Original subtitles

Can you see me? Are we starting?

Your camera's off.

I'm just letting people in as they arrive.

Any chance of actually starting this thing on time?

Yeah, it's only just quarter to, Moira.

I can't see you.

Hi there.

Hi, Moira. I said I can't see you. Oh, really?

Um, not you, Estelle.

Hi. Yeah, I just need...

Okay. Hiya. Welcome, everyone, to this slightly unusual meeting of Causton

Grammar Parent -Teacher Association.

Due to the unfortunate way things ended last time, the decision was taken to

move online.

My hope is that we can communicate more constructively this time.

Constructive criticism surely involves listening.

Not cancelling events unilaterally with no consultation, no real evidence. The

issue which you're referring to is on the agenda, Moira. Thank you.

But first, I'm going to hand over to our deputy head, Mr Crawford, for some

housekeeping. Hi there, everyone. My connection's a bit dodgy, but hopefully

we're going to be OK.

So the minutes from our last meeting have been reviewed, and, well... Oh,

whatever. Get on with it.

Sorry, really sorry.

No, no, I'm not sitting through all of this. We need to talk about Holly.

Well, we've got a meeting that's in the diary next week to discuss Holly. Every

day she's excluded is another day she's missing her education, all her training

for the athletic trials. It's just not fair.

It's not lawful. I understand you're upset, but this isn't the appropriate

forum. Appropriate forum?

Waste of time!

Perhaps we should move on to item one on the agenda.

Cancellation of PTA fundraising event, a Q &A with Piers Mayhew.

Any thoughts?

Oh, here we go.

Do we have to?

Well, if you could please keep yourself on mute, unless you have something

constructive. I'm sure you would love to mute me, Mr Crawford, but as chairwoman

of the PTA, I am entitled to have my say.

Go for it, Moira.

Cancelling an event.

At such short notice is an insult to the work of this committee.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to secure a speaker like Piers Mayhew?

He is your brother.

Meaning? Was it that difficult to book him?

He is the region's best -selling children's author. Given his recent

on social media, I simply don't see how we can go ahead.

Oh, that's not what you were saying until Kara got involved.

Where is she, anyway? She's off sick. She'll be in tomorrow.

How convenient.

I cannot allow you to keep derailing these meetings, Moira. If it continues,

will be ejected from this court. Derailing?

I stayed on as PCA head as an act of goodwill because nobody else would do

And we appreciate it.

Item two of the agenda.

Second -hand uniform sale.

And as a PTA head, I am entitled to call an emergency meeting.

It's said so in the Constitution. Second -hand uniform sales.

Have you read the PTA rules?

Because they... Okay. I have muted you, Moira. I'm so sorry. There can be no

further...

Happy? Yeah. Looks brilliant.

Mmm, that smells incredible.

We've got butter chicken, land skewers, and dog.

Oh, and you think you're getting some, do you? Well, you're out of luck,

nobody wants to deal with the aftermath of that.

You're just betting Paddy up to take the blame for you.

That's an outrageous accusation. I don't know what you're talking about.

See, he is home on time.

What's that?

Mum said you're unreliable. Hold on, I didn't say Dad was unreliable. I said

sometimes his job...

Winter? Ryan?

Okay. I'll see you there.

You're kidding.

Dad, if I ever get married, it will not be to a policeman.

It's Del Hallis, 52, head teacher.

She was running a PTA meeting online when she was killed.

She was killed on camera in front of a dozen people. No one saw anything,

though. The killer must have stayed low and out of shot.

That looks like a javelin.

It is.

The angle suggests it was an upward -stabbing motion from low down.

You won't need my help with time of death.

It's on camera at 5 .48 precisely.

After -school clubs finish at 5pm and then the school's locked and only the

staff have the code.

Has next of kin been notified?

Yeah, we're trying.

There's a husband.

Blake Anderson, he runs the bike shop in town, but he's not picking up his

phone. And then there's a daughter, Cara.

She's an art teacher here, but also uncontactable.

Apparently she's off sick today.

I assume curry night's cancelled?

No, no, please go. They've gone to so much effort.

You could get them to save some for me. Lamb skewers or something.

Lamb skewers?

Maybe just a naan.

The chaplain was kept here, sir.

This must have been planned.

They knew you should be on that call and you should be wearing headphones and

wouldn't hear them coming.

And there's something else.

This classroom belongs to the victim's daughter, Cara.

Interesting message, right?

Always behind you.

Not fully dry.

This is recent.

Who was first on the scene?

Tim Crawford. Debt he had.

DCI Barnaby. Were you on the video call?

I did it from my classroom, just down the corridor.

Did you see anybody?

No. I ran over straight away, but by the time I got... I'm sorry. Is there

somewhere we can talk?

I'll start from just here.

Oh, uh, sorry, uh, end of year prank, I guess.

Is this graffiti new? What's that?

Oh, yeah, uh, Hillary.

Yeah, yeah, the kids love it when they find out my middle name.

What kind of head teacher was Estelle? Which is ambitious, which is not a bad

thing, but...

I'll put it this way. She expelled more pupils in two years than the last head

did in 12.

Anyone recently?

Holly Randall, last week.

Her parents are appealing it. There was a Paul and Josephine Randall on the

video call list you gave me. Yeah, that's them.

Paul, he stormed out at the beginning, but Josie, she was on for the whole

How far away do they live?

Just over the road.

What was Holly expelled for?

Um, she... Tim!

You OK?

Yeah, yeah, um, where are the girls?

Oh, they're in the car. We were at their ballet lesson.

Oh, sorry.

I'm Felicity. I'm the school receptionist. They were just asking

Randall. Surely no -one's blaming her for this. I mean, she's made some silly

mistakes, but... What kind of mistakes?

She stole a brand -new tablet from the ICT class and sold it online.

She was trying to get money to go on the Year 12 residential, which is way too

expensive now.

Yeah, well, we can't use that place in the Lake District any more, can we?

Health and safety nightmare.

Have you told them about the situation with Piers?

