I'm afraid something awful has
happened.
Social call?
You working for that Merren bitch?
The bitch in prison are you working
for her?
She refused the chance of an appeal.
Alice Merren will be hanged in five
days' time.
Scotland Yard? Good for you.
The translation post has been
reassigned. Your services are no
longer required.
Her name's Elizabeth Lancaster.
She's 17 years old.
She can't be my mother.
We abandoned our child because I was
young and foolish
and not prepared to face the shame.
Please be assured we will take all
necessary measures to deal with the
matter.
Yours faithfully, Colin Barkdale.
Very good.
Your typing is excellent.
Good speed, good accuracy,
Miss...Merren.
Alice Merren?
Yes.
Not the Alice Merren from the
newspapers?
Er...yes.
I'm afraid our agency will be unable
to find you a suitable position,
Miss Merren.
I'm happy to find any position.
The businesses we supply staff to
will only employ people with an
unblemished record.
I was found innocent.
I was acquitted.
Yes, but you were in prison.
And in the newspapers.
Good evening, sir. This way, please.
This way, sir.
Oh, hello, darling.
You made it!
And don't you scrub up very well
indeed.
Thank you.
So, what is this?
Just an excuse to get you out for
the evening.
How did the interview go? Fine,
fine. I'm waiting to hear back.
Well, fingers crossed. Come on.
Let's have a cocktail.
If you're sure.
I'm absolutely sure.
Millie! How pleasant.
Excuse me a sec.
Good evening, Anne. How lovely to
see you.
Is George feeling...better?
He is, thank you.
A week in the Chilterns did him the
world of good.
I'm so pleased to hear it.
I wonder...the eau de toilette you
found was an absolute delight,
and I must admit I've hardly any
left.
It's charming, isn't it? I'll pick
you up a bottle.
Room 214. Could you make it two?
My friend Charlotte made me swear I'd
ask.
Your friend Charlotte has good
taste.
I'll bring you a few. That way your
friends won't run out.
You're a dear.
I'll see you later then.
Bye.
Oh, Champagne cocktails.
Anne seems nice.
Don't worry. It's just a little
sideline.
A sideline?
Import-export.
Until they take me off the blacklist
and I can get more translation work.
Do you mean the black market?
The w*r is over, remember?
There is no black market any more.
This is just flying a little bit
below the radar.
Gosh.
Is it safe, doing it somewhere like
this?
Safest place of all. None of these
women would be seen dead in an alley
buying out of a case.
But if a well-turned-out
acquaintance happens to source them
the odd luxury now and then...
You're very debonair about it.
I'd never have the confidence.
It's my overwhelming sense of
entitlement.
Swiss finishing school finally pays
off.
Talking of school, how's Lizzie's
training going?
She's found a place.
Started three weeks ago. You'll never
guess where.
Where?
Bletchley.
No? There's a teacher-training
college there now.
Right next to the old huts.
Good God. Another Bletchley girl.
Oh, I'll drink to that.
Don't look now. I think you've caught
someone's eye.
Oh, God, that's Jasper. My co-pilot,
so to speak.
Excuse me just a sec.
She's a new one.
She's not a customer, she's a
friend.
Pretty friend.
Hands off.
What've you got for me?
Four orders of the Lucienne eau de
toilette,
four of the Envoye De L'amour, the
gold one,
and two of the Shalimar with the
atomiser.
Right you are.
Can you get any more nylons?
I can get silk. They don't want silk,
they want nylons.
Well, silk's all I can get.
Is that it? It's not much.
It's not bad for a Friday night.
Is everything OK?
Why?
You look like the Staff Sergeant's
sprung an inspection on you.
No, I'm fine.
Every tin of beans accounted for.
Staff Sergeants don't frighten me.
They bloody used to!
I never got caught, though, did I?
Now, then, these nylons.
Don't worry. I'll tell them silk is
saucy. Men prefer it. Nylons are old
hat.
Now, see, that's why you're front of
house.
Good girl.
Oh!
Are you sure you're all right?
I lied earlier.
I didn't get the job.
Oh, sweetheart.
I'm so sorry.
That's the fourth interview.
All they remember is the newspapers
and the court case.
I can't even be a bloody secretary.
We'll find something. Don't worry.
Lizzie looks at me sometimes. She's
so confused.
