"You are charged with the murder of Mrs. Emily French." "How do you plead?" "Not guilty." "He did it." "He was here!" "It was him." "It was Leonard Vole!" "My wife..." "I was at home with Romaine by 9:30." "She can tell them and then all this can be over." "He was with me." "Prepare yourself to hear some difficult things." "That they were lovers." "Hang." "The prosecution's witness now." "You stay back." "You're lying." "You're sending him to the gallows." "A nice clean shirt for Leonard." "He should look his best." "I'll be back late tonight, so... don't wait up." "I'll leave a covered plate for you." " Good luck." " Thank you." "Hello?" "What do you want?" "I was frightened." "That night when he came home..." "I was frightened." "I knew he had done something." "I knew he had done something." "I knew he had done something." "Fame." "Notoriety." "Revenge." "We all know why she's doing this." "I betrayed her." "It's time to start fighting dirty." "Has she ever been a prostitute?" "What?" "No!" "You don't have to say that she was." "You just have to say that you can't be certain that she wasn't." "Think about it." "I'm not saying something like that." "It's not true." "We need to damage Romaine." "If there's anything... anything... we can use against her... you need to say it now." "She was never even late with the rent." "I knew straightaway." "He gets this look." "This look he gets..." "I felt sick, because I knew... he had done something terrible." "These marks... animal prints?" "That was, er, Mrs. French's cat, your honour." "The cat was in the room." "It, well..." "It walked through the blood." "Detective Breem, how did Mrs. French meet her death?" "The victim received three blows, one to the side of the head." "This would have stunned Mrs. French." "The second blow was to the back of the neck." "Likely it was aimed at Mrs. French's skull but the assailant missed his mark." "The third blow was to the back of the skull." "Death, if not instantaneous, would have arrived quickly." "Brain matter was visible." "There was a lot of blood." "I want to be clear." "This means that Mrs. French's assailant was standing over her?" " Yes." " So the assailant must have had blood on their person," " on their clothes." " Yes, er..." "Particularly on the arm, the cuffs of a shirt or jacket." "When you arrested Leonard Vole, you searched his home." "What did you find?" "A shirt had been burned in the grate." "We know Mrs. French was alive at approximately 9:20 on the night of her death, is that correct?" "Yes, she was seen drawing her curtains by a neighbour." "And ten minutes later, she was dead and Leonard Vole was seen leaving the house." "Clifford Starling." "My firm have acted as legal counsel to the French family for three generations." "Mrs. French came to see you on the 17th of October, a mere two weeks before her murder." "What was the purpose of that meeting?" "She wanted to change her will." "I want Leonard named my sole inheritor." "Everything." "Including Janet's stipend." " Miss Mclntyre?" " She doesn't want me to be happy." "She wants me to be miserable and alone and untouched and unloved, just like her, that's what she wants." "She was always capricious." "Everything left to Leonard Vole?" "Was he aware of this meeting?" "He wasn't in the room but I looked out of the window as Mrs. French was leaving and a man was waiting by her motor car." "Is that man in this room?" "He is." "It was your diligence in protecting your mistress that uncovered Mr. Vole's deceits... that he was involved with another woman he called his wife but he was dallying with Mrs. French's affections." "I should have stayed in." "Then he'd be dealing with me." "You came home from your meeting at half past nine." "And you saw him." "You know that man well." "I do." "I'd recognise him anywhere." "The prosecution calls Romaine Heilger." "Looking really sweaty, Mayhew." "Wipe yourself down, chum." "Romaine, please..." " The prisoner will remain silent." " Please..." "Place your left hand on the Bible and speak the oath." "I swear by almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." "So help me God." "You are Romaine Heilger, formally known as Romaine Vole?" "Yes." "I have decided to call myself by my father's name again." "An Austrian national, from Vienna?" "I was born there, but when I was quite small, my parents moved to Liege in Belgium." "And you were there during the invasion of 1914?" "Yes, your honour." "There cannot be a man or woman in this court, or indeed in Britain and her dominions, who does not know of the slaughter and bloodshed suffered by Belgium during the invasion." "What happened to your parents, Miss Heilger?" "They were murdered." "Along with many other friends, neighbours and people in my town." "Jesus Christ." "You were spared." "Well, a young girl who can sing the favourite songs of an invading army is a prize." "Yes, I was spared, although it didn't feel like it at the time." "When did you meet Leonard Vole?" "In 1918." "Almost at the end of the war." "I fell in love with him and I followed him to England after the war, as Mrs. Vole." "But you were not married." "No." "Can you tell the court exactly what happened on the evening of the 28th of October?" "I was