Piers? No.

Piers Mayhew.

He's the brother of our PTA chairwoman, Moira.

He was meant to do a fundraiser for us, but, well, he... He got a bit

provocative on social media.

He's a misogynist and a troll.

Unfortunately for him, one of the women he targeted was Estelle's daughter,

Cara. She persuaded her mother to cancel his event and he wasn't very happy

about it. Neither was Moira. She threw a chair at him when she found out last

Friday. That's why we were at the meeting online today.

Have you managed to contact Cora? I've left messages.

She was on a yoga retreat in Snowdonia over the weekend.

She did text Estelle to say that she was sick, so she might not have travelled

back yet.

She was going on about some kind of digital detox.

Very into that sort of thing.

Thank you. We'll be in touch about opening the school tomorrow.

Certain areas, obviously, will remain off -limits.

Yep. Yep, of course.

Um, DCI Barnaby?

I don't know if this is important, but when I was leaving today, Moira's

grandson, Dominic, was hanging around outside of Stirl's office.

Well, he was giving a talk to the sixth form about starting university.

Well, yes, but that was finished by 3 .30, though. I saw him at four.

Look, I don't want to cause any problems.

He's a great kid, but, um, it's just he looked pretty upset.

Thank you.

What do you mean he was upset?

Like I said.

We used to live next door.

And when my daughter died, when I was going through all the guardianship stuff

for Dominic, she held me together.

This must be very difficult.

I was shouting at her when it happened.

About stupid things, things that don't even matter.

Gran, it's okay.

We heard about an incident at a meeting last Friday.

With a chair?

Who told you that?

I'd had enough.

That's all.

and I woke pontificating.

The chair was in my way, so I moved it.

A bit too hard.

Sorry.

I don't see how all this is relevant.

I mean, surely you're not accusing me.

I was on the video call.

You visited the school earlier, is that right?

I did a talk.

Yeah. How to succeed at university.

Dominic was head boy.

He's now on a very competitive course.

Did you see Estelle Hallis?

No. Are you sure?

A witness saw you outside her office at around 4pm.

Gran wanted me to nag her about the book event with Pierce.

I knocked, and she didn't answer.

So I left.

The witness said that you looked upset.

I wasn't.

Hiya! I thought you weren't in till tomorrow.

I thought you weren't in.

I like my hat.

Have you seen it out there? There's like 20 police cars at the school.

These gentlemen are the police.

Oh, right.

Rhys Chapman. She's the dusty old book, some of the fabulous textiles.

It's how Alice has been murdered.

What?

Seriously? Seriously.

Attempted death with a javelin.

That's not how you tell people.

That's how you told me.

Does Cara know?

We're trying to get a hold of her. Yeah, she's not been picking up all weekend.

She's my housemate.

We were told she's on a yoga retreat in Wales.

Yeah, but he should be back.

This is going to destroy us.

They were really close.

I'm sorry, do you mind?

Did Estelle ever talk about her marriage?

She seemed happy enough.

You don't like Blake?

Don't trust him.

I don't know, there's just something.

Collie, is everything all right?

My girlfriend, she worked a Saturday job at his bike shop.

Is that Holly Randall?

Yeah. So she works with Estelle's husband?

OK. Well, I've left my number. Do call if Cara gets in touch.

It's unusual.

It's all my own work.

We run knitting sessions on Thursdays. Everyone's welcome.

No, my gran taught me to knit on the school holidays, but I couldn't do it

Well, you never lose it.

It's like riding a big woolly bike.

Please don't be shy, Winter. I'd love a nice scarf.

Yeah, hello.

OK, tell him to stay put. I'll get DS Winter over there now.

Thanks.

Who was that?

They've located Estelle's husband at the bike shop. You go over there and see

what you make of him while I talk to the girl who was expelled.

Only, um, try not to needle him.

What?

You see, you've got to unravel the whole case before you can knit it back

together.

But don't let him pull the wool over your eyes.

Lunchbox is on the table and peek, it's in the wash, please.

Please!

Lucy seems freaked out by all the police. I'm not sure what to say.

Oh, come on.

Again?

You promised that you would check next time before donating things.

That must stuff from the attic.

Your old awards from school. He's still going on about that.

A tidy house helps me cope.

What's this?

And these?

You know what they are.

What are you doing?

You waited.

You didn't turn up. There was a bit of a problem. I didn't want to worry you

about it.

What was the problem?

Rhys. Okay, look, don't freak out, but Cara is not on a yoga

retreat in Wales.

I'd keep my phone off on the bike, so when I turned it back on, all the missed

calls... I knew it was bad.

I think I... Can I see her?

Because I think I need to, for it to... feel real.

We can arrange that, of course.

Were you cycling with anyone today?

I was on my own, up in the children's.

How long had you been married?

Eight years next month.

Second time lucky for both of us. What was the situation with Estelle's first

husband? Left when Cara was a baby.

How did you meet?

Online.

She was teaching in Nottingham, but she always wanted to move back to Midsomer,

so when she got the headmistress job, we came down here.

We were told that she expelled a lot of students.

Did that make her any enemies?

No.

It's not like she ever abandoned the kids.

She'd go out of her way to find them places at another school.

Somewhere they could start again.

She was friends with Moira Mayhew, is that right?

Was, yeah.

She phoned on Saturday, going ballistic about this book event.

They still put her on speaker, and the language coming out.

Seriously.

She might be getting on.

But she scares the hell out of me.

So, Josie, you were on the call right until the end, but, Paul, you left a

couple of minutes in.

I'd had enough.

I took myself outside to calm down.

Are the fields behind this house the school playing fields?

I wasn't running across them to murder the headmistress, if that's where you're

going.

I was in the garden. She could see me.

And what were you doing, Holly?

Wasting my life in the park.

I'm sorry.

She's having a tricky time.

I heard about the expulsion. You stole computer equipment.

It was stupid.

I said I was sorry.

Someone told her form teacher.

Kara Hollis?

