Original subtitles

It just takes her a while to get to the phone, you see.

- Sir... - It's quite a way from, er...

from one part of the house to the hall.

That's where we keep the, erm...

the instrument.

Of course, she may have gone upstairs. Yes, well, I'll call back.

That's it.

I'll call back.

I wouldn't want her to, er...

I'll try her again in a few moments. She'll be there then.

She's not near the phone, you see. That's...

That's what it is.

He's in a terrible state.

Oh, I'm not surprised.

What happened?

You've heard.

Some fault with the wiring, so far as we can make out.

- Just a... - What, a freak accident?

Don't start that nonsense again. Have some respect.

- It's not nonsense. - I've looked at it.

It's nothing. There was nothing there.

There was only nothing there because we didn't know the why of it.

I didn't know the why of it.

But now I do. At least, I think I do.

You're not dragging Mrs Bright into it.

I'm telling you.

If you want to run with this rubbish, do it on McNutt's meter.

You're done here. Go home.

So...

What's the caper?

Right.

Let's say you have an insurance policy worth, I don't know, ?10,000,

which they'll pay to your nearest and dearest upon your decease.

Yeah, yeah, I've got one.

Well, you have to in this game, don't you?

Never know what's going to happen. Cover your funeral, what have you.

So, you pay off the policy over so many weeks, over so many years,

- and then when you... - Bingo!

Break out the best bitter and the ham sandwiches.

But let's say you wanted a smaller sum in a rush.

?3,000, say.

All you've paid in to the policy so far isn't gonna come near.

So, my company comes along, gives you the ?3,000,

which is more than you'd get if you were to simply redeem the policy.

I give you the money, you give me the policy,

I continue paying the premiums,

- and then, when you die... - You get the ?10,000.

- Yep. - It sounds harmless.

It is, if I'm willing to let you live out your three score and ten.

But what if I want a quicker return?

Let's say I buy for 3,000, and then, a year later, I cash in for ten.

But you can't cash in.

Unless the original holder of the policy...

can be persuaded to die.

Or helped on their way.

What do we usually ask in these situations?

Who benefits? Who gets the money?

Exactly. The husband kills the wife, claims the insurance.

Or the wife kills the husband.

But what if they're complete strangers?

They've had the barest of contact.

So, someone's going around buying life insurance policies

and collecting on them by making sure the sellers die in what,

to all intents and purposes, look like freak accidents?

Mm-hm.

So, who's behind it?

Well, I don't know. Not yet.

How do you want to play it?

Well, I have to take a run out to Watlington on another matter.

But I have a bundle of these case files in my car.

And it's been happening elsewhere.

There was a cluster in, erm, in Leicester over the summer.

- You want to split? - Yeah.

What we're trying to establish

is if the deceased has sold a life insurance policy.

Then we can work our way backwards.

I'll meet you at the end of the day at a place called Aspen Park Drive.

It's the closest location of these freak accidents.

Oh, and, Strange...

Thank you.

Oh, I remember Joe and Bess.

They had the tenancy of the Wolf just before me.

Died in that terrible fire.

I did the odd stint behind the bar for them when I was young.

And what about the children that were here, orphans?

Bess' sister's kids, the Lindens?

Sweet, they were.

The little girls, Phyllis and Doris.

I were never too keen on the boy, mind.

- Johnny, would that be? - That's right.

- I didn't shed any tears over him. - Really? How come?

Oh, I don't know. Some kids...

I don't know, you can't put your finger on it, but...

he had a nasty streak.

Did he? In what way?

Cruel to animals.

Pets.

He blinded Joe's dog with lye.

Nobody could prove anything, but that was the talk.

I always thought it was the Sturgis side coming through.

- Sturgis? - Their maternal grandfather.

Old Noah Sturgis. A bargee.

About as nasty a piece of work as you could wish to meet.

And Johnny was every inch his grandson.

Hello?

Anybody home?

Yes. What do you think you're doing coming into my house?

- Well, the door was open. - So what?

That doesn't give you the right to go prowling round. Who are you?

Mr Sturgis, isn't it?

