"Damon Horsley went to a clearing in the Attermore Woods, and that's where he was killed." "And he died near where a Sian Haddon hanged herself." " Who found him?" " Kyle Finn." " So, you touched the body?" " Yes." "I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our team." "This is DC Vince Grady." "And I know from personal experience you'll all make him feel very welcome." "We're looking for Nathan Horsley." "Damon owed £30,000?" "Charlie Franklin?" "I know him." "He bangs heads for Steve Richards." "So, Kat Richards was sleeping with Horsley." "We may have found your daughter, Mrs Richards." "Two suicides and one murder." " This place should come with a health warning." " How long?" "Preliminary examination suggests she's been dead less than two hours." "And she left this." "A suicide note?" "Confessing to Damon Horsley's murder." "Get it verified, please." "Anyone told Richards?" "Not yet." "She's not wearing her ear cuff." "What now?" "Mr Richards, a few hours ago, your daughter was found in the woods where Damon Horsley was killed." "I'm afraid she's dead." "No." "That's not..." "It looks as though she may have taken her own life." "Ah, you're lying." "You're lying." "Your wife has been informed." " Kat wouldn't do that." "She wouldn't do that." " I'm sorry." "I want you all to go." "Go, please." "Pending further enquiries, you'll be bailed to return in three weeks." "The duty sergeant will arrange everything." "We will need you to make a formal identification of the body." "Just go." "She had a necklace... .. with a 'K'." "I gave it to her for her 16th." "I'd like it back." "We can't release anything just yet, I'm afraid." "I'm sorry." "We don't want your sympathy." "According to Tamsin Richards, they had a row, Kat stormed off, and that was the last time she saw her." "Where did she go?" "Who did she see?" "How come she ended up in the woods?" "Contact all the cab companies." "There's a bus stop about half a mile from there." " Maybe she took a bus." " What about her phone?" "It was in her pocket, but the battery is flat." "We're trying to unlock it now." "She kills Damon Horsley, cos maybe they were in a relationship, he finds the tape, was gonna dump her." "Then she's overcome with grief and guilt, returns to the scene of the crime and tops herself." "Case closed." "Except Kat Richards' confession alone isn't enough to close the book on the Horsley murder." "Why suicide?" "Did she even show any signs of suicidal tendencies?" "What sites did she visit online?" "Any forums?" "What about messages she may have posted on social media?" "Until we know more, the Horsley case remains open, and we treat Kat Richards' death as suspicious!" "Do you have kids?" "A little girl." " How old?" " Nearly four." "Kat used to collect plasters." "Every plaster she ever used, we stuck to that shelf." "There's dozens of them, all the Disney Princesses, hanging there, like trophies." "She was so proud of them." "I can't do it." "Not twice." "Not... not two children." "The report's in from the Forensic Linguist." " On the suicide note?" " Hm." "Handwriting comparisons prove Kat Richards wrote it." "Apparently, it has many of the markers' characteristic" " of a genuine note." " Such as?" "Well, it says she uses active verbs such as 'do', 'get', and 'give'." "And here, "Don't feel too bad, it's not your fault." "I hope you understand." So she's accepted she's going to die, and she hopes others will enjoy their life after she's gone." " And that makes it genuine?" " Well, according to this, but it's all a bit woolly, though, isn't it?" "I think I prefer real forensics." "If you're gonna be a DCI, you have to take all the help you can get." " Oh, have you had a chance to do my reference?" " Not yet." " It's just the Board wants it as soon as possible." " I'll get to it." " And I want your honest opinion, like, warts and all." " Really?" " Well, there's no point, otherwise, is there?" " Oh, absolutely." "Kat loved her little brother." "He would've been 10 now." "Jack, after Steve's dad." "He wasn't a sickly baby or anything like that." "There was nothing, no warning." "18 months." "Steve found him in the morning when he got up... .. and we drove to AE, but I knew." "I knew when they crowded round him, this scrap on the table..." "No coffin should be that small." "And now I have to... .. I can't do it." "I can't." "Did Kat have a best friend?" "Anyone she