"Morning." "Percy Malleson." "There he goes." "Turd of Turd Hall." "The royal party will arrive at the factory at 11.45 sharp." "Whereupon, Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret will be escorted on a tour of the works by company chairman, Mr Henry Broom." "After the official unveiling of the new Standfast Mark Two surface-to-air missile, and subsequent viewing and appreciation of the same... her Royal Highness will then repair to the main company offices where refreshments and a light buffet-style luncheon will be graciously enjoyed." "Now, the purpose of this visit is to help promote British industry abroad." "To that end, a trade delegation, led by His Highness Crown Prince Nabil of the United Hashemite kingdoms will also be in attendance, together with ministers from the Board of Overseas Trade." "This station has been awarded the signal honour of providing additional security for the duration of the visit." "The world will be watching." "Morning, matey." "How do I look?" "Very... dependable." "I was hoping for "smart" but..." "Been up half the night on these buttons." "The Pathe mob are covering it, aren't they?" "Got to look your best." "After the first "Your Highness", it's Ma'am." "To rhyme with Spam." "Sir." "Morse." "Rather than Smarm." "What?" "To rhyme with, sir." "Mam, not Marm." "Just so." "The royal party is expected to depart the factory at 1400, so I would expect a return to barracks by 1430." "Manage till then?" "Do our best, sir." "Didn't get your invite, then?" "The royal garden party." "Thought you'd have been first on the guest list." "My parking space is occupied by men up ladders hanging bunting." "I wouldn't mind but I've just had to cross the factory floor, not to mention the whole place reeks of paint, all for the sake of buttering up a few royals." "All for the sake of 36 Standfast missiles." "Three years' output, Johnny, potentially." "I thought even you might see how vital this contract is." "Of course I see." "I just wish we didn't have to turn the place upside down." "Good morning, Brenda." "Morning, Mr Broom." "Tea, coffee?" "No, no, not now." "Here you are, then, Cinders." "You shall go to the ball." "Just came into the Information Room." "Bunch of anarchists looking to egg the royal limo." "Get down the Broad, make sure they don't." "Something for uniform, isn't it?" "Funnily enough, we're a bit light on woodentops today, so... chop chop." "There's a piece in Flight on the visit, quoting Dickie." "'What's good for British Imperial Electric is good for Britain.' Apparently." "Oh, morning, Alice." "How lovely you look today." "Thank you, Johnny." "For Her Highness?" "For your wife." "Nora can't abide cut flowers." "Or they her." "Blooms wither at her passing." "They say a scorpion stung her once... and died." "Damn!" "I never liked these things." "Here." "You're all fingers and thumbs." "What would I do without you, Miss Vexin?" "Reg Tracepurcel's waiting to see you." "This business with Lenny Frost..." "Labour relations is Johnny's purview." "If you want him to go away, get Dick to handle him." "Comrade Reg is a sucker for tales of Bomber Command." "Where is Dickie?" "Boardroom, last time I looked." "Keep him straight today, Johnny." "At least till everyone's gone." "Thank you, Michael." "Henry." "Nora." "Good run?" "The lights turned green for me when I asked them to." "You needn't have gone to all this trouble." "Thank you." "Richard." "Mother." "Bourbon for breakfast?" "I knew you were coming." "Hm." "Now, where's Little Boots?" "I wish you wouldn't call me that." "How are you?" "I endure." "Is Estella not joining us?" "Later." "You know your sister has no head for business." "Shall we?" "I do hope there are sandwiches." "There's only so much obsequious insincerity" "I can take on an empty stomach." "That's the second time he's had that today." "Hop it." "You really think being found on the premises is going to help your case?" "You were gonna see Mr Johnny." "Well, it's been put back." "I wasn't negligent, Reg." "You've got to tell 'em." "I'll get it straightened." "I promise." "Yeah?" "You'd better." "Cos I know who landed me in it." "And so do you." "City Police." "I don't doubt you're very sincere but you may get your message across better if you go to the trouble of spelling Levellers correctly." "That's it." "Give them a good cheer." "Your Royal Highness." "Pictures." "Pictures, Charlie." "We can't compete with that lot." "The written word is dead." "And this is Dr Volk." "This is the moment." "Four!" "Three!" "Two!" "One!" "Went well, I thought." "Did you get any sense from the Arabs as to how things are progressing?" "Crown Prince Nabil had one or two questions about..." "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure Estella distracted him beautifully." "That is why you sat them together." "How nice to know one's good for something." "So, to what do we owe this extraordinary convocation of the Board?" "I've tabled an agenda." "I'm not about to sleepwalk my way into an ambush, Henry." "Where were you going to spring it on me?" "Matters arising?" "Any other business?" "What's not in that paper?" "Don't tell me." "Let me guess." "The proposed merger with the French, perhaps?" "You may have banished me from hearth and home, but I still hold 33% of the company's stock." "A minority share." "And our daughter's proxy." "Estella's 2%." "Even a fool could work that one out." "Johnny?" "I know what it means." "It means you can block any proposal." "You wouldn't have come here if you weren't willing to negotiate." "Perhaps I just fancied seeing how a princess holds her fork." "Her Royal Highness put everyone quite at their ease." "A marvellous quality, don't you think?" "She spoke to you, then, sir?" "Oh, yes." "Protocol dictates of course that one has to wait for Her Royal Highness to speak to one first." "Morse, phone." "'Have you come far?" "' she said." "Just like that." "Regular, familiar as you please." "CID." "Morse." "'Have you come far?" "'" "What did you say?" "That I hadn't." "One for the memoirs, sir." "Yes." "I think we can all take pride that everything went off without the slightest hitch." "That was British Imperial, sir." "A body's been found at the factory." "Looks like murder." "Richard Broom, Chief Superintendent." "Works Manager." "We met earlier." "Stay here." "No-one in or out." "The name of the deceased is Malleson, Percy Malleson." "He's been with us about six months." "As what?" "General fitter." "Worked on fuselage assembly." "Reliable?" "Yes." "Good timekeeper." "No complaints about his work." "Who found him?" "My father's personal assistant." "It's er..." "It's just in there." "Though, what he was doing here..." "When was he found?" "About an hour ago." "All right, Mr Broom." "We'll take it from here." "Don't go too far." "I'm