"(Buzz of conversation)" "(Clears throat)" "Ladies and gentlemen," " l think we've..." " For you, sir." "I think we've exhausted the many, indeed the multifarious merits of our two candidates." "I suggest we now move to the election of the new Master of Courtenay College." ""Thus we find at Kilpeck, and could once have found at Shobdon, an extraordinary outburst of native sculpture, at a time when the country as a whole was plunged deep in the chaos of MatiIda's civil war."" "(Phone rings)" "Yes." "Good." "Of course, we only know Shobdon... (Phone continues ringing)" " Excuse me." "Ullman here." "Oh." "Master." "Yes?" "I see." "Well, what happens next?" "No, no, I certainly won't." "Have you spoken to Hanbury yet?" "(Phone rings)" "Hello?" "I've told you, I won't speak to you!" "I don't care!" "If you try to contact me again, I shall inform the Master." "(Phone rings)" "Look, I've told you..." "Oh." "Oh." "Oh, Master." "Yes, yes, yes, sorry. lt is Hanbury." "What?" "Oh..." "Good God." "Really?" "(Low conversation) I say, we haven't had an election as fraught as this since 1 789." "What do the statutes say?" "In the event of a tie, we are required to call in the Visitor." "Think what that would do for the reputation of the college." "Would the election of Hanbury enhance it so very much, Charles?" "Good evening, Ullman." "I hope it will be, Hanbury." "For the college." "Shall we talk in the garden?" "Fresh air is so good for clearing the mind of cant." "HANBURY:" "You don't stand a chance." "You know you don't." "And yet you're perfectly prepared to drag the college through the mud because of a personal grudge against me." "For God's sake, why don't you behave like a gentleman for once?" "You may be a gentleman, Hanbury, but you're wholly unfit to have charge of young people." "I shall fight you till my dying breath!" "?" "PUCClNl:" "Aria from Tosca" "(Door slams)" "TANNOY:" "Oxford." "This is Oxford." "The train at platform 1 is for RadIey, CuIham, AppIeford and Didcot Parkway." "Change at Didcot Parkway for a fast service to Reading and London Paddington." "Good evening, Lady Hanbury." "Oh, Mrs Parker." "Good evening." "Been up to town?" "Yes." "Yes, I've been to Covent Garden." "The opera." "Tosca." " Wonderful." " Oh, really?" "Ted's never taken me to the opera." "Oh, damn and blast!" "Look, that man's got the last taxi." "I'll be here half the night now, I expect." "Er, no, it's all right. I'll...give you a lift, if John McKendrick hasn't forgotten me." "Oh, haven't you got your car, then?" "Oh, of course." "Oh, I am sorry." "Well, that's why Ted's not here to meet me." "Got to be so careful these days - drinking and driving." "The police have really got it in for our sort, you know." "Publicans." "Ted reckons..." "The police have really got it in for my sort, actually." "As I've learned to my cost." " l'm sorry, Prue. I..." " Your apologies can wait till morning, John, as you seem to expect me to." "We'll drop Mrs Parker on the way." "It's really very kind of you." "I was helping Ted Parker get up a new barrel of beer." "The time...just sort of slipped away." "Oh, I'm sure Ted was very grateful, Lady Hanbury." "His back's been giving him such a Iot of trouble." "How are the boys, Lady Hanbury?" "Bobby enjoying Summerfields?" "Seems to be." "Mm." "I suppose Simon will be going to Eton soon." " September." " Oh." "Oh, I saw Georgina yesterday." "Chattering away in French she was, to that au pair of yours." "I wish I'd had someone to teach me French when I was that age." "Would you have used it then?" "I really can't thank you enough, Lady Hanbury." "Oh, it was nothing." "Good night." "Good night." "child:" "well, I don't care." "I think it's silly talking French in england." "people should talk english." "WOMAN:" "How will you know how to speak French when you go to France?" "I shan't go to France, ever." "And even if I do, I won't want to ask the time because I'll have a watch." "So there." "Georgina!" "Hello, John." "I've been teaching Michelle to tell the time." " Have you, Georgie?" "What time is it?" " Breakfast time!" "Lovely day." "John?" "Hello." "Georgina, where are you going?" " lt's time Daddy came for breakfast." " No, Georgina!" "You know Daddy does not like to be disturbed." "Come back, Georgina!" "Daddy!" "Daddy!" " Breakfast!" " Georgina, what are you doing?" "Don't go in there." "Sir Julius, I'm so sorry, she..." "Maltby!" "Maltby!" "Come quickly!" " Whatever's the matter?" " We've got burglars." " Really, dear?" "Where?" " l've got to tell Lady Hanbury." "In the library." "Those pictures are crooked and there's an open window." "(Rapid knock at door)" "Lady Hanbury!" "Lady Hanbury!" "ll faut venir vite!" "ll y a des voleurs dans la bibliothèque." " What on earth are you talking about?" " The library." "The pictures." "ll y a des voleurs." "You must come quickly!" "Dear, oh dear, oh dear!" "What will your daddy say?" "We shall have to get the police." "Good Lord!" " Where's Sir Julius?" " l don't know, madam." "At the college, I expect." "He wasn't here last night. I know that." "His bed wasn't slept in." "Who did it, Mummy?" "Very wicked people, darling." "The police will have to find them and lock them up." "Well, he doesn't seem to be in his room, Lady Hanbury." "May I take a message?" "Very good, madam." " Good morning, Arthur." " Good morning, sir." "Has Sir Julius arrived yet, do you know?" "He must be still on his way, sir." "Just had Lady Hanbury asking for him." "Oh." "Right." "Georgina, come here." "Don't touch that." "Will the policemen have dogs, Mummy, to trace the burglars?" "I don't know, darling. I expect so." "You run along with Maltby, have your breakfast." "I want a word with Michelle." " Come along, Georgie." " Will they be bloodhounds, Maltby?" "Bloodhounds?" "!" "What would they want with bloodhounds?" "John, will you make sure no-one comes near that window?" "There may be footprints." "Right." "Now, michelle..." "Um...what day did we say you were going on holiday?" "August the 1 5th." "1 5th?" "Mm." "I've been thinking, it might be more convenient if you went a little earlier." "But my brother is getting married on the 27th and er..." "I..." "I only have two weeks." "You needn't worry." "I shan't be wanting you back any earlier." "In fact, I'm sorry to say this, Michelle, but I shan't be wanting you back at all." "The fact is, I've decided to look after Georgina myself for the rest of the summer." "It's the last chance I'll have to be with my little girl while she is still little." "It's all right." "You'II be paid until the end of September." "I'm sure you'll be able to find another job by then." "Hm?" "But what have I done, Lady Hanbury?" "Let's not be silly about this, Michelle." "I shall be obliged if you'd be ready to leave as soon as possible." "?" "Final bars of aria from Tosca" "(Removes cassette) I liked that." "It was good." " Who was it?" " That, Lewis, was Maria Callas." "Was it from Cats?" "No, it most certainly was not." "The wife wants to go to Cats." "Don't know why." "She's allergic to them." "Shut up about bloody cats and tell me what you know about this place." "Nothing." "Hanbury House is one of the architectural gems of the county, Lewis." "But what you need to know is the Chief Constable dines here once a month, which is why you and I are wasting a fine summer morning on some footling art theft." "lewis:" "Nice-looking place, though." " ls it open to the public?" " Only the garden." "It's historically important, the garden." "When the Hanburys wanted to make a few changes, they didn't muck about." "They moved the whole