could confide in?" "Not since Sian." "She went through a bad patch a few months ago." " Just teenage stuff." " What sort of stuff?" "It was a phase." "She cut herself a few times... .. and I got her to see someone, and she got over it." " She saw someone?" " A counsellor." "Alice." "Alice Finn." "Kat Richards was a patient of Alice Finn." "What, just like Sian Haddon?" "She stopped seeing her a couple of months ago." " I don't know how much she'll know." " Still, two patients, two suicides..." " Coincidence?" " Or a crap therapist." "Yeah, I'll speak to her again in the morning." "Thanks, Helen." "So I spoke to David." "We're all set." "Eight o'clock tomorrow night." " Yes, looking forward to it." " Yeah, me, too." " Yeah." "I found significant amounts of a benzodiazepine in her stomach." " Enough to kill?" " Certainly." "Especially since she'd also been smoking marijuana." "And she definitely took the pills herself?" "There's no sign of bruising round the jaw, no evidence of a struggle, or of her being force-fed." "So, yes, I'd say the pills were self-administered." "All right, thanks, doc." "But she didn't take them where she died." "What?" "I had the bottle of water found beside her analysed." "And there were traces of chloride, sulphate, and aluminium." " All of which are found in that brand." " So?" "None of those elements were in her stomach." "Two different types of water?" "Whatever she washed the pills down with, it wasn't the water in the bottle beside her." "So she took them somewhere else?" "Someone drove her to the shrine and then went to a lot of trouble to make it look like she'd taken the pills there." "Why?" "Kat Richards was a patient for a while, yeah." "She was only seeing me on sufferance." "It wasn't her choice." " It was her mother's idea, I believe." " She was worried." "She thought Kat had an unhealthy interest in death and misery." " Had she?" " There was some self-harm." "That's quite common." "But, with Kat, it was more, it was..." "She was into that, sort of, a fashionable nihilism that attracts some teenagers." " You didn't take it seriously?" " I took it very seriously." "That kind of thinking, if taken to extremes, can lead to... .. regrettable outcomes." " Oh." "Hello, Kyle." " Hello." "I'm just going to college." "I'll see you later, Mum." "OK." " So, you didn't see Kat for long, you said?" " A few weeks." "I mostly deal in short-term solutions to problems, strategies for coping, that sort of thing." " There wasn't really much I could do to help." " Why not?" "With Kat, it was a point of view, a choice." "She thought life was absurd, a sort of sick cosmic joke." "I couldn't help her because she didn't believe there was anything wrong." " So, Kat killing herself didn't surprise you?" " No." "Sadly." "See, if life's a joke, then ending it is no big deal." "What about taking someone else's?" " What do you mean?" " Damon Horsley's, for instance." " Are you saying that Kat..." " Please just answer the question." "No." "That isn't possible." " When was the last time you saw Kat?" " A while ago." "Our last appointment's six weeks ago." "She didn't come again, said it was a waste of time." "She took a cab to Horsley's flat." " That's all I know." " And you didn't see anyone leave?" " She must've gone out the back." " You mean you screwed up." " I'm very sorry." " Yeah." "I know you are, Charlie." " Why did you go there?" " She knows... knew the brother, too." " Does he deal as well?" " I don't know." "Does he deal as well?" "What else did Damon Horsley push apart from weed?" "A little meth." "Some molly." " Prescription drugs?" " Sometimes." "You know, all last night I was asking myself, where did she get those drugs from because whoever it was, that piece of shit as good as killed my girl." "Well, now I know." "Damon Horsley's brother." "I want him dealt with." "Oh." " Sir..." " Colin." "Colin, please." "We're not on duty now." "I thought you might find it useful to get a few pointers, for when you sit the DCI Board." " You've bought wine." " Yeah, well..." " .. makes it feel a little less like homework." " Er..." "Well, we won't get very much done if I'm standing outside, will we?" "No." "So, he got his trousers down from the tree, put them back on and then he's off." "He's going as fast as he can, trying to get away from us." " Mm." "And Alan's trying to catch up." " Trying?" "I was like a gazelle." "A very slow