"Two." "He's never forgotten my birthday." "Three." "If he's late, he usually has a good excuse." "I'm not always convinced." "Does that count?" "Four." "He doesn't smoke..." "Five." "I haven't finished." "He doesn't smoke unless we've had a row." "Then he lights up in the greenhouse." "Call it five for being considerate." "He's stunted my tomatoes." "18 months, 15 plants, nothing." "We'll call it four for being a shite." "Come on, Reenie, 20 good points just to complete the exercise." "No!" "He's had four more than he deserves." "You're right, you know, I'm wasted on him." "I'm right?" "25 years I've given him." "And what do I end up with?" "Sitting in a clinic with a bloody..." "No offence... a bloody shrink with a hangover." "I'm better than this." "Thanks very much, Dr Fitzgerald." "You've opened my mind." "You have." "You're a very clever man." "I'll never forget it." "Most patients tend to need longer than just the one session." "Oh, no." "Best £50 I've ever spent." "Bye." " How are you feeling?" " I'm a bit nervous." "You'll be fine." "Everything's going to go like a whistle." "Nena, you look so beautiful, I just want to cry." "Don't." "Don't cry." "I'm fine, Janice." "You ready, love?" "Yeah." "I'm so proud of you." "I gave you £80 on Friday." "£60, and it was Wednesday." "I paid for the groceries, Saturday." "£10, cigarettes. £22, booze. £16, food." "You paid by Switch and stuck it on the" "Done." "You are worth more to me dead than alive, right now, Fitz." "Do not joke." "I feel so warm inside at the sudden things you do" "The way you close your eyes as I open myself to you" "The way you draw a breath as you start to lose control" "Talk to me with your body, baby, and it touches my soul" "I can't help but adore every little intimacy" "Every little detail is another way you thrill me" "I can't help but adore every little intimacy" "And you make me feel so right" "This is pure delight" "Caress me with your fingertips" "You know it turns me on..." "Colin?" "Janice!" " There's big lads in there." "You missed out." "Piss off!" "Take no notice." "Have you met Jimmy Cowgill?" "Best of the bunch." " Cowey!" " I want to talk to you." " Over here." " I want to talk to you." " I don't believe that." " You have to, it's true." " You're a liar." " I'm not." "What are you playing at?" "This is today for Christ's sake!" "What are you playing at?" "Do you know what you just said?" "I thought you'd want to know." "Why the hell would I want to know that, Janice?" "And why the hell would you want to tell me that?" "On my bloody wedding day!" "Cos I like you!" "Oh..." "You want your friggin head seen to, you do!" "I can't." "I've had too much to drink." "No, you haven't." "Can't we just leave it?" "For God's sake." "It's our wedding night!" "I'm just drunk." "Right." "Why pay £200 for a crap band?" "As head of Entertainments, you..." "You're saying we should book your band?" "Could do a lot worse." "You'd do that for charity?" "For free?" " Course not." " Is that the Union do?" "£200!" "Hey, we're worth it!" "We could do a lot better." "Has he got you on commission, Frank?" "No." "He's seen us." "He knows how good we are." "Know if anybody has got any spare tickets?" "Sold out." "Come on, Carol, you've never heard 'em play." "When your parents dropped you off at the start of term, they weren't afraid of you disappearing out of their lives for the next three years, turning up changed, damaged, married, lonely, drunk or drugged." "They didn't care." "They were ecstatic to see the back of your bone-idle arses." "Ecstatic to get the spare room back, after 18, 19 years." "Can you imagine what that feels like?" "Of course you can't." "That's why you're here, to find out about psychology, to find out about life." "This is life." "This morning's post." "A bill from the Gas Board." "£240." "Cut off your penis." "If I don't pay this one, I don't even get to vote." "As my wife consistently reminds me, it really is no career for a grown-up." "Just as I think it's razor blades down Barton Bridge time, I get this." "It's a love letter." "Yes." "I don't know her, and she doesn't sign it, but she's in love with me." "And it makes me glow a little." "Young, bright, romantic, colourful." "She's in love with me because she thinks, I quote, that "I am special. "" "And I can't help but feel a little special on a day like today." "And then I realise that she's a student." "Perhaps even one of you." "How?" "I'm afraid only psychology students think that psychologists are special." "Now, as a middle-aged man I am entitled to resent your elite wanky little cliques." "But she shouldn't." "She's too young." "But she does, and that's you." "You have isolated her." "You have driven her to love someone like me." "This is one passionate woman." "And you cocky little gobshites have missed out." "To those men, I say, "Good luck with your engineering. "" "To the author, I say, "Try the nightclubs." "Try animals." "Try anything that isn't a student. "" "But, in the words of my wife, "Don't touch what you can't afford. "" "You sod." "I spent all morning copying" "Durkheim and you make that up in the taxi." "No." "I came on the bus." "If you think it's a student, how could you do that to her?" "Come on, Irene, if I give her the number for Pastoral Care she gets two years' group therapy and a crap shrink with no opinions." "She just wants to get laid." "She's got to realise there's life beyond this pantomime." "Well, she trusts you, so two years in group wouldn't be wasted." "Hiya." "This is a Faculty meeting." "Oh, that's lovely." "Is it new?" " Fitz." "You know Janice, my new lab technician." "How you doing?" "Did you mean all that, Fitz, in the lecture?" "Kempton Park." "Thursday." "Roxy's Dilemma. 12-2." "Grow up." "Kempton's a right-handed track." "Roxy's never raced right-handed." " Can I get anybody a drink?" " Yeah, large Scotch, please." " Thursday." "It'll beat everything." " You're wrong." "It's not." "Trust me." "It doesn't have to have done it before to do it properly." " You've become a father again." " A boy." "Can't have been planned, surely?" "Not by me." "But Judith's happy." "I'm happy." "It's just the shock, you know." "Sleepless nights, breast obsession, burping, farting, house turned upside down." "But the baby's sleeping through?" "Like a log." "Place your bets." "Hello." "No, I'm sorry." "He's not." "My mistake." "He's here now." "Fitzgerald." "Young male. 20s." "Didn't die here." "He's been dumped." "Tyre marks from up there." " You interviewed the railway worker?" " No, sir..." "Go and do it." "Go on, give us a mint." "Nail varnish, huh?" "Kicked it between six and eight hours ago." "Cardiac arrest, caused probably by the electrocution." "Morning, Fitz." "The power entered the body by the wrists and came out - had to come out somewhere - down here." "That's the only sign of violence, apart from the head wound