village." "Bloody hell!" "People like them, they think people like us are only here to keep the servants in order." "Does that mean we have to arrest the butler?" "(Whispers) Yes." "Just now." "I don't know, she...she just suddenly said so this morning." "She..." "But I can't." "You don't understand, Roger." "There's been a..." "There were robbers in the night." "(Footsteps)" " Someone's coming." "I think you should come here quickly." "(Maltby scoffs)" "Come on." "Restored, of course." "Look at that window." "lewis:" "AII that stonework." "Must take months to do the pointing." "You're not a bloody Mason, are you?" "No such luck." "I might have been a Chief Inspector by now if I was." ""Were", Lewis." "If you were." "You'll never get on if you can't master your subjunctives." "Keep touching your forelock and we may be back in Oxford before lunch." " Shouldn't that be "might"?" "(Doorbell)" "MORSE:" "Not my taste, this sort of thing, I'm afraid." "Nor mine." "The decent pictures are all in my drawing room." "And what are they, madam?" "A Titian, a Poussin, a couple of Murillos and our Gainsborough, of course." "I make my husband keep these horrors in here where l can't see them." "Well...they're not like these modern things, are they?" "I mean... you can see what they're meant to be." "All too clearly, alas." "Fortunately, the burglars shared your sergeant's taste, Inspector." " lt's only these they've taken." " How many are missing?" "Um...six, I think." "We'll have to wait till my husband gets back to be sure." "He's going to be very upset about this one." "It's his favourite." "It normally resides there." "I think it's an obscenity," " but there you are." " Alma-Tadema, is it?" "Very good." "Though how anyone can tell these paintings apart..." "My husband..." "Well, as a matter of fact, he's writing a book." "What he calls a replevin." "It's a form of legal recovery, Lewis." "Good heavens, Inspector." "You're the only person I've met who knew the word." "He does crosswords, madam." "Knows all sorts of words that nobody ever uses." "is your husband writing his book on this?" "Er, it's his latest toy, yes." "Smashing machines. I've just been on a course." "This was the one I really fancied." "I doubt if Lady Hanbury's interested in that, Lewis." " Afraid not. I can't even type." " Oh, but you can save so much time with these." "Lewis, I think perhaps you'd better go and interview the staff." " See who was doing what and when last night." " Very good, sir." "How many people live in, Lady Hanbury?" "well, there's us, of course." "My daughter Georgina." "MaItby." "She's my old nanny." "She's now housekeeper." "Um..." "McKendrick, he's the gardener-cum-handyman." "Oh, and Michelle." "She's the au pair." "MORSE:" "Is that the whole staff?" "Well, there's an army of chars who come in to clean, but they all live in the village." " What, no butler?" " Just get on with it, Lewis." "Where was Sir Julius last night, Lady Hanbury?" "I'm not entirely sure. ln college, I expect." "I take it, then, he doesn't always tell you when he's going to be away for the night?" "Not always, no." "Though what has that to do with the theft of his pictures?" "I need to know where everyone was." "I was in London." "John McKendrick was a little late meeting me at the station, so I was back here about one or so." "We gave a lift to Mrs Parker from the pub, if you want to confirm it." "I noticed nothing wrong." "I went to bed." "I see." "Now, till my husband appears, there are certain things I must do." "I expect you'll want to get on with..." "whatever it is you do." "Yes." "You'll find John somewhere." "He'll show you what you want." "Well, I didn't switch on the alarm because I thought Sir Julius was still here." "He never told me he was going off to college." "Don't do that, Georgie." "You'll make yourself sick again." "It's my favourite - plum duff." "My wife just doesn't make it like my mam did, though." "Now, you see, it's my afternoon off" " Wednesdays." "They're having a summer sale up at Peter Jones, so I thought I'd just pop up to town and look at the tablecloths." "Lady Hanbury leaves all that sort of thing to me." " What time did you get back?" " Ooh..." "Half past five." "You didn't stop long." "I don't like London." "Nasty, dirty place." "Anyway, Michelle was going out with her boyfriend, as usual." "Someone had to stay and look after Georgie." "Georgina, I told you no." "Course, Lady Hanbury had left by then and I thought Sir Julius must have decided to go and eat in college." "But...wouldn't he have told you?" "Well, Georgie and I did go for a stroll about seven o'clock." "That's when we saw that funny old car going down the drive, didn't we, Georgie?" "It was really, really old." " Can I have my chocolate biscuit, please?" " No." "If you're well enough to eat biscuits, then you're well enough to go back to school, Georgina." "So, if you ask me, that's one of his friends from college taking him in for his dinner." "The security arrangements don't seem to be very good here, Mrs Maltby." "Well, he usually rings to say if he's staying in college." "That's why I thought he was coming back, you see." "Now, we'll just pop this in the steamer, shall we?" "So...why didn't he ring?" "You'll have to ask him that." " The bloke who built this place drowned here." " Really?" "Had a little dog." "Went with him everywhere." "It jumped up on this parapet thing, fell in." "He bent over to fish it out, lost his balance and couldn't get back." "But the dog scrambled up over his body and ran off back to the house, which is how they knew the old man was missing when the dog turned up very wet, without him." "You've been here before?" "I paid my 50p last Easter, yes." "The daffs were great, weren't they?" "If you like daffs." "Do you have any right to wear that tie around your neck, or is it just something you use to keep your trousers up?" "I was at Harrow - not for very long." "Bit unusual, isn't it?" "An Old Harrovian working as a handyman." "I've known one or two who've done worse." " Any who've done time?" " What?" "I mean, were you at school with any art thieves, Mr McKendrick?" "Not that I know of." "I've never been too keen on art, actually." "How did you get to work here?" "My father and Julius, they're in the Foreign Office together." "I see." "I've always wanted an open-air job." "Well..." "I'm not much use at anything else, really." "I like to do things with my hands." "I can drive and all that, but anything to do with school work..." "Julius and Prue, they've been...absolutely smashing." "When you brought Lady Hanbury back last night, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?" "Not a thing. I just went to bed." " What about this morning?" " Not a sausage." "Was the burglar alarm on when you came back?" "I don't know." "Julius always deals with that." "It is my...evening off." "I am going..." "Er..." "I went into Oxford on the bus." "Like it?" "Oxford?" "Do you like it?" "It's all right." "What did you do?" "I...meet some friends." "We...we go to Riots." "What?" "Oh, the disco?" "Right." "Your boyfriend was there, was he?" "I don't have a boyfriend." "Pretty girl like you?" "What time did you come home?" "Before midnight." "Lady Hanbury say..." "says I must always be home by 1 2." "How did you get back?" "There isn't a bus that late, is there?" "A friend bring me in his car." "What friend was that?" "Sorry?" "It is your accent. I am not familiar with the..." "Your friend, the one with the car," " what's his name?" " Roger." "Oh, Roger." "Roger what?" "Meadows, I think." "He...he is a student." "I do not