"[Sea gulls crying]" "[Waves crashing]" "[Loud thumping]" "[Splash]" "MAN:" "Hey!" "Hey!" "[Engine starts]" "How much are you giving me towards the phone bill?" "You what?" "Well, you ought to give me summat." "It's the detective agency makes all the phone calls." "You phoned your brother Frank on Friday, long distance, about systemic fungicide." "Your calls are a legitimate business expense." "You take it out of your profits." "What profits?" "You got 1,500 pounds from that old lady's brother." "5 weeks ago." "What since?" "Well, there was that budgie lost from Number 7." "She wouldn't pay me." "Her own cat ate it." "You're not living in the real world, Robert." "Money melts." "Paying for all those business cards." "You didn't need 500." "Small ads in the Record, 100 pounds for Yellow Pages." "If things don't pick up soon, your wife will be facing ruin." "This your car?" "This your car?" "[Dialing cell phone]" "Jim?" "Steve." "I'm on the mobile." "Name and address, owner of a red Fiat Uno" "Juliet 5-7-8..." "Tango-Pepper-Kilo." "Quick as you can, mate." "[Beep]" "Do you know you're nearly empty?" "You're the quiet one, aren't you?" "[Telephone rings]" "Yeah?" "Great." "Hang on." "Malcolm..." "Stone." "29 Kirby Gardens." "Sorry, where?" "Got you." "Cheers." "[Beep]" "Yeah, and as for them small ads, you could have saved yourself the money." "It's a matter of getting the tone right." "I may have been too subtle." "It's nowt to do with subtlety." "It's where they put the ad." "We've no choice, Robert." "I've told you." "We come under Personal Services." "The young lady explained that." "Aye, but you didn't have to start with," ""Looking for a loved one?" "Hetty Wainthropp is here to help."" "It was a soft sell." "Soft in the head, more like." "We ended up amongst all the massage parlors." "I'll get this." "I'm on expenses." "He'll kill you when he gets back." "Then I'll die happy knowing he's safe." "A man of Malcolm's age... having his mother wandering the streets to call him in." "I didn't call." "What would be the point of calling?" "[Cash register rings]" "STEVE:" "No!" "Oy!" "[Telephone ringing]" "Oy!" "What do you think you're doing?" "!" "Come out!" "Oy!" "Clare, what do you want?" "Yes, Daddy." "He says he's busy." "You're not on duty." "You're on sick leave." "You can't be busy." "WOMAN:" "He should be in the bath by now." "And shaved." "He should have shaved." "MAN:" "Suppose he doesn't turn up to collect her from the airport?" "What if he's suddenly got cold feet?" "He wouldn't do that, would he?" "You're supposed to be the expert on what Malcolm would or would not do." "Well, I've no experience this time." "He's never sent off for a wife by mail order before." "I'm going to the police." "Joan..." "If he's not back in time, you'll have to go to the airport in his place." "[Sighs]" "Now, when did you last see your son?" "This morning, when he left to do his bird-watching." "Where does he normally watch them?" "All over--the moors," "Lake District, nature reserves." "Goes with a party, does he?" "No." "He's always preferred to be on his own." "How does he get to these places?" "His car." "It's a red Fiat Uno." "How old is your son, Mrs. Stone?" "27." "Hmm." "The description would include long trousers, then, would it?" "[Telephone ringing]" "Nothing?" "They were..." "quite sympathetic, but they say there's nothing they can do." "He is a grown man." "[Telephone ringing]" "[Groan]" "[Telephone rings]" "[Receiver picked up]" "Hetty Wainthropp." "Oh, yes, it is." "ROBERT:" "It's for that Miss Whiplash again, isn't it?" "Shh." "I think it's a client." "Yes, I'm listening." "I'm sorry to phone you so late, but the police didn't seem interested, and your advertisement does say 24-hour service." "Well, if you look carefully," "I think you'll find that's the one offering personal massage." "We get a lot of those." "It's not the same as a good night's sleep." "Now, how can I help you?" "MAN:" "You yourself are not Mr. Malcolm Stone, as I understand the situation." "I'm his father." "I'm taking responsibility." "For marrying the lady?" "I'm already married to Malcolm's mother." "Exactly." "That's my point exactly." "You are not in a position to marry the lady herself because you are already married, and the gentleman the lady has entered this country