Traces (2019) s02e03 Episode Script

Series 2, Episode 3

1 The decision by the Dundee Times to publish the letter is seen by some as surprising, given the extreme racist content.
But the newspaper insists that showing the Everyone is talking about the letter in the paper.
"Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands and an infinite scorn in our hearts.
For we are pure.
And they are not.
" - Please.
- I think he's left-handed.
- Who? - The bomber.
Memes all over TikTok about it.
Can I have a lift, Mum? You'll be ridiculously early.
What's wrong with the bus? EMMA: "I don't know how to say this.
"But I won't be in today.
"Or tomorrow.
I've left Dundee.
" Baby, you understand me now If sometimes you see that I'm mad Don't you know that no one alive can always be an angel When everything goes wrong, you see some bad Oh, I'm just a soul whose intentions are good Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood Emergency summit.
Sarah's office.
Now.
What? Emma's emigrated to love island and Sarah's losing her shit.
Bring whatever food you have.
Oh, parcel for you.
They look like new pillows.
How do you do that? Years of staring.
- KATHY: Did you call her? - SARAH: No.
She asked me to keep her lab coat for her! I mean, who does she think she is? Some research director on sabbatical? "Oh! I've just got to go and find myself for a few weeks, so I won't be back in.
Oh, PS.
Can I just stroll back in whenever I fancy?" I'm a little bit surprised, I have to say.
- I'm furious.
- Look, she's young.
They do whatever the hell they want.
Life doesn't work like that.
For young people it sort of does.
I have supported her throughout this whole thing.
- You have.
- Every step of it.
So, maybe she assumed you'd get it.
Sarah, Phil MacAfee walked out of that court room.
He walked out into the city where she lives.
The man who murdered her mother.
So.
She's scared.
She's angry.
She bolts.
You can't just run away.
She wasn't thinking straight.
Who is thinking straight? You alright? Yeah.
JANINE: Sweet tea and luckily for all, I've brought some of my scones today.
More now that Emma's gone.
Bad news, good news.
I've got to go.
I've got a scene out at Loch Lee.
Body parts.
No peace for the wicked.
I think it's "no rest".
Wrong.
The original, biblical version is "no peace".
Right.
Kathy, could you run me up a "Time Allocation Survey"? - For? - Me.
So, I can see how you allocate your professional time.
Say, the week starting the seventh? Thanks! As you were.
- SARAH: It's just a form.
- No, it's not.
Just breathe.
Think of Friday.
You're gonna to be back in time for your house guest? That is my intention.
She's got new pillows.
What size shoe are you? - Sorry? - Your first field trip.
We need to find you some waders.
A jaw bone's washed up out in the sticks.
It's perfect timing for the study.
I'll pick you up after the strategy meeting.
Oh, and pack your toothbrush.
It's gonna be an overnight.
No more.
'Cause I've got to be back, so SARAH: She's scared.
She does a runner.
No, I reckon Phil Macafee is only got six months as a free man.
He's got lucky once, he's still got the Culp Hom trial to go.
Fiscal says he's got no chance with that.
I'm just stunned about Emma.
I just feel really quite toppled by it.
I need to have a word with myself.
No, I totally get it.
It hurts.
You were there for her.
So were you.
Yeah.
So, this letter.
You might be lucky.
Get something back from the lab.
DNA? Prints? Yeah.
We're all over it.
Yeah Kitty recons the author might be left-handed.
- Your daughter? - Yeah.
It's all over Twitter.
Or TikTok.
Screen time is way longer than her sleeping hours.
[BIRDS QUIETLY CHIRPING IN THE BACKGROUND.]
I'll get that black pill result to you later today.
Great.
Thanks.
Sarah, about Emma.
She was lucky.
To have you.
[GENTLE MUSIC.]
♫ Oh, Aye.
Dundee Times are spouting some bullshit about moral responsibility to print.
Never mind that far righters will be retweeting that shit till Kingdom come.
Apparently some of it's a Mussolini quote.
The whole thing is a car crash.
He's made us look like clowns.
We don't know the author of that letter is the bomber.
We don't know it's not.
Still nothing from the lab? Results any time.
Counter terrorism are taking apart the language used in the letter.
They're looking at racist cells.
Alt-right chat rooms.