caused by this." "He got dumped." "Naked before or after?" "Pubic hairs." "Not his." "He'd had sex shortly before he died." "Or he's not very hygienic." "Sex and death." "Your favourite." "His too, by the look of him." "He's still smiling." "That's risus sardonicus." "It's a convulsion." "Feature of electrocution." "So at the end of Angels With Dirty" "Faces, the dead Jimmy Cagney was smiling?" "That's right." "This was strapped to the ankle." "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" "No signs of constraint, other than the wrists and ankles." "No sign of violence, other than incidental." "So what have we got?" "Consenting sex and bondage." " A hooker?" "Well, we didn't find his wallet." "There's a postmortem yet." "No." "If the motive was money, the watch would be gone." "All that's missing are his clothes." "Why?" "Because he was murdered after having sex." "Her calling card, Dusty Springfield." "You all listening to the song?" " Do you think he was gay?" " Tell me." "You know." "Bondage, earring, tattoos." "Works out, very muscular." "It's a type." "No." "It's a stereotype." "Could have been a gay man or a woman." "Whichever, he knew his assailant." "He undressed himself." "He was shackled with care, otherwise there would be bruising." "Why electricity?" "Execution." "Powergen broker." "Shares take a dive." "Revenge, probably." "Sweet, most definitely." "But this is not personal." "The song's an epitaph, but not for this poor bastard." "The body was dumped without dignity." "The killer wants us to know just how unimportant he was." "How are we doing with missing persons?" "Nothing to match locally." "It might be too early." "You said it was too early for Shergan, last time I asked." "Get them to shift their arses!" "And, you, put out a general description." "You been drinking?" "Strangely, no." "D'you fancy one?" "She's completely obsessed with it." "She's on at me in the morning, when I come home." "Smelling my clothes." "Rifling my pockets." "Checking my bank stubs." "I don't know where she thinks I get time to go poking around." "She's off her bloody trolley." "Now, she's packed my bags and hoofed me out." "It's my bloody mortgage!" " BQ." " What?" "Your last job - that was your nickname." "It never was." "BQ." "DI Wise." "Handyman." "Helps himself." "Every career girl's dream." " I'll tell you something..." " The legend followed you here." "I'm the only monogamist I've ever worked with." "Oh, I've had chances, I've had offers." "The more stripes I got, the more offers I got." "But, no!" "I've always played it straight down the bloody middle till it choked me." "Would you like my professional advice?" "I'm not asking you as a married man, am I?" "You pay the going rate. £50 an hour." "£50 an hour!" "On your bike!" "That's a call-out charge for a plumber!" "We're talking about your marriage!" "We sit down and face the facts." "Two columns, 20 spaces each. 20 good points, 20 bad." "That's our starting point." "You'd be amazed the number of people who can't think of 20." "It was you!" "Get out!" "That's what she said!" " 20 good points and she could only get to four!" "Who did?" "She did!" "Reenie bloody Wise!" "Oh, shit." "£50 an hour?" "Up your arse!" "You're fired!" "Go on, sling your hook!" "Go on, do one." "That's the only regular income you've achieved." "Crime." "Regular crime." "It shocks me, it appalls me, but it pays the mortgage." "I must be the only woman who sits up for Crimewatch with a calculator." "Was it my fault I screwed up my benefactor's marriage?" "No." "All I was doing was trying to earn the M-word." " We can't afford him unless I go back to work." "Oh, the joy of that!" "You were the little miracle that was supposed to save our marriage." "Hmm?" "What are you now?" "Three months?" "Three months and she's using you like a weapon." "Oh, for God's sakes." "If I let her down, it's OK." "She's learned the hard way." "If I let you down, I let an infant down." "It's "How low can you get?"" "Huh?" "Hostage shielding, they call it." "Don't you dare." "Oh, yes." "No, I'm busy." "I can't!" "Look, do you wanna ring us back in 10 minutes?" "Don't make me laugh." "Are we subbing him for this?" "Do you mind?" "No wonder we're broke." "A penis extension for a 19-year-old is hardly judicious housekeeping, Judith." "It's Mark's phone." "He pays for it." "The boy can hardly string a sentence together and he's got a mobile phone?" " Since when could he afford a mobile?" " Since he got a job." "Since he got a job?" "Since he started paying board on a regular basis." "With that and Katie's paper round, we're just about managing, thanks." "With no conscience and your looks, it has to be drug-dealing." "Of course you wouldn't have noticed how depressed he was at not having a job." "How important he's trying to make working in a burger bar sound, because it feels like the end of the line." "Because it's just Mark, and he's only your son and you're only a doctor of psychology." "The formative years are the least of your worries." "Fitz?" " Does she write often?" " Just the two." "First early this week." "All purple prose and romantic bull." "And then this." "How do you know she's a student?" "Dr Fitzgerald." "She could be a patient." "No, no." "You don't get thank-you notes from patients." "You get hate mail for loosening the nuts." "When they're better, once you've made them better, they'd rather you'd never existed." "Bit like you, Panhandle." "So you've made me better?" "Well, I imagine." "You don't return the calls." "How is it my fault if you've bumped the car?" "Wait!" "Reenie, I never taught you to drive because you wouldn't let me teach you." "Blame Wally the willy, your driving instructor!" "I'm sorry, sir, it's Fitz." " Show him the door." " It's important." "It's new stuff." "Look, I've got to go." "No!" "No, I'm not making it up!" "I've got to go!" "This better be good." ""I think I love you most because inside we're the same kind of person." "We do ourselves down all the time." "I wish you wouldn't because it upsets me." "You're a good man and you should learn to like yourself." "I know you notice me and pretend not to." "I just wish I could bring you out of yourself, because..." "I know we could love each other more than anyone could ever imagine. "" "And this is an intelligent woman?" ""The man who came round for dinner's not my type at all." "They're all too cocky for my liking." "Two earrings and a ladybird tattoo on his arm." "But he keeps pestering me and saying we're right for each other." "And I've tried saying different." "He's called Steven Lowry. "" "Bloody hell." "She's your killer." " Where's the original?" " Here." "So yours are the only other prints on that?" " And mine, sir." " Get that dusted." "Fitz thinks she's one of his students." "No, I said, "a" student." "I don't really have students any more." "The letter refers to a lecture I gave last