"[Oh, we might be in trouble.]" "Morning, Edwina." "Reverend." "Mrs Dawson." "Sorry we're late." "Bit of an incident at the orphanage this morning." "Those kids will be the death of me." "You're keen, Officer Myers." "I'm afraid polling doesn't start for another 20 minutes." "Actually, I'm here in my official capacity, Reverend." "The commissioner wanted a presence, as he calls it, for when the candidates show up." "Trying to impress the new mayor even before they've been elected?" " You might think that, I couldn't comment." " Ah." "Yes, those are the right ones." "The sign needs putting out." "I'll do that, then." "Thank you, Edwina." "I think my policies are clear, and I'd like to think the people of Saint Marie feel the same and show their support accordingly." "Morning, Dwayne." "Ah!" "Morning, Catherine." " I hope I can count on your vote today." " My vote?" "Oh, well, of course." "I mean, who else would I vote for, huh?" " All the best for today." " The same to you, Peter." "Whichever way it goes, I'd like to think that you and I" " could work together." " I'd like that." "Just as long as one of us beats him." "OK, Dad." "The journalist's name is Samantha Palmer." "You donated money to her son's school to help build" " a new sports hall." " The boy's name?" " Marvin." "Ah, Samantha." "So good to see you." "How's young Marvin?" "He's doing well..." "This fan is broken." "I think there's a spare in the storeroom." "The candidates are coming in." "I'm going to get another fan." "I can't be expected to sit in this heat without a fan." "Morning." "Residents of Honore District Council should register at Reverend Dawson's desk, and those in the Port Royal district should register with me." "Judith, where's the fan?" "Victor Pearce. 14, Rue de Taranne." "I'll come in a minute." "Hi!" " Where is the fan?" " Right, I'm coming over." "We'll find it." "The fan is on the top shelf." " Excuse me." "There's no pen in this booth." " Sorry." "Right in front of your eyes." "Right there." "(Sorry.)" "Thank you." "Victor, are you all right?" "Oh, my God!" "Dad!" "How is your lemonade, Inspector?" "Lovely." "Very..." "lemony." "I like it..." "love it." "Mm!" "I had a phone call from your supervising officer back in the UK." " It's not about the expenses?" "I expl..." " He didn't mention them." "That's a relief." "It seems London aren't willing to be quite as flexible about our arrangement as we first thought." "I see." "Actually, I'm not sure that I do see." "Am I to go back, or stay, or...?" "The decision lies entirely with you, Inspector." "Well." "It's very tempting, I have to admit." "But the thing is..." "Yes, Dorothy?" "Put him through." "Minister, good morning." "How are...?" "I'm on my way." "We've cleared the scene, sir." "The witnesses are waiting for us in the church when you're ready." "So the Commissioner was telling me our victim is Victor Pearce, a local businessman who was standing for mayor, is that right?" "Yes, sir." "He and the other candidates were casting their votes when it happened, just after 10am." "I was on duty outside the main door." "I thought a presence would be appropriate." "And Catherine was here as well, I take it, her being a candidate?" "It was Catherine who raised the alarm." "Oh." "Looks like a 20cm blade at a guess." "Kitchen knife, maybe?" "Any fingerprints, JP?" "Some partials, I think, but it's hard to make out." "I'll get it out to the lab, sir." "Those two desks, Port Royal and Honore." "You collect your ballot depending on which area you live in?" "That's right, sir." "Our victim was an Honore resident." "So he got his ballot here, then walked back over to the booth... here... to cast his vote." "Witnesses?" "Six other people in here when it happened." "No-one saw a thing." "That's not possible, is it?" "Everyone was sure about where they were." "No-one was near the victim's booth." " They think an intruder must have got in." " From where?" "No-one passed me." " The windows?" " All locked." "I checked." "What about that fire escape?" "Can that be opened from the outside?" "No, it only opens one way." "Makes sense, I suppose." "Who'd want to run IN to a burning building?" "So if nobody else came in and nobody left, our culprit must be one of the six people who were already in here." "Now, this is simply routine, nothing at all for you to worry about, but if I could just ask if you could remember your exact position in the community centre when Catherine here raised the alarm." "Well, I was in one of the booths casting my vote." "'Kemar was in the one next to me." "'The partitions in the booths are from the waist up so you can see' if someone's in the booth next to you." "'I was in the booth next to Victor." "'I heard the noise first.'" "Victor breathing in, like he was in pain." "'And I noticed blood on the floor,' so I went to check if he was OK, and..." "And what about the rest of you?" "Edwina?" "Miss Bousquet, if you don't mind, Inspector." "My apologies, Miss Bousquet." "Forgive my impertinence, but do you mind me asking, where were you when this was going on?" "I was in the storeroom... '.. trying to find a fan that wasn't broken.'" "Judith!" "I can't find the fan." "She was struggling, so I went to go and help her." "Edwina, the fan is in the other cupboard." "Right in front of you." "Then we heard a commotion and went over to find that Mr Pearce had been..." "Oh, my God." "OK." "Thank you." "So I have Mr Pearce and the three of you in the polling booths, and you two ladies