"FITZ:" "No, you're absolutely rhght." "I could've phoned and I should have." "I'm very sorry." "Yes." "Yes, they were hn my wallet." "Look, I'm sorry, Katie." "Katie, I was not pissed." "I was not..." "Where did you learn that word?" "Oh, fine." "Blame everything on me." "I was not pissed." "I was working." "Ask Mark." "(Doorbell and knocking)" "All right!" "All right!" "No, not you." "It's the doorbell." "I have to go." "It might be urgent." "No, not more urgent than you, obviously." "Katie?" "Katie?" "Shit." "If you're Jehovah's Witnesses, I've got a Rottweiler." "Sorry." "That was Katie." "I should've taken her to football yesterday." "I had the tickets." "She didn't know how to get hold of me while we were at the hospital." "She thought I was out gambling or down the pub." "Are you all right?" "Joanne's dead." "She was murdered." "(Heart thumping)" "JOANNE ON TAPE:" "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed hs the fruht of thy womb, Jesus." "Holy Mary," "Mother of God... (Tape off)" "FITZ:" "What do you nothce?" "There are no smudges." "So, we're not lookhng at some elaborate foreplay." "She hs naked." "Whllhng, obvhously." "You couldn't do those drawhngs on her hf she was strugglhng." "Rhght?" "After sex?" "Well, in that case, we're not looking for a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am individual." "He lingers, he talks to her." "Explains what all the symbols are about." "Maybe even shows her them in the mirror." "This is no spotty adolescent." "Or even he did the drawings after he'd made her take the pills, in which case she couldn't struggle at all." "Did all those drawings on her dying body." "Now that's power." "That's arrogance." "A dying girl, and she was just a canvas for his artistry and his so-called intellect." "What hs all thhs?" "You don't know about Planck time, then?" "Planck time." "The instant just before the universe was created." "Just after the big bang, and there was nothing but a boiling soup of space and time." "No rules and no law, just anarchy and chaos." "Joanne's lover saw sex in death, and vice versa." "He was a morbid and manipulative lover, who in the end wanted to combine the two in one moment of perfection." "FITZ ON TAPE:" "Somebody's done thhs to you." "Who was ht?" "Who made you take those phlls?" "(Joanne whimpers)" "Who gave you the drhnk?" "Who drew those thhngs on your body?" "Who hs ht?" "JOANNE:" "No." "Not dhe." "No." "All flesh..." "All flesh hs grass." " Jojo!" "You lhttle bhtch!" " I've heard that before." ""All flesh is grass."" "I've heard that before." "Which is Joanne's church?" "St Timothy's." " Dean Saunders." "WISE:" "Who?" "He started the fire." "Dean Saunders." "Community-care case." "He kept talking really weird like that." ""All flesh is grass." He said it." "Bring him in for questioning." "Take Beck with you." "His boss said Saunders had an accident, but I think that's bollocks." " Can I help?" " Afternoon, Mr Trant." "I'm impressed." "One small fire, two visits." "Two officers." "Is Mr Saunders around?" "Dean, why?" "No, he-he's not in work today." " What?" "Is he sick?" " A touch of this bug that's going around." " Could we have his home address, please?" " Why on earth..." "Really?" "One small fire?" "We need to question him concerning another matter." " What's that, then?" " His address?" "I-I'm not sure I..." "You've got to have his address for national insurance." "The fire." "My records." "Filing cabinet." "Ashes, I'm afraid." "You must know where he lives." " How many employees on your books?" " 34." "Look, he should be in tomorrow." "Burns your office down, you give him the day off." "This is wasting our time." "He's not in any trouble." "Wasting police time is a criminal offence." "A law-abiding citizen like yourself wouldn't want a record." "So just tell me where he lives, or we're having you in." "Please." "That's better, isn't it?" "A bit of politeness gets you further in the end." "Now I think of it, I may have Dears address in my Filofax." "Thank you, sir." "We'd be most grateful." "(Baby crying)" "Hello, Dean?" "Father O'Ryan?" "DS Penaligon." "This is Dr Fitzgerald." "It's about Joanne?" "If you could just spare us five minutes of your time, please?" "Come into the sacristy." "Why is it whenever you're in church, you always feel as if you're being watched?" "Because you are, Dr Fitzgerald." "I saw you lecture once." "Oh." "That level of cynicism must be hard to sustain." "Not at all." "At times like this, I can only remind myself that there is a purpose to everything." "That God's love reveals itself in all our fates." "That level of idealism must be hard to sustain." "It is, extremely." "But you, Dr Fitzgerald, as an unbeliever, how do you reconcile yourself to such tragedies?" "I don't." "I don't even try." "As a psychologist, my job is to listen and understand." "That must be difficult." "Well, your job is to listen and forgive." "That must be even harder." "Well, I'm not the one who forgives." "Wish I could believe that." "Still, we're both confessors, Father." "You're as exposed to the dhrty realhthes of lhfe as I am." "Does that not disturb your faith?" "In man." "Not in God." "Father, could you tell us about Joanne, please?" "Of course." "She was always a very devout girl." "Regularly attended mass and benediction, but we haven't seen her here since Christmas." "I believe she was recruited into a local sect." "PENHALIGON:" "Who recruhted her?" " Her headmaster, I believe." "Trant." "You know him?" "Yes." "Do you?" "No, but I'm not entirely happy about the way he uses his position at school." "To do what?" "To recruit young people into his sect." "Could you describe these young people?" "I mean, do they have anything in common?" "Yes, they're all rather lonely individuals." "And they're all girls." "I take it, Doctor, that you're a lapsed Catholic?" "Why?" "Because you're so serious in your mockery." "Don't knock the mock, Father." "But you're right, anyway." "Bless me, Father, for it is 22 years since my last confession." "The next one should be won'th hearing." "I shall look forward to that." "Thank you, Father." "Father." "Father..." "Dean?" "She's..." "She's..." "What is it, Dean?" "She's in heaven now." " Who is?" " (Door closes)" "Joanne?" "Help me." "Please, Father, help me, please." " What's the matter with you, Dean?" " Me." "You." "What were you saying about Joanne?" "The box..." "In the box..." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." "Amen." "What do you want to tell me, Dean?" "Dean?" "(Dog barks)" "Gotcha!" "Definitely furry." "I had this vacation job once when I was a student, postman, you know." "You wouldn't believe the number of different kinds of letter boxes there are." "Big, wide, generous ones, welcoming enough for a kid to get their arm through so they can take the key." "Vicious little snappers you could hardly get a postcard through." "Vertical ones high up, vertical ones low down that just about do your back in." "Then they had these ones with furry brushes inside them." "You put your hand in, it was all squidgy like you were being disinfected." "(Doorbell)" "Furry." "Mrs Trant?" "About Joanne Barnes..." "Oh." "Yes." "Could we speak to your husband, please?" "One moment, please." "Ah, hello again!" "Please come in." "If you'd like to go through." "Doing some research, Doctor?" "Did you make any sense of this?" "Couldrt make head nor tail of it." "You like this sort of thing?" "No, no, it was a Christmas present." "How about you?" "I gave up halfway through." "Felt a bit let down, really." "I thought I was going to find all the answers in there." "Well, you're looking in the wrong book." "You think I'd find all the answers in there?" "The answers are in there." "Whether you find them depends on you." " Do you believe in God, Doctor?" " I can never catch him in." "KENNETH:" "Don't worry, I won't try to convert you." "Why not?" "Would you expect me to?" " Well, you do proselytise your faith, don't you?" " Proselytise?" "Yes." "You have recruited several of your pupils for your church." "I wouldn't exactly say "recruit"." "That's why I used the word "proselytise", to convert from one faith to another." "Yes, I do know the meaning of the word, Doctor." "FITZ:" "But you don't lhke ht." "And you won't have "recruit"." "What would you rather?" "Draft?" "Enlist?" "Are you here to debate semantics with me?" "No, I'm here to talk about Joanne Barnes." "Can I offer you some tea?" "No, thanks." " Coffee?" " No, thank you." "I don't think I can add anything to what you learned from young Sarah at the school." "Oh, you know what she told us?" "Yes, of course." "She reported to me later." "She said that Joanne was lonely and that she was having problems with her parents." "When did you last see Joanne?" "Sunday night." "At our church." "Your church?" "Yes." "Well, surely you must have known that Joanne was a member of our church?" "Why must we?" "Her parents would've mentioned it." "She was there every Sunday night and sometimes during the week as well." "Why didn't you mention this when we were at the school?" "It hardly seemed relevant to your enquiries." "She didn't go missing that night." "She was at school the next day, as usual." "How did she seem that Sunday night?" "No different from usual." "She took her turn of reading a verse." "Her usual self." "Are you a member of the church, Mrs Trant?" "Yes, my wife's a member." "(Sobs)" "Excuse us, Doctor." "Virginia hasn't slept since all this happened." "It's left everyone at the school feeling shattered." "And at the Fellowship." "Poor young girl, such a waste of a life." "Yes." "That's why we want to catch the maniac that did it." "BECK:" "Do that one more bloody thme and I'll chop them off!" "Before you're cautioned, before you see a solicitor, before my boss starts interviewing you, you've got a chance." "One chance, Dean, to come clean." "Do you understand?" "Can I have some water, please?" "I know everything, Dean." "I just want you to tell me." "I've been to your flat." "I've seen." "We see through a glass darkly, then face to face." "Face to face." "You, me, now." "I talked with Joanne." "Before she died, she told me everything about you." "The disgusting things you did." "What you did to her." "How you hurt her, wrote those things, the things you said." "Joanne told me everything, you little scumbag." "And I'm nailing you." "Make it easy on yourself." "Confess." "Confess now, Dean, or I'm throwing you to the wolves." "A lovely girl like that." "You touching her, defiling her." "Disgusting things you did to her will be done to you twice over." "Confess or you're in trouble, Saunders, I swear!" " He's in custody?" " He's just helping us with our enquiries." "Know anything about his family?" "He never mentions them." "All I know hs hhs mother dhed." "Or ran away." " I'd no idea, he..." " No idea of what?" "That his mind was so deranged?" "Yes." "I..." "Well, I have to disagree with you there." "I don't think what we saw at Dears flat today was the work of a disordered mind." "I would say it was the work of a classically-tutored intelligence." "A knowing, ordered, considered brain." "Not exactly the way most people would think of Dean." "No." "Er, I mean..." "I..." "What's his background?" "Special school, bullied, poor attendance?" "Metalwork, Art?" "Dears er..." "He's..." "That kind of..." "What about yourself?" "Poly?" " University." " Leicester?" " Hull." " Engineering?" "Correct." "Then marriage, suburbia, working in Daddy's factory?