gazelle in a raincoat." "It's not all about speed." "Just as well." "He left you standing." "So we drove to back to his house, we thought we'll just wait for him to come home, and he does half an hour later." "He seemed surprised." "Alan read him his rights." "Slowly, because you were still trying to catch your breath." "Why do you do it?" " What?" " Why are you a copper?" " David..." "I mean, the people you meet, misery and pain every day." "Why do you do it?" "One of life's prefects, I suppose." " Can't be that." " Plus, the free coffee's really good." "I like that." "It's because of the team." "You do it cos you like being part of something bigger than yourself." "Knowing that all of us around you, without exception, have got your back, as you have ours." "You do it because you believe that if you kill someone, there are consequences." "That we all need protecting, sometimes from those who love us the most." "And there is such a thing as order and retribution." " Plus, you like the coffee." " Yeah." "OK." "All right." "If you take on the role of DCI, then you also have to take on the bigger picture." " They're gonna be looking for that." " Bigger picture?" " Hm." "You have to take into account not only the risks involved, but also the costs, the benefits." "You need to ascertain if what you're proposing represents a proportionate response to the given situation." "Good, yeah, proportionate response." "You take a lot of notes." "Well, yeah, I just like things to be clear." "So do I." "Oh, I'm fine, thanks." "In fact, I'm pretty tired." "What if we forgot about the books?" "No, I, I, really, I really would like to..." "Yeah, go, turn in now." "And there's nothing I can say to change your mind, even as your boss?" "No." " I'll say good night, then." " Yeah." "Probably best." " DI Morton, I'll see myself out." " Yeah." " Boss?" " Morning, Helen." "Nathan Horsley's in hospital." "Hit-and-run." "Concussion, multiple fractures, internal bleeding, the works." " He had surgery this morning." " An accident?" " Doesn't look like it." "Tyre marks show no sign of braking, no attempts to swerve." "I'd say it was deliberate." " When do we get to interview him?" " A few hours." " Any witnesses?" " Well, no-one saw him being hit, but we do have an eye-witness that saw a white Astra driving 'like a dick' near the scene at about the right time." "Did they get a look at the driver?" " No, but we're checking CCTV in the area." " Number plate?" "Well, they said there might've been a P or an F and a 6." "We've got reports of a torched vehicle over in East End Park." "A white Astra." "It was reported stolen yesterday evening." "A passenger on the train saw it go up in flames" " and called the fire brigade." " Bit of luck?" "Yeah, which means they were able to put it out before the car was totally destroyed." "Well, if whoever did this was planning to torch the car, maybe they weren't quite so careful about leaving traces behind." "IT got into Kat's phone, they found these on there." "They were taken a few weeks before Sian killed herself." "Look." "Sian Haddon wore an ear cuff." "Kat Richards had the same one." "She only started wearing it after Sian died." " Do you think it means something?" " Maybe." "Maybe she just liked the design." "Horsley's hit-and-run driver ditched his baseball cap in the back seat." "Obviously reckoned it'd go up in flames, only it didn't." " We got three hairs from the band." " And a match?" " Charles Franklin." "Hit-and-run, Charlie." "Attempted murder." "Why did you try and kill Nathan Horsley?" "No comment." "Kat Richards had traces of marijuana in her body." " Did she get it from him?" " How would I know?" "Damon Horsley dealt prescription drugs." "So I'm wondering if Kat Richards, maybe got those sleeping pills from his brother, Nathan." "And if I'm wondering that, so is Steven Richards." "You see, I don't think you woke up yesterday morning, Charlie, and decided, 'I must try and kill Nathan Horsley.'" "I think Steven Richards told you to do it." "Only you didn't do a very good job, did you?" "You left the baseball cap behind?" "Careless." "So now, here we all are, and you're looking at some serious time." "So, you may as well tell us." "Who put you up to it?" "Was it Richards?" "My client has said all he's gonna say." "So far, your client has said nothing at all." "Either charge him with taking a vehicle without the owner's