"So, you're writing a book about Lucky Lucan and what happened." "So what did become of him?" "That's your problem, John." "Nobody will tell you." "The children and I have no better than a hand-to-mouth existence, yet he gambles away thousands every week." "I can hardly bear to live in the same house any more." "Whom do you imagine will be given custody of your children?" "Fight dirty, fight nasty, and let there be no shame." "Beware, Aspers." "He does tend to come up with his own rules." "I feel it's best all round if you commit her to an institution." "Has he told you I'm mad?" "Please, don't make a scene." "There is nothing wrong with me!" "The children shall remain wards of court, their care and control be restored to Lady Lucan." "Hello, I'm Sandra." "Sandra Rivett." "I'm here about the vacancy." "He'd lost his children, Mr Pearson." "He was bitter and angry." "You say you've no doubt Aspers was involved?" "I've said all I'm going to say." "Too much, in fact." "I don't wish to discuss this any further." "You must be under no illusion as to what it is you would be getting into should you choose to go down that path." "Her life against yours." "It's a gamble." "Now you sleep well, darling, and I shall see you in the morning." "Night, Mum." "Night, night." "Night." "Sandra." "Sandra?" "Are you all right down there?" "Sandra?" "Shut up!" "Where's Sandra?" "Where is she?" "She's dead." "I've killed her." "She's in the kitchen." "Oh, my God, what have you done?" "Don't go down there." "It's a bloody mess." "I thought she was you." "Oh God..." "Everything has turned to ashes." "This is your doing!" "You tried to take my children away from me." "You must have known I could not allow that to happen." "Yes, yes, yes..." "Yes, I'm sorry." "I must make a decision." "I must decide what to do." "Well I..." "I can er..." "I can help you." "You?" "Yes." "We can..." "We can clean everything up together." "Get rid of the evidence." "Please, John." "Let's just go upstairs and talk this through calmly." "It doesn't have to end like this." "Please, let's talk it through." "Yes?" "I ju..." "I just need some water, my..." "My throat, it hurts so badly..." "Come on, hurry up." "Look at yourself!" "Go upstairs to your bedroom, darling." "That's right." "Just go straight to bed, darling." "That's right." "That's right, in your..." "Go into your bedroom, darling!" "Wait!" "Wait, wait..." "Oh!" "Here, you'd better clean yourself up." "Do you have any Tuinol in the bathroom?" "Yes, I think so." "Would you consider taking an overdose?" "That might be the best way out of all this, don't you think?" "(Yes.)" "Yes, all right then." "Could you get me a glass of water?" "Veronica?" "Veronica!" "Bitch!" "Help me!" "Help me, please, help me!" "Please!" "Help me, help me!" "I've just escaped from being murdered." "Help me!" "Help me, please, somebody!" "Please, please, please!" "Somebody call 9-9-9." "Help me!" "OK, come on." "My children!" "Hello?" "Mother, it's me, John." "Can you listen carefully, please?" "There's..." "There's been a terrible catastrophe at the house and I..." "I need you to go there right away and collect the children." "What has happened?" "Er, the children are all right, but Veronica's hurt, and erm... ..and also the nanny." "Are they badly hurt?" "I think so, yes." "I need you to collect the children, they're on their own." "And ring Bill Shand-Kydd for help." "Are you all right, Johnny?" "Yes, I'm fine but I've..." "I've got to go." "I'll explain later." "Please..." "Please hurry, Mother." "It had been my intention to write a book about a lost world of gamblers and aristocrats, but my research had been taken over by the Lucan mystery." "A picture of the immediate events of that night could be pieced together from police records and witness statements." "After the phone call to his mother, Lucan left the city in a hurry." "He headed south." "It's open." "You check out upstairs." "I'll have a look down here." "Where's Mummy and Sandra?" "Lucky?" "Is Ian here?" "I'm afraid he's not." "He's stayed on in London." "Right." "What's the matter?" "Do you want to come in?" "If I could, Susie." "Thank you." "I'm sorry, madam, you can't go inside..." "I'm here to collect my grandchildren." "Sir, she says she's the children's grandmother." "I am Dowager Countess of Lucan." "How did you know to come here?" "My son called me and told me to collect the children." "Are you going to tell me what has happened?" "I understand there's been an incident?" "I'm afraid I can't tell you anything." "We're