sure we'll be needing you presently." "Dr DeBryn." "Gentlemen." "What have you got?" "Not enough room to swing a cat, as you can see." "What is that?" "A screwdriver?" "Driven into the right ocular orbit with some considerable force." "Death would have been instantaneous?" "More or less." "No chance it could've been an accident?" "Not unless he picked himself up and dragged himself in here." "There's blood on the skirting and on the wall." "Any idea what time?" "Body temperature suggests about four hours ago." "Certainly not so much as five." "Just about the time Her Royal Highness arrived." "Well, that's one suspect we can rule out at least." "Hardly a matter for levity, Thursday." "No, sir." "But we were charged with protecting her security." "That duty was discharged admirably, as far as I can make out." "Whatever else happened here, no blame can attach to the station." "Me, you mean." "I doubt Division will take so charitable a view of things." "The Palace will have to be notified." "Whole to-do's a complete bloody mess." "Watch what you're doing, Morse." "For God's sake." "Oops." "There is one other thing." "Not that it's likely to be much use to you." "But this was in his pocket." "Is it murder?" "Yes, madam." "It would appear so." "Hm." "My God. "When troubles come..." Sir?" "We're in the middle of some..." "very delicate business discussions." "This really couldn't be more inconvenient for the company." "Rather more than inconvenient for the victim, wouldn't you say?" "Thank you, Constable." "I think perhaps myself, Inspector Thursday and Sergeant Jakes are sufficient manpower to the task at hand." "If you'd like to wait outside." "The victim was a fitter, you said." "That's right." "He wouldn't have used a stopwatch in his work?" "A stopwatch?" "One was found on his body, sir." "No." "That's more the sort of thing one would expect to find the research boys carry around." "But, fuselage assembly?" "No." "No need for it, I shouldn't have thought." "If there was nothing else?" "Sir." "I'm going to need an account from each of you as to your movements between 10.30 and 12." "From us?" "This will be some falling out on the shop floor, surely." "Over money, or... a girl or something." "Talk to Tracepurcel." "Reg Tracepurcel." "Shop steward." "He knows the ins and outs of these people." "At least he should do." "What the union pays him for." "Who is it's died?" "You wouldn't know him." "A man called Malleson." "Percy Malleson?" "Fuselage assembly?" "I was casting an eye over the payroll." "You were?" "Yes, my interests do extend beyond the realm of Horse and Hound." "Since when?" "Well, I've never heard of him, I'm afraid." "It's impossible to know all their names." "Harry did." "My late brother." "He was very good like that." "The common touch." "Can I help you?" "Police." "Miss...?" "Morse?" "Alice?" "Alice..." "Vexin." "Of course." "I was across the stair from..." "Susan." "Oh, yes." "I remember." "Erm..." "Yeah." "Forgive me, you've erm..." "Changed your..." "Oh." "Have I?" "I imagine I must." "Forgive me, I didn't recognise you." "No earthly reason you should." "I suppose not." "Six years." "Seven." "I think." "Besides, we only met half a dozen times." "Properly, anyway." "Though I think Alex Reece and I made a four once and came upriver with you one Sunday." "That's right." "Good heavens." "It poured all afternoon." "Do you remember?" "Yes." "Morse." "My colleague." "DS Jakes." "Miss Alice Vexin." "You're the one found the body." "We're going to need to talk to you, Miss." "Don't go anywhere." "Morse?" "Well, it was..." "Despite the er..." "You too." "You know her?" "We were up at the same time." "At Oxford." "I know what "up" means." "Girlfriend, was she?" "What makes you say that?" "Way she looked at you." "Tell you - play your cards right, mate, you're on a promise there." "Nice bit of homework too." "Don't do yourself any favours, do you?" "Without fear or favour." "Isn't that the job?" "Well, for now, your job's statements and particulars from the factory side." "We need to know where everybody was and what they were doing between half-ten and noon." "How many?" "Few hundred." "Should keep you out of mischief." "Good evening, sir." "Anyone he'd had a falling out with, do you know?" "So you also work on fuselage assembly, is that right?" "Yeah." "And how well did you know Mr Malleson?" ""Morning." "Evening." He didn't have much to say for himself." "He clocked on, clocked off." "About it." "Anyone on his section he was particular pals with?" "No-one he sat with regularly at lunch?" "Like I say, he didn't go out of his way to mix." "All right." "Well, thank you." "That's all for now." "You got everything you need, sir?" "Yes, thank you, Mr Tracepurcel." "How many more?" "It's about halfway through." "But it won't be any of my members, I can tell you that." "They're good blokes." "This'll be someone off site." "The one day the place is packed with strangers and this happens." "Any bugger could've wandered in." "I don't mean this to be disrespectful, but it was your lot that had the security of the place." "The Arabs arrived at about 10.30, so I amused myself in Henry's office." "Doing what?" "Playing Patience." "Happily, a game at which I excel." "That was till what time?" "About a quarter past eleven - when Estella arrived." "The meeting broke up shortly afterwards, and we all went across to greet Her Royal Highness." "You and Mr Broom live apart, I understand." "For the past ten years." "I have a place outside Stratford." "Though until this matter is resolved I shall be staying at Chinon Court." "The family home." "Next, please." "In you go." "I'll be with you in a moment." "This is an inefficient methodology." "You are?" "Doctor Werner Volk." "I'm in charge of telemetry and guidance systems for the Standfast Missile Program." "My unit is scientific, you understand?" "I have nothing to do with the labour force, therefore I did not know this dead man." "So..." "I may return to my work?" "I just need to establish where you were and what you were doing between 10.30 and noon." "Working." "Until perhaps ten minutes before 12, when I left my section and walked across with everyone else for the meeting of Her Royal Highness." "Did you go anywhere near the fuselage assembly shed or the office block?" "No." "As I told you," "I have nothing to do with the labour force." "Or the office." "Perhaps if you write my answers down, you will not need to repeat the question." "How was it you came to be on the shop floor, Miss Vexin?" "It's a short cut from the office to the canteen." "I was just on my way down the back corridor when..." "I heard a door slam." "And I..." "It's all right." "Take your time." "I noticed the store cupboard door was open." "I went to close it, and that's when I saw the blood." "So, I opened