week." "Where?" "It was a circuit lecture, used the same material on five gigs." "Salford, Met, Queers, two in Liverpool." " The postmark's Manchester." " Can we see your notes?" "The only notes I make are strictly for the milkman." "Queers University have a student called Steven Lowry." "They confirm that his room hasn't been used since yesterday." " Why would she kill him?" " Them." "Eh?" ""They're too cocky for my liking. "" "She typed that very carefully." "There wouldn't be any mistake." "Steven Lowry's the first, I'll stick a solid £50 on him not being the last." "Alpine King, medium Coke, fries and dressing." "Enjoy your meal." "How can I help?" "You haven't moved so fast in 19 years." "What are they selling in the staff canteen?" " Do you want to place an order?" " Five minutes." " To eat." " Oh, er..." "Swiss Chicken, Diet Coke and Humble Pie." "What time's your break?" "Go up!" "Up!" "Why didn't you talk to me if you were depressed?" " I wasn't depressed." " Your mother says you were depressed." "It's the baby, you feel pushed out." "No - worse - you're the eldest, it's made you dread your own responsibilities." "The hardship, the rows and the er... the gut-raking frustration of becoming an adult with some 10 lb suction pump redefining the world for you." "Yes?" "No." "It's not psychologically abnormal, you know." "This is sure-as-shit Ghost of Christmas Future." "Fill in the gaps, Mark." "Enjoy yourself." "I got Debbie pregnant." "What, I'm gonna be a... grandfather?" "Surely not?" "God!" "Look at me." "Look at me." "She lost it." "Oh." "Now you won't believe me if I tell you I'm really sorry." "Who the hell's Debbie?" "Have I met her?" "Good tits." "Skinhead." "I think I'd have remembered a Skinhead." "Why didn't you tell me?" "You'd have told Mum and she'd have panicked." "She was due to deliver." "You'd just buried Gran." "Yeah." "And Debbie blamed you?" "Yeah." " And chucked you?" " Yeah." "I am sorry... about the baby." "I'm also sorry, the last three minutes we've skipped a generation." "Bit of a Star Trek moment for me." "I don't suppose that Wendy hut of yours sells Scotch?" "You won't tell Mum?" "No." "On one condition." "You come for a drink with me." "Tonight?" "I'm on lates till Wednesday." "OK, Thursday night." "And we talk." " Yeah." " Yeah?" "Right." "I know I said enjoy yourself, but for God's sake put a bit of double-glazing on the old todger, will you?" "I've gotta go." "Hey!" "I gobbed on your chicken." "We'd like to speak to anyone with details of Steven's whereabouts last night." "Dates, nightclubs, social events." "Or any student acting strange, emotionally disturbed, unusual behaviour." "Well, that's half of them." "Or anything out of the ordinary." "We need your help." "Well, that's a bloody nonsense." "I'm sorry, but I object to sending emotionally disturbed students for interrogation." "You'd bugger them up, send them back." "We've got to deal with it." "Dr Fitzgerald has given us reason to believe the killer may strike again." "On what grounds?" "Just a strong guess." "He wasn't always unlucky, then." "I'm a mate of Steven's." "He's got one of my essays." "Well, had." "Well, the essay's still in there." "Yeah." "So?" "I need it back or I'm off the course." "Were you two good mates, then?" ""Recovered Memory:" "A Testable Theory?"" "You're in Steven's group?" " First year." " Yeah." "Do you know me?" "Dr Fitzgerald." "I've seen you lecture." "Yeah." "So, what do you think of me?" "Am I any good?" "Great." "So this quote you've creamed from my book, "Memory serves fact not interpretation. "" "Would you agree with that?" "I'd..." "I'd argue it to a point." "But it's..." "You know, I've used it so I must agree with it, mustn't I?" "You can go." "You're a liar, Frank." "But you're not a killer." "The actual quote is, "Memory only serves its user, not the truth. "" "But that's OK." "He was brighter than you." "But he's dead." "It's no good to him now." "And like you say..." "You were good mates." "You don't happen to know who he was sleeping with, do you?" "How come I'm last to know?" "You had a relationship?" "Yeah." "Sexual?" "Yes." "For how long?" "On and off since the start of the course." "We're both doing psychology, and he helped me out when I first got here." "They're not all like that... the clever ones." "Most of them know it and wipe the floor with you." "Steven didn't." "Good brain." "Funny." "Everybody liked him." "I was always proud of him." "Proud to be with him." "And everybody said we looked really good together." "When was the last time you and Steven had intercourse, Carol?" "Is that relevant?" "Is that your own hair colour, Carol?" "What?" "Oh, my God!" "He's been with someone?" "And you let me say all that?" "He'd been with someone else before he died, hadn't he?" "I'm sorry." "I really can't go into detail." "Well, you could have been more subtle." "You callous bitch!" "I don't know." "When is it?" "Hi." "Sorry." "Just talking to my mum." "Erm..." " Hello, Danny." " Hiya." "Do you want one?" "Yes." "Did Katie tell you Fitz is working?" "She did, yes." "They're all so bloody sure of themselves." "At face value, yeah, but..." "Most of them are just filling in time between spliffs." "Hence the confidence, the sex." "By the time they leave here, most of them won't even be able to spell orgasm." "This is the first time I've felt this old." "But not as old as... now." "Scary, isn't it?" "Too old for sex?" "Yes." "No!" "It's the post-rape Catch 22." "Sex would make you feel normal." "If you could pull it off." "But you can't even start because you're scared, so you'd have to control it." "Then it wouldn't be spontaneous, it wouldn't be normal any more." "So the whole primitive shebang is history." "Well, it needn't be." "I swear it." "Of course, this is trapeze school for the man with four broken limbs." "The secret is to hang round with the old fat clever guys." "I could make you feel like Zola Budd again." "All you have to do is return the calls." "Look, we... we just talk." "Jane?" "I don't love you, Fitz." "I think about you a lot." "I rehearse the things I need to say." "I do want to talk." "But you're wasting your time as far as that's concerned." "I've got that grubby Scouse copper trying to commandeer my office." "I've sent him down to Anthropology." "I should have sent him for a shower." "Detective Sergeant Jane Penhaligon, Irene Jackson, Professor of Psychology." " Hello." " Hello." "Excuse me." "£2,000?" "The probate lawyers keep tracking down policies." "Ma must have had more underwriters than Lloyd's." "Five grand." "Worth four after the death duty and fees." " That's Eddie's share." " But it's got my name on it." "I could put it in your husband's name if you want to see the back of it." " But legally?" " Legally, it was in my stocking." "You are giving me £2,000?" "You married him." "You need it more than I do." "I don't know what