frightened." "I knew straightaway." "He had this look." "This look he gets." "I felt... sick, because I knew he had done something." "The defence case rests on two arguments." "The first, that Leonard Vole left Mrs. -00 in order to be at home with you by 9:30." "But he came home at 10:10, covered in blood." "Could you tell us what happened next, please, Miss Heilger?" "And then he smiled at me... this strange smile... and said..." ""I don't need your sticky pennies any more."" ""I'm a rich man now."" "Not true!" "None of it is true!" "She's lying!" " Why are you lying?" "!" " Silence!" "Stay back!" "Thank you." "Stay back." "Thank you, out of the way." "Out of the way, please!" "Thank you." "Not answering any questions at this time." "Thank you." "Thank you!" "This way." "Thank you." "Stay back!" "Please!" "I didn't do nothing!" "Please!" "I didn't do anything." "I'm innocent." "I didn't do anything!" "Get off me!" "Get off!" "Hold him." "Hold him." "Hold him!" "Calm down." "Scum!" "Can't you put him on the bed?" "You were right, she's impressive." "The judge believes her, the jury believes her and now they've got the whole night to think about how much they believe her, and I have nothing on her." "There is something, but Leonard won't say." "How helpful." "Perhaps I should just tie the noose myself" " and save everyone else the time and trouble." " Janet Mclntyre..." "No-one cares about the fucking maid!" "I do." "Please, stop!" "Sir Charles, I can't..." "Mrs. French always grew bored of the other young men, none of them lasted, so Janet Mclntyre had her mistress all to herself until Leonard came along." "She was jealous." "This is your contingency plan?" "To paint a recently murdered woman as a predatory nymphomaniac and her maid as a deranged lesbian?" "Janet Mclntyre had blood on her cuffs." "Hello?" "Hello?" "You've been watching me." "Who are you?" "Christine." "Christine Moffat." "I was the girl on the moon before her." "Did you bring money?" "I need money." "I don't know what I'm buying yet." "Or if I want it." "You'll want it." "100 pound." "I don't have anything like that." "But you will." "You will when you win." "When you've ruined that pissy German bitch." "Show yourself." "I can't... can't deal with someone whose face I can't see." "She done this to me." "Boiling sugar and water, and she laughed while she done it." "I was beautiful once, and now I have to hide in this shithole." "But I've been following her." "And I got these." "To her fancy man, what was my man, that she stole from me." "She went to the Cross Keys hotel at Blackfriars with my man." "And her surname isn't Heilger." "That's not her maiden name..." "it's her husband's name." "You want 'em now, don't you?" "This is everything I've got." "That's... that's not enough." " That's not nearly enough." " No." "No." "I can bring more." "I..." "I promise." "Swear." "Swear on what you love." "I swear on my wife." "I swear on the memory of my son." "She took my face." "She took my man." "Now you take her." "You take her." "Mister!" "You will come back with my money, my money to live?" "I'll come back." "I need it, Mister!" "You're very hot, John." "I'm going to save us, Alice." "I'm going to save him." "But I'm going to save us." "Not long to go now." "Give 'em your best face." "You hear me, son?" "The defence may proceed." "Sir Charles Carter KC for the defence." "Call Romaine Heilger." "This is your contract of employment for the theatre." "Yes." "And this is your handwriting?" "Your signature?" "Yes." "To clarify your testimony, made under oath," "Leonard Vole came home at 10:10, covered in blood, he burned his bloodstained shirt in the grate and told you he was a rich man now." "That's correct." "And that is your handwriting." "I said so." "You're a liar, aren't you?" "No." "I'm not, sir." "This is your handwriting too, isn't it?" "I can't see." "Can you bring that closer?" "No, I don't think I will." "I think I'll just read it out." ""My darling Max..."" ""my lover, my flame, my wolf, my brute..."" " "Not long now, my sweetheart..."" " Where did you get that?" ""Not long now until I'm yours and yours alone,"" ""not long until Leonard is gone forever, out of my way for good."" ""Poor stupid Leonard, as innocent as a lamb."" ""Well, lamb was always my favourite meat."" "Please, give that to me, it is mine." ""So simple, so easy." "My last theatrical role."" "I said, please give it to me." " This will be my..." " It is mine!" "Please give it to me now!" ""This will be my greatest performance and soon, my darling,"" ""soon, my love, I will be free, in your arms."" ""Your hands on me,"" ""your mouth on me."" ""How I burn for you."" "Leonard Vole." "As innocent as a lamb." "From her own mouth." "You didn't go to theatrical digs that night, did you?" "You went to the Cross Keys hotel at Blackfriars to meet your lover." "The night porter will go on oath that you arrived at one in the morning and went upstairs to a suite where, he was assured, you were expected." "Why would you want Leonard Vole dead?" "Why would you want to send this young man to the gallows for a murder he did not commit?" "Because Leonard Vole is the only person who knows that if you marry your lover, which you so clearly long to