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "The '60s really passed you by, didn't they, Michael?" "BECK:" "God, I deserve this." "Done some good, eh?" " Put a man down." "Cheers." " Cheers." "Steve." "I'll tell you, a nasty little..." "WISE:" "Just a mhnute!" "What's the gob on you for?" "I'm putthng a man down." "Join the party." " I think you're making a mistake." " I don't." "Bit like a doctor, really, aren't you?" "You've lost me." "You tend to bury your mistakes." "WISE:" "Come hn!" "He's innocent." "Then why did he confess?" "Wise by name, thick by nature." "Look, here's a list of Dears bible-thumping buddies." "Everyone on it should be treated as a suspect, sir." "Reading the Bible's not a crime." "Particularly the Trants." "These are all..." " Respectable, solid citizens?" " Yeah." "Dears just a scapegoat, sir." "Just let me talk to him." "Oh, yeah." "That'd go down well with Beck, wouldn't it?" "If he retracts his confession, what have you got?" "Not a lot." "I just want a chance to get to the truth, if that's not too radical." "The confessiors being typed up." "In the meantime, if you want to speak to him, that's OK with me." " By the way, Fitz, are they your own teeth?" " Yeah?" "Look after them." "Floss them and clean them." "And don't ever call me thick again." "What do you see?" "Me." "What am I doing?" "Mhrror." "Tell me." "Crying." "Mum gone away." "Kids pushing, kicking." "Calling names." "Don't like fighting." "The school bell goes, you stay behind?" "Yes." "Hide under the desk till the janitor throws you out." "It's dark." "Cold." "They'd still be waiting." "Run through the fields, through the bushes." "Clothes torn, muddy, no-one to notice, to ask after you." "Cold in bed." "You keep your clothes on." "What did they call you?" "The Smell." "Every time you go into the classroom..." ""What's that terrible smell?" "Please, miss, can we have the windows open?"" "Brhng hn ahr fresheners, spray you." "But there was one teacher who looked after you, treated you right." "Miss Morgan." " What did she teach?" " Art." "You're good at drawing." "Yes." "Drawing." "Copying." "Like the writing on the walls?" "Yes." "Copied." "Copied Joanne." "And me." "He'd covered the wall of his flat with writing, like on Joanne." "Kenneth's equations, all that." "That's why they arrested him." "They'll break him down." " They'll get it out of him." " Get what?" "They know he didn't dream all that up by himself." "The psychologist said it was the work of a classically-tutored mind, a clever brain." " Oh, Kenneth." " They'll be onto us." "Michael, sit down!" "Is there any chance that you could talk to Dean?" "He trusts you." " You mean go to the police station?" " No!" "But..." "What if he tells them about Joanne?" "What can he tell them?" "He saw nothing." "Virginia, you heard me tell the police that the last time I saw Joanne was at the prayer meeting on Sunday night." " Yes." " When was the last time you saw her?" "Well, when we all..." "Think, Virginia." "When was the last time you saw Joanne?" "At the last prayer meeting." "Norma?" "At the last prayer meeting." "Michael?" "They won't believe it..." "When was the last time you saw Joanne?" "At the prayer meeting." "That's all we've got to say." "What matters is that we all say it, and then we're safe." "Dean hs deranged." "He should have been put away years ago." "You thhnk they'll take hhs word agahnst ours?" "The boy is guilty." "He must be made to pay the price for his sin." "Let us pray." "What else?" "Man on fire." " What else?" " Woman bleeding." " What else?" " Flying glass." " What else?" " Postman Pat." " What else?" " Flowers." " What else?" " Space." " What else?" " Baby crying." " What else?" " Joanne." "Where is she?" "Through the mirror." "Describe her." "All flesh is grass." "Did you give her tablets, Dean?" "No." "Did you give her drink?" "No." "FITZ:" "Do you know who did?" "No." "Why did you confess?" "They said." "Dean, you've made a statement to say that you helped Joanne to die." "Is that true?" "No." " You wouldn't do that?" " No." "I..." "I lo..." "I lov..." "Why can't you say it?" "Why can't you say that word?" "Have you never said it to anyone?" "Have they never said it back to you?" "It's just a word, Dean." "Say it." "I lo love her." "Joanne?" "Love her." "Love her." "I..." "Iove her." "Stefan Kiszko spent 16 years of his life banged up for a crime he couldn't possibly have committed." "Looks odd, sounds odd, he must be the killer." "And do you know what finally sent him down?" "Hmm?" "A hastily-sought and eagerly-accepted confession, that he only signed because he was confused and frightened and just wanted to go home to his mammy." " Dears confession..." " Was got under pressure." "You can't afford to make a mistake on this one." "Are you infallible?" "Yes." "The other guy's an impostor." "Look, all I'm asking is that you talk to him with me for five minutes." "I'll just listen." "Open number three, please!" "Ten minutes, no more, Fitz." "OK?" "Right." "Jesus!" "Key!" " Key!" " Oh, God!" "WISE:" "Just a mhnute." "Do you think I'm to blame for Dears death?" "Yeah." "I'm not." "But if I were, I'd expect a bit of sympathy from you, Jimmy." "You know exactly how it feels." "Are you all right?" "You haven't seen me like this." "OK?" "Right." "What's up?" "Bilborough was a mate of mine." "It gets to me now and again." "No-one's blaming you." "Why should they?" "What for?" "What do you know?" "What have you heard?" "Albie gave you a load of bullshit." "You let him go, he killed Bilborough." "No-one's blaming you." "Piss off!" "So, you told everyone?" "What?" "That Bilborough's death was down to me." "I didn't." "I didn't!" " Then it was you." " Wrong." "You're lying!" "Look, if you want to talk to somebody about this..." "Oh, Christ!" "You know what I'm going to say but I'm going to say it anyway." "Right?" "Rhght." "If you hadrt poked your nose in, that lad would still be alive." "And Joanne's death would be solved." "Everything would be boxed off." " "Boxed off"?" " Yeah, boxed off." "Dean killed himself." "Joanne died terminating a pregnancy." "Case closed" "Dean killed himself because Joanne was murdered." "There's more reason than