the door..." "and there he was." "Who else uses that short cut?" "Most of the office staff, I'd have thought." "Or it's a five-minute walk around the block." "But you didn't see anyone else on the shop floor?" "No." "No, I didn't." "Thank goodness." "Listen, I just wanted to say thanks, for getting me in on this." "Oh." "All hands." "What do you make to it, then?" "Well, I think if I was going to murder someone..." "I wouldn't do it in a factory that was crawling with police." "So... why here?" "Why now?" "Why today?" "Magnificent, isn't it?" "Terrifying, certainly." "Are you making progress with your investigation?" "Nothing personal, of course, but we'll be glad to see the back of you." "Oh." "Bad for business." "Bad for Britain... actually." "My family has supplied this nation with arms and ordnance since the Thirty Years' War." "From Bunker Hill to Balaclava..." "I know the history, Mr Broom." "Then you should understand... this sale is not just about the company." "It's about the country." "Our place in the world." "I'm sure all concerned want to see the matter resolved quickly." "And with as little fuss as possible." "Dr Volk." "Hullo again." "They've let us go." "Me, anyway." "I gathered." "I'd say let's have a drink, but that's probably not..." "No." "But... maybe when it's all done." "Really?" "I'd like that." "Catch up." "Morse, you mustn't think badly of them." "They're all right, really." "It's just..." "They took Harry's death very badly." "When was that?" "Four years ago." "Some sort of aneurysm in the brain." "Just keeled over at work one day." "They were all heartbroken." "But I think Henr" " Mr Broom Senior - most of all." "He'd been looking to Harry to take over the company." "You must let me give you a lift." "I don't want to take you out of your way." "Not at all." "After the time you've had, I insist." "The new Bellini." "Nought to 60 in under seven seconds." "Time and motion?" "I think that's what the stopwatch was for." "Timing his mates to see how long they took with their work." "Reporting any that were slacking to management." "That couldn't have made him very popular." "I don't think he was." "Malleson seems to have kept himself to himself." "Didn't go out drinking with his workmates." "Fancy." "All right, Sergeant." "I got the impression he wasn't much liked." "That might explain the gun." "Found a pistol in his lunchbox." "Along with a little notebook keeping tabs on the Brooms." "Keep that under your hat for now." "What the hell's he doing bringing a gun to work?" "We thought his family might have an idea but there's none listed on his employment form." "Maybe you should give his lodgings the once-over." "Some of my members were of the opinion that Malleson was a stooge." "For the management." "A quisling, if you will." "A time and motion man." "What was your view?" "I wasn't entirely convinced." "But we have got an ongoing dispute over health and safety." "An accident on the shop floor." "If management discovered evidence of working malpractice they'd have a strong bargaining chip at the negotiating table." "That's about the size of it, sir." "Every day!" "I'm sick of it!" "Bloody pawing!" "This is meant to be a place of work." "All right, Brenda love." "Calm down." "You have 'em grab your arse every time you go by, try and touch you up - see how you like it." "It's just a bit of cajolery." "Nobody is getting hurt." "I might've known you'd stick up for 'em." "You're no better." "All right." "Get yourself an eyeful every chance." "Men - you're all the bloody same!" "All right, thank you, Brenda, on your way." "Don't be making trouble for yourself." "I'm sorry, gents, she's usually good as gold." "Full moon." "I understand you've had some problems with the union over the factory's safety record." "There was an accident recently in one of the machine sheds." "A chap called Curtis got his arm crushed." "His colleague's fault - man by the name of Frost, Lenny Frost." "No malice in it, just a moment's inattention." "But he's suspended, pending the Factory Board of Inquiry's findings." "The union's threatening action unless Frost is reinstated?" "The union is always threatening action, Inspector." "A fact of modern business life." "Nevertheless, a strike's the last thing you need with this sales negotiation going on." "It won't come to that." "It's been suggested Mr Malleson may have been put on the shop floor by management to report on his colleagues." "By whom?" "Tracepurcel?" "Bloody red." "Look, that sort of thing may go on in other factories, but that's simply not the way things work any more." "Front runner at the moment is a lad called Frost, sir." "Lenny Frost." "From what we've picked up, Malleson landed him in it." "Private grudge?" "We've ruled out most of the rest of the workers." "But as far as the family's concerned there's not one of them with a watertight alibi." "The family?" "Why would they wish him harm?" "Malleson had been keeping them under observation." "To what end?" "Not clear yet, sir." "But there's a corridor to the office block." "It wouldn't have taken anyone more than a few minutes to kill Malleson and hide the body." "Or someone visiting, of course." "There were enough guests there." "I'm trying to arrange a meeting with Crown Prince Nabil, though what connection his party might have to Malleson..." "Well, whatever you do, tread lightly, hm?" "It's not just matters of business at stake here, but er... matters of state." "Kid gloves, sir." "Is that the Assistant Chief Constable's car I saw earlier?" "34 years." "If this matter touches the Palace," "I've been left in no doubt as to where the buck will come to rest." "It's awfully nice to go travelling, as they say." "You'll excuse me, but I've hung out all the flags I'm going to for one day." "Might we forego the amateur traumatics this evening, hm?" "Some hope." "Well, here we are." "One great big happy loving family." "When were we all together last?" "Don't start." "I won't have his name dragged through the muck." "I mean it, Mother." "Course you do." "Until push comes to shove, then Richard looks to Richard." "You can draw as much blood from me as you like." "Just leave Harry out of it, or as God's my witness, I..." "Yes?" "You'll what?" "You haven't got it in you." "Once, poor darling, but not any more." "Mm..." "What we're hearing, Len, is that there was bad blood between you and Percy Malleson on account of him landing you in it at work." "I don't know nothing about that." "So what were you doing there today?" "You're suspended." "Not meant to be going anywhere near the place." "You were seen, Lenny." "Yeah, by who?" "Cos whoever said that's a liar." "Look, I have a wife, a kid, another on the way." "You think I'd do something to risk all that?" "He lost you your job." "There's other jobs." "I might have