mates has been asking questions about who John Bacchus drinks with and where he gets his money?" "What do you mean?" "This is how he works, John." "Pits officer against officer." "Destroys trust." "Destroys morale." "Destroys careers." "Oh, shit..." "What?" "Um..." "He was asking us questions about planting evidence on people." "Planting what evidence?" "The scarf and the pills." "Amphetamines." "What amphetamines?" "I can't really talk about it to be honest with you." "I'm your governor for God's sake!" "Um..." "We found them in Lister's room." "John." "John, you told me you found nothing." "No, Gently found them." "Be careful, John." "Be so careful." "This man is determined to find corrupt coppers." "Make sure you're not the one left holding the parcel when the music stops, yeah?" "Yeah." "Hello, M r." "Gently." "I'm sorry, China." "Who did it?" "I didn't get a look." "Woke up in here this morning." "I think they're onto me, M r." "Gently, don't you?" "I'll get you checked over." "Then it's time for you to go home." "You've done all you can for me." "Thank you, M r." "Gently." "Can I help you, sir?" "Stand up when you talk to me." "Show me your hands." "No, somehow I didn't think you'd have done it yourself." "Done what, sir?" "Not really the type, are you?" "What type would that be, sir?" "Do you know, I nspector," "I spend half my life talking to the scum of the earth, and I pride myself that I never get angry." "It's not my job to get angry." "Get angry and I've failed." "I'm just a provincial copper, M r." "Gently." "This is all too clever for me." "Is there a problem, sir?" "No." "Did you order tea?" "No." "Excuse me?" "Tea for two." "Toasted teacakes?" "No." "One, raspberry jam." "Certainly, sir." "Why here?" "Why do you never use the office we gave you?" "What have you got for me?" "Billy Lister was dealing." "Got the proof?" "Yep." "Good." "And?" "None of The Defenders has form except..." "Lawrie Elton, who wasn't inside at the same time as Webster." "Not in the same nick, anyway." "Valerie Lister." "Gets pregnant aged 1 5." "Living with her parents, presumably." "Why assume that?" "Don't assume things." "Doesn't matter, they're both dead." "Okay." "Gets married to Able Seaman Philip Lister on January 3, 1 944..." "marriage certificate." "Billy's Dad is soon... back at sea on the Atlantic convoys." "War ends, he stays on in the Merchant Marine." "Little Billy can't have seen much of his Dad, which I read somewhere can in fact turn you into a nancy." "Do you have difficulty with homosexuals, Sergeant?" "No, I do not have "difficulty. "" "I just think the sooner they find a cure the better, 'cause in the meantime, blackmail, suicides, murders..." "Labour says they'll decriminalize it for consenting adults." "What happens when the supply of consenting adults runs out?" "Lock up your children." "I wonder... if some form of electric shock therapy might help." "Nah, most of them are still queer at the end of it." "I meant for you." "Go on." "Billy's Dad disappears, presumed dead, right?" "Then somebody starts paying all his mother's bills." "Not the ship owners, eh?" "They've never heard of her." "No widow's pension?" "Nope." "So how come she's so well off?" "Maybe she inherited something." "We need to find out about that." "Tell me again... about how the white scarf was discovered." "Yeah, you've already asked us if I planted it, and I've already said no." "I believe you." "So why was Lawrie Elton released?" "Who took that decision?" "Setters did." "But on my advice." "Which he could have ignored." "But according to Valerie Lister, your boss searched Billy's room on the night he was killed." "What... so now my boss is planting evidence?" "That's an interesting suggestion, but no." "I think it's more likely he was there to remove evidence." "Except he failed to find the pills." "So did I." "You weren't looking for them." "And Setters was?" "I think it's possible." "I also think it's possible that he planted the white scarf where you would find it... so you would suspect Ricky Deeming of murder and want Lawrie Elton released." "You..." "Now hang on, hang on." "You're saying, right, that my boss was in league with Lawrie