Kavanagh QC (1995) s03e01 Episode Script
Mute of Malice
1 (Baby cries) (Crying continues) Now I want to talk.
I can't.
Now I want to get it out of my head.
I can't.
(Explosions and gunfire) He'll get a good job, easy.
He's bound to with his degree.
He'll be all right.
I'm not sure I can hack it, though.
I have to say that I sometimes feel very lonely.
Let's go! Let's go! (Troops yell) Let's go! Sometimes I just sit and stare at the wall.
You know? I do cry a lot, I'm afraid, Padre.
(Explosions and gunfire) No, no, young man.
You're innocent.
Don't waste time thanking people.
It sometimes turns out right.
REPORTER: Here they come.
"Over here.
" - Mr Beddoes! - Mr Beddoes! Will the pensions be paid.
Mr Beddoes? Taxi! My client has a full answer to all the charges brought.
What's all that about? KAVANAGH: Of course Miles Beddoes.
Palanquin Investments fraud.
Jeremy's crock of gold.
Coming to trial.
The pensioners have not been betrayed.
Your old pupil master's in his seventh heaven.
They will, I'm certain.
Eventually be fully compensated.
What about your wife's feelings? - Temple, please.
- Backed up all the way to the Angel.
I'd sooner keep out of Temple.
Will you stand by him, Gemma? Gemma! Miles! That chap's not looking too happy, Alex.
The tabloids have him guilty as per.
ALEX".
His poor wife.
- They call it standing by him.
I'd string him up.
Course you would, fair-minded chap like you.
He reads the papers.
Sick, that's what it is.
I mean, look at the size of his bleedin' car! I mean.
twilight of their lite.
Old people need their pensions.
I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, what a beautiful day, Dartwood.
Hey-ho.
Ad interim.
Back to dusty brief and brazen adversary.
Crown versus Sykes.
(Chuckles) When does it all Stan properly? It's started.
But not a complicated case.
It should be over in a year or so.
A year, thousands of pounds later, and Mr Aldermarten is a very rich lawyer.
All the way to the bank.
Not mine, if he's any sense.
He'll pocket as much as I'm said to have stolen.
Not quite.
Did you? Depends which paper you read.
I'm not reading any at the moment.
USHER: Court rise.
Mr Aldermarten.
My lord.
Do you prosecute? You're gracious to notice, my lord.
I am delighted to welcome you in silk, Mr Aldermarten.
Have we not been before him you know.
before? Yes.
Your Lordship is too kind.
- Mr Aldermarten.
- My lord? Why are you wearing that wig? Well it's the only I have, my lord.
What are you talking about? W-W-Well, my wig, my lord.
Do we have time for that? I don't think 30.
Get on with it, Mr Aldermarten.
ISSAC WATTS: Psalm 119 Foolish and vain, I went astray Ere I had felt thy scourges, Lord I left my guide, and lost my way But now I love and keep thy word (Church bell rings) (Bell continues ringing) (Organ and singing in distance) - What? - Nothing.
Edgar! - What are you doing? - Clearing up.
Making space in which I might breathe better.
Emptying it of the clutter.
- Come on Edgar' - Yes, yes, yes, yes.
(Rook caws) - What's that? - My last chapter.
- You're not still hoping to have it published? - Why, don't you think I can write? - Well.
actually, now you ask - We didn't all get firsts.
- You're in it.
- Thanks for nothing.
College kicked me out.
Well, they were right.
I don't know.
I seek need a new ministry, Miles.
Yeah, well, join the club.
Oh You Your trial coming up.
Me again.
Me, me, always me! How are you bearing up? Oh, dear.
I can't help, can I? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
This is the big one, Edgar.
Financial whizz kid hit skids, eh? No, no, no, no, it's the Scrubs for me.
The Scrubs.
There are others.
There's a Good Nick Guide.
Yes, I'm sure.
Look, I don't understand money things.
You were doing so well.
Everyone was amazed.
What did you do? Took a bit of money, remerged it into bank accounts I controlled, some in Switzerland, some Gibraltar and other hidey-holes.
Pensions.
I could stop it.
Here and now.
Leave Gemma and the kids with some money at the very least.
Don't ask me to condemn.
I can't.
I saw what real crime is.
Ah, yes.
But you're golden.
You fought for Christ.
Mention that in your book, do you? (Laughs) Make room for God in your mind and he'll enter your life.
There are those with minds abroad.
Or coddling mischief.
And to them I say welcome the devil into your heart.
He'll make you feel complete.
(Birds cry) Miles didn't turn up to give them all a thrill.
Angela.
- Are you surprised? - He doesn't usually run away.
Perhaps he thought your father He helped Miles a great deal.
They help each other in the City.
Miles wouldn't have got where he did in such a short space of time if Gemma's father hadn't given him a great deal more than help.
Trust, confidence, support.
Well, he's let them all down, Lizzie.
(Car horn) (Birds call) (Bird takes flight) The usual for lunch? - You were going to make sandwiches.
- Oh, I was but l was late for church.
I made them.
Oh, dear, well I forgot the corkscrew, though.
I know I did.
I had hoped you'd come, just once.
This is the last time we're going to be down for ages.
Even Father wouldn't come.
Angela and her family need all the I never go to church when we're down.
It'd look pretty obvious, wouldn't it, going now? I just thought they would prefer not to be gawped at.
So we can still stop and have sandwiches.
OK.
(Gunshot) Missed.
Wait for them to come back.
They always come back, rooks.
One always goes home, I suppose.
What, even if not wanted or someone waits with a gun? People do.
I'm bloody tired of it.
You wouldn't care to help me out, would you? Me? Isn't it you who prides himself on helping me? I've done my best.
Aren't you grateful? - Sometimes.
- Got you a gong and a mention.
- That helped, didn't it? - I'm not sure.
Yes, you know it did.
Thoroughly dishonest, though to be honest.
Only we know.
Till your rotten book comes out.
Oh, do cheer up, Padre.
It might never happen.
- For my spelling.
(Bird takes flight) Hold still, hold still.
Have mine.
There's one up the spout.
(Gunshot) Dad'll be happy you're down for a Sunday.
Now he can carve something up.
Where are my brothers? Shooting.
Birds.
Too much to hope Miles might do the decent thing, I suppose? - Confess? - No, bump himself off.
That's a pretty dreadful thing to say.
Yes, isn't it? I do, however, mean it.
He's a crook, Angela.
Is he? Yes.
Him gone we might all eventually live it down.
My father had a good name in the City.
Miles won't do any decent thing, Gemma.
Of us all, only Edgar ever has done.
- Huh, Yugoslavia! - Bosnia, Father.
Keeps his light well hid here.
I suppose I'll be expected to carve it, if I can recollect how.
What he's saying is I won't cook meat, aren't you, Father? Well, I'll carve, if you like.
I won't do more than hack chunks off any-old-how, though.
No silly sacrificial ritual.
Well, then I'd better try.
The creature died after all.
One ought to show gratitude.
I worry about the boys, I must say.
I don't give a damn about us.
(Gemma sobs) (Sighs) - And we've got an apple each and a Kit Kat.
- Ooh.
It's better than that crowded pub we always stop at.
(Rock music blares from radio) Oh, God? Matt! I'm a Snoop Doggy Dogg man myself.
(Laboured breathing) (Twig snaps) At least I don't need do evensong.
So bottle of wine? Edgar kindly offered he'd do evensong.
Never stopped you before, Father.
You and old Canon Jolly.
- Now, there was a sympathetic man.
- Huh.
One could talk to him.
A real priest.
I miss him, old soak.
And his good ordinary claret.
Mint sauce.
- Shall I? - Miles will not be happy else.
(Door opens) I should have left it there.
- Is that blood? - Where is Father? GEMMA: Where's Miles? ANGELA: Gone down the cellar.
He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles, I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
(Clink of bottles) (Whistles) - Gary.
- Cold enough for you, sir? Bloody hell! What's Tom shouting about? Nice little long fraud tickle, that.
I was anticipating years of steady.
Not like you to back a loser, Tom.
I don't know what this country's coming to.
No moral fibre.
Where would we be if every flash client decided to top himself sooner than face the music in court? Undertakers? Skim is where, Miss Ames.
I do hope it doesn't become a trend vis-a-vis the financial classes.
Helen? Tom? Our chap Miles Beddoes is dead.
Does he know? I'll break the news.
Right.
.
.
Find Mr Aldermarten something else to keep him off the streets.
Something sticky.
Would you say a joke? It was an odd joke.
(Knock on door) James knows him, of course.
Good morning, James.
- Morning.
- Morning.
I think colder.
Do you, James? Definite chill in the air.
Has it not reached your regions yet? - You know Mr Justice Way? - I most certainly do.
- An old friend? - That's why I mentioned him to you.
- What about him? - What do you think of him? Oh.
sensible always helpful.
doesn't waste time.
Likes a joke.
Doesn't ask daft questions like who Snoop Doggy Dogg might be.
Who Who is Snoop Doggy There you are, Jeremy.
Way J is a very good judge, very well liked.
Should I have laughed? Nobody else did.
He asked me why I was wearing a wig.
If you can't take a joke I can take a joke! Good chap.
Here's another one for you.
Your client shot himself.
Oh, Lord! (Phone rings) - That your accountant? That's cheap.
- Has he said anything yet? - No.
Inspector Judd enters at 10:26.
I'm going to Sergeant Spiridion leaves at 10:27.
It's all right, Edgar.