know him very well." "Must like you, driving you all this way at midnight." "Did you see anything odd when you got back home?" "Hear anything?" "No." "I..." "I am a little frightened here." "This house, it is so big, and so few people." "Er..." "I say good night to Roger." "I run up the stairs, I um..." "I look at Georgina." "She is sleeping." "I go to bed." "What about the burglar alarm?" "Oh, there are always people awake when I come home." "I do not think about it." "And er..." "Roger?" "I suppose he go back to Oxford. I don't know." "I..." "I wave him goodbye, then I go in." "But he's an hour late, Prue!" "And it's a really most important meeting." "We may have to call in the Visitor." "No, he did not spend the night here." "And no, he has not been in college this morning." "Well, I'm afraid I'm not privy to his movements." "No." "But if he does turn up in college, would you tell him his favourite picture's been stolen in the night?" "Amazing what people could do in those days." "Moving the village, rebuilding the church as a garden ornament." " Ever looked inside?" " No, it was closed when I came." "Well, it's a private mausoleum." "They don't want all and sundry going in there." " But if you're interested..." " Mm." "Lovely design." "Athenian Stuart, as I recall." "I think that's the chap's name, yeah." "Yes, I see." "All the family tombs." "Oh, my God!" "Sir Julius was a diplomat, not a don." "How did that make him suitable to be Master?" "Oh, a college needs friends in high places." "These dreadful cuts." "And Julius knows...knew everyone in Whitehall and the City." "And he was, of course, extremely rich himself." "Then why the bitterness?" "Oh, the usual college jealousies, you know." "No." "Well, there's always a faction which prefers academic distinction to worldly success." "Edward Ullman, you see, is one of the most distinguished scholars the university can boast." "Though, I wouldn't normally say this about a colleague, Inspector, but, well," "Edward knows more about 1 5th-century Flemish painting than anyone else in the world, of course." "But...he has a tendency, all too common in academic circles, alas, a tendency to express himself with greater vigour than is always compatible with a collegiate spirit." " l see." " What made things worse was that Julius was always boasting about his ghastly Victorian pictures." "Edward let him know in no uncertain terms that he thought them vulgar pornography." "The replevin couldn't recover their reputation with Professor Ullman, then?" "Not a chance." "What time was it when you last saw Sir Julius, sir?" "About six o'clock yesterday evening." "He said he'd see Edward at once." "I had a dinner, unfortunately, so we agreed we'd all meet here at 9:30 this morning to see how things stood." "By which time..." "At least we're now spared the Visitor." "Who, sir?" "Oh, he's the man who has to make up the college's mind when it can't make it up for itself." "Unfortunately for us, he's the Bishop of Banbury." "Oh, yes." "The one who doesn't believe in God." "Any idea who he might have chosen?" "Oh, I expect he'd have made them both make way for some incomprehensible modern theologian." "Imagine what that would have done for Courtenay." "Sergeant Lewis?" "Ah." "Russell." "Dr Russell." "But...where's Max?" "Ah, not too well, actually." "Had a stroke." " Oh." " So, where's the body?" " Well, it's in the church, but it's not a pretty..." " Oh, already?" "Mm." "Saving on undertakers, are they?" "Wait till the Chief Inspector sees you!" "You're a Geordie, right?" "How did you guess?" "I did three years as a houseman...person at Newcastle General." "Never!" "That's where my first kiddy was born." " Whereabouts did you live?" " ln Jesmond." "Sandyford Terrace." " Do you know it?" " Do I know it?" "I've got an uncle who lives on the Osborne Road." "Used to work at Parsons at Heaton, you know?" "Oh, yes." "All right, Mike?" "This is Dr Russell, the new pathologist." "Knows Newcastle like the back of her hand." "ULLMAN:" "Why I vituperate such trash, Inspector, is it dowses all desire." "True pornography, artistic pornography - that can be genuinely erotic." "But that debauched, insipid, sentimental calendar art for eunuchs that Hanbury goes in for, no red-blooded male could be aroused by that, surely." "My view is such muck should be burnt for corrupting public taste." "Thank you, sir." "I understand it goes for higher prices than your ordinary Boots calendar, though." "I dare say you're not expected to distinguish between price and value in your profession, Inspector." "In mine, I am." "Your health." "How long did you spend at Hanbury House last night, sir?" "About...half an hour, I suppose." "I left about half past seven." "A bit tense, was it?" "is that what Hanbury told you?" "In my profession, sir, I ask the questions." "Do sit down." "It was quite friendly, under the circumstances." "Hanbury showed unusual tact for a British diplomat." "He didn't take me indoors to inflict his pictures upon me." "We had our talk in the decaying remains of his picturesque garden." "Was either of you prepared to withdraw in favour of the other?" "He said he wanted it to go to the Visitor." "I...naturally did not." "Why naturally, sir?" "I do not begin to comprehend the beliefs, or lack of them, of the Church of England." "But even the Bishop of Banbury professes to be a Christian." "And Hanbury, who of course believes nothing, but knows the form..." "Hanbury has his own private church." "What chance would a mere Jew stand against all that?" "Especially one who's questioned his Gainsborough, as well as his personal taste." "What's wrong with it?" " The Gainsborough, I mean." " lt's very doubtful." "You only have to look at the brushwork." "Sir Julius's ancestors were as easily fooled as he is himself." "Well, the fooling's over now, sir." "What do you mean?" "Sir Julius was found battered to death in that private church of his at 1 0:30 this morning." "(Laughs)" "He was all too alive and well when I left him." "Can you prove that, sir?" "You see, you seem to be the last person to have seen him alive." "Surely his murderer was that." "I won't pretend I'm sorry." "I'm damned if I will." "But if you honestly think..." "Oh, I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to think, sir." "Not in an Oxford college." "But, as I was telling the Master, I do imagine." "So if it's not too much trouble, you will let me know if you plan to leave Oxford in the next few days, won't you?" "How many days?" "Just till my imaginings are complete, sir." " Anything useful?" " Don't know yet." " Oh, Sergeant, I was wondering..." " Yes, madam?" "is it all right if John drives me over to Summerfields?" " Where's that, madam?" " My sons' school." "I want to break the news to them myself." "I couldn't bear them to hear it from anybody but me." "I'm sorry, madam, but the Chief Inspector said nobody was to leave till he got back." "Yes, but that doesn't apply to me, surely?" "Well, I'm afraid it does, madam, yes." "Well, really!" "How long does he intend to be?" "Oh, Chief Inspector Morse?" " That's me, yes." " Ah, yes." "Hello." "Um, Russell. I'm the locum pathologist." " Well, where's Max?" " ln the Radcliffe, actually." " Um...a stroke." "Nothing too serious but..." " Oh, no." "Poor Max!" "Oh, yes, sir." "Poor Max." "But..." "But..." "But you're a..." "A pathologist." "Yes." " But that body up there..." " Mm?" "I've seen worse." "Though it was a frenzied attack." "He was hit 1 1 or 1 2 times with something like a 5lb hammer." "I won't be able to tell you the exact number until after the