wanted to stick one on him... but murder, no." "You've got the wrong bloke." "How did you make out at his lodging?" "Nothing so far as next of kin is concerned but he may have been living abroad." "There was a suitcase bearing a Union Castle Line luggage label." "That's South Africa, isn't it?" "I'll get them to check their passenger lists first thing." "Jake said you know Broom's secretary, Miss Vexin - that right?" "Knew." "I've not seen her in years." "She'd be well placed to know all the family skeletons, I'd think." "See what you can get out of her." "She's a friend." "She's a suspect." "What's all this, then?" "Well, nothing." "Probably." "Nothing with you usually means something." "So, out with it." "Well, it just struck me as odd, that's all." "There's another pair of these at Malleson's flat." "Cribb  Co." "There can't be that many on the assembly line at BIEC wearing handmade shoes." "We had nothing to hold him on." "I thought you had a witness." "Rang through to withdraw their statement." "What's this?" "Union skulduggery?" "Possibly." "There's no "possibly" about it." "If it's got around that Malleson was a time-and-motion man, they're not about to let one of their own swing for it." "♪They'll close ranks." "So, we're back to square one." "Oh, Prince of Wales." "Haven't made this particular model for about... ten years." "The customer is clearly a gentleman of great taste and discernment." "Yes, well, it's well-cared-for." "Size eight-and-a-half." "Erm..." "Oh, interesting!" "We've built up the instep quite considerably to afford support." "An additional comfort." "Oh, yes, I should be able to chivvy him out for you." "I arrived with my delegation at twenty past ten." "We went into the meeting." "That lasted about an hour." "And then we went across for the unveiling of the new Standfast." "Did any of your party leave the meeting at any time?" "What would I or my people have to gain from killing a British workman?" "I will ask, of course." "But to the best of my recollection, no." "We were guests and in the presence of our hosts at all times." "We make a last for each of our customers taking into account any idiosyncrasies of the foot..." "Hallux valgus." "Polydactyli." "Syndactyli." "Rather like fingerprints." "Ah..." "Malleson, would it be?" "Percy Malleson?" "No." "This is Mr Kendrick." "Eustace Kendrick." "A student at Curtmantle, by the address." "Yes, he had two pairs off us in May '53." "Oh, it would appear the bill is still outstanding." "Oh." "Yes, of course, that Kendrick." "The business with the um..." "with the Rix girl." "Well, it was all over the papers." "Scotch." "That's right, isn't it?" "What's this?" "Cessation of hostilities?" "We're on the same side, Morse." "So, any luck?" "The Olive Rix case was one of my first bylines at the Mail." "But it was a County investigation, not City Police." "What's your interest?" "Just something I'm looking at." "Too early to say." "If anything comes of it, you'll have it first." "Exclusive?" "I can't promise." "Olive Rix was a Barnardo's girl from the Midlands." "Bright." "Got herself a place at Bicester Agricultural College." "Coronation Day she disappeared." "June 2nd 1953." "With the celebrations, it was a couple of days before the police took it seriously as a missing persons case." "Boyfriend fell suspect." "Eustace Kendrick?" "That's right." "There was some talk he'd got her in trouble." "But before charges could be brought, he left the country." "And Olive?" "No body was ever found." "What's this all about?" "I'd have thought you'd be busy at British Imperial rather than digging up some 12-year-old missing person's case." "How did you find me?" "The original report gave a name and address for Eustace's mother." "A neighbour said she was in a hospice." "Who gave you my name." "Mm." "Outside of Eustace, Aunt Lavinia is the only family I have." "You're sure it's him?" "We'll need you to make a formal identification, but I'm afraid that appears to be the case." "Poor Eustace." "He didn't do it, you know." "Olive." "Then why did he run away?" "Panicked?" "20 years old with everything that was being said." "If it had gone against him, it would have been the rope." "Of course, once he'd gone..." "Have you any thought as to why he might return now, after all this time?" "When Aunt Lavinia took ill," "I put a notice in The Times, six, seven months ago, hoping word might reach him." "Had he been with her long?" "Olive Rix?" "A few months." "But the situation was... complex." "Olive was... already involved." "With whom I don't know, but from what I could glean, he sounded the jealous type." "Older, I think." "All I can tell you is the Eustace I knew... was the gentlest, kindest of boys." "He'd never have done anything to that girl." "Thank you for your help." "So Percy Malleson is in fact this Eustace Kendrick?" "Where the hell has he been till now?" "Until most recently, South Africa." "I've had Union Castle check their lists." "A passenger called Malleson sailed from Durban on the Pendennis Castle and arrived in Southampton on 5th April." "And he started at British Imperial when?" "Two weeks later." "His mother is dying." "I think Kendrick came back to see her." "And to do that, he'd have needed to clear his name." "That's my reading of it." "He's got himself in at BIEC thinking the real culprit's someone there." "He's keeping a notebook on the Broom family." "Their comings and goings." "Why would Kendrick think this girl's disappearance had anything to do with the Brooms?" "I don't know, sir, but I've taken a look at the agricultural college that Olive Rix attended." "It's a huge place out at Bicester." "But the point is its land borders Chinon Court." "Where?" "The Brooms' estate, sir." "According to county records, the family were questioned at the time of her disappearance." "Coronation Day?" "Well, that's... that's 12 years ago." "A missing girl, you say?" "Olive Rix." "She was 20 years old." "Never heard of her." "No." "As I said." "According to the records of the original inquiry, you were questioned." "I was?" "Yes." ""Henry Broom said:" "No-one had been out of the house for the entire day, due to watching the Coronation on the television set."" "Henry?" "My son, perhaps." "Henry Junior." "Harry... to us." "As Miss Vixen's..." "I'm so sorry," "Miss Vexin's presence will no doubt will confirm, Inspector, my husband is a fool for beauty." "Nora..." "You didn't hire her for her shorthand." "Henry likes to surround himself with pretty things." "Horses." "Paintings." "If he'd have met this girl, he would have remembered, believe me." "Would you excuse me?" "Oh, dear." "One just can't get the staff." "You'll forgive me, but I'm hard pressed to see what this Rix girl has to do with what happened yesterday." "The man murdered at your factory, Mr Broom." "The