consent, or let him go." "Theft?" "He stole the car." "He waited for Horsley and then he drove it straight at him!" "You need to co-operate with us, Charlie." "Be clever." "You can only prove my client was in the car, which we will admit to." "He took the car, he drove it around." "He abandoned it a few hours later, along with the baseball cap." "Someone else must've stolen it, and they're the ones who ran over the unfortunate Mr Horsley." " Seriously?" " Can you prove otherwise?" "Kat Richards didn't kill Damon Horsley." "We've got CCTV from a bus on the night of Horsley's murder." " And?" " There she is." "Look, and she's 10 miles away from the murder scene." "When does she get off?" "She stays on there for a couple of hours, like she is in a dream." "Why confess to a crime that she didn't commit?" "Maybe she was made to by the person who really did it." " Did you see who was driving the car?" " No." "Could it have been the same man who trashed your flat after Damon was killed?" "I don't know." " Although..." " What?" ".. he was outside my flat the night Kat died." "She said that he'd followed her there." " She was pretty freaked out." " So, Kat was with you?" "I made her a cup of tea." "We chatted a bit, smoked, that seemed to do the trick." " And then what?" " Then she used my phone to call a cab." " Why?" " Her battery was knackered." "And that was the last time you saw her?" " Do you know where she went?" " No." "But she said she was going to meet someone." "I don't know who." "We have to find out where she went next." "We'll take a look at Horsley's phone records, find out which cab firm she called." "I've been looking over Kat Richards' forensics report." "There were no minerals in the water found in her stomach." " No potassium, no salt, no nothing." " Meaning?" "Meaning it wasn't bog-standard tap water." "Wherever Kat took the pills, there must've been a filter system." "Boss?" "Hundreds of messages were left on Kat Richards' social media pages, and the same phrases crop up on each." "Kind of weird stuff." "Look." ""Without feet I can make my way to you."" "Yeah, and this one." "Look." ""I'll feel you burn in every drop of my blood."" " Who posted these?" " Two different accounts." "They're both registered to the same person." "It's Kyle Finn." "And I also spoke to the cab firm that Kat Richards called from Nathan Horsley's." "They confirmed they picked her up and dropped her off at that address." "She went to Kyle Finn's house, the boy who was stalking her online." "A few hours later, she fetches up dead." ""I'll feel you burn in every drop of my blood."" "You sent that message to Kat Richards, didn't you?" "Answer the question, darling." "Just be truthful." "Yes." "In fact you sent a total of... .. 223 messages to Kat." "If you say so." "Were you in love with her, Kyle?" "Yes." "But she didn't love you back, did she?" "She even blocked you a couple of times." "Not that she knew who you were, of course." "Just someone who left these, well, slightly creepy messages." " They weren't creepy." " It must've hurt... .. loving her from a distance and being so... invisible." "We know Kat was seeing someone." "Did you think it was Damon Horsley, Kyle?" " Were you jealous?" " No." "Loving her... all the time thinking about her being with someone else." "I don't understand." "Are you suggesting that Kyle had something to do with his death?" "We're just trying to find out what happened." " That's absurd." " Please, Mrs Finn, as an appropriate adult, you're here to observe, not take part." "But Kyle was the one that discovered the body." "Which explains why he had Damon Horsley's blood on his clothes." "Convenient, isn't it, Kyle?" "You see, Kyle, we know that Kat Richards was at your house that night." "But what we need to know now is what happened in the hours between her arriving and when she died." "Did she confront you with Damon Horsley's murder?" "Is that why she had to be silenced?" "You need to tell them, Kyle." "Tell them what happened when Kat came to the house." "Tell them." "OK." "Come here." "It's OK." "We will work this out." "I promise." "Trust me." "Oh, God." "I can't." "I can't." " Yes." " I'm sorry, I can't." "I can't." " Ssh!" " Anything?" " Well, an impressive amount of pulses and beans." "Whatever else he is, Kyle's nice and regular." "I've already checked in there." "The water found in Kat Richards's stomach had no mineral