still trying to understand it." "Fetch the children." "My daughter-in-law has been treated for a mental complaint." "She and my son are separated." "She's a manic depressive and the courts have told her she must continue her medical treatment." "I'm afraid she's in hospital with serious head injuries." "Well, where's the nanny?" "The children's nanny has been pronounced deceased." "We found her body downstairs in the kitchen." "Can I ask, ma'am, where your son is now?" "I'm afraid I don't know." "He told me he had to go somewhere and then he hung up." "It was only a short conversation." "You don't think he's involved?" "Grandma!" "Oh, darlings." "Come on!" "Come on, sweetheart." "How lovely, lovely, lovely." "Into the back of the car." "Hello, darling." "Very good." "If your son gets in touch again, could you please refer him to us?" "We need to speak to him urgently." "Into the back." "Thank you." "I've, er..." "I've had the most nightmarish experience, Susie." "It's..." "It's so incredible, I don't think you or anyone else can believe it." "Try me." "I was er..." "I was passing the house this evening." "I walk past it regularly these days to keep an eye on the children." "And..." "I saw some sort of...struggle going on in the kitchen." "Through the blinds in the basement" "I could see Veronica grappling with a man." "I ran into the house, I still have a key, of course, and I flew down the stairs into the kitchen." "At the bottom of the stairs I slipped on something that I later discovered to be blood." "I got it over my clothes." "And, as I was lying there... ..this man, whoever he was, made his escape." "I could see that Veronica was very badly hurt and..." "Sandra was lying...half in a sack." "The poor girl was quite dead." "Oh, dear God!" "V was...was crying out that this... ..this man had murdered Sandra." "There was blood and mess everywhere." "It..." "It was a ghastly situation." "Then, as I was trying to help her, in the same breath, she accused me of hiring this man to murder her." "She kept on using the phrase 'contract killer'." "Must have heard it on one of those" "American TV movies she watches all the time." "This is too horrible!" "John, what did you do?" "Well, I managed to get her upstairs to the bedroom." "I was going to try and treat the wounds on her head." "Then I was going to call an ambulance and ring the police." "As I was going into the bathroom to wet a flannel she, she bolted." "God alone knows what she's saying but..." "I'm pretty sure that I am being implicated in what happened." "The woman will do anything to bring me down." "Surely she wouldn't stoop that low." "It's the children I'm worried about." "I must use your telephone to check they're all right." "Of course." "I'll give you some privacy." "Oh and er, Susie, could I also have a pen and a clean piece of paper?" "I want to write down some thoughts whilst they're still clear in my mind." "I'll get you one." "Hello?" "It's Johnny." "I'm just ringing about the children." "They're here, safe and sound." "Thank goodness for that." "Er..." "And Veronica?" "She's been taken to hospital." "Have you heard from the police?" "Well, they're here with me now." "Would you like to speak to them?" "Erm..." "No." "No, I..." "I think not." "Tell them I'll ring them in the morning and I'll call you, too." "OK." "Goodbye, Mama." "That was my son." "He won't speak to you now." "He'll speak to you in the morning." "The children are with my mother." "Thank you." "Lucky, why don't you stay the night?" "You can have a wash." "I'll prepare you a meal." "You must be famished." "And then, tomorrow, I'll go with you to the police." "Er, that's very sweet of you, but I'll have to go back and...find out what she's done to me." "I must write to my brother-in-law." ""Dear Bill..." ""the circumstantial evidence against me is strong" ""in that V will say it was all my doing." ""I am only interested in the children." ""If you can manage it, I want them to live with you." ""V has demonstrated her hatred for me in the past" ""and would do anything to see me accused."" "Dear Lucky..." "All you have to do is tell your story calmly, faithfully." "The truth will out." "Well, thank you for everything." "Don't forget to post those letters." "I'll do it first thing." "Goodbye, Susie." "And then he was gone." "Susan Maxwell-Scott was the last person to admit to seeing Lucan alive." "Good morning, sir." "Sit down, Dominick." "Help yourself to some hock." "There are cold cuts over there and a slice of Mother's game pie." "God