Your solicitor Mr Dartvvood is here.
We've sent for a doctor for you.
We'll wait.
We can.
Patience.
We have to question you.
You were the only one there.
You know.
Do you want anything at all? If you want anything, just write it down.
Anything at all.
You a clergyman and nothing to say.
I don't believe it.
I never liked Miles.
But you don't have to like the people that you love in a family, do you? Or where would that leave Daddy? Edgar, however, is different.
We all liked him.
Tried to help him as well as loving him.
You too.
Yes.
But Edgar said it.
You heard him.
You said yourself you hoped Miles would do the decent thing.
Well, he did.
There was no need for police.
Back to greens, are we? Greens and beans.
(Door slams) âAfterword.
" Vita brevis.
(Coughs) (Shores) I think that's my fastest slash ever.
Olympic.
Sergeant Spiridion comes back in at 21:30.
(Shores) Mr Beddoes writes.
Yes.
"Guilty".
That's good, isn't it, Edgar? What, not even a nod? Yes, they're here now.
Yes.
I will.
Yeah.
Bye.
Angela, Lizzie will be able to have lunch with you.
- Oh, good.
- Please.
sit down.
Hello.
Miles was my client.
I'm so sorry.
Mr Beddoes, Miss Beddoes, this is Mr Aldermarten, who is no longer involved and will not linger.
Oh.
this is this is Alex Wilson.
Is she his devil? Yes.
well.
we don't use that term in these days of political correctness.
Not wise.
I'm sorry, Angela, you can't stay.
You could well be a prosecution witness.
We can't talk to you.
I was once chaplain at the Devil's Own Inns of Court Yeomanry.
Did that conflict spiritually? Devils indeed.
Hardly.
More likely the Guards Cavalry.
Bum boys to a man, the surgeon told me.
Abnormal high incidence of a filthy disease of the rectum, he confided.
Well, duty calls.
ALDERMARTEN: Can somebody get you something? My son admits his guilt.
How, if he can't or won't speak? Can't! Dartwood tells me you call it a visitation.
That's he struck by hand of God.
Believe that and you will, without doubt.
Believe anything.
What do the doctors say? All there.
And he er made a statement.
Well, wrote just one word.
"Guilty.
" That's all.
I'm sorry, I was tired.
Mr Beddoes, as a preliminary.
There will be a little trial at which a jury will be asked to decide whether Edgar - is mute of malice.
- He doesn't know even his name.
- Or mute - A lawyer who doesn't know his client's name! - .
.
By visitation of God.
- Ring out, base bugles! Whatever the outcome, the plea is not guilty.
No decent angel would go near either of them.
It would be all the better for Edgar's defence if a jury doesn't think that he refuses to speak, is mute of malice.
It's difficult.
He shot his brother and said so.
The fatal wound was found equally consistent with suicide.
But in the absence of a suicide note and the existence of an admission of guilt, they they have a case.
Why? What motive? Well, the police suggest one.
Both with the UN in Bosnia.
Edgar attached to Miles' regiment.
Miles hoped to publish a book to cash in on his notoriety.
And in it, he deflates Edgar's heroism for which he was decorated.
Hero! They're none of them heroes these days.
They call them heroes soon as they're booted and badged.
He got a mention in dispatches.
Why are you here, Mr Beddoes? I'm paying.
I am quite rich.
Something you peak quotation Judases like to hear, don't you? Well, you won't be paying me.
I don't wish to take this brief, Mr Dartwood.
(Chuckles) Can he do that? No.
He has to take the case if you insist.
But will you, if he doesn't care to? Perhaps not.
All those stairs! Place is like a Shepherd's Market brothel! - Hello.
- Hi.
So how did it go? Quite unbelievably awful.
What did James say? James? Oh, no.
No, Father.
Father.
Oh.
Well, where is he? Did he go to his club? No, I put him on the train.
If he went to his club, he'd attack somebody, then come back exultant that he'd bashed a bishop.
He was intent on going to where they preach at lunchtime on Tower Hill.
To preach? No, to heckle those he hates who do! Your husband doesn't want to take us on, Lizzie.
And, you know, I don't blame him.
Not one bit.
Oh, dear.
- It's all right, we'll find someone.
- I haven't wanted to interfere but should I? Lizzie Edgar is determined on his own guilt.
All that can be done is ask for clemency or whatever it is one does.
Though why Edgar should expect it.
I don't know.
- But you must try.
- To be fair, Edgar doesn't expect it.
He simply awaits his fate.
I've got this for you, sir.
Immoral earnings and arson.
Ah.
Hm.
Hot crumpet.
- Mr Justice Way.
- Oh, no! Way J.
Oh, well.
I shall try to make a spoon of it.
(Door slams) - I'm home! I don't like your friend's father.
You're always telling me you're not supposed to like, just defend.
- They're friends, James.
- They're not friends of mine.
Of mine.
You know them and they've asked for you.
They don't need me, Lizzie, to plead litigation.
All it'll boil down to.
Any competent barrister can do that.
Will you think about it? There's no point to it anyway.
Are we going to eat? Isn't there supposed to be a motive for someone accused of murder? Well, there is a motive floating.
Miles was writing a book, their deeds heroic - not so heroic, it seems, on Edgar's part- in Bosnia.
I haven't seen it.
Yet he did get a medal.
What was said when he did? When Edgar got his medal? (Phone rings) - Oh.
Hello.
- (Whispers) Angela.
- Oh.
I-I've just got in.
I was talking to him now.
All right? Yes.
Plenty of food in the fridge.
Too much for the two of us, really.
But I can't get out of the habit.
Do you know, when Matt gathers up his pot plants and CDs.
Takes up his videos and walks, they might never come back and live with us again.
Kate and Matt, I mean.
Mind you, good riddance.
And mind you, these days.
you'd hardly know the difference.
He's never in.
What is he, cohabiting or something? (Chuckles) Who knows? Poor chap.
Oh, then there's going to be trying to find a place.
Then a job.
To think about starting again, all that.
Thrown into all that! It's terrifying, isn't it? I had a sudden urge for my pension last week.
- It came on me.
- That'll be all right, won't it? Your friend Angela is a prosecution witness, you know.
She shouldn't be involved.
Can? be involved.
I can't talk to her.
You ought not to, really.
80 be careful what you say to her.
But surely it doesn't matter if you've avoided taking the brief.
Well.
no.
no Who have they got? Well, I said I'd keep trying with you.
I can't turn it down.
I'm not allowed to.
Your friend, that crazed old bugger in a dog collar, got up my nose.
When I think of what he's had and what my father hasn't had Rude old sod.
So you can tell Angela I've changed my mind, Lizzie.
Well, you know me, anything to keep Jeremy's hands off a case.
KAVANAGH: Edgar.
I'm told you understand but don't choose to talk.
Indeed, can't talk.
Is that correct? Are you trying? Their doctor has said there is nothing wrong.
physically wrong.
Your condition is simply aphonia.
That is, you can't speak.
Your brain isn't damaged and you are equipped to talk but you don't.
Or won't.
Nor will you write any more.
Or can't.
Nor will you nod or shake your head.
Or won't.
But can you make any noises? I don't mean to offend you.
You will stand trial for the murder of your brother on the evidence of your own reported words and this.
This is Alex Wilson.
She will read you what the police say you said.
Alex.
"He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles.
I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
" Did you say that? It seems to me you might have done.
It's all right, Edgar.
Really.
You don't have to try.
We understand.
It's all right, Edgar.
Keep calm.
We know that you can't talk.
It would help us if you could.
It would help us to defend you.
You don't want to be defended? Did you kill your brother? If you plead guilty, we've still got to say something on your behalf in mitigation.
We would like to know what to say.
Alex offers you paper if you want to write something.
You managed to write "Guilty" for the police, Edgar.
Don't worry.
It's all right.
We'll come and see you again, Edgar.
We've asked a doctor to have a look at you.
Talk to you.
This is Edgar, is it? Jolly good.
My name is Cole and I'm what you might call a shrink.
You've got to do jury service, man.
I've got other things to do.
You want to do it, you do it.
You ain't got other things to do, maybe.
- I got plenty of things to do.
- Yeah.
Come on, it's £40 a day, man.
I earn more than that.
How do you earn more than that? You ain't working.
I work.
Do a bit of this, bit of that.
- Williams.
- Here Shankar.
She's got the list.
You might get the murder.
Adams.
- Yes.
- Justice calls.
Do you understand what this is all about, Edgar? - I have told him, Mr Kavanagh.
- Yes, well, I'll tell him again.
You will be asked how you plead.
Guilty or not guilty.
If you say nothing, there will be a small trial before the big trial when a jury will be asked to decide whether you are mute of malice or mute by visitation of God.
You have been examined by doctors who will say that you haven't spoken.
Cannot.
Whatever the jury decide.
The judge will order that you are to plead not guilty so that you may face a proper trial for murder with a defence.
But all this maybe avoided if you speak.
Are you going to? Very well.
We'll do our best.
In the 19th century, those mute of malice were pressed under weights until they either died or pleaded.
Yes.
Every law book I've read enjoys that footnote.
I don't think he'd say anything even then.
Do you? USHER: Neville.
Radcliffe.
Merlus.
Kidd.
Shankar.
Adams.
I'm here.
- Any whose religion does not let them swear? - Does my mum scum'? You just listen to what he says.
CLERK: Stand and read the card.
I swear Only I ought to say, if it's Mr Beddoes' trial, I know him.
