"The people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups:" "The police, who investigate crime, and the Crown prosecutors, who prosecute the offenders." "These are their stories." "Can't get enough of that unique blend!" "What is it?" "Seven pieces." "I paid for nine." "It was a mistake, that's all." "Doesn't matter." "Bastard ripped me off." "That's not right." "No one eats nine, anyway." "You throw up after five." "Scientific fact." "Chris." "Chris!" "Chris!" "Shit!" "Are you joking right now?" "Over a piece of chicken?" "Boy, you owe me...!" "Shut up!" "Shut up!" "Get over there!" "Move!" "Give me the money!" "Hurry up!" "I said over there!" "You want to die?" "Christ!" "You want to die?" "Give me the money!" "Come on!" "Hurry up!" "Hurry up!" "All right." "You, get back!" "You, get back!" "Get down!" "Stay down!" "Get out of the way!" "Get down!" "Out!" "Get out of the car!" " No." " Do it." "You need to put the gun down." "Jamie, behind you!" "Get in the car!" "You bloody idiot, you shot me!" " Get in the car!" " You drive, or you're dead!" "Go, go, go!" "Wait!" "No." "I only wanted a couple of pieces of chicken." "Thanks." "What time?" "It was about two, just after the lunchtime rush." "How much they take?" "A grand?" "Maybe more." "Anything you can remember about them at all?" "He had a gun." "Anything else?" "He had a gun." "Right." "Thank you." "The blue Astra, that's the robbers' car." "We're running the plates." "What about the car they got away in?" "It's a silver Omega." "No one saw the registration, but it was a cab... had one of those pre-book only, private hire stickers on the back window." "Yeah." "And the driver?" "Hostage, maybe." "Or millstone." "Anything else?" "Yeah, couple of witnesses said the accomplice got hit by a stray bullet." "What, his mate shot him?" "He was holding the gun like that, so zero control, and we should be grateful more people didn't get killed." "Yeah, well, one's enough." "All right, Pete, what have you got?" "Gordon McKenzie, 44." "Quantity surveyor." "And, uh, according to this, he was on his way to a job interview." "Ended up trying to be a hero." "I'm sure that will be a big comfort." "We traced the Astra to a Jeff Miller." "Said it was nicked from outside his flat, where he left it." "Yeah?" "His alibi's watertight." "He was doing the six-to-two shift at a petrol station near Henly's Corner." "And he's got proof of that?" "Yeah." "Three colleagues, eight cameras... thank you!" "'Morning!" "And about 250 motorists." "What about the Omega driver?" "Any news?" "Not yet, of the driver or the car." "I was afraid of that." "Missing Persons have been alerted, and we're checking every listed cab firm, see if any of their drivers have gone AWOL." "Maybe the driver was on his way home." "See if there's a worried wife out there." "And the bullets we retrieved from a 9 millimeter handgun, so that is the murder weapon we're looking for." "The gun wasn't on the scene, so chances are they've still got it on them." "That's right." "We've found the Omega cab firm." "Yeah, Mikey's one of my best drivers." "Always on time, always courteous." "Punters love him." "And he never got home this afternoon?" "He had a pickup at Gatwick." "It was a nightmare." "Plane was delayed, so he'd been hanging around at the airport since the crack of dawn." "So, I just told him to drop the passenger off and then go home and get some shuteye." "His wife's been calling him on his mobile and getting nothing." "When she's not calling him, she's calling me." " And what time was the drop-off?" " About two." "Where was that?" "Falkland Road." "That's around the corner from the chicken place." "What chicken place?" "Has something happened?" "Michael Coombes, white male, 43." "Ex-Army." "Three years in Afghanistan." "That's the best mug shot we've got of him." "It's from his taxi driver's license." "We'll have a better one after we get back from his wife." "No need." "This is Mrs. Coombes." "DS Brooks and DS Casey." "I called his work." "They said you'd been there." "Have you found him?" "Well, we've got a lot of men working." "How could he just disappear like that?" "Someone must have seen something!" "And if they did, we will find them." "Yeah." "Take a seat, please." "When was the last time you saw your husband?" "This morning." "And anything out of the ordinary happen?" "No." "When he