were in the storeroom." "Which leaves us..." "Reverend Dawson." "I didn't leave my desk." "Actually, that's not strictly true." "Victor's booth didn't have a pen in it." "'He asked me for one, so I went and handed it to him.'" "Right." "Did all the other booths have pens?" "We set up last night." "I'm sure I put one in there." "It was quite late." "Maybe you forgot." "So after handing Mr Pearce the pen, you went straight back to your desk?" " Yes." " He did." "When I heard my dad asking for the pen," "'I looked out to see it was being dealt with.'" "That only leaves one person." "Catherine Bordey." "She was the one in the booth next to my father." "When the reverend went back to his desk, she could have leaned out and stabbed him then." "But I only went to him when I saw the blood on the floor." "All right, thank you all very much indeed." "I think we'll leave it there for now." "And we'll try not to bother you again, but if you could just make sure the officer here has details of where you can be contacted on the off-chance that we might have to speak to you again." "OK." "Good job, sir." "Well, I'm no Van Gogh, Florence, but each to his own." " So, shall we go over what we have so far?" " Mm-hm." "Victor Pearce." "What do we know about him?" "63." "Born and raised in Honore." "Set up a boat hire business when he left school at 18." "Now owns several businesses on Saint Marie." "Would he have made a popular mayor, do you think?" "Some people didn't like his plans to commercialise the island, but the polls predicted he was likely to win." "He had the money to run a much bigger campaign." "And who is going to inherit all this wealth?" "His son?" "We are waiting for confirmation, but that seems to be the case." "So if Kemar Pearce was going to inherit all of Daddy's money," "I guess that's a motive." "Been working as his father's PA for the last few months." "But before that, there's not much." "Peter Baxter." ""Grew up in the UK." ""Trained as a teacher and moved here to work ten years ago." ""Married with two children."" "He's big on family values and promoting education in the community." "Next is Miss Edwina Bousquet." "Ah, the indomitable Miss Bousquet." "I've met a lot like her in my time, Florence." "A fair few of them in my own family." "Edwina Bousquet is 62." "No children." "Never married." "Retired, but used to work at the library." "Now she helps at the church doing flowers, etc." "Which leaves us with..." "Reverend Matthew Dawson and his wife, Judith." "Reverend Dawson is the minister at St Anne's." "Originally from London, came to Saint Marie eight years ago, which is when he met Mrs Dawson who was volunteering at the church's orphanage." " She was an orphan at St Anne's herself..." " Oh!" ".. until she was taken in by a local family." " So, these two, they run the orphanage together?" " That's right." "And I found one thing of interest in the church's online newsletter." "There's been an ongoing dispute between the Dawsons and Victor Pearce." "We are still looking into it, but it seems Mr Pearce was trying to buy the land the orphanage is on so he could develop a holiday village there." " Reverend Dawson wasn't going to stand for that!" " No, sir." "OK, so that's five." "Who's left?" "Ah." "Catherine." "Well, you know her better than me." "Are there any circumstances in which she might be our killer?" "No, sir." "I'd stake my life on it." "Are you OK for the picture?" "Ah, lads, how'd you get on at the victim's house?" "Very nice." "Swimming pool, hot tub." "Gym in the basement." "That sounds lovely, Dwayne." "Er, anything that might help us catch a killer?" "Well, we got everything we could find, sir, just like you said." "Good stuff." "Now, one or more of these five people killed Victor Pearce, in cold blood and in broad daylight." "Now whatever sort of a man he was, we can't let them get away with that." "I know it's late, but I'd like to get as much done as possible" " this evening." " Yes, sir." "OK, background and finance checks." "Police, regional council, government records on all five." " But, Sarge..." " Eh..." " I..." " Chut-chut!" "Siobhan!" "That lizard's back." "He's called Harry." "Well, he doesn't look like a Harry." " He probably wants feeding." " Surely he can do that for himself." "Catch things with that ridiculous tongue of his." "Well, JP said he likes mangos and mozzies mashed up." "Oh, so now we're mashing up mosquitoes for a lizard?" "Seriously, Siobhan." "We're not in London any more, Dad." "You have to expect things to be a little different." "Ah..." "I was going to talk to you about that." "The commissioner wants to know if I would stay here." " Permanently." " Oh?" "So come on, what do you think?" "What do YOU think?" "The honest truth is... .. I couldn't be happy here if you weren't." "Anyway, with everything that's happened... .. I need, very much, for you to be happy." "Can I think about it?" "Of course you can, love." "OK." "Poor Catherine." "I want to know where they got this information." "Maybe someone is trying to deflect attention away from themselves." "Exactly." "Right, I'm going to the paper." "See what I can find out." "Yes, please, Dwayne." "Hello, Honore police." "Oh, and I spoke to Victor Pearce's solicitor, and he confirmed" " that Victor left everything to his son." " OK." "Thank you." "I have something, sir." "I'm not sure if it means anything, but the victim went to the same school as Edwina Bousquet." "Vieux Moulin secondary." "She never mentioned