Just stop this.
You take the cab the rest of the way
home,
get a good night's sleep,
then come and see me tomorrow...
I'll walk, it's fine.
Don't be daft.
You're in no state. Come on, take
it.
And this.
What? No, no.
Yes, yes.
Millie, I can't.
Yes, you can. Yes, you can.
Come on. In you get.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Alice?
Alice?
Lizzie...
What time is it?
Erm, 10 o'clock.
Is that mine?
I borrowed it.
Sorry. Is that all right? I didn't
have anything to wear, and Millie
wanted to go dancing.
It's fine.
Come on, I'll make you some
breakfast. No, thank you.
I'll be all right.
Well, I'll put some tea on, then.
Sure you don't want something?
No, thanks.
I've...got another job interview.
Millie?
Can I help you, Miss?
It's all right.
What's wrong?
How long did you say she'd been gone?
Since last night.
Not long, then.
We were supposed to meet this
morning.
And is your friend usually tidy?
Not tidy, but nothing like this...
Had she had anything to drink?
What's that got to do with anything?
She might've just decided to spring
clean the place.
In any case we do need to wait a bit
longer than a night
before we can file a missing persons
report.
Is there anything else you can add?
Any other reason you're worried?
Well, if there's nothing more, then
that'll be it for now.
Do let me know if you hear from her.
Spring cleaning indeed! What exactly
has Millie been doing?
She called it import-export.
There was a man, last night.
Erm, Jasper.
I didn't get a surname.
Silly, silly girl. We need to tell
the police everything.
And get her into trouble?
She's already in trouble!
Maybe serious trouble!
Lucy's right. How long's she been
selling this stuff? I don't know.
Ever since she lost her job, I
think.
I mean, she's had no work, but she
always seems to get by.
She's been slipping into bad habits.
OK, so what do we do?
We need to try and find her.
We need to try and find this Jasper
fellow and see what he's got to say
for himself.
If we have no luck, we go to the
police and explain the situation. No
holding stuff back.
We tell them everything.
They've left nothing unturned.
Maybe not.
When I stayed with Millie, she
always put important things in...
Got something.
Good God.
Millie never cooks.
That's a lot of perfume and
stockings.
It's an order book.
Wait, go back.
Jasper.
He's around a lot.
Carmichael Station, fourth arch.
Briggs Lane, third door.
What is that?
Garages. Lock-ups.
Storage.
Hello?
Somebody!
She called him her co-pilot.
Just a turn of phrase, or more than
that?
Ex-RAF, perhaps?
Here we are, third door.
Careful.
There's blood.
Same stuff.
Oh, Millie.
He liked the dogs.
By the looks of this he was betting
on four or five races a day.
He wasn't betting tuppence, either.
Then unless he's very, very lucky, he
owed money.
And someone came after him.
Why would they go after Millie as
well?
How did they even know about her?
All right, all right, maybe we've got
this backwards.
Jasper didn't owe money.
Then why would he...?
He was covering his bad debts out of
the business.
Lining his pockets.
Whoever came for him knew about
Millie, knew about this place.
Knew everything.
And they left all the merchandise
here.
If this was a bookie with a debt to
claim, he'd have taken the stuff,
wouldn't he?
So this is someone in the business.
Higher up.
So Millie sells for Jasper.
But who does Jasper buy from?
If we knew which bookie Jasper used,
we could ask them who he hung around
with.
He wasn't using a bookie.
Not a licensed one, anyway.
This is snooker chalk. All Harry's
papers were like this.
He used to go down the snooker hall,
play a few frames, put on a few
bets.
It's off-track betting. Illegal but
the odds are better.
I say if we want to find Jasper's
bookie, we go looking in the nearest
snooker hall.
Thanks.
Where am I? Where is this place?
What street is this? Do you know?
Please. I need you to call the
police. Can you do that? Call the
police.
All right, all right. Calm down,
calm down.
Do you speak English?
Small.
No police, no police.
OK, OK.
Millie. My name is Millie.
What's your name?
Elishka.
Elishka.
Elishka. I...
That's not Russian...
The accent's...Baltic.
It's not Hungarian, not Romanian...
Czechoslovakia.
You're Slovak.
Slovakian. It's not my best.
So, here's London.
The river.