We thought she'd help sort it out, but Kara told us down. No discussion, just

out.

For a kid who's never been in any trouble before.

I mean, we know what it's really about.

Holly's very sporty. She was training for the school's national championships,

but she's not academic as such.

I'm really thick.

That's not what she's saying.

It's just Estelle was... precious about those exam results.

So the decision was taken by the headmistress?

I don't know why Miss Alice even thought she could tell her.

I thought she was all right.

But she was so fake.

I've got you, Holly.

I'm always behind you.

Always behind you?

Are you sure you haven't been to the school today?

Yeah. Because there's graffiti on the wall of Cara Hallis' art room with that

exact phrase.

Not in green paint?

Yes. You were washing green paint off your hands when you got home.

She told me it was off a fence in the park.

It was just a joke.

I was there, OK?

But I didn't touch if they were Hallis.

Or Dominic.

Dominic was with you at the school?

I went to see him after his talk.

We were messing around in the staff room.

But then we heard the police car turn up.

We made it out across the field.

Hmm. Causton Grammar?

Oh, yeah.

I'm a teaching assistant.

Ah. How do you find it there?

Oh, um, I used to like it.

Well, since Estelle started, there's a lot more politics now.

What sort of thing?

Everyone assumed Tim Crawford would be the next head.

He applied for it, and his wife still isn't over it.

Was there tension between Felicity and Estelle?

She thought Estelle was trying to push Tim out.

I just put it down to sour grapes, but then Felicity found an email chain with

the governors and... Did she confront Estelle?

It was weird.

She was going to. She was all riled up and then changed the tune.

Said it was all a misunderstanding and refused to speak about it ever since.

OK, well, thank you. If Cara Hallis does get in contact with anyone at the

school, make sure she calls me straight away.

Cara not know yet?

Surely Tim called her.

Everyone's calling her. No reply.

Well, if she was going to pick up to anyone, it would be Tim.

Why do you say that?

He was her mentor in her NQT year.

Just stuff and gossip, probably.

Well, that was interesting.

Follow -up on Felicity Crawford's movements, because there was much more

between Felicity and Estelle than she led on.

She said that she was at ballet with her kids. I'll check.

Well, so I got an address for Piers Mayhew. Sister Moira definitely

how hostile things were.

Deception runs in the family, then.

Because if Holly's telling the truth, Dominic Mayhew is lying through his

What about?

He told us he left the school at four.

Holly says he was still there when Estelle was murdered.

Are you a kid's TV presenter?

Yeah, guilty.

And what were you a fan of? Crazy Carousel or Gunshtown?

Oh, no, I just saw the photos.

Oh, well, before your time, obviously.

I was glad to leave it all behind, to be honest.

You're a children's author now.

Yes, a bit of a pivot.

But I had this idea about a boy who can turn himself into sea creatures, and,

well, it sold rather well.

We're here to talk about Estelle Hallis. I believe Moira has told you what

happened. Indeed.

And I'm suspect numero uno, am I?

Well, we have some questions.

Estelle was weak.

She caved into pressure from the snowflake mob. But as her daughter Kyra

real problem with, she was the one leading said mob.

And you had an argument with Kyra online?

There was a debate about sensitivity, rewrites in children's books, expunging

references to characters being fat, censorship.

essentially, and I thought very strongly about it.

And yes, a few glasses of New World Rising had been consumed, and possibly I

overstep the mark, but nothing to justify my wholesale cancellation.

Where were you this afternoon, around 5 .45?

Oh, I was at the Kingston Arms from 5 o 'clock.

The landlord, Pete, can vouch for me.

This looks amazing.

Sorry we're so late.

Oh, don't worry.

Well, how cross is Becky with me on it going with one to teenager?

She'll get over it. But listen, is it really a dull hollis?

I didn't laugh.

I promise.

She didn't have to. It's all over the teacher message group.

Well, I would never contradict a group of educators.

Oh, well, I remember her from that conference in Birmingham last year.

She's a fellow historian.

She writes about female spies in World War II. It's fascinating.

I'll put it on my reading list.

I tell you what, I did not enjoy being back in the headteacher's office again

today. Traumatic memories.

I loved school.

We know you did, head girl.

We're an elite breed.

I thought you'd be much more likely to get expelled.

How dare you?

I was an excellent head girl.

I liked the power.

Oh, yes.

I can totally see it now.

It was him over there getting himself expelled.

I was not expelled. I was suspended.

What did you do?

Oh, just stupid 14 -year -old stuff.

Such as?

Come on.

We will get it out of you.

I can assure you, you won't.

Not a good time, Holly.

I just wanted to say I'm sorry about your wife.

I know me and her. She was trying to help you, Holly. She liked you, Holly.

expelled me. Because you stole from the school.

Oh, nice, yeah. Where'd you steal these from, eh?

I'm sorry.

I just... Her last days were filled with nothing but stress because of you.

Now get out!

Blake? Don't come back.

There's no job for you here anymore.

Have a good one.

Ta -da. Oh, thanks, sir.

Oh. Yeah, I thought I'd get back into it. It's maybe good for relaxation.

Oh, you don't have to justify it to me.

I would just question whether green is your colour.

I'm told that it brings out my eyes.

Oh, so it does. I stand corrected.

Shall we watch some footage of a murder again, then?

That's what we get paid for.

I hope there'll be some kind of reflection or something, but there's

They've been very careful. Yeah, they're at precisely 5 .48.

Anything else to see?

No, they have cameras at key locations. We're not everywhere.

OK.

Oh, Dominic admitted to lying.

He was worried about getting in trouble for the graffiti, apparently.

And he thought that was worth lying for in a murder investigation.

What did you make of Estelle's husband?

His grief seemed genuine enough, and there's no financial motive.

Well, she's well off.

Five rental properties between here and the Midlands.

Yeah, but it all goes to Cara, though. The solicitor sent the will through this

morning. I assume Cara hasn't made contact overnight.