He saved my life.
USHER: try the defendant "try the defendant to give a true verdict according to the evidence.
" (Whispers) Mr Turner, will you stand this juror by? Thank you, my lord.
Stand by for the Crown.
- Williams.
- Here I'll find him not guilty, won't I? I'm bound to, aren't I, bloke saves your life? How did he save your life? He did.
- Can I go now? - I tell you when you can go.
Yes, you can go.
Services not needed.
We've got enough.
Right, where do I parade for pay? In the post.
What do you think this is, the DSS? Dr Cole.
Thank you for your medical report and thank you for coming.
Could he have killed his brother? I'm certain he did.
I'll have Alex warn you when we're getting near to wanting you.
Dr Trevis.
Tor the benefit of the jury.
I will go through your medical evidence again.
And your conclusions.
Which are that Edgar Beddoes has not suffered injury or wounding.
His brain is not damaged.
His condition has no basis in physical impairment but is more likely to be the result of an emotional shock of some kind which has resulted in aphonia or lack of speech.
Yes, you have explained the tests that you have carried out Warn Dr Cole.
And the examinations you have made.
Dr Cole.
- Are they treating you all right? - Yeah.
- What are you for? - Crown v.
Beddoes.
I'll tell you something about that.
Dr Cole, you have examined Edgar Beddoes? I have.
Can he talk or is he shamming? Physically there is no reason why he should not talk.
He is refusing to speak? His brain is refusing to allow him to speak.
He's not aware that that is the case.
He's simply unable to speak.
- Why? - He doesn't want to.
He has a powerful reason not to wish to speak or communicate in any way.
So powerful that he has no control in the matter.
He cannot nod.
How he cannot write which is unusual in such a case.
Often the urge to write is strong.
Has he been struck dumb or not? In a sense, he has and in a sense, he has not.
I'm sorry.
I cannot be clearer than that.
It seems clear enough to me, Doctor Cole.
The shock of his brother's death has triggered something.
It's brought something back that is very shocking.
Something that he's never been able to talk about.
Do you know what that might be? No.
It's very deep.
I would need time.
How does he feel about being on trial? How does he view the situation he finds himself in? He's amazingly unconcerned.
Indeed? And yet he wrote "Guilty" on a piece of paper.
I have to say that he appears to have no guilt whatsoever about the death of his brother.
- But - Yes? He does have a deeper guilt.
I can find no basis for it.
None? Does the fact that the defendant served in Bosnia bring anything to mind? Combat stress is an area I suggest be explored.
Thank you.
Miss Haddon.
- Surely the shock of killing his brother - My lord! Indeed.
Miss Haddon.
Grateful, my lord.
Yes.
If the defendant had killed his brother or seen his brother die, would that be shock enough to render him mute? I think it is dare I say, as I said, deeper.
Yes, but could it? It could.
Hysteria can be brought on by any emotional shock.
It's just the Yes, thank you.
Dr Cole, will the defendant ever speak again? Oh, yes.
One day he will.
And how will that happen? When he feels he can, he will.
I see.
Thank you.
I have no more questions.
my lord.
- Where is he? - Dartwood is looking for him.
Dr Cole, is my client about to speak now? He is not.
No.
Thank you.
Members of the jury, consider this.
Is the defendant mute of malice.
Or mute by visitation of God? You may convince yourselves of the reasons for this.
But I must tell you that visitation does not have any mystical connotation.
It simply means a person is mute from birth or has become mute since and cannot reply when question is put to him.
Until it was reformed.
The law allowed for such a person who refused question to be liable.
To be "peine forte et dure, that is pressed under weights until dead.
Or plead.
And also to the charge that he lived on immoral earnings.
My client comes before you rectus in curia.
Upright.
With with clean I think we might adjourn until tomorrow at half past ten, Mr Aldermarten.
- Oh.
USHER: Court rise.
Tomorrow? Did he say tomorrow? USHER: Court rise.
- Mr Aldermarten.
- My lord.
- Do you prosecute? - I do, my lord.
No! I mean, I-I-I-I No.
I'm delighted to welcome you in silk, Mr Aldermarten.
This can't go on.
JUDGE: Edgar Beddoes.
The jury has found you to be mute of malice.
You maybe put on the country for trial.
A plea of not guilty will be entered to the indictment alleging murder.
- Let a fresh jury be sworn.
- Let the court rise.
He wants to be found guilty.
Why would that be, Alex? STEREO: I Baroque flute concerto Alex, let's go home.
Edgar.
we're going home.
We'll see you tomorrow.
- Let me stay.
- No.
- Please.
I can understand a great deal.
- No.
Alex.
you're not staying.
- He's tired.
You're right.
- We're all tired.
Will you talk? I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
I mean.
can Alex help you? Help her see.
Edgar, I know it's big and it hurts, this guilt you're heavy with.
Alex can come back tomorrow, if you like.
Early in the morning, fresh.
- Will you, Alex? - Yes.
Is that all right, Edgar? Yes.
What strikes me it's odd, but I have it is the thought that our client is in the wrong court for the wrong crime.
But where he thinks he is or what he fears he's done it's beyond me.
Does he know? (Classical music blares) (Car alarm beeps) (Music blares) - Hello' Lizzie? (Music off) - Who's home? (Television blares) - It was like a morgue.
You know You know.
this house is too big for just us now.
Is it? I suppose you're right.
When I came back.
I I almost didn't want to come in.
What do you want us to do, Lizzie? Find another house? A smaller one? Perhaps we ought to.
Well, could we not keep it till I retire? Oh, that'll be years yet.
The point is, they'll want somewhere in London.
All their friends are here.
We never had enough room before.
No.
Didn't take much to fill this house.
Matt can do it on his own when When he's here.
Quite.
Right, let's turn off some of these lights.
Must be costing the earth.
What was Edgar like when he came back from Bosnia? Did you see him? Um Pleased to be back.
They both were.
Was he changed? He was thinner.
He'd been ill, I think.
Nothing else.
Moody? Withdrawn? No.
No, he was just his usual silly self.
You can't talk.
but I can tell.
I think I can see what you want to say.
I think I can guess.
I'll say it for you and you can shout at me if I get it wrong.
Sorry.
I don't mean shout, do I? Members of the jury, the defendant, Edgar James Beddoes is charged on indictment with one count of murder.
And the particulars of the count are that he murdered Miles Guy Beddoes.
To this indictment.
A plea of not guilty has been entered and it is your duty to say.
Having heard all the evidence.
Whether he be guilty or not guilty.
- May it please you, my lord? - Yes, Miss Haddon.
The two brothers went rook shooting together at approximately 11 o'clock.
While their father.
the Reverend Beddoes.
Was conducting a service attended by his daughter Angela.
Gemma.
the wife of the victim.
Was alone in the house preparing lunch.
She will tell you she saw the two brothers leave the house and they appeared to her to be arguing vehemently.
Sar'nt Major? Adams.
You can call me "sir".
It must be all up with the padre if he's asked for you to give him a character.
- Saved my life, didn't he, Sar'nt Major? - There really is no accounting for taste.
Oh, no, his wife will be absolutely delighted to know you're still of a mind to publish his book.
She does need the money.
Um He sent me a last chapter.
Yes, I'll send it on to you.
Um Well, no, I actually haven't read it all.
No, just a just a skip through for libel which Um Am I Am I referred to by by any chance.
at all? I see! Thank you.
I did my best! Bloody nerve! Now.
where's this Afterword.
I asked the defendant directly.
was he responsible for the death of his brother? He wrote "Guilty".
Yes.
Exhibit 5, my lord.
(Mutters) Good Lord! What has Kavanagh ever done for me? Inspector, how did my client behave when you questioned him? - He resolutely said nothing.
- Resolutely? Do you suggest he was simply refusing questions? I'm not qualified to say, sir.
Come now.
Inspector.
You've had people refuse to answer questions, surely? How do they refuse? They say "no comment" or something.
Or they give you a look.
Ah.
Did my client give you a look? He did not.
Not any kind of a look? Not a knowing look, I have to say that, no.
You first thought the deceased had killed himself, didn't you? Yes.
Did you know that the deceased was facing triad? - Yes, sir.
- A long, complicated trial with the possibility of prison if he were to be found guilty? I believe so, but I've no knowledge of the case.
You must be one of very few in the country may say that.
Don't you read the newspapers? - That appears to be so.
- It does.
Everybody else had my client's brother hanged, drawn, quartered and sequestrate by way of informed comment in newspapers.
I don't wonder you thought he might have taken his own life.
I want you to go as fast as you can.
It's really extremely urgent.
Run! What are you waiting for? Chop chop! I think Simpson's in the Strand.
Do you? Very kind, Peter.
We have to eat meat when we can and there, I declare, they flaunt it.
My lot won't have it in the house.
They think of me, they tell me.
It's a damn disease vegetable-ism.
(Peter chuckles) Sergeant Spiridion.
Of experience as both policeman and countryman.
What is the weapon of choice in suicide? Often a shotgun, ma'am.
A 12-bore.
Yes.
If the jury care to look at Exhibit 7', they will see a 12-bore shotgun left on a chair.
What would have happened had the weapon used been a shotgun.
Sergeant? (Chuckles) We'd be looking up in the rookery trees for his brains.
Thank you.
Sergeant Spiridion.
I, too, thank you for your graphic description of a shotgun blast.
Was the weapon actually used to kill Miles Beddoes any less effective? Obviously not, sir.