do, you will be a bigamist." "Silence!" "Heilger is not the name of your beloved father, killed with your mother during the invasion of 1914." "That was a lie." "Heilger is the name of the husband you already have." "That is why you and Leonard Vole never married." "And my client, through some... misguided but honourable chivalry, chose to keep your shame to himself." "You have lied to the court." "You have lied under oath." "There is a penalty for that." "Expect to pay it." " You men." " Take her down." "You men." "Congratulations." "You men." "You fucking men!" "You fucking men!" " You men!" " Order!" " You fucking men!" " Order!" " You fucking men!" " Order!" "You fucking men!" "Are you an expert in lip reading, Mr. Starling?" " No." " So when you observed Leonard Vole and Mrs. French through your office window, you can't tell what she said to him?" "Whether she told him the purpose of your meeting or not?" "No." "Leonard Vole freely admitted he went to visit Mrs. French to take her a present of a cat-shaped brush for her cat." "Did you find such an item in your search of the house?" "Yes." "So Leonard Vole, who is as innocent as a lamb, was telling the truth." "I saw him as bright as day." "I saw him leave the house." "But you can't have done, Miss Mclntyre, unless you returned from your church meeting earlier than you previously stated, at which point, Mrs. French was still alive." "It was half past nine and it was him!" "Mr. Vole was at home, Miss Mclntyre." "Are you trying to say I'm mad?" "Are you trying to say I'm seeing... things?" "Has the prosecution been coaching you on your answers, Miss Mclntyre?" "The murder of Mrs. Emily French was a terrible, brutal crime but it wasn't committed by Leonard Vole." "The evidence here is circumstantial, fuelled by speculation and jealousy." "And the police should have seen through it straightaway." "Yet Leonard Vole has been imprisoned, he has been beaten, his name, his reputation traduced, every calumny of the state, the law, visited upon him." "The threat of death by hanging haunting his every waking moment, an innocent man." "Good God, what world is this?" "Gentlemen of the jury, the greatest contumely that Leonard Vole has endured is the monstrous, vicious, infinite, heinous perfidy... of women!" "Leonard has left the court." "You, however... will be charged with perjury and go to prison." "You've lost your career, such as it was." "You've lost your lover and the man who... more fool him..." "loved you." "So... who's easy to hurt now?" "You." "You!" " What you've done!" " All right, all right, come on." "The blood's on your hands!" " Calm down, Ms. Mclntyre!" " Your hands!" " Calm down!" " Your hands!" "Your hands!" "John?" "John?" "It's bronchitis, according to the doctor." "He says he doesn't know how you kept going." "I said, "Well, that's John Mayhew for you." "He just keeps going."" "Here." "How long have I been here?" "Four days." " Four days?" " No, no." "It's covered." "It's all covered." "For as long as you need." "The bank likes me now." "I'm going abroad." "I don't know if I can stay in England." "It's too much, you know?" "I wonder if... when you're better, you could do something for me." "Sell the house." "I won't live there, I couldn't." "Shall we say 40% commission?" "That's too generous." "I owe you my life, John Mayhew." "My life." "There is one thing that's worrying me." "I think I should make a settlement for Janet." " Financial settlement?" " She's lost everything... her home, her job..." "I could help her." "Anonymously, of course." "No." "Well, I'll be guided by you." "I think you're going to be very busy." "You've become rather famous." "I've left something for you." "Goodbye, John." "Thank you." "Alice." "I saved him." "Take these first?" "No, take the ones upstairs, they need to go first." "The cat walks through the crime scene." "Its paw prints are photographed." "And then it's gone." "At the police station, Janet Mclntyre's hands are clean... but the white cuffs on her dress are stained with blood." "A dead cat isn't evidence of murder." "It's evidence of Miss Mclntyre's state of mind." "This happened right under your nose, Detective Breem." "It's all been right under your nose." "Well... congratulations." "You've just solved the murder of Emily French." "You can thank me later when you get promoted." "Good morning, Mr. Mayhew." " Good day." " Sir." " Hello, sir." " Hello." " Mr. Mayhew." " Good to see you." "Thank you, thank you." "Ms. Mclntyre." "You have to come with us now." " There you are, sir." " Jolly good." " Morning, Beryl." " Good morning, Mr. Mayhew." " Morning, sir." " Morning." "Welcome." "Hail Mary, full of grace..." "And two weeks before Leonard Vole's trial," "Ms. Mclntyre came to you for advice, didn't she?" "What advice did she want?" "She... she wanted to know what would happen to Mrs. French's will when Leonard Vole was convicted of her murder." "I said there was a strong case to argue that it revert to its previous iteration." "The version which contained a generous stipend for Ms. Mclntyre?" "Yes." "She was licking the blood, Mimi, the cat." "Erm, licking the blood." "She wasn't even sorry." "She wasn't sad." " She was licking the blood." "I just snapped." " You