that, did she?" "Well, it was a long time ago." "My mum is friends with the old headmistress at Vieux Moulin." "She's been visiting friends in Montserrat, but is back this evening." " Sir." " Yes, JP?" "That was our contact from the council." "He was saying the only thing that would allow Victor Pearce to buy the orphanage would be if it was closed down." "And the only reason why that would happen would be if its funding" " was cut." " And is that a possibility?" "It would have been if Victor Pearce had been elected." "The funding for the orphanage falls directly under the control" " of the mayor." " Oh." "No, nothing important." "And we'll try to be as quick as we can." "I do hope WE haven't come under suspicion." "No, no, heavens, no." "You've made it very clear where you both were when the terrible deed took place." " And you can't be in two places at once, can you?" " No." "Now, what was it we needed to ask?" "Just a tiny thing if I remember." "Ah, yes." "You had a dispute with the victim, about him cutting funding to the orphanage, turfing you out and building a holiday resort on the land." "Er, well..." "Er, yes, but, well..." "It wasn't quite that clear-cut." "It wasn't?" "Well, ignore my clumsy way of putting things." "You explain how it was." "Ah, well, I mean, it was common knowledge he owned the land surrounding us." "So, yes, the orphanage was of interest to him." "And what would've happened to the children?" "Well, we only have three children in our care at the moment." "They'd have been moved to an orphanage on one of the other islands where there are bigger and better facilities." "You must have been worried sick." "Well, we were worried, of course." "But not any more." "And was any of this discussed yesterday, when Victor arrived at the polling station?" "No." "I don't think he even knew who we were." "We did try and arrange a meeting but, er..." "He was a hard man to get an appointment with." "Still, as they say, it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good." "By that I mean, Victor's death..." "Tragic and all as it was, well, at least it means the orphanage is still safe." "Not that either of you wished the poor man dead!" "Oh, of course not!" "Ah, the children." "They're back for their lunch." " Ready, steady... hop up!" " Lovely kids." "Have they been with you long?" "Maisie since she was four." "The boys since they were babies." "Do you mind me asking, do you and Mrs Dawson have children of your own?" " Er, no." "We don't." "It never quite happened for us." " Sorry." "Well, thank you for your time and answering all our questions." " It's very good of you." "We'll try not to bother you again." " Thank you." "Don't worry about them." "They're just going through the motions." " Dwayne..." " Mm?" "I hope that newspaper report doesn't ruin Catherine's chances of becoming mayor." "Well, you know, JP, it might not be a bad thing." "What?" "Look..." "It's not that I don't like Catherine." "Of course I do." " But when it comes to..." " Wait!" "Are you saying that you wouldn't vote for her?" "No, no, no, no." "You see, it's like this, JP." "There's a little establishment I know that sells rum at what I would call a very reasonable price." " Is there, now?" " Oh, yes." "And that establishment I know Catherine does not look too kindly upon." "You understand me?" "Don't worry, Dwayne." "I understand you." " Good." " Mm." "You don't want Catherine to become mayor, because you won't be able to buy your cheap rum any more." "Hey!" "There's no need to put it like that, OK?" "So how should I put it?" "What's your problem?" " What do you care who I vote for?" " I don't." " Huh?" "But Catherine is our friend." "And you, you should be supporting her." "Now listen here, JP..." "With the report..." "Oh, yes, um..." "We got the postmortem report back, sir." ""Victim died from a deep laceration to the right lung" ""causing intra... thoracic haemorrhage."" "Well, I don't have a clue what that is, but I'd say it was the knife in his back that did for him." "Yeah." "What about prints?" "Ah, same result, sir." "We got some partials, but nothing we can use." "Any more news on the victim's finances?" "Well, looking at the paperwork we took from the house, it's pretty clear that up until a few months ago, Victor was throwing a whole heap of money at his son." "What happened a couple of months ago?" "Kemar was put on Victor's company's payroll as his personal assistant." "He was still paying him, though?" "Yes, but significantly less than before." "So Dad was trying to curb his son's spending?" "If he was, it didn't work." "As far as I can see, Kemar carried on as if nothing had changed." "You know, flashy-flashy." "I mean, it's only been a couple of months, but he's in a heck of a lot of debt." "And his father didn't help?" "Far from it." "Two days ago, his salary wasn't paid, so I checked with the bank as to why." "Seems Victor had put a bar on all transactions going from his accounts into his son's." " Two days ago?" " Next morning, Victor's dead." "And Kemar inherits everything." "I can see how it looks, Inspector, but trust me," "Dad wasn't going to cut me off." "I'm sure, and I'm sorry to have to ask you these things." "It's just we have to report back, you see." "He went into one sometimes, trying to make a point." "But it never lasted long." "Well, that's not the impression we have of him." "I mean, he was a successful businessman, wasn't he?" "Strong-willed." "Ruthless, even." "Yeah, but things were