man you knew as Percy Malleson." "Turns out his real name was Eustace Kendrick." "He'd been Olive Rix's boyfriend and was strongly suspected of being involved in her disappearance." "Good heavens." "That morning, Olive had been working at Half Farthing Piggery." "Her path back to College may have taken her through Great Wood." "Your land?" "There's a public right of way." "Public right of trespass." "You're not saying someone here had something to do with what happened to this girl?" "It would seem Eustace Kendrick thought so." "And now he's dead." "There is nothing between us." "Nora just likes to..." "I don't know, goad him." "I'm sorry." "I shouldn't let it get to me." "You'd been with the firm four months when Harry died." "That's right." "What was he like?" "Oh." "Just great fun." "Most of the time." "He had these moods." "The rest of the family were all very... careful around him at such times." "Any idea what was behind them?" "Oh, I don't know." "A girl?" "It's usually the way." "How long have you been back in Oxford?" "A couple of months." "You?" "I never left." "Not really." "I started a postgrad, but..." "I don't know." "Worked in a bookshop for a while." "You read er..." "History." "I'd have thought that you..." "I'd have done something with my life." "Yeah." "I suppose we all "thought"." "What did you do?" "After?" "Knocked about a bit." "Here and there." "I was in the army for a while." "You were... missed." "When you left." "I can't think by whom." "No." "But you were." "I suppose I'd better be..." "There's a board meeting ahead of tonight's dinner with Prince Nabil." "With everything that's happened, it's just a bit..." "Alice?" "What you were saying, about that drink." "I'm sure it would be all right." "Really?" "Old friends." "Who could mind that?" "Perhaps it was Harry who was spoken to." "Convenient, though." "Damned inconvenient for us." "It's curious, don't you think?" "She disappears on one royal occasion and Kendrick is murdered in the middle of another." "This is private property." "Oh." "What are you doing here?" "We've just been up to the house, Miss Broom." "Had some questions about a girl who went missing 12 years ago." "Olive Rix." "The day of the Coronation." "I wouldn't know anything about that." "She attended the agricultural college." "If you regularly rode these woods, perhaps your paths may've crossed." "I avoid the public footpath." "On it now, aren't we?" "Blucher threw me and bolted." "I had to find him and fetch him back." "What about Eustace Kendrick?" "Does that name mean anything to you?" "Should it?" "He was Olive's boyfriend." "If there's nothing else..." "You might ask what a girl who disappeared 12 years ago has to do with the murder at the factory yesterday." "I might." "But perhaps such a thing never crossed my mind." "Perhaps I assume the police know what they're doing." "Or you couldn't give a damn." "Try to involve me or any of my family in this and you'll discover quite how much of a damn I do give." "Well?" "Are you going to tell me or aren't you?" "Until yesterday Eustace Kendrick had been working for BIEC under the name of Percy Malleson." "What a tangle." "Down there you've got the piggery." "The agricultural college is over there." "Give us a shufti at that snap a minute." "About here, don't you think?" "She was there, then, hm?" "But who with?" "That's the question." "Kendrick!" "The photograph was found in his flat!" "According to his cousin, Olive was seeing someone else." "Someone else?" "An older man." "Perhaps Olive had said something to Kendrick which led him to believe it might have been one of the Brooms." "We'll get to the bottom of it, sir." "Don't worry." "I beg your pardon?" "Who are you to tell me not to worry?" "He only meant, sir..." "I know exactly what he meant." "I don't need you to make excuses for him!" "Damned impertinence!" "Hell are you looking at?" "You're not going to find the culprit sat about gawking!" "Get on with your work, all of you!" "They're back." "The police." "Of course." "They won't stop till they get to the bottom of it." "Pa says they're asking about the Coronation." "That girl." "Turns out..." "Malleson was her boyfriend." "Oh, yeah." "People still talk about the party they threw at Chinon Court for the workers during the Coronation, but before my time, though." "Where were you before?" "GPO." "Repairs." "15 years." "It's enough to drive you up the pole." "Which, of course, was the job!" "But er... no, it was a grand do, by all accounts." "Not that I hold with all that, you understand." "All what?" "Monarchy." "Bowing and scraping." "You must have enjoyed Her Royal Highness's visit, then?" "Ah, yes." "But that's different, though, isn't it?" "That's about trade, jobs and people's livelihoods." "How's that?" "This contract with the Arabs could be very important for the company." "36 Standfast missiles." "So if a bit of royalty helps push it along, I'm all for it." "Reg?" "You'd better come quick." "There's been an accident." "What the bloody hell's happened here?" "Everything's perfectly all right, Mr Tracepurcel." "Oh, aye, yeah, it looks it." "The brake on the chain-block failed." "Could've been any of us." "Just the trolley was round." "Are you all right, miss?" "I banged myself." "It could've been worse." "Too bloody right!" "I've put in a request for maintenance for these hydraulics twice and nothing's been done." "I'll look into it." "You'll look into it?" "Oh, he's going to look into it, lads." "Bit too bloody late for that." "I said I'll look into it!" "Curtis two months back and now this?" "No." "I'm calling a general stoppage." "What?" "Now?" "Yes, now, Mr Broom." "I've got to look out for my members." "What are they saying?" "An accident." "Tracepurcel's called a general stoppage." "Murder yesterday?" "An industrial accident today?" "Goodness." "We'd better begin while we still have a company to discuss." "Where would you like me, Henry?" "Under the sod." "I was that 20 years." "If you remember." "So much for infinite variety." "I'll take my usual place, unless there are any objections." "Morse." "About that drink." "I wondered if you were doing anything tonight." "Washing my hair." "Oh..." "Where?" "When?" "Nine?" "Fox and Hounds?" "Sounds great." "See you then." "See you then." "It's a good deal, Mother." "Europe's the future, Nora." "Look at BAC." "Ah!" "The entente cordiale!" "How very "now"!" "Whatever happened to "Vive la difference"?" "Look, if we don't get in, establish partnerships, five, ten years, we'll have missed the bus." "Partnerships, yes." "But a merger?" "In my experience, that's just a polite name for another kind of congress altogether and I know who'll be on top, believe me." "Harry would never have stood for it." "It was Harry's idea." "I don't believe you." "Believe what you