Yes. Like the Russian. River, yes.
Are we north of...
..or south?
North or south?
North.
OK, where north? In the middle?
Further out?
Where, where are we?
You don't know, do you...
All right.
Please, I need you to telephone...
telephone some friends of mine.
No police.
Friends.
It's all right. It's all right.
All right.
Elishka, tell me. Tell me.
I want home.
I want go home.
Me too.
How long... How long have you been
here?
How...
I come!
Go away here. Go away here.
Go away.
Let's hope this is the one.
It's men only.
We wanted to see about a race.
You?
Well, it's for a friend.
Jasper.
Don't know anyone called Jasper,
sorry.
Look, a girlfriend of ours has gone
missing.
Missing?
We think she's in trouble.
Real trouble. Jasper too.
We know he likes a flutter. That's
fine. We won't tell anyone.
We just wondered if you'd seen him
with any...you know, bad types.
It's all bad types in here, love.
How'd your friend get rolled up in
this?
She and Jasper had a thing going on
the side. Selling.
Yeah, I heard about that.
All right, I know Jasper.
Everyone does.
Bookies' best friend, he is.
Lady Luck always seemed to see
Jasper coming and leg it the other
way.
But he bounces back.
Maybe not this time.
I'd be sorry to hear that.
We think he was skimming the profits
off of this little enterprise to
cover his track debts.
And whoever he was in with realised.
Bloody idiot.
Pardon me.
Do you know who he was working for?
No. Sorry. He never said.
Did he ever come in with anyone?
Someone you didn't know?
A couple of times he was in here
with two Maltese lads.
Big, nasty-looking.
They had cash, though, plenty of
cash.
Maltese?
There's some families around.
They're supposed to run restaurants
and that, but you hear stories.
Christ, he didn't cross those
bastards, did he?
Bloody hell.
Did you catch a name?
Like I said, it was only a couple of
times. They haven't been back.
Thanks.
Look, if you're right,
if he's thrown in with that lot, you
tell the old Bill and you go home,
all right?
There's some places in this city I
wouldn't stick my nose in,
and you're not me.
Not by a long chalk.
How come you're asking? You can't
work here and not get interested.
Yeah, but why this? Why not a nice
juicy m*rder for the lovely lady?
No, thank you very much.
All right. But you can't tell
anyone.
A friend of mine gave me this.
Oooh.
This is bad. I could have you for
this.
It's not legit, is it?
I mean, I knew it wasn't.
But how do they do it? Where does it
come from?
Because it looks just like a bottle
of scent, but really it's a whole
story behind it, isn't it?
Well, I reckon you pretty much know
where it came from.
Yeah, but the details.
I spend all day watching you lot.
How do you do it?
How does it go from one bottle of
scent to putting someone in prison?
A lot of filing and paperwork.
You really interested in that?
Yeah.
I can't let you see anything from
ongoing cases.
No, I know.
Then again, a few old files can't
hurt.
Cost you, though.
Cost me what?
Dinner.
You can wear the scent if you like.
I spent all morning copying it out.
So it's gangs, basically, or
families.
Usually they're families,
and they bring in uncustomed goods
either through the ports
and cover up what they're doing,
or the old-fashioned way,
which is smaller boats dodging the
coast guards and coming in through
little village harbours.
And it's everything from cigarettes
to nylons to booze.
Vice shut down one operation and
another one springs up overnight.
Any of the active ones Maltese?
Yeah. There's one family that is
definitely Maltese.
So September 1949
there were four men arrested for
possession of uncustomed goods here.
Nikola Magro, Girgor Magro, Stiefnu
Testa and Nunzju Rigos.
And then April 1951,
there were two men arrested for
trespass here.
Gabrijel Lupi and Lazzru Magro.
And then November 1951,
there were three men arrested for
possession of liquor without a
licence here.
Lazzru Magro and two others.
Magro again. Wherever you find
Maltese crooks, that lot turn up.
Let's analyse the pattern of
arrests, see if we can narrow it
down.
That's all the arrests marked up.
Distribution's clustered in Soho,
but extends as far as Wood Green.
It's pretty even. It doesn't point
to one centre of operations.
As patterns go, this isn't much of
one. It just says they like central
London.
We need Susan for this.
Well, Susan's in Bombay.