Elton in the distribution of illegal drugs?" "I'm saying it's possible." "Well, I'm saying I find that completely offensive." "If I'm correct, the only advantage" "I have over Setters... is that he doesn't know we found the drugs." "Not until I told him." "What?" "I'm sorry." "Both going on the same room bill, gents?" "Is it any wonder that we have to meet in a hotel..." "If you can't keep your mouth shut about things?" "We're not sharing a room." "Sir?" "I'm not staying here." "I'm..." "I live at home with my wife." "I'm a policeman, anyway." "Yes, sir." "Thank you, sir." "Thank you." "Thank you, sir." "If you were running this investigation, what would you do next?" "I'd go and see Valerie Lister." "Correct." "Well, are you coming?" "Or can't we be seen leaving together?" "Hello, Valerie." "You're looking well, Val." "R eally well." "What do you want?" "Why were you at Billy's funeral?" "I stood at the back." "I didn't want to upset you." "Upset me?" "You're grotesque." "Look." "If I could rub out what I did all them years ago, I would." "But I can't." "Now listen." "I want to talk to you about something." "It's about Billy." "Why don't you make us a nice cup of tea?" "What's out the back?" "M rs." "Lister," "I wonder if we might have a word?" "Valerie:" "He had no right to come here." "No right." "I'll go, I'll go." "How did Billy's father die?" "It was a shipboard accident when Billy was..." "You don't know that." "He just disappeared off the face of the earth." "The ship owners accepted liability." "The ship owners have never heard of you, M rs." "Lister." "Where does the money come from, M rs." "Lister?" "Shall I tell you what I think?" "I think the money comes from Joe Webster." "And I think you made up this fairy story about a widow's pension because you didn't want to face the truth... that it's blood money." "'Cause Joe Webster killed Billy's dad, didn't he?" "M rs." "Lister." "Billy's father is still alive, isn't he?" "Yes." "Webster didn't come alone because it was business." "He came because it was personal." "You must be Shirley." "Yeah?" "I just wondered if we could spend a few minutes together." "Why?" "I'd like to get to know you." "I was 1 5." "The war was on." "Joe Webster was quite an attractive man in those days." "Charming, even." "He had money." "I saw him once or twice for a drink after work." "I think he fell for me." "I didn't want to see him again." "I knew what he was, really." "One night... he raped me." "I'd never been with a man before." "I fell pregnant." "I came back up home." "M y mother had died when I was little, and my father and I didn't see eye to eye." "He arranged a marriage for me." "A friend of a friend." "Philip Lister." "Home on leave." "I think..." "I think my father paid him to marry me." "I never saw him again." "Two years later, he was dead." "And then the money started to arrive." "And the letters." "From Joe." "Wanting to see his son." "I told him if he ever came near Billy," "I'd kill us both." "I never wanted his money, M r." "Gently." "But my father had disowned me." "All he cared about was that I shouldn't bring bastards into the world." "He wanted them to have a name." ""Them"?" "I was carrying twins, M r." "Gently." "One died." "One lived." "The one that lived I called William." "I understand you knew my son Billy." "You're Billy's dad?" "He had a good eye, didn't he?" "Quite a good draftsman." "Don't know where he got that from." "M ust have been his mother, eh?" "I didn't know he'd drawn me." "He was such a lovely boy." "You and Billy... a little bit in love, Shirley?" "Who, me and Billy?" "No." "I had a boyfriend." "He died in an accident." "His name's Lawrie." "Ah." "Lawrie." "I see." "Billy didn't have girlfriends." "Meaning what?" "Nothing." "Meaning what?" "Billy..." "I think Billy liked boys." "Lister:" "Do you really think" "Joe killed Lawrie Elton, M r." "Gently?" "I am certain of it." "Why?" "Because Lawrie Elton probably caused your son's death." "The irony is, if he'd... if he'd ever met Billy, he'd have hated him." "How could Joe have coped with a son who was..." "Did he visit Billy's room?" "I don't know." "He was here when I arrived." "The drawing of Ricky