Midsomer Murders (1997) s06e05 Episode Script
Birds of Prey
BIRD CALLS BIRD CLUCKS As long as Charles is kept out of the way and no-one sees him in a week it'll all be done.
That phone never stops ringing.
Refer them to me.
I'll handle it.
Are you handling Julian Shepherd? Let's just ignore him.
No, he's making trouble, George.
I don't want anything to go wrong.
All right.
I'll see to it.
ENGINE STARTS GRAVEL CRUNCHES PLANK CLANGS BELLS JINGLE You'd better come in.
Mr Edmonton, I have to talk to you.
The money I invested, I .
.
I need it.
I can't get any sense out of anyone.
Oh, they haven't seen the future.
A new future for the way we live.
I trusted you with my money But I can't wait any longer.
You haven't even told us what this project is.
All I want is what I put in back or I'll be bankrupted.
It has to be secret.
That's what holds this project together.
My simple invention to support travel and live in a perfect environment without fuels, without pollution They'll go to any lengths to get their hands on it, any lengths.
They'll even kill.
I told you you'd make a fortune, my boy.
And you will, a fortune.
I have to have my money .
.
now.
ENGINES WHIRR KEYS JINGLE THEME MUSIC HOOVES CLOP You're early, Miss Macpherson.
I'm sorry, Mr Pilcher, really.
But I do need some sausages.
Emergency, is it? You'd best come in.
Beef be all right? A pound? It's pork we want.
I'll be making some later.
My sister forgot to buy them yesterday.
They were on her list - pork sausages.
She lost it.
Well, why don't you come back, Miss Macpherson? Oh, those will have to do.
I'll put the porkers aside for you.
There you are, Miss Mac I've got the brochures.
Oh, great.
So I'll just order it, shall I? Yes, fine.
I don't know whether they'll fit it in the front garden.
I mean, is 45ft quite big for a yacht? Pardon? Brochures, Tom.
Africa.
Lions, rhinos, giraffes.
Next year's holiday.
We have talked about this.
Yeah, well, I'm sure we'll manage something.
It's just a question of when, isn't it? It's a wonderful idea in principle.
I want to do this, Tom.
And Cully can get us a very good deal.
We will, we will.
I must go now.
I could go on my own.
I might not come back.
I've always had a crush on that man from Daktari.
He'll be drawing his pension by now.
Aha.
I'm glad I caught you.
You can have a look at these at work.
What about crime? It won't go away, Dad.
I didn't realise working for a travel agent was a conspiracy.
More of a happy coincidence.
Thank you.
BIRDS WARBLE AND TWEET The swallows are still here.
They should be long gone by now.
Good.
He was open.
He didn't have pork, Jane.
Oh, Troy.
I thought this book might be of use to you.
I don't want anyone to think the Causton CID doesn't know it's asio from its elbow.
Its what? Asio, it's an owl.
Well, two to be precise - the short-eared and the long-eared.
In the event of an identity parade you'll need to be well up in that.
(SIGHS) It's a waste of time.
It's a crime, Troy.
You are a detective.
I don't expect you to treat it any differently than any other crime.
I'm looking for DS Troy, sir.
Oh, well, you've found him.
Hi.
I'm Constable Pearce.
Sarah.
Wildlife Liaison Officer.
Oh, right.
Yes, nice to meet you.
Oh! Um Is that what you're wearing, Sarge? Well I've got some wellies.
I'm in the car park.
On my way.
Not all bad news, then.
Wildlife liaison.
It's like you said, sir.
A crime is a crime, after all.
Thank you.
Smells good, Jane.
I'm ready for it.
You know I don't eat these.
I went to the butcher especially.
He didn't have any pork.
I was looking forward to them.
Hi.
How is he? Oh.
I don't know what they use in those sedatives, Naomi.
But I wouldn't rush to buy shares in the drug company.
He was high as a kite again for most of the night.
But he can only take so much.
Well, I can't control him when he's like that.
I'll up the dose, then.
Just get it right, sis, OK? I know what I'm doing.
But you might remember whose benefit this is all really for.
If I didn't know you better I would swear you're accusing me of being an ungrateful bitch.
You wouldn't, would you? Don't those birds ever get in the mood to peck someone's eyes out? No.
Only when I ask them to.
I brought your medicine up, Mr Edmonton.
And Mallory wondered if you fancied a bite to eat.
Don't we have the press conference? Well, I'm still preparing that, sir.
Oh.
I've been working on my speech.
Ah.
Excellent.
There you are.
There was a There was a man in here the other day.
Uh, I knew him from He came in through the window.
It's locked now.
I don't want any journalists getting hold of the story until we're ready.
I should be at a meeting.
People from the city.
Are they here? It's very important.
They're going to invest millions.
Now, they're downstairs.
I shall make sure that everything's running smoothly.
Well, what about the conference room? Has that been swept again for bugs? Have we got good people in? The best.
Thank you.
Now you can I can't just A little rest, I think, eh? Now, how about a nice nap, hm? There you are.
PC Angel, sir.
Morning.
So what have we got? Well, looks like he went in sometime during the night.
It's quite deep here.
The car was right under the water.
Do you know the man? Julian Shepherd, a local.
He lives up the road about a mile away.
I, uh, I thought I better call CID.
You see, there's no tyre marks and no sign of a skid.
He didn't try to brake.
Very observant of you, Constable.
Do his family know? No.
No, he lived alone.
I spoke to the woman that cleaned for him.
She says she wasn't surprised.
She thought he might do something like this.
Like what? Kill himself.
BIRD CHIRPS They're all here to see the serrins.
How many are there? Just a pair.
How do they know where they are? (LAUGHS) They don't.
There's a chance they could see them.
But they might not and the birds could just go.
But it's worth standing there all day on the off chance? They've been around here for a few weeks.
If they do winter here it's possible they could breed in the spring.
It wouldn't be a first.
Time for the boots, Sarge? I should have said, sorry.
Do you think Mr Shepherd was in trouble? I know he was.
What kind of trouble? All sorts.
His wife leaving, not seeing his children, the business, the house.
But it all came down to one thing in the endmoney.
The business being? Books.
Buying and selling.
He had a shop in Oxford up until two years ago.
I suppose he made some bad decisions.
I don't know.
You're saying Mr Shepherd was depressed because of his financial difficulties? Well, wouldn't you be? It's a long road from being depressed to committing suicide.
I know that, Mr Barnaby.
It did cross my mind, but I suppose I never really believed that he'd actually You go make a cup of tea, I'll take a look around upstairs.
Right.
BIRD SQUAWKS Oh, dear.
Oh, dear.
Mrs Edmonton? Yes, can I help you? Good morning to you.
I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby from Causton CID.
I'm making a few inquiries about the death of a neighbour of yours, Mr Julian Shepherd.
Oh, yes, yes.
I heard about the accident.
It's terrible, terrible.
You wonder why these things happen.
Did you know Mr Shepherd? Well, not well.
None of us are greatly into popping round to borrow a cup of sugar.
You see, apparently he phoned here several times yesterday.
There was something he wanted to talk to your husband about.
Did he actually come here? I certainly didn't see him.
Is Mr Edmonton in? No, Charles is away at the moment.
Would you know what he wanted to talk to your husband about? No, I have no idea.
I have absolutely no interest in my husband's business affairs.
You'd have to talk to the Major.
Major? Major who? BELL JINGLES Major George Hamilton.
And where would I find him? He lives in the village.
That is beautiful.
Beautiful is not a big enough word.
It's like saying the sea is wet.
Come on.
BELL JINGLES That's one there.
No, that's a buzzard.
Oh.
What about that one? Definite.
No.
That's a red kite.
(SIGHS) (CHUCKLES) There he is.
Where? No, not the bird.
Our friend Moorcroft.
By the Toyota.
A very serious egg dealer.
I've been watching him for some time.
The egg man.
Who's that? I don't know.
It could be just a twitcher Moorcroft's pumping for information or it could be another dealer or a buyer, a collector.
How much money is there in it? Oh, um, some eggs will fetch a few pounds.
Rare ones thousands.
It can add up to serious money.
Serious enough not to care what species you could be wiping out in the process.
There.
Your first heron, look.
Not bad for your first hour's twitching.
Where? (LAUGHS) Sorry, you've just missed your first heron.
It's a good job the villains are bigger, eh, Sarge? Good morning.
Looking for Major Hamilton.
You've found us.
Are you Mrs Hamilton? Yes.
You'll find him in the study.
You'll hardly miss the raised voices, I'm sure.
Thank you.
What was he on about? He said something was wrong.
I put a lot of money into this thing.
Did you refuse to give him his capital back, Major, because that's what Shepherd told me.
That's quite untrue, I'm sure.
Well, surety is what we need.
I haven't seen Charles Edmonton in over a month.
Where the hell is he? Charles has been in the States, he's been in Switzerland putting into place the last pieces before the launch.
Now you're gonna make a lot of money.
What the hell has that got to do with the opinion of Julian Shepherd who was quite clearly mentally deranged? Major Hamilton? Yes? Your wife said I'd find you here.
I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.
Are you sure you don't want anything? No.
No, thank you.
Just taking all this in.
It's not quite what you'd expect from the outside.
I spent my working life in Africa.
When I retired I brought back as much as I could.
Eileen has her side of the house.
I have mine.
It's not every house you can change continents just by walking through the door.
Well, I'm sure there's many a man who wished he could at times.
(CHUCKLES) Yes.
(CHUCKLES) So you did see Julian Shepherd? Yes.
Yesterday morning.
And I spoke to him after lunch later on the phone.
I must say it's a shock to us all.
We knew that he was (SIGHS) Well, he was on the verge of some breakdown.
There's not point in beating about the bush.
But none of us ever dreamt that he'd take his own life.
What did the two of you talk about? Julian was in a spot of bother on the financial front.
Well, you know how these things go - divorce and so on.
(SIGHS) Ruin a man unless his head's screwed on.
Well, he'd invested money in one of Charles Edmonton's projects.
Stood to make a great deal out of it.
But Julian needed to get his money out.
The launch was only a few weeks away.
It's damn stupid.
He was throwing away at least ten times what he'd invested.
Maybe more.
Well, I did my best to persuade him to change his mind.
And he didn't? Absolutely not.
And did you give him his money back? Well, I would have written the cheque for him today.
Now I don't know what to do.
I presume he has executors.
Well, it'd be up to them when all this is sorted out.
Terrible business.
We're all very upset.
Yes, so I gather.
What precisely did Julian Shepherd invest in? I suppose there's no harm.