to marry..." "My son." "Your son, you say, is not here to vouch for her." "He will be." "He sent me to represent him." "He's tied up at the moment." "Tied up." "And when will he be untied?" "Soon." "I can't say." "He's missing." "He went bird-watching and hasn't come back." "Bird-watching?" "Yes, well, they do go missing sometimes." "It has been known." "The problem is, Mister, uh..." "Stone." "The problem is..." "the lady's papers." "You said they're in order." "Oh, they are." "But if your son has changed his mind, that would nullify their validity." "He hasn't changed his mind." "I'm sure he hasn't." "He'll be back." "When?" "She'll be allowed to stay for one week, Mr. Stone-- under our supervision, of course." "Who are they going to believe, Malcolm?" "You'd been watching the car, hadn't you, with your binoculars?" "Knew what we were up to." "You like watching people doing that, don't you?" "Quite a hobby." "And when I'd had her, I pissed off, but you--you went and found her." "You had it off with her." "Then you got frightened, thought she might tell." "So what did you do then?" "Which of us are they going to believe, hmm?" "He's..." "deaf and dumb." "Peter." "Profoundly deaf and without speech." "Is that what they say now?" ""Dumb" could mean "stupid."" "HETTY:" "Oh, I see." "There was a girl at our school--Lizzie." "Her little brother was deaf." "She won't have him inside." "There was this big" "You say your Malcolm is planning to marry soon?" "Yes." "ADAMS:" "Who was she?" "MAN:" "Lynn Horrocks, sir-- ex-model, now freelance photojournalist." "If you're going to commit suicide, why bother to put on a safety belt?" "If she went straight at the edge, she'd have had it on already." "But she didn't go straight at the edge." "She parked and thought about it for quite a while." "Anyway, let it be suicide, as far as the media's concerned." "It seems a bit unusual, doesn't it-- him marrying a girl he's never even met?" "He's always been shy because of his disability." "PETER:" "Penipha is a schoolteacher-- an educated professional lady." "They started as pen pals and worked up." "He must have friends locally." "Oh, yes, mostly from the social club for the deaf." "Thank you." "Hiya." "Thought I knew the back of that head." "Yeah, you should do." "You flicked enough paper darts at it in 3-C." "Know me brother Leonard?" "Yeah." "All right, Leonard?" "Last time I saw you, you were at supermarket checkout." "I hear you call yourself a detective now." "Well, it seemed an obvious career move." "That's me partner over there playing bingo." "Do you know Malcolm Stone at all?" "I'm told he comes in here regular." "Malcolm?" "Yeah." "Why?" "What do you want to know about him?" "Oh, anything, really, like where he's been doing his bird-watching recently." "Leonard will know." "Malcolm took him with him a few times." "Do you remember Malcolm Stone?" "It's just been on the telly" "Hornby Head, where that car went over the cliff." "He went there to watch sea birds." "TV NEWSCASTER:" "Early forensic reports say that she was 3 months pregnant at the time of her death." "Daddy!" "I met her once." "She was doing a photo feature on the crack scene." "Bloody freelancers... always trying to wangle information out of the police." "Interesting, that." "What?" "Oh, we often say it's suicide when we're pretty sure it's murder." "Does that mean they're going to call you back on duty before you're properly fit?" "[Telephone rings]" "That will be them now." "Just tell them you're on sick leave." "Hello?" "Yep." "Your sister." "Mr. Stone, good evening." "Um, look, you know me, Mr. Stone." "I don't like to cause trouble." "I mean, I'm neighborly to a fault, but... your Malcolm's car has been blocking our drive all day." "I can't get my car out, and I've got to go and collect Darren from Cubs." "Joan!" "Joan!" "Hornby Head..." "Malcolm goes there bird-watching." "That girl commits suicide, and he disappears the same day." "There must be a connection." "Could be a coincidence." "He didn't go there every day." "And we didn't go to that social club just to play bingo." "We went for information, and we got it." "Hornby Head." "Shove more irons in the fire." "If you take my advice, you'll talk to Dave the Rave." "Who's he when he's not in the asylum?" "Disc jockey on local