postmortem." "Oh, well, have a look." "It's as though whoever did it wanted to obliterate him from the face of the earth." "Oh, just a moment." "I want the Chief Inspector to have a look." " Are you going to sort this out?" " Get that out of here." "His wife, um...the widow." "Sir, Lady Hanbury wants to leave the estate." "I didn't expect to be kept a prisoner in my own house, Inspector." "Well, what's the matter?" "Lady Hanbury wants to go and see her boys, sir." "Break the news to them." " But you said nobody was to leave..." " Oh, really, Lewis!" "I didn't mean Lady Hanbury." "Of course she can go." "She wants Mr McKendrick to drive her, sir." "She's..." " Well, it seems..." " Yes, there's no need to um and ah about it." "I was over the limit and quite rightly lost my licence." "Oh." "Oh, I see." "I've already questioned Mr McKendrick, Lewis." "I don't see any reason why he can't take Lady Hanbury." "Thank you." "Unless I can lend you one of our drivers, madam?" "Thank you, I'm used to John." "I'm terrified it'll be in the evening papers before I've prepared the boys." "Oh, yes, of course." "The press these days." " All these Australians." " Thank you." "Why, thank you, sir." " Be seeing you." " Yes, I'll be in touch." " Cheerio." "DR RUSSELL:" "Goodbye." "Lovely woman, that." "That's not a woman, Lewis, that's a lady." "Oh, Dr Russell, I mean." "Did all her training in Newcastle." "At the General where our Lynne was born." "Mm." "Best place for her." "A maternity hospital." "They shouldn't ask a woman to look at battered heads like that." "Wait a minute." "A frenzied attack, she said." "Must have been." "That many wounds." "But it's all neat and tidy up in that church." "Clean as a whistle." "So where was he killed?" "Where's the blood, Lewis?" "(Tyres screech)" "Bloody fool!" " Nothing at all?" " Not a trace." "Here or anywhere." "There must be something somewhere." "Where's the housekeeper, Lewis?" "Lady Hanbury said not to let the cleaners in, Inspector." "Not till you'd finished." "But you've been over the house, Mrs Maltby, I'm sure." "I've looked round, yes." "I haven't touched anything." " Another ginger biscuit, Sergeant?" " Mm." "Lovely." "MALTBY:" "Are you sure you won't partake?" "No, thank you. lt might spoil my lunch." "(Coughs)" " Did you see anything out of the ordinary anywhere, Mrs MaItby?" "Well, there'd been a break-in in the library." "Yes, yes, but anywhere else?" "I didn't think the nursery was very tidy." "But it never is these days." "The French don't seem to understand about putting toys away, if you get my meaning." "All right, thank you." "But your sergeant hasn't finished his coffee, Inspector." "He's a very slow drinker." "It's something to do with the Newcastle ale." "They like to sup it drop by drop up there." "Come on, Lewis." "It's all too neat, Lewis." "The body laid out in the church." "All this landscape gardening, it hides the natural shape of things." "She doesn't hide her natural shape, does she?" "She's got a boyfriend, sir. I think." "Let's go and see if McKendrick was really working in that pub last night." " Did you get it?" " No, I couldn't." "Oh, for God's sake, Michelle!" "Oh, but you don't understand, Roger." "There's policemen all over the house." "Sir Julius, he's been murdered." "We must get it back." "Thanks very much." " Sure I can't get you a nice pie, Inspector?" " No, thanks." "Do you good to eat something." "I'll just have another one of these, thank you." "Same again, please." "Sir JuIius will be ever so cut up about his pictures." "Do you have a lot of dealings with the big house?" "Well, a fair bit." "All the people on the estate." "And Sir Julius looks in now and then." "Always very friendly." "She never puts her nose in here, of course, but...well, she wouldn't, would she?" " Now, Betty." " Oh, she's much too grand for a place like this." "No, it's first class up to London for Lady Hanbury, then Claridges and the Ritz." "Well, a woman her class..." "She'd bite your head off soon as look at you." " She is moody, I'll give you that." " Moody?" "You ask Sir Julius." "She won't even share the same bedroom with him." "You don't know that, Betty." "Yes, I do. Iris told me." "She does the bedrooms." "They're almost 50 yards apart." "Something the matter, sir?" "Sour." "But it's a new barrel." "John McKendrick helped me put it up last night." "I didn't mean the beer." "You finished that pie, Lewis?" "It's gone closing." "Well done, John." "Well, I thought you thought she liked you." "She did. I know she did." "So if she's changed her mind... lt's that damn stupid letter." "Why didn't I just stick to the phone?" "It cannot be the letter." "She would not think I had written it, it's not my writing." " So it must be the pictures themselves." " But that's worse." "No, it's good." "It means she's angry with me, yes." "But you, you are clear." "If they ask, you say: yes, you bring me home, no, you see nothing." "No, you do not know me very well." "No problem." "Right." "Only now we must not be seen together. I should not have asked you to come. I did not think." "No." "So um..." "Of course!" "For all we know, he may have destroyed the letter." "It's not important." "You come to Poitiers as soon as you can." "Right." "I'll see you there, then." "Goodbye, Roger. I love you." "Je t'aime, Michelle." "Au revoir." "Au revoir." "lewis:" "What got into you there?" "Social envy is a very disagreeable vice, Lewis." "It might have a bearing on the case - them not sleeping together." " He may have had a mistress." " No, no." "The aristocracy always have separate bedrooms." "What the hell...?" "(Car crashes)" "Morse here." "Get an ambulance to Hanbury House as fast as you can." "Some fool in a sports car just smashed into a tree." "Wasn't wearing his seat belt." "Why do the young have to be so bloody stupid?" "What's this?" "He wasn't so stupid." "Somebody's fiddled with these brakes." " What the hell..." " His lights came on but he never slowed down." "Look at this." "There's no fluid left in these brakes at all." " Where are you going?" " Hanbury House." "You ought to make that Morse come here for his results." "That's what Max does." "Not when there's another murder, he doesn't." "There's no way that could have been fractured by a rhododendron branch." "Even at that speed." " lt wouldn't do it." " Hell, here's Lady Hanbury back." "Better not let her see him." "Two corpses in four hours." "What's happened?" " An accident, I'm afraid." " Anyone hurt?" " Can I help?" " Thank you, I've sent for an ambulance, madam." "But, Mr McKendrick, would you mind?" "Perhaps you know who it is." "Of course." "Lady Hanbury manage all right at the school?" "What?" "Oh, yes." "Yes, fine." "Well, I mean, I suppose so." "She didn't really say." "is he er..." " ls he..." " Yes." "I thought perhaps he worked on the estate." "No." "Don't know him at all." "Never seen him." "Poor chap." "What happened?" "Usual thing." "Going too fast." "All right, thank you very much, Mr McKendrick." "You'd better take Lady Hanbury to the house." "There's no need to tell her he's dead." "She's got enough on her plate today." "Right." "Bloody dangerous things, sports cars." " Yes." " John?" " Who is it?" " l don't know." "is he all right?" "Sir." "Who is it?" "Michelle Réage, the au pair." "That's her boyfriend" " Roger Meadows." "Are you sure?" " Well, it's his wallet." " What else is in it?" "Thank you so much, John." " What's happened up there?" " Some fool in an MG turned it over." " Not hurt, is he?" " Afraid so." "Dead." "Bloody hell!" ""Final communication." "Any further attempt to