different with me." "Because ever since my mum died, when I was ten, he hasn't had" " the faintest clue what to do with me." " What do you mean?" "The only reason he wanted a child was so that he had someone to carry on his business empire after he died." "His legacy." "As far as actually raising me was concerned, he couldn't have cared less." "That was supposed to be your mum's job." "So he did what he does whenever there is a problem needs solving." "He threw money at it." "At me." "And he's been doing the same ever since." "So..." "Look, you're right." "I wasn't happy about him trying to cut back on my spending." "But you can't really think I killed him because of it?" "Heavens, no, how could you?" "You explained where you were." "No, we're just looking at your dad's state of mind, that's all." "Yeah, we shouldn't've bothered you." "Especially at a time like this." "No problem." "Two questions..." "Who and how?" "And to be honest, we're no closer to either." "But ignoring the "how" for a moment, let's think about the "who"." "Reverend Dawson and his wife, Judith." "They faced losing the orphanage if Victor Pearce was elected mayor." "I checked with the council and apparently Reverend and Mrs Dawson had applied to adopt the three children at St Anne's." "But it was early days, and the process could take a few years." "None of which is a problem now that Mr Pearce is no longer with us." "Rest his soul." "That said, both alibis seem solid." " Kemar Pearce." " Victor threatened to cut him off financially, but he claims his dad would never have gone through with it." "And I think he was telling the truth about that." "So if he didn't believe his father would cut the purse strings, why kill him?" "Which leaves Edwina Bousquet and Peter Baxter." "But neither has an obvious motive." "Well, I've been going through the victim's phone records." "Now, there's a lot of calls between his son and him, as you'd expect." "No contact with any of the other suspects, apart from calls between him and Peter Baxter over the last week." "But as they're both mayoral candidates, there's no suggestion that there's anything sinister in that." "Anything on his computer?" "Well, I've finished going through his laptop." "I get the impression he was a bit of a workaholic." "His e-mails, all business." "Nothing personal in there at all." "Which currently leaves us right back at the beginning of this investigation, in St Anne's Community Centre on polling day." "Mayoral candidate Victor Pearce was casting his vote when one of these five suspects managed to scuttle into his booth unseen and stick a knife in his back." "Sorry." "Sorry about that." "But how could nobody see it happen?" "Haven't the foggiest." "Mm..." "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I could do with a beer." "Hey, what say we show a bit of solidarity with Catherine and go and have a drink at her place?" "Actually, sir, I should get over to my mum's friend's house." "She'll be home now." "But I might pop along later." "Ah, yes, of course." "You go and do that." "Dwayne, JP?" "You know what, sir?" "I think that is a great idea." "What do you think, Dwayne?" "Show Catherine a bit of solidarity?" "Um, yes." "Of course." "Solidarity." "I'm all for that." "Great." "Ah, Catherine." "There you are." "Good to see you." " You're bearing up?" " I am." "People have been very kind and come out to show their support." "Don't worry, Catherine." "We're trying to find out where it came from." "I have someone at the newspaper digging around." "Thank you, Dwayne." "You're all such good friends." "These are on me as a thank you." "Ah, that's very kind of you, Catherine." "To good friends." "To good friends." "Oh!" "That's got a bit of a kick to it." "Wait." "You never tried any of the local rums before?" "I'm not usually a rum drinker, to be honest with you, Dwayne." "Not yet..." "So, are you any closer to finding out who killed Victor Pearce?" "Well, we're not quite there yet, Catherine." "But we're making good progress." "I can only imagine how hard this is for you with everything that's been said in the papers and all." "But I'm going to find out who did this, it's a promise." "Morning." "You all right there, JP?" "I'm fine, sir." "I just can't quite make sense of something." "Oh, yeah?" "What is it?" "OK, so I'm going through Victor Pearce's appointments diary and cross-referencing it with his journal." "Now, he makes notes from all his meetings in there." "You know, writes in action plans." "The man cross-references everything." "I'm sensing a "but" coming." "Well, there is, sort of." "See, last Tuesday in his diary there's an appointment," ""Paradise Bay Hotel. 