ever for keeping the case open." "Pontius bloody Pilate would know..." "PENHALIGON:" "Fhtz!" "I haven't been paid yet." "I need an invoice." "Any chance of a sub?" "No chance." "You're wrong." "Joanne was murdered and I'll prove ht." "FITZ:" "Thhs hsrt necessary, you know." "I was just winding Wise up." "I'll manage." "Always have done." "Always will do." "I do not need charity." "I've just got to get on with my life, pay my bills, and lock the guilt monster away in a cellar until I feel strong enough to grapple with it." "And when will that be?" "How many beasts are locked up down there?" "How long before they break down the door and tear you apart?" "No." "That's me talking." "I'm the doctor, you're the policewoman, remember?" "Do you see me directing the traffic?" "No." "Do you know why?" "It's not my area of expertise." "Do not talk nuts to a monkey." "Then stop talking shit to a panandle." "I'm your friend, aren't I?" "Believe me, charity does not come into it." "Is F250 enough?" "You can give it back to me when our lot pay you." "Thanks." "Thanks." "I know it's a bit early, but..." "I know, but I could do with a drink as well." "I keep seeing him there, in that cell, alone." "What he must've felt." "Michael, what's done is done." " I should never have involved him." " Don't blame yourself." "It's not your fault." "But ht hs." "If Mhchael had done what he was supposed to do, he wouldn't have been arrested and we wouldn't be in this mess." "Kenneth's right, Michael." "However, as he dhed hn polhce custody, my instinct tells me they will be eager to close the case." "Oh, Kenneth, do you think so?" "I'm sure of it." "I just wish I could be as sure of Dr Fitzgerald." "But remember what we agreed." "We speak as a group, with one voice." "As long as we are a group, we are hnvulnerable." "I haven't done this in ages." "Not with someone." "Me, neither." "Not with Judith?" "I can't remember the last time." "We always used to, then some time we just stopped." "'85." "The rioja." "I think it's over, me and Judith." "Really, this time, over." "Are you sure this is all right?" "A big, wide, generous letter box." "I rest my case." "I think I should go, don't you?" "No." "There's so much going on for you, Fitz, I don't think I..." "I need you." "I'll back you, Fitz, with Wise, with Jimmy..." "With anyone." "Not that way." " How?" " You know." "I don't." "Already anticipating failure, the retreat." "Make me say everything, and then you can absolve yourself from any responsibility." "Please don't, Fitz." "OK." "I'll do ht to me." "I bring you into my home, having taken every precaution to ensure that it's as inospitable as possible." "What message am I sendhng there?" "I'm giving you every chance, every opportunity for an escape route." "Which means, of course, that then I can blame it all on you." "I trhed." "I trhed." "She led me along, but she couldn't stay the dhstance." "I'm still covered in bruises from the last time, and all the mistakes I made, so just make my life easier and go away, will you?" "Just leave me alone." "Bugger off." "I think I love you." "(Microwave pings)" "One nine-inch margherita with anchovies." " You bastard!" " What?" "You've got the cheek to say a thing like that!" ""Nine-inch margherita with anchovies"?" "I don't like anchovies!" "(Blues music on stereo)" "D'you think..." "Kenneth, do you really think they'll leave us alone now?" "Oh, I'm sure they will." "It'll soon be over, this whole nightmarish thing." "Darling, I'm so sorry," "I'm so deeply sorry." "I was weak, and I fell." "Virginia, I am not won'thy of you." "But I will never make that mistake again." "I know." "I do love you." "I love you so much." "Are you sure?" "No." "(Clock ticks)" "(Ticking gets louder)" "(Birds chirp)" "Crappy paper, crappy cup of coffee." "Morning." "We never did have that little chat, did we?" "Oh, God!" "Look, I'm sorry." "Does Mum know?" "No, no, not yet." " Your mother left me, if you remember." " Eh?" "No, she didn't!" "She didn't leave!" "You drove her away cos you're a..." "Cos you're a dickhead!" "Yes, well, that's a fair summary of the facts, probably." "I'm older than her!" " Hardly." " (Door closes)" "What do you expect me to do?" "Spend the rest of my life like Cliff bloody Richard?" "And that's my mother's!" "He'll be OK." "See you." "Morning." "Where are we keeping the pile of drawings found in Dears bed?" "Cabinet." "Only they were found in his wardrobe." "Yeah." "You said in his bed." "No." "No, I didn't." "Yes, you did." "Didrt she?" "Dears bed you said, yeah." "What are you trying to say?" "You're doing the talking." "No." "No, come on, lads, spit it out." "Who was on top?" "(Sniggering)" "That's my fees to date." "No problems there." "I expect you prefer cash?" "Fitz would like another week on Joanne Barnes." "No chance." "She's with the coroner in two days' time." " Well, give me till then." " Beck's winding it up now." "Two people have died, boss." "They both belonged to the same religious sect, whhch hncludes Kenneth Trant, Joanne's headmaster, and Mhchael Trant who was Dears boss." "Fitz would like to interview all four Trants and I think we should agree to that." "You're asking me to gamble police time and money." "Double or quits, I get a confession." "OK." "I'll give you 48 hours." "And Penaligon." "Take Beck." "No." "Beck's no good to me." "Panandle knows the way I work." "Beck's too old-fashioned." "Too Starsky and Hutch." "He's only got one tune." "I can't do ht whthout her." "I'll give you odds." "Four to six." " One to two." " God, you're windier than Ladbrokes." "One to two you get a confession." "Done." "You know Joanne was a Catholic?" "No." "Oh, yes." "A very devout Catholic, according to her parish priest." "A member of the Leghon of Mary." "And attended regularly for benedhcthon and confesshon." "Never missed Sunday Mass... till last Christmas." "Whoever drew her to your church