injure my reputation or jeopardize the prospects of my children..."" "I thought she wasn't telling the truth." "Nobody has children down there except Lady Hanbury." "She didn't have them by herself, you fool." "He wasn't blackmailing her, it was him." "Listen." ""lf l ever hear from you again, I shall at once inform the college authorities." "They will no doubt take immediate and appropriate action."" "What the hell was he up to, Lewis?" ""l do not minimize the damage you can do to me, but I decline to submit to further uncivilized threats."" "Now here's the new doc." "You'd better get down to the house and talk to Miss Réage again." "Find out who this Roger Meadows was." "Find out what he was doing here, when he arrived, when he left, everything." "Right." "Got another one for you, I'm afraid." "Inspector, I've been trying to get hold of you." "The most extraordinary thing." "I don't quite know what to make of it." "When we got him back to the lab and took his clothes off, several bones in Sir Julius's body are broken." "I simply can't tell yet whether he died from the head wounds or the fall." " Fall?" " Well, yes, that's the only explanation." "He must have fallen from quite a height." "But when?" "I must know when." "I'm afraid I couldn't possibly say." "Well, not yet." "Oh, God." "Don't do a Max on me, please." "Well, I guess before midnight." "But look, it's only a guess." "Thank you, Dr Russell." "Thank you very much indeed." "Oh, er...don't forget the other one, will you?" "It's time she had that child up." "She's getting too old for a nap" " Georgina." "She ought to be running around outside, fine day like this." "They need all the fresh air they can get at that age." "Of course, it's no use talking to these French girls." "Get her to open a window?" "She'd rather die." "If you ask me, they must have a lot of fog in France." "Why else would they be so afraid of good fresh air?" "There, what did I tell you?" "Shut fast." "Come on, sweetheart, time you woke up." "Michelle must be in her room, Sergeant." "Well, I never!" "Whatever's that little miss got up to now?" "Looks like she's gone." "?" "Baroque string concerto" "The cunning beggars." "(Music stops)" "Sir, Michelle Réage." "Sir, she's gone." "Never mind about that now, Lewis." "Come with me." " But..." " She can't have gone far." "You can put out a call in a minute." "I've got something to show you." "See anything up there?" " l don't know what I'm looking for." " The clue, Lewis." "You see, Sir Julius wasn't murdered." "He fell from a great height, physically and morally." "He committed suicide." "We've been led up the garden path here, Lewis." "A very pretty garden and a highly picturesque path." "But...everyone's stories about what they were doing last night and why the burglar alarm wasn't on..." "A rich man, the master of the house, suddenly disappears and nobody's in the least put out." "Too much sang-froid all round." "Sang-froid?" "It means cold blood, Lewis." "Seen anything yet?" "No." "Murder in the furtherance of theft." "It does take place, of course, but how many times is the victim's gory body carefully placed in his personal mausoleum?" "Not often." "But if you're a member of a very distinguished family, urgently needing to conceal the body of a baronet, what could be more appropriate?" "You think one of the family did it?" "Did what?" "You still don't see anything up there?" "Only a balustrade." "Get a body over that, do you think?" " Oh." " Yes, Lewis." "Oh." "There's a window up there, look." "Has anybody searched the attic yet?" "I hope she's not running a fever again." " Did you take her temperature?" " Yeah." "Normal, my lady." "But I just can't get her to wake up." "Look at her now." "Darling, are you feeling all right?" "Take your thumb out of your mouth, Georgie." "Mm." "Shock, I expect." "I don't know, madam. I've never seen her like it." "Hasn't Michelle left a note to explain herself?" "Not that I or the sergeant could find." "(Knock at door)" "Excuse me, madam, could I have a word with Mrs Maltby?" " What is it?" " We need the keys to the attics." "What on earth for?" "No-one ever goes up there." "It's not me, madam. lt's the Chief Inspector." "Well, really!" "Oh, Maltby, find them for him, would you?" "I'll look after Georgie." "I don't know if I know where they are, my lady." "Sir Julius kept the keys himself." " Well, there's...floorboards and that." " Well, I haven't got them." "Michelle Réage." "Romeo, Echo, Alpha..." "Echo acute." "Romeo, Echo acute, alpha, golf, Echo." "1 9, light-brown hair, very attractive." "Worth looking out for." "If you'd kept a better lookout, she might still be here." "Nobody knows where the keys are." "Oh, I think he does, Lewis." "He or she." "I think both he and she know very well, but I don't mind playing the game." "I wish you'd tell me what you're talking about." "There is something on the roof of this house you haven't got on yours." " A flag?" " Precisely." "Someone raised it this morning and lowered it to half-mast after Sir Julius was found." "So somebody's had the key to go up and down here all the time." "Well done, Lewis." "Well done." "Your time with me has not been wholly wasted." "Come on, come on." "Let me do it." "Damn thing!" "Now, let's get to the bottom of all this aristocratic flummery." "Nobody ever comes up here, did they say?" "Except Sir Julius." "Fancied himself as Lord Snowdon perhaps." "Now, where's his pictures?" "Where indeed?" "But you should ask yourself what, Lewis." "What is the picture?" " What's out that window?" " Just a sort of walkway, then the balustrade." "Just as I thought." "Out you go." "Anything heavy been hauled about out there?" "No slates missing, nothing like that." "Whereabouts are we?" "Above the front or the back?" "The back." "Oh, hold on." "Here we are." "Broken slate." " Recent?" " Very." "Anything on the balustrade?" "Well...a few scratches." "Nothing definite." "What's below there?" "exactly below." "Those bay trees by the steps." "All right, you can come in now." "Don't you want to check, sir?" "Lewis..." "Well, that settles the first part of the case." "Now we must get on and solve the murder." " What?" " The boy." "Meadows." " But..." " He was murdered, Lewis." "May I askjust what you think you're doing?" "MORSE:" "Getting the evidence to arrest you, Lady Hanbury, for wasting police time." "Trying to make your husband's suicide look like murder." "Perhaps...we should discuss this downstairs." "LADY HANBURY:" "We didn't see the bloodstains last night." "No?" "No." "John found them this morning." "Last night, I found Julius lying here when I got back from London." "There was a light on, the door was open." "I thought he'd gone for a stroll before bed but er... ..he was dead." "And what did you do then?" "I fetched John." "He was very good." "He..." "He did what was necessary." "You mean..." "Let me get this quite clear, Lady Hanbury." "You found your husband lying dead, apparently having committed suicide, and then you asked McKendrick to hit him over the head to make it look like murder?" "Yes." "And you then lugged the body over to the church?" "No, no, no." "John did that." "He wheeled him in the barrow." "And then you and Mrs Maltby and the girl, you all set to trying to make it look like theft." "is that right?" "Not Michelle." "She's not one of the family." "Would you mind explaining to me why you went through this elaborate charade, madam?" "Shall we go inside?" "I think Maltby's made tea." "Of course, I suppose I was foolish to imagine I could ever get away with it." "I think you were, yes." "But it