like." "It's academic." "If we don't go in with the French now, this year, we're finished." "What do you mean, finished?" "We've sunk everything we have into the new Standfast." "And more besides." "Against projected sales." "What about the Arabs?" "They're about to put in an order for three dozen, aren't they?" "Aren't they?" "Hello." "Hello." "Strange to be back here again after all these years." "Fewer students than I remember." "I expect nowadays they're all down the pop-dancing club." "Pop dancing?" "Or whatever it is they do." "So... the police?" "If you'd asked me, I'd never have..." "You like it?" "I like the work." "To be honest, I'm not sure that I fit in." "No." "You were never like the rest." "Well, I wanted to be." "Tried to be, I think." "When?" "I did." "I tried to like Trad and the Angries." "Sartre." "French cigarettes." "That's why I liked you." "You were difficult." "Different, surely." "Difficult." "Definitely." "Awkward." "You were all... corners socially." "Ah, well..." "And so angry." "Contra mundum." "But yourself, most of all." "I think we've heard quite enough about me." "Tell me about you." "You mean tell you about the Brooms?" "That is why you asked me for a drink." "You must be wondering what's going on." "I'm a loyal employee." "Discreet." "One question, then." "As a policeman or as a friend?" "A friend." "Have you ever heard any of them mention a girl called Olive Rix?" "No." "Look, I'm sorry how everything turned out back then." "You deserved more." "I doubt that, but..." "good of you to say." "After all that went the way it did," "I hoped you might look to me for something." "Anything." "And then you were gone." "Lost." "Why do you wear your hair like that?" "Don't you like it?" "Alice." "You don't need to..." "Do I remind you of her?" "Why would you want to?" "If that's what it takes." "Do I?" "Are you still in love with her?" "I don't know." "Then you are." "Maybe you could love me too." "Just a little." "A little would be enough." "Morse..." "Oh, I'm on call." "You have to leave a number." "Lenny Frost?" "So much for staying away from the place." "Morning, sir." "Thursday." "What have we got?" "Doctor?" "Electrocuted." "Rain's come in through the roof over a length of time." "Puddled." "Come into contact with a section of split electrical cable and Bob - or in this case, Lenny - is no longer your uncle." "His wallet's here." "No question of foul play?" "Thankfully, that's a decision for the coroner." "But were I a betting man, I'd be more inclined to lay this upon the altar of bad maintenance." "Wasn't there another here yesterday?" "Near miss at least?" "Yes, sir." "Misadventure, then." "Unless someone knew he was bound to pass this way." "How would they know that?" "Those windows lead on to the outside, sir." "If that's how he's been getting in and out, it would be easy enough for someone to stage an accident." "I'm more concerned as to what he was doing here." "Sabotage, maybe." "Paying the company back for how they treated him." "I'm more inclined to an accident." "The safety record here doesn't inspire confidence." "What's that in his pocket?" "Where did you get this?" "What are they, Dr Volk?" "Highly confidential research papers." "Test results and findings concerning the Standfast's gyroscopic system." "Where would they have come from?" "Most of our documentation is held in the archive in the basement of the offices, but this was taken from this workshop." "Who else would have an interest in such material?" "This is information of a sensitive commercial nature." "Our rivals, perhaps?" "Beyond that I'm not qualified to express an opinion." "Volk." "What's that?" "German, is it?" "Worked long at British Imperial?" "18 years." "When would that be?" "Early '47?" "What was that all about?" "It was him and a load more like him flattened my street." "I'm sure it wasn't personal." "Wasn't it?" "You're too young to remember." "I don't suppose you've got any further with Miss Vexin, have you?" "I've spoken to her." "She couldn't shed any light." "How hard did you push her?" "As far as I thought necessary." "I see." "Ruled her out, have you?" "The fact she's a looker play any part in that?" "I based it more on the fact that she isn't German." "Sir... everyone knew that Lenny Frost had it in for Eustace Kendrick." "A perfect scapegoat." "Now he's in no position to defend himself." "You think someone's trying to close the case down?" "Well, don't you?" "Who?" "The Brooms?" "How would anyone have known Frost was at the factory last night?" "Perhaps he was lured here." "Who by?" "I don't know." "But there was Ј100 in cash in his wallet, together with a room number at the Rudolph Hotel." "Well, why didn't you say so before?" "My country may be about to spend a great deal of money with British Imperial Electric." "Despite assurances to the contrary, rumours of trouble with the new guidance system have continued to reach our ears." "So, Lenny Frost was spying for you?" "The Prophet, peace be upon him, teaches us," ""Say what is true, though it may be bitter and displeasing to people."" "We have a not dissimilar saying." "Tell the truth and shame the Devil." "You should be aware that to take receipt of stolen property is an of fence in law." "As you should also be aware, Constable Morse, we are not the same little people Colonel Lawrence left behind." "We learned much from our colonial masters." "Perfidious Albion." "An unkind name to hang upon a country." "But not perhaps wholly undeserved." "Morse." "It's me." "Alice." "That girl you were asking about - Olive Rix." "What about her?" "Alice Vexin came upon it a few years ago, but it wasn't until she heard the name Olive Rix that it made sense." "What made sense?" "It should be around here somewhere." "A single beech in a stand of pine." "Single beech, you say?" "Mm." "Harry had been knocking about with her for, what, a year, on and off?" "Nothing serious." "Just Harry being Harry." "She was a gold-digger." "She might not have had the best start in life, but at the time she went missing, she was working hard to make something of herself." "How was it your brother came to know Olive Rix?" "I met her one day." "Hacking out in Great Wood." "We were of an age." "One girl amongst two brothers." "You hit it off?" "She was fun." "She had this" " I don't know - Sara Crewe fantasy." "Some wild idea her father was a rich, foreign nobleman, and that one day he'd come and find her." "If that was her dream, I wasn't about to spoil it for her." "Why did you all deny knowing her?" "Why not?" "You couldn't find her 12 years ago." "Why rake over it all now?" "People would only gossip." "Why give them ammunition?" "Never apologise, never explain." "Did you see her the day she disappeared?" "More or less everybody from the Agricultural College had gone home to