7pm." "Room 303."" "But there's no references of what it was about or who he was going to meet or anything." " No notes anywhere else?" " No." "Nothing." "Hm." "OK." "Well, why don't you both head over to the hotel and see if anyone knows" " what he was doing there?" " Yes, sir." "OK." "Thank you." "Sarge." "Dwayne." " Morning, Florence." " Morning, sir." "So, how did you get on with your mum's friend last night?" "Did she have anything interesting to say about Edwina Bousquet and Victor Pearce's time together at school?" "Better than interesting." "Edwina Bousquet and Victor Pearce were high school sweethearts." "Never!" "This was taken on a field trip." "This is Edwina, and Victor, here." "They were dating for about six months before they graduated." "At which point, Victor ended it between them." "Apparently, he was so focused on setting up his first business, he said he didn't have time for a relationship." "Now, that I can believe." "It seems she was broken-hearted." "She'd never had a boyfriend before." "Her parents were very religious, very strict, so it was the first time she'd experienced anything like that." "First love is a powerful thing, Florence." "And the sad thing is, he was her first love, and her last." "There's never been anyone since." "So, all those years ago," "Victor Pearce broke Edwina's heart... .. and she's still hurting now." "They are looking lovely, Miss Bousquet." " I do my best for the church, Inspector." " I'm sure you do." "And I bet you no-one ever thanks you for it, do they?" "I had an aunt once, exactly the same." "Oh, yeah." "The unsung hero of her parish." "So much so that when she went abroad for the first time on her 60th birthday, the church didn't know what hit it." "I assume you're here for a reason, Inspector, aside from sharing stories about your aunt." "You've seen through me, Miss Bousquet." "There are actually a couple of questions that we have to ask." " Would you mind terribly?" " You have your job to do." "We've been doing a bit of digging about Victor Pearce and we've come across this photo." "It shows you and Victor together." "Were you close?" "I know it was a long way back, but we do have to ask." "We were companions for a short while." "Six months, if that." "And what was your relationship like in more recent times?" " We didn't have one." " Nothing at all?" "The occasional "good morning"." "Nothing more." "That's very sad, isn't it?" "Two people this close, then all these years later, reduced to exchanging the odd pleasantry." "It's what happens, Inspector." "People move on from things very quickly." "He has a very kind face doesn't he?" "In that photo." "He was nothing like the man he became." "He was warm and caring back then." "He showed an interest in me when many didn't." "Uptight church girl." "He saw something in me and brought it out." "We know he ended things suddenly, to concentrate on his business?" "That's something only he would know." "If the point of these questions is to find out whether or not he hurt me, the answer is yes." "Terribly." "But I am a Christian woman, Inspector, and while I may not be able to forget how he hurt me," "I can forgive." "Do you think I killed him?" "I don't see how, if I recall, you were in the store cupboard" " when it happened." " Yes, I was." "We're just trying to paint a picture, nothing more." "Sorry to have disturbed you." "Inspector?" "Not after me, were you?" "No, Reverend." "I think we're done here for now, thank you." "Excuse me." "I'd better take this." " Hello?" " Actually, I'm glad I caught you." "The last few days have rather taken their toll on the parish so we're holding a prayer service this afternoon." " You're both, of course, invited." " That's very good of you." " And we'll do our best to make it." " Lovely." "Sir, that was Dwayne." " He and JP think they might have a lead." " Great." "So, what have we got?" "Well, me and JP spoke to the receptionist about Victor Pearce's meeting here at the hotel last Tuesday." "So she checked the booking system and room 303 was reserved by a woman called Verity Browning." " So Victor was meeting a woman here?" " That's what we assumed." "But we thought we'd double check and have a look at the CCTV" " outside room 303." " And what did it show?" "Come and have a look." "OK, JP show them what you've got." "You see, it wasn't our victim" "Miss Browning was having a liaison with." "It was Peter Baxter." "So what?" "Victor Pearce knew about this?" "That's why he had "room 303" written into his diary." "Well, we think so, sir." "I mean, why else would he have the exact hotel room number and time" "Peter Baxter was in there with another woman?" "They were both running for mayor, so maybe Victor threatened to reveal the affair?" "That would explain why the phone records showed Baxter and Pearce had been calling each other the last week." "And there's more." "I heard back from Chrissie from the newspaper." "Now, she can't be sure, but the rumour is the person they quoted in the Catherine story was Peter Baxter." "He's over there, sir." "Mr Baxter, do you have a minute?" "Jen, could you take over for a moment?" "Shall we go inside?" "Excuse the mess." "It's been a hectic few weeks." ""A vote for Peter Baxter is a vote for integrity, a vote for" ""your children's future."" "Really like that, Peter." "Positive message, if ever I heard one." "73% of the adult population on this island are married with children." "It's their voices that need listening to." "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing, just ticking a few more boxes." "Now, what was it?" "I'm sorry, it's definitely in here somewhere." "Ah..." "Oh, here it is." "Yeah, I was just wondering, what you were doing in room 303 at the Paradise Bay last Tuesday evening." "I..." " I mean..." " Take your time." "I mean, obviously we could ask Verity Browning, who was also there." "But we thought we'd come to you first, Peter." "Look, if it helps to jog your memory, we could show you some CCTV footage." "Or maybe you recall Victor Pearce calling you about the very same thing?" " You know about that?" " We do, yes." "He told me he had photographs of me and Verity together." "I mean, I've no idea how he knew." "I mean... we'd been discreet." "Or I thought we had." "And what was Mr Pearce threatening to do with