did seem so obviously the right thing to do at the time." "Come." "Thank you so much, Maltby." " How's Georgie?" " Oh, she's waking up now, my lady." "It was a pill that Michelle had given her." " What pill?" " She showed me in the bathroom." "Half a sleeping pill she'd given her." "To send her to sleep while she was making off." "Can you imagine such a thing?" "Um...do sit down, Inspector." "Maltby, would you take the sergeant into the kitchen?" "The lnspector and I would like to be on our own." "I'd like Sergeant Lewis to stay, if you don't mind, Lady Hanbury." " Are you sure?" " Quite sure." " Very well." "Bring another cup, please, Maltby." " Very good, madam." "Sleeping pills for children. I ask you!" "China or Indian, Inspector?" "Oh, er..." "Indian, please." " Milk and sugar?" " Just a little milk, please." "My husband's life was very heavily insured." "I was afraid if it was suicide, the claim might not be met." "The family's not exactly poor, is it?" "There's plenty of land, but as to income... I have a son about to go to Eton, Inspector." "I have another son at prep school and I have my daughter's education to think of." "And a house like this simply eats capital, you know." " Last time we had the roof done, well..." " You mean you did it simply for the money?" "You prefer Indian too, I imagine?" "Anything that's going." "Milk and two sugars." "The fact is, I couldn't bear my children to think their father loved them so little he was prepared to let them suffer the scandal and disgrace of his suicide." "You thought murder less of a disgrace?" "Of course." "For the boys." "Well, when I told them, they were very shocked, naturally, but..." "I couId see they thought it was rather exciting to have a murdered father." "He wasn't very interested in his children, you know." "A rather remote parent." "I suppose I thought they might think better of him..." "Did Sir Julius leave a note?" " Yes." " Where is it?" "I destroyed it." "Would you like to give me an idea of its contents, then?" "Well, I suppose it'll all come out in the end." "The fact is, Inspector..." "I was planning to leave him." "It had been brewing up for some time, but I only told him yesterday morning." "I said I was not prepared to go and live in Courtenay College as his Mistress." "lewis:" "Huh?" "The head of Courtenay is called the Master, Lewis." "So his wife is called his Mistress." " Oh." " But he didn't know he was going to be Master." "The election wasn't till the afternoon." "Anyway, it was a tie." "Was it?" "Nobody told me." "How extraordinary." "Did he know that?" " Certainly." " Oh!" "Well, then, that must have been what tipped the balance." "Oh, God, you do relieve me." "Er..." "No, I'm..." "That sounds so wicked but..." "Er..." "You see, I've been blaming myself entirely." "And if he had this new sudden extra disappointment..." "Did he mention it in his note?" "No." "Er..." "Yes." "Do you know, I don't..." "I don't remember." "Besides, I took everything to refer to me and John." "John?" "Yes." "Didn't I say?" "Oh, um..." "Yes, I'm...going to live with John McKendrick." "It's all right, I scrubbed it out." "As a matter of fact, I was up half the night cleaning up." "It was just outside the door I missed." " What did you do with the pictures?" " Hid them by the lake." "You went down there in the middle of the night?" "In the barrow." "It was getting quite light by then." "And all for nothing." "All for love, as I understand it." "What the hell does she see in you?" "Can't think." "Well, I suppose..." "Did she tell you?" "He'd er..." "He'd lost interest." "Preferred looking at pictures." "Yeah." "Yeah." "And you see... I love her very much." "She's been just incredible." "And you think love's an excuse for crime?" "You have to come in for further questioning, McKendrick." "I'II let you know when and where when I've consulted my Superintendent as to the formal action to be taken against you." "Meanwhile, make sure you stay in and around the house, all right?" "And keep away from your lady friend." "But I... I don't want you and Lady Hanbury concocting some other cock-and-bull story till I've got this one straight." "What's all this about the Superintendent?" "A ruse, Lewis." "A ruse." "What, you mean it wasn't suicide?" "I don't know." "If Sir Julius had lost sexual interest, why was he upset enough to kill himself?" "But I tell you one thing." "They've got us thinking the way they want us to think." "And I never like obliging the nobility." "I warned you they'd use us for their own ends." "But what those ends are..." "Something to do with the blackmail." "Must be." "But what was the blackmail about?" "And why did they need to kill the boy?" "Who?" "Exactly." "Let's take another look at that studio." "(Morse puffs) I'll tell you something... if it wasn't suicide, they must have killed him up here." " Why's that?" " The stairs, Lewis." "Think of the effort, dragging a dead man up here." "He'll have used his barrow." "Used it for everything else." "A clean, well-lighted place. I don't believe it." "Where's the darkroom?" "Well done, Lewis." "Where is it?" "Through here?" "Looks like this has never been used either." "McKendrick cleaning up again?" "No, there's nothing here." "Oh, wait a minute." "What's this?" "A blank bit of paper." " Still, it proves someone has used..." " No, it's not blank." "Ah, the missing slave girl." "What a figure." "Victorians liked to idealize women, Lewis." "No girl ever really looked like that, alas." "Yes, she did." "She does." "That's not art, that's Michelle Réage." "Nice touch, that." "Lowering the flag on the house." "It's what happened at Harrow whenever a famous old boy died." "I thought we should do the same for Julius." "He set a lot of store by things like that." "Beautiful." "If you like that sort of thing." " l think it's very tasteful." " Very tasty, you mean." "And very expensive." "Like all tarts." "This is appalling!" "I assume..." "I mean, I've known Julius Hanbury for 35 years!" "Unspeakable." "Pornography." "I get to see a good deal of pornography in the course of my business, sir." "Very nasty stuff, some of it, too." "But this sort of thing..." "Pretty innocent." "idealized maidens, classical poses." "That's exactly the same pose as the Alma-Tadema slave girl." "Julius could hardly have thought it innocent if he agreed to pay blackmail." "And to one of our own students!" "This Roger Meadows...what was he like?" "I didn't know him very well." " He rather avoided the college authorities." " Good student?" "No." "Was he poor financially as well as academically?" "No, no." "His father's an anaesthetist, I think, in Coventry." "You don't still think that Edward Ullman was involved, do you?" "Oh, no, sir." "Not at all, no." "I take it he'll be the next Master now?" "He's withdrawn his candidature." "Oh, really?" "Why?" "He feels he doesn't have the confidence of the college." "And he doesn't want to be Master by default, as it were," " just because Julius has er..." " Dropped out." "You don't realize what this means to me, Inspector." "We shall have to go through the whole procedure again." "I shall have to stay on as Master for another whole year!" "Some people might envy you that." "I've got my retirement all planned." "My wife and I were going to the Andes to look at orchids." "Now..." "I shall have to stay here... ..while people bicker and backbite and..." "Well, at least the college isn't directly involved." "But people will think so, you know." "They'll think so." "And they'll blame me." "Hey." "Did someone give you permission to use that?" "I thought I'd get on