help us." "I'm fine, thanks." "Right, well, you all know why you're here." "A friend of ours is in trouble." "As far as we can tell, there was some sort of incident last night at 46 Lower Belgrave Street." "Lucky Lucan is wanted for questioning over an attack upon his wife and, it seems, the death of his children's nanny." "I will begin by asking if anybody has heard from Lucky in the last 12 hours?" "And what about you, Aspers, has he not rung you?" "He has not, but let me tell you this, if he did, Lucky Lucan is my friend." "If he came to me, covered in blood, having done some frightful deed, the last thing that would occur to me would be to turn him in." "That would go against every last instinct of human loyalty." "It would also go against the law." "Oh, to hell with the law!" "To hell with the common norms of civic behaviour, whatever they are." "If the law doesn't suit, then change it." "If you can't change it, then damn the law." "Weakness is bringing this country to its knees." "Our trade unions seek to destroy our industry and economy." "Our government aids them by driving from these shores the leaders, the strong and the wealthy, taxing them at 98 pence in the pound." "Nobody likes paying tax..." "We must fight back!" "Our very future depends on it." "In times such as these, I should like to think if our friend turned up on any of our doorsteps, we should offer him sanctuary." "What exactly has happened?" "It's confusing trying to piece it together from the papers and, various bits of gossip flying around this morning." "I think matters between Lucky and Veronica came to a head last night." "Custody of those children should have been awarded to Lucky." "Has Christina spoken to Veronica lately?" "We haven't spoken to her for months." "It's impossible to have a conversation without the whole thing descending into the most almighty row." "How badly hurt is Veronica?" "I don't know." "How did the nanny end up dead?" "I don't think for a second Lucky killed her." "Why would he do such a thing?" "We don't know yet, but I've had a lot of calls this morning asking what to do if we're approached by the police." "It is essential that we say nothing of Lucky's affairs until we do know precisely what has happened, and can be confident of not incriminating him." "We can't incriminate Lucky because he hasn't done anything!" "He's not a violent man, I'm sure." "What about Veronica?" "Your concern is endearing, but it rather misses the point." "Lucky is our friend, not his wife." "I meant what does she say about it?" "Perhaps there's been some sort of terrible mistake?" "Wouldn't it be a good idea to pay her a visit and find out what she says about it?" "Well, if further unpleasantness can be avoided, that is to be welcomed." "Bill, she's your sister-in-law?" "I suspect somebody else will be able to get rather more out of her." "Very well then." "Dominick..." "As you're so concerned for her wellbeing." "Yes, all right." "I'll go." "Sir." "Dave." "This it?" "Lent to Lucan about a month ago by a friend called Michael Stoop." "Left here somewhere between five and eight in the morning." "Nobody saw anyone get out the car." "It's an absolute gold mine, sir." "Blood and hair found on the seats, steering wheel and floor." "Look at this." "Almost an exact match of the one found at the house." "Same sort of tape wrapped round it." "Just a bit longer." "Newhaven?" "Why here?" "The ferry?" "First one sailed for Dieppe just after six this morning." "Sussex police are looking at the passenger lists." "He could have got a 60-hour passport over the counter." "I can't believe he'd get on a commercial ferry when he knows we'd find the car here." "His club said he made a late booking for dinner in town last night." "So, he leaves the family home in Lower Belgrave Street at, what?" "Just after nine o'clock last night?" "Yeah." "Then he turns up in Newhaven a minimum of...seven hours later." "Well, where did he go?" "Who did he see?" "Ian?" "Sir, he insisted on waiting." "Aspers, I need a word." "Lucky arrived at the house last night." "I'd stayed in London at the club." "Susie took him in and she had a chat with him." "What did he say?" "He said he was innocent of the attack and he tried to stop another man from attacking Veronica." "Said he was walking past the house at the time." "I have to say, Aspers, it sounded rather far-fetched to me." "Has Susie gone to the police?" "Not yet, no." "She posted some letters for him this morning and then I came home." "Who were the letters to?" "Bill