Quite.
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
I have toad-in-the-hole.
I have bubble and squeak.
I have Dover sole.
Very special today.
- What do you say to that? - I say lamb chops.
I say lamb chops as well.
Very good.
How do you like your lamb? Mrs Beddoes, why did you go to the police? They brought Edgar back and said he was to see a doctor because he was too shocked to say anything.
I then realised that nothing had been said by any of us about what Edgar had said when he came back with the bloody gun.
- There was blood on it.
- Please speak up, Mrs Beddoes.
Grateful.
my lord.
Yes.
So what did you do, Mrs Beddoes? I went to the police and told them what Edgar had said.
Yes.
"He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles.
I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
" - (Softly) Yes.
- Yes Mrs Beddoes, do you recognise this manuscript? Exhibit 6, my lord.
It is a book written by my husband.
Will you read the marked passage on page 102? Yes, and will you speak up? - Yes.
- Yes? Yes, I will speak up.
(Clears throat) "The delicious irony is that Edgar very nearly got the Military Cross for rescuing us from a watery grave and leading us through a minefield.
Poor old, dear old Edgar needed it more than I did.
Seconded as he was from the TA.
And a rota! misfit as a padre.
Wrong background entirely in a bunch of thugs like us.
We need priests who have more cred than we have not less.
Won't listen else.
As it happens.
When he got his mention in dispatches.
He shot up in estimation and ended his tour in fat glory and acceptance.
So it was well worth doing.
Only Edgar and I know the truth of it.
" What did you do when you read that for the first time.
Mrs Beddoes? - I sent it to the police.
- Why? Edgar had written in the margin "You sod! I'll kill you.
" Thank you, Mrs Beddoes.
If you would just wait, Mrs Beddoes.
Mr Kavanagh.
Grateful, my lord.
Why are we here? You're a friend, John.
- What else? - Are you well? No, Peter, I am not well.
Ah.
Will you want some wine? Yes.
Then we'll have the claret you gave me yesterday.
KAVANAGH: Now.
you say the defendant said.
"He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles.
I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
" Is that correct? Yes.
- Do you think he meant it? - Of course.
I saw the body.
No, do you think he meant he had murdered his brother? - It seems the same to me.
- I see.
Yes.
Mrs Beddoes, do you have children? - Yes, two boys.
- Brothers.
- Do they fight? - Of course.
They're normal, healthy children.
Do they hurl insults at each other? Do they ever say things like, "I'll kill you for that"? No.
No, I mean they don't mean it.
No, they don't, I'm sure.
Mean that they will commit murder.
Thank you.
Mrs Beddoes.
Mrs Beddoes, your husband is killed and somebody tells you he killed him.
Would you not know what he meant? And would you not remember every word used for the rest of your life? My lord.
Would you remember that or not? Yes, I would.
I did! Would that be a convenient moment, Miss Hatton? USHER: Court rise.
(Cork pops) (Cork squeaks) (Wine is poured into glass) John? I think I'm becoming obsessed, Peter.
Oh? It was as much as I could do not to knock that pompous waiter down.
All part of the same thing.
The furbelows, that damn silly spoon thing.
The accoutrements and the rituals are everywhere becoming tedious, irritating, painful to me.
Is that true of you? In which case, it is simply a question of age.
Or are you still content to sport your wig and your conceit and let that be that? Ah There you are! An argument! I thought it might be.
When that passage from the book was read out, he thought it funny.
He didn't give a damn.
He wants guilt heaped on him.
He twists it in his heart.
He wants to be punished for something Yes, but it's not this.
He's using this to scourge himself.
It's not this.
He's not the least affected by this, by any of us.
He'll go to prison cos he wants to, not for killing his brother.
What do you think happened? I think, but I can't be sure.
Nobody can tell us if he can't.
Or Won? there is always that.
Yes.
What I gather is that his brother was going to shoot himself.
They struggled over the gun, both pulling the trigger.
Cole says he can start to talk at any time.
We must hope that he doesn't, because he'll confess to something I'm sure we both know he didn't do.
That is not what I ordered.
- Well, it is the lamb, sir.
- It is the lamb, yes.
It is not what I ordered.
Not at all.
Alex has him talking to her ninety to the dozen.
- Not quite.
- Does he speak in tongues, Alex? Are you a Christian, Turner? Well, yes, I suppose so.
I don't suppose so.
I am.
Sorry.
Every time an innocent man is convicted, a guilty man goes free.
Two kinds of people are injured by crime.
The victims.
And those who are innocent but accused, but who face damning evidence against them which has been constructed, cooked up.
To their horror, they find that their lawyers are either useless or completely indifferent.
The huge numbers caught up in the mill of the law means nobody has the time to seek out, to test.
to present any real argument, hm? Nobody cares about lying any more.
Done with a smile, a smirk.
And catch me out if you can.
Nobody gives a damn.
The police don't care about doing it.
And it is more and more obvious to me that we are following on, some of us, lawyers.
Judges, even.
Peter, I look at them LIS We them me them in their intimidating wigs, robes, at mountebanks like Aldermarten! - Ah - In your chambers? He's a very good barrister.
I've a lot of time for him.
He's also a friend.
I can't let you say that, John.
You may be right.
He's no worse than the rest of you, them, us.
He glares so and shoots his cuffs, all that.
All of it.
Their ritual.
Our ritual.
This is no way to find truth.
This is no way to reward evil and virtue.
We're getting it all wrong, you know.
- Not all of it, surely? - What? - Not everything? - Oh, yes.
Everything.
Mr Foxcott, I would be grateful for your help.
Well, to be honest, he wasn't the best of padres.
He was apt to be disliked by the men.
Like many Territorial Army secondments, he was far too interested in playing at soldiers.
Very eager, very warry.
It's not on for a padre.
It wasn't till after he got his mention that he came into his own.
as it were.
Well.
he was accepted.
He did some very good work.
It was the making of him.
He saved my life.
KAVANAGH: How did he do that? - He got me out of a river.
They were firing at us.
the bank was mined.
He just dragged me out.
Mr Adams, will you tell the jury how it came to happen that you were in the river? Yeah.
It was night, we were going over a bridge which was mined, the vehicle was blown into the river.
I was thrown clear.
the padre as well.
All of us.
The driver got it.
Drowned.
Where was Miles Beddoes? The padre got him out.
too.
- What happened then? - We all went up to the village.
What happened there? Well, it was winter.
I was cold.
I got pneumonia.
Nearly died.
I'd have died a lot sooner if he hadn't got me out.
What did you do in the village? Shiver.
What did Edgar Beddoes do? Well, he shouldn't have done it.
I tried to stop him.
He looked into the cellar.
Not something we hadn't seen before but he hadn't.
What was it he saw? Ah, you know.
Bodies.
You've seen it on the telly.
It happened all the time.
What did he do? Went down on his knees and prayed.
Then he just fainted.
Toppled into the cellar.
Thank you.
Mr Adams.
Stay where you are.
please.
(Door opens) Are you certain it was Edgar Beddoes who pulled you from the water and then his brother? He pulled us out together.
We all ended up on the bank together.
- In the dark? - Yeah.
Half-drowned, cold, - dark.
but you're certain it was him? - Absolutely.
Why? Well, it said so in the citation.
Oh, yes, it did, didn't it? Thank you very much, Mr Adams.
Here you are, Miss Wilson.
- Thank you, Gary.
- Thank you.
I wish to affirm.
What religion is it permits you to wear a clerical collar yet not take an oath on the Holy Bible? I've lost my belief in God.
Might I respectfully point out that, in my opinion, a clerical collar, like a uniform or a judge's wig, is not necessarily evidence of faith, courage or justice.
My lord.
There's been an unusual development.
I ask Your Lordship 's leave not to examine the Reverend Matthew Beddoes at this time.
- Nevertheless, I shall speak.
- You shall not, Mr Beddoes.
Will you tell people? Yes.
I shall have to, John.
Good.
I want you to.
I know what's happening to me.
I hate it! It means that nobody will listen when I talk about my worries.
You have listened.
Do take me seriously, Peter.
JUDGE: Miss Haddon.
does the prosecution accept that this evidence is in the handwriting of the deceased? Yes, my lord.
The envelope is date stamped June 9th, postmarked Oxford.
The day Miles Beddoes died.
"I hope those who read this will understand that I have no intention of being around when they read it.
Their faces.
I can see their faces.
The shock.
anger.
fear.
But I am gone.
I am dead A victim of self-murder.
Bang!" Signed.
"Miles".
USHER".
Have you reached a verdict upon which you all agree? FOREMAN: Yes On the charge of murder.
how do you find the defendant.
Edgar James Beddoes? - Guilty or not guilty? - Not guilty.
The black chap.
The black chap, he told me.
Edgar forgave them.
Down on his knees in Bosnia.
He forgave his enemies.
- The boy's a saint.
- Please, Father, it's over now.
What stuff he's made of.
He sought punishment.
On his shoulders he's taken the guilt.
All of it.
Who else did that, eh? In this world? Who? A church is a battlefield, you know.
Enemies are fought there by young men who still have faith.
It's by way of being a present, James.
A copy of a book Edgar's been reading.
Thank you.
Is it good? Mm.
Very.
A character in it comes back from the war.
The trenches.
To find he's unable to speak for something he's seen.
Something so dreadful that it struck him dumb.
I see.
And er what happens? (Hoarse) One day I'll be able to speak.
It'll happen just like that.
I left my guide and lost my way.