Detective Sergeant Strange. Thames Valley.

What do you want?

I'm clear of the towpath killings. Hadn't you heard?

- This is harassment. - I'm not here about that.

This is, er... another matter.

I'd no thought to find you here.

You've, er... moved, then?

- Is this your place, is it? - I'm looking after it.

For who?

A family friend.

The kettle's on.

Can I offer you a drink? Tea or...?

- If you're having one. - I never drink tea.

Coffee man, are you?

After my own heart.

- Milk and two, if there's one going. - Sure.

I won't be a minute.

So, what's this about?

There was a fella that lived here.

Fell off the roof.

Freak accident.

We're, er...

...looking into it.

Trying to trace any members of his family.

I don't know about that.

Funny that it should be you living here.

Just, er...

Just you, is it...

- ...on the premises? - Yeah.

Just me.

Here you go.

It's all right. You're safe now.

Jim!

Jim!

- Are you all right? - Get after him.

- Where is he? Which way? - Downstairs.

It's all right, miss.

He'll get him.

Urgh!

- How is he? - He'll come through, sir.

Doctor.

Don't do anything by halves, your boys, do they?

If a thing's worth doing...

But I'd sooner he was alive.

- Morse? - With the girl.

How is she?

Physically, she's lost a little blood.

There are bite marks to her inner forearm.

But thankfully, he'd not much there to get his teeth into.

Mentally...

...I don't think she had far to fall.

- He said he was hungry. - I know.

But that's finished now.

The ambulance men will look after you.

What, a hospital? I don't want to go to a hospital!

No, no, come on. It's not that kind of hospital.

He's gone. It's done.

You're going to be all right.

- You found her. - Strange found her.

- But you put him on to the place. - No, it was blind luck.

What was Sturgis doing here?

- The undertakers that he works for. - Duxbury's?

Mm. The man who owns the place, a man called Aspen.

Duxbury's looked after the funeral arrangements.

I imagine he died intestate

and the solicitors are trying to trace any living relatives.

So, Sturgis found himself a cosy little bolthole.

Well, not so cosy.

Remember those cats going missing from the start of the year...

...and turning up disembowelled?

So, that was him.

Then he moved on to people.

Molly Andrews.

Tony Jakobssen.

Bridget Mulcahy.

Yes?

Yeah, it was him.

- That could be Molly's crucifix... - Yeah, it could be.

It's like she was the practice piece.

He got bolder with Tony and...

...and more depraved with Bridget.

But he didn't kill them all. Not the last one. Not Petra.

So, that fella in a coma in the hospital,

the one that attacked Dr Byrne...

Clemens.

A copycat?

Maybe finding Molly Andrews' body...

sparked something latent in him.

I don't know.

So, who was he, Carl Sturgis?

I think he was Jenny's brother Johnny Linden.

There was a fire in the pub when they were children

in which Johnny supposedly perished.

Jenny, or Phyllis as she was then, got the blame.

But I think the real culprit was Johnny.

Why?

Well, they seem to have been tormented

by their older cousin Kevin.

But to be honest, I think Johnny was already pretty damaged.

He seemed to have a taste for cruelty to animals,

which I think graduated to other prey.

George Fontayne.

I think he killed him, then set fire to the pub to cover his tracks.

And these visions Jenny had of what happened on the towpath,

- how do they fit in? - I don't know.

Maybe she had a mental connection with her brother.

Hello, Phyl.

You don't remember me.

I'd know you anywhere.

I looked for you so long.

Who are you?

Have I changed so much?

It's me, sis.

It's Johnny.

Maybe it was a way of manifesting bad memories.

She may have seen more than she realised as a little girl.

Yeah, she may.

But it's all theory, isn't it?

Plus gut feeling and a hunch.

What was it that brought you here?

You don't want to know. Strange'll tell you.

When do you start at Kidlington?

The New Year, 4th of Jan.

Like you said, it's for the best.

Siddle.

The inquest into the death of Pippa Tetbury, aged 23,

of 15 Stamboul Lane, Witney, today recorded a verdict of misadventure.