Shand-Kydd." "Aspers, she has to report this to the police." "Yes, of course." "Do you think I should call them now?" "I should think it's rather late now." "Yes." "I suppose Susie could ring them in the morning." "I think that's the best option, old thing, call them in the morning." "Now who's the mad one?" "(Oh, God.)" "He tried to kill me, Dominick." "What happened?" "Was it a row that got out of hand, heat of the moment sort of thing?" "It was premeditated." "I was to be done away with so he could continue his life without me." "And..." "Nanny Sandra?" "He killed her by mistake." "He told me he thought she was me." "Oh." "You know he's taken leave of his senses." "I would never have thought John capable of violence." "He's struck me before, a number of times." "And what are you going to do now?" "Oh, I know that's why you're really here." "You can tell Aspers thank you very much for the flowers, but it's too late." "I've given a statement to the police naming my husband as my attacker, and that he admitted to me to killing Sandra." "Please don't bracket me with Aspers." "I cannot defend the indefensible." "What's happened to you is... ..is grotesque." "Detective Superintendent Gerring." "We're here to see Mrs Maxwell-Scott." "Ah yes, of course." "There was a 48-hour gap between Lord Lucan being here, and you reporting it to the police." "Why did you not contact us earlier?" "I had no reason to." "This is a murder inquiry." "By your own admission, Lucan told you of the death of Mrs Rivett, and you noticed blood on his clothing." "He explained that, he'd slipped on the kitchen floor." "Obstructing the course of justice is very serious, Mrs Maxwell-Scott." "She isn't obstructing, it's just she didn't realise how much publicity the case had attracted." "It's fairly remote here." "The next day you didn't turn on the television or radio, did you?" "No!" "I had no way of knowing it was such big news." "John and I simply had a chat." "He left in the early hours and in the morning I posted his letters." "Letters?" "What letters?" ""For my children to go through life" ""knowing their father had stood in the dock for attempted murder" ""would be too much." ""When they're old enough to understand," ""explain to them the..." ""..the dream of paranoia and look after them."" ""Dream of paranoia"?" "It's Lucan's handwriting." "Forensics have confirmed the blood stains on the envelopes." "And this third letter was to Michael Stoop?" "Fella who lent him the Ford Corsair." "Anything on the ferry passengers lists?" "As far as we can tell, unless he disguised himself very heavily, he wasn't on any of the crossings that morning." "A description's been issued through Interpol." "Borders are on alert." "Was there no envelope?" "Stoop said he threw it away after he opened it." "Mrs Maxwell-Scott said she definitely didn't post it." "Lucan only gave her two letters, both for Shand-Kydd." "We don't know where he posted it from, or when?" "I think it's time we started to rattle a few cages." "Let's talk to his friends." "All those Lords and Ladies, better start brushing up on my etiquette." "Don't worry about etiquette, old son." "We mind our Ps and Qs, Dave." "But we don't hold back, all right?" "This is a murder inquiry." "Detective Superintendent Gerring." "We're here to speak to Mr Aspinall." "Yes, do come in." "Mr Aspinall is having lunch." "He's asked if you could wait here for him." "We did have an appointment." "We are here at the specified time." "If you could wait here." "I'm telling you, I'm not in the mood for playing silly buggers." "James." "Dominick." "Lovely to see you." "Lovely to see you, too." "Take a seat." "I've ordered us a bottle of Perrier Jouet." "Ah, very good." "The Sunday Times is paying?" "Oh yes, yes, it's all on account." "Good." "So, you want to commission a painting from me?" "Yes, erm..." "I want it to be something set in your club." "The Clermont?" "Lots of people have suggested I should talk to you." "I'm interested in your friends, and how what's happened to Lord Lucan has affected you all." "If you're going to do an article, you've got to do something about Veronica." "Veronica?" "Yeah, the poor thing." "She's been dreadfully bashed about." "She's lucky to be alive and it's very unfair the way people are talking about her." "She's an intelligent woman, perhaps too intelligent for some." "How do people talk about her?" "Well, they say she's one of the most disliked women in London, but most people who say that haven't met her." "You know, I-I adore Lucky, I do." "I