as Christ was here." "What was there, can you remember?" "Shirley." "Your boyfriend made a similar remark about my son." "You knew Lawrie?" "We met." "Webster:" "Now, Lawrie." "Are you going to tell me what I want to know, or are we going to arse about all night?" "I don't understand." "He referred to my son as a "poof. "" "Now," "I asked him to explain exactly what he meant by that remark, but the poor chap was getting a bit... tired and distressed by then." "So I'll ask you." "Who turned my son into a queer?" "I don't understand." "Now be sensible, sweetheart." "Who is this individual?" "It says "Ricky. "" "Ricky who?" "Ricky Deeming." "His name's Ricky Deeming." "Where do I find him?" "Where do I find Ricky Deeming?" "Sir, is this wise?" "Yes." "I'll try and find the girl before Webster does." "You find Deeming." "Bacchus:" "I think" "I should come with you, sir." "It's Deeming he's after." "Secure his house first." "Then come after me if necessary." "Is this personal, gov?" "Sir?" "Yes?" "If you do find Webster, you might only get one chance." "Put it in his head." "All right, lads!" "Woman. :" "* 'Cause I'm crazy *" "* Yeah, I'm so crazy * * about your love *" "Evening." "This is the place where the bikers come?" "Yeah, but they're not here yet." "About half an hour, maybe." "Is Shirley here tonight?" "Two teas, R oberto." "Good evening, George." "Sit down." "You all on your own-some, are you?" "I was sad to hear about your son." "Oh, so you don't sit at home with your finger up your arse all day long then?" "You've been doing some sleuthing." "You've been winkling information out of old Valerie." "You're doing a manhunt, I hear." "I bet they love that up here, don't they?" "George Gently himself in our town, doing a manhunt." "You're looking for Ricky Deeming." "M y God, you're hot stuff." "He's in police protection." "Yeah?" "I'm looking for a girl called Shirley." "She works here." "Don't she, R oberto?" "She should've opened up for me tonight, but she's not here..." "Don't worry, George." "She'll turn up." "Are you and I nspector Setters partners in the drugs ring?" "PC Plod doing drugs?" "He'll get into trouble." "Somebody's doing it." "Don't surprise me." "Do you ever watch commercial television, Commander?" "The reason I ask... is the advertisers spend more per head in this region than anywhere else." "You know why?" "'Cause the lads and lasses up here will spend every penny on what makes them happy." "Someone could make a fortune if they organized it properly." "If it was me, though, could you see it being half a dozen kids on bikes?" "No, I couldn't see that." "But whoever was doing it cost your son his life." "That wasn't the drugs, George." "Billy's life was ended because of the depravity of one man." "Bacchus:" "He hasn't been here for days, we're going." "You, I want you to stay here, get a car, park it there in the shadows." "Watch that door, right?" "Watch that street." "If Deeming turns up, arrest him." "Yes, sergeant." "And if Webster turns up, don't go near him, get me on the blower." "Right, sir." "Ricky Deeming didn't kill him." "No, it was that little toe-rag Lawrie Elton." "He was kind enough to tell me all about it." "Eventually." "And you know why?" "Because Billy was going to talk to Ricky Deeming about the drugs." "Lawrie Elton panicked." "I don't think he meant to kill him." "Just frighten him." "And why did Billy want to tell Ricky Deeming about the pills?" "Billy had faith in Ricky." "He looked up to him." "Like the father he never had." "No, not like a father." "Not like that at all." "Well, no, that's true, not like that." "'Cause Billy was in love with Ricky." "Where do I find Ricky Deeming?" "Armed men on the way, Joe." "Oh, yeah?" "Cavalry coming, is it?" "Ricky Deeming's not coming, Joe." "Mantovani, over here." "Oh, don't kill him, Joe." "What difference is that going to make?" "Exactly, you can only hang once, so never leave a living witness." "Well, what about Shirley?" "At least tell me where she is." "I think she fancied a swim." "Ice cream man, here, now." "You are a bastard, Webster." "I've got kids." "Yeah?" "I'm an orphan meself, never did me any harm." "Face down." "No, no, please!" "Get