left, it was still dark." "He didn't want to put the light on and disturb me." "He kissed me." "I went off to sleep." "And it was later that I saw he'd forgotten his spare inhaler." "Right." " So he's asthmatic, yeah?" " Yeah." "Just a minute." "Yes?" "Please, carry on." "He's had a couple of bad attacks... hospitals, ventilators, the whole..." "It came on just after he got back from Afghanistan." "They say there isn't a connection, but he was fine before he left." "Tash, would you mind taking Mrs. Coombes for a cup of tea?" "Thanks." "We'll come and find you in a minute." "Thank you." "Just brought a bloke into Royal Caledonian A  E." "They found him unconscious at King's Cross with 600 quid in his back pocket." "So?" "He's been shot." "They found him in the train toilet just before it pulled out." "He'd lost a lot of blood." "Here's what they found on him." "Frank Donovan, who lives half a mile from Jeff Miller and his blue Astra." "And where is he, please?" "He's there." "They're just about to take him into surgery." "Frank Donovan?" "What happened to the driver you kidnapped, Frank?" "Not now." " What'd you do with him?" " You'll have to wait." "Look, where is he, before it's too late?" "That's enough." "I need to get this man into surgery." "The man he kidnapped suffers from asthma." "He could be in danger." "He could be hurt." "We need him to tell us where he is." " After surgery." " And if he doesn't make it?" "Frank Donovan, he's got form, but low-rent stuff." "He did a stretch for ABH a couple of years ago." "Nothing since then." "All right." "Well, he's certainly making up for lost time today, isn't he?" "Yeah." "You think if we ever find him," "Michael Coombes will be needing that inhaler again?" "I think this is a robbery that's gone badly out of control." "I think we're dealing with desperate men with shooters, which is never a good combo, but I honestly think, until there is a body, Sam, there is hope." "Here we go." "How is he?" "He's been bleeding internally for hours." "And the bullet?" "Is he awake?" "He's just out of surgery, Detective." "He's lost a lot of blood." "What he needs is..." "Is he awake?" "Thank you." "Go easy on him." "Nurse." "Will you excuse us, thank you?" "Hello, Frank." "Michael Coombes." "Tells us where he is, you can get some more rest." "Can you pass me that... that drink down there?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "You don't remember the robbery, shooting, the man you kidnapped?" "See, this is all news to me." "How do you explain getting shot, then?" "It must have been kids, you know." "Thank you." "Best you can do is it, Frank?" "You think this is the first day on the job for us, do you?" "How do you explain the money, Frank?" "Six hundred quid, cash." "I won it on the horses." "What horse?" "What race?" "Ask my lawyer, Miriam Pescatore." "She'll know." "Come on!" "What is the...?" "Can we avoid assaulting the beverage dispenser?" "Hello, Guv." "I've got Audrey Coombes ringing me every 10 minutes." "I've got the local press, who've got the story." "I was hoping you had something for me." "He wants his lawyer." "Well, Guv?" "Did they retrieve the bullet?" "No, it was through and through." "Might be in the Omega when we find it." "Let's hope so." "We're looking a little flatfooted." "Any traces from the Astra?" "Nothing yet:" "No prints, no DNA, nothing to link Frank Donovan to the crime." "Although..." "Mr. Donovan doesn't know that, does he?" "So, Michael Coombes, where is he?" "Or did you kill him too?" "We've got traces of your DNA, Frank, all over that Astra." "Which puts you at the scene of the crime." " Where's my lawyer?" " Robbery and murder." "That's right, yeah." "Murder." "The guy who got shot at the scene is dead." "So now there's a mum trying to explain to her two kids why Dad isn't ever coming home again." "Doesn't matter who actually pulled the trigger." "We can get you on joint enterprise." "That means life." "So don't make it any worse than it is, Frank." "Where is he?" "You know Michael Coombes is a war veteran?" "Do you know that?" "Time in Afghanistan." "Doesn't deserve this, does he?" "No." "Do one good thing today?" "Help yourself, Frank." "Tell us where you left Michael Coombes." "There's only one person helping himself, Detective." "Interviewing my client without legal representation?" "Naughty." "Well, now you're