adore him but the life he inflicted on Veronica was a form of torture." "I mean, she managed to stick it out for nine years, taking her nightly seat on the 'widow's bench' behind him, watching him work his way through the family fortune." "It must be some sort of record." "Right, this has gone on long enough." "We're not here to be made fools of." "Where is he, in there?" "Please, sir." "I've asked you to wait." "We were here at the agreed time." "We are investigating a murder." "Mr Aspinall is having lunch with some guests!" "Who's so bloody important that we have to be kept waiting?" "Sir!" "Good afternoon, officer, so sorry to keep you waiting." "My guests and I were just enjoying a spot of lunch." "Would you care to join us?" "The sexual revolution is despised by the upper classes." "Not for reasons of prudishness." "It's just they were already boffing away left, right and centre, and don't like the idea of everyone else getting in on the act." "That and the fact most toffs I know pretty much hate women." "Well, how does Veronica fit into all this?" "She was just not Lucky's type." "One could see straight away, she was too bright." "I mean, he's a creature of habit." "A dozen identical pin striped suits from the same tailor's, the smoked salmon and lamb cutlets for lunch every, every day." "That sort of thing." "You know, I suppose she thought she was marrying into a life of glamour and privilege." "He thought he was getting someone to push out babies and do as she was told." "No." "Didn't quite turn out that way for either of them." "Has Lord Lucan been in contact with you since the night of November 7th?" "No." "Would you object if we were to make a search of the premises?" "You wish to lift the floorboards?" "And your zoo?" "Ah, my zoo." "I too have heard the rumour, about me feeding his body to the tigers." "You're quite welcome to have a squeeze through their droppings." "Who knows, maybe you'll find an undigested signet ring?" "Are you proud to be the friend of a man who tried to bash his wife to death?" "If she'd been my wife I'd have bashed her to death five years ago, and so would you." "Lucky and I with some er..." "with some serious crumpet." "You know, funnily enough he's never been a boffer." "You know, not really interested in girls that way." "They all seemed to love him though." "Annabel Birley and her crowd were all over him on a holiday in Mexico." "Someone has a photo of her with her arms around him." "It's all good fun." "She's been with Jimmy Goldsmith for years." "That would be worth seeing." "Yeah well, I don't know who has it." "Someone will have a copy." "James, you'll try to make us look half human in this article?" "Aspers says it's pretty important the public are not alienated, what with the inquest coming up." "At the moment it does seem to be," "I don't know, open season on my friends and me." "I'll tell the truth, Dominick." "I can promise you that." "Yes, of course." "The inquest has been set for June, Jimmy." "Are you sure your strategy is correct?" "So far there's only been one side of the story put forward, that of Veronica's." "The inquest will redress this." "It will, in effect, be a murder trial." "The police will seek to identify Lucky as public enemy number one." "But, with the Lucan family retaining a barrister we shall at last be able to put Lucky's version of events to Veronica in a court of law." "But does his version bear scrutiny, hmm?" "This is a very delicate time for me, Aspers." "I've been having discussions about joining the cabinet." "It does if accompanied by an examination of the undoubted hatred shown by Veronica towards Lucky in the months leading up to November the 7th." "If Lucky's still alive, what then?" "If we can prepare the ground for him," "I would imagine he'd return to clear his name and reclaim his children." "The inquest verdict will be, 'murder by person or persons unknown'." "The hunt will then switch to the man Lucky said he saw attacking Veronica." "In the meantime, work has been ongoing to try and balance things out a bit with the press." "Dominick has set up an article with The Sunday Times magazine which should paint us in a rather more favourable light." "I'm determined to win, Jimmy." "Have you anything to say before the inquest?" "I will simply say this..." "I was brought up to believe in the presumption of somebody being innocent until proven guilty." "I believe my son to be innocent of all the charges levelled against him." "Have you spoken to him?" "Is he still alive?" "It must have