Basically, it was a fuel-free transport system.
That was the revolutionary part, the invention.
Only Charles Edmonton knew the details.
Not the investors? No.
That was very trusting of them.
He'd made several fortunes in his lifetime and not just for himself, but for those who had the vision to back him.
Thank you, Major.
Pleasure.
How many? I've got two more spare.
I thought three peregrine eggs and .
.
I could go to £300.
(SCOFFS) You know what it takes to get an osprey egg? The nesting sites are all secret.
They're watched night and day.
Once I get an osprey I've completed all the British Pandionidae and Accipitridae.
It's taken me 20 years.
Can you really get one? I said I can deliver.
Can you? (CHUCKLES) Eddie, old son.
We can sort something out.
This woman up at the hall Mrs Edmonton? She's breeding, you told me, right? Peregrines, merlins, goshawks.
I don't know exactly.
Oh, come on, Eddie.
You told me you could get in.
You said you'd been in.
To see, that's all.
Well, did you take an egg? Once.
One egg.
You underestimate yourself, Eddie.
You know your way around.
I've got a buyer for some fertile eggs.
You get me enough of those and this .
.
could be all yours.
He drowned, that's clear enough.
You're familiar enough with it.
Mucus from the body mixes with water.
This is from his lungs.
It looks like he drove straight into the river.
No sign of him losing control.
The car wasn't even travelling at any speed.
What about drink? No.
So suicide could be right.
I can tell you what he had for dinner, I can tell you he wasn't in the habit of rinsing his hair properly, but I can't tell you what he was thinking.
No.
What do you mean he didn't rinse his hair properly? There was some gunge at the roots.
Turned out to be conditioner.
So when did he wash his hair, then? Yesterday morning? Later? I guess later.
Tom, there's nothing very suspicious about a man who doesn't wash his hair properly.
No, but there's something rather odd about a man who washes his hair just before killing himself.
Have we got a deal, then, Eddie? All right.
I'm trusting you, you know that.
We're trusting each other.
No, Eddie, old son.
What I mean is .
.
you know more about what I do than makes me comfortable.
Well, I'm not going to say anything.
No, you're not.
We're working together on this.
If you screw up, if you put me in it .
.
your head could end up under the wheels of my jeep.
Just so we know where we stand.
I'll see you tonight, then.
(HUMS) £ CLASSICAL MUSIC What time's dinner? About an hour.
I'll have a glass of wine with it.
We have some of that white.
I'll have some red.
And get something decent for a change.
You can flush the last lot down the sink.
It might clear the drains.
And run me a bath nearly to the top.
Turn that bloody music off now! I can't stand it.
(SIGHS) PLAYER CLICKS OFF Goodnight.
What happened to you? What do you mean? Well, I can only hope you're not going to try and claim for a new suit on your expenses, Troy.
Well, no bother about that.
Good.
I'm glad to see you're prepared to make sacrifices in the line of duty.
You look like you've had quite a day.
I have.
There's a lot more to a wildlife crime than you think.
Any chance of you bringing a little less of it back into the office wit you tomorrow? I don't think wildlife liaison is treated seriously enough in CID.
We don't spend enough time on it.
Well, after the Road to Damascus you've been travelling on with Constable Pearce, I'm sure you'll do your best to remedy that.
Very nice.
I enjoyed it.
I've got the pork sausages.
The butcher made them this afternoon.
I don't fancy them tomorrow.
I'll havea mushroom omelette, I think.
Well, that'll be fine.
I'm a little short of cash this evening, and I need to go out.
We haven't been to the post office today, Mr Darwin.
Oh, that sounds like a fib to me, Jane.
You shouldn't, you know? She shouldn't fib, should she? No point hiding things from me.
I know when it's pension day.
COINS SCATTER (SOBS) DOOR CLOSES Hm.
Look at that.
They guarantee to get you that close to a lion, do they? I'm not sure if I consider that a threat or a promise.
I don't suppose they walk straight up to you, Tom.
Oh, that's something.
The trouble is I've already been to Africa.
No, you haven't.
Yes, I have.
Only today.
Major Hamilton, the Midsomer magnate, he still lives in Africa.
And it's not at all like your brochures here.
It's less of your luxury lodges, more your Heart Of Darkness.
Don't be so silly.
I'm going to have a bath.
Mm-hm.
You read the brochure and in return I'll clean up the mess you left in the bathroom without even mentioning it.
(KISSES HIM) Almost without mentioning it.
I always clean up.
BIRDS SCREECH Shut up! SCREECHING CONTINUES SHRIEKING CONTINUES (Shut up!) ENGINE REVS Argh! Ah! Ah! TYRES SPIN DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES He'll want his hot milk.
Mr Darwin, what's happened? An accident.
Just an accident.
We should call a doctor.
No.
I'm all right.
There's nothing broken.
I just need to rest.
I'm going to bed.
Perhaps we should help him.
We better leave him.
We'll see how he is in the morning.
You know how he is if we fuss, dear.
What about his milk? He'll call if he wants it.
Why don't we have a nice cup of cocoa? LIVELY CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS Oh, there you are.
I see the years have not diminished your powers of observation.
Is it all right? "All right" isn't quite the phrase that first springs to mind, but .
.
it's under control.
Well, that's all that matters, really.
We haven't done all this for nothing.
So it's "we" now? It's always been "we", George.
Always.
Mm.
Troy.
Well, that's better.
You need to wear something practical for this sort of thing.
Well, there's only so many suits a man can go through in a week.
Sadly, I'm gonna have to drag you away from your rural liaison.
What, now? But I think I could really be onto something here, sir.
Constable Pearce, you'll have to manage on your own.
I know a dead body is poor recompense for the call of the wild, but it's the best I can offer.
Come on.
Parcel for you.
I thought Mr Darwin might like some of these, they're so pretty.
And if he's not feeling very well - I think he'd rather be left on his own just now.
You know how he is.
Maybe we'll take them up later.
I'll put them in some water.
Ooh.
Let me help.
Oh, thanks.
Where do you want it? Uh, through there.
(SIGHS) It just came.
I don't really know what to do with it.
The label says "With compliments, the Edmonton Corporation".
What shall I do with it? See what's inside.
Maisie, I want to look at the bathroom again.
You didn't clean the bathroom, did you? I didn't even come upstairs.
Looking through the house, I didn't get the impression Mr Shepherd was the, uh, tidiest man in the world.
He certainly wasn't.
But he might have cleaned the bathroom, though, mightn't he? It looks a very thorough job to me.
Bleach, bath cleaner People do get fussy about the bathroom.
Not Mr Shepherd.
I don't think he ever even wiped round the bath.
What is it? It's a scooter.
Your coffee's there, dear.
He is dead, then? (SIGHS) I suppose we ought to ask Dr Robertshaw to come and see him now.
It doesn't rule out an accident or suicide.
There's no evidence.
Well, not yet, there isn't.
And no motive.
But there are reasons why he might have killed himself.
He was depressed.
He had family troubles, money troubles - the usual old stuff.
I see your encounter with nature red in tooth and claw hasn't made you more sensitive to the human condition, Troy.
But in this case I don't believe that the usual old stuff will do.
Either there was something we don't know about that pushed him over the edge Or someone killed him.
I need to know more.
Chief Inspector Barnaby? Yep.
James Robertshaw, GP.
Constable Angel said I'd find you here.
I've got a rather puzzling death.
I would guess the cause of death will turn out to be internal bleeding.
How long's he been dead? Give or take four, five hours.
What are we talking about with the bruising? Some kind of accident? Was he attacked? Oh.
That's for a pathologist.
All I can say is that whatever did happen to him it almost certainly resulted in his death.
I'll leave you to it.
Yes, Thank you, Doctor.
So what have we got, sir? I don't know.
We're going to need a post-mortem.
You'd better get a key for this room.
We may need forensics in.
His name is Edward Darwin, Clerk to the Council.
I know him.
I didn't know his name.
I saw him with a man Sarah's got under surveillance.
The egg man.
The egg man? We knew he wasn't feeling very well.
I did knock on his door and ask if there was anything he wanted.
He said there wasn't.
How long was he in his room? Since yesterday evening.
He didn't come out at all during that time? No.
We didn't think there was anything very odd about that.
He was a very private person.
Oh, let me help, Miss Macpherson.
Thank you.
I thought you might like something to eat.
Just put it down here.
There.
I'll pour.
And you can help yourselves.
That's very kind.
You shouldn't have put yourself to all that trouble.
Oh, I know you don't eat properly when you're working.
Mr Darwin He was a very private man, Chief Inspector.
Tea, dear.
Could you tell us something about Mr Darwin's friends? No.
No-one ever came here.
Never.
Does the name Moorcroft, Sean Moorcroft, mean anything to you? Cucumber? Some ham? No.
No, thank you.
He would have been interested in birds' eggs, as well, like Mr Darwin.
Well, Mr Darwin was very knowledgeable about birds.
And he was very proud of his eggs.
But he didn't like us to talk about that.
He said his collection was very valuable.
I'm afraid it was also very illegal, Miss Macpherson.
Still, that's not important now, is it? I'll have to ask you not to disturb anything in Mr Darwin's room, all right? Oh, yes.
That's quite all right.
Will you be taking him with you? I think we would prefer that.
It may do no harm to make some attempt to behave a little more like the grieving widowsis.
I've done my grieving, Naomi.
Alzheimer's took Charles' spirit away from his body a long time before he died.
And what was left had very little to do with the man that I married.
Except financially.
I don't know why you've always had a problem with the fact I didn't only marry Charles for his money.
And you stand to do very nicely out of it, too, so don't overdo the snide remarks.
KNOCK ON DOOR Yes? The undertakers are here.
Good.
Can they do the funeral tomorrow? Yes, it can be done.
Good.
Ask them to come in.
Morning, Sarge.
Oh, you're here.
Great.
Have you got the info on Moorcroft? Yes, two addresses.
A family in Reading and his girlfriend's flat in Staines.
He spends his time between the two.
But I spoke to Berkshire and the Toyota's at his now, so I guess he's there.
They could pull him in any time.
I'd rather do it myself.
See his reactions, get a look at his house.
I'll contact Thames Valley en route.
They'll probably want to give us a couple of uniforms for backup.
Oh, you won't need that, Sarge.
Course not.
Just routine.
What's he like on violence? Depends what he's had to drink.
He's well up for some aggro with a skinful, but sober .
.
discretion has a better part.
Bit early for the pub.
Doesn't look like he's up yet.