here." "So where is he, Frank?" "We need to await the CPS." "We know what he's after." "Don't give him a thing." "Why don't we hear what he has to say first?" "Because he lies like other people breathe." "We don't do deals." "Sure you do." "Ever since the Serious and Organized Crime and Police Act of 2005 made provision for an immunity agreement." " But that's..." " We want a piece of it." "A piece?" "Do you know what I want a piece of?" "Sign this, and he'll tell you the whereabouts of Michael Coombes." "Dead or alive?" "My client swears the last time he saw Mr. Coombes, he was very much alive." "He seen our faces." "We tied him up, give us a bit of time to get away." "And how long were you planning on leaving him?" "He has bad asthma." "Then it's in your interest to find him, isn't it, before it's too late." "Yours too." "Also, the name of your accomplice, his address, everything you have on him, and you'll turn Queen's evidence at trial." "Just sign, and you get it all." "We draw up the contract." "You don't." "Contract?" "Fine." "Word it how you like, but it has to include these conditions." " And unless I'm happy with it..." " You're happy?" "This isn't a negotiation." ""In return for information relating to the whereabouts of Michael Coombes," ""I, Frank Donovan, will plead guilty" ""to manslaughter for all crimes related to the holdup of Chick-Chick Chicken."" "Manslaughter?" "For killing an innocent bystander?" " Do you want to find your cabbie?" " Shut up!" "Shut your face!" "Excuse me?" "!" "Look, why are we even considering this?" "We charge them." "Isn't that how it's supposed to work?" "Since when did some lying piece of shit get to decide?" "Sam!" "Tear it up, then." "If you think it's such a waste of time, let's forget all about it." "Bin's there." " I don't like it." " Nobody likes it." " Then let's not do it." " And if Michael Coombes dies?" "What makes you think you can trust Frank Donovan?" "You've only got his word that Coombes was alive when he left him." "Naturally." "I say we give Donovan what he wants now, and if it doesn't work out, we throw the book at him." "And set what sort of precedent?" "What does that say about us?" " We're not for sale." " It's not as simple as that." "It is for Mrs. Coombes." "If this man dies and it comes out we could have saved him, how does that make us look?" "Who cares how it looks?" "Watch his widow on the news, then ask me that." "When was Coombes taken?" "Around two p.m., twelve hours ago." "So, make the deal and maybe save this man's life, and he may already be dead, and I will have granted his killer immunity." "Or don't do the deal, and pray that he doesn't die while we're out looking for him." "Assuming that we ever do find him." "Alesha?" "We proceed as if he's alive." "Mm." "Jake?" "I agree." "Draw up the wording." "I need to see it before we make the deal." "You've got ten hours." "We'll sign at noon." "Who lives in an armpit like this?" "Not Frank Donovan." "At least not for a few days, anyway." "Yuck." "There's a cure for something growing in there." " Anything?" " No." "Just junk." "Flyers and stuff." "Ten hours." "Ten hours!" "What are we, miracle workers?" "On a daily basis, sir!" "It's needles in haystacks." "Rabbits in hats, son." "Okay." "Where next?" "Well, there's only one other address on CRIMINT." "It belongs to his mum." "Well, it doesn't look like somewhere where my mum would live." " 23 Landsmere Road, right?" " That's what it said." "Stupid!" "Someone's typed it in to CRIMINT wrong!" "You think?" "How are we meant to do this?" "I mean, what, wait until everyone wakes up?" "We've got eight hours left." "Hang on." "Let's come at it from another angle." "Friends and associates." "He was in prison, right?" "Yeah." "Wardingly." "Handling stolen goods." "So he had visitors." "Who had to fill in visitors' orders and give their addresses." "But it's a prison." "They're not just going to let us walk in and out." "I know a man who can." "Come on." "'Morning, mate." "Thanks for coming, mate." "How's the missus?" "Good as gold, yeah." "I'm not doing this, Ron." "And I appreciate you not doing it, Pete, thank you." "Right." "His mom's address is 23 Landsmere Grove." "Great." "I won't forget it." "Yeah, you will, but I'll remind you." "Cheers, Pete." "Thank you." "Samson, shut up!" " Who is it?" " Is Maggie there, please?" " Who wants to