No. Well, there's a text from her on Estelle's phone, though. It was sent

night. It said that she had food poisoning and couldn't drive back, but I

contacted every yoga centre in Snowdonia, and not one of them has a

her booking.

Tracking her down needs to be a priority.

I'm meant to be in a meeting upstairs.

Just quickly.

Traumatic aortic rupture. One clean stab.

No hesitation.

Thank you. It's my pleasure.

Any developments on our other case?

What? What other case? I need you full time on this.

The case.

Of the delinquent DCI.

We're brainstorming reasons you got suspended from school.

And what do you have so far? Setting off a fire extinguisher.

Starting a food fight?

Something involving nudity.

Miles off.

Miles and miles.

Okay.

Mr. Crawford!

Tim! Oh, hi, Moira.

Dominic has something to say.

Yeah, hi.

Sorry for the damage to the staff room yesterday.

It was me and Holly.

Holly's the one who did the graffiti. He just didn't stop her.

Well, sounds like we need to have a little chat.

Right, yes.

It really wasn't his fault.

I'm sorry.

What were you thinking?

How does that possibly help your case?

I know. I made it all worse.

You can still help me.

I don't think I can.

Not now.

Please.

Any idea where in Snowdonia it was?

No.

Or if she was going with anyone?

She didn't tell me anything about it.

She didn't take any of her yoga stuff?

Well, she said they provided mats and everything.

I thought you said she didn't tell you any details about the trip?

Oh, yeah.

No, she didn't. Just that.

Just that one very specific thing?

I can't do this.

I'm feeling sick all the time.

Look, there is no yoga retreat.

She was supposed to fly to Boston Friday night, but she's disappeared.

Why was she going to Boston?

She was delivering a rare book to some American guy.

Signed, first edition, all that.

Except it was fake.

Rare books?

Is Moira Mayhew involved in this? I don't want to get her in trouble.

She's just trying to put Dominic through uni and...

I've got a slight tax issue.

So you're selling fake books to collectors? It was just this one.

The guy paid 70 grand, so he wanted it hand -delivered. She asked me to do it.

How did Cara get involved?

I didn't think about it until I agreed, but I... I got arrested at a climate

change protest last year. I can't get the paperwork to enter the US.

So you asked Cara to go instead?

She was meant to be on the 9pm flight.

I've been calling and calling.

It's like she's vanished off the face of the planet.

Winter, sorry I couldn't pick up. I had a feeling that Rhys Chapman was about to

crack, and he did. Kara was never going on that yoga retreat.

She was flying to Boston.

Well, she didn't make it, sir.

School caretaker found her body half an hour ago.

Thank you.

It's definitely her.

Driving licence.

No sign of her phone, though.

This is all due to be collected today.

Flower?

We've got a huge depressed skull fracture.

Rigour has completely dissipated.

I'd say she's been dead for three or four days.

Friday or Saturday?

So she'd already been dead for days by the time her mother was killed.

So the message about food poisoning is from the killer, just playing for time.

These were in her jacket. They're most commonly prescribed for anxiety and

attacks.

I can't see properly, but I think there's discolouration on the

back of the calves and thighs where the blood settled.

That tells us...

She wasn't always in this position.

She was in a fleeted position somewhere for at least 12 hours after death.

Then moved to the locker.

We're missing a crime scene.

Given where she's been found, let's focus on the school.

Contaminated by hundreds of kids.

We'll just have to do what we can.

That's in Barcelona.

We travelled round Europe together last summer on a grand tour.

I always thought boyfriends, come and go and whatever, but me and Cara,

I thought she'd always be in my life.

It's a huge loss.

I'm sorry.

Well, the main thing now is that he doesn't get away with it.

Who?

This guy, Pierce Mayhew.

I know who he is.

Kara got into an argument with him online.

Yeah, but do you know about the other account?

Our friend from art school, his auntie used to work with Pierce in TV, and she

told Kara all these stories about him. Drunk on set, abusive to runners,

creep. And Kara set up an anonymous account to share the story.

Did Pierce know it was Kara? He found out.

Last week, and he came to the house looking for it. He only left when I

threatened to call the police.

Hold on.

This last post on Thursday, stay tuned, more to come. Any idea what that was?

No, but he was freaking out about the press, like anyone remembers who he is.

Were you aware that Cara was taking medication for panic attacks?

No.

She did get a prescription last year. She saw an accident on a school trip,

of the instructors.

I was worried about her popping pills, though. I thought she decided not to.

I can't believe she didn't tell me that.

She was my best friend.

Winter? Oh, sir, someone's given the art room a thorough bleaching. But there's

some blood showing up by the door.

They're testing the store cupboard now and it's lighting up like a Christmas

tree. Sir, we know where her body was kept.

Good work.

Oh, one more thing, sir. She emailed Paul Randall on Wednesday saying that

would contact the driving agency if he didn't do it himself.

Paul then asked for a meeting with her.

Do we know if that meeting took place?

He's not on the visitor log, but Rhys Chapman is. He's down at the visiting

at 1 .15 on Friday.

That's the only entry I can find for him.

Interesting. He didn't mention that.

Well, let's pay the Randalls a visit, but first we need to talk to Piers

It turns out that Kara was getting ready to destroy his reputation.

People spread rumors online all the time.

Nobody's going to pay attention to Kara.

You seem very sure about that.

Look, I wish you could help, but I'm sitting in that chair most of the

working on the next novel.

Okay, I did run a few errands, so if you can give me a more specific time... So

you can ask someone to lie for you?

Like you did when Estelle was killed?

Don't know what you mean.

We spoke to the landlord of the Kinneth and Arms on our way over here.

Your friend Pete.

Except he said he's not your friend.

And he was only too happy to report that you were not at his pub from 5pm

yesterday. You got there over an hour later at 6 .15 and had one drink.

And then phoned him and asked him to lie.

Okay, okay, you got me.

I'm an extremely foolish.

I listened to Moira, and that was a mistake.

What's Moira got to do with this?

Well, she was afraid I'd be a suspect.

And with good reason, as it turns out.