those photos?" "What do you think?" "Go to the newspapers with them, unless I stood down and stopped running for mayor." "Which you obviously didn't do?" "I was just wondering." "Did you have another plan?" "I'm sorry to disappoint you, and as convenient as it may look, it wasn't me that killed him." "Victor wasn't the only one with leverage." "What do you mean?" "I told him to publish and be damned, but if he did, that I had my own little bit of sordid gossip that I knew he wouldn't have wanted getting out." "Do you mind me asking, what was that?" "He's got a daughter tucked away on the island." "Now, I mean it's not exactly the crime of the century." "It's not as if he's married or anything." "But it would have been a nice shot across the bows." ""Mayor's Secret Love Child"." "And you threatened him back with this?" "Fight fire with fire is what I say." "When it comes to politics, it's every man for himself." "Mr Baxter..." "Was it you who leaked the story about Catherine being prime suspect?" "I couldn't be a force for good if I wasn't in power." "So that's what this party's all about?" "Celebrating your win, now that you've well and truly scuppered Catherine's chances?" "If there's nothing else you need to speak to me about, Inspector," "I really should be getting back to my guests." "Why would he do something like that?" "I mean, Catherine saw him as a friend." " Because he's a low-down dirty snake." " Well, that's politicians for you." "OK, what do you say?" "One last crack." "See if we can't solve this case?" "Five suspects, all of them have a motive of one kind or another." "And all them have denied that those motives were enough to drive them to murder." "Peter Baxter." "While he was being threatened by Victor Pearce, he had the means to threaten him right back." "Edwina Bousquet." "She was once in love with Victor Pearce." "He broke her heart, but she insists she forgave him." "Kemar Pearce claims his father would never have carried out his threat to cut him off financially." "And as for the Dawsons, do we really believe a clergyman and his wife would commit murder simply to save funding for their orphanage?" "And that's without even having a clue how the murder actually took place." "Oh, yay, yay, yay, yay." "Hm." "Reverend Dawson was back at his desk." "Peter Baxter was in the opposing booth." "Kemar Pearce was right next door." "Edwina Bousquet was in the storeroom, and Judith Dawson was just outside it, here." "And all of them can prove they were where they say they were when the knife was thrust into Victor Pearce's back." "So just how did the killer manage to do it without anyone else in the room seeing it?" " But it has to have been one of them." " Yes, it did." " Sir?" " Mm?" "The church service, we said we'd go." "Oh, yes, so we did, yeah." "Might do us good." "Clear the heads." "OK." "Right, lads, keep at it." "Thank you." "Yes, sir." "You know what, JP?" "I think you're right, you know." "I think maybe Catherine IS the best woman for the job." "We can't have Peter Baxter running our island." "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, Dwayne." "When they hold the election, he'll probably win, just because of the damage he's done to Catherine's reputation." "Well, then maybe someone should level the playing field." "What do you mean?" "Where are those images of him and Verity Browning?" "Ah." "Here." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm going to see how Peter Baxter likes being played at his own game." "I'd like to us to begin this prayer service by singing hymn number 125." "Come on, then." "♪ Praise my soul The king of heaven" "♪ To his feet thy tribute bring" "♪ Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven" "♪ Who like me His praise should sing" "♪ Hallelujah... ♪" "Florence." "I need you to come with me." "Storage cupboard." "Polling booth." "OK." "Ballot box." "Florence, would you mind doing me a favour?" " Could you go and stand in the booth Victor was in?" " Mm-hm." "Now, the fan wasn't working, and there was no pen in that booth, so Reverend Dawson handed Victor one." "Right." "Catherine was in here." "Yes, legs visible there." "And that's when Victor was stabbed." "Mm-hm." "Right..." "Excuse me, there's no pen in this booth." "'I went and handed it to him.'" "I'm sure I put one in there." "That only leaves one person..." "Catherine Bordey!" "She could've leaned out and stabbed him then." "Fight fire with fire is what I say." "Urgh!" "It couldn't be..." "Could it?" "It's a stretch," " but it's the only thing that explains it." " Explains what?" "The how." "And maybe the who." "I think we might have to curtail Reverend Dawson's prayer service a little." "If I go and do that, would you nip off to the orphanage?" " There's something I'd like you to find." " Yes, sir." " What?" " A long-lost secret." "Siobhan, what are you doing here?" " I called the station." "JP said you were heading this way." " Right, I see." "I wanted to talk to you." "I've been thinking about what you said." "About us staying here," " permanently." " OK." " And I think we should." " Really?" "I've been thinking over it in my head, and I think..." "I think Mum would've really liked it here." "And that kind of makes me happy." "So, yeah, I think we should stay." "That's just great." "That's brilliant news." "And I think we should go and celebrate and let everyone know." "But there's something I really need to go and do first." "What's that?" "Catch a killer." "Two days ago, at ten