What's round the back? Just open fields.
You do the front.
You come with me.
Mr Moorcroft! I'm glad we caught you.
Argh! CRASH All right! No need to break my arm over birds' eggs.
Constable Pearce can deal with the eggs.
I want to talk to you about Eddie Darwin.
I don't know any Eddie Darwin.
You certainly do, Mr Moorcroft.
Or did.
In fact, you were one of the last people to see Mr Darwin alive.
For God's sake, Bernard, the man's just died.
I've no idea what's happening.
You read the paper.
He's bloody bankrupt! You know we got bloody scooters sent to us.
What kind of a joke is that? What's that got to do with launching the project? As soon as I know more I'll let you know.
The truth is I'm as much in the dark as you are.
I had a drink with him.
He went his way, I went mine.
You talked about bird-spotting.
That's right.
I suppose you know Mr Darwin collected birds' eggs.
I didn't.
Naughty man, eh? It's against the law, that.
Mr Moorcroft, an examination of your car has revealed two things.
The first is blood.
Stains on the carpet, front passenger side.
Some attempt has been made to wash the stains out very recently.
Well, it's probably mine.
I lead an outdoor life.
I'm forever knocking myself about.
I never think about a bit of blood.
Two convictions for assault seem to confirm that.
Although, the blood you don't think about usually belongs to someone else.
That was a long time ago.
But not so long ago you were fined for trading in birds' eggs and wild birds.
And, uh, this was also found in your car.
A feather.
Big deal.
A peregrine feather? Like I said, I'm an outdoor guy.
I get plenty of shite on my shoes.
This is another piece of peregrine feather.
It was in the pocket of clothes Edward Darwin was wearing when he was hit by a vehicle.
We will be able to find out whether these two feathers came from the same bird.
And if the blood in your car came from Mr Darwin we'll also be able to establish that.
It would be a lot easier if you told us what happened that night.
Brodie, Brodie.
Good girl.
MOBILE RINGS Hello? Oh, good.
Is it all finished? It's all done.
Yes.
The last one went through.
You're home and dry.
Good.
PHONE BEEPS Good girl.
The deal was Darwin would steal fertile eggs.
Moorcroft had a buyer.
If he got enough he'd get this osprey egg.
But he was definitely up at the hall last night? Moorcroft met him in the pub then dropped him by the wall round the estate.
They met in the pub car park an hour later.
And the eggs? No, Darwin said something spooked him.
He didn't get near the birds.
Moorcroft dropped him back at the Macphersons'.
What sort of state was he in? He told Moorcroft he'd fallen off the wall.
He'd torn his clothes, hurt himself, he just wanted to get home.
That's what Moorcroft said.
Do you believe him? Yeah.
Moorcroft's scared rigid at the moment.
Whatever happened to Eddie Darwin, he's telling what he knows.
Good girl, good girl.
Come on, Brodie.
Come on, Brodie.
Come on, Brodie.
BELL JINGLES (WHISTLES) Good girl.
Come on.
BELL JINGLES You could have chosen a better time, Mr Barnaby.
I'd normally take any attempt to steal eggs very seriously indeed but with my husband's funeral to organise it isn't exactly at the top of my list of priorities.
I won't intrude on your time more then necessary.
I'm very sorry to hear about your husband.
Yes.
I'm not quite sure what it is you're expecting to achieve.
I've already told you.
The birds were not disturbed and no eggs were stolen from the incubator.
And whilst I do take considerable pride in communicating with my falcons and my hawks I doubt whether anybody would get very far by interrogating them.
Good, right.
So there are the beds.
Mrs Edmonton, I have good reason to believe that Eddie Darwin was in this building the night he was involved in a road accident, a hit-and-run.
That accident resulted in his death.
And I want to find out where he was and what he was doing.
Well, not only do my birds not talk, but none of them, as far as I know, has a driving licence.
So if you will excuse me, I have a lot of things to be getting on with.
Thank you.
If Eddie Darwin did get in here why didn't he take any eggs? Mrs Edmonton flies these birds all over the estate.
He could have picked the feather up anywhere.
He lost his bottle, never did get in here.
WINGS FLAP BIRD HOOTS The feather was in his pocket, wasn't it? It's not impossible it got there when he was climbing a tree or a wall.
But it wasn't just any feather, was it? It was a feather left by a peregrine.
And Darwin was heading this way to steal peregrine eggs.
Ooh.
Not a sport for vegetarians.
(HUMS) £ Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika.
£ (KISSES THE PAPER) Hi.
How's it going? Well I've come to a conclusion.
It's not enough.
(CHUCKLES) I mean, I want more money.
Yeah.
Yes, I don't think you're really in a position to refuse, are you? £ Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika £ Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo £ Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Wa! £ Nkosi sikelela £ Nkosi sikelela! £ (SIGHS) £ Sikelel, sikelel, sikelel, sikelel £ Sikelel, sikelel, sikelel £ Abu! £ We're all waiting, Mallory.
When somebody dies, somebody the birds had respect for, at some point you need to tell them.
I think they probably know.
Death matters to them, like life.
(SIGHS) I suppose I should thank you.
I don't expect thanks.
What do you expect? BIRDS CHIRP Hi.
Hiya.
Is this all right? I mean, have forensics finished? No, no.
I thought I'd come in here and destroy all the evidence and generally get in everyone's way.
You spoke to the boss.
Yeah.
And look at these.
Mr Darwin was a very meticulous man.
Details of every egg he bought, every egg he sold.
Addresses of the dealers.
I think if we put this together with what I'm holding over Sean Moorcroft - For the osprey egg? You can help me threaten more than that, can't you? Obstructing the police, that sort of thing? I've been having some horrid dreams.
They'll go away.
It'll soon be over.
No, it won't, Eleanor.
We've been very bad.
You know we have.
Soon be finished.
I hope we won't be troubling you much longer.
We need to talk to Mr Barnaby.
PRIEST: "'I am the resurrection and the life', saith the Lord.
'He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die'.
" We didn't know what had happened.
We knew he was hurt, of course.
He just went to bed.
I didn't like to interfere.
Mr Darwin never liked us to interfere.
He'd shout at us.
Is that why you didn't call for a doctor? Well, he told us not to, you see? It was my decision, Mr Barnaby.
Jane didn't have anything to do with it.
Don't say that, Eleanor.
Weren't you concerned? Not at first.
A little later on.
I went in to see him He was still dressed.
He was still conscious then? Oh, yes.
I helped him get his clothes off and put his pyjamas on.
You could see he was bruised.
Yes.
There.
Goodnight, Mr Darwin.
We couldn't have any idea how badly he was hurt.
Could we? He became delirious, saying the strangest things.
Could you make out anything he was saying? Somewhere he was, a place he'd run away from.
It frightened him.
No, it was the body that frightened him, the one in the freezer.
I think you'd popped out, dear.
It was where the birds were.
The birds were flying and there was a freezer.
That's what he said.
And there was a man in it.
(LAUGHS) It was all nonsense.
This all keeps coming back to Casement Hall, doesn't it? The birds eggs and nest eggs and now there's a .
.
cuckoo in the freezer, a dead body.
It was Charles Edmonton.
They're burying him today.
This morning.
They're not burying him this morning, they're cremating him this morning.
Round about now.
We did the right thing.
At least it's all over and done with.
DOOR CLOSES I'm sure it is, dear.
ENGINE REVS PRIEST: "In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall change our vile body that it may be like unto his glorious body.
According to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.
" TYRES SQUEAL "I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me" Stop this now.
SURPRISED WHISPERS Charles was a great man, people trusted him.
He invented a way of packaging milk that halved production costs round the world.
He'd invented a prefabricated building system that could put up a house in a week right from the foundations to running water and central heating.
That doesn't tell me why his body was in the deep freeze, Major.
I was trying to explain who he was.
Why he was being disposed of so quickly and so secretly.
Well, in the past few years he's made mistakes, big mistakes.
I didn't realise when I first joined him that he was very nearly bankrupt.
He was spending millions on development.
And he wasn't as well as he might be.
In what way? What was the matter with him? Alzheimer's.
By the time he was diagnosed he'd done considerable damage to his financial position.
And if it got out before Mallory consolidated her own position Is that a euphemism for fraud? Absolutely not.
What was going to "get out", Major? A scooter.
I've seen one of those before.
This was the project that he'd been working on for years.
A great secret.
Charles Edmonton invented a scooter? Basically.
Well, we had no idea.
There was a great deal of money at stake.
Enough to kill for? No-one got killed.
Charles Edmonton died of a heart attack.
I am merely the accountant, Chief Inspector.
Right.
Thank you, Major Hamilton, thank you.
The officer will see you back downstairs.
But for now you're to have no communication with Mrs Edmonton or her sister, OK? There'll be a lot more questions.
I quite understand.
Another one? Three people have died.
Julian Shepherd wanted to take money out this mad project and couldn't.
A man who broke into Casement Hall and saw the body of Charles Edmonton in the freezer.
Someone knew Darwin had seen that body.
Somebody wanted to shut him up.
Because Mrs Mallory Edmonton wanted another couple of days to defraud the investors and shareholders.
But Darwin got away.
Yeah.
Well, at least that begins to make sense.
But what about the funeral? There really is a death certificate, isn't there? All in order.
Except the doctor who signed the certificate is one Naomi Sinclair, Edmonton's sister-in-law.
She's downstairs now.
Hotfoot from the crematorium.
Let's get them all into the nick for questioning.
It's time they found out the privileges are over.
I have nothing to say, Chief Inspector, until my solicitor arrives and as he's travelling from London that could be rather a long time.
This is absolutely pointless.
You refuse to answer? No.
I refuse to be questioned without the legal representation to which I'm entitled.
That is not the same thing.
Troy, could you take Mrs Edmonton down to the custody sergeant? I'm sure he can find a cell for her.
(LAUGHS) Well, I really don't need to be locked up, Mr Barnaby, but whatever you wish.
I don't know what crime you're intending to charge me with but I do assure you a police cell isn't going to intimidate me.
It's got nothing to do with intimidation.
You are a suspect in a murder investigation.
Oh, I see.
Oh, I see.
You think I murdered Charles.
Well, yes.
I can see why some fairly stupid policeman might have leapt to that conclusion.
You know I'd really credited you with more intelligence.
Shall we go? I don't understand what Mr Shepherd has got to do with my brother-in-law's death or me.
But you knew what was going on, didn't you? The financial cover-up? All I knew was how much trouble Mallory was in.
Charles had frittered away so much before anyone realised something was wrong.