Anyway, her panic was infectious, and she persuaded me to get myself an alibi

a populated place as soon as possible.

So where were you really when Estelle was killed?

Well, unhelpfully for all of us, I was sitting at that computer, writing.

A topic I must get back to, if there's nothing else.

Nothing for now.

You're probably safe to take Pete off your Christmas card list, though.

My grandmother had it, and she lived right until her 80s, so we know it's not

death sentence.

But still, MS.

You know what you want to hear?

Of course.

And you drive for a living.

I was planning to declare it.

And I do get it. I'm driving kids around. But what if I need a test to

license? I wanted other work lined up first.

He's been keeping the driving to a minimum.

But then another bill comes in.

We overstretched on this place.

It got quite tight.

You don't have to pretend.

I know we're losing the house.

And it's my fault car and him.

I told her about Dad's diagnosis back when I thought I could trust her.

Before I killed her.

That is.

Obviously.

Holly. That's a sick joke to make. Why would you say that?

Why else are they here, though?

They don't care about your house.

Or my education.

Or how you pay your bills.

They think one of us did it.

That's the only reason they're talking to us.

I really do apologize.

It's okay. We're here to ask difficult questions. And yes, it would be helpful.

If you could tell us where you were from Friday afternoon to Saturday night.

Friday we were all here and Saturday Paul was at the shops and me and Holly

doing the garden.

It's Blake Anderson you should be talking to.

His wife and stepdaughter are both dead and he's super aggressive.

Your boyfriend said that you liked working with Blake.

That was before he lost it with me.

Like I honestly thought he was going to hit me.

I was just trying to give him some flowers.

When was this?

Last night?

So instead of harassing my disabled dad, perhaps you could ask Blake why he has

anger issues.

And then you could leave us alone.

What were you looking at?

Holly?

There's more in the list if you'd like Tom.

Oh, is that a style of academic work?

No, a photo from her phone with checking I'm not missing anything.

It looked like she did a knitting course at Top Yarns.

I thought maybe it was her research, because she's marked up the stitches

letters. But Estelle was a historian.

What would that have to do with knitting?

Remember I said that she'd written about female spies in World War II?

I remember everything you say.

Well, sometimes they used knitting to hide messages.

So they'd do sequences of smooth stitches and then raised stitches, like

and it would spell out words in Morse code.

One of the spies was called Phyllis Latour.

Hang on. Phyllis Latour. This artwork is called Oolala Tour.

Unless it's Oolala Tour, in which case she wasn't learning to knit, she was

deciphering a code.

Can you read this?

I could give it a go, but you probably need a knitter, really.

No, I know just the man.

Is everything okay with Holly?

Mm -mm.

She's fine.

So I wanted to speak to you.

Look, I'm her mother, aren't I?

So I love her, no matter what.

Okay. And you love her too.

Enough to want to protect her.

I think you know what I'm asking you, Dominic.

I need you to tell me the truth.

Oh, that's great.

What does it say?

You're kidding, right? This is going to take me ages.

I have the utmost faith in you. Anything more overnight?

Oh, yes.

Digital flagged something weird in Cara's search history. She kept

searching for a Terence McGregor maths.

Well, it seems that he was a professor of applied mathematics, lived in

Drift five years ago, aged 87.

And no obvious connection to Kara? Not that I can find.

Well, keep digging.

OK, mother and daughter both killed on school grounds. Kara was killed first,

presumably it all starts with her.

The last sighting of Kara was 4 .50pm on Friday when the in -person PTA meeting

disbanded. When Moira threw a chair at her. Moira could have followed her into

the classroom after the argument.

But what if Kara revealed that she knew about the book fraud?

Or, um, Holly has to be high on the list.

Well, she's impulsive. She felt betrayed by both Kara and Estelle.

Yeah. Oh, we need to speak to Felicity Crawford again. I just heard back from

the ballet studio that her kids go to, and they missed their lesson on Monday.

So I called their primary school, and she booked them in to stay late.

So Felicity lied about where she was when Estelle was killed.

I'd like to talk to her about that and about the saffron gossip surrounding her

husband. And Kara.

I

did

sort of twig that Kara had a crush on me.

Did I do enough to discourage it?

Probably not.

It's nice to have the attention.

You know what it's like.

She was like a love -thick puppy.

Tim had to have a word with her.

It was reassuring, in a way.

Wrong classroom.

Sorry, miss.

Thank you.

Reassuring that Kara had a crush on your husband.

Well, no, she made it so obvious. I mean, if something had been going on,

she would have been more careful, wouldn't she?

No lines were crossed.

Not even slightly.

Do you have any idea why your wife lied about taking your daughters to ballet on

Monday? What?

Where were they then?

I went to see a psychotherapist. That's not what you said before.

I lied because Tim was there, and it wasn't something that I wanted to

in front of my husband.

I think there must be some crossed wires.

Felicity and I, we don't have secrets.

That is one complicated marriage.

See if the therapist backs her up. There's been a new voicemail left on

Estelle's mobile.

It's from Dominic's university tutor.

Apparently got himself kicked out.

Estelle was trying to help.

Oh, it's Sarah.

Why is she calling you?

Oh, I'll speak to Dominic. Hi, Sarah.

Yeah, he's just realised.

Attendance lectures, failure to submit essays.

After everything I did to help you get in there. The coaching, the extra

tutorials.

Maybe that was the problem.

When I had to do it for myself, I couldn't cope, could I?

You never let me learn to cope.

I spoke to your tutor, Dominic.

He said that Estelle called him at 4 .30pm on Monday, that's about an hour

before she was killed, saying that you had just left her office in a highly

emotional state. She called them for me.

She said she couldn't, and Mr Crawford had already tried.

Tim Crawford knew about this.

He was trying to help.

Just to be clear, Dominic, you're admitting that you met Estelle shortly

she was murdered, that you were in her office, and that you were upset.

Well, I talked to her, but I didn't do anything.

You told us that you just knocked on the office door, that you didn't go in.