must have had a tremendous attraction for her." "I'm sure he did." "God." " Acting through your husband?" " Yes." "Drawing her to the Bible." "You don't think it's perhaps possible that it wasrt the Bible that attracted her, but your husband?" "Dr Fitzgerald, she was a 17-year-old girl." "My husband is..." "A 46-year-old pin-up." "Kenneth?" "A pin-up?" "I had a crush on my music master at her age and he was no spring chicken!" "You know what ghrls are lhke at that age." "I don't." "I never found out." "Mrs Trant, your husband is a very attractive man." "I suppose it is just possible that Joanne might, well, have fancied him a bit?" "I never noticed anything to suggest that and I'm sure Kenneth didn't." "He did say that she was a shy, withdrawn sort of a girl, not the sort of girl to flaunt her feelings." "Maybe." "But that doesn't prove..." "We're not trying to prove anything." "We can't ask Joanne how she felt, so we're asking you." "We're just thhnkhng out loud, just wondering if perhaps there's a possibility, the remotest possibility, that Joanne fancied your husband, even though he wasrt aware of it." "It seems very unlikely." "So it's possible?" "I didn't say that." "So you're saying it's absolutely impossible?" "I didn't say that." "I didn't say it was absolutely impossible." "I didn't say that!" "I think you're not saying quite a few things." "Can you lhve whth that?" "I haven't done anything wrong." "No, but somebody has and you know who." "Don't you think you've got a duty to tell us?" "I know where my duty lies, Doctor!" " I have always tried to live a decent..." " Joanne Barnes hs lyhng sthff on a slab." "She's got marks all over her body left by some sick, demented soul!" "Please, I don't want to hear this!" "Her parents are banging the floor with grief!" " A good ghrl, Joanne." "They kept sayhng that." " Can't you stop him?" "Who hs the shck bastard who hs responshble for thhs good ghrl's death?" "Joanne hs dead!" "Dean hs dead!" "What does it amount to, this decency of yours?" "F37,642." "In the present financial year." "That much?" "F18,400, Cancer Research." "F6,904, Cerebral Palsy." "F2,005.23 to the Church Restoration." "F1,116, Help the Aged." "A round F1,000 each to Cystic Fibrosis, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Children in Need... and the Police Widows and Orphans." "Plus several smaller cash payments to the local old, infirm and needy." "I'm currently collecting for Cancer Research." "Perhaps a donation might be in order?" "I'm afraid you've caught me a bit short, Mrs Trant." "PENHALIGON:" "She's lyhng." "FITZ:" "She's loyal." "PENHALIGON:" "Next stop, Norma's?" "No." "Next stop, Sarah." "She's coming." "One pound." "You said 50 pence." "Each way." "Come on, Brian." "More effort!" "Good clearance!" "Good clearance!" "FITZ:" "Do you not fhnd ht better talkhng out here?" "SARAH:" "Yes." "Mr Trant seems to get on very well with the kids." "The only time our teachers ever spoke to us was to threaten us with hellfire... or detention, which was slightly worse." "Mr Trant's not like that." "FITZ:" "Oh, you're lucky." "You fhnd you can talk to hhm OK?" "I mean, he doesn't mind if you come and tell him your troubles?" "Oh, no." "I mean, he doesn't mind." "He lhkes to know what's gohng on." "He lhkes you to go and talk to hhm." "Mr Grogan." "My history teacher." "All the teachers said, "It's the exams." "It's a rough time." "Don't suffer." "It only takes a moment to go and see the principal."" "Yeah, and three hours to get out." "We used to call him Taphead." "Somebody had once said that he had water on the brain." "He was barking!" "Absolutely barking!" "But Grogan was different." "He always seemed to know exactly what you were going through without the subject ever arising." "He used to make you cups of tea in his wee cubby-hole." "Get the ashtray out." "Made you feel human, you know?" "That's what I call a real teacher." "FITZ:" "I'm surprhsed you prefer to talk to us here?" "Why?" "It's fascinating." "New experience for me." "Virginia Trant told us she thought it possible that Joanne fancied her husband a bit." "What do you think?" ""Fancied" him?" "Did Ginny say that?" "What do you reckon?" "Bit of a giggle." "I'm not sure, but I think she was a bit upset about it." " Upset?" " Uh-hmm." "About a schoolgirl taking a shine to Kenneth?" "She'd have had to be pretty insecure to feel upset about that." "Was she?" "Insecure?" "Well, you've met Kenneth." "Any woman married to him might feel a bit insecure." "But he never gave her any cause." "How do you know?" "Well, I'd have..." "Well, Ginny would've told me." "Anyway, he didn't." "Don't you think Kenneth would've been flattered by Joanne's pash." "Might even have encouraged it." "A middle-aged man getting the eye from a 16-year-old girl, a pretty girl?" "Don't you think he might've got a kick out of that?" "I know I would." "He didn't notice." "And he didn't need those "kicks"." "So who got Joanne pregnant?" "If not Kenneth, you mean?" "If not Kenneth." "For a psychologist, you're a pretty poor judge of character." "I'm better with women." "Arert I?" "Dean made Joanne pregnant." "He was sweet on her." "You should have seen him at the meetings, he couldn't take his eyes off her." "Always pointing at her." "He was crazy about her." "You knew that, didn't you?" "Oh, yes." "Crazy about her." "Crazy for her maybe." "But crazy in his head." "Only in his head." "Classic hopeless romantic passion." "He idealised her, but he never laid a finger on her." "Dean never had a proper relationship with Joanne." "He came to the house one weekend when Michael was away." "He knew he was away, of course." "Anyway, he pushed past me down the hallway, into the sitting room." "Sat on my sofa." "He had grease on his trousers." "I wondered if it would wash off the sofa." "He had his eyes closed and he was chanting from the Bible." "I didn't pay it much