know?" " The police." "It's a bit early, isn't it?" "Where's your ID?" "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "Will you please shut that dog up?" "You needn't worry." "You're trespassing." "You see, everyone's a lawyer." "Where's Maggie Donovan?" "Who wants to know?" "!" "Police." "Whereabouts does your Franky live?" " Don't tell him anything." " Quiet!" " We're under no obligation..." " He's dangerously out of control." "That's a criminal offense." "The Dangerous Dog Tax only covers public places." "Samson ain't in a public place!" "Oy, oy!" "You can't!" "Hey!" "Oy, don't put him outside!" "He gets lonely!" "Samson!" "He is now." "So, Frank, he's not staying at his own flat, so where else does he stay?" "What 's he mean, Gerald?" "What's a criminal offense?" "Gerald?" "Where does Franky..." "stop..." "Maggie, please?" " They're bluffing, Mum." " Shut it, Gerald." "Police intimidation, that's what this is." "Really?" "Does Samson look like a banned breed to you?" "He's certainly got the right characteristics." "Absolutely." "That's two years right there." "Ha!" "Don't listen to them, Mum." "So, Samson gets destroyed and Gerald here does some real time, unless, Maggie, you want to tell us where Franky is actually living." " Mum." " Come on, Maggie." "Mum, don't say anything." "He sometimes stays with his girlfriend, in Whetstone." "He'd been straight for years!" "He promised me." "God." "I mean, he's got his life back." "He's studying and everything." "Studying?" "He's doing a part-time law degree at Birkbeck." "It's all gone to waste now." "You can trust me, it hasn't." "Did you see him at all yesterday?" "I wish I had." "Then I could have..." "God." "How could he have been so stupid?" "Did you speak to him, then?" "He called me in the afternoon, said he needed my van." "I work for the council..." "Parks and Gardens." "Did he do that often?" "He... he borrowed it sometimes." "I do... private gardens too, cash in hand, and... he helps me with that." "He said he was dropping off some bedding plants, and... he'd be back in half an hour." "He used the spare keys." "And when were you going to report the van missing?" "Well, why would I?" "He brought it back, like he said." " No, nothing." " Too much to hope for, wasn't it?" " Where's my saplings?" " Sorry?" "There was half a dozen saplings in here, on a tarpaulin." "Right." "Sam... there's blood here." "Can you get forensics?" " Yeah, will do." " Blood?" "!" "I've got to get up Totteridge Common." "We're cleaning the woods." "No, not in that van, you're not." "Why would he do that?" "Just wake up one day and decide..." "Look, Frank had an accomplice yesterday who carried a gun." "Does he know anyone like that?" "No." "I..." "I don't think so." "You sure?" "Think back." "Maybe... from the old times." "Maybe he did time in nick with?" "Jamie Harper." "Him and Frank were cellmates." "I met him a couple of times." "He was a right thug." "Frank said he pitied him." "Said Jamie was unlucky." "Right." "James Harper." "Nasty piece of work." "Four previous, for assault and possession." "Got the address." "Just need a warrant." "Two hours left till we agree the deal." "I'll sign it." "Hello, police!" "James Harper!" "Michael Coombes!" "Clear!" "Clear!" "Clear!" "Going in." "Right, lads, quick as you can." "Just check under the sofa for me, can you?" "Thank you." "We'll need anything that gives us a clue to Michael Coombes' whereabouts." "Bingo." "Nine millimeter." "Looks like Harper's done a runner." "We're pretty sure Frank used his girlfriend's van to move the hostage, but he was only gone half an hour, which means Coombes must be near." "We need more time." "Well, it's gone eleven." "Jake, we're so close." "Give us to the end of the day." "Leave it with me." " This is Mrs. Coombes." " Would you like..." "Is it true you could have rescued my husband by now, that you could have made a deal?" "Well, who told you that?" "I got a call from a Miriam Pescatore." "She's representing one of the men we think are responsible for your husband's disappearance." "And she had no business talking to you." "Who cares?" "!" "Michael could have been safe all this time!" "Who do you think you are?" "!" "We don't make deals with criminals, Mrs. Coombes." "That's not how we do things." "Don't you dare talk to me about policy!" "This is real!" "It's my husband all alone out