radio." "I knew him at school." "Geoffrey, is there anybody you didn't know at school?" "Well, it was a comprehensive school." "Dave was my English teacher." "We should really have our own transport," "Mrs. Wainthropp." "Detectives have cars." "HETTY:" "Find me a rich client, Geoffrey, and I may just buy us a 3-wheeler." "I'm afraid I can't move it." "I haven't got the keys." "Well, they're in the ignition." "But where's Malcolm?" "[People speaking indistinctly]" "It says 32 miles on the clock." "That doesn't seem much." "He always puts it back to naught when he gets petrol." "He must have filled it up yesterday and done 32 miles since then." "So he must have been seen at the petrol station, which is 32 miles away." "Not necessarily." "If he'd have got petrol on the way, put it back to naught, then gone on to where he was going, then come back here from there..." "There may be times for negative thinking, Geoffrey, but this isn't one of them." "I shall need a map and... what are those thingummies we used to use at school to do geometry?" "We didn't have anything at our school to do geometry." "We didn't have geometry." "Compasses." "We've got a pair somewhere." "Good." "I used to use mine when any of the lads tried anything on." "They wouldn't dare." "And there's Hornby Head... not 10 miles away from the edge of the circle." "Or 74, going in the opposite direction." "Thank you, Geoffrey." "Sorry, but that only tells us where the garage might be." "You won't mind if we use Malcolm's car?" "No, no." "And we'd better have one of his friends from the social club to show us where he did his watching from-- somebody who can drive." "Arrange that, please, Geoffrey." "We'll go this afternoon." "Oh!" "Is that really the time?" "You must excuse me." "I've got an appointment with Dave the Rave." "[Music playing]" "MAN:" "What a sweet track-- The Real Business." "Nice one, Colin of Bradshaw, for checking that one out." "Ahem." "Now hear this." "Mrs. Hetty Wainthropp." "Which one are you, dear" "Prime Minister's biography, home for lost dogs, or pressed flowers?" "Lady detective." "Morning, Tufty." "[Grunts]" "What's this, then?" "Ready for Ascot?" "[Music playing]" "¶ Oh, your love sent mercy on me ¶" "Now..." "Mrs. Hetty Wainthropp." "Hetty, my love, these flowers you press..." "Uh, no." "[Telephone ringing]" "[Coin drops]" "Malcolm?" "Malcolm." "He's all right!" "He's out there somewhere." "God knows where, but at least he's telling us he's all right." "I can hear you, son." "We'll find you." "Just hold on, please." "Listen, Malcolm, it's going to be all right." "We won't let you down." "I promise." "We've got to." "I..." "[Crying]" "Missing persons?" "Just one at the moment." "I won't do more than one at a time." "I like to give myself completely." "Oh, I knew a young lady like that once, but I was unworthy of her devotion, Hetty, my love, because I was too high on the music." "[Rock music blasting]" "I don't know what I'm going to do with you." "I'll think of something." "[Beeping]" "DAVE THE RAVE:" "You say he's deaf and dumb?" "HETTY:" "Profoundly deaf and without speech." "And this lad's called..." "Malcolm Stone." "[Beep]" "That's a turn-up for the book." "HETTY:" "Gawpers." "Morbid curiosity." "Joe Public at his worst." "What are we, then?" "Professional investigators." "This was Malcolm's way to the cliff." "He certainly could have seen that car from here." "Oh, look." "Leonard's found something." "His notebook." "It's hard to make out." "It's in pencil." "It has to be." "Ink would run." "What's this?" ""Peregrine."" "Is that a bird or someone's name?" "Kind of a hawk, I think." "Yes, of course." "He saw something that shocked him and forgot the book." "Proves he was here, though." "You're jumping to conclusions again," "Mrs. Wainthropp." "Geoffrey, how can you hope to reach a conclusion if you don't jump?" "Aah!" "Aah!" "He forgot his camera, too, I suppose." "Be interesting to know what's on the film." "You going to give it to the police?" "No, of course not." "Why should we give it to the police?" "I'm the detective on the Malcolm Stone case." "That camera could have been left any day." "Now, next thing-- that garage where he got the petrol." "Come along, young man." "Well done so far." "There's no need to shout." "I'm not deaf." "He is deaf." "Oh, you