to say." "Take yourself shopping." "Don't say anything." "Buy something blue." "Suits you." "Tell him I called." "Well, at least let me try and return the favour." "I don't know..." "Buy you dinner?" "I'll see myself out." " See you, gorgeous." " Bye, Uncle Danny." "Better late than never." "It's nearly bigger than you are!" "I can't believe you've done all this!" "I thought you said you were gonna take your time, making your mind up about colours." "You look like you've been in months." "I was expecting you sooner, Janice." "I've been working." "It's the end of term." "Everybody wants something." "Come to look at the damage?" "He told me." "He told me what you did." "Look, Nena, he doesn't stand a chance..." "You were hoping you'd left a mess behind." "Again." "And you were wrong." "Again." "I shouldn't have had to tell him, Nena." "You should have told him." "I'm married, you're not." "That's really eating you up, isn't it?" "I feel sorry for you, Janice." "I always have." "But do not bring me or my husband or my marriage into your screwed-up fantasies." "There's no damage, Janice." "Grow up, for God's sakes, and take that with you." "All right?" "Professor Jackson about?" "Meetings all day." "Well, she er... wanted to see me." "She didn't." "That was me." "Look, I hope you don't mind me doing this." "Your last essay." "She's gonna mark you down." "You're joking." "I heard her talking to your group tutor." "She thinks you're slipping." "She'll fail you." "I'm only saying cos you were doing really well." "Jesus!" "She'd go mad if she knew we were talking." "You understand that?" "Yeah." "Judith knows?" "Yeah." "She knows you were or she knows you are?" "She knows I was, she suspects I still am." "And Pentangle?" "Penhaligon." "Panhandle." "She was, she now she says isn't but I can't buy that." "Well, no, you'd be a fool to admit it." "So many things got in the way." "Bilborough's murder, the rape..." "Beck's suicide was the only highlight." "I spit on that bastard's grave every time his name's mentioned." "None of it had anything to do with us." "None of it was of our doing." "But she's gone and knitted..." "She's gone and knitted the full cardigan, she put the sleeves on it, she's absorbed all the guilt." "She gets the guilt, I get the blame." "And now suddenly sex is on the menu again." "You think she's met someone else?" "In the other house, I had a new carpet fitted." "Beautiful carpet, not cheap, transformed the room." "The week after, Clive died." "Two months later, my mother died." "Then the publisher's - not a very good one - turned down my latest book." "There was a very simple solution." "I burnt the carpet and I've never looked back." "Oh, for God's sake, Irene..." "You've got Judith, who's forgiven you, three children with bright futures, and a damn sight more luck than I ever had." "Four decades of social science to sound like Esther bloody Rantzen!" "I paid for the takeaway, I say what I like." "Yeah." "My writing, Professor Jackson's notes." "I copied them." "Basically, it's once more with feeling." "I don't understand it." "I put a stack of work into this one." "It's as clean as a whistle." "If I deserved duff marks, it was for the last one, and that got an A." "Hang on, I copied your last one by chance." "Let's see what she says on there." "Cos she's all over the place." "She can change her mind from one day to the next about what suits her." "She takes some keeping up with." " I really appreciate all this, you know." "My pleasure." "Be a shame to get in the bad books just because of a few late nights." "Sorry." "I never said anything about late nights." "You've a dodgy reputation." "You bothered to find out." "It gets round." "Mr Wise." "I rang about a room." "Only I got stuck in work, I'm sorry." "Oh, that's right." "Car OK there?" "It's blocking your entrance." "Park it in the drive, if you like." "I've no other guests at present." "Actually..." "Do you take milk with your breakfast?" " Well, on my cornflakes, yeah." " I don't, you see." "And I'm out." "The Spar shuts in ten." "I could stick the kettle on." "Right, OK." "Yeah." "Thanks." "Stay." "Oh, no, I'd better not, I said I'd meet some mates down the Union." "Janice?" "Janice?" "Where the hell are you, you lunatic?" "Jesus!" " We're sticking on B minus, then?" " I thought I was fantastic." "Yeah?" "That's a bit of a pattern, isn't it?" "Now it's my turn." "Come on." "Bloody hell... you own all of this?" "Jesus... the place is massive!" "Eh, talk about being taken for granted." "Is all this for me?" "I feel a bit of revision coming on." "You've obviously done this before." "I haven't." "To be honest, I'm not generally submissive, so this should be interesting." "You like to make men nervous, don't you?" " Real dark horse, aren't you?" " Ssh." " All the times I've seen you in the office..." "Ssh." " I never for one minute would..." " Shut up!" " Jesus, what have I done?" " Just shut up!" "You lot don't know when to stop, do you?" "Fitz is right." "Smart arse, cocky little gobshites!" "He's standing up there, trying to tell you things and you're not listening!" " I won't say anything." " Shut up." " I won't tell anyone." " Shut up!" "Please, whatever this is about, I didn't mean to upset you." "Shut up!" "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" "Please!" "Please!" "It isn't the way that you look" "And it isn't the way that you talk..." " Please!" "Danny was here." "Oh, sorry, thought it was vacant." "Any message?" "You've been crying." " Have you seen her tonight?" " No." "That's why you've been crying." "No." "What?" "What?" "When was it we last fitted new carpets?" "Shit!" "Shit!" "Come on." "Need any help there?" "Come on!" "Can I do anything?" "What's this, then, rally trials?" "How'd you get this far down, anyway?" "Hey, calm down!" "Budge up, let's have a bash." "You dozy cow, you could've taken my bloody arm off!" "Here, boy!" "Here, boy!" "We intercepted this at the sorting office." "She says there's another body." " A John Branaghan." " Student at Queers?" "First year." "Make sure you get some pictures of the second body, yeah?" "Pictures taken from all angles and the surrounding area." "It's him." "John Branaghan." "Identical MO." "Pure bloody waste." " You were fast." " Her husband took the dog for a walk." "A couple of hours and he hadn't come back." "She called the locals and dog led them there." "Massive impact injuries." "He only died a couple of minutes ago." "And judging by the tyre tracks I'd say he was hit by a car, so we connect them?" "It's not exactly the M62, is it?" "The man who came to dinner tonight brought me chocolates." "He thinks that's all there is to it, but you and me both know it takes much more than that to make someone love you." "Dinner." "Came to dinner..." "Middle-class concept." "But she says, "but you and me both know" instead of "you and I"." "So her education's