there, and no one is looking for him." "There are a lot of people looking for him." "But they don't know where he is, do they?" "And all this time, the answer's there, just waiting to be asked." " Mrs. Coombes." " So ask." "Mm." "Thanks." "Miriam Pescatore has been busy, hasn't she?" "Audrey Coombes, the 24-hour news channels, and most of the newspapers are wanting to know why we don't care if a war hero lives." "That's ridiculous." " It's an angle." "And it'll sell." " They're closing in." "They've narrowed it down to somewhere near Frank Donovan's girlfriend." "The police need more time." "The deadline was midday." "We tried, Jake." "They found the Omega." "No sign of a body in there." "They must have transferred Coombes to the van." "And took him where?" "There's no way they'll retrieve anything." "Right." "Gone 1:30." "I'm sorry." "You did your best, but you've got nothing." " Where is he?" " Can I say?" "Now you can." " It was Jamie's idea." " What?" "Turning over the chicken place." "Jamie...?" "James Harper." "Should have gone like clockwork." "We waited till the lunchtime crowd had gone." "We knew the till would be full." "The place was empty." "Then them two kids came back." "We took the car, hid the driver, and then we split up." "Where's Michael Coombes?" "Edmonton." "Vallance Road." "In a lockup." "Okay, that's great." "Thank you very much." "The blood in the back of the van belongs to Frank Donovan." "There's no way he could have got here and back to his girlfriend's in half an hour." "No." "So, if he didn't use the van to dump Coombes, what did he use it for?" "How you getting on, lads?" "Come on, then." "Thank you." "Right." "In you go, boys." "Police!" "Police!" "Michael Coombes!" "Michael!" "Michael!" " Over here, sir!" " Is he alive?" "Paramedics in here, quick." "There's no pulse, sir." " Someone hit him." " Hard." "I'd say that was the cause of death." "And the fact that he was naked?" "This wasn't a sexual attack." "My guess:" "They burned his clothes so there'd be no DNA." "Like the Omega." "They knew what they were doing." "When did he die?" "The body's cold." "Maximum lividity, and I've got maggots hatching in the mouth and nose." "More than 24 hours?" "Easily." "But...that means..." "Yeah." "Frank Donovan knew Michael Coombes was already dead when he made the deal." "We got played." "So throw it out." "It's worthless." " Just like that?" " Of course, just like that." "Wait." "What happened to precedent, worrying about how we'll look?" "That was before I knew Donovan had killed Coombes and left him naked on some filthy floor to rot... no dignity, nothing." "So if the crime's bad enough, different rules apply?" "He stripped his victim just to cover his tracks." "He only told us where Coombes was because he could see an angle." "Damn right the crime's bad enough!" "Really?" "'Cause I don't remember anything about a sliding scale." "Not now." "If we break this agreement, no one will trust us." "What happens next time?" "That's when we'll worry about it." "Right now, I'm more worried about being sucker-punched by Frank Donovan." "I want you to go into the plea- and-case- management swinging." "Hurt him." "You are Frank Donovan?" "I am." "Your charge on the indictment, which contains two counts of murder, one of robbery, and one of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life." "What?" "I'm sorry, there's been some sort of mistake, My Lady." "We have a signed agreement with the CPS." "The charge is manslaughter." "Mr. Thorne?" "There's been no mistake, My Lady." "What?" "You signed it." "The charges stand, My Lady." " But this agreement." " It's meaningless." "It's binding." "It's a discussion for another time." "They welched on the deal?" "Got Donovan for murder, robbery, the works." "Ha!" "Who says the CPS doesn't have a backbone?" "You did, about an hour ago." "So, now we could do with some evidence." "Well, we have got the confession." "That's all we've got at the moment." "Let's give ourselves a safety net, start with the witnesses." "See if we can't get someone to pick Frank out in an ID parade." "Just tell us when you recognize any of these guys, please." "Number two." "No, uh, number four." "I mean, it might be two." "I'm not sure." "I just caught a glimpse through the window." " Sorry, mate." " IT's all right." "Come on." "So." "None of your witnesses can make a