are deaf." "What an affliction." "But what can I do?" "The man who came for petrol was deaf." "Only if he was here, not if he wasn't." "Not what?" "Not deaf." "Certainly not." "He couldn't have been deaf if he wasn't here." "All right, perhaps she'd remember the car." "That car--have you seen that car before?" "Uh, two days ago." "Oh, that little boy is deaf." "Well, as it happens, he" "Can you remember that car?" "Oh, yes." "Two days ago, was it here for petrol?" "Oh, yes, but that man wasn't deaf." "The telephone rang in his pocket, and he was able to answer it clearly." "He had a strange man with him-- a very frightened man, I think." "He didn't speak, but I could readily sense his fear." "However, he ran away, and that was the end of the incident." "Thank you." "You've been most helpful." "It's only for a while, till I can think of what to do with you." "Till then, upstairs." "STEVE:" "Food... you'll be fed when I can get to you." "I'm on sick leave at the moment." "They may call me in." "[Indistinct]" "Come here." "It's not a working farm." "There's nobody around." "We live in the house, rent out the land." "Me wife has the money." "She married beneath her." "It's funny." "I can say anything I like to you, because you can't hear me." "That's a liberating experience... for a man who has had to keep his lip buttoned most of the time." "I don't need to work, Malcolm." "I only do it because I'm a dedicated police officer." "Can you read lips?" "Read...my..." "lips." "[Engine starts]" "My mind's humming like a musical saw." "I noticed." "Who knows what snaps Malcolm may have taken before he left the camera?" "Here, Robert." "I'm going to be too busy." "Take this in and collect it as soon as you can." "How long will that take?" "It's a one-hour service." "You can pick up a couple of chops while you're waiting." "Eh?" "There's chips in the freezer." "We used very little of her work." "I don't think I could put me hands on any of it." "Got some pictures of her." "What were her photos usually of?" "Oh, anything and nothing-- anything she thought she had a chance with, nothing worth pushing her off a cliff for." "Is that what you think happened?" "I don't do thinking." "I'm a picture editor." "What did she live on if her work wasn't used?" "Model." "In Didsbury?" "To start with." "Then Utrecht, Amsterdam... porno magazines, giving a full frontal in chains and leather thongs." "Where was that taken?" "Children's home." "Where?" "Somewhere well away from her dad would be my guess." "It was something he used to watch us do when he was a little lad." "When they're little, you try anything-- any sound to see if they can make it out." "Right." "'Cause you haven't accepted it, you see." "Yeah." "Well, we know he got away from the man at the petrol station." "He must still be free." "Funny to grow up winning beauty contests when you had all hell knocked out of you as a nipper." "He died last year, her dad." "Do you know what?" "She was bloody nigh destroyed by it." "How do you know all this?" "She wanted me to use this... the year she won Miss Northwest." "Wanted me to put it right next to the one with the toothpaste smile." "Why didn't you?" "Somebody upstairs thought it inappropriate." "Were you in love with her?" "I'm a picture editor." "Are you poaching on my ground," "Mrs. Wainthropp?" "I'm not a murderer, Malcolm." "If I was, you wouldn't be alive-- not after what you saw." "You understand that, don't you?" "Now, me wife, it's-- it's not her being older than me." "It's more the money thing... and her family." "So amusing, marrying a copper." "Rosemary's bit of rough." "Mm-mm." "I could have gone to university, but I wanted to join the force." "You believe that, don't you?" "You know, that girl-- she was a beauty queen." "I was flattered." "She wanted info for a story." "Went somewhere quiet for a picnic." "Her intentions were obvious, but...so what?" "I'm only getting me end away like anyone else." "But she..." ""Hurt me," she said." ""Punish me."" "It was an accident." "I've never been into that." "I'm not a sadist, Malcolm." "What she wanted, I..." "I went too far." "I thought she'd tell me to stop." "[Exhales sharply]" "But who's going to believe that?" "ADAMS:" "Yep." "Ask D.S. Lennox to come in, please." "Right." "Shall I be mother?" "Why