But now I love and keep thy word.
I can't.
Now I want to get it out of my head.
I can't.
(Explosions and gunfire) He'll get a good job, easy.
He's bound to with his degree.
He'll be all right.
I'm not sure I can hack it, though.
I have to say that I sometimes feel very lonely.
Let's go! Let's go! (Troops yell) Let's go! Sometimes I just sit and stare at the wall.
You know? I do cry a lot, I'm afraid, Padre.
(Explosions and gunfire) No, no, young man.
You're innocent.
Don't waste time thanking people.
It sometimes turns out right.
REPORTER: Here they come.
"Over here.
" - Mr Beddoes! - Mr Beddoes! Will the pensions be paid.
Mr Beddoes? Taxi! My client has a full answer to all the charges brought.
What's all that about? KAVANAGH: Of course Miles Beddoes.
Palanquin Investments fraud.
Jeremy's crock of gold.
Coming to trial.
The pensioners have not been betrayed.
Your old pupil master's in his seventh heaven.
They will, I'm certain.
Eventually be fully compensated.
What about your wife's feelings? - Temple, please.
- Backed up all the way to the Angel.
I'd sooner keep out of Temple.
Will you stand by him, Gemma? Gemma! Miles! That chap's not looking too happy, Alex.
The tabloids have him guilty as per.
ALEX".
His poor wife.
- They call it standing by him.
I'd string him up.
Course you would, fair-minded chap like you.
He reads the papers.
Sick, that's what it is.
I mean, look at the size of his bleedin' car! I mean.
twilight of their lite.
Old people need their pensions.
I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, what a beautiful day, Dartwood.
Hey-ho.
Ad interim.
Back to dusty brief and brazen adversary.
Crown versus Sykes.
(Chuckles) When does it all Stan properly? It's started.
But not a complicated case.
It should be over in a year or so.
A year, thousands of pounds later, and Mr Aldermarten is a very rich lawyer.
All the way to the bank.
Not mine, if he's any sense.
He'll pocket as much as I'm said to have stolen.
Not quite.
Did you? Depends which paper you read.
I'm not reading any at the moment.
USHER: Court rise.
Mr Aldermarten.
My lord.
Do you prosecute? You're gracious to notice, my lord.
I am delighted to welcome you in silk, Mr Aldermarten.
Have we not been before him you know.
before? Yes.
Your Lordship is too kind.
- Mr Aldermarten.
- My lord? Why are you wearing that wig? Well it's the only I have, my lord.
What are you talking about? W-W-Well, my wig, my lord.
Do we have time for that? I don't think 30.
Get on with it, Mr Aldermarten.
ISSAC WATTS: Psalm 119 Foolish and vain, I went astray Ere I had felt thy scourges, Lord I left my guide, and lost my way But now I love and keep thy word (Church bell rings) (Bell continues ringing) (Organ and singing in distance) - What? - Nothing.
Edgar! - What are you doing? - Clearing up.
Making space in which I might breathe better.
Emptying it of the clutter.
- Come on Edgar' - Yes, yes, yes, yes.
(Rook caws) - What's that? - My last chapter.
- You're not still hoping to have it published? - Why, don't you think I can write? - Well.
actually, now you ask - We didn't all get firsts.
- You're in it.
- Thanks for nothing.
College kicked me out.
Well, they were right.
I don't know.
I seek need a new ministry, Miles.
Yeah, well, join the club.
Oh You Your trial coming up.
Me again.
Me, me, always me! How are you bearing up? Oh, dear.
I can't help, can I? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
This is the big one, Edgar.
Financial whizz kid hit skids, eh? No, no, no, no, it's the Scrubs for me.
The Scrubs.
There are others.
There's a Good Nick Guide.
Yes, I'm sure.
Look, I don't understand money things.
You were doing so well.
Everyone was amazed.
What did you do? Took a bit of money, remerged it into bank accounts I controlled, some in Switzerland, some Gibraltar and other hidey-holes.
Pensions.
I could stop it.
Here and now.
Leave Gemma and the kids with some money at the very least.
Don't ask me to condemn.
I can't.
I saw what real crime is.
Ah, yes.
But you're golden.
You fought for Christ.
Mention that in your book, do you? (Laughs) Make room for God in your mind and he'll enter your life.
There are those with minds abroad.
Or coddling mischief.
And to them I say welcome the devil into your heart.
He'll make you feel complete.
(Birds cry) Miles didn't turn up to give them all a thrill.
Angela.
- Are you surprised? - He doesn't usually run away.
Perhaps he thought your father He helped Miles a great deal.
They help each other in the City.
Miles wouldn't have got where he did in such a short space of time if Gemma's father hadn't given him a great deal more than help.
Trust, confidence, support.
Well, he's let them all down, Lizzie.
(Car horn) (Birds call) (Bird takes flight) The usual for lunch? - You were going to make sandwiches.
- Oh, I was but l was late for church.
I made them.
Oh, dear, well I forgot the corkscrew, though.
I know I did.
I had hoped you'd come, just once.
This is the last time we're going to be down for ages.
Even Father wouldn't come.
Angela and her family need all the I never go to church when we're down.
It'd look pretty obvious, wouldn't it, going now? I just thought they would prefer not to be gawped at.
So we can still stop and have sandwiches.
OK.
(Gunshot) Missed.
Wait for them to come back.
They always come back, rooks.
One always goes home, I suppose.
What, even if not wanted or someone waits with a gun? People do.
I'm bloody tired of it.
You wouldn't care to help me out, would you? Me? Isn't it you who prides himself on helping me? I've done my best.
Aren't you grateful? - Sometimes.
- Got you a gong and a mention.
- That helped, didn't it? - I'm not sure.
Yes, you know it did.
Thoroughly dishonest, though to be honest.
Only we know.
Till your rotten book comes out.
Oh, do cheer up, Padre.
It might never happen.
- For my spelling.
(Bird takes flight) Hold still, hold still.
Have mine.
There's one up the spout.
(Gunshot) Dad'll be happy you're down for a Sunday.
Now he can carve something up.
Where are my brothers? Shooting.
Birds.
Too much to hope Miles might do the decent thing, I suppose? - Confess? - No, bump himself off.
That's a pretty dreadful thing to say.
Yes, isn't it? I do, however, mean it.
He's a crook, Angela.
Is he? Yes.
Him gone we might all eventually live it down.
My father had a good name in the City.
Miles won't do any decent thing, Gemma.
Of us all, only Edgar ever has done.
- Huh, Yugoslavia! - Bosnia, Father.
Keeps his light well hid here.
I suppose I'll be expected to carve it, if I can recollect how.
What he's saying is I won't cook meat, aren't you, Father? Well, I'll carve, if you like.
I won't do more than hack chunks off any-old-how, though.
No silly sacrificial ritual.
Well, then I'd better try.
The creature died after all.
One ought to show gratitude.
I worry about the boys, I must say.
I don't give a damn about us.
(Gemma sobs) (Sighs) - And we've got an apple each and a Kit Kat.
- Ooh.
It's better than that crowded pub we always stop at.
(Rock music blares from radio) Oh, God? Matt! I'm a Snoop Doggy Dogg man myself.
(Laboured breathing) (Twig snaps) At least I don't need do evensong.
So bottle of wine? Edgar kindly offered he'd do evensong.
Never stopped you before, Father.
You and old Canon Jolly.
- Now, there was a sympathetic man.
- Huh.
One could talk to him.
A real priest.
I miss him, old soak.
And his good ordinary claret.
Mint sauce.
- Shall I? - Miles will not be happy else.
(Door opens) I should have left it there.
- Is that blood? - Where is Father? GEMMA: Where's Miles? ANGELA: Gone down the cellar.
He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles, I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
(Clink of bottles) (Whistles) - Gary.
- Cold enough for you, sir? Bloody hell! What's Tom shouting about? Nice little long fraud tickle, that.
I was anticipating years of steady.
Not like you to back a loser, Tom.
I don't know what this country's coming to.
No moral fibre.
Where would we be if every flash client decided to top himself sooner than face the music in court? Undertakers? Skim is where, Miss Ames.
I do hope it doesn't become a trend vis-a-vis the financial classes.
Helen? Tom? Our chap Miles Beddoes is dead.
Does he know? I'll break the news.
Right.
.
.
Find Mr Aldermarten something else to keep him off the streets.
Something sticky.
Would you say a joke? It was an odd joke.
(Knock on door) James knows him, of course.
Good morning, James.
- Morning.
- Morning.
I think colder.
Do you, James? Definite chill in the air.
Has it not reached your regions yet? - You know Mr Justice Way? - I most certainly do.
- An old friend? - That's why I mentioned him to you.
- What about him? - What do you think of him? Oh.
sensible always helpful.
doesn't waste time.
Likes a joke.
Doesn't ask daft questions like who Snoop Doggy Dogg might be.
Who Who is Snoop Doggy There you are, Jeremy.
Way J is a very good judge, very well liked.
Should I have laughed? Nobody else did.
He asked me why I was wearing a wig.
If you can't take a joke I can take a joke! Good chap.
Here's another one for you.
Your client shot himself.
Oh, Lord! (Phone rings) - That your accountant? That's cheap.
- Has he said anything yet? - No.
Inspector Judd enters at 10:26.
I'm going to Sergeant Spiridion leaves at 10:27.
It's all right, Edgar.
Your solicitor Mr Dartvvood is here.
We've sent for a doctor for you.
We'll wait.