up, R oberto." "Get up!" "You drive?" "Yes, yes." "Get in." "Bacchus:" "Get back!" "Back!" "Stay back!" "Come after me and I'll kill him!" "Lower your weapon!" "That's an order!" "Now!" "Did you find Ricky Deeming?" "No." "Did you find the girl?" "No." "But I think I know where she'll be." "Oh, Jesus." "Ah." "You know, sometimes I reckon we should be the one issued with blowtorches and pliers." "You'd like that, would you?" "For people like Webster?" "Yeah, I would." "What do we do now?" "Hang around here for Deeming's body to turn up?" "I'm going back to the station." "You never told me you made an arrest at the Jazz Club." "She offered us two amphetamines for sale." "What was I supposed to do?" "You didn't solicit them?" "No, I didn't." "I needed confirmation that Billy was a pusher." "That's all I asked." "Now I've got a London lawyer on the phone talking about entrapment." "She'll get off anyway." "Her Dad's rich." "Which is relevant in what way?" "He'll get her a posh lawyer, and then she'll cry in front of the judge, who probably goes to the same club as daddy anyway." "Is there any prejudice you've managed to avoid?" "Let her go." "No, I need her." "Why?" "I've got my reasons." "What reasons?" "What is wrong with you, Bacchus?" "I don't like people who break the law!" "Unless they're your superior officers." "No wonder you want to join the Met." "Have you ever considered the idea of being loyal to the men you work with, or do you despise all of us?" "I don't like officers who make arrests to make themselves feel good." "And I don't like people who send narcs to ask where I drink and who I drink it with when they could just ask me to me face!" "And you should have let me put a bullet in Webster's brain tonight, whatever the consequences for R oberto M inchella." "Who is alive, precisely because I stopped you from trying." "I'm not sure you're really a policeman at all." "I think you're a vigilante." "I just..." "I... can't be like you." "Isabella was Italian." "I met her in the war." "You saw active service?" "Monty." "Eighth Army." "North Africa, Sicily..." "Then up through Italy." "I met her in Naples." "Then I went back for her." "Any children?" "No." "Funny, isn't it?" "I mean, look at me and Lisa." "A kid's not what we want." "Don't even want each other, truth be told." "Hello?" "Right." "Right, thanks." "Deemings' been home, he's gone again." "Any ideas?" "What, you want a hunch from me?" "We've got nothing else." "Right, well, the Dice." "Or the knackers' yard." "He's got to have a key for that." "Which?" "The knackers' yard." "Right, let's go." "Shouldn't we get some more men armed?" "Yes, put the call in." "Let's try the Dice." "Talk to me about my son." "Billy was a... a beautiful person." "He was an artist." "What, like this?" "What was he, Picasso or something?" "Like M ichelangelo?" "You should be proud of him." "Honest." "He had a light inside him." "He saw beauty in the world." "Beauty?" "What, like your face?" "Whoa, stop, stop, stop!" "Quick, reverse." "R everse quick." "Look." "Right." "Okay." "What did you do to my son?" "Did you rape him?" "Should have heard your friend Lawrie squeal when I did this to him." "Begged for his eyes and his nose and his lips." "Beg, beg." "You know what?" "I pity you." "You'll crawl through your own shit by the time I'm finished with you, you animal!" "You're going down this time, Joe." "Be sensible." "It would be meaningless." "Completely meaningless." "Go on then, George." "Shoot." "Why not?" "Isabella." "Lovely name." "Foreign tart, was she?" "Go on, gov." "I'll back you up every inch of the way." "There's meant to be a difference between us and them, Sergeant." "Webster:" "Yeah." "I've got a pair of balls." "Bacchus:" "Right." "No, no, no." "No, you leave him, right?" "Take him, leave him." "Man:" "Someone get an ambulance." "Man:" "It's on its way, Sarge." "Did he scream a lot, Joe?" "Who is this?" "Lawrie Elton, when you pushed that blow torch into his face?" "Did he scream?" "Who?" "Lawrie Elton." "You know, the lad I let go." "Sergeant..." "Just a minute, please." "He was a tough little nut, wasn't he?" "Bet you sort of admired that." "Aye, made of the