positive ID." "Thank you." "It's been very informative." "What about the kid behind the counter?" "Well, he never went outside." "He could have caught a glimpse through the window too." "An ID parade?" "But I never saw the other bloke!" "Well, it might help jog your memory." "I didn't go outside." "Why would I?" "Guns firing." "I'm not that stupid." " Yeah, you are." " Give it a rest." "First rule, at the end of the lunchtime rush, empty the till and put the takings in the safe at the back." " Yeah, yeah." " How hard is that?" " Which you didn't do." " Did me sister a favor:" "Take on her waste-of-space kid who can't hold down a job." "This is how he repays me." "I told you, I didn't have a chance." "The place was busy, nonstop." "Well, see if you can't pick him out." "Might surprise yourself." "Here, car's just round here, Billy." "It won't take that long." "Lying to us is very different from lying to your uncle." "I'm not lying!" "All the witnesses said it wasn't busy." " You said it wasn't busy." " Why would I lie?" "You did put the money back in the safe like you were taught, yeah?" "Only after the robbery, you helped yourself to it and claimed the robbers cleaned you out." "Nope!" "It makes you part of the robbery." "No." "No, you're kidding." "An accessory after the fact, Billy." "Accessorius post factum, they call it in law." "And, unlucky for you, the factum in this case is murder." "No, no!" "I didn't shoot anyone!" "You witness a crime." "Somebody dies." "For you, that's an opportunity." "Do you know how warm that makes us feel?" "So... be completely honest with us, put the money back, and we'll keep what you did to ourselves, okay?" "Okay." "Now... how much did they really take?" "Six hundred quid!" "Is that it?" "Yeah." "So the Â£600 we found on Donovan weren't his share of the takings at all." " No." "He got all of it." " Yeah." "We know Donovan used his girlfriend's van." "The blood in the back confirms that, right?" "We thought it was to move Michael Coombes' body, right?" "Yeah, until we found him miles away." "What if it wasn't Michael Colombes' body he was moving." "You think Donovan murdered Harper?" "I can't see Harper handing Frank his share to invest wisely on his behalf, can you?" "Nope." "All right, so..." "Donovan uses the van to move Harper where?" "He knew his girlfriend was working up on Totteridge Common." " Right?" " Absolutely" "So he knew no one would question seeing her van up there in the woods." "Wouldn't take much." " No?" " No." "You follow the track off the main road." "It's just the council working round here, nothing suspicious." "Yeah, I suppose." "Drag the body in and out, maybe ten minutes." "What?" "Even though he'd been shot?" "If he's bleeding slow enough and he's desperate enough." " Over here!" " Here we go." "Jamie Harper." "Frank was right." "Wasn't very lucky, was he?" "This was a signed immunity agreement, My Lady." "Made invalid because Frank Donovan knew" " Michael Coombes was already dead." " And you have proof of that?" "He should be prosecuted for the crime to which he has confessed." "But the Crown only got that confession because of the agreement they made, My Lady." "If they are now reneging on the agreement, they cannot expect to benefit from anything gained as a result of that agreement." "My Lady, he lied..." "If they are allowed to withdraw the agreement, I respectfully submit that the confession should also be excluded." "She has a point, Mr. Thorne." "Frank Donovan confessed." "Because he believed himself protected by the agreement." "If you honor the agreement, you can keep the confession." "Back out of it, and you lose the confession as well." "Choose which you want, you can't have it both ways." "And since the entire case is built on this confession, it follows that, should it be excluded, there is, in fact, no case to answer." "My Lady, may I request a moment to confer?" "Quickly, Mr. Thorne." "We're agog." "I need physical evidence." "What have you found?" "Does Jamie Harper count?" " Will he give evidence?" " He's dead." "We just found him." "Don't tell me." "I don't want to know." "My Lady, the Crown withdraws its objections to the immunity agreement." "We agree to alter the indictment to reflect one count of manslaughter and accept the plea of guilty." "The Crown offers no further evidence." "Very well." "Sentencing will be in two