Recent threats.
Is it from an individual or a group? Where are we with Dundeats? Doesn't physically exist.
No face.
No voice.
No contact number.
No address.
The whole Dundeats thing is virtually an algorithm.
So, I finally got through to a guy at a call centre and, well, somewhere, who could tell me which riders worked in the area on Sunday but wouldn't he hand over the names.
Said the information was classified.
Oh, please.
So, he's contacting the riders and they have to, get this, voluntarily, come to us.
Great.
Now they can prepare themselves.
Hoover up any gunpowder lying around in their Dundeats box.
We need to go to them.
Get out there.
We need to speak to those riders today.
We need to find out who collected or delivered food near the bomb locations.
How long have they worked for Dundeats.
And did any of them know Kim and Tam? Any word on their status? Legal.
Papers are good.
Any family here? Just each other.
They were friends.
Just friends but good friends.
They grew up in a children's home in Vietnam, then moved over here.
No enemies.
That they knew of.
Some of their clients have written on the salon's Facebook page.
Nothing but praise.
[UPBEAT MUSIC.]
Wow.
Have you never been out here? Never been out of the city.
God.
I would go insane if I didn't get out.
You don't live in Dundee? Outside.
In the middle of nowhere.
Two dogs.
No people.
Heaven.
- On your own? - Yup.
- Don't you get lonely? - No.
It's all I know.
My parents were farmers.
Not entirely by choice.
How do you mean? It was a mixed race marriage in Edmonton in the seventies.
Hey, grab my laptop.
We need to prep.
Okay, we wave 'em down.
Flag them.
Do whatever we can without getting run over.
- Keep it light, friendly.
- [MOBILE RINGING.]
We need these riders to open up.
- Hello again.
- Hey.
The contents of the black pill confirmed as Prazodone.
It's an atypical antidepressant, - branded as Serapaxin.
- Brilliant.
Well we'll see if we can get a warrant.
See who's being prescribed it.
Thank you.
And, I had a thought about CCTV.
Have a look at every bit of footage you have.
After the bomb.
Police footage.
News footage.
Everything.
Spree bombers sometimes come back to the scene.
- Revel in their work.
- Okay.
That's great.
Thank you.
No problem.
[TENSE MUSIC.]
See, see you, then.
Yup.
Bye.
All of them? Missing? One of them is 16 I think.
Yeah.
16.
Missing for eight months.
- So weird.
- Happens.
Young men usually, go missing every year, up here.
They take off into the wilds.
Proving something or getting away from something.
Don't know the land.
Get into trouble, drink or slip and fall into a loch.
And with every one of those photos - comes a family just climbing the walls.
- God.
I know.
It's devastating.
But what I've learned is, identifying those remains gives a family so much.
It's an opportunity to know what happened, and to lay someone they love to rest.
That's what we do.
We allow that family to move on.
In some sense.
[MOBILE NOTIFICATION.]
Afternoon, Charlie.
Over here.
There you go.
So.
Easily disarticulated from the head if submerged in the water for a few months.
The structure of the jaw means it can easily be caught on a root or low-hanging tree.
Commonly the first part of a disarticulated body to wash up.
Why is that useful? - Dental records? - Good.
This goes straight to the odontologist.
We may find an immediate match which'll save a lot of mortuary time.
Charlie, can we get this photographed and sent off to dental, please? Sure thing.
You're in charge of logging all other body parts.
So, when you find something, don't pick it up.
Let me do that.
You flag it, measure it, log it, photograph it and leave it in situ.
Okay? Trust me.
You'll be fine.
Easy for you to say.
This came back from pathology.
Fragments found in one of the victims.
This is mostly shop window.
The glass is thick.
Straight.
Flat.
And these bits could be from the glass jar, that contained the bomb.
Curved, thinner.
These pieces were found between the planter and the shop window, so it's possible.
But how do we prove that this is the actual glass jar that contained the bomb? Because that's what a jury needs to see.
They need to see the actual jar.
There's something here.
KATHY: What's that? - Not sure.
- Come on.
- Metacarpal.
- Good.
Which? - Don't know.
- That is the third.
Now we look for more.
Okay, I want their contact details, I want a photograph of them and their bikes And most importantly, I want to see their reaction when they see that picture.
No idea.