The coroner reached the conclusion that somehow Miss Tetbury,

a dancer lately returned from Beirut,

had pulled down a wall-mounted electrical heater into the bath...

She should be back soon, shouldn't she, your friend?

The New Year sometime.

What does she do again?

She's a dancer.

Where?

Some discotheque in Beirut. Why?

What does it matter?

"The sum of ?2,500

"was transferred today into your bank account,

"being the full settlement hitherto agreed

"for the acquisition of your life policy."

- I need to talk to you, sir. - About what?

- Mrs Bright. - What about her?

It's about these freak accidents of Dorothea Frazil's.

- Not that again! - I think I've got to the bottom of it.

- I think it's to do with life insurance. - What?!

Ah, Morse, good heavens.

Sir.

We're losing you to Kidlington, I understand.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yes.

My... My deepest condolences, sir.

Yes, well...

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

That's tremendously...

...kind of you. I was only saying to DCI Thursday

how awfully kind everyone has been. I, er...

...I really didn't expect...

- Yeah. - I don't think it was an accident, sir.

What's this? What wasn't an accident?

Nothing, sir.

Did your wife get rid of any of her financial assets lately,

specifically her life insurance?

Because if she did...

...I fear whoever bought it from her may have had a hand in her death.

What?

What do you mean? What...?

What does he mean, Thursday? Do you know what he's talking about?

Not exactly, sir.

- Morse... - I think she may have been killed.

I think she may have been murdered, sir.

Er...

How dare you?

What is this?

How dare you? You come in here...

He's wrong, sir. Of course he is.

Are you gone mad?

Why would you say such a cruel and wicked thing?

Because I believe it to be true, sir.

Get out.

Get out of my station. You've no business here.

Go on, get out!

I don't want you here. Murdered...

It was an accident.

An accident!

I never heard anything so grotesque.

- Thursday, get him out! - Sir.

You have to be in the right, don't you? Have to have the last word.

What's the matter with you? You want to take a look at yourself.

- I want to take a look at myself? - If you had your mind on the job

and not this flighty piece, you might not be in such a mess.

- Sorry, what flighty piece? - I saw you together in the summer.

Parked down by the canal.

I ran the registration.

The car's in her husband's name. Talenti.

Well...

you had no right to do that.

Maybe not. But nor had you.

They come easy, don't they, the lies, once they start?

I'm afraid.

I can't save you.

Then no-one can.

The results are in.

The barbarian is denied the citadel.

- You kept them out, Maggie. - We kept them out.

But for how long?

One day at a time.

I'll see you in the New Year.

Why don't you call him?

Well...

He'll be with his people, I expect.

Well, good heavens.

This is a surprise.

Well, I just thought I'd see how you were, sir.

- Christmas and all. - Oh...

I've...

never gone in for it much, myself.

Carrie did.

Mrs Bright. But, erm...

You should've come to us, sir. You'd be more than welcome.

Yes, you did offer. And, er...

And it was very kind of you, but I couldn't...

face people, I suppose.

Drink?

- Please. - Yeah.

I, er, went by Morse's.

Oh, doing your rounds? How is he?

No reply. The place in darkness.

Well, if you do see him...

Well, you'll know what to say.

I wasn't at my best when I last saw him.

Understandable, sir.

Even so.

He's been very good with me the past five years, one way and another.

We didn't get off to the best of starts, but I like to think I've...

...I've unbent somewhat.

He was right, you know?

We did redeem our life insurance policies, both of us,

so we could afford the trip to America.

I won't have any of the rest of it, but, erm...

No, he was right about that.

What's this?

It's for our Joan. Forwarded.

But I've opened them, in case they're important.

It's from Morse.

There's a letter.

Go on, then.

"Dear Miss Thursday...

"..contained herein are materials

"that I ask you bring to the attention of your father.

"All he needs to understand is here enclosed.

"To my lasting regret we parted on poor terms.

"The fault was mine entirely.

"He has ever been..."

I can't.

"He has ever been the best and wisest of men...

"..and a better friend to me than I could have wished for or deserved.