o'clock in the morning, polling opened for the election of Saint Marie's next mayor." "Only a minute later, one of the three candidates had been murdered." "A knife thrust viciously into his back while he was casting his vote." "Which left us asking, not just who did it, and why, but how did they manage to do it?" "There were six other people in the community centre that day." "All of you, apart from Catherine, were able to provide an alibi for the time at which Victor Pearce was stabbed." "Reverend Dawson, you were at your desk." "Mr Pearce and Mr Baxter were in their respective booths." "Ms Bousquet, you'd gone to the storeroom, and Mrs Dawson, you were just outside it." "And all of you had one other person who could vouch for where you were at the time of the murder." "Whereas Catherine, here, not only had no alibi, she also had the means of committing the murder, being in the booth right next to the victim." "But it wasn't Catherine who killed Victor Pearce." "Then who was it?" "Ah, straight to the point, Miss Bousquet, you know I like that about you." "I appreciate your directness." "Thank you." "And in answer to your question... .. it was you." "You murdered Victor Pearce." "Don't be absurd." "How could I have done it?" "I was in the storeroom the whole time." "Judith will vouch for me, won't you?" "I'm sure she will." "Because, here's the thing." "She was in cahoots with you." "Your accomplice." " Isn't that right, Judith?" " No!" "This is ridiculous, Inspector." "Do you really think Edwina and Judith plotted together to kill" "Victor Pearce?" "I do, Reverend, yeah." "Sorry." "But let me just run past you what I think happened that day." "On the morning of the murder, two things occurred." "A fan stopped working and a pen went missing." "Now was all this just chance?" "Or was it all part of a bigger plan?" "The night before the election was due to take place, we know Reverend and Mrs Dawson spent the evening preparing the community centre for polling." "But while you were there, Mrs Dawson," "I think you laid the ground for what was to take place the next morning." "First, you made sure the fan on Edwina's desk wouldn't work." "Two, when you were putting out the pens in the polling booths, you made sure that one of the booths near to the desk marked "Honore"" "didn't have a pen in it." "Then, thirdly, we assume that you planted the knife which was later used to kill Victor somewhere in the storeroom." "That done, everything was in place." "You and you were both ready to commit murder." "You knew exactly which desk Victor Pearce would go to to collect his ballot paper." "Like Catherine, he's an Honore resident." "So he would go the desk" " Matthew was manning." " Victor Pearce. 14, Rue de Taranne." "Which is why you removed the pen from the booth that you did." "It was only natural for Victor, when he arrived at the polling station, to turn and walk towards one of the booths on his side of the room." "So you knew that Victor would end up in one of the two booths." "It didn't really matter which of the two he went in." "All you needed was for him or Catherine to ask Reverend Dawson for a spare pen so that he would have to leave his desk." "You see, when the candidates started arriving at the polling station," "Miss Bousquet began her charade, complaining that her fan wasn't working, and supposedly going to the storeroom to fetch another one." "I can't be expected to sit in this heat without a fan." "And once there, I believe that you recovered the knife." "And at the same time, you were still making a fuss, saying that you couldn't find what it was you were looking for." "Where is the fan?" "Which then gave you, Judith, an excuse to go and help her" " to find it." " She was struggling, so I went to help." "And then when everybody had pulled the curtains on their booths," "Edwina, I think you took that knife... and you left the storeroom and waited out of sight of everybody else." "Meanwhile, Judith, you pretended to continue telling Edwina where she could find the fan she was looking for, so that everyone would hear and assume that's what was happening." " The fan is on the top shelf." " When in fact, all you were doing was talking to an empty storeroom." "You could be heard, but not seen." "Unlike at the church, when the opposite was true." "At the same time, Victor was discovering that he had no pen in his booth." "So obviously he popped his head out and asked Reverend Dawson" " to pass him one..." " There's no pen in this booth." " Sorry." ".. which is when you had your window of opportunity to kill him." "When Reverend Dawson was walking back to his desk, his back to the room, you had a couple of seconds to move swiftly towards" "Victor's booth, lift the curtain and stab him." "Stick that knife in his back, unnoticed by anybody else in the room." "All you had to do was return to the storeroom, pick up the fan." "And then wait for Victor's murder to be discovered." "Oh, my God." "Dad!" "You assumed that nobody would think it was anybody else in the room." "How could it be?" "You relied on these people concluding that it was an intruder who'd got in through the front entrance." "But what you didn't take into consideration was that our commissioner, in his infinite wisdom, insisted on a police presence that morning, which meant that Officer Myers here was stationed outside the building the whole time," "bearing witness to the fact that nobody came in or out of the community centre when Victor Pearce was