with some paperwork while the boss is away." "Where's Meadows' stuff?" "It's in that plastic bag there." "Oh, lovely things, these." " Save you hours." " Oh, yeah?" "I know a bloke at Scotland Yard who lost six months' work by pressing the wrong button." "Ah, you can't do that on these." "They've got an extra memory like a reserve petrol tank." "You can wipe something out and still have it there." "Look." "Press that and that and that." "There you are." "Bloody hell!" "This is the letter to Meadows!" " What?" " It's this here." "Look." "The marvels of modern science." "Let's see what else is in here." "Bloody hell!" "It's more and more complicated." "The sequence is impossible to tell." "Obviously the first head wound came before the later ones," " but whether it came before he fell or after..." " Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." " What do you mean "the first" head wound?" " There are two separate kinds of wound." "The original one was done with something sharp." "Here." "That wasn't a hammer, was it?" "No, the hammer came later." " Later?" " l couldn't see at first." "There was so much trauma to the skull." "But there it is now, plain as anything." "That first head wound, Dr Russell, was it enough to kill him?" "Oh, yes." "Went right through his skull." "And he had a pretty thick one." "So, the battering... wasn't to make it look like murder, it was to hide the fact that it was murder." "Sorry?" "Oh, you've got nothing to be sorry about, my dear." "You've done very well." "Well, I realize I'm not Max." "Thank God you're not." "He never tells me anything." "What's the G for?" "I can't keep calling you Dr Russell." "Well, I prefer it to "my dear"." "Sorry." " One of those, are you?" " One of what?" "Mine is a very masculine world, Inspector, and I don't like being patronized." "I'll try and remember." "What does it stand for?" "Oh, it's um...it's an old family name." "Greta?" "Gilda?" "Greer?" "You've been watching too many old films on the box." "No, it's... (Sighs) lt's ridiculous." "Um... lt's Grayling." " Grayling?" " Mm." "Like the fish?" "Mm." "You can imagine what I got called at school." "What's your name?" "Oh, everyone just calls me Morse." "Ah." "They told me you wouldn't say." "They were right." "Thank you, Grayling." "Thanks a lot." "lewis:" "When Morse sees this he'II go mad." "He thinks it wasn't suicide now," " but there's the note." " Looks like it." "Looks like it? "Prue, darling, I can't go on."" "Prue." "Prudence." "That's Lady Hanbury's name, isn't it?" "Part of it, yeah." "She's Helen and Elfreda, too, according to that book." "See, the problem with Morse is, he always wants things to be so complicated" " when they're not." " Only because they're even more so." "Who gave you permission to use that machine?" "Look what I found." "Fake." " What?" " Whoever wrote a suicide note on a typewriter, let alone one of these things?" "Did you get his letter to Meadows?" " Here." " Well, then, look at it." ""l apologize from the bottom of my heart, but I feel it is the only civilized thing to do."" "Now, how does he spell "apologize"?" "With an S." ""Civilized"." "Another S." "What's wrong with that?" "Well, it's illiterate, that's what." "The Oxford English Dictionary uses a Z for words that end "-ize"." "And so did Sir Julius." "Here." "Look." "So he didn't write it." "And whoever did can't spell "desperate"." "Isn't that how you spell it?" "Des-PER-ate, Lewis, not des-PAR-rate." "From the Latin spero, sperare - to hope." "As I would hope that anyone would know with a half-decent education." "So who did write it, then?" "Not Lady Hanbury." "She can't type." "Says she can't." "Where did she go to school?" "Um..." "Cheltenham Ladies' College and..." "Hang on." "Newnham College, Cambridge." " lt wasn't her, then." " McKendrick." "A man who wears his old school tie round his waist certainly shows no respect for learning." "But she said she'd destroyed the note so we wouldn't find it." " So why leave it in the machine?" " So we should find it, of course." "And think it genuine, Iike you." "And believe her story." "Which is, of course, more aristocratic flimflam." "Sorry, I don't follow." "You just get on and write your reports." "Lewis, before we arrest them, we really must find the murder weapon." "What?" "Come on." "Something sharp." "Has to be something sharp." "No, not strong enough." "Tripod?" "See if it's screwed on properly." "There's something wrong here." "Yeah, it's bent." "He had a pretty thick skull." "Any traces?" "Can't see any." "Which of them was it?" "Must have been McKendrick." "He's a strong lad and he had the motive." " What motive?" " Lady Hanbury." "Maybe Sir Julius cut up rough." "Didn't like the idea of the gardener running off with his lady wife." "There was a struggle and..." " Why up here?" " Coming up to lower the flag at sunset?" "Come on, Lewis, you can do better than that." "Well, maybe he was in on the blackmail, too." "Maybe he was, yes." " Has he made a statement yet?" " Not a formal one, no." "Go and get him to write one." "Plenty of words ending in "-ize"." "Police." "Where do you think you're going to, young lady?" "Mon dieu!" "All right." "(Sobs)" "I told you I was back here by about one and I saw a light on downstairs..." "Miss Réage says she got back here at 1 1 :45 and the whole house was in darkness, madam." "And you believe her rather than me?" "Thank you." "It's an inconsistency, which is why I'd like you to tell me" " exactly where you were last evening." " Yes." "I went up to London." "To the opera." "Coliseum or Covent Garden?" " The Garden." " Really?" " Mm." " What were they doing?" "Tosca." "Lovely. I'm very fond of Puccini." "Really?" "I always wish I'd heard Maria Callas doing Tosca." "(Laughs) She wasn't nearly as good as everyone says." "Very inaccurate singer, you know." "And all that strutting about the stage..." "Very vulgar, I thought." " Who was doing it last night?" " Maria Zampieri." "Any good?" "I thought excellent." "Mm." "Do you want one of these?" "Though what that has to do with..." "I Iike to keep up." "Who else was singing?" "Placido Domingo." "Domingo?" "If only I could afford Covent Garden." "well..." "In good voice, was he?" "Superb, as usual." "is that where you got the idea?" "What idea?" "Suicide." "Tosca throwing herself off the castle walls in Rome," "McKendrick throwing your husband off the roof here." "Possibly." "Hadn't thought." "Domingo." "Do you happen to have your programme, Lady Hanbury?" "No." "No, I never keep programmes." "Well, you should." "Domingo programmes, they're collector's items already." "And it would have been proof of where you'd been." "I rather assumed my word would be enough." "This is a murder inquiry, madam." " But I thought..." " Oh, yes." "Yes, of course." "But still, we'll be preferring serious charges, you know." "Well, if you need proof, I... I honestly don't know that I have any." " Opera ticket?" " No." "Train ticket, then?" "Um..." "I might have, I suppose." "Oh, but of course, I had my evening bag." "Would you mind getting it for me, please, madam?" " well, if you insist." " Oh, I don't insist, but er... I would be very much obliged." "Then I will do as you ask." "Thank you." "I'll stay and enjoy the pictures." "is this the Gainsborough?" "Of course." "What do you think I should say about knowing it was a crime?" "Well...how about..." ""Although I realized it was wrong," "Lady Hanbury was so desperate, and I sympathized so strongly with her..."" "Hang on." "Hang on." "".." "I sympathized so strongly with her..."" " ls the lnspector still at the