Nobody recognises a Dundeats rider.
We all work for everyone.
Dundeats, Chowcart, Deliverdish.
They don't offer any help.
We're not human.
We're robots.
I was hit by a car.
- You ring riders' support.
- Half an hour online training First question they ask is, "How is the food? Is the food okay?" People deal drugs out of these boxes.
Just because someone has a Dundeats box on their back, doesn't mean they're doing a delivery for Dundeats.
I blacked out my box.
They don't give a shit about me.
So, I'm not going to promote their company name.
No way.
The only reason you make that call is to keep your job DISTANT VOICE: Can I get some help over here please? Here.
What? [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
I take it all back.
It's not just a lost kid.
Dismembered? We'll get everything back to the mortuary and see.
One thing I would say, if this body went in whole, this is how it would behave.
But there's still that rope around those ankles so - Suspicious until proved otherwise.
- Yup.
Okay.
I'll hold off on divers for now and then I'll call - the fiscal and the pathologist.
- Great.
So, this is a murder now? Not necessarily.
But there's rope around the feet.
Okay.
So, obviously a rope around ankles is not accidental.
But it is not for us to hypothesize or judge.
Come on.
Back to it.
Come and look.
Black on the glass.
I've cleaned away the blood, leaving two different blacks.
Two layers.
Firstly, we have a thin line of incinerated condom.
Indistinguishable from the latex rim we found with the lid.
We also have potassium chlorate residue from the bomb itself.
Not much left because everything burns so hot and fast.
But Look There's another layer.
A third layer of black.
Ink? Tell the sorters to look for other pieces of curved glass like this.
With bits of black.
Well, that gave us nothing.
I mean, a whole lot of nothing, but still nothing.
- Apart from some deeply unhappy riders.
- Aye.
So, we've got a suspect that wears a uniform that opens doors wherever they go.
Who no one recognises.
Kathy? Hey, look at you.
What are you thinking? I need to measure but it looks the same length as the other one to me.
Okay.
Which might mean? Go on.
From the other hand? To be confirmed but good.
Wait There's something else.
[TENSE MUSIC BUILDS UP.]
- Oh, my God.
- It's okay.
Take a minute.
Stay with me and think about this, okay.
This is good.
The head has a missing jawbone.
And we already have that.
This is great progress.
This is the best part of the job.
Not the worst.
I promise.
NEIL: Those riders.
They were angry.
What you thinking? Could be fuelling something? A motive? Right, what have we got? Well, we now know that just because a rider has a Dundeats box on their back, doesn't mean he works for Dundeats.
So, now we need a list of every food delivery rider in the vicinity of that nail bar an hour before that bomb went off.
We've just tripled our suspects.
So, we got a warrant for the list of patients on your anti-depressant, Prazodone.
Please, God.
Tell me it's a short list.
Nine thousand and fourteen.
What? Prazodone's supposed to be atypical.
Compared to your bog-standard antidepressant, it is.
Nine thousand? And 14.
How are we supposed to wade through this? And fast? - And compare these names to what? - [NOTIF MOBILE.]
We're supposed to be coming up with a profile here, not staring into the abyss.
- Results back from the lab.
- Finally.
No prints or DNA on the letter.
- What? Nothing? - Sorry.
Christ.
How can there be nothing? Because somebody knows what they're doing.
It's ruined, isn't it? There's always a chance.
Once you test for DNA or prints with a bit of ninhydrin.
Your lab has been pretty thorough.
There isn't a single stroke of ink that hasn't been drenched in the stuff.
I can't do any ink analysis or ink comparisons on this letter.
Sorry.
Oh.
Great.
Have you got five minutes? I just want to show you something.
Sure.
- CHARLIE: Need a hand with that ? - MAN: Thanks, Charlie, I've got it.
Come on.
You look like you need a drink.
So, the eyewitnesses, outside the nail bar, what they described, I thought we could see it for ourselves.
Wait for it.
How's it going? [NEIL SCOFFS.]
I'm just drowning in this stuff.
Just getting nowhere.
Have you asked for help? Yeah, but we know what that means.
Not this time.
What? You got me.
Da-dah! I am your new master of data.
You made the request.
And you got the best.
That's why I'm here.
Wow.
- Really? - Yes, really.