attention." "To be honest, it doesn't mean that much to me." "I'm not sure that I believe at all." "I made a mistake." "I got too close, he touched me." "I didn't like it, I told him." "Still... his hands." "I pushed him away." "He came back." "He wouldn't let go." "He was hurting, and all the time this Bible stuff." "And then the words changed." "To personal things." "About my body." "You know." "Crude, crass words for thhngs." "I walked out of the room, out of the house, into the town." "Came home in the evening." "Nothing was missing." "Dean was never a thief." "There was no sign that he'd ever been there." "Well, save for the stain on the sofa." "And Michael, what did he say?" "You did tell him?" "No." "I didn't want to upset him." "I didn't want to hurt him, to get him into any trouble." "Kind." "You don't believe me, do you?" "Why should I make it up?" "To divert attention from Kenneth." "Did you meet him through Virginia?" "Yes." "We were at school together." "We met then." "Ah, she saw him first." "There was never anything between Kenneth and me!" "Nothing fulfilled." "Would you have married him?" "He didn't ask me." "He asked Virginia." "And Michael asked you." "That wasrt the question." "You're obviously very attracted to Kenneth." " Do you ever thhnk hf you'd marrhed hhm..." " No point in thinking." "Let's take it as read, then, that Kenneth Trant may have harboured thoughts about Joanne." "She was a young girl." "He saw a lot of her." "Who could blame hhm for havhng those thoughts?" "The question - the life with a recommendation of a minimum of 20 years question - is... did he act upon them?" "Tell me, Doctor, is a man happier who acts on his instincts, or who represses them?" "When you lit that cigarette, I know that look." " I don't think this..." " And you knew it too." "And you were as jealous as hell because he lit my cigarette!" "I'm sure I've nothing to teach you about jealousy." "Could I have another one, please?" " You love hhm, don't you?" " Who?" "Kenneth." "Kenneth?" "Kenneth." "You love him." "You've always loved him." "You've always loved hhm." "Ever shnce that fhrst dance." "At the church hall." "What was ht?" "Mungo Jerry?" "David Essex?" "You remember." "You remember." "You fell for him then, and you've been in love with him ever since." "No!" "And then he went and married Virginia." "The idiot!" "He would've been so much happier if he'd married you." "Kenneth and Virginia have a very happy marriage." "Did Kenneth Trant have sex with Joanne Barnes?" "No!" "Cross your heart and hope to die?" "I'm beginning to think that you're jealous of Kenneth." "He is just not that sort of a man!" "He has never been unfaithful to Virginia!" "With any other girl?" "Any girl!" "Any woman!" "You can keep your cigarette, thanks." "Do you know Sarah Jennings?" "Sarah?" "Schoolmate of Joanne's." "Classmate, actually." "SARAH:" "Out of all the ghrls at school, he phcked me." "He's always wanted a chhld and she could never have them." "So, as soon as I leave school, we're gohng to lhve together." "He's a wonderful man." "I feel... spechal when he's there." "He loves me more than anythhng." "I'll never want anyone else." "Kenneth's wonderful." "I love hhm." "I love hhm." "Right, so the paper's shredded and dropped down, then the hydraulic ramrod compresses it." "It comes out as a block." "What happens then?" "MICHAEL:" "It goes for recycling." "Right." "We saw your wife this morning." "She dropped into the station for a chat." "She was dressing the church hall earlier, she was telling us." "She had pollen all over her fingers." "What's the attraction of all these new religious groups?" "Hmm?" "Rock combos singing for Jesus." "One World weirdoes." "Bible-thumpers." "I'm a left-footer myself, lapsed." "We didn't read the Old Testament." "Do you believe all these old Hebrew stories are true?" "I mean literally true?" "Every word?" "Yes." "Sign this, please." "Your wife thinks it's a load of old rubbish." "Says she only goes for the company." "See her pals, see Kenneth." "Like other people go to the pub, she said." "Just an excuse to get out of the house." "Do you go to the pub, Michael?" "You don't mind me calling you Michael?" " No." " Smoke?" "You don't smoke, don't drink, don't gamble." "What do you do, Michael?" "Sex, is that your scene?" "Come on, a sly wank in front of Baywatch on a Saturday night is hardly a mortal sin." "You go to church, ht's lhke gohng to the launderette." "There's no point in going unless you've got stains you need to wash away." "And you're the one that belheves hn whhter than whhte, aren't you?" "Me?" "I'll back dishcloth grey as pretty well the colour of everything." "You're not a good man, Michael, but you're not a bad one." "You're somewhere in between, just like the rest of us." "Go on, admit it." "Admit to that chocolate bar underneath your pillow." "Admit to taking the change when you're undercharged." "Admit to lust, envy, avarice." "I do." "And you have to admit to all those things, before you can admit to what you did to Joanne!" "Carry on with your soliloquy." "I've got two mers work to do." "How long have you been a member of the Church, Michael?" "Ten years." "Who introduced you?" "No, don't tell me." "Kenneth, big brother." "He joined, so you had to join." "Do you always do what he does?" "Correction." "Always try to do what he does." "But you can't, can you?" "You don't have the charm." "What was it like competing in the sex market with somebody like Kenneth?" "God, I ache for you." "It must have been murder." "Always second best, always second choice." "Even to the woman you marrhed." "Of course, you and Norma are well matched." "She was always second choice, too." "To Virginia." "Her best pal." "Vhrghna the belle of the ball." "Virginia introduced Norma to Kenneth." "He swept her off her feet." "She fell head over heels madly in love with him." "And the years have not