I'm talking millions.
So the answer was to lock him up, keep him sedated? I treated him as I would treat any patient with Alzheimer's.
He died under your regime, Doctor.
I treated him properly and discreetly.
How do your medical ethics square with keeping a body in a deep freeze so you can put a false date on a death certificate, then? I shouldn't have done that.
That was a mistake.
Mallory was panicking.
How did Charles Edmonton die, Doctor? A heart attack.
The date may be false, but it's a true diagnosis.
Well, I hope it is .
.
for your sake.
My client has answered all questions which relate to her husband's death and the circumstances surrounding the funeral.
That's just the beginning.
Unless you which to charge Mrs Edmonton with something pertinent to all these other areas of inquiry it's not so much the beginning, Chief Inspector, as the end.
Mrs Edmonton told you, she's never heard of this man, Darwin.
And as for Mr Shepherd, she met him on two or three occasions, either in her husband's company or Major Hamilton's.
You're on a fishing expedition, Chief Inspector.
And you know as well as I do that there's no reason for my client to remain in your keepnet any longer.
Heart attack, that's what killed him.
Could Edmonton's heart attack have been induced? I doubt it.
He did have a pretty dicky ticker.
I wouldn't say she was doing anything unusual.
She kept notes.
So it was natural causes, was it? I'm afraid so.
Unlike our friend in the river.
You were right.
About what? It's on your desk.
I popped it in this morning.
I looked for the microorganisms that should have been in the system.
They'd have entered his body as soon as he went into the river and took in water.
Not a trace.
But he did drown? No question about that, but Shepherd probably drowned in the bath.
Which would have made it extremely difficult for him to drive his car into the river.
Or even to rinse his hair.
Just off.
No, Troy.
We're both off.
But I was gonna go and see Sarah- No, I want you to get a SOCO unit round to Shepherd's place right away.
They need to take that bathroom to pieces.
Then Casement Hall, the Hamiltons and Naomi Sinclair's, too.
What am I looking for? Anything that ties in to Shepherd on the night he died.
I am going to talk to Eleanor and Jane Macpherson.
You think they know something? I know they didn't tell me the truth.
John, head straight upstairs in the bathroom.
Take it apart inch by inch.
You lot, downstairs.
Those are the two account numbers.
I just need to find out how much is in each.
Yes, the password is Phophonyane.
P-H-O-P-H-O-N-Y-A-N-E.
How much? And when was that transferred to South Africa? I just need to check that the bank here sent the right amount.
Thank you so much for your help.
I hope this will all be over very soon.
And when it is .
.
I hope I never have to set eyes on you again in my life.
ENGINE REVS I told myself he'd be all right.
I told myself we'd call a doctor if he wasn't better in the morning.
We both said that.
But I knew I wouldn't, Chief Inspector.
What I really thought deep inside was that he would go to sleep quietly and painlessly and he wouldn't wake up.
And our lives would be as they were before he came.
We'd be free of him! He took our house, he took our money, he made us his servants.
We were terrified of him, you see? But we couldn't say.
We were too .
.
frightened.
And too ashamed.
Done.
And I hope that's that.
A day in a police cell, George.
You must be pleased with yourself.
Oh, come on now, old girl.
I did say the sea might get a bit choppy.
We'll weather the storm.
They were here, too, the police.
They've searched the house from top to bottom.
What do you mean? Don't worry.
They didn't find your little hidey-hole.
Oh, I've always known where it was.
A plane ticket to Johannesburg.
And that's where most of the money is already.
You're going back, aren't you? I was gonna tell you.
Were you? When you got there? I thought .
.
given time, after I'd set up a business, you'd come around.
And that's what I've done.
I've bought a lodge, a really classy lodge.
No, it's not gonna be like the last time.
Look, I can't stay here, Eileen.
You know that.
There's nothing here, nothing for me.
Nothing for you? I have lived with nothing for the best years of my life.
A place I loathed, people I loathed.
I loathed you, too! I gave up what I wanted then.
You had to do the same for me when you retired.
I can't stay here! I'm suffocating! You think I'm going to let you walk out on me now? Well, you're not gonna stop me.
Not now.
I'll stop you.
Whatever it takes to do it, I'll stop you, George.
ENGINE REVS (SIGHS) MEN LAUGH MAN COUGHS A pint, please.
MEN MUTTER Sit down.
It'll do you no good at all.
Vernon, sit down and finish your drink.
FIRE CRACKLES Off already, Major? Don't you want a drink with your old business associates? Leave it alone.
Nothing to say, Major? Look, I'm sorry that this happened.
A lot of people lost money.
I wish it could have been otherwise.
You knew, you bastard! There's no point, Vernon! Say you knew it, Hamilton.
Admit it.
All crap, just like you.
I mean, what do we really know about you? Tell us exactly what regiment you belong to, Major Hamilton? Or is that crap, too? It was a high-risk investment.
You thought you'd make a lot of money by sitting on your arses and doing nothing.
Well, look on it as a lesson.
At least you walk away with something.
Oh, I walked away with something! ENGINE STARTS FIRE ROARS When did you find him? This morning, first thing.
I called the police straightaway.
No point in calling the doctor.
You saw nothing last night? I went to bed.
I didn't know where he was.
I didn't care.
You didn't hear him come in? When I saw him this morning the first thing I felt wasrelief.
I thought, "It's over.
It's finally over".
You smashed his belongings, you dragged the contents of his room into the garden, you set fire to the lot of it, you went to bed, you say.
Meanwhile, Major Hamilton was killed and his body thrown onto the fire which you'd just lit.
He wasn't a major, you know? He was a sergeant in the Pay Corps.
All those years in Africa, that's all he ever was, a clerk.
Why were you so angry yesterday, Mrs Hamilton? What happened? He was going back.
After everything he said he was going back.
And he was going to take everything.
All the money we had.
All the money he promised we'd have.
This is a lot of money.
I don't know where they stashed it.
But George knew about these things.
The creditors won't see a penny.
You thought it was a good idea, did you, for him to be involved in fraud? Why not? What did anyone ever give me for leading an honest life? George was lying to me.
He was going to take every penny and go back to Africa.
So you had to stop him.
I didn't kill him.
If I'd had the guts to kill him I'd have done it years ago.
Still .
.
someone stopped him.
I can't say I'm sorry.
But it wasn't me.
She must have done it.
You think Mrs Edmonton killed him? Mallory? Of course not.
She believed George was getting some money out for her.
Though she was never going to see half of it.
No.
It was her sister, Dr Sinclair.
Mallory! Where are you, Mallory? KNOCK ON DOOR Sir.
You better see this.
We didn't know Naomi had another car.
The grey wouldn't be a bad match for the paint on Darwin's coat.
Finally, some evidence.
I have reason to believe evidence material to a murder investigation is about to be destroyed, sir.
No, Troy.
Just breaking in.
GLASS SHATTERS Neighbours said she left about half an hour ago.
Came in, then drove straight off again.
Surgery? No, uniforms are there now.
DEVICE BEEPS ELEANOR: Don't ignore me, Naomi.
Naomi! It's George now, isn't it? I've pushed it out of my mind before.
Julian Shepherd.
I mean, I couldn't believe that But I know and I have to know how Charles died.
The police will be here, Naomi.
And how can I lie about the things that I know? DIAL TONE "All very mysterious.
" "I pushed it out of my mind, but I know.
" Did you really think that I wouldn't, Naomi? No-one can prove anything.
I see.
Now that Major Hamilton is dead, no-one can prove anything? Mm.
I hear that.
Do you hear yourself, Naomi? People have died! Major Hamilton, Julian Shepherd, that man who broke in just to steal some eggs.
Oh.
I thought you'd approve of that one.
All those little chats with the Major when you should have been looking after Charles.
You didn't even like the man! I didn't have to.
We just wanted more than a few crumbs from your table.
Did you kill Charles? Oh, you're not telling me you really cared? You never understood, did you? I wanted to protect the man he'd been, the man I loved! It was never just about money! A pretty speech, Mallory.
You could always afford the prettiest things.
Is there in my life you don't resent? I don't care about your life.
I've got the money to live my own now.
Oh.
Oh, that's a turn-up.
I never thought I'd see the day when you were afraid of your little sister.
But what I need now is for you to disappear, as well as me.
You see, you're going to be the main suspect in several murders.
I don't dislike that.
And if you're never seen again everybody will always believe that you got away with it - the murders and the money.
Oh.
Very neat.
Sorry, Naomi.
I can't do that.
Oh.
You're going to betray your only sister? That's not nice.
No When I said "disappear" I didn't mean a flight to foreign shores and a new name.
It's too late for that.
It's the only way now.
What are you doing? What are you doing?! Sorry.
No! No! No! BIRDS SHRIEK No! SHRIEKING INTENSIFIES Ah! Ah! Ah! No! (GASPS) (SCREAMS) Ah! (CONTINUES SCREAMING) You take the house.
WOMAN SCREAMS BIRD SHRIEKS Troy.
Any news on the car? Oh, yes.
Darwin's blood, threads from his clothes and I got this Hi, Sarge.
Sir.
Hm.
Hiya.
I owe you a drink sometime.
Moorcroft was so afraid of what he got involved in he delivered his whole network.
Right.
Great.
Well, I don't know when.
I get off about But it depends what's happening.
Oi.
You can get off about now.
Oh, right.
Cool.
Cool? I mean, thank you, sir.
OK.
There we go, my lovely.
OK.
BELL JINGLES Is this an arrest? No.
No, it's not.
But I guess you'll have to face a court at some point.
How is my sister? Well, let's just say she's not being as cooperative as you are.
No.
But however much I help with the money I'm not going to testify against her.
I can't do that, I won't.
I really did have no idea.
I'm just gonna say goodbye.
To the birds? I don't think I'll ever feel free again.
But they can be.
I wish that we could all just .
.
fly away when the time comes.
I don't know what it's like.
I've never even seen it in the supermarket before.
I thought it would set the right sort of mood.
Mm.
It's not bad.
No, it's very good.
What is it? Ostrich.
I thought you wanted to see the animals, not eat them.
(LAUGHS) I do.
But it was the only thing I could find that was African.
Well, I say African.
The ostrich farm was just outside Cheltenham.
The wine is south African.
Cheers.
Joyce, what have you done? Since you were never going to look seriously at the brochures .
.
I took the dates and Cully did it.
We're booked.
We're going to Botswana in April.
Here's to our holiday.
Joyce It looks as if these people are sitting on top of an elephant.
That's right.