flawed." "Upper-working-class background with aspirations, probably... a small business family." "She does not share a flat, because she's frying these guys in private." "Shifting the bodies without being seen so she must have access to money." ""Brought me chocolates. "" "Who tries to charm a student with chocolates?" "A bottle of cider, possibly." "But they don't use foreplay, it's a well-known fact." "Unless she was older than the victims." "Unless John Branaghan took chocolates to a mature student, a late learner who resents the men she's sleeping with, enough so as to want to execute them." " Identical tyre tracks from all three murders." "Oh, the third was incidental." "She only killed him because he saw her face." "Separate motive." "Identical tracks at all three murders." "It's the only clue we've got." "We go over every motor registered to the student car park first thing in the morning." " Don't you think Fitz is a problem on this one?" "What's so special about this one?" "If she's writing him love letters, he's a target." "And we have to address his influence on the case." "No, she's not looking for love." "She's looking for understanding." " From you?" " From the world." "But she's writing to you." "She says she loves you." "People do." "But I agree with Jane." "If she's writing to you, displacing her love, her need for understanding, whatever you call it..." "Displacement is it, eh?" "One sausage roll in the psychology canteen and suddenly we're Sigmund Freud, are we?" "I hardly saw your lips move." "She's still writing to you." "No, she's writing to you!" "She is writing to the police because she wants to get caught, you dumb bastard!" " Aye, aye." " You're missing the point, Fitz." " Am I?" " The letters are for you." "The bodies are for you." "She's trying to make you jealous." "She's killed three people for you." "Stop, please." "OK, sir, sorry to trouble you." "Mind if we check your tyres, madam?" "Only take a sec." "Check what you like." "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" "And it isn't the way that you talk" "It isn't the things that you say or do" "Make me want you so" "Afternoon." "I thought you were out all day." "There's been another murder." "Oh, my God." "It's getting so as you daren't go out." "Who?" "John Branaghan." "We've all been summoned to the lecture theatre." "I know we're very busy, but I may be out a lot." " Dr Leishman will be standing in for me." "Anything you want me to do?" "How many mature students this year?" "About 35." "Women?" "I can check." "See you down there." "Nobody's asking you to stop dating." "But if you are making arrangements for a new relationship we're asking everybody, not just the people in the psychology department, to tell somebody where you're going." "Make notes, leave messages." "But only if you're expecting sex?" "No." "But you're putting it on record that group sex is definitely safer, then?" "Depends what condition you're in." "Come on." "It's your cast-iron, once-in-a-lifetime wish fulfilment." " You fire me." " You what?" "Public humiliation." "Tell the whole world what a useless tosser I turned out to be." "Penhaligon was right." "She's writing to me, she's killing for me." "Take me off the case." "And where does that leave us?" "Irene?" "Irene." "You two have met." "You make a press release." "It states quite categorically that Irene's been installed." "You think that will stop the killing?" "I've no idea." "If Fitz is her focus and he's removed, it could drive her into the open." "She's organised both murders very precisely." "Three." "I thought the third was incidental." "Tell his wife that." "We need her to make a few mistakes before some other poor bastard gets nailed." "Sir!" "Sorry, sir." "They've intercepted another letter." "Excuse me." "We've compared the letter with the three lecture transcripts." "She says, "You talk about devotion." "I've never been more devoted in my life. " That was the second lecture." ""The man I've got coming to dinner tonight. "" "Future tense." "That's new." "She always sent letters after she killed." "And she's always given us a name." "Get on to the university." "Names and addresses of all mature students at the second lecture." "For a woman who wants to be caught, she's not offering much." "More than you deserve, Noddy." " Is this what it came in?" " Why?" "There's no stamp." "She's telling us, she knows we're intercepting her mail." "She wouldn't forget to put the stamp on it." "She's telling me how bright she is." "So?" "So, if she knows we've already got this, when she says tonight, she means tonight." "Not tomorrow." "She's gonna kill again tonight, for God's sake!" "Well, I think what I was trying to achieve in that in that statement was... was a kind of... er... some kind of..." "of general overview." "You're not concentrating, are you, Frank?" " Sorry." " Go on, then." " What?" " Touch me." "It's what you want." "It's what you came for." "Liar." " Nice dress." " Well, you paid for it." " Oh, come on!" " Which is why I'm paying for the meal." "Don't argue." "A gin and tonic, please." "Danny?" "I've just ordered one." " Yeah?" " Mind if we come in, love?" "Hey!" "Hey!" "What the bloody hell is going on?" " We're at 14 Devonshire Road." " What the hell is going on?" " You're a student at Queers, aren't you?" " Have you got a key for the back door, love?" "Oh, I could murder you!" "It's taken me two hours to get them to sleep." "Get them down now, or I'm calling a solicitor." "Have you got a key for the door, love?" "And you call me "love" once more and" "I'll smash you right in the bloody mouth!" "You've never met such a vindictive bunch of proprietorial bastards in your life." "Why?" "Fear." "Suddenly they're given salaries." "Cars." "That feels so nice." "Salaries, cars, status." "So, they each have to prove they care more than anyone else to justify the perks in the name of charity." "Which is why they need to be managed by someone like me." "Which is what I told them this morning, which is why I've just been promoted." "Congratulations." "My brother's been teaching you bad habits." "Judith." "I take people seriously." "I'll not be messed about." "I couldn't concentrate." " Aren't you stopping, then?" " No." "Would you want me to?" "Stay?" "Would you?" "It feels so bloody wonderful." "I feel just like a child." "But you're not a child." "And I'm not Eddie." "I've got a longer attention span than my brother." "26 years is hardly hit-and-run." "When was the last time he held you like this?" "You're not just seeing this as a chance to get back at him?" "No." "Are you?" "You have to think very bloody carefully about what you are making me do, Judith." "I am." "The police have refused to Issue detailed reasons for the psychologist's removal from the case." "But the man leading the Investigation, DCI Wise, made the following statement." "This Isn't a