been just after nine when I decided to go downstairs and find out what had happened to Sandra with the tea." "I got to the top of the basement stairs and it was dark down there, so I called her name." "What happened then?" "I heard a noise." "What sort of noise?" "A noise of somebody or something behind me." "As I turned towards it, somebody rushed out and hit me on the head." "The same person then attempted to silence me by stuffing his fingers into my mouth." "The person then attempted to strangle me but I managed to twist around and..." "..and grab his privates." "And at this he desisted?" "Yes." "And did you hear anybody speak during this attack?" "Initially when I started to scream, the person said, "Shut up"." "Did you recognise the voice?" "Who was it?" "My husband." "It was Lord Lucan who attacked me." "Sir, I am retained by Lord Lucan's mother, the Dowager Countess of Lucan." "Lady Lucan, you separated from your husband in January 1973?" "January the 7th, yes." "And the position was that, even before the separation, you entertained feelings of hatred against your husband?" "Objection." "The relationship between Lord and Lady Lucan is not relevant." "I shall dismiss the jury and hear legal arguments to the court." "Clear the court." "My instructions are as follows, by the beginning of 1973," "Lady Lucan, quite definitely, hated her husband." "There was a suggestion in one of the letters of paranoia, and I would like to have in evidence that the relationship between Lord and Lady Lucan had deteriorated to a point where she had become paranoid and was quite capable" "of holding her husband responsible for the attack." "I don't think evidence about a witness's mental state should be brought into it." "That would take me beyond the bounds of my remit." "Sir, I submit..." "Airing of family tensions would not benefit this inquiry, and to turn this into a family forum to air those tensions would be a wrong thing." "Members of the jury, if you are satisfied with what you have heard on the injuries to Mrs Rivett, then your verdict has to be murder." "But you must also try to ascertain the person or persons, if any, to be charged with murder, and on the evidence, to decide whether you feel you can name someone." "Remember, there is also the possibility of an intruder." "And, if you were to name someone, you must bear in mind it is a serious matter from the point of view of stigma." "The responsibility is yours." "Do you know where Lord Lucan is?" "As a gambler, I'd give even money on him being alive or dead." "I hope he's alive." "If he is, where do you think he is?" "In hiding somewhere?" "Securely tucked away, biding his time?" "And, if he turned up here now?" "I would embrace him." "Do you think he should escape the law?" "I don't know if he's killed Mrs Rivett or not, I believe not." "But, I know that he's a figure like myself, born out of this time." "His qualities, as they appeared to me, were old-fashioned qualities like loyalty, honesty and reliability." "If he came to me, I would do whatever he asked." "We're going back now to our remote past, as Anglo-Saxons, when friends kept together and faced the battle regardless, side by side." "Would you please read the verdict to the court." "Murder... ..by Lord Lucan." "Today's events do not alter anything." "There is a warrant out for the arrest of Lord Lucan, and that would still have been in force whatever the verdict." "The search for him will go on until we find him, dead or alive." "Lady Lucan, how do you feel, you must be pleased?" "I'm neither pleased nor displeased." "I was concerned with establishing the facts." "But, it's a blow for Lord Lucan's family and supporters?" "His mother complained Lord Lucan had been convicted without having had the chance to defend himself." "She overlooks the fact he could have gone to the police that night and explained his actions." "It was his choice to run." "That's enough questions!" "Excuse me, are you Sandra Rivett's parents?" "We are, yes." "I was just wondering if you had anything to say about the verdict?" "My daughter was hardly mentioned in there and yet she was supposed to be the reason why we were all there." "All we heard about was the quarrels between Lord and Lady Lucan and their family." "No-one seemed to spare a thought for our poor Sandra!" "Aspinall took it very badly by all accounts." "His grand plan to rehabilitate Lucan's name had come to nought, and so it seemed, had my story..." "I'd run into a dead end." "What had become of Lucan?" "Where was he?" "I had