That's great news.
Brilliant.
Wow.
Yay! [SHE LAUGHS.]
So, what about flooding? Recent flooding? According to this local fishing forum, the levels have remained the same.
Oh.
Wait.
Let me check something.
There was a landslide up top.
Just there.
Above the loch.
Near the falls.
The path was blocked for a few days.
Fishermen loved it.
No walkers for days.
That is good.
The landslide may have caused floating body parts to move from A to B.
Okay, I'm turning in.
Er It's a big deal.
Your first day in the field.
It's a lot.
To see.
And these things have a habit of creeping up on you.
So, just so you know, the support is out there.
Counselling.
If you need.
And if you feel spooked later, just give me a knock.
Thanks.
Okay.
[RINGING.]
Okay, you are not my pre-arranged bootie call.
I'm sorry.
Just wanted to say hi.
How's it going? Found a pair of feet.
A head.
How about you? Jeez.
I can't compete with that.
Oh, no need.
How's bomb-land? Fine.
Bit scary.
Yeah.
You okay? Neil, okay? Yep.
- Oh.
- No, it's just.
I wanted to ask you something.
- [RINGING.]
Oh shit.
Er, bootie-calling.
- Got to go! Sorry! Finally! God! - Hey.
- Hey.
You look good.
So do you.
Oh, I wanted to be post-bath for this call.
Glistening with skin product but instead you have me in plaid and smelling of whisky so.
It's okay.
You packed? Checked in yet? No.
Oh.
Living by the seat of your pants.
- Kathy.
- Yeah? I'm not coming on Friday.
What? I went out last week.
On a date.
Which we said was allowed.
We did.
But - You had a nice time.
With her.
- Yeah.
I did.
Oh fuck! - I'm sorry.
- No, I mean, you do what you want.
You sound I'm fine.
- It's okay.
- Is it? Yeah.
It was just a holiday.
Friends, hanging out.
Bit of fun.
Maybe a bit of making out for old times' sake.
No strings.
Or pressure.
That's all.
It, it really is fine.
Okay.
Good bye then.
Okay.
Okay.
Bye.
[TENSE MUSIC.]
[HEAVY BREATHING.]
[HYPERVENTILATING.]
- [ECHO OF GLASS THUDDING.]
- [PILLS RATTLE.]
[PANTING.]
[TENSE MUSIC STOPS.]
Kathy? Are you awake? [FAINT NOISES -MUSIC? .]
I did get a little spooked.
I'm sorry to bother you.
But you said to knock, so Kathy? [FAINT MUSIC CONTINUES.]
Kathy? Are you Okay? Kathy? Kathy? [FAINT METAL MUSIC.]
[MUSIC BECOMES LOUDER.]
Shit.
[AND STOPS.]
Kathy.
Kathy.
Shit.
[GROANS.]
- What the - Good job.
- Think she's fine.
- [KATHY GROANS.]
Yeah.
Yeah she is.
- I'll - Why am I wet? What's that in my ear? I was worried you were a bit dead.
I thought, God, not you too.
That was quite a night cap.
How many have you taken? What are you doing here? Couldn't sleep.
Kept thinking about the head.
Tried to knock, but there was no answer.
You should try Diazepam and whisky.
It's a good combo.
You couldn't sleep either? Just a little bit of hyperventilation.
My friend erm - Pia? - Pia, Pia's got a new sweetie.
And she's not me and I'm an old sweetie.
An old, old sweetie.
[GENTLE MUSIC.]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
[SUSPENSE STOPS.]
[BIRDS CHIRPING.]
Hey, you.
Oh my God, how are you feeling? I hope you had breakfast.
You need protein after that kind of night.
Eggs, particularly, are like a panacea You need your waders.
Quick as you can.
We've got a lot to do.
[SPEED DIAL, RINGING.]
- NEIL: Sarah.
- I might have something for you.
Ah, music to my ears.
I've been testing the residue on the curved glass fragments from the jar containing the bomb.
Some of it came back as traces of potassium chlorate.
Some were condom.
But there was another mark.
- Go on.
- It's ink.
- Black ink.
- What? It's the same kind of ink as was used on the black pill - and to write hashtag one.
- It's incredible.
- I'll keep you posted.
- Brilliant.
Oh, er, some good news.