altered her." "She stills burns for him, still longs to touch him." "She's sthll as obsessed whth hhm now as she was when she fhrst met hhm." "She admits it." "She brags about it." " She told us this morning, didn't she?" " Yes." "I had to feel sorry for her." "How does it feel, Michael?" "Your wife loves another man, always has done." "I know." "You know?" "I knew when I married her." "If you'll excuse me, I have to see to the waste collection." "(Dog barks)" "JUDITH ON ANSWERPHONE:" "You're pathethc, Fhtz, spendhng your days lhke thhs!" "# You can call me anything, but do not call me fat!" "# I was built for comfort" "# I was not built for speed" "You should know better!" "# But, baby, I'll give you everything you're gonna need" "You haven't played that one for years." "It always made your mother laugh." "Yeah, I've just left her." "Have you?" "Where?" "Where?" "Oi!" "Come back here." "You're not too old for a..." " Yes, I am." " Yes, you probably are." " I never hit you anyway." " That time." "Oh, yes." "Once in my life." "A light slap, if I remember." " You hurt me." " Well, you'd been bad." "I was a kid." "Kids don't know anything." "Where's your mum and Katie?" "Who's asking?" "You or your girlfriend?" "These beans have got mould in them." "How can you live like this?" "Where are you off to now?" "Listen." "If you cared, you'd have asked me before now." "Don't wait up." "Well, look, at least get Katie to keep in touch, give me a phone or something, will you?" "Yeah." "(Click)" "(Click)" "FITZ:" "I'm sorry, but I'm afrahd you'll have to come back to my surgery for a more thorough examhnathon." "Kenneth Trant is coming in for questioning, sir." "Willingly?" "Very willingly." "Smug bastard." "He's as guilty as hell." "We've gone right to the edge with the rest of that family, but they all draw the line at Kenneth." "Totally obedient." "But I'll crack him!" "I know I can." "Cocky, aren't we?" "I worked out the other day that in my years at the school, between 30,000 and 40,000 pupils have been through my hands." "There have been tragedies along the way." "Leukaemia." "Car crash." "Climbing accident on a school trip." "And now this." "And you don't always know the pupils very well." "You can't know them all." "But you always feel it anyway." "Like one of your own." "Hmm." "It was different in this case though." "In this case you did know the student." "Yes, as I've explained." "You must've known her better than most of your students." "She was in your fellowship." "Well, I daresay, yes." "She must have spoken to you?" "Of course." "What about?" "Usually matters affecting the church, Bible studies." "Not about school or her home?" "No, not really." "Not even when you drove her home?" "Drove her home?" "Are you saying you never drove her home?" "From the church?" "Where else?" "I thought you meant from the school." "Yes, of course, I drove her home from the church." "Once in a while." "Dark nights?" "Precisely." "Yes." "You introduced her to the group at Christmas." "Yes." "A lot of dark nights?" "Yes." "So you must have driven her home quite a few times?" "Yes." "Come to think of it, yes, quite often." "As you say, after all, I introduced her, and being her headmaster..." "I felt responsible." "Did she talk in the car?" "No, she was a very quiet child." "What age was she?" "You don't know her age?" "No, you called her a child." "She was 17." "She had her GCSEs." "A young woman, I'd say." "Wouldrt you?" "Yes." "When I was 17, I would've been most offended for you to think of me as a child." "Well, of course, girls mature more quickly than boys." "You know that." "I should think she welcomed the chance to talk with an older man." "I mean, fathers are no good and boys your own age are worse than useless." "Well, that may be, but she didn't say much." "I was desperate for someone like that." "A sort of uncle." "So, why no kids yourself?" "I've had 40,000 children." "Not the same as having one of your own." "I've had a full and fulfilling life." "And your wife?" "She's had a busy life, she does a lot of voluntary work." " You miss out, though." " No." "I would say..." "No, not really." "No." "No, I suppose you can get quite close to some of your kids." "Not in that way." " What way?" " Sorry?" ""That way"." "What way?" "There was an insinuation." "What were you insinuating, DS Penaligon?" "Like an uncle." "Yes." "You see, Joanne spoke to me before she died." "She wouldn't speak to her parents." "Couldrt face them." "Too ashamed." "Ashamed of what?" "Are you going to tell me or do I tell you?" "I can't tell you what she was ashamed of." "If she was ashamed." "FITZ:" "You nothced her at a dhstance at fhrst, comhng through the school gates hn the mornng," "Ihnng up for the dhnner queue, gazhng up at assembly." "Slhghtly dhfferent from the other ghrls." "Doesrt seem to have a gang." "Something rather vulnerable about her." "Maybe she's getting bullied." "And then one day you see her hn the corrhdor." "She's cryhng." "She should be at lessons." "You ask her what's wrong." "You tell her to come and see you after school." "So far, nothhng strange, unusual, untoward." "You're doing your job." "More than your job." "Concerned for the pastoral welfare of your students." "She's there for an hour hn your study." "A long chat about the pressure of family, not fitting in at school." "There are tears, but smiles, too." "Your heart goes out to her." "You comfort her." "A friendly arm round the shoulder, a friendly grasp of the hand, a friendly pat of the knee." " I get your drift, Doctor." " Good." " You're sick!" " Sick as the next man, Mr Trant." "I spent a day hn Joanne's company." "I'm not hmmune to her dependence." "Her softness, her fragility." "I refuse to participate in this." "If you go now, we'll thhnk the worst." "We will." "Well, by all means, think just that." "(lronic cheering and applause)" "WISE:" "Thanks, by the way, Fhtz." " What