We can.
Patience.
We have to question you.
You were the only one there.
You know.
Do you want anything at all? If you want anything, just write it down.
Anything at all.
You a clergyman and nothing to say.
I don't believe it.
I never liked Miles.
But you don't have to like the people that you love in a family, do you? Or where would that leave Daddy? Edgar, however, is different.
We all liked him.
Tried to help him as well as loving him.
You too.
Yes.
But Edgar said it.
You heard him.
You said yourself you hoped Miles would do the decent thing.
Well, he did.
There was no need for police.
Back to greens, are we? Greens and beans.
(Door slams) âAfterword.
" Vita brevis.
(Coughs) (Shores) I think that's my fastest slash ever.
Olympic.
Sergeant Spiridion comes back in at 21:30.
(Shores) Mr Beddoes writes.
Yes.
"Guilty".
That's good, isn't it, Edgar? What, not even a nod? Yes, they're here now.
Yes.
I will.
Yeah.
Bye.
Angela, Lizzie will be able to have lunch with you.
- Oh, good.
- Please.
sit down.
Hello.
Miles was my client.
I'm so sorry.
Mr Beddoes, Miss Beddoes, this is Mr Aldermarten, who is no longer involved and will not linger.
Oh.
this is this is Alex Wilson.
Is she his devil? Yes.
well.
we don't use that term in these days of political correctness.
Not wise.
I'm sorry, Angela, you can't stay.
You could well be a prosecution witness.
We can't talk to you.
I was once chaplain at the Devil's Own Inns of Court Yeomanry.
Did that conflict spiritually? Devils indeed.
Hardly.
More likely the Guards Cavalry.
Bum boys to a man, the surgeon told me.
Abnormal high incidence of a filthy disease of the rectum, he confided.
Well, duty calls.
ALDERMARTEN: Can somebody get you something? My son admits his guilt.
How, if he can't or won't speak? Can't! Dartwood tells me you call it a visitation.
That's he struck by hand of God.
Believe that and you will, without doubt.
Believe anything.
What do the doctors say? All there.
And he er made a statement.
Well, wrote just one word.
"Guilty.
" That's all.
I'm sorry, I was tired.
Mr Beddoes, as a preliminary.
There will be a little trial at which a jury will be asked to decide whether Edgar - is mute of malice.
- He doesn't know even his name.
- Or mute - A lawyer who doesn't know his client's name! - .
.
By visitation of God.
- Ring out, base bugles! Whatever the outcome, the plea is not guilty.
No decent angel would go near either of them.
It would be all the better for Edgar's defence if a jury doesn't think that he refuses to speak, is mute of malice.
It's difficult.
He shot his brother and said so.
The fatal wound was found equally consistent with suicide.
But in the absence of a suicide note and the existence of an admission of guilt, they they have a case.
Why? What motive? Well, the police suggest one.
Both with the UN in Bosnia.
Edgar attached to Miles' regiment.
Miles hoped to publish a book to cash in on his notoriety.
And in it, he deflates Edgar's heroism for which he was decorated.
Hero! They're none of them heroes these days.
They call them heroes soon as they're booted and badged.
He got a mention in dispatches.
Why are you here, Mr Beddoes? I'm paying.
I am quite rich.
Something you peak quotation Judases like to hear, don't you? Well, you won't be paying me.
I don't wish to take this brief, Mr Dartwood.
(Chuckles) Can he do that? No.
He has to take the case if you insist.
But will you, if he doesn't care to? Perhaps not.
All those stairs! Place is like a Shepherd's Market brothel! - Hello.
- Hi.
So how did it go? Quite unbelievably awful.
What did James say? James? Oh, no.
No, Father.
Father.
Oh.
Well, where is he? Did he go to his club? No, I put him on the train.
If he went to his club, he'd attack somebody, then come back exultant that he'd bashed a bishop.
He was intent on going to where they preach at lunchtime on Tower Hill.
To preach? No, to heckle those he hates who do! Your husband doesn't want to take us on, Lizzie.
And, you know, I don't blame him.
Not one bit.
Oh, dear.
- It's all right, we'll find someone.
- I haven't wanted to interfere but should I? Lizzie Edgar is determined on his own guilt.
All that can be done is ask for clemency or whatever it is one does.
Though why Edgar should expect it.
I don't know.
- But you must try.
- To be fair, Edgar doesn't expect it.
He simply awaits his fate.
I've got this for you, sir.
Immoral earnings and arson.
Ah.
Hm.
Hot crumpet.
- Mr Justice Way.
- Oh, no! Way J.
Oh, well.
I shall try to make a spoon of it.
(Door slams) - I'm home! I don't like your friend's father.
You're always telling me you're not supposed to like, just defend.
- They're friends, James.
- They're not friends of mine.
Of mine.
You know them and they've asked for you.
They don't need me, Lizzie, to plead litigation.
All it'll boil down to.
Any competent barrister can do that.
Will you think about it? There's no point to it anyway.
Are we going to eat? Isn't there supposed to be a motive for someone accused of murder? Well, there is a motive floating.
Miles was writing a book, their deeds heroic - not so heroic, it seems, on Edgar's part- in Bosnia.
I haven't seen it.
Yet he did get a medal.
What was said when he did? When Edgar got his medal? (Phone rings) - Oh.
Hello.
- (Whispers) Angela.
- Oh.
I-I've just got in.
I was talking to him now.
All right? Yes.
Plenty of food in the fridge.
Too much for the two of us, really.
But I can't get out of the habit.
Do you know, when Matt gathers up his pot plants and CDs.
Takes up his videos and walks, they might never come back and live with us again.
Kate and Matt, I mean.
Mind you, good riddance.
And mind you, these days.
you'd hardly know the difference.
He's never in.
What is he, cohabiting or something? (Chuckles) Who knows? Poor chap.
Oh, then there's going to be trying to find a place.
Then a job.
To think about starting again, all that.
Thrown into all that! It's terrifying, isn't it? I had a sudden urge for my pension last week.
- It came on me.
- That'll be all right, won't it? Your friend Angela is a prosecution witness, you know.
She shouldn't be involved.
Can? be involved.
I can't talk to her.
You ought not to, really.
80 be careful what you say to her.
But surely it doesn't matter if you've avoided taking the brief.
Well.
no.
no Who have they got? Well, I said I'd keep trying with you.
I can't turn it down.
I'm not allowed to.
Your friend, that crazed old bugger in a dog collar, got up my nose.
When I think of what he's had and what my father hasn't had Rude old sod.
So you can tell Angela I've changed my mind, Lizzie.
Well, you know me, anything to keep Jeremy's hands off a case.
KAVANAGH: Edgar.
I'm told you understand but don't choose to talk.
Indeed, can't talk.
Is that correct? Are you trying? Their doctor has said there is nothing wrong.
physically wrong.
Your condition is simply aphonia.
That is, you can't speak.
Your brain isn't damaged and you are equipped to talk but you don't.
Or won't.
Nor will you write any more.
Or can't.
Nor will you nod or shake your head.
Or won't.
But can you make any noises? I don't mean to offend you.
You will stand trial for the murder of your brother on the evidence of your own reported words and this.
This is Alex Wilson.
She will read you what the police say you said.
Alex.
"He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles.
I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
" Did you say that? It seems to me you might have done.
It's all right, Edgar.
Really.
You don't have to try.
We understand.
It's all right, Edgar.
Keep calm.
We know that you can't talk.
It would help us if you could.
It would help us to defend you.
You don't want to be defended? Did you kill your brother? If you plead guilty, we've still got to say something on your behalf in mitigation.
We would like to know what to say.
Alex offers you paper if you want to write something.
You managed to write "Guilty" for the police, Edgar.
Don't worry.
It's all right.
We'll come and see you again, Edgar.
We've asked a doctor to have a look at you.
Talk to you.
This is Edgar, is it? Jolly good.
My name is Cole and I'm what you might call a shrink.
You've got to do jury service, man.
I've got other things to do.
You want to do it, you do it.
You ain't got other things to do, maybe.
- I got plenty of things to do.
- Yeah.
Come on, it's £40 a day, man.
I earn more than that.
How do you earn more than that? You ain't working.
I work.
Do a bit of this, bit of that.
- Williams.
- Here Shankar.
She's got the list.
You might get the murder.
Adams.
- Yes.
- Justice calls.
Do you understand what this is all about, Edgar? - I have told him, Mr Kavanagh.
- Yes, well, I'll tell him again.
You will be asked how you plead.
Guilty or not guilty.
If you say nothing, there will be a small trial before the big trial when a jury will be asked to decide whether you are mute of malice or mute by visitation of God.
You have been examined by doctors who will say that you haven't spoken.
Cannot.
Whatever the jury decide.
The judge will order that you are to plead not guilty so that you may face a proper trial for murder with a defence.
But all this maybe avoided if you speak.
Are you going to? Very well.
We'll do our best.
In the 19th century, those mute of malice were pressed under weights until they either died or pleaded.
Yes.
Every law book I've read enjoys that footnote.
I don't think he'd say anything even then.
Do you? USHER: Neville.
Radcliffe.
Merlus.
Kidd.
Shankar.
Adams.
I'm here.
- Any whose religion does not let them swear? - Does my mum scum'? You just listen to what he says.
CLERK: Stand and read the card.
I swear Only I ought to say, if it's Mr Beddoes' trial, I know him.
He saved my life.
USHER: try the defendant "try the defendant to give a true verdict according to the evidence.