picked up hints and clues, but nothing concrete." "And without an answer to the riddle, nothing made any sense." "I was faced with scrapping the whole project." "Then, fate intervened." "Mrs Maxwell-Scott?" "I was very surprised to get your message." "I didn't think I'd be seeing you again." "I'm dying, Mr Pearson." "I haven't been given long to live." "Oh dear." "I-I'm so sorry." "Are you?" "I'm not." "Erm..." "John Lucan has been on my mind recently." "And I've come to the conclusion that, perhaps, the time..." "The time for what?" "To tell you what I know." "I think Ian would have wanted it to come out in the end." "In the early days, I..." "I gave Lucky the benefit of the doubt about that night." "But now, I've come to accept that... ..perhaps he had planned to do away with Veronica... ..and that he..." "..murdered Sandra by mistake." "Ian was working with Aspers at the time that Lucky went missing, and by picking up on conversations and putting two and two together, he thought he'd managed to work out what had happened." "Get me a refill, would you?" "Yes, of course." "I think Lucky rang Aspers from the telephone box up the road that night..." "..and made the arrangements." "Goodbye, Susie." "He left me about 1.15, but he didn't arrive in Newhaven which was only 40 minutes drive away, until around five." "He must have been driving around, but why?" "Well, it's my belief, you see, that he was waiting for someone." "Ian had told me about the 'little facility' in Newhaven." "How Aspers had a money dealer, who he'd used in the past to get cash and that sort of thing out to the continent." "And, I believe that it was this man who Lucky was waiting for..." "..to get him out of the country." "Get out of sight!" "Get inside now!" "Ian said he thought they got Lucky to Switzerland, where Aspers' man had arranged a bolt hole for him." "And I believe that's where he stayed in the months immediately after his disappearance." "Ian said he thought Lucky spent a lot of his time writing to Aspers." "One can easily imagine what was going through his mind." ""Aspers, I've been working on a statement." ""There is evidence we can use from the custody hearing" ""that can show V's hostility towards me." ""Then, as there were no other witnesses," ""it should come down to a straight choice between her word and mine" ""as to what happened on that night."" "Ian said Aspers would initially have been optimistic about the situation." "Lucky, now is the time to stay out of sight" ""and let some of the heat dissipate." ""Rest assured we are working towards your return," ""and the moment you can be reunited with the children," ""but you must remain patient."" "Well, of course, the inquest put the kibosh on that." "Lucky couldn't come back after he'd been publicly branded a murderer." "I haven't even been given a chance to defend myself." "They've only heard one side of the story." "How can a person be found guilty without even having a proper trial?" "What's to stop me from just going back there and demanding justice?" "You stay here." "And Dominick's Sunday Times article didn't quite turn out as planned, either." "They all said, "Why Veronica?" ""Why did he choose her?" "She's such a little mouse."" "But, I was madly in love with him." "In fact, 'Love' doesn't even come close to describing it." "But, in a strange sort of way he seemed to despise me for feeling like that." "Thank you, Poppy." "What is this?" "!" "It's page after page of what a saintly nun Veronica is, and what a horrible bunch of pricks we are!" "And there, on the front cover, is the mother of my children made to look like some cheap tart enjoying a holiday romance with a man wanted for murder!" "I want Elwes blackballed." "He's been foolish, Jimmy, no more." "It is unforgiveable that he should give a newspaper private photographs, exposing Annabel to ridicule." "Our children will get to see that, their mother fawning over another man and a bloody fugitive to boot!" "Annabel was just play acting." "You were there." "I want Elwes cut off." "Persona non grata." "I want him made a fucking pariah!" "Jimmy had bailed out Aspers in the past when he'd faced financial ruin." "He wouldn't dare go against his wishes." "Morning, sleepy." "You know, you really should think about having a tidy up." "It's not the way to go about impressing a girl." "Hmm..." "Oh shit." "What is it?" "It's a bill from the Clermont for 17 quid." "I never get a bill from the Clermont, they never charge for food and drink." "So, why are they now?" "It's that bloody