for?" " The drink." " One to two, you lose the bet." "Start spendhng my whnnngs, eh?" "No hard feelings, but we started spending it yesterday." "WISE:" "Oh, come on!" "BECK:" "Walkhes!" "(Whistles as to a dog)" " Aw, don't be like that!" " 'Ey, 'ey, leave it out!" "Leave it out." "# Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation" "# O, my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation" "# All ye who hear" "# Now to His temple draw near" "# Praise Him in glad adoration" "# Praise to the Lord, Who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth" "Genesis 3.19." "It's not a "1", it's an "l"." "# Has thou not seen" "# All that is needful has been" "# Granted in what He ordaineth?" "Isaiah, Chapter 40, verse 6!" "What is it, Kenneth?" "What will I find?" ""The voice said, Cry." "And he said, What shall I cry?" "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof..."" ""..." "ls as the flower of the field."" "Very good, Dr Fitzgerald." "Now, how may we help you?" "She believed you when you told her she was special, didn't she?" "You've lost me, Doctor." "You've always had a way with women, haven't you?" "Hasrt he, Norma?" "Why dhdrt you have an affahr whth her?" "She's in love with you, has been for over 20 years." "No, not Norma, not a woman." "Not a mature woman." "You wouldn't be equal to a woman, would you?" "Hmm?" "You need youth." "Young flesh." "This is outrageous!" "Can he do this?" "Thhs hs a place of worshhp!" "Did you wait till she was 16?" "I bet you did." "I bet, with your perverted sense of righteousness, you dhdrt touch her thll she was of age!" "I'll sue you." "You get out now!" "Leave us in peace or I'll sue you for every penny you've got!" "FITZ:" "She respected you." "She thought you were showing her respect." "She thought the sun shone out your arse." "Any teacher will tell you, it is a hazard of the profession... in the same way, Doctor, as a patient may become emotionally attached to a psychologist." "May find themselves convinced that the relationship goes beyond the professional, projecting their fantasies onto the therapist." "Now, Joanne Barnes was a lonely child." "Perhaps she was lookhng for a spechal relathonshhp." "Perhaps she found it." "But it was not me." "You had sex with Joanne." "(Shocked gasps)" " She got pregnant." "Was that the problem?" "Hmm?" "Was that why you attacked her?" "Was that why you stuffed her full of paracetamol, poured ghn down her, defhled her body?" "Was that it?" "Because she was a danger to all this?" "Your church?" "Your power?" "I drove Joanne Barnes home a few times, and on the basis of this, I am being accused of rape and murder." "I didn't hear any mention of rape." " I had no relationship with Joanne Barnes." " Then who did?" "You know who did." "You had hhm hn custody." "Dean Saunders." "That vicious little psychopath." "Now, thhs man..." "This man is desperate, because he had the real khller hn custody and he made a dreadful mess of thhngs, dhdrt you?" "You drove him to his death in a police cell." "Do not project your guhlt onto me!" "I conceal nothing." "Dean Saunders didn't write that graffiti on her." "You did." "What does it mean?" "Hmm?" "What were you thinking of when you wrote all that graffiti all over her body?" "The hnstant before the unverse began, the chaos beyond the Planck wall." "That boiling mass of space and time." "No law, no meaning, no past, no future." "The Bhg Bang." "The hnstant that the unverse was created." "The beginning and the end of life." "Sex and death, your obsession." "You see sex in death and death in sex, and beyond that... nothing." "That's what your equations tell me, Kenneth." "You've got no belief in God." "KENNETH:" "Thank you, Dr Fhtzgerald." "Let us conthnue." ""And ht shall come to pass that he that hs left hn Zhon..."" "FITZ:" "You're havhng a crhshs of fahth, Kenneth, 100 years too late." "It's God or nothing, you cannot have both." ""...that hs wrhtten as lhvhng hn Jerusalem."" "I believe." "I belheve." "CONGREGATION:" "I believe." " I believe." "I believe." "I will extol Thee, O Lord." "(Muttering)" "FITZ:" "Your relhghon hs a sham, an act of theatre for your dreams of power." "Until one day, you start to lose control." "And that Godlhke demeanour starts to deconstruct, and what have you got left?" "A desperate grope and a hopeless shag in a Godless universe." ""And the voice said Cry." "And he said, What shall I cry?"" "O, merciful and forgiving God, cleanse our sins." "You are made holy by absolving me." "Rahse your sphrhts and forghve." "Forgive." "Forgive!" "They cannot absolve you till you confess." "Confess to me." "Say it." "I'll forgive you." "MICHAEL:" "I dhd ht." "I tormented her, I dhsgraced her." "I cleansed her and sent her to her God." "And Norma?" " Michael!" " Yeah." " And Virginia?" " Yes." " And Kenneth?" " Yes." "He's a liar!" "And Dean?" "No!" "They wanted me to dispose of Joanne." "Package her." "I-I asked Dean to help." "He let her go." "I-I knew he would." "He'd not hurt anyone." "Never Joanne." "Dean was absolutely innocent." "He always was." "And you'd be prepared to make a statement to that effect?" "Oh, yes." "What made you so sure?" " About what?" " That he'd crack." "FITZ:" "I wasrt." "He dhdrt." "He won't." "He won't confess." " But now we've got the statement?" " Nah, he'll deny all that." "He'll blame Michael and Dean and say it was nothing to do with him." " And the women will back him up." " They can't." "FITZ:" "They whll!" "They whll." "Such hs the power of fahth." "Or sex." "PENHALIGON:" "Or self-preservathon." "Mhchael whll be testhfyhng agahnst them." "It'll be thehr word agahnst hhs." "D'you know what we need?" " What?" " A miracle." "You'll have to perform it yourself, Fitz." "No, not me." "I know my limitations, Panandle." "What you see is what you get." "Imperfect." "A sex god, but imperfect." "Ripped by baberunner i kneginja"