" (Whispers) Mr Turner, will you stand this juror by? Thank you, my lord.
Stand by for the Crown.
- Williams.
- Here I'll find him not guilty, won't I? I'm bound to, aren't I, bloke saves your life? How did he save your life? He did.
- Can I go now? - I tell you when you can go.
Yes, you can go.
Services not needed.
We've got enough.
Right, where do I parade for pay? In the post.
What do you think this is, the DSS? Dr Cole.
Thank you for your medical report and thank you for coming.
Could he have killed his brother? I'm certain he did.
I'll have Alex warn you when we're getting near to wanting you.
Dr Trevis.
Tor the benefit of the jury.
I will go through your medical evidence again.
And your conclusions.
Which are that Edgar Beddoes has not suffered injury or wounding.
His brain is not damaged.
His condition has no basis in physical impairment but is more likely to be the result of an emotional shock of some kind which has resulted in aphonia or lack of speech.
Yes, you have explained the tests that you have carried out Warn Dr Cole.
And the examinations you have made.
Dr Cole.
- Are they treating you all right? - Yeah.
- What are you for? - Crown v.
Beddoes.
I'll tell you something about that.
Dr Cole, you have examined Edgar Beddoes? I have.
Can he talk or is he shamming? Physically there is no reason why he should not talk.
He is refusing to speak? His brain is refusing to allow him to speak.
He's not aware that that is the case.
He's simply unable to speak.
- Why? - He doesn't want to.
He has a powerful reason not to wish to speak or communicate in any way.
So powerful that he has no control in the matter.
He cannot nod.
How he cannot write which is unusual in such a case.
Often the urge to write is strong.
Has he been struck dumb or not? In a sense, he has and in a sense, he has not.
I'm sorry.
I cannot be clearer than that.
It seems clear enough to me, Doctor Cole.
The shock of his brother's death has triggered something.
It's brought something back that is very shocking.
Something that he's never been able to talk about.
Do you know what that might be? No.
It's very deep.
I would need time.
How does he feel about being on trial? How does he view the situation he finds himself in? He's amazingly unconcerned.
Indeed? And yet he wrote "Guilty" on a piece of paper.
I have to say that he appears to have no guilt whatsoever about the death of his brother.
- But - Yes? He does have a deeper guilt.
I can find no basis for it.
None? Does the fact that the defendant served in Bosnia bring anything to mind? Combat stress is an area I suggest be explored.
Thank you.
Miss Haddon.
- Surely the shock of killing his brother - My lord! Indeed.
Miss Haddon.
Grateful, my lord.
Yes.
If the defendant had killed his brother or seen his brother die, would that be shock enough to render him mute? I think it is dare I say, as I said, deeper.
Yes, but could it? It could.
Hysteria can be brought on by any emotional shock.
It's just the Yes, thank you.
Dr Cole, will the defendant ever speak again? Oh, yes.
One day he will.
And how will that happen? When he feels he can, he will.
I see.
Thank you.
I have no more questions.
my lord.
- Where is he? - Dartwood is looking for him.
Dr Cole, is my client about to speak now? He is not.
No.
Thank you.
Members of the jury, consider this.
Is the defendant mute of malice.
Or mute by visitation of God? You may convince yourselves of the reasons for this.
But I must tell you that visitation does not have any mystical connotation.
It simply means a person is mute from birth or has become mute since and cannot reply when question is put to him.
Until it was reformed.
The law allowed for such a person who refused question to be liable.
To be "peine forte et dure, that is pressed under weights until dead.
Or plead.
And also to the charge that he lived on immoral earnings.
My client comes before you rectus in curia.
Upright.
With with clean I think we might adjourn until tomorrow at half past ten, Mr Aldermarten.
- Oh.
USHER: Court rise.
Tomorrow? Did he say tomorrow? USHER: Court rise.
- Mr Aldermarten.
- My lord.
- Do you prosecute? - I do, my lord.
No! I mean, I-I-I-I No.
I'm delighted to welcome you in silk, Mr Aldermarten.
This can't go on.
JUDGE: Edgar Beddoes.
The jury has found you to be mute of malice.
You maybe put on the country for trial.
A plea of not guilty will be entered to the indictment alleging murder.
- Let a fresh jury be sworn.
- Let the court rise.
He wants to be found guilty.
Why would that be, Alex? STEREO: I Baroque flute concerto Alex, let's go home.
Edgar.
we're going home.
We'll see you tomorrow.
- Let me stay.
- No.
- Please.
I can understand a great deal.
- No.
Alex.
you're not staying.
- He's tired.
You're right.
- We're all tired.
Will you talk? I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
I mean.
can Alex help you? Help her see.
Edgar, I know it's big and it hurts, this guilt you're heavy with.
Alex can come back tomorrow, if you like.
Early in the morning, fresh.
- Will you, Alex? - Yes.
Is that all right, Edgar? Yes.
What strikes me it's odd, but I have it is the thought that our client is in the wrong court for the wrong crime.
But where he thinks he is or what he fears he's done it's beyond me.
Does he know? (Classical music blares) (Car alarm beeps) (Music blares) - Hello' Lizzie? (Music off) - Who's home? (Television blares) - It was like a morgue.
You know You know.
this house is too big for just us now.
Is it? I suppose you're right.
When I came back.
I I almost didn't want to come in.
What do you want us to do, Lizzie? Find another house? A smaller one? Perhaps we ought to.
Well, could we not keep it till I retire? Oh, that'll be years yet.
The point is, they'll want somewhere in London.
All their friends are here.
We never had enough room before.
No.
Didn't take much to fill this house.
Matt can do it on his own when When he's here.
Quite.
Right, let's turn off some of these lights.
Must be costing the earth.
What was Edgar like when he came back from Bosnia? Did you see him? Um Pleased to be back.
They both were.
Was he changed? He was thinner.
He'd been ill, I think.
Nothing else.
Moody? Withdrawn? No.
No, he was just his usual silly self.
You can't talk.
but I can tell.
I think I can see what you want to say.
I think I can guess.
I'll say it for you and you can shout at me if I get it wrong.
Sorry.
I don't mean shout, do I? Members of the jury, the defendant, Edgar James Beddoes is charged on indictment with one count of murder.
And the particulars of the count are that he murdered Miles Guy Beddoes.
To this indictment.
A plea of not guilty has been entered and it is your duty to say.
Having heard all the evidence.
Whether he be guilty or not guilty.
- May it please you, my lord? - Yes, Miss Haddon.
The two brothers went rook shooting together at approximately 11 o'clock.
While their father.
the Reverend Beddoes.
Was conducting a service attended by his daughter Angela.
Gemma.
the wife of the victim.
Was alone in the house preparing lunch.
She will tell you she saw the two brothers leave the house and they appeared to her to be arguing vehemently.
Sar'nt Major? Adams.
You can call me "sir".
It must be all up with the padre if he's asked for you to give him a character.
- Saved my life, didn't he, Sar'nt Major? - There really is no accounting for taste.
Oh, no, his wife will be absolutely delighted to know you're still of a mind to publish his book.
She does need the money.
Um He sent me a last chapter.
Yes, I'll send it on to you.
Um Well, no, I actually haven't read it all.
No, just a just a skip through for libel which Um Am I Am I referred to by by any chance.
at all? I see! Thank you.
I did my best! Bloody nerve! Now.
where's this Afterword.
I asked the defendant directly.
was he responsible for the death of his brother? He wrote "Guilty".
Yes.
Exhibit 5, my lord.
(Mutters) Good Lord! What has Kavanagh ever done for me? Inspector, how did my client behave when you questioned him? - He resolutely said nothing.
- Resolutely? Do you suggest he was simply refusing questions? I'm not qualified to say, sir.
Come now.
Inspector.
You've had people refuse to answer questions, surely? How do they refuse? They say "no comment" or something.
Or they give you a look.
Ah.
Did my client give you a look? He did not.
Not any kind of a look? Not a knowing look, I have to say that, no.
You first thought the deceased had killed himself, didn't you? Yes.
Did you know that the deceased was facing triad? - Yes, sir.
- A long, complicated trial with the possibility of prison if he were to be found guilty? I believe so, but I've no knowledge of the case.
You must be one of very few in the country may say that.
Don't you read the newspapers? - That appears to be so.
- It does.
Everybody else had my client's brother hanged, drawn, quartered and sequestrate by way of informed comment in newspapers.
I don't wonder you thought he might have taken his own life.
I want you to go as fast as you can.
It's really extremely urgent.
Run! What are you waiting for? Chop chop! I think Simpson's in the Strand.
Do you? Very kind, Peter.
We have to eat meat when we can and there, I declare, they flaunt it.
My lot won't have it in the house.
They think of me, they tell me.
It's a damn disease vegetable-ism.
(Peter chuckles) Sergeant Spiridion.
Of experience as both policeman and countryman.
What is the weapon of choice in suicide? Often a shotgun, ma'am.
A 12-bore.
Yes.
If the jury care to look at Exhibit 7', they will see a 12-bore shotgun left on a chair.
What would have happened had the weapon used been a shotgun.
Sergeant? (Chuckles) We'd be looking up in the rookery trees for his brains.
Thank you.
Sergeant Spiridion.
I, too, thank you for your graphic description of a shotgun blast.
Was the weapon actually used to kill Miles Beddoes any less effective? Obviously not, sir.
Quite.
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
I have toad-in-the-hole.
I have bubble and squeak.
I have Dover sole.