content." "I was hoping to find some sort of filter system." "I'll go and see where the mains supply comes in." "How was Kat when she arrived?" "Uh, she was really..." " She was all over the place." " She was distressed?" " Yeah." " About what?" " I don't know." " Come on, Kyle." "She said that she wanted me to drive her to Sian's shrine." "She said that's where she had to go." " Did you know why?" " No." " What about the pills?" " She must've brought them with her." "And the water?" "I-I just drove her." "I had no idea what she was going to do..." "I promise." "Thanks, Kyle." "That's been really helpful." "Only the thing is, none of it's true, is it?" "This forensic analysis... .. from the water filter system at your home and the water that was found in Kat Richards's stomach." " They're the same." " Which proves she took the pills at your house." "Which means that everything you have told us so far is a lie." "So, now we start again." "Only now you don't waste my time and you do not insult my intelligence." " Mum?" " No!" "Kyle, from now on, you only look at me!" " You just look at me!" " Don't talk to him like that." " Mum, I'm scared." " Look at me!" " Don't let them bully you." " Because I want the truth." " I don't know." " And I want it now!" "I wasn't there." "It wasn't me that Kat came to see." "It was Mum." "I found this ear cuff in Alice's room." "We need to get it tested but, seeing as we didn't find it on the body," " I'd say the chances are that this is Kat Richards'." " Boss?" " Alice Finn cashed in her savings three weeks ago." " How much?" "30 grand." "The same amount Damon Horsley had stashed away." " Blackmail?" " Well, we know Horsley didn't take the video of Kat." "Maybe Alice Finn did and he was using it against her." "And if she killed Horsley, somewhere there'll be blood." "Vince?" "Alice Finn's house." "Go back." "I want all her clothes brought in for analysis." "Get forensics to check her bins for bloodstains." "Ken, I want you to go round the charity shops, anywhere she may have taken the clothes." "Maybe she tried to burn them, so check for signs of fires, inside and out." "And talk to Kyle, see what he remembers." "We found this ear cuff in your bedroom." "The DNA from it matches Kat Richards." "Did you give it to her?" "Sian wore a cuff that was almost identical." "Did you have a relationship with both of them?" "They were your patients." "They were vulnerable kids." "Tell me about Sian." "I knew it was wrong." "I couldn't help it." "I never meant for it to happen." "After my marriage ended, I was..." "She made me happy." "Sian killing herself, it came out of the blue." "I never expected her to..." "Aren't you trained to notice things like that?" "Not all suicides come with advance warnings." "What about Kat Richards?" "Any advance warnings there?" "I should've done more." "She went to the bathroom... .. that must be where she took the pills." "God, I didn't know." "She begged me to give her a lift." " So, you took her to the woods?" " What?" "I took her to a bus stop." "She... .. she kissed me goodbye." "She said she'd see me soon... .. and that she loved me." "I'm sorry." "OK?" "I'm..." "Thanks." "This is you buying a bottle of water from a garage within a mile of the woods." "And that's Kat." "Just a few minutes away from death." "On the way to the woods, you realised Kat didn't have any water." "She could hardly appear to overdose at the shrine without any." "Why did Kat Richards kill herself?" "She was eaten up with guilt for what she'd done." " You mean, murdering Damon Horsley?" " She wanted to atone." "Except that she didn't kill him." "She was nowhere near the woods when he died." "Why confess to a crime that she didn't commit?" "I really have no idea." "Was it your idea?" "We found this on Damon Horsley's computer." " Then why are you showing it to me?" " Was Damon Horsley blackmailing you?" " No." " Then why did you withdraw £30,000?" "Damon Horsley found out about you and Kat" " and threatened to blow the whistle." " No." "But I'm guessing, like most blackmailers, he got greedy and came back for more." "No." "So, you arranged to meet him at Sian Haddon's shrine, and that's where you killed him." "No." "Right now, there are dozens of officers going over your home, your car, real fine-tooth comb stuff." "Your clothes, your shoes, your soft furnishings, your surfaces, anywhere that we might find