right stuff." "Not like your son, Billy Lister." "Fascinating though this is..." "Chalk and cheese, wouldn't you say, Billy and Lawrie?" "Poles apart?" "Is your Sergeant on drugs himself?" "Let's get him to hospital, shall we?" "Because the odd thing was they were born on the same day." "Well, knock me down with a feather." "Valerie Lister, the woman you raped when she was a 1 5-year-old girl..." "Well..." "what is rape?" "She never told you, did she?" "She had twins." "Two boys." "I could show you the birth certificates if you want." "And the adoption papers for the second born, the one she wasn't allowed to keep." "It's true, isn't it, gov?" "She had two lads." "He didn't go very far though," "Billy's brother, your other son." "He went to a childless couple up in Newcastle." "Aye, they brought him up the hard way." "Brought him up the way you probably would have done, Joe." "He had a bit of spirit." "Made of the right stuff." "Not for this lad sitting round drawing pictures of other blokes." "No, this lad liked his motorbike." "Would you like to know his name?" "Did he scream a lot, then?" "Did he beg for his life?" "Man:" "Ambulance is here, sir." "Take him." "What was that about?" "There was a twin." "I just made the rest up." "Got the smile off his face, though, didn't it?" "You are a very strange young man," "Sergeant Bacchus." "What would you have done if I'd pulled the trigger?" "I'd have bought you a drink." "Go on, admit it." "You wanted to, eh?" "And it would have felt great, wouldn't it?" "Let's go home." "So the politician says to the copper," "So the politician says to the copper," ""Right, constable, what will it be?" "A drink or a transfer?"" "Ah, young M r." "Bacchus." "St. George's trusty steed and a hero to boot." "Right, go on." "Piss off, all of you." "You think I'm joking?" "Go, now." "The night Billy Lister died, you went round to his house and searched his room alone at 1:00 in the morning." "Why?" "What was it that couldn't wait till the next morning?" "Lawrie Elton was murdered and tortured because we let him go." "Why did we let him go, again?" "You wanted him gone." "You were so busy trying to bring Ricky Deeming down." "You planted that scarf, didn't you?" "Planted it where I would find it." "You'd have let me charge an innocent man." "You're finished." "Says who?" "Says the Right Honorable Charlotte Dawson." "Come again?" "Oh, you know." "Posh bird I nicked for pushing speed." "See, she could go down for six months." "But instead, she's going to sign a statement saying that Billy Lister told her that you were the brains behind this drugs racket." "Lister knew nothing about me." "Nor does the Right Honorable Charlotte Dawson." "But she's going to sign that statement... when I write it, don't you think?" "'Cause then, you see," "I'll drop all charges against her." "Or?" "Or you take your pension and you leave by Friday." "Catching, isn't it?" "What is?" "Sainthood." "No, man." "I'll never be a George Gently." "He'd have charged you." "Anyway, I have other plans." "Oh, really?" "M mm." "What's funny?" "Would you like to ask God his forgiveness, Joe?" "I'll ask him meself." "Gently:" "Years ago, my first big job was head of CI D in Dorset." "There was a young officer there who became famous for what was known as his "agricultural ability. "" "He was the best at planting things." "I tried to change him, but I failed." "He is now one of the most corrupt detectives in the Metropolitan Police, which, of course, makes him one of the most corrupt policemen worldwide." "It's a lasting regret that I couldn't stop him when I had the chance, which is why I've decided to chop you down now." "Chop me down?" "How?" "I'm your new boss." "You're coming here?" "To this place?" "Yes." "I thought I'd had enough." "Find that I haven't." "Well, ships passing in the night and that, sir, but I've been offered a job in the Met." "They're putting together a new squad to take on organized crime in Soho." "You'll be getting a letter." "From who?" "The Deputy Commissioner." "He's an old friend." "I told you, Sergeant Bacchus." "I'm chopping you down." "You're staying here." "With me." "Subtitling made possible by Acorn Media"