Very special today.
- What do you say to that? - I say lamb chops.
I say lamb chops as well.
Very good.
How do you like your lamb? Mrs Beddoes, why did you go to the police? They brought Edgar back and said he was to see a doctor because he was too shocked to say anything.
I then realised that nothing had been said by any of us about what Edgar had said when he came back with the bloody gun.
- There was blood on it.
- Please speak up, Mrs Beddoes.
Grateful.
my lord.
Yes.
So what did you do, Mrs Beddoes? I went to the police and told them what Edgar had said.
Yes.
"He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles.
I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
" - (Softly) Yes.
- Yes Mrs Beddoes, do you recognise this manuscript? Exhibit 6, my lord.
It is a book written by my husband.
Will you read the marked passage on page 102? Yes, and will you speak up? - Yes.
- Yes? Yes, I will speak up.
(Clears throat) "The delicious irony is that Edgar very nearly got the Military Cross for rescuing us from a watery grave and leading us through a minefield.
Poor old, dear old Edgar needed it more than I did.
Seconded as he was from the TA.
And a rota! misfit as a padre.
Wrong background entirely in a bunch of thugs like us.
We need priests who have more cred than we have not less.
Won't listen else.
As it happens.
When he got his mention in dispatches.
He shot up in estimation and ended his tour in fat glory and acceptance.
So it was well worth doing.
Only Edgar and I know the truth of it.
" What did you do when you read that for the first time.
Mrs Beddoes? - I sent it to the police.
- Why? Edgar had written in the margin "You sod! I'll kill you.
" Thank you, Mrs Beddoes.
If you would just wait, Mrs Beddoes.
Mr Kavanagh.
Grateful, my lord.
Why are we here? You're a friend, John.
- What else? - Are you well? No, Peter, I am not well.
Ah.
Will you want some wine? Yes.
Then we'll have the claret you gave me yesterday.
KAVANAGH: Now.
you say the defendant said.
"He's dead.
I just shot him dead.
Miles.
I mean.
Killed him.
Dead.
" Is that correct? Yes.
- Do you think he meant it? - Of course.
I saw the body.
No, do you think he meant he had murdered his brother? - It seems the same to me.
- I see.
Yes.
Mrs Beddoes, do you have children? - Yes, two boys.
- Brothers.
- Do they fight? - Of course.
They're normal, healthy children.
Do they hurl insults at each other? Do they ever say things like, "I'll kill you for that"? No.
No, I mean they don't mean it.
No, they don't, I'm sure.
Mean that they will commit murder.
Thank you.
Mrs Beddoes.
Mrs Beddoes, your husband is killed and somebody tells you he killed him.
Would you not know what he meant? And would you not remember every word used for the rest of your life? My lord.
Would you remember that or not? Yes, I would.
I did! Would that be a convenient moment, Miss Hatton? USHER: Court rise.
(Cork pops) (Cork squeaks) (Wine is poured into glass) John? I think I'm becoming obsessed, Peter.
Oh? It was as much as I could do not to knock that pompous waiter down.
All part of the same thing.
The furbelows, that damn silly spoon thing.
The accoutrements and the rituals are everywhere becoming tedious, irritating, painful to me.
Is that true of you? In which case, it is simply a question of age.
Or are you still content to sport your wig and your conceit and let that be that? Ah There you are! An argument! I thought it might be.
When that passage from the book was read out, he thought it funny.
He didn't give a damn.
He wants guilt heaped on him.
He twists it in his heart.
He wants to be punished for something Yes, but it's not this.
He's using this to scourge himself.
It's not this.
He's not the least affected by this, by any of us.
He'll go to prison cos he wants to, not for killing his brother.
What do you think happened? I think, but I can't be sure.
Nobody can tell us if he can't.
Or Won? there is always that.
Yes.
What I gather is that his brother was going to shoot himself.
They struggled over the gun, both pulling the trigger.
Cole says he can start to talk at any time.
We must hope that he doesn't, because he'll confess to something I'm sure we both know he didn't do.
That is not what I ordered.
- Well, it is the lamb, sir.
- It is the lamb, yes.
It is not what I ordered.
Not at all.
Alex has him talking to her ninety to the dozen.
- Not quite.
- Does he speak in tongues, Alex? Are you a Christian, Turner? Well, yes, I suppose so.
I don't suppose so.
I am.
Sorry.
Every time an innocent man is convicted, a guilty man goes free.
Two kinds of people are injured by crime.
The victims.
And those who are innocent but accused, but who face damning evidence against them which has been constructed, cooked up.
To their horror, they find that their lawyers are either useless or completely indifferent.
The huge numbers caught up in the mill of the law means nobody has the time to seek out, to test.
to present any real argument, hm? Nobody cares about lying any more.
Done with a smile, a smirk.
And catch me out if you can.
Nobody gives a damn.
The police don't care about doing it.
And it is more and more obvious to me that we are following on, some of us, lawyers.
Judges, even.
Peter, I look at them LIS We them me them in their intimidating wigs, robes, at mountebanks like Aldermarten! - Ah - In your chambers? He's a very good barrister.
I've a lot of time for him.
He's also a friend.
I can't let you say that, John.
You may be right.
He's no worse than the rest of you, them, us.
He glares so and shoots his cuffs, all that.
All of it.
Their ritual.
Our ritual.
This is no way to find truth.
This is no way to reward evil and virtue.
We're getting it all wrong, you know.
- Not all of it, surely? - What? - Not everything? - Oh, yes.
Everything.
Mr Foxcott, I would be grateful for your help.
Well, to be honest, he wasn't the best of padres.
He was apt to be disliked by the men.
Like many Territorial Army secondments, he was far too interested in playing at soldiers.
Very eager, very warry.
It's not on for a padre.
It wasn't till after he got his mention that he came into his own.
as it were.
Well.
he was accepted.
He did some very good work.
It was the making of him.
He saved my life.
KAVANAGH: How did he do that? - He got me out of a river.
They were firing at us.
the bank was mined.
He just dragged me out.
Mr Adams, will you tell the jury how it came to happen that you were in the river? Yeah.
It was night, we were going over a bridge which was mined, the vehicle was blown into the river.
I was thrown clear.
the padre as well.
All of us.
The driver got it.
Drowned.
Where was Miles Beddoes? The padre got him out.
too.
- What happened then? - We all went up to the village.
What happened there? Well, it was winter.
I was cold.
I got pneumonia.
Nearly died.
I'd have died a lot sooner if he hadn't got me out.
What did you do in the village? Shiver.
What did Edgar Beddoes do? Well, he shouldn't have done it.
I tried to stop him.
He looked into the cellar.
Not something we hadn't seen before but he hadn't.
What was it he saw? Ah, you know.
Bodies.
You've seen it on the telly.
It happened all the time.
What did he do? Went down on his knees and prayed.
Then he just fainted.
Toppled into the cellar.
Thank you.
Mr Adams.
Stay where you are.
please.
(Door opens) Are you certain it was Edgar Beddoes who pulled you from the water and then his brother? He pulled us out together.
We all ended up on the bank together.
- In the dark? - Yeah.
Half-drowned, cold, - dark.
but you're certain it was him? - Absolutely.
Why? Well, it said so in the citation.
Oh, yes, it did, didn't it? Thank you very much, Mr Adams.
Here you are, Miss Wilson.
- Thank you, Gary.
- Thank you.
I wish to affirm.
What religion is it permits you to wear a clerical collar yet not take an oath on the Holy Bible? I've lost my belief in God.
Might I respectfully point out that, in my opinion, a clerical collar, like a uniform or a judge's wig, is not necessarily evidence of faith, courage or justice.
My lord.
There's been an unusual development.
I ask Your Lordship 's leave not to examine the Reverend Matthew Beddoes at this time.
- Nevertheless, I shall speak.
- You shall not, Mr Beddoes.
Will you tell people? Yes.
I shall have to, John.
Good.
I want you to.
I know what's happening to me.
I hate it! It means that nobody will listen when I talk about my worries.
You have listened.
Do take me seriously, Peter.
JUDGE: Miss Haddon.
does the prosecution accept that this evidence is in the handwriting of the deceased? Yes, my lord.
The envelope is date stamped June 9th, postmarked Oxford.
The day Miles Beddoes died.
"I hope those who read this will understand that I have no intention of being around when they read it.
Their faces.
I can see their faces.
The shock.
anger.
fear.
But I am gone.
I am dead A victim of self-murder.
Bang!" Signed.
"Miles".
USHER".
Have you reached a verdict upon which you all agree? FOREMAN: Yes On the charge of murder.
how do you find the defendant.
Edgar James Beddoes? - Guilty or not guilty? - Not guilty.
The black chap.
The black chap, he told me.
Edgar forgave them.
Down on his knees in Bosnia.
He forgave his enemies.
- The boy's a saint.
- Please, Father, it's over now.
What stuff he's made of.
He sought punishment.
On his shoulders he's taken the guilt.
All of it.
Who else did that, eh? In this world? Who? A church is a battlefield, you know.
Enemies are fought there by young men who still have faith.
It's by way of being a present, James.
A copy of a book Edgar's been reading.
Thank you.
Is it good? Mm.
Very.
A character in it comes back from the war.
The trenches.
To find he's unable to speak for something he's seen.
Something so dreadful that it struck him dumb.
I see.
And er what happens? (Hoarse) One day I'll be able to speak.
It'll happen just like that.
I left my guide and lost my way.
But now I love and keep thy word.