reflection on Dr Fitzgerald's work." "It's a complicated case and we've been forced to use the best resources available." "Professor Jackson's skills will be Invaluable" "In apprehending the killer of these three men." "You bastards!" "You stupid, stupid..." "And he hits you." "Sometimes." "But It's all right cos he always says he loves you afterwards." "Yeah." "OK." "Here's his anniversary present." "Take him out for a drink." "Take him out for several drinks." "Buy him doubles." "Bring him home." "Take him upstairs." "And when you get to the landing, turn round and push." "Bump, bump, bump." "Deck the bastard." "Let him lie about the bruising." "And then, and this is absolutely crucial, tell him you love him." "There'll be helpline numbers at the end of the show." "In the meantime, let's have some more music." "This is dedicated to somebody very special." "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" "There's a caller for you on line two." "Dr Fitzgerald." "Why?" "Why have they taken you off the case?" "Everything was going all right." "It doesn't make sense." "Difference of opinion." "The police aren't the brightest people in the world." "You said so." "Yes." "Do I get a name?" "I know you probably better than anyone." "Don't I deserve a name?" "Nena." "He's got her on the line now." "She's using some kind of voice box." "Yes, we are." "Nena." "Nena, I know that you're in pain." "I know that you're suffering." "If you're not there and all this is going on, how do they expect to stop it?" "It'll just go on and on and on." "Stop you, Nena." "Stop you." "Not it." "The man in your last letter, did he come round?" "Is there another body?" "They've got to put you back on the case." "For his parents' sake, where's the body?" "He's not dead." "Not yet, or you've let him go?" "Which?" "He's gone." "You've got to tell them to put you back on the case." "You're talking to the wrong guy." "You have slaughtered somebody's children." "Nobody is listening to you any more, certainly not me." "I love you." "I can't hear you." "I love you." "Is It a bad line for you, Nena?" "I love you." "I love you!" "Oh, I don't frigging believe it!" "What now?" " Who are you phoning?" " My GP, if you must know." "Are you winding me up, love?" " Why don't you bloody talk to him, then?" "The news broadcast was 10:39 last night." "She phoned the station at 10:41." "She goes to the nearest call box." "Not here, not here, but here." "Two minutes from the house and within a quarter of a mile of where she dumped the first body." "We're going down Regent Cross." "Listen to the voice, talk to the people." "The only students there don't check out." "You'll have to talk to everybody, then." "Go on the knocker, house-to-house." "Somebody must have seen Steven Lowry and John Branaghan." "Neither of them could drive, so check with the residents at the bus stops, bus drivers, Uncle Tom Cobbley." "Where's Irene?" "Swiss decaff, medium fries, chicken Nine Peaks." " Sounds like a Kevin Costner movie." " Eh?" "Chicken Nine Peaks." "Oh, yeah." "Right." " Er... enjoy your meal." " Thanks." "Mark." "Forgive me." "I taught those boys." "He's very sharp, isn't he" " Fitz?" "Would you do a television programme tonight?" "Standard interview." "You'll refuse to discuss the case, but you'll talk about the job." "No." "It's working." "Since we put you up front, she hasn't killed again." "We know she's keyed in to the television." "So we need to drive it home that she's not speaking to Fitz any more." "No." "I'm sorry." "I don't care." "I just can't do this." "I can't look at all that stuff and just... carry on." "You're looking at me like that, but believe me, it's not often I get the chance to say I'm the normal one." "Tell Fitz I'm sorry." "He shouldn't be too surprised." "I'll catch up with you." " Hiya." " Again." " Are you waiting for someone?" " RAC." "Starter motor keeps packing up." "It's done it before." "I don't suppose you're any good with cars?" "No." "Not a bit." "We're supposed to be off down the Boardwalk." "Well, go on, then." " Good luck." " OK." " Do you want to try pushing it?" " OK." "If it works I could give you a lift." "You off out, then?" "Yes." "James is staying with my mother." "No offence." "Where?" " I'm not sure." "We're all meeting at the office." "Right." "So if your baby gets sick and your mother worries and phones me," "I'm just to say, "Sorry, they're meeting at the office." "I haven't a clue where they're eating. "" "Look, I'll leave a number when..." "I'll ring with the number when I know where we're eating, all right?" "For God's sakes, why are you making me feel guilty for going out on my own for the second time since James was born?" "I don't know, Judith." "When was the first?" "Look at me." "Dad, look, you've got a fax coming through." "It says, "The man who's coming to dinner"?" "No!" "Oh, God, no!" "No, please, God!" " Hang on!" " Why?" "It's what you came for." "Have you got a kid?" "Do you share?" "I haven't got anything." "I'm not carrying anything." "I'm doing nothing without a rubber." "It's all right, Mark." " You're shaking." " I've got some." "We're all right." " You're shaking." " Come on!" " I don't want to do this." " It's all right." "I don't want to." " What's the matter with me?" "Not good enough?" "Look, let's cool it down, all right?" "I..." "I can give you a call." "We can sort stuff out." "You're really nice, you know." "It's a nice place." "Erm..." "Look, it's me." "All right?" "It's me!" "What the f..." " What are you doing?" " Shut up!" "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" "What are you doing?" "Janice, look at me!" "Has he done something to you?" "Look at me!" "Are you one of his patients?" "You're a friend." "You're a good friend." "Has he let you down?" "You wouldn't surprise me." "He can be a bit of a twat sometimes." "I mean..." "I can talk to him." "I can get him to talk to you and I won't say anything." "You can tell him about it." "I won't say anything." "Janice..." "I won't say anything!" "He doesn't care what you think." "You don't even talk to each other properly, so don't give me that shit!" "Don't pretend you've got a direct line, Mark." "I have." "He'll have to look at me now, won't he?" "Now I'm really special." "Especially in the vicinity of Regent Cross." "He could have been travelling with a young woman, possibly slighter older than himself, and possibly answering to the name of Nena." "So, if we stay calm then we can work this out, Nena, I'm sure." "I beg you." "Just talk to him." "Mark's a good listener." "Just talk to him." "Or let him ring us." "Or... you could ring us." "Just to let us know that he's..." "That um..." "I beg you, Nena." "Please don't hurt him." "Oh, God, look what they've done to you!" "Please, Nena, I beg you." "Just don't hurt him." "Tell me what she's done." "To the others." "Exactly what she's done." "Don't." "Sir." "She's