celebrate the Coronation with their families." "But animals are Republican by temperament." "They still need feeding, cleaning, milking," "Vivat Regina or no." "Olive was on her own so I offered to help her out down at the piggery." "We did a couple of hours, and I left her shortly after one to go back to the house." "Then, you were the last person to see Olive Rix, Miss Broom." "Apart from whoever, well... did what they did." "I asked her if she'd like to come to the party." "She said she couldn't." "I presumed she was meeting someone." "Eustace Kendrick." "Did your brother know she was involved with another man?" "If he had, I doubt it would have troubled him." "Like father." "Shows how much you know." "Christ, God." "Aren't you tired of it?" "Dickie!" "She broke it off with Harry." "In Great Wood." "That afternoon." "I came on him in the billiard room later." "He was drunk." "Beside himself." "Richard!" "Please..." "I found her." "Found her body." "Olive Rix." "The morning after the party." "I'd taken the dogs up to Great Wood to clear my head." "And there she was." "In the tree line, just back from the Half Farthing Field." "Why didn't you come forward?" "And say what?" "My brother was a murderer?" "What would you have done?" "He confessed?" "We never spoke of it." "Not in so many words." "That may sound strange to you." "I knew." "He knew I knew." "But not saying it out loud..." "Gave you just enough doubt to live with." "What did you do?" "Fetched a spade." "The police pretty quickly settled on Eustace Kendrick for it, and er..." "Well... that was that." "And you let an innocent man stand suspect?" "It's not as if it came to trial." "He left the country." "Which suited you." "And when Percy Malleson came to the firm, you had no idea he was Kendrick?" "How could I?" "I'd never met him." "There were plenty of photos in the paper." "Funnily enough, I didn't keep a scrapbook." "But, no, I didn't know it was him." "Who else knew?" "Just me." "We all knew." "Speak for yourself." "Or at least suspected." "Except Estella." "She was back at school before the hue and cry began." "So was I. Most of the time." "No-one ever suspected it would be you, Johnny." "Something like that was well beyond your scope." "Thank you, Dickie." "That was very brave." "I knew my boy was still in there somewhere." "Well, at least that's an end to it." "An end to it?" "Frost killed Eustace Kendrick at the factory." "And Harry Broom killed Olive Rix." "And who killed Lenny Frost?" "Not who." "What." "Circumstance." "Poor maintenance." "It was an accident." "I might live with one dead murderer, but not a brace." "Well, what a Detective Constable can or cannot live with is a matter of rather small account in the general scheme of things." "And Division won't trouble the Palace." "Morse!" "That is a very cynical attitude, and one you should shake off sooner rather than later." "I can assure you that such a consideration would play no part in Division's deliberations." "Thursday." "Sir." "Better take Mr Broom's statement." "You look old, Henry." "Old and tired." "Have we hurt one another long enough?" "Resign the chairmanship." "How can I... now?" "The company..." "Has had the best of you." "Of both of us." "You want my agreement to this merger with the French, that's my condition." "Tomorrow, then." "One last board meeting." "All right?" "You don't believe Lenny Frost's death was an accident any more than I do." "Have you got a better theory?" "Well, then." "Until you do, you're best off keeping your powder dry." "The truth was buried with Olive Rix 12 years ago." "We're about to stand by and watch it buried again with Lenny Frost." "And in the name of what?" "Expediency?" "Sparing royal blushes?" "I thought it was the Queen's Peace we were sworn to uphold?" "Someone was coming up as I arrived." "Can I come in?" "Of course." "I'm afraid you won't find me terribly good company." "I'd have tidied if I'd known." "Are you all right?" "I was worried." "You sounded awful on the telephone." "As if the world were about to end." "Just a small world, and not a very good one." "Do you want a drink?" "I've only got Scotch." "Yeah." "All right." "You heard about the Brooms?" "I didn't come to talk about the Brooms." "From comparison with dental records" "I can confirm that these are indeed the remains of Olive Rix." "Any thoughts as to how she died?" "Fractured hyoid would suggest she was strangled." "Not much to speak of by way of grave goods." "Clothes have rotted away mostly." "But we've a few buttons." "Pair of handles from her bag." "What's this?" "Oh, general detritus." "Victorian jam pot, probably." "Winnowing out the wheat from chaff is always a challenge after so long in the earth." "Sir?" "Division want us to sign off." "On both of them?" "Both of them." "Lenny Frost for Eustace Kendrick." "Eustace Kendrick for Olive Rix." "Kendrick?" "It was Harry Broom killed Olive Rix, sir." "His brother said as much." "I'm advised that to pursue such a line... would not be in the public interest." "I see." "You're happy with that?" "Happiness doesn't enter into it." "It's what Division wants." "Nothing can be allowed to interfere with this missile sale." "So the Brooms walk away from it?" "All of it?" "Business as usual." "It's never about what you know, Morse." "It's about what you can prove." "And what about justice?" "Or perhaps that doesn't matter." "Olive Rix was only a Barnardo's girl." "We found her." "We'd never have managed that much if you hadn't kept digging away." "That's not enough." "Sometimes it has to be." "Not every question gets an answer." "Learning to live with that is the hardest lesson there is." "What are you doing with your Saturday afternoon, then?" "Bit of singing, is it?" "I've a couple of tickets for the Roxy." "Tickets?" "Plural?" "What's this?" "Your little friend?" "That didn't take long, did it?" "You'll be picking out wallpaper next." "I hear you say pictures?" "It's all right for some." "What you gonna see?" "There's a new Bergman." "Oh, yeah?" "I thought she was cracking in Casablanca." "I've got the tickets." "We've got time for a quick drink first." "You've changed your mind?" "I have." "You don't mean the cinema, do you?" "It's all right." "Is it?" "No." "Yes." "I suppose." "You're not ready." "Not yet." "I'd always be second best." "Consolation prize." "I'd have been happy with that... once." "The moment passed." "Mm." "They've called me into work." "Right." "Well..." "Your father has asked me to choose his successor." "I've written that person's name down and placed it in this envelope." "If we are to be... whole again... a family..." "I expect my proposal to be seconded blind, and passed nem con." "Agreed?" "Very well." "Proposed." "Seconded." "Show of hands?" "Thank you, Alice." "Congratulations, Estella." "Thank