just snapped?" "Did you snap with Mrs. French, arguing about the will?" "You were jealous, weren't you?" "She was yours." "And Mrs. French wouldn't believe anything you said about Leonard Vole." "Perhaps she didn't care and now she'd given him your money." "You came back from church earlier than you stated, you argued with Mrs. French and you snapped." "You don't understand, I loved her!" "I loved her..." " so much!" " Too much." "Much too much." "What's the matter?" "Nothing." "Nothing." "Nothing." "Go back to sleep." "I love you." "I love you." "Alice?" "We'll miss the train." "How pretty you are." "Thank you." "No, not today, thank you, it's not convenient, not today." "Not today, thank you, not today, not today, not today." "Not today, not today, thank you, it's not convenient, no, no, no, no." "Not today." "No, no, no, not today..." "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold... nothing into this world," "and it is certain we can carry nothing out." "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away." "Hello, Leonard." "John." "No, no, no." "Sh!" "No noise, don't make a fuss, we can't have that." "Leonard, leave him alone." "It'll go everywhere now, John, it's all shaken up." "We're celebrating." "We're having champagne." "Told you." "You're..." " You're in prison." " I was." "Time has gone by." "You probably didn't notice, so busy being a success." "You deserve it, John." "And you look well, so much better than you did." "Being rich suits you." "She wanted you hanged." " Christ." " John." "What jury would believe a besotted woman?" "She'll say night is day to save her man." "But a vicious, scheming bitch, lying through her foreign teeth to put a noose around his neck... well, they'll disbelieve her... and find that man innocent, won't they?" "No." "No." "I went to see Christine Moffat." "I saw what you've done to her." "You honestly believe that I threw boiling water and sugar in a girl's face?" "What do you take me for?" "Christine was pregnant." "Breathe in." "Careful!" "We're ready for you now, Ms. Moffat." "She went off to have her baby." "Did you go back to see her?" "Give her the money?" "I'm guessing not." "And you swore you would." "You swore on your wife... and on the memory of your son, you swore." "Mister." "Make-up." "Lighting." "The stage was all set." "Performance." "It was all just pretending, John." "Here, John, have a drink before you pass out." "It was all lies." "I told the truth, on oath." "Leonard came home at ten past ten." "There were a few little untruths." "I've never been married before." "Heilger is my father's name." "And I burned the shirt." "God." "God, dear Janet." "God, God..." "John." "Get your murdering hands off me." "Murder?" "Just one life after so many." "You're a monster." "You monsters!" "We are what happens when you butcher the young, when you cheat us, you lie to us, you expect us to be grateful just for being alive." "And you are no different from us, John." "You went after Janet." "I wanted to give her money." "You wanted her dead." "You have a ruthless streak in you, John." "What you'll do to win, how far you'll go." "Here's to John Mayhew." "Fellow monster." "You have made it all possible." "You and your guilt." "It wasn't Leonard you wanted to be innocent." "It was you." "Did you have a nice walk?" "I love you." "Yes... you're always telling me." "You never say it back." "Everything I've done was for you, everything." "All of it... to make you happy." "I love you." "Please say it back." "No." "Stop!" "The windows are open, someone will hear." "Let them." " No!" " Alice!" "Say it back." " John..." " Please." " John, st...!" " Alice." "Stop!" "Alice, please!" "St...!" "Stop..." " it!" " No!" "Stop it!" "Argh!" "Argh!" "Everything I've done!" "Everything!" "Every single thing was for you, all of it!" "Every single thing was to make you love me!" "Now say it back so that I know that that was worth it!" "You don't want to be loved!" "You want to be forgiven and I don't!" "I don't, I don't forgive you!" "No!" "Because you came home and he didn't!" "Did you think all it would take was a holiday and some new clothes?" "I didn't want him to go." "He was too young... and you let him lie about his age so you could go off together." "Father and son." "And I've tried to forgive you... and I've tried to love you and I can't." "Because you came home... and he didn't." "I will always look after you... cook for you, clean your house." "I'll stand by your side." "I will be proud when you do well, but love you?" "I can't." "And the way you paw at me, I..." "I can't bear it." "I won't endure it." "You'll have to go elsewhere for your needs." "You can afford a mistress now." "I don't want anyone but you." "You came home." "Now we have to carry on." "It's... better to be honest, for both of us." "No false hope." "I'm going to have a bath now." "Then we can have dinner... knowing each other better." "Everything... all of it... everything was for you." "Then it really wasn't worth it." "I..." "I think we can be happier now." "Don't you?" "I expect so." "Now you can inherit," "I was thinking what would happen if you got tired of me?" "Then don't be tiresome, Leonard." "Merci, Monsieur." " Au revoir." " Au revoir."