killed." "So our murderer had to be one of the six people in the room." "In the end, it could only be Judith Dawson or Edwina Bousquet." "More crucially, one couldn't have done it without the help" " of the other." " But why?" "Why would they do such a thing?" "You're right, Reverend." "It's a fair question, and one that had me pretty stumped, to be honest with you." "Edwina, you said yourself that while Victor had hurt you, it was a long time ago." "It didn't really make sense for you to suddenly want the man dead after all these years." "But, Judith," "I think you had more reason to want Victor Pearce killed." "Despite running the orphanage, you were never able to have children yourself, were you?" "That's not to say you that you and Reverend Dawson didn't try." "I get the impression that you both really wanted a family, didn't you?" "It never quite happened for us." "And bringing up these three children in your care, these past few years, just you and your husband." "I mean, that's about as close as you can get to having a proper family." "And with Victor predicted to win the election and become mayor, I think there was little doubt that he would have closed down the orphanage and those three delightful children that you loved would've been shipped off to another island." "I don't think you could let that happen." "Which brings us back to the big question." "Why kill Victor together?" "As I said, you couldn't have done it alone, without Miss Bousquet's help." "But why would she help you to kill the man that she once loved?" "There had to be something we were missing." "Something that connected you both." "Another motive, something hidden." "Something darker." "And then it clicked." "Judith, you were an orphan here yourself, weren't you, when you were a baby?" "That got me thinking." "Your parents, your mother and father, they must've been here in the island when you were born." "But who were they?" "Who were these people?" "Mr Baxter, you told us about a rumour you heard saying that" "Victor Pearce had a daughter that nobody knew about." " I don't suppose you happen to know who she is, do you?" " No." "I'd heard he'd got a girl pregnant and wanted nothing to do with her." "That was about it." "Well, we know of one girl he abandoned already, don't we?" "Edwina." "We know that Victor broke your heart." "You admitted as much." "But what you neglected to tell us was that, despite what you said, he didn't just suddenly leave to go and start his own business, did he?" "Something happened." "He left because you were pregnant." "And I assume you being in love with him, and a Christian woman, wanted to marry and keep the baby." "But that's not how Victor saw it, is it?" "He had a career to build." "Edwina, I can only imagine how difficult it was for you." "The shame that a young girl would be made to feel in such a devout and strict religious home." "Are you saying Judith is Edwina's daughter?" "Yes." "Yes, I am." "And Victor Pearce was her father." "It's all in here." "They are the original records... .. which Judith was perfectly placed to keep hidden." "I'm..." "I'm so sorry." "Judith," "I think you turned to Edwina for help." "To your mother." "She saw how much those children meant to you." "She saw someone who, like herself all those years ago, faced losing the children that she loved, all because of Victor Pearce." "History, as they say, was repeating itself." "And I think it was then, Edwina, that you decided to help Judith." "And with Victor's impending election as mayor almost guaranteed, it had to be soon." "But where, and how?" "You said that Victor, he was never one for meeting people that he didn't have to." "He was a hard man to make an appointment with." "So your opportunity to commit murder, it was limited." "That's why you chose polling day." "The one day he was sure to be here, in your parish, giving you the limited chance that you needed to kill him." "That's why it happened when it did, where it did and how it did." "I'm sorry we have to do this." "Dwayne, JP, could you please arrest Miss Bousquet and Mrs Dawson?" "I'm not sure how you worked it all out, but that was brilliant, sir." "No, no, no." "Don't be silly." "It was team work." "Well, we are very lucky you were here." " Right, so that's Mrs Dawson and Miss Bousquet locked up." " Yep." "Good stuff." "Thank you, Dwayne, JP." "Florence, are you OK to finish up here?" "Of course." "You want to get home?" "Actually, I need to pay a visit to your commissioner." "Do you want to take the Jeep?" "Do you know what?" "I fancy stretching my legs." "See you later." "Catherine's Bar." "Well, this is very good news, isn't it?" "Do we know what happened?" "Peter Baxter just stood down?" "Well, sir." "Um, apparently, he wants to spend more time with the family." "Really?" "And do we know what prompted this change of heart?" "No idea." " Ah, Sarge." " So, sir." "Siobhan just told me the news, that you've decided to stay here, permanently." "Yeah, we have indeed." "And you know what this means?" "Like it or not, you're lumped with me." " Oh!" " Well, I for one am delighted, sir." " Me too." " Yes." "Me three, sir." " And me!" "Ah." "Silver Flame!" "Well, I know I can overdo it a bit on the toasting." "But if ever there was an occasion to raise a glass," "I think this is it." "What do you say?" " To us." " To us." " To you." " To me." "Now, if you don't mind, I think it's time for some world-class dad dancing." "Siobhan, you're on." " Madame Mayor..." " Oh!"