It's an elephant-back safari.
Won't it be wonderful? Cheers.
Closed Captions by CSI
That phone never stops ringing.
Refer them to me.
I'll handle it.
Are you handling Julian Shepherd? Let's just ignore him.
No, he's making trouble, George.
I don't want anything to go wrong.
All right.
I'll see to it.
ENGINE STARTS GRAVEL CRUNCHES PLANK CLANGS BELLS JINGLE You'd better come in.
Mr Edmonton, I have to talk to you.
The money I invested, I .
.
I need it.
I can't get any sense out of anyone.
Oh, they haven't seen the future.
A new future for the way we live.
I trusted you with my money But I can't wait any longer.
You haven't even told us what this project is.
All I want is what I put in back or I'll be bankrupted.
It has to be secret.
That's what holds this project together.
My simple invention to support travel and live in a perfect environment without fuels, without pollution They'll go to any lengths to get their hands on it, any lengths.
They'll even kill.
I told you you'd make a fortune, my boy.
And you will, a fortune.
I have to have my money .
.
now.
ENGINES WHIRR KEYS JINGLE THEME MUSIC HOOVES CLOP You're early, Miss Macpherson.
I'm sorry, Mr Pilcher, really.
But I do need some sausages.
Emergency, is it? You'd best come in.
Beef be all right? A pound? It's pork we want.
I'll be making some later.
My sister forgot to buy them yesterday.
They were on her list - pork sausages.
She lost it.
Well, why don't you come back, Miss Macpherson? Oh, those will have to do.
I'll put the porkers aside for you.
There you are, Miss Mac I've got the brochures.
Oh, great.
So I'll just order it, shall I? Yes, fine.
I don't know whether they'll fit it in the front garden.
I mean, is 45ft quite big for a yacht? Pardon? Brochures, Tom.
Africa.
Lions, rhinos, giraffes.
Next year's holiday.
We have talked about this.
Yeah, well, I'm sure we'll manage something.
It's just a question of when, isn't it? It's a wonderful idea in principle.
I want to do this, Tom.
And Cully can get us a very good deal.
We will, we will.
I must go now.
I could go on my own.
I might not come back.
I've always had a crush on that man from Daktari.
He'll be drawing his pension by now.
Aha.
I'm glad I caught you.
You can have a look at these at work.
What about crime? It won't go away, Dad.
I didn't realise working for a travel agent was a conspiracy.
More of a happy coincidence.
Thank you.
BIRDS WARBLE AND TWEET The swallows are still here.
They should be long gone by now.
Good.
He was open.
He didn't have pork, Jane.
Oh, Troy.
I thought this book might be of use to you.
I don't want anyone to think the Causton CID doesn't know it's asio from its elbow.
Its what? Asio, it's an owl.
Well, two to be precise - the short-eared and the long-eared.
In the event of an identity parade you'll need to be well up in that.
(SIGHS) It's a waste of time.
It's a crime, Troy.
You are a detective.
I don't expect you to treat it any differently than any other crime.
I'm looking for DS Troy, sir.
Oh, well, you've found him.
Hi.
I'm Constable Pearce.
Sarah.
Wildlife Liaison Officer.
Oh, right.
Yes, nice to meet you.
Oh! Um Is that what you're wearing, Sarge? Well I've got some wellies.
I'm in the car park.
On my way.
Not all bad news, then.
Wildlife liaison.
It's like you said, sir.
A crime is a crime, after all.
Thank you.
Smells good, Jane.
I'm ready for it.
You know I don't eat these.
I went to the butcher especially.
He didn't have any pork.
I was looking forward to them.
Hi.
How is he? Oh.
I don't know what they use in those sedatives, Naomi.
But I wouldn't rush to buy shares in the drug company.
He was high as a kite again for most of the night.
But he can only take so much.
Well, I can't control him when he's like that.
I'll up the dose, then.
Just get it right, sis, OK? I know what I'm doing.
But you might remember whose benefit this is all really for.
If I didn't know you better I would swear you're accusing me of being an ungrateful bitch.
You wouldn't, would you? Don't those birds ever get in the mood to peck someone's eyes out? No.
Only when I ask them to.
I brought your medicine up, Mr Edmonton.
And Mallory wondered if you fancied a bite to eat.
Don't we have the press conference? Well, I'm still preparing that, sir.
Oh.
I've been working on my speech.
Ah.
Excellent.
There you are.
There was a There was a man in here the other day.
Uh, I knew him from He came in through the window.
It's locked now.
I don't want any journalists getting hold of the story until we're ready.
I should be at a meeting.
People from the city.
Are they here? It's very important.
They're going to invest millions.
Now, they're downstairs.
I shall make sure that everything's running smoothly.
Well, what about the conference room? Has that been swept again for bugs? Have we got good people in? The best.
Thank you.
Now you can I can't just A little rest, I think, eh? Now, how about a nice nap, hm? There you are.
PC Angel, sir.
Morning.
So what have we got? Well, looks like he went in sometime during the night.
It's quite deep here.
The car was right under the water.
Do you know the man? Julian Shepherd, a local.
He lives up the road about a mile away.
I, uh, I thought I better call CID.
You see, there's no tyre marks and no sign of a skid.
He didn't try to brake.
Very observant of you, Constable.
Do his family know? No.
No, he lived alone.
I spoke to the woman that cleaned for him.
She says she wasn't surprised.
She thought he might do something like this.
Like what? Kill himself.
BIRD CHIRPS They're all here to see the serrins.
How many are there? Just a pair.
How do they know where they are? (LAUGHS) They don't.
There's a chance they could see them.
But they might not and the birds could just go.
But it's worth standing there all day on the off chance? They've been around here for a few weeks.
If they do winter here it's possible they could breed in the spring.
It wouldn't be a first.
Time for the boots, Sarge? I should have said, sorry.
Do you think Mr Shepherd was in trouble? I know he was.
What kind of trouble? All sorts.
His wife leaving, not seeing his children, the business, the house.
But it all came down to one thing in the endmoney.
The business being? Books.
Buying and selling.
He had a shop in Oxford up until two years ago.
I suppose he made some bad decisions.
I don't know.
You're saying Mr Shepherd was depressed because of his financial difficulties? Well, wouldn't you be? It's a long road from being depressed to committing suicide.
I know that, Mr Barnaby.
It did cross my mind, but I suppose I never really believed that he'd actually You go make a cup of tea, I'll take a look around upstairs.
Right.
BIRD SQUAWKS Oh, dear.
Oh, dear.
Mrs Edmonton? Yes, can I help you? Good morning to you.
I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby from Causton CID.
I'm making a few inquiries about the death of a neighbour of yours, Mr Julian Shepherd.
Oh, yes, yes.
I heard about the accident.
It's terrible, terrible.
You wonder why these things happen.
Did you know Mr Shepherd? Well, not well.
None of us are greatly into popping round to borrow a cup of sugar.
You see, apparently he phoned here several times yesterday.
There was something he wanted to talk to your husband about.
Did he actually come here? I certainly didn't see him.
Is Mr Edmonton in? No, Charles is away at the moment.
Would you know what he wanted to talk to your husband about? No, I have no idea.
I have absolutely no interest in my husband's business affairs.
You'd have to talk to the Major.
Major? Major who? BELL JINGLES Major George Hamilton.
And where would I find him? He lives in the village.
That is beautiful.
Beautiful is not a big enough word.
It's like saying the sea is wet.
Come on.
BELL JINGLES That's one there.
No, that's a buzzard.
Oh.
What about that one? Definite.
No.
That's a red kite.
(SIGHS) (CHUCKLES) There he is.
Where? No, not the bird.
Our friend Moorcroft.
By the Toyota.
A very serious egg dealer.
I've been watching him for some time.
The egg man.
Who's that? I don't know.
It could be just a twitcher Moorcroft's pumping for information or it could be another dealer or a buyer, a collector.
How much money is there in it? Oh, um, some eggs will fetch a few pounds.
Rare ones thousands.
It can add up to serious money.
Serious enough not to care what species you could be wiping out in the process.
There.
Your first heron, look.
Not bad for your first hour's twitching.
Where? (LAUGHS) Sorry, you've just missed your first heron.
It's a good job the villains are bigger, eh, Sarge? Good morning.
Looking for Major Hamilton.
You've found us.
Are you Mrs Hamilton? Yes.
You'll find him in the study.
You'll hardly miss the raised voices, I'm sure.
Thank you.
What was he on about? He said something was wrong.
I put a lot of money into this thing.
Did you refuse to give him his capital back, Major, because that's what Shepherd told me.
That's quite untrue, I'm sure.
Well, surety is what we need.
I haven't seen Charles Edmonton in over a month.
Where the hell is he? Charles has been in the States, he's been in Switzerland putting into place the last pieces before the launch.
Now you're gonna make a lot of money.
What the hell has that got to do with the opinion of Julian Shepherd who was quite clearly mentally deranged? Major Hamilton? Yes? Your wife said I'd find you here.
I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.
Are you sure you don't want anything? No.
No, thank you.
Just taking all this in.
It's not quite what you'd expect from the outside.
I spent my working life in Africa.
When I retired I brought back as much as I could.
Eileen has her side of the house.
I have mine.
It's not every house you can change continents just by walking through the door.
Well, I'm sure there's many a man who wished he could at times.
(CHUCKLES) Yes.
(CHUCKLES) So you did see Julian Shepherd? Yes.
Yesterday morning.
And I spoke to him after lunch later on the phone.
I must say it's a shock to us all.
We knew that he was (SIGHS) Well, he was on the verge of some breakdown.
There's not point in beating about the bush.
But none of us ever dreamt that he'd take his own life.
What did the two of you talk about? Julian was in a spot of bother on the financial front.
Well, you know how these things go - divorce and so on.
(SIGHS) Ruin a man unless his head's screwed on.
Well, he'd invested money in one of Charles Edmonton's projects.
Stood to make a great deal out of it.
But Julian needed to get his money out.
The launch was only a few weeks away.
It's damn stupid.
He was throwing away at least ten times what he'd invested.
Maybe more.
Well, I did my best to persuade him to change his mind.
And he didn't? Absolutely not.
And did you give him his money back? Well, I would have written the cheque for him today.
Now I don't know what to do.
I presume he has executors.
Well, it'd be up to them when all this is sorted out.
Terrible business.
We're all very upset.
Yes, so I gather.
What precisely did Julian Shepherd invest in? I suppose there's no harm.
Basically, it was a fuel-free transport system.
That was the revolutionary part, the invention.