not?" "Milk?" "Yes, please, but no sugar." "Right." "This is Detective Sergeant Lennox." "He's on sick leave at present-- recovering from a stab wound sustained in the course of duty-- but he's come in part-time to assist you." "Glad to." "Help yourself, Steve." "Thank you, sir." "Assist?" "A liaison-- facilitate your inquiries." "Now, shall we share information?" "After you." "When a car falls from a height onto rocks and then into the sea, Mrs. Wainthropp, it is considerably damaged, and so is any body which happens to be inside it." "But Lynn Horrocks was wearing a seat belt, so that her body was less damaged than it might have been, though her internal organs were a bit of a mess." "It said on the television she was 3 months pregnant." "That was a media misunderstanding, though we let it go in the hope of flushing out any ex-boyfriends." "But why the seat belt?" "The car was parked for at least an hour, and during that hour, she ate a picnic." "It was all there in her stomach." "Why a meal if she intends to kill herself?" "The condemned woman ate a hearty picnic." "It has been known." "People do it for comfort." "Point taken." "It'd explain the wine." "However, second point-- she was already dead when she hit the water." "There was no water in her lungs." "If Lynn Horrocks' death wasn't suicide, it must have been murder, but by whom?" "Why?" "How did the murderer get there and get away afterwards?" "She must have brought him." "That explains the picnic." "ADAMS:" "Him?" "Whoever." "Whoever--yes." "She seems to have had lots of acquaintances-- mostly professional-- but hardly any friends." "We'll have to interview them all, anyway." "Now, Mrs. Wainthropp, you tell me about Malcolm Stone." "We're still looking for him." "[Thump]" "WOMAN:" "Quickly, Clare." "I'm waiting." "Coming, Mummy!" "Take good care of her, Lennox." "I have a high opinion of Mrs. Wainthropp's detective abilities, but she sometimes gets herself into dangerous situations." "The sergeant will bring a car around for you, Mrs. Wainthropp." "Oh, very nice." "Thank you." "High opinion, sir?" "She has the devil's own luck, and people talk to her." "Anything she finds out, I want to know." "Yes, sir." "HETTY:" "Geoffrey?" "STEVE:" "The D.C.I. will want this." "He could have the negative." "He'll want the negatives, too." "We must have a picture." "I'm sorry, Mrs. Wainthropp." "This is material evidence." "That's why I need it." "To the Horrocks inquiry, not your inquiry." "Let me be the judge of that, young man." "Robert, take this and get a large photocopy made." "Right." "But, Mrs. Wainthropp..." "Please don't make difficulties, Sergeant." "I was promised full cooperation." "Now, tomorrow morning, if you've no objection," "I'd like to see round Lynn Horrocks' flat." "Right." "I can't stay long." "You OK?" "I wish I knew what I was going to do with you." "Funny-- I've been called in to keep an eye on an old lady detective who's looking for you, Malcolm." "We'll have to try to arrange for her to find you when it's safe." "You should have gone home hours ago." "Hardly seems worth it now." "What's left of the sherry trifle's in the fridge." "Is it?" "So it is." "You said you recognized Lizzie from sitting behind her in class." "Right." "I was in the choir when I was young." "Sunday after Sunday," "I'd sit looking at the back of Mr. Dabney, the organist." "A bit free with his hands, Mr. Dabney." "Got his comeuppance, though, at the [indistinct] Elijah-- gave too much, fell off his seat, and fractured his collarbone." "I knew the back of that man's head like the back of my hand." "And yet none of" "Lynn Horrocks' boyfriends came back for more." "I don't think she wanted them to." "Just once and out, you know." "What they had to do, not everybody would fancy it." "Go on." "Well, it was dangerous, for one thing." "They could do her a damage if they didn't watch themselves." "And if they did, she wasn't best pleased." "How do you happen to know?" "Because she told me." "When?" "Over the phone in the middle of the night." "And other times... she clung while I rocked her, waiting for the sleeping pills to work." "If I'm to be a suspect," "I think you'd best know she considered me to be her only real friend." "A parent, even." "And what did you consider yourself to be?" "Honored, if you