This is the third version of events you've given us? You've made everything

much harder for yourself.

Why did you lie?

I mess things up.

It's what I do.

Because I'm stupid.

I need a minute.

Tom!

I have a few questions for you, Moira, as well.

About your book. fraud.

What?

Fake first editions, forged signatures.

Reese told my colleague everything.

It's not my usual way of doing things, I can assure you.

It's more Kara's involvement that we're focusing on now.

She knew about the scam. Did she threaten to reveal it?

I didn't know she was involved until Rhys told me on Monday.

I'm telling you the truth.

I'd make a joke about forgetfulness, but I can't remember how it goes.

Well, come in, because you know what occurred to me this morning.

You remember my old head of science who moved to Nottingham? Well, he ended up

at the school that Estelle used to teach at.

So I gave him a ring this morning, and Estelle's husband, Blake Anderson, not

Blake Anderson at all.

What do you mean?

Well, his real name is Benjamin Ashton.

He went to prison for conning three separate women out of their life

They met when she was volunteering as a prison educator.

So his whole marriage to Estelle, that could be another romance scam.

You should come and interview him with me. You're great at this.

It's not difficult.

I don't know why you always make it such a song and dance about it.

It took me a long time to believe that she liked me because obviously she knew

my past. It was all out there on the table.

But she believed in new starts.

She was willing to back me.

And that made me think I can back myself, you know?

What about Cara? Did she know?

We told her we met online.

You should have been up front with us from the beginning.

I was going to tell you, but I couldn't.

So it's all at the bottom of the lake now.

What is?

My old life.

Well, what was left of it.

Mementos and photos of my parents.

I threw them away. I was afraid you were going to search my shop.

Where were you over the weekend?

At home.

With Estelle.

But I can only give you my word for that, and I know that's not worth much.

In light of Kara's death, your wife's estate is all yours, her pension, her

property. It is, yeah.

I think it's worth quite a lot.

But Estelle is the one person who knew every last bit of me and

said yes to it all.

So I profit from this, yeah, I know I do.

But all I can think about... It's what I've lost.

Oh.

You're Dominic's girlfriend, aren't you?

Yeah.

And what do you want?

Money.

Peckish? No, it's for the guys at the station.

I mean, helping me with this knitted artwork.

And, well... The stitches in the speech bubble are indeed

Morse code, and it's all about Kara. It's basically Rhys declaring his love

her. Oh, I assumed you... Oh, ignore me. I never assumed.

So, Estelle understood the reference to Phyllis La... tour and cracked the code,

only to discover it was about her own daughter.

If Estelle told Kara, then that would make sense of the message that she sent

her mother on Friday morning.

Here. I'm worried. It's obvious I know. I'll need to have the talk.

So you think Kara was planning to confront Rhys? Could be why he visited

school on Friday. She asked him to talk, and then she rejected him, and he

snapped. It would kill for less.

Sir.

Those computers are still here. All my first editions are accounted for.

I don't understand it.

Well, they must have been looking for something.

I've no idea what.

They've left my stuff alone. I don't think there's much of a market in stolen

knitting needles.

I'm sure you're right.

Can I have a word with you in private?

Yeah, if you need to.

I've got things to do upstairs.

Thank you.

You should go through there.

It's about your relationship with Kara.

Is it purely platonic?

Of course, yeah.

On both sides?

I'm not sure what you're getting at.

The message in the speech bubble.

Do you want me to spell it out for you?

Well, that's art. It doesn't literally mean... I think it does.

You were in love with Kara.

You couldn't tell her, so you poured it into your art.

But Estelle spotted the Latour reference, didn't she?

It all came out last week.

Because I've been dating men for so long, Kara forgot that bi does actually

bi.

She was acting like I tricked her or something.

So she rejected you?

The rejection, I could handle it.

It was the awkwardness. It was like she was wary around me. It was awful.

Is that why you visited Kara at school on Friday?

I just needed to make things right before she got on the plane.

She said we were good, but we weren't.

I could feel it.

And after that conversation, what did you do?

I went straight back home.

Look, it's obvious where you're taking this, and you're so wrong.

I could never, ever hurt Kara.

One more thing, for now.

Does the name Terence McGregor mean anything to you?

I've never heard of him.

He was a math professor. Kara seemed to be researching him.

I know who he is.

I couldn't help overhearing.

I bought some crates of books from his estate when he died.

Turned out to include some highly sought -after talkings, but I don't know why

enough Kara was interested.

Rotten fish in the air vent?

What?

50 chickens in the staff room.

A truckload of horse manure in the car park.

Are you really so desperate to know what got me suspended?

I most certainly am.

Well, Dr.

Perkins, I will tell you on one condition.

Name it. Under no circumstances does this get back to winter.

It was a weed killer on the school sports field applied to burn the grass

a certain shape.

A shape a teenage boy might find amusing.

The very one.

Lucky to get away with just a suspension.

Oh, I got a lot more than that. My parents persuaded a police officer

turn up on our doorstep in uniform. He said he had some questions. He

the hell out of me.

Stellar parenting.

Yeah.

But then, his questions were all about...

why I'd done it. He was genuinely curious about why I was acting out, you

And he showed me that you could make a mistake and you could be OK, you could

come back from it.

I sometimes wonder if that conversation was the reason I became a police

officer.

That's actually really nice.

I became a pathologist because I like knives.

And on the subject of pathology... Ah, yes.

Cause of death was the depressed skull fracture.

She was hit once, very hard, with a pointed object.

This was on display in the art room.

Traces of blood and bleach.

I sent it to the lab for DNA.

Sorry I'm late.

Felicity's therapist called.

She was with him when Estelle was killed.

That's Tim and Felicity both accounted for, though.

Yeah.

What?

No, it's... It's not impossible they're working with a third party, is it?

It's something the therapist said. He assumed that I was calling because

had followed through on a threat that she made to Felicity about going to the

police.

What about?

Well, he wouldn't say in client confidentiality, but...

I looked him up online, and he's an addiction specialist.