Only Charles Edmonton knew the details.
Not the investors? No.
That was very trusting of them.
He'd made several fortunes in his lifetime and not just for himself, but for those who had the vision to back him.
Thank you, Major.
Pleasure.
How many? I've got two more spare.
I thought three peregrine eggs and .
.
I could go to £300.
(SCOFFS) You know what it takes to get an osprey egg? The nesting sites are all secret.
They're watched night and day.
Once I get an osprey I've completed all the British Pandionidae and Accipitridae.
It's taken me 20 years.
Can you really get one? I said I can deliver.
Can you? (CHUCKLES) Eddie, old son.
We can sort something out.
This woman up at the hall Mrs Edmonton? She's breeding, you told me, right? Peregrines, merlins, goshawks.
I don't know exactly.
Oh, come on, Eddie.
You told me you could get in.
You said you'd been in.
To see, that's all.
Well, did you take an egg? Once.
One egg.
You underestimate yourself, Eddie.
You know your way around.
I've got a buyer for some fertile eggs.
You get me enough of those and this .
.
could be all yours.
He drowned, that's clear enough.
You're familiar enough with it.
Mucus from the body mixes with water.
This is from his lungs.
It looks like he drove straight into the river.
No sign of him losing control.
The car wasn't even travelling at any speed.
What about drink? No.
So suicide could be right.
I can tell you what he had for dinner, I can tell you he wasn't in the habit of rinsing his hair properly, but I can't tell you what he was thinking.
No.
What do you mean he didn't rinse his hair properly? There was some gunge at the roots.
Turned out to be conditioner.
So when did he wash his hair, then? Yesterday morning? Later? I guess later.
Tom, there's nothing very suspicious about a man who doesn't wash his hair properly.
No, but there's something rather odd about a man who washes his hair just before killing himself.
Have we got a deal, then, Eddie? All right.
I'm trusting you, you know that.
We're trusting each other.
No, Eddie, old son.
What I mean is .
.
you know more about what I do than makes me comfortable.
Well, I'm not going to say anything.
No, you're not.
We're working together on this.
If you screw up, if you put me in it .
.
your head could end up under the wheels of my jeep.
Just so we know where we stand.
I'll see you tonight, then.
(HUMS) £ CLASSICAL MUSIC What time's dinner? About an hour.
I'll have a glass of wine with it.
We have some of that white.
I'll have some red.
And get something decent for a change.
You can flush the last lot down the sink.
It might clear the drains.
And run me a bath nearly to the top.
Turn that bloody music off now! I can't stand it.
(SIGHS) PLAYER CLICKS OFF Goodnight.
What happened to you? What do you mean? Well, I can only hope you're not going to try and claim for a new suit on your expenses, Troy.
Well, no bother about that.
Good.
I'm glad to see you're prepared to make sacrifices in the line of duty.
You look like you've had quite a day.
I have.
There's a lot more to a wildlife crime than you think.
Any chance of you bringing a little less of it back into the office wit you tomorrow? I don't think wildlife liaison is treated seriously enough in CID.
We don't spend enough time on it.
Well, after the Road to Damascus you've been travelling on with Constable Pearce, I'm sure you'll do your best to remedy that.
Very nice.
I enjoyed it.
I've got the pork sausages.
The butcher made them this afternoon.
I don't fancy them tomorrow.
I'll havea mushroom omelette, I think.
Well, that'll be fine.
I'm a little short of cash this evening, and I need to go out.
We haven't been to the post office today, Mr Darwin.
Oh, that sounds like a fib to me, Jane.
You shouldn't, you know? She shouldn't fib, should she? No point hiding things from me.
I know when it's pension day.
COINS SCATTER (SOBS) DOOR CLOSES Hm.
Look at that.
They guarantee to get you that close to a lion, do they? I'm not sure if I consider that a threat or a promise.
I don't suppose they walk straight up to you, Tom.
Oh, that's something.
The trouble is I've already been to Africa.
No, you haven't.
Yes, I have.
Only today.
Major Hamilton, the Midsomer magnate, he still lives in Africa.
And it's not at all like your brochures here.
It's less of your luxury lodges, more your Heart Of Darkness.
Don't be so silly.
I'm going to have a bath.
Mm-hm.
You read the brochure and in return I'll clean up the mess you left in the bathroom without even mentioning it.
(KISSES HIM) Almost without mentioning it.
I always clean up.
BIRDS SCREECH Shut up! SCREECHING CONTINUES SHRIEKING CONTINUES (Shut up!) ENGINE REVS Argh! Ah! Ah! TYRES SPIN DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES He'll want his hot milk.
Mr Darwin, what's happened? An accident.
Just an accident.
We should call a doctor.
No.
I'm all right.
There's nothing broken.
I just need to rest.
I'm going to bed.
Perhaps we should help him.
We better leave him.
We'll see how he is in the morning.
You know how he is if we fuss, dear.
What about his milk? He'll call if he wants it.
Why don't we have a nice cup of cocoa? LIVELY CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS Oh, there you are.
I see the years have not diminished your powers of observation.
Is it all right? "All right" isn't quite the phrase that first springs to mind, but .
.
it's under control.
Well, that's all that matters, really.
We haven't done all this for nothing.
So it's "we" now? It's always been "we", George.
Always.
Mm.
Troy.
Well, that's better.
You need to wear something practical for this sort of thing.
Well, there's only so many suits a man can go through in a week.
Sadly, I'm gonna have to drag you away from your rural liaison.
What, now? But I think I could really be onto something here, sir.
Constable Pearce, you'll have to manage on your own.
I know a dead body is poor recompense for the call of the wild, but it's the best I can offer.
Come on.
Parcel for you.
I thought Mr Darwin might like some of these, they're so pretty.
And if he's not feeling very well - I think he'd rather be left on his own just now.
You know how he is.
Maybe we'll take them up later.
I'll put them in some water.
Ooh.
Let me help.
Oh, thanks.
Where do you want it? Uh, through there.
(SIGHS) It just came.
I don't really know what to do with it.
The label says "With compliments, the Edmonton Corporation".
What shall I do with it? See what's inside.
Maisie, I want to look at the bathroom again.
You didn't clean the bathroom, did you? I didn't even come upstairs.
Looking through the house, I didn't get the impression Mr Shepherd was the, uh, tidiest man in the world.
He certainly wasn't.
But he might have cleaned the bathroom, though, mightn't he? It looks a very thorough job to me.
Bleach, bath cleaner People do get fussy about the bathroom.
Not Mr Shepherd.
I don't think he ever even wiped round the bath.
What is it? It's a scooter.
Your coffee's there, dear.
He is dead, then? (SIGHS) I suppose we ought to ask Dr Robertshaw to come and see him now.
It doesn't rule out an accident or suicide.
There's no evidence.
Well, not yet, there isn't.
And no motive.
But there are reasons why he might have killed himself.
He was depressed.
He had family troubles, money troubles - the usual old stuff.
I see your encounter with nature red in tooth and claw hasn't made you more sensitive to the human condition, Troy.
But in this case I don't believe that the usual old stuff will do.
Either there was something we don't know about that pushed him over the edge Or someone killed him.
I need to know more.
Chief Inspector Barnaby? Yep.
James Robertshaw, GP.
Constable Angel said I'd find you here.
I've got a rather puzzling death.
I would guess the cause of death will turn out to be internal bleeding.
How long's he been dead? Give or take four, five hours.
What are we talking about with the bruising? Some kind of accident? Was he attacked? Oh.
That's for a pathologist.
All I can say is that whatever did happen to him it almost certainly resulted in his death.
I'll leave you to it.
Yes, Thank you, Doctor.
So what have we got, sir? I don't know.
We're going to need a post-mortem.
You'd better get a key for this room.
We may need forensics in.
His name is Edward Darwin, Clerk to the Council.
I know him.
I didn't know his name.
I saw him with a man Sarah's got under surveillance.
The egg man.
The egg man? We knew he wasn't feeling very well.
I did knock on his door and ask if there was anything he wanted.
He said there wasn't.
How long was he in his room? Since yesterday evening.
He didn't come out at all during that time? No.
We didn't think there was anything very odd about that.
He was a very private person.
Oh, let me help, Miss Macpherson.
Thank you.
I thought you might like something to eat.
Just put it down here.
There.
I'll pour.
And you can help yourselves.
That's very kind.
You shouldn't have put yourself to all that trouble.
Oh, I know you don't eat properly when you're working.
Mr Darwin He was a very private man, Chief Inspector.
Tea, dear.
Could you tell us something about Mr Darwin's friends? No.
No-one ever came here.
Never.
Does the name Moorcroft, Sean Moorcroft, mean anything to you? Cucumber? Some ham? No.
No, thank you.
He would have been interested in birds' eggs, as well, like Mr Darwin.
Well, Mr Darwin was very knowledgeable about birds.
And he was very proud of his eggs.
But he didn't like us to talk about that.
He said his collection was very valuable.
I'm afraid it was also very illegal, Miss Macpherson.
Still, that's not important now, is it? I'll have to ask you not to disturb anything in Mr Darwin's room, all right? Oh, yes.
That's quite all right.
Will you be taking him with you? I think we would prefer that.
It may do no harm to make some attempt to behave a little more like the grieving widowsis.
I've done my grieving, Naomi.
Alzheimer's took Charles' spirit away from his body a long time before he died.
And what was left had very little to do with the man that I married.
Except financially.
I don't know why you've always had a problem with the fact I didn't only marry Charles for his money.
And you stand to do very nicely out of it, too, so don't overdo the snide remarks.
KNOCK ON DOOR Yes? The undertakers are here.
Good.
Can they do the funeral tomorrow? Yes, it can be done.
Good.
Ask them to come in.
Morning, Sarge.
Oh, you're here.
Great.
Have you got the info on Moorcroft? Yes, two addresses.
A family in Reading and his girlfriend's flat in Staines.
He spends his time between the two.
But I spoke to Berkshire and the Toyota's at his now, so I guess he's there.
They could pull him in any time.
I'd rather do it myself.
See his reactions, get a look at his house.
I'll contact Thames Valley en route.
They'll probably want to give us a couple of uniforms for backup.
Oh, you won't need that, Sarge.
Course not.
Just routine.
What's he like on violence? Depends what he's had to drink.
He's well up for some aggro with a skinful, but sober .
.
discretion has a better part.
Bit early for the pub.
Doesn't look like he's up yet.
What's round the back? Just open fields.
You do the front.
You come with me.
Mr Moorcroft! I'm glad we caught you.