must know." "Thank you for your cooperation." "Mrs. Wainthropp... she didn't rate much to herself, you know." "I did, she didn't." "I was the only man that she allowed to be gentle with her." "Sex had to hurt her." "Do you understand?" "What her father did to her, being put into care, even his death-- she thought it was all her fault." "What she wanted from other people was punishment." "She believed that's all she deserved." "We don't know much about that kind of thing where I come from." "Don't you?" "You all right, Mrs. Wainthropp?" "Yes, thank you, Geoffrey." "I suppose I'll have to learn to take this kind of thing in me stride." "Was she a Catholic?" "I don't know what she was." "I'm not really on the case." "Why do you want to know?" "To get a feeling of what she was like from where she lived." "I've not heard much good of her so far." "There's not really much to see." "They took all the personal stuff-- letters, diary, address book." "Photo feature she was trying to sell-- not very imaginative." "Teenage vandalism." "OK, I suppose, but everybody's seen so much of it already." "Nothing new." "How did you get your stab wound?" "Drug squad." "We get a lot of aggro." "It's all part of the game." "Now, let's go back to the beginning, Geoffrey." "Malcolm took a photo of the car on the cliff, and he saw something happen." "Whoever he saw saw him and caught him." "A man." "He saw a man-- evidence of the lady at the petrol station." "Nice cup of chocolate." "Thanks." "Thanks." "He escaped." "The man still had Malcolm's car, but Malcolm had money." "He could have got home somehow, only he didn't go home." "Instead, the man took Malcolm's car home-- parked it just round the corner." "And waited." "Right." "But Malcolm must have got away again." "He phoned his parents to let them know he was OK." "But he still couldn't go home, and he's not been seen or heard of since." "ROBERT:" "Aye." "Kidnappers do that, don't they-- make you phone home to say you're alive?" "It wasn't a kidnap." "Nobody's asked for money." "But the man found Malcolm again." "He's hiding him somewhere." "If he's still alive." "What kind of person has the contacts to find Malcolm if he's drifting?" "What kind of person could frighten him out of going to the police?" "The sort of person who could convince him he wouldn't be believed." "But how could he convince anyone of anything when he can't hear what they say?" "GEOFFREY:" "He can read lips." "Do you remember those photos at Lynn's flat-- the housing estate ones?" "Teenage vandalism, he said." "But there was one photo with two lads, and one of them was handing money over." "Money for drugs-- it has to be." "And Sergeant Lennox is on the drug squad." "And then there's the back of that head!" "You're jumping to conclusions, Geoffrey." "I've a good coach, Mrs. Wainthropp" "Olympic standard." "Yes?" "Is Detective Sergeant Lennox at home?" "It's Mrs. Wainthropp." "Yes." "I think he's outside somewhere." "Do you want to come in?" "Thank you." "Clare!" "Daddy, Mrs. Wainthropp's come to see you." "Who?" "Mrs. Wainthropp." "Where is she?" "With Mummy." "OK." "Give Tim a hand." "I'll be back." "Where are you going?" "There was a light up there last night, and the other day, I heard a bump." "Daddy says we're not to go up there." "I'm not going up." "I'm just going to look." "It's too dark." "Pass me the matches." "Aaaah!" "[Children screaming]" "Clare, what's wrong?" "Where's Tim?" "TIM:" "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Please." "Tim, where are you?" "Daddy!" "Here!" "Hold him!" "What's going on?" "There's a fire in the barn." "Call the fire brigade." "Right." "Come on." "[Both coughing]" "You want him as he is, or do you want him gift-wrapped?" "Is he all right?" "The lady wants to know, are you all right?" "ADAMS:" "He refuses to testify." "And can't be made to." "We can prove you were in the car with her." "Well, I've admitted I was there." "She threw me out after sex, as was her wont, and I was lucky to find a lift home." "I've got to tell you, sir, you've no case." "You'll resign, of course." "Of course." "Now you'll be able to get yourself a proper job." "What as?" "Security guard?" "Night watchman?" "I'm a dedicated police officer!" "[Door opens]" "[No audio]" "What was she signing?" ""What took you so long?""