This is humiliating.

We're not here to embarrass you. We just need the facts.

Felicity gets quite anxious.

Ever since the girls were born, really.

We all deal with stress in different ways, don't we?

And for Felicity, she... Well, she takes things without paying.

Short -lifting.

It just happens when things get on top of me.

It's not even stuff that she wants.

Most of it ends up in the bin.

Did Estelle know about this? No.

Yes.

Well, she did.

I mean, when I tried to talk to her about the way she was treating you, she

that... She said that she'd noticed me taking things.

Christmas fairs.

Some are fates.

I mean, she framed it as concern, you know, how can I help it?

The message was clear.

She had something over you.

Well, that doesn't mean anything, does it?

You know that Felicity didn't kill Estelle.

She can't be in two places at the same time.

What's this?

A music festival in Croatia.

I need you to give these to Dominic.

Help him go over this university business.

Since when did you take the slightest interest in Dominic?

Since he and his girlfriend took an interest in me.

a surprise for you from your uncle.

Dominic?

There's nothing obviously missing as far as Moira can tell, but she can barely

speak. The knitting needle hit the carotid artery.

Massive blood loss, triggering brain hypoxia.

Moira said that the shop was closed. It's got to be linked to the break -in,

surely. No sign of forced entry this time, and no obvious struggle.

Dominic let them in. He trusted them.

Well, they had their own keys.

Besides Dominic and Moira, that leaves Reese and Pierce.

What's Holly said so far?

She claims she was here all morning, left at 12 .30.

She sent me these, which were taken around midday.

That globe has been moved. Is it still somewhere in the flat?

I'm not sure.

Do you think it's valuable?

It looks old.

Just check it's still here.

I'm going to talk to Holly.

He was fine when I left him. I swear.

Nobody's accusing you, Holly.

Just tell him what you told us about Piers.

Piers doesn't write his own books.

He stole them.

Me and Dominic started blackmailing him about it.

What do you mean he stole them?

It was years ago.

Dominic came across these old notebooks in the bottom of a box in the shop.

They belonged to some lecturer who died.

A maths lecturer?

Terence McGregor?

Yeah.

That's it.

They were full of these handwritten stories.

Dominic got really into them.

Piers had a look and wanted to borrow them.

Who else knew about this?

Piers gave Dominic £500 to keep quiet.

Then Dominic told me.

And when Cara got into the whole thing with Piers online, I told her.

Was Cara threatening to go public?

She said she needed to check it was true first.

But I went to see him yesterday.

You went to blackmail him?

He agreed to pay for a few things, as long as we kept quiet.

So excited to tell him.

But now what if I've got him killed?

The only person responsible for Dominic's death is the person who killed

No sign of that globe.

Moira said that she was collecting things at the shop for the PTA jumble

It came in as a donation.

Kara saw it, said that she liked it and asked Moira to put it aside for her.

Wait a minute. So Kara showed an interest in this globe and then Dominic

in his possession until it vanished around the time he was killed.

You're thinking whoever killed Dominic took the globe from the flat. Why?

Logically, there would be two options.

They wanted it themselves or they wanted to stop someone else getting hold of

it. In which case, what have they done with it? Hidden it?

Disposed of it?

Get uniform to have a look round, just in the immediate area, in case they

dumped it straight away.

In the meantime, I have some questions for Piers Mayhew, Midsomer's premier

plagiarist, apparently.

What globe?

I've been sitting here the whole time writing. It's what I do.

Hmm. The new novel.

How's that going?

Slowly.

I'd like you to read this, please.

I know what it says.

These stories, none of them are yours.

You stole them. I used the material as a springboard, that's all. It's

plagiarism. But as you like stories...

Once upon a time, Dominic told Holly that you stole your novels.

Holly told Kara, and she was going to tell the world only before she had a

chance.

She was killed.

This is absurd. I did not do this.

Plot twist.

Kara told her mother, Estelle, and she was killed too.

If you have evidence to arrest me, go ahead.

Otherwise, this little storytelling session is over.

Here has to be top of our list.

Estelle, Cara and Dominic were blowing his world apart between them.

I don't suppose that globe's turned up? No. Uniform check the wheelie bins, the

public litter bins, the park.

What? I walked past that fencing a few hours ago. It wasn't pulled open like

that.

Are you serious?

I'm serious.

Okay, fine.

I really should stop buying you suits.

With respect, sir, this is a complete waste of... Hold on.

You were saying? That your hunches are always right, sir.

A prize for academic

excellence presented to Timothy Hilary Crawford, year eight, by Mr Vincent

Bell, headmaster.

Oh, this is Tim Crawford's globe.

Tim's?

From when he was at school.

OK.

But if this was in the PTA donations, then why did Kara ask Moira to put it

aside for her?

I think I might know.

Vincent Bell.

Here, look.

Vincent Bell, 72, fell to his death while facilitating a residential trip

group of Year 12 students from Causton Grammar. That's the school trip Tim

organised in the Lake District.

And the man who died was his old headmaster.

Kara witnessed the accident on that school trip too. Reese said that's what

started her panic attacks.

Was she aware that the man she saw die was Tim's headmaster?

Was it only seeing this globe that told her that?

Come on.

He was just a random old guy helping out at the centre.

Kara saw his body hit the ground and that's why she couldn't sleep for ages.

Did she mention that Tim knew him?

From when he was at school?

What? No.

And she definitely would have mentioned that.

As far as she was concerned, he was a stranger to both of them. What did Kara

say when she asked you to keep the globe for her?

Just to make sure it didn't end up with the jumble sale stuff.

She said she needed to show it to someone.

Thank you.

Take good care of each other.

Tim never let on that he knew Vincent Bell.

And then Cara saw the globe, saw the names and made the connection.

Exactly. And there's one obvious reason why Tim would cover up his connection to

Vincent Bell, isn't there?

It wasn't an accident.

But it can't be Tim, though, can it? We have him on video when Ethel was

murdered. And even if he was working with his wife or something, we know that

she was with his therapist.