house?" " As far as I know." "His car's still there." "Yes, um...here you are." " l did have it." " Thank you very much." "Dated yesterday." "Good." "Well, I'll keep this if you don't mind." "It's no use to you now, is it?" "Are you quite satisfied" " this Gainsborough's genuine, madam?" " Yes, of course it is." "We have a receipt for the money somewhere." "What on earth made you think otherwise?" "Oh, something about the brushwork." "I had heard there were doubts." "Police work, you know." "It's all doubts, imagination." "Thanks for this anyway." "She's here." " Right." " And she knows he's dead." "Thank God for that." "The thing I like least about this job is breaking the bad news." "I know." "That's why you always make me do it." "You're right." "There isn't a Z in his whole statement, and he doesn't know how to spell "desperate"." "We'll talk to her away from the house." "They were only photos." "He did not ask me to do anything." "It was just poses, you know?" "Poses with no clothes on." "But I don't see anything wrong." "I have a good body. I'm not ashamed of it." "What about blackmail?" "What do you think about that?" "Come on, Michelle." "We know what Roger was up to." "What did you do with the money?" "We were saving to get married." "We opened an account with a building society." "Roger wants to leave Oxford and live next year in France with me." "Oh." "So it was perfectly all right, was it?" "You take all your clothes off for a middle-aged voyeur while your boyfriend demands money with menaces." "Why did you run away?" "I was afraid." "Roger..." "Roger was..." "And Lady Hanbury, I think she knows." "In the morning, she tells me she want me to leave as soon as possible." "This morning?" "When?" "As soon as we discovered the burglary." "And then before..." "John McKendrick, he was not friendly." "What reason did she give for your going?" "She say she want to look after Georgina herself." "But I do not believe that." "I think she knows." "Yes." "Yes, I think she does, too." "Thank you, Michelle." "Thank you very much indeed." "Take her back to the car, will you, Jenkins?" "Get a woman PC to look after her." "All right, love, come on." "Over here." "Oh, Lewis, Lewis." "Why does it always come down to sex?" " Does it, sir?" " She was jealous." " Miss Réage?" " No, no, you fool." "Lady Hanbury." "She saw the photos and..." "God, how the rich do carry on." "An impotent husband and a pretty au pair, a doting gardener and a jealous chatelaine." "You think she did it, then?" "Time to find out." "Although, I still don't know who exactly did what." "That's never stopped you making an arrest." "How did they get back from the school to kill Meadows?" "I don't see how they had the time." "She was there when she said she was." " l checked with the headmaster." " And she can't drive." "Well, she can drive, she just..." "Lewis, you've done it." "He jumped out of the car the moment it went through the gates." "She drove on to the school alone." "You remember when they got back and McKendrick came over to look at Meadows?" "Well, he had mud on his trousers." "I didn't think anything of it." "I mean, with Meadows being dead." " Are you sure?" " Yeah, positive." "There was mud on his shoes and all." "He must have come back cross-country and drained the brake fluid." "The bastard!" " Shan't be long." " l should hope not!" "I've Georgie to put to bed." " And dinner to get." " Where is Georgie?" "Some policewoman's taken her off into the garden." "But that's outrageous." "Where's the lnspector?" "I trust this isn't going to take long." "It's my daughter's bedtime." "Well, madam, the quicker I learn the truth, the sooner we can all go to bed." "Wherever that may prove to be." "This railway ticket." "It's second class." "Mrs Parker saw you getting out of a first class compartment." "Anything to say about that?" "is it your ticket, Mrs Maltby?" " What?" " Well, you went to London yesterday." "What did you do with your ticket?" "Did you by any chance give it to Lady Hanbury who wants me to think that she went to London last night to hear Domingo?" "Although, unfortunately for her, Domingo had a cold and couldn't sing." "You see, it just so happens I was there." "Do you often take the Rolls to go to the station?" "You took the Merc this morning to go to Summerfields." "And it was in the Merc, I take it, that you drove to Didcot last night where you got on the train to Oxford, while Mr McKendrick was busy establishing his alibi at the pub." "And after you'd dropped Mrs Parker, he drove you back to Didcot in the Rolls to pick up the Merc." "Right?" "Oh, God." "Looks like we can add "driving while disqualified" to the other charges." "What charges, may I ask?" "Well, now, I take it you didn't buy a ticket to Didcot, so there's defrauding British Rail to start with." " For heaven's sake!" " And then there's accessory to murder." "John McKendrick, I'm arresting you for murder." "You're not obliged to say anything..." " l wasn't even there." "LADY HANBURY:" "It's all right." "Thank you." "But um..." "Oh... (Sobs) I'm sorry." "Those damn photographs!" "You don't understand." "My husband... all those years... photographs, paintings, pictures." "And he didn't want me." " He never wanted me." " Now, now, Prudence." "There, there." "How long?" "Eight years." "Eight years since Bobby was born." " But..." "Georgina's only six." "MALTBY:" "Georgina's adopted." "She loves children." "Don't you, my pet?" "You love little children." " And when Simon went to school..." " Be quiet, Maltby." "They don't want to know about that." "They want to know about John and me." "well, why shouldn't I have some fun before it's too late?" "What happened?" "She went up there to tell him about... ..about us." "And found him developing dirty pictures." "You see...my girl, my little girl, was being looked after by a French slut." "A whore." "A tart." "And he called me a whore." "Me!" "He said he'd drag us through the courts." "It was a complete shambles when I arrived." "They'd...they'd had a fight and... she'd...hit him." " And..." " He was a very weak sort of man, really." "Are you trying to tell me it was manslaughter?" "Well, I've no idea of the correct technical term... but it was certainly self-defence." "And the murder?" "Roger Meadows." "Are you trying to pretend that was self-defence, too?" "Um..." "Well..." "He said he was going to sell the photographs to the gutter press." "He wrote to my husband." "I knew his writing, you see." "He used to write to that slut." "He said he'd sell the photographs to the Sun and then my boys would know what sort of a father they had." "(Sniffs)" "I told John to kill him." "I wouldn't have known what to do myself." "Oh..." "I think you'd be capable of anything, madam." " What's your koala's name?" " Rebecca." " Rebecca?" "Oh, it's a little girl?" " How long have you had Rebecca?" " I don't know." " Is she your friend?" " Mm." "I have to go now, darling." "I don't want you to go, Mummy." "No, I don't want to go either." "Do you have to go?" "You must be very brave, Georgie." "Just like Mummy." "Mummy!" "Mummy!" "There, there, Georgie." "You'll see her again soon." "How dare you call me Georgie!" "My name's Georgina and I hate you!" "Mummy!" "Will she get away with manslaughter?" "Might do." "But she's an accomplice to the murder as well." "You live in a place like this, you think the rules don't apply." "Delusions of grandeur." "Et ego in Arcadia vixi, Lewis." "Oh, yeah?" "What does that mean in english?" "It means, more or less, there was a serpent even in the Garden of Eden." "God, what an inheritance."