weeks." "He kills three people, gets manslaughter?" "Well, gotta say, guys." "You prosecuted the hell out of that one." "Three." "I only know of two murders he was involved in:" "Gordon McKenzie, at the scene, and Michael Coombes." "He killed James Harper as well." "And you can prove that, can you?" "Got any witnesses who put them together the day Harper died?" "I have." "Frank Donovan himself." "His confession." "Where he admits to being with James Harper, an admission I wouldn't have if I hadn't also allowed the agreement... an admission I can use when we charge him with the murder of James Harper." "So, Donovan gets away with the killing of the innocent bystander, McKenzie, but then goes down for murdering James Harper." "Justice is blind." "Sometimes a little bit sneaky." "Not in a million years." " I've got his confession, remember." " And I have the agreement." "Which you know full well was never meant to cover a situation like this." "I had no idea it was so selective." "Terrorists, Miriam." "It's there so we can make deals, prevent widespread carnage, and save lives, not so that low-rent scum like Frank Donovan can get off." "This is the system, and it doesn't discriminate, and it doesn't start just because you don't like it." "Win at all costs..." "is that it?" "No." "Just within the law." "And you think that's what Frank Donovan deserves?" "I think it's what he's entitled to." "You know this is irrelevant." "Really?" ""All crimes related to events at the Chick-Chick Chicken."" "This is unrelated." "Crap!" "With respect." "Two events, miles away, hours apart." "Part of the same crime, and so caught by the agreement." "Ones a robbery." "The other's murder." "Where's the connection?" "Abuse of process." "You can hear the connection in court." " I needed the money." " Why?" "I'd borrowed some from, um... someone local." "Pay off me gambling debts." "He wanted it back." "You mean a loan shark." "Said he'd break me legs." "So you decided to steal the money." "It was Jamie's idea to do the chicken place." "James Harper, your former cellmate?" "Yeah." "Said it was ideal." "There's a school just down the road, see?" "That means it's always busy at lunchtime." "Doddle." "So what happened?" "Jamie blew it." "He was wired." "I could tell that the moment I saw him." "He went in, panicked." "He only got, like, 600 quid." "Then he's outside, shooting the gun." "We grabbed the driver, got away." "Jamie's all over the place." "He's shouting and screaming." "And after that?" "We dumped the driver, torched the car." "By now, I'd found out my share was only going to be 300." "What good's that?" "I needed it all." "I tried explaining it to him, but there was no way he was going to give me his share." "So, what did you do?" "I killed him." "Because you needed the money." "Yeah." "Which is why you robbed Chick-Chick Chicken in the first place." "Yeah." "You killed James Harper as a direct result of what happened there." "Yeah." "I didn't have a choice." "So, let me get this straight:" "Donovan confessed to a murder to avoid being prosecuted for that murder." "How the hell did we get here?" "The loan shark story pans out." "Reckons Donovan owed him over a grand." "Denies the bit about breaking his knees, of course." "Which makes it part of the same crime." "So, by backing down and allowing the immunity agreement to stand, you let Frank Donovan off the hook for James Harper's murder." "That wasn't what I intended." "Remind me again, this is the Crown Prosecution Service, right?" "For God's sake, I said hurt him, not give him a Get Out of Jail Free card." "It isn't over yet." "If I can prove that I didn't know James Harper had been murdered," "I can argue I wasn't in possession of all the facts when I decided to let the agreement stand." "But everyone saw you talk to the police before that." "Didn't hear what they said, though." "Tread with care." "Miriam Pescatore thinks she can go about crying abuse of process." "It's not me that needs to tread carefully." "So he could avoid the Harper murder as well." "Not if I can help it." "Is this because of that agreement?" "Because if you'd not made it, like we said...!" "I can still get Donovan for Harper's murder if I can show that I didn't know that it was murder." " We told you." " Told you what?" "That's why you stopped us telling you anything in the court." "You knew it