article." "Oh God, they're furious with me." "Ah, yes." "Could you put me through to Mr Goldsmith, please?" "It's Dominick Elwes." "I'm a personal friend of his." "Oh, OK." "Thank you." "Well, what did he say?" "It was er..." "Jimmy's secretary." "He asked me not to call this number again." "Poor Dominick." "He was refused entry to clubs and restaurants, and denied contact with his friends." "They just abandoned him?" "Most of them." "They were too scared of going against Jimmy Goldsmith." "And there was a depressive side to Dominick's personality, so this was torture for him." "Worst of all was that he received a letter from Annabel's teenaged son from her first marriage." "He was at boarding school at the time, and he bitterly blamed Dominick for exposing his mother to ridicule and causing him to be teased at school." "It was just teenage angst, but Dominick had known the boy since childhood." "The last thing he wanted was to cause him any unhappiness." "Dominick?" "The news of Dominick's death would have had a tremendous impact on Lucky." "They'd been friends for a long time." "I think, stuck out there, he must have felt the world was falling in on him." ""I think the time is right to come home now." ""Even prison is preferable to my current situation." ""At least I might then be able to see the children again," ""even if it were only during visiting hours." ""I am enormously grateful to you for what you've done for me," ""but I must insist now that I return" ""and take up the fight to clear my name."" "Ian said he thought Lucky was pushing hard to come back." "But, Aspers knew that if he ever did return," "Lucky would face prison and disgrace." "It's Pandora's box." "First The Sunday Times, and now after Dominick's death... ..I've got Private Eye breathing down my neck." "There's an article trying to insinuate" "I was involved in helping Lucan escape justice." "I'm going to sue." "They've been poking their noses in my business affairs, digging around for all sorts of dirt." "Needless to say," "I haven't been receiving any more calls from Downing Street." "I curse bloody Lucan!" "He's the architect of all this." "Lucky is our friend." "Well, I shan't be unhappy if I never see him again." "Can I ask, what do you think happened to Lucky, Mr Pearson?" "Well, as I see it, there are two possibilities." "One, he committed suicide soon after the murder, or he disappeared somewhere, as you say, and has managed to evade capture ever since." "Have you ever considered there might be a third possibility?" "Ian, how are you, old thing?" "Really?" "When?" "Now." "I drive you home today." "This is pure supposition, of course, but Lucky would have been so excited to think he'd be seeing his children again." "Aspers, could I get a signature on this so I can get it in the post first thing?" "Aspers?" "Don't forget, the whole plan to do away with Veronica had been a gamble, and Lucky had lost." "I think Aspers must have felt compelled to call in the debt." "I suppose it would decrease the surplus population he was always banging on about." "Of course, I can't prove any of this." "It all happened years ago." "Ian told me about it all... ..and he's been dead..." "..many, many years." "And, Aspinall isn't around, either, to defend himself." "But, I'm convinced that's what happened." "Not long after our last meeting, Susan Maxwell-Scott died." "There have been many theories about what happened to Lord Lucan." "Hers was one of the more intriguing ones, but that's all it could ever be, a theory." "I'd heard about a casino Aspinall had opened after he'd sold the Clermont." "He'd erected busts of his great gambling heroes in the foyer." "The society gambler, Charles James Fox," "Prussian military genius Marshall Von Blucher, and General Gordon, who'd gambled everything, and lost, at Khartoum." "I discovered there originally had been a fourth bust, long since removed." "It was of Lord Lucan." "I asked to see the Lucan bust." "In particular, I wanted to see for myself the inscription... ..penned by Aspinall himself." "Fate had it that neither Lucan nor Veronica claimed the one great prize they fought so bitterly for..." "..the children." "At first, they lived with her, but in 1982, custody was awarded to Veronica's sister and brother-in-law," "Bill and Christina Shand-Kydd." "Veronica refused all requests to meet with me, but though estranged from her family and now living alone, she's repeatedly stated her love and forgiveness for the husband who disappeared so suddenly all those years ago."