on line." " Fitz." "Where is he?" " Are you all right?" "Is he alive?" "Have they said you can have your job back?" "Is Mark alive?" "Yes." "What is it exactly you want, Nena?" "I want you." "Let me ask you a question." "OK." "If you hurt Mark, can you see us ever hitting it off?" "You'll be letting yourself down." "You'll never know what it is I have to tell you." "It is not in your interests to hurt my son." "Is that clear?" "It's one way of looking at it." "Did you get my letter yesterday?" "Yes." "Love and sex and devotion." "Are you looking for all those things?" "Yes." "Hello?" "Fitz?" "Fitz!" "Oh, God!" "I've lost her!" " What have you done?" " I cut her off." "So long as I'm talking to her, the boy stays alive!" "If you cut her off, she's going to panic!" "Right?" "So long as she's got my boy, you do not make her panic!" "She was ringing from a mobile." " That's Mark's!" "I can ring him." " No." "I cut her off." "You can only trace a mobile up to a radius." "Now she's desperate she'll use a call box." "We'll force her out." "Stupid bastard." "We think we know which one she uses." "But there's four more in Regent Cross." "So we've covered them all." "He's right." "Well, find him!" "This is what you do, it's what you say you do." "It's the only thing you do that I believe in so... bloody well find him." "Woman approaching." "About 5'5"." "Early 30s." "Blonde." "Medium build." "No call, she's gone past." "Don't you want to tell your friends why you're late?" " Another lager, please." " Yep." "I want to speak to Fitz." "Tell him it's me." " Yes." "Fitz." " No." "In person." "She was ringing from home. 16 Brent Street." "Tell 'em." " Is she there?" " Yes, she is." "Mark?" "Mark?" "Mark!" "He's not here." "I just want to talk to her." "I only want to talk to her!" " If they let her through, she'll kill you." "You'll have to protect me." "Where is he?" "Nick her." " Search this lot." " I've seen her." "What?" " She works at the university." "Drives a red van." "You've interviewed her?" " The wheelbase matched, but the tyres didn't." "You sure about that?" "You'd better be." " There's some garages down the back." " Well, go and open them up." "Don't wait for permission." "Just find the bloody van!" "Come on!" ""I love you, I love you, I love you. "" "I love you, I love you, I love you." "I love you." "I love you." "Nah." "It's not working, is it?" "You see, I can make you smile." "But you don't really believe me." "I understand you." "That's far more rewarding." "Love may come and love may go, but to have somebody who... who really understands you..." "That's something that no-one can take away." "Where's Mark?" "He's only guilty of one of the crimes." "Bright, happy, sexually indiscriminate young men." "He's not that bright, he's not very happy at the moment." " Did he make love to you?" " No." "Did you ask him to?" "I'm sure normally he wouldn't let you down." "I apologise on his behalf." "I feel privileged, I know something about him that his mother doesn't." "A few months ago, Mark got his girlfriend pregnant." "Debbie's the name." "And... he's depressed because she lost the baby." "And he's depressed because she gave him the big kiss-off." "So you'll appreciate he's not really himself." "And..." "I would prefer that he didn't suffer any more." "I would really like to know where he is, Janice." "We didn't come here to talk about Mark." "If that's the way my boy ends up I will see you dead, you murdering bitch!" "Got it." " You give us Mark and we'll do a deal." " Shut up." " You'll come out better in court." " Shut up." "If you don't help yourself you'll never see daylight again." "Shut up!" "Come in." "They found the van." "It was empty." "What was it that you had to say, without contradiction?" "Mmm?" "Fixing their smiles, so they couldn't look appalled by your confessions." "Speak to me." "Surely you must have something to say about taking a psychology degree?" "No." "Possibly that you didn't get one" " booted out after six terms because you couldn't hack it." " My dad died." " You failed." " That's all right." "We've all done it." " My father died." "You went back as a lab technician." "Surrounded yourself with all these young, promising, bright, sexy people." "Why did you put yourself through that amount of pain?" "Hmm?" "To prove that even though you couldn't get a degree, you could get a job on the staff?" "Swan around in your little white lab coat with your name tag." "At least some of the first years would look up to you." "May 1990, you gave a lecture." "It was like half-ten and you were still pissed from the night before." "The board outside said, "Psychology of Family Structure." "Dr Fitzgerald. "" "You acted out a row you'd had with your wife that morning." "You stood to the left when you were playing her." "To the right as yourself." "You'd just moved Into a big house." "And she'd got a loan on a car." "You'd been Into the office that morning and packed your job In." "You were gonna write a book." "And she said you weren't capable of writing your own name." "And all the students were laughing." "I just remember sitting at the back thinking, "Oh, God, he's completely trapped." "He's got kids he never wanted, a house his mother-in-law persuaded him to buy." "And if they just listened to him for two minutes they'd know he's talking sense. "" "I went back to my room and cried." "And I'm back, like, five years later and you're still doing the rounds, and nothing's changed." " That's failure." " No, that's families, Janice." "All that squealing, all that anguish..." "That's what families do when they love each other." "When they belong to each other." "That is normal, Janice." "You killed those men because you were jealous of their future." "They have none." "Another jealous woman beat you to it." "Thatcher." "Crushed a whole generation." "Made you look like a bloody amateur." "Don't touch that." "He's waited 19%/% years to get his first job." "You've seen what he does." "He shovels shit in the fast-food cantons for two quid an hour." "If you take him away, maybe the world won't miss him." "But I will." "Right now, I'd die for him." "I'd die for my family." "And that's where you and I are completely different." "Fitz!" "So how come you were screwing her?" "If you live and die for your family, how come you were screwing her?" " Every cripple finds his own way of walking." "You see, that's when I knew." "That was your cry for help." "When I followed you home and she didn't come out till morning." "But that wasn't real, you were desperate to change your life." "But you didn't have the guts to tell your wife and leave her." "I understand that." "It's difficult to leave your wife when you haven't found the right person." "I'm offering you a life, Fitz." "I love you." "I'm offering you a future." "You have killed." "I haven't." "You definitely don't have a future." "If you