I know.

But what if there was a way to be in two places at once?

There. Slow that down.

It actually cuts out for a split second.

5 .46 precisely.

Two minutes before Estelle is killed, you could run from Tim's classroom to

Estelle's office in that time. Tim said he was having technical issues.

It's possible that all the footage we're seeing after it cuts out was pre

-filmed. Go to the bit with the javelin.

Look at the time stamp.

It's not 5 .48 in a few seconds, it's 5 .48 on the absolute dot.

He timed the javelin to coordinate with his faked reaction.

On the pre -filmed footage.

So you go on my whistle!

Mr Crawford.

We haven't even fallen to students yet.

Doesn't feel real, does it? I mean... Who am I to hurt Dominic?

Who indeed?

I believe this belongs to you.

Why don't you tell us about Vincent Bell?

Or Mr Bell, as I suppose he was to you, being your headmaster. I don't want to

talk about him.

Not here.

We know what you did. We have a good idea how you did it.

I'd just like to know why.

Why?

Because he was a monster.

He was a bully.

He belittled us, terrified us, day and night.

Was this a boarding school?

Yeah.

There's no escape.

I know for a fact there are men out there, middle -aged men. They're

from depression.

Unable to form relationships because of the damage that he did.

You tried to be a good student.

You know, the day that I won that, he said it made

me conceited.

He made me take off my socks and shoes and

run 20 laps around the school.

And when he saw that my feet were bleeding, do you know what he did, DCI

Barnaby?

He smiled.

That man was a sadist.

Then all those years later at the outdoor centre, there he was.

It was recorded as an abseiling accident.

Yeah, Hayley.

He was setting up a line so he was close to the edge.

Excuse me. Do you have the key?

Hello, Timothy.

I thought I recognised the name.

I was back there.

A 13 -year -old little boy.

I was humiliated.

Frightened.

But there was anger in me. I was so incredibly hungry.

And I knew, I knew in that moment it was so clear.

That the only way for a man like Vincent Bell to

face consequences was for a man like me to make him.

But Kara saw it.

She saw something.

I never knew exactly how much, but...

she trusted me.

And you used that.

You made her believe your lies over the evidence of her own eyes until... That

was hidden in the back of an attic. I'd forgotten it existed.

Oh, and when Felicity had given it to her jumbo sailor, it was like this

Grenade was out there waiting to go off. I couldn't track it down.

Kara spotted it in the donations at the shop.

She saw your name and his name engraved side by side.

Difficult for her to make the connection.

I saw you. You had your hands on him. I was trying to grab him. You knew him.

There's only one reason you'd lie about that.

I'm sorry. Where are you going?

Kara, please.

She was going to the police.

You hid her body in a cupboard.

You moved it to the locker at the weekend. You knew they were going to the

But what if she'd confided in someone else? I read her messages.

And that there was one to Estelle.

Something like, um... I'm worried.

He knows that I know.

We believe that message referred to something else.

It was about her friend, Reese.

It had nothing to do with you.

How did you fake the video call footage?

I filmed myself over the weekend and switched the feeds.

Cancelling an event at such short notice is an insult to the work of this

committee. Do you have any...

We appreciate it.

Item two on the agenda.

Secondhand uniform sale.

So we ran over there.

There were two babies shouting at each other to pay any attention to me. I knew

there would be.

But the incriminating globe was still out there.

That was you, the break -in at Moyer's shop, trying to get it back.

Kyra said it was there, but when I broke in, I couldn't find it.

You know, I knew that Dominic had been there.

That graffiti in the back room, I... I never told them my middle name.

You were afraid that he'd work it out.

He knew about the incident on the school trip. Everyone did.

There you go.

Oh, thanks.

Presented to Timothy Hillary Crawford.

Year eight by Mr. Vincent Bell, headmaster.

Imagine going through school with a middle name, Hillary.

Vincent Bell.

I knew I heard that name.

That old guy who died on the year 12 trip.

Was it?

I can't remember now.

Yeah, it definitely was.

Bell's a pretty common name.

But the Vincent Bell who died was a retired teacher.

It said so in the papers.

Sir, why would you say you didn't know?

You killed him, 19 years old.

I didn't want to.

I just thought if I could get the globe back.

You murdered Cara, Estelle and Dominic to cover up the truth about Vincent

Bell's death.

Where was this going to end? Holly Randall saw that globe too. Was she

A week ago.

That was me.

A good teacher.

A good man.

After one thing Vincent Bell did for me.

He made me want to be a teacher too so that I could do better.

And I did do better.

I don't understand how I let this happen.

Almost left this in the office.

Oh, thank you. That's great. Oh, it's brilliant.

Rebel.

Don't know the half.

I'm going to join you for the second round, actually. There's something I

to do first.

It's OK. I haven't come to interrogate you. I just thought you might be feeling

like you've messed up and that there's no way to come back from it. So I just

wanted to tell you about something.

What is it?

Something incredibly stupid that I did when I was around your age involving a

sports field and a bottle of weed killer.

Well, I don't get it.

What was it?

Well, it... Turned out, it was the making of me.

All right.

Come on in.

Just once around the block?

Yeah. As always, it's a decent walk at lunchtime. It'll be fine.

What do you look like, eh?

Sorry about that. I'll get the next round in.

As no need.

It's on Jamie, who will also be dog -sitting next weekend, jet -washing the

patio and helping you trim that hedge.

Because we broke a deal.

Everything tells me this is bad.

So I finally went through the boxes in the shed and it turns out your mother

kept it.

The local paper with a full -page spread detailing your little teenage incident

that led to your suspension.

Nobody breathes a word of this to Betty, OK? Because I am supposed to set an

example. I'm a figure of authority and sound judgment. Oh, for goodness sake,

it's not that funny. It is. I mean, the sheer scale of this artwork.

Anatomically correct. Yes. I mean, you can see it from space.

It did take me quite a while. Oh, this is amazing.

This might be...

The greatest day of my life.