Argh! CRASH All right! No need to break my arm over birds' eggs.
Constable Pearce can deal with the eggs.
I want to talk to you about Eddie Darwin.
I don't know any Eddie Darwin.
You certainly do, Mr Moorcroft.
Or did.
In fact, you were one of the last people to see Mr Darwin alive.
For God's sake, Bernard, the man's just died.
I've no idea what's happening.
You read the paper.
He's bloody bankrupt! You know we got bloody scooters sent to us.
What kind of a joke is that? What's that got to do with launching the project? As soon as I know more I'll let you know.
The truth is I'm as much in the dark as you are.
I had a drink with him.
He went his way, I went mine.
You talked about bird-spotting.
That's right.
I suppose you know Mr Darwin collected birds' eggs.
I didn't.
Naughty man, eh? It's against the law, that.
Mr Moorcroft, an examination of your car has revealed two things.
The first is blood.
Stains on the carpet, front passenger side.
Some attempt has been made to wash the stains out very recently.
Well, it's probably mine.
I lead an outdoor life.
I'm forever knocking myself about.
I never think about a bit of blood.
Two convictions for assault seem to confirm that.
Although, the blood you don't think about usually belongs to someone else.
That was a long time ago.
But not so long ago you were fined for trading in birds' eggs and wild birds.
And, uh, this was also found in your car.
A feather.
Big deal.
A peregrine feather? Like I said, I'm an outdoor guy.
I get plenty of shite on my shoes.
This is another piece of peregrine feather.
It was in the pocket of clothes Edward Darwin was wearing when he was hit by a vehicle.
We will be able to find out whether these two feathers came from the same bird.
And if the blood in your car came from Mr Darwin we'll also be able to establish that.
It would be a lot easier if you told us what happened that night.
Brodie, Brodie.
Good girl.
MOBILE RINGS Hello? Oh, good.
Is it all finished? It's all done.
Yes.
The last one went through.
You're home and dry.
Good.
PHONE BEEPS Good girl.
The deal was Darwin would steal fertile eggs.
Moorcroft had a buyer.
If he got enough he'd get this osprey egg.
But he was definitely up at the hall last night? Moorcroft met him in the pub then dropped him by the wall round the estate.
They met in the pub car park an hour later.
And the eggs? No, Darwin said something spooked him.
He didn't get near the birds.
Moorcroft dropped him back at the Macphersons'.
What sort of state was he in? He told Moorcroft he'd fallen off the wall.
He'd torn his clothes, hurt himself, he just wanted to get home.
That's what Moorcroft said.
Do you believe him? Yeah.
Moorcroft's scared rigid at the moment.
Whatever happened to Eddie Darwin, he's telling what he knows.
Good girl, good girl.
Come on, Brodie.
Come on, Brodie.
Come on, Brodie.
BELL JINGLES (WHISTLES) Good girl.
Come on.
BELL JINGLES You could have chosen a better time, Mr Barnaby.
I'd normally take any attempt to steal eggs very seriously indeed but with my husband's funeral to organise it isn't exactly at the top of my list of priorities.
I won't intrude on your time more then necessary.
I'm very sorry to hear about your husband.
Yes.
I'm not quite sure what it is you're expecting to achieve.
I've already told you.
The birds were not disturbed and no eggs were stolen from the incubator.
And whilst I do take considerable pride in communicating with my falcons and my hawks I doubt whether anybody would get very far by interrogating them.
Good, right.
So there are the beds.
Mrs Edmonton, I have good reason to believe that Eddie Darwin was in this building the night he was involved in a road accident, a hit-and-run.
That accident resulted in his death.
And I want to find out where he was and what he was doing.
Well, not only do my birds not talk, but none of them, as far as I know, has a driving licence.
So if you will excuse me, I have a lot of things to be getting on with.
Thank you.
If Eddie Darwin did get in here why didn't he take any eggs? Mrs Edmonton flies these birds all over the estate.
He could have picked the feather up anywhere.
He lost his bottle, never did get in here.
WINGS FLAP BIRD HOOTS The feather was in his pocket, wasn't it? It's not impossible it got there when he was climbing a tree or a wall.
But it wasn't just any feather, was it? It was a feather left by a peregrine.
And Darwin was heading this way to steal peregrine eggs.
Ooh.
Not a sport for vegetarians.
(HUMS) £ Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika.
£ (KISSES THE PAPER) Hi.
How's it going? Well I've come to a conclusion.
It's not enough.
(CHUCKLES) I mean, I want more money.
Yeah.
Yes, I don't think you're really in a position to refuse, are you? £ Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika £ Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo £ Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Wa! £ Nkosi sikelela £ Nkosi sikelela! £ (SIGHS) £ Sikelel, sikelel, sikelel, sikelel £ Sikelel, sikelel, sikelel £ Abu! £ We're all waiting, Mallory.
When somebody dies, somebody the birds had respect for, at some point you need to tell them.
I think they probably know.
Death matters to them, like life.
(SIGHS) I suppose I should thank you.
I don't expect thanks.
What do you expect? BIRDS CHIRP Hi.
Hiya.
Is this all right? I mean, have forensics finished? No, no.
I thought I'd come in here and destroy all the evidence and generally get in everyone's way.
You spoke to the boss.
Yeah.
And look at these.
Mr Darwin was a very meticulous man.
Details of every egg he bought, every egg he sold.
Addresses of the dealers.
I think if we put this together with what I'm holding over Sean Moorcroft - For the osprey egg? You can help me threaten more than that, can't you? Obstructing the police, that sort of thing? I've been having some horrid dreams.
They'll go away.
It'll soon be over.
No, it won't, Eleanor.
We've been very bad.
You know we have.
Soon be finished.
I hope we won't be troubling you much longer.
We need to talk to Mr Barnaby.
PRIEST: "'I am the resurrection and the life', saith the Lord.
'He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die'.
" We didn't know what had happened.
We knew he was hurt, of course.
He just went to bed.
I didn't like to interfere.
Mr Darwin never liked us to interfere.
He'd shout at us.
Is that why you didn't call for a doctor? Well, he told us not to, you see? It was my decision, Mr Barnaby.
Jane didn't have anything to do with it.
Don't say that, Eleanor.
Weren't you concerned? Not at first.
A little later on.
I went in to see him He was still dressed.
He was still conscious then? Oh, yes.
I helped him get his clothes off and put his pyjamas on.
You could see he was bruised.
Yes.
There.
Goodnight, Mr Darwin.
We couldn't have any idea how badly he was hurt.
Could we? He became delirious, saying the strangest things.
Could you make out anything he was saying? Somewhere he was, a place he'd run away from.
It frightened him.
No, it was the body that frightened him, the one in the freezer.
I think you'd popped out, dear.
It was where the birds were.
The birds were flying and there was a freezer.
That's what he said.
And there was a man in it.
(LAUGHS) It was all nonsense.
This all keeps coming back to Casement Hall, doesn't it? The birds eggs and nest eggs and now there's a .
.
cuckoo in the freezer, a dead body.
It was Charles Edmonton.
They're burying him today.
This morning.
They're not burying him this morning, they're cremating him this morning.
Round about now.
We did the right thing.
At least it's all over and done with.
DOOR CLOSES I'm sure it is, dear.
ENGINE REVS PRIEST: "In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall change our vile body that it may be like unto his glorious body.
According to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.
" TYRES SQUEAL "I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me" Stop this now.
SURPRISED WHISPERS Charles was a great man, people trusted him.
He invented a way of packaging milk that halved production costs round the world.
He'd invented a prefabricated building system that could put up a house in a week right from the foundations to running water and central heating.
That doesn't tell me why his body was in the deep freeze, Major.
I was trying to explain who he was.
Why he was being disposed of so quickly and so secretly.
Well, in the past few years he's made mistakes, big mistakes.
I didn't realise when I first joined him that he was very nearly bankrupt.
He was spending millions on development.
And he wasn't as well as he might be.
In what way? What was the matter with him? Alzheimer's.
By the time he was diagnosed he'd done considerable damage to his financial position.
And if it got out before Mallory consolidated her own position Is that a euphemism for fraud? Absolutely not.
What was going to "get out", Major? A scooter.
I've seen one of those before.
This was the project that he'd been working on for years.
A great secret.
Charles Edmonton invented a scooter? Basically.
Well, we had no idea.
There was a great deal of money at stake.
Enough to kill for? No-one got killed.
Charles Edmonton died of a heart attack.
I am merely the accountant, Chief Inspector.
Right.
Thank you, Major Hamilton, thank you.
The officer will see you back downstairs.
But for now you're to have no communication with Mrs Edmonton or her sister, OK? There'll be a lot more questions.
I quite understand.
Another one? Three people have died.
Julian Shepherd wanted to take money out this mad project and couldn't.
A man who broke into Casement Hall and saw the body of Charles Edmonton in the freezer.
Someone knew Darwin had seen that body.
Somebody wanted to shut him up.
Because Mrs Mallory Edmonton wanted another couple of days to defraud the investors and shareholders.
But Darwin got away.
Yeah.
Well, at least that begins to make sense.
But what about the funeral? There really is a death certificate, isn't there? All in order.
Except the doctor who signed the certificate is one Naomi Sinclair, Edmonton's sister-in-law.
She's downstairs now.
Hotfoot from the crematorium.
Let's get them all into the nick for questioning.
It's time they found out the privileges are over.
I have nothing to say, Chief Inspector, until my solicitor arrives and as he's travelling from London that could be rather a long time.
This is absolutely pointless.
You refuse to answer? No.
I refuse to be questioned without the legal representation to which I'm entitled.
That is not the same thing.
Troy, could you take Mrs Edmonton down to the custody sergeant? I'm sure he can find a cell for her.
(LAUGHS) Well, I really don't need to be locked up, Mr Barnaby, but whatever you wish.
I don't know what crime you're intending to charge me with but I do assure you a police cell isn't going to intimidate me.
It's got nothing to do with intimidation.
You are a suspect in a murder investigation.
Oh, I see.
Oh, I see.
You think I murdered Charles.
Well, yes.
I can see why some fairly stupid policeman might have leapt to that conclusion.
You know I'd really credited you with more intelligence.
Shall we go? I don't understand what Mr Shepherd has got to do with my brother-in-law's death or me.
But you knew what was going on, didn't you? The financial cover-up? All I knew was how much trouble Mallory was in.
Charles had frittered away so much before anyone realised something was wrong.
I'm talking millions.
So the answer was to lock him up, keep him sedated? I treated him as I would treat any patient with Alzheimer's.