traces, however microscopic, of Damon Horsley's blood." "Then you'll be disappointed." "According to Kyle, you went to the tip the morning after Horsley's murder." " What of it?" " What were you doing?" "Just what most people are doing when they go to the tip:" "getting rid of rubbish." "I never met Damon Horsley." "I don't know why Kat did what she did." "This, what you're saying here..." ".. never happened." "Helen, the CPS won't go for a murder charge." "Even if we can prove blackmail, we still can't put Alice Finn anywhere near Horsley." "Here's your DCI reference." "I've tried to be fair." " Wow." " Too many warts?" "No, it's about right, I'd say." "Thank you." "Boss, we've got something." "We got CCTV from Alice Finn's local recycle centre." "That's her, the morning after Damon Horsley's murder." "She heads over to the clothes recycle bin." "Looks like a navy blue coat." " What's she doing?" " She's having second thoughts." "She's thinking, 'Put it in here, it can still be traced.'" "Much better to put it in landfill." "Let's find out where the contents of that skip ended up." "Just you wait." "Half an hour of wading through thousands of tonnes of rubbish" " and I'll have an allergic reaction." " I'll look after you, Ken." "Get rashes, like, shortness of breath." "Not to mention the smell." "Lydia won't speak to me for a week." "According to our site manager, the load we're looking for is over there in area number three." "What, no overalls for you, boss?" "Alas, a mountain of paperwork with my name on awaits." "One of the burdens of office, I'm afraid." " Tough at the top." " I'll be with you in spirit, Ken." "Come on." "We found your coat, Alice." "The one you put in the landfill." " Quite a lot of blood on it." " We're having it tested now, but we both know it'd be Damon Horsley's." "You killed him, didn't you?" "Kat was with Horsley one night, off her head." "She told him all about us." "She showed him the video." "He stole the video from her phone and said he wanted £30,000." "So you paid Horsley?" "But then he came back, wanting more." "I didn't have any more." " You got him to come to the shrine?" " I told him I had the money." "I was waiting for him." "But Kat worked it out, didn't she?" "When we showed her the video from Horsley's computer, she knew where it had come from." "She knew you were involved." "We'd arrested her father for the murder, so she confronted you." "What did she want you to do?" "Turn yourself in?" "How did you get her to take all of those pills?" "And write the note?" "Well, I told her it was all her fault." "All of it." "If she hadn't have shown him that video, if she hadn't have been so stupid, none of this would've happened." "She was the reason he died." " And she believed you?" " She trusted me." "For years, she'd been confused and scared..." " Of what?" " Everything." "Her sexuality." "What happened to her brother." "It left her blaming herself for being alive while he'd died and that screwed up her relationship with her parents." "She felt unloved... unwanted." "I told her she was right to feel these things." "They were all true." "Every bad thought, every shred of self-hatred." "I told her the world would be a better place without her." "Oh." "It wasn't hard." "I was just pushing an open door." " And the note?" " Well, I told her what to write." "I gave her the pills and watched as she took them." "Then we drove to the woods." "I helped her walk to the shrine... .. and settled her." "Did you watch her die?" "I held her hand." "What if it hadn't worked?" "Or you hadn't persuaded her to overdose?" "I'd have killed her." " Must feel good, cracking a case." " Hey." "Not always." "I'm gonna take that Glasgow job." " I thought you were gonna think about it." " I have." "And the thing is, they want me to start as soon as possible, and I've got two weeks' holiday owing." "So today is my last day." "You're leaving?" "Just like that?" " Well, what-what about..." " Us?" "There isn't really an 'us,' is there?" "I hope you two work it out somehow." "Yeah." "That's very good." "Thank you." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Some items belonging to your daughter have been released, Mrs Richards." "I thought you'd like to have this back." "Thank you." "Good night, then." "All that time trying to pin everything on me." "If you'd have done your job properly, Kat'd still be alive." "Her death is on you."