"I let him down.

"I am sorry to presume upon you...

"..but I've burnt all my bridges...

"..and you are the last and only person I can think of

"who might extend to me the benefit of the doubt.

"Please forgive my brevity,

"I have to make the boat train to Venice.

"There's never the time to say all that one would wish.

"As you will no doubt hear,

"I have made an appalling mess of things.

"Much of it I can't put right.

"But I should have failed even further

"were I not to try to retrieve what I can

"from a situation wholly of my own making.

"Should I fall short...

"..and things end badly...

"..please believe me to have been...

"..yours, always.

"Morse."

My father took me there when I was a girl.

And I go back every New Year's Eve to remember him.

It is my pilgrimage.

- Do you believe in sin? - No.

Damnation?

It's a bit late for that, isn't it?

Violetta...

Come on.

- What do you want? - What do I want?

I want an explanation, Senora Talenti.

If that's even your name.

I mean, I know your presence wasn't required

to stand up all of these freak accidents in every particular.

- What do you want me to say? - I want you to say...

that you're sorry.

- That's what I want you to say. - Of course I'm sorry.

I tried to tell you so many times. I told you I was afraid.

You remember, in the car, when you met me that first time in Oxford?

No, you didn't say that. You didn't.

You said that you were scared of losing something good.

I was frightened to tell you the truth.

How could I? The terrible things he made me do.

- Oh, come on, spare me. - You don't understand, I had to!

He would have killed me if I hadn't gone along with it.

- Morse... - No, don't. Don't do that.

It's done.

That's finished. That's over.

If it was ever even true to begin with.

Anyway, I'm here to take you both in.

It's Ludo you want.

I can give him to you.

And I will.

But if I do that, you have to give me 24 hours

before you come after me.

If we ever meant anything to one another.

Well, well. What a pleasant surprise.

How was it to be Morse? Was she to betray me with a kiss?

24 hours, wasn't that your squalid little bargain?

Her price for selling me out.

- What have you done to her? - Oh, please. Such drama.

Fear not, she'll be along.

We wouldn't want her to miss the end.

This is the end. I'm here to take you in.

Aren't you forgetting something?

We are beyond your jurisdiction.

Well, you can tell that to the Italian police

while I'm organising your extradition.

- Tell them what, exactly? - About the people that you've killed.

I've killed no-one. My hands are innocent of blood.

Spotless.

Just like my conscience.

Buying the life insurance policies was my little wheeze, certainly.

But it was fate that spun the wheel...

with a little help from my glamorous assistant.

We all have our entrances and our exits, Morse.

Our parts to play.

Even you.

- Why, what was my part? - You were my useful idiot.

- My pet policeman. - Right, enough, enough!

Do you want to see her alive again, or don't you?

I gave them a chance. All of them.

If the glazier had maintained his pulley.

If Aspen had taken better care of his ladder.

And Mrs Bright?

As a matter of fact, I quite liked her.

- You knew her? - Of course.

I had to be on the inside to gain access to their decorations.

Oh...

Thank you.

Rest.

It's 50-50, Morse.

Always.

Oh, they're closing the cemetery.

And there we are, right on cue.

Violetta?

You really don't have a clue, do you?

She's a fraud, Morse.

Every word she's ever told you was a lie.

When I found her, she was 15,

living barefoot on the backstreets of Naples.

I've given her the world.

You don't even know her real name.

Put the gun down, Morse. On the floor.

Put it down.

You won't do it.

Once, perhaps, you would have been right.

You were meant to be my creature, not hers.

And then you went and spoiled it all, didn't you, my darling?

Put the gun down.

Please...

All right.

All right.

Just let her go.

Come on, if we're going to get the last boat.

I should have done for you in England,

but she convinced me that a dead policeman

wasn't in our best interests.

You said we were going to let him go. It was just a warning.

That was the promise, that was the plan.

Plans change.

No!

Violetta...

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry...

Shh, shh.

Drop it.

I've done terrible things.

It doesn't matter.

Nothing matters.

It was true.

Us.

Always.

Ti amo.