He died under your regime, Doctor.
I treated him properly and discreetly.
How do your medical ethics square with keeping a body in a deep freeze so you can put a false date on a death certificate, then? I shouldn't have done that.
That was a mistake.
Mallory was panicking.
How did Charles Edmonton die, Doctor? A heart attack.
The date may be false, but it's a true diagnosis.
Well, I hope it is .
.
for your sake.
My client has answered all questions which relate to her husband's death and the circumstances surrounding the funeral.
That's just the beginning.
Unless you which to charge Mrs Edmonton with something pertinent to all these other areas of inquiry it's not so much the beginning, Chief Inspector, as the end.
Mrs Edmonton told you, she's never heard of this man, Darwin.
And as for Mr Shepherd, she met him on two or three occasions, either in her husband's company or Major Hamilton's.
You're on a fishing expedition, Chief Inspector.
And you know as well as I do that there's no reason for my client to remain in your keepnet any longer.
Heart attack, that's what killed him.
Could Edmonton's heart attack have been induced? I doubt it.
He did have a pretty dicky ticker.
I wouldn't say she was doing anything unusual.
She kept notes.
So it was natural causes, was it? I'm afraid so.
Unlike our friend in the river.
You were right.
About what? It's on your desk.
I popped it in this morning.
I looked for the microorganisms that should have been in the system.
They'd have entered his body as soon as he went into the river and took in water.
Not a trace.
But he did drown? No question about that, but Shepherd probably drowned in the bath.
Which would have made it extremely difficult for him to drive his car into the river.
Or even to rinse his hair.
Just off.
No, Troy.
We're both off.
But I was gonna go and see Sarah- No, I want you to get a SOCO unit round to Shepherd's place right away.
They need to take that bathroom to pieces.
Then Casement Hall, the Hamiltons and Naomi Sinclair's, too.
What am I looking for? Anything that ties in to Shepherd on the night he died.
I am going to talk to Eleanor and Jane Macpherson.
You think they know something? I know they didn't tell me the truth.
John, head straight upstairs in the bathroom.
Take it apart inch by inch.
You lot, downstairs.
Those are the two account numbers.
I just need to find out how much is in each.
Yes, the password is Phophonyane.
P-H-O-P-H-O-N-Y-A-N-E.
How much? And when was that transferred to South Africa? I just need to check that the bank here sent the right amount.
Thank you so much for your help.
I hope this will all be over very soon.
And when it is .
.
I hope I never have to set eyes on you again in my life.
ENGINE REVS I told myself he'd be all right.
I told myself we'd call a doctor if he wasn't better in the morning.
We both said that.
But I knew I wouldn't, Chief Inspector.
What I really thought deep inside was that he would go to sleep quietly and painlessly and he wouldn't wake up.
And our lives would be as they were before he came.
We'd be free of him! He took our house, he took our money, he made us his servants.
We were terrified of him, you see? But we couldn't say.
We were too .
.
frightened.
And too ashamed.
Done.
And I hope that's that.
A day in a police cell, George.
You must be pleased with yourself.
Oh, come on now, old girl.
I did say the sea might get a bit choppy.
We'll weather the storm.
They were here, too, the police.
They've searched the house from top to bottom.
What do you mean? Don't worry.
They didn't find your little hidey-hole.
Oh, I've always known where it was.
A plane ticket to Johannesburg.
And that's where most of the money is already.
You're going back, aren't you? I was gonna tell you.
Were you? When you got there? I thought .
.
given time, after I'd set up a business, you'd come around.
And that's what I've done.
I've bought a lodge, a really classy lodge.
No, it's not gonna be like the last time.
Look, I can't stay here, Eileen.
You know that.
There's nothing here, nothing for me.
Nothing for you? I have lived with nothing for the best years of my life.
A place I loathed, people I loathed.
I loathed you, too! I gave up what I wanted then.
You had to do the same for me when you retired.
I can't stay here! I'm suffocating! You think I'm going to let you walk out on me now? Well, you're not gonna stop me.
Not now.
I'll stop you.
Whatever it takes to do it, I'll stop you, George.
ENGINE REVS (SIGHS) MEN LAUGH MAN COUGHS A pint, please.
MEN MUTTER Sit down.
It'll do you no good at all.
Vernon, sit down and finish your drink.
FIRE CRACKLES Off already, Major? Don't you want a drink with your old business associates? Leave it alone.
Nothing to say, Major? Look, I'm sorry that this happened.
A lot of people lost money.
I wish it could have been otherwise.
You knew, you bastard! There's no point, Vernon! Say you knew it, Hamilton.
Admit it.
All crap, just like you.
I mean, what do we really know about you? Tell us exactly what regiment you belong to, Major Hamilton? Or is that crap, too? It was a high-risk investment.
You thought you'd make a lot of money by sitting on your arses and doing nothing.
Well, look on it as a lesson.
At least you walk away with something.
Oh, I walked away with something! ENGINE STARTS FIRE ROARS When did you find him? This morning, first thing.
I called the police straightaway.
No point in calling the doctor.
You saw nothing last night? I went to bed.
I didn't know where he was.
I didn't care.
You didn't hear him come in? When I saw him this morning the first thing I felt wasrelief.
I thought, "It's over.
It's finally over".
You smashed his belongings, you dragged the contents of his room into the garden, you set fire to the lot of it, you went to bed, you say.
Meanwhile, Major Hamilton was killed and his body thrown onto the fire which you'd just lit.
He wasn't a major, you know? He was a sergeant in the Pay Corps.
All those years in Africa, that's all he ever was, a clerk.
Why were you so angry yesterday, Mrs Hamilton? What happened? He was going back.
After everything he said he was going back.
And he was going to take everything.
All the money we had.
All the money he promised we'd have.
This is a lot of money.
I don't know where they stashed it.
But George knew about these things.
The creditors won't see a penny.
You thought it was a good idea, did you, for him to be involved in fraud? Why not? What did anyone ever give me for leading an honest life? George was lying to me.
He was going to take every penny and go back to Africa.
So you had to stop him.
I didn't kill him.
If I'd had the guts to kill him I'd have done it years ago.
Still .
.
someone stopped him.
I can't say I'm sorry.
But it wasn't me.
She must have done it.
You think Mrs Edmonton killed him? Mallory? Of course not.
She believed George was getting some money out for her.
Though she was never going to see half of it.
No.
It was her sister, Dr Sinclair.
Mallory! Where are you, Mallory? KNOCK ON DOOR Sir.
You better see this.
We didn't know Naomi had another car.
The grey wouldn't be a bad match for the paint on Darwin's coat.
Finally, some evidence.
I have reason to believe evidence material to a murder investigation is about to be destroyed, sir.
No, Troy.
Just breaking in.
GLASS SHATTERS Neighbours said she left about half an hour ago.
Came in, then drove straight off again.
Surgery? No, uniforms are there now.
DEVICE BEEPS ELEANOR: Don't ignore me, Naomi.
Naomi! It's George now, isn't it? I've pushed it out of my mind before.
Julian Shepherd.
I mean, I couldn't believe that But I know and I have to know how Charles died.
The police will be here, Naomi.
And how can I lie about the things that I know? DIAL TONE "All very mysterious.
" "I pushed it out of my mind, but I know.
" Did you really think that I wouldn't, Naomi? No-one can prove anything.
I see.
Now that Major Hamilton is dead, no-one can prove anything? Mm.
I hear that.
Do you hear yourself, Naomi? People have died! Major Hamilton, Julian Shepherd, that man who broke in just to steal some eggs.
Oh.
I thought you'd approve of that one.
All those little chats with the Major when you should have been looking after Charles.
You didn't even like the man! I didn't have to.
We just wanted more than a few crumbs from your table.
Did you kill Charles? Oh, you're not telling me you really cared? You never understood, did you? I wanted to protect the man he'd been, the man I loved! It was never just about money! A pretty speech, Mallory.
You could always afford the prettiest things.
Is there in my life you don't resent? I don't care about your life.
I've got the money to live my own now.
Oh.
Oh, that's a turn-up.
I never thought I'd see the day when you were afraid of your little sister.
But what I need now is for you to disappear, as well as me.
You see, you're going to be the main suspect in several murders.
I don't dislike that.
And if you're never seen again everybody will always believe that you got away with it - the murders and the money.
Oh.
Very neat.
Sorry, Naomi.
I can't do that.
Oh.
You're going to betray your only sister? That's not nice.
No When I said "disappear" I didn't mean a flight to foreign shores and a new name.
It's too late for that.
It's the only way now.
What are you doing? What are you doing?! Sorry.
No! No! No! BIRDS SHRIEK No! SHRIEKING INTENSIFIES Ah! Ah! Ah! No! (GASPS) (SCREAMS) Ah! (CONTINUES SCREAMING) You take the house.
WOMAN SCREAMS BIRD SHRIEKS Troy.
Any news on the car? Oh, yes.
Darwin's blood, threads from his clothes and I got this Hi, Sarge.
Sir.
Hm.
Hiya.
I owe you a drink sometime.
Moorcroft was so afraid of what he got involved in he delivered his whole network.
Right.
Great.
Well, I don't know when.
I get off about But it depends what's happening.
Oi.
You can get off about now.
Oh, right.
Cool.
Cool? I mean, thank you, sir.
OK.
There we go, my lovely.
OK.
BELL JINGLES Is this an arrest? No.
No, it's not.
But I guess you'll have to face a court at some point.
How is my sister? Well, let's just say she's not being as cooperative as you are.
No.
But however much I help with the money I'm not going to testify against her.
I can't do that, I won't.
I really did have no idea.
I'm just gonna say goodbye.
To the birds? I don't think I'll ever feel free again.
But they can be.
I wish that we could all just .
.
fly away when the time comes.
I don't know what it's like.
I've never even seen it in the supermarket before.
I thought it would set the right sort of mood.
Mm.
It's not bad.
No, it's very good.
What is it? Ostrich.
I thought you wanted to see the animals, not eat them.
(LAUGHS) I do.
But it was the only thing I could find that was African.
Well, I say African.
The ostrich farm was just outside Cheltenham.
The wine is south African.
Cheers.
Joyce, what have you done? Since you were never going to look seriously at the brochures .
.
I took the dates and Cully did it.
We're booked.
We're going to Botswana in April.
Here's to our holiday.
Joyce It looks as if these people are sitting on top of an elephant.
That's right.
It's an elephant-back safari.
Won't it be wonderful? Cheers.
Closed Captions by CSI