Er, Azra's on board.
The case.
Er, she's taking over all the data analysis.
Officially.
Be working with us.
That's great.
That's That's great.
Azra.
Of course.
Just what you need.
Still missing.
Number one.
Torso.
Then, hips and all of the upper limbs.
Why are they always males? Who go missing out here? Women start low and work their way up.
Men start high.
Full of expectation and promise.
But there's only one way to go.
It's just how it is.
Easy.
Let's go find where the landslide started.
[OMINOUS MUSIC.]
Don't touch anything.
You think this has something to do with Yeah.
Well, the growth around the tent kind of makes sense.
Obviously, the water levels would have been much higher, so if the body went in here, it would have travelled downstream and eventually reached the loch.
Let's keep going downstream.
NEIL: We pretty much know what the timeline is here.
Safi.
Father Nkusi has had his fair share of hate messages.
Listen to this.
"I'm no Ladybird".
That's the username.
"I don't want no Google in my community centre".
It's a thing.
You know trolls replace offensive languages Common words to bypass the blocking.
It's abusive code.
Lady Bird Johnson was Lyndon Johnson's wife.
She discouraged the use of the N-word.
Campaigned for the end of segregation.
So - "I'm no Ladybird".
Christ.
- Yeah.
"I'm not in favour of civil rights".
Basically.
Hey, look at this.
This looks the same as the one sent to the Dundee Times.
Go and get the Super.
Look.
Look.
Same handwriting as the first on the envelope.
But look at the letter.
The writing's completely different.
This isn't a lone bomber.
- So, we're back to a group? - Maybe.
- Dundee Times got anything? - They said not.
No.
So, this one's just for us.
Pages this time.
Full of racist vitriol.
Eugenics.
Purity of white skin.
Get this tested.
Rush it through.
Tell our lab not to not to drench it in ninhydrin this time.
Then we can get it over to Sarah for ink analysis Boss.
Get Charlie.
[TENSE MUSIC.]
There we have it.
NEIL: Hashtag two's written on the bomb.
The bomber's telling us it's a campaign.
There's going to be a third bomb.
[OMINOUS MUSIC.]
Safi? [RADIO PLAYS MUSIC.]
SPEAKER: So apparently the police are being helped out by some top scientists at SIFA.
The Scottish Institute for Forensics, or whatever.
And they are still getting no where finding out who is behind these two bombs in Dundee.
Guys, what is going on here? How hard can it be? Folk's, I'd love to get your thoughts on this.
You know the numbers, you know the socials.
You have got the email.
Please let us know your thoughts, this show is about you.
Because chemistry tends to be very male-dominated, we as female professors of forensic science, we're out on a strange group anyway.
I mean, I'm considered one of those funny people that blows things up and sets fire to things and works with drugs, and female as well.
[LOUD ELECTRO MUSIC.]
[STOPS.]
So, which head owns the feet? No idea.
Mortuary day will sort that out.
Hey, I don't mind, talking some more, you know.
What? We're not at work now.
You and Pia.
I'm happy to be a sounding board.
It must have been a real shock.
You know.
If she was special.
I was very tired last night.
It was a long day.
Nothing else to say.
[TENSE MUSIC.]
[STOPS.]
Thank you.
I had a good time.
It was lively.
Even by my standards.
Want to come in? A drink? Coffee? I'm late picking up my dogs.
I'll see you tomorrow, Erika.
Boss? That was the lab.
We've got DNA from the envelope of the second letter and a name and address.
Yes! Come on.
Anthony Gemmell.
Arrested in 2018 for putting stickers around Dundee, saying "Diversity is White Genocide".
Went to court but got off.
Was convicted again for spitting on a police woman at an alt-right march in 2019.
Great.
Gemmell is retired.
Used to manage an electrical showroom.
His wife, Valerie was a Latin teacher, now also retired.
[KNOCKS AND BUZZER.]
[BUZZER, LOUD KNOCKING.]
- Nothing.
- [SIGHS.]
Back door.
Thanks, just going to see Jo.
Come on, guys.
Out you go.
[OMINOUS ELECTRO MUSIC.]
Cheers.
Hey Kitty, where are you? Hurry up.
[GETS LOUDER AND DISTORTS.]
[STOPS.
.]

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