bury your son tomorrow and I go to prison you'll have to think about me every single day for the rest of your life." "That's a future." " I don't want you going back in there." " What?" " You're not up to it." " What?" "We've got her sister in number two." "Well, that makes three of us now." "Three dogs chasing the same bone." "Did you believe him?" "When he said he loved you?" "No." "Why not?" "He always went back to you." "I've handed my resignation in." "I leave in November." "If that helps." "Janice isn't a murderer." " I want to get her a lawyer." " She doesn't want a lawyer." " Just answer the questions." " Janice isn't the youngest?" "Er..." "Louise." "22." "Look, I want to see her." "I want to talk to her." "Where is she?" "What did your father do?" " I beg your pardon?" " What did your father do?" "Nothing." "He did nothing." "If she's telling you that and she's blaming Dad for... this, well... she's talking crap." "She's always said it." "She's always pretended." "But I swear, he did nothing!" "I meant as an occupation." "He was a..." "He was a butcher." "Skelly?" "Check that out." "You call yourself Nena." "First name that came into my head." "I can see why you chose it." "It's a prettier name than Janice." "It's also your sister's name." " Who have you been talking to?" " Got any other siblings?" " No." " Liar." " When did your father die?" " 1991." " Month?" " July." " Time of day?" " I don't know what time of day." "You're a bloody liar." "If your father was dead you'd be blaming yourself." "Every girl needs her dad." "Question is, how much does a father need his daughter?" "You were abused, weren't you?" "No." "You are pursuing a father who doubles as a lover." " You live in a flat..." " I was not abused." "You live in a flat which looks like Barbie's playpen." "I was not abused!" "You can get that sort of hurt recognised anywhere you like." " It's every therapist's mortgage, for God's sakes!" "I was not abused." "Is it why you're punishing Mark?" "The one thing you do right, you're messing it up." "You're going backwards." "I was not abused." "You weren't." "You weren't." "Nena was." "Louise was." "But you weren't." "Nena you could rationalise." "She was the eldest." "Her..." "Her card was marked, even before you were of age." "But then he started picking Louise." "And that made you piggy in the middle." "The one that got nothing unless it had the ribbons on it." "How awful." "Not pretty enough or bright enough." "I am." "Too old, but not old enough." "And you've been wondering all your life what you did wrong." " You better shut your mouth!" " Why?" "That's what you came to me for." "Isn't it?" "But I..." "If I give you what you really want..." "If I meet the challenge..." "If I... really, really understand you, that's the end of the affair, yes?" "Nena, Louise." "You knew it caused them pain and made them cry." "But at least they were getting something from their father." " Their secret." " Yes." "All of them?" "Your mother knew?" "Fierce rejection." "Tiny girl wanting the same attention." "Trying to smile." " Begging the questions." " Yeah." "There were no rows in your house, were there?" "Hmm?" "Nobody wanted to take the lid off." "You were the only one screaming, Janice." "Naughty little girl." "Asking too many questions." "They kept lying, but I knew." "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" "This isn't your song, is it?" "You're far too young." "Did your father play this?" "We played it for him on his 40th." "He kept staring at me." "He walked across and asked me to dance." "Nena was watching." "Louise was watching." "I couldn't see Mum but I knew she was watching." "He kissed me there." "He was looking at me and I started shaking." "He just laughed and sat back down." "Did your father slaughter his own meat?" "It was a built-up area." "He couldn't leave them squealing in the yard." "He electrocuted them." "In the head." "In the shop?" "When he'd closed for the day, Mum used to take me for walks on the embankment." "Dunstan Embankment?" "She said he was doing the meat." "But I knew he was upstairs with Nena, I could see." "We'd be walking, and Mum kept talking and talking, but I'd look back... and I could see him at the upstairs window, pulling down the blinds." "And when we got back he never had his tie on." "She could see the shop from the embankment?" "That's where the first body turned up." "Look next door, In the shop upstairs." " Yeah, we've been in there." "It's all bricked up." "We've got the van." "There's nothing in it, he must be bloody there." "Sir, we've looked everywhere." "I'm coming down myself." "He paid for her extra tuition." "And Louise?" "She's going to bloody medical school." "Nena got married last week, three days before the first murder." "You watched her crowning glory." "A fairy-tale wedding." "Up the aisle with him on her arm." "The proudest man in the world." "They made a pact." "Mm?" "She wiped the slate clean, denied her past, and he..." "She's wearing a very big ring." "Is he helping them out financially?" "They got everything they wanted just by smiling back, keeping their mouths shut." "You end up in this mess with sweet FA." "And no-one can tell you what it is that you did wrong." "No." "I can." "I understand your father." "As a shrink, maybe." "But as a man, absolutely." "I can look at you now and know exactly why he rejected you." "Why he excluded you." " Shall I tell you?" " Yes." "It's as clear as day." "I can't believe you've come this far and not understood." "Please, Fitz." "A man like that and a girl like you." "Is he handsome?" " Tell me." " You were there under his nose." "The one in the middle." "Pleading for it." "It's tragic, Janice, that he never chose you." "That he never moved in, that he never made you part of that family." "Tell me." " Where's Mark?" " Please." "Where's Mark?" "Mark." "Next door." "Tell them to move the wardrobe." "Please." "Mark." "Don't touch him." "Don't touch anything." "Mark?" "He's breathing." "Place your bets." "I just wanted to know what it felt like to be him." "I close my eyes" "And count to ten" "Men like your father say they can look into a crowd of a thousand kids, and know within seconds which ones." "Vulnerable." "Needy." "You were too big a risk for him." "He knew you'd fight him." "Talk." "Tell." "A strong little girl." "Nena envied you, but... she was only doing what all big sisters should." "Taking the rap for you." "She still is." "Oh, and um..." "If you're writing to me, for God's sake put your name on it." "Thank you." "Thank you." "You say you'd die for your family." "You'd die for your children." "You'd die for your children because they're part of you." "But I don't believe you love me any more than that girl." "She's injured." "She's confused." "She doesn't know what she believes." "I meant the other one." "So did I." "Would you die for me?" "Just me?" "Fitz."