might come to this." "It was a possibility." "Slippy." "Legal bollocks." "Which will put Donovan behind bars!" "We'll have to give evidence." "Commit perjury, you mean." "No one's asking you to do that." "No?" "You're asking us to risk everything so you don't feel so guilty about making the arrangement in the first place." "You only need one of us to give evidence, right?" "Probably." "Okay." "Tell me where and when." "I mean, doubling up would be a criminal waste of manpower, wouldn't it?" "I had the briefest of conversations with Detective Sergeants Brooks and Casey." "And they told you what?" "That James Harper was dead." "Nothing else?" "You will remember, My Lady, you were keen for me to keep it brief." "And, when you heard that, what was your reaction?" "I was disappointed." "I was hoping we would apprehend Mr. Harper and use his evidence to secure a successful conviction against Mr. Donovan." "With his death, any such hope disappeared." "I accepted the immunity agreement as the best of a bad situation." "Did you not think that Frank Donovan had killed James Harper?" "I didn't even know that he'd been murdered, merely that he was dead." "Thank you." ""Merely that he was dead"?" "That's right." "What do you think he died of?" "Old age?" "Broken heart?" "My Lady." "Rein in the sarcasm, Ms. Pescatore." "A violent man dies." "Did you not make room for the possibility that he himself might have died violently?" "Mm." "I try to avoid assumptions." "You never know when they're going to trip you up." "You never said James Harper had been killed?" "No." "Even though he'd been shot in the back of the head." "That is correct." "I'd say that was quite an important aspect of the case!" "Do you make a habit of burying the lead?" "My Lady...!" "Nothing further." "Mr. Thorne." "We have no further witnesses." "Ms. Pescatore?" "There's this one person we haven't heard from, yes." "We call Detective Sergeant Casey." "Detective Sergeant Sam Casey to Court Number One." "Detective Sergeant Sam Casey to Court Number One." "I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." "Detective Sergeant Casey, you discovered the body of James Harper in woodland up in..." "Totteridge Common." " Is that right?" " Yes." "And it was such a significant discovery that you came down here to the Old Bailey as a matter of some urgency." " I suppose." " So urgent, in fact... that you entered a hearing so that you could tell Mr. Thorne..." " ...in person." " Yes, I did." "So I'm asking you, DS Casey, after dashing down here from North London, after entering a hearing in progress, did you tell Mr. Thorne that James Harper had been murdered?" "I remind you, you are under oath." "No." "No?" "No." "I don't believe we did." "You find a man who has been murdered, you race down here to share that information, enter a proceeding to do so, and you neglect to use the word "murdered"?" "I didn't think it was necessary." "It was implied." "You implied that James Harper had been murdered." "Yes." "But that's what we do." "Just about every death we're involved in is murder." "I thought Mr. Thorne would know what I meant." "I was wrong." "He's obviously not as smart as he lets on." "So I suppose it's my mistake." "It's habit." "You just assume someone can tell what you're really saying without having to use the word." "Really?" "I wonder if you can tell what I'm really saying right now." "I've listened to the evidence given by both the Crown and the defense, and, on balance, I'm inclined to favor two serving police officers and an officer of the court over a convicted criminal." "I can see no evidence that an abuse of process occurred." "I'm going to allow the prosecution of Frank Donovan for the murder of James Harper." "The court will rise." " Got it all sewn up neatly." " Your client's a murderer, Miriam." "He also deserved a fair trial." "Something you tried every trick in the book to avoid." "You sandbagged me." "I'll live with that." "Jake." "Thank you." "I could have got fired because of what I did in there." "Frank Donovan will get life because of what you did in there." "Strictly speaking, it wasn't perjury." "We both know what that was." "You did the right thing." " The ends justify the means?" " Sometimes." "Yeah, well, the trick is knowing when." "Yeah, the trick is knowing when." ""Not as smart as I let on"?" "Yeah." "I quite enjoyed that."