you." "But I'd prefer to think of us as a triumvirate." "If we are to make a go of it, I'm going to need all of Dickie and Johnny's expertise." "I didn't know I had any." "To which end, the first we need to get a grip on is this strike." "Alice, would you have Mr Tracepurcel and his Works Committee join us on the factory floor?" ""Oxford, England." "Just minutes from the libraries and cloistered colleges of the city centre, a visitor will soon find themselves amidst the white heat of technology at the British Imperial Electric Company in Cowley." "Proud manufacturers of Britain's Standfast Mark Two surface-to-air missile." "Everyone is doing their best to make sure the whole place is spick and span, and ready to receive a royal inspection." "Hold on, Charlie." "Looks like you've missed a spot." "That's the ticket!" "Here comes the Very Important Person everyone has turned out to cheer!" "Yes, it's Her Royal Highness, the Princess Margaret, as she arrives on a mission to help promote British overseas exports." "Having been greeted by distinguished foreign guests and senior company executives," "Her Royal Highness also finds time to exchange a word or two with the workers..."" "This what you're looking for?" "Worked out what it is?" "More than that." "I think I can take a decent guess where it came from." "Mr Tracepurcel?" "I wonder if I might have a word." "I'm just waiting on the Works Standing Committee." "I've a meeting with the management." "This won't take long." "I'm hoping there's something you might be able to help us with." "A matter of etiquette, as much as anything." "Etiquette?" "Yes." "When you were presented to Her Royal Highness, you weren't wearing your jacket." "My jacket?" "Mm." "I think I was." "No, you weren't." "You wore it earlier in the day, but by the time of the royal visit you'd got rid of it." "You were caught on film, you see, by one of the news vans." "And, as luck would have it, by a photographer from the Mail." "You were in shirt sleeves." "I'd like to see the jacket you were wearing that morning." "This is it." "No, the one you had on was double-breasted, if you'll look." "Yes." "No, er..." "I spilt some oil on that one." "On the shop floor." "Eustace Kendrick came to this factory looking for the murderer of Olive Rix." "He thought it was one of the Brooms." "You knew better, didn't you?" "I had nothing to do with Kendrick." "You knew there was something not right about Kendrick." "Something that didn't quite ring true." "Eventually you tumbled he was a time-and-motion man." "That when he told why he really came to the factory?" "I suppose he thought you'd have some sympathy for him." "A chance to finally stick it to the management for once." "But he confided in the one person who had everything to lose if he continued with his digging and find out the Brooms were innocent." "Look, I don't know this Rix girl, and I didn't even work here in '53." "No." "You worked for the GPO as a repairman." "We checked." "According to the service records you were on call on Coronation Day, replacing ceramic insulators on telegraph poles out by Chinon Court." "Unfortunately, Olive Rix also had reason to be in Great Wood that afternoon." "She and Harry Broom had just broken up." "Well, even if I was there, that doesn't prove anything." "Not alone, perhaps, but you've overplayed your hand." "When Brenda Werth was nearly killed, you thought we'd take it at face value if Lenny Frost fell victim to a similar industrial accident." "You needed someone to take the drop for Eustace Kendrick's murder." "Everyone knew there was bad blood between them." "But only you knew how Lenny Frost came in and out of the factory." "It was an accident." "It's what they call bad maintenance." "No." "It was murder." "But you made a mistake." "I don't make mistakes." "You should have killed him on the way in, before he had a chance to steal the research papers, not the way out." "The electricity didn't turn itself on between his first and second goes through that puddle." "So now I've killed Lenny Frost?" "Mm-hm." "No, I think you're whistling in the dark, gents." "Let's just say a word of that's true, which it isn't." "Why would I have killed Kendrick on a day like that?" "With all the police swarming around." "You had no choice." "Kendrick's contract with the factory was due to expire." "He was desperate to get to the truth, and time was running out." "You had to act and fast." "The royal visit was the only time the Brooms have been under the same roof in ten years." "His only chance to confront them all together." "That's why he brought a gun to work." "I think he told you he intended to..." "You can think what you like." "You haven't got any proof." "You're right, we haven't, but we can clear it up now." "Your jacket." "I told you." "There's oil on it, yes." "Well, where is it?" "Because I'd like to see it." "I burnt it." "You burnt it?" "I burnt it." "In my garden." "In the incinerator." "Are you sure about that?" "Yeah." "Your jacket is still here." "On the premises." "Hidden away somewhere." "Police on the front gates?" "You passed them with oil on your jacket, but not paint." "Paint?" "White paint, to be specific." "The door frame of the store cupboard had been painted that morning, where you dumped Kendrick's body after you'd killed him." "Yeah, your jacket was covered in paint." "Paint?" "No." "That's why you were the only man presented to Her Royal Highness in his shirt sleeves." "You knew no-one would be on the factory floor till the visit was over, so you left the jacket in the store cupboard with Kendrick's body, until the coast was clear." "Only Alice Vexin heard you when you came to retrieve it, and raised the alarm." "Police have been crawling all over the place since." "You haven't had a chance to get rid of it." "The best you could do was to hide it." "I have to admit, it took me a while." "Strange?" "Was it where I thought it was?" "Mm-hm." "Well, you two are clever buggers, aren't you?" "I thought the inspection pit would be the perfect place to hide it." "And Olive Rix?" "What was that?" "Just an itch you had to scratch?" "Oh, I didn't do anything she didn't want." "Strange?" "You've got to admit," "I give you a good run around, though, eh?" "12 years." "Ooh." "How did you work out where I put the jacket?" "I didn't." "I thought it was Richard..." "all these years." "The poison's out now." "Sir." "Well... it should make for a lively meeting with the Chief Constable." "You might want to mention Constable Morse's part, sir." "Yes." "Well, if the... if the opportunity arises." "Carry on." "Want me to run you back?" "Go on, then." "Are you doing anything tonight?" "No." "I was after going a cod and two penn'oth." "Glad of the company if you'd like to join me." "What?" "No sandwiches?" "On a Saturday?" "Talk sense."