Come on, it's signal flow, isn't it?
London's just like a giant
electrical circuit.
Input, output.
All these little lines and branches,
like a wiring diagram.
What we need to do is trace where
the signal wants to go.
What signal, exactly?
Our Maltese friends.
A specific set of people, behaving
in one specific way.
These places were chosen because
they fit the signal flow
of a group whose purpose is to
distribute uncustomed goods.
So what does that suggest?
I would imagine access.
Seclusion?
Those are mutually exclusive, aren't
they?
How can you have access and
seclusion in one?
Millie, Millie, Millie.
What, what?
Millie was doing the same thing.
'Let's go and have a dance and a
good time.'
And where do we go? A hotel.
Hotels are ideal.
Neutral ground meeting places and
anonymity rolled into one.
Access and seclusion.
What if it's the same for the
Magros?
All the advantages of a base of
operations,
but if the police come by you can
roll it all up and move on.
Well, it should be here.
Here we go.
September '49, arrest.
Lingrave Bed & Breakfast.
Not this one, not this one...
April, Mulligan Lane Hotel.
This is the pattern.
So Millie's in a hotel somewhere. We
need to search all the hotels in
London!
These are all old cases.
What we need are some recent arrests
with a hotel address.
Well, Lucy's seeing Ben tonight.
With me.
Where is my money?
Where is it?
I haven't the faintest idea.
If that's true, then we can part on
good terms.
Is it true?
Yes.
But how can I be sure?
Jasper!
Millie!
It's not so bad.
A man loses some teeth, maybe an eye,
he looks like a rogue, a pirate.
Almost romantic, don't you think?
But for a woman it's not the same.
For a woman, a scar, well, that's not
so romantic.
One of you is stealing from me.
Which one?
Or maybe both.
Lazzru, cut her.
It was me. It was me.
It was me.
I'm sorry. Millie didn't know.
So where is my money?
I can pay it.
I don't believe you can.
I can.
You're not the only supplier in
London, you know.
I've got other interests...
..and sometimes I have to balance
one side against the other.
I've got a big shipment coming in
tomorrow.
I can collect that and you have your
money.
And then some.
Well, you pay me what's mine,
'and then some',
and then you take yourself far from
here,
as far as you can get so that I never
have to see you again.
Stay with him until he collects the
shipment.
Take Millie back to her room.
What? Marta, you can let her go. It
was nothing to do with her.
She's my guarantee.
I'll let her go when I get my money.
I'm sorry, Millie.
Thanks.
What do you reckon?
It's nice.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
It's French.
How do you like the wine?
Erm, I don't know.
I'm not sure how it's supposed to
taste.
It's supposed to taste like this.
Oh, then it's nice, I suppose.
There you go.
Those files you showed me, about all
the arrests and so on, I found it
really exciting.
And I kept thinking about it.
So I went back and I had another
look.
What do you fancy?
Lemon sole...manure?
Yeah. It sounds lovely.
Anyway, so I was looking through and
some cases had this funny foreign
name.
It was Mag or Maggo.
Magro.
Yeah, that's it!
Do you know the case?
It's more than one case, I believe.
Are you investigating them?
Cos there's a lot of files, and that
same name keeps coming up.
Do you know where they're based?
I can't really talk about active
cases, remember?
We shouldn't be talking about work.
It's bad luck.
Or if it's not, it should be.
I just wondered if you were tracking
them down.
Look, black market, it happens all
the time, ever since the w*r.
A few bottles of brandy and some
stockings ain't going to bring down
the government.
I joined Vice to catch real villains.
Anyway, let's order, I'm starving.
You speak a bit of English, don't
you? You understand me? Please.
Please try.
Small.
I learn.
You're from Czechoslovakia. You came
here.
Why?
Work.
A new life.
Marta...
Did Marta help you get here?
Uncustomed goods.
Like the Russian..
'Friend'.
No, no, no. I am no friend of Marta.
No friend of Marta.
Elishka...
Mama. Tata.
I don't understand. Try it... Try it
in your own language.
Like the Russian. 30. Every 30 days.
Every month.
Girls.
The girls move to new hotels?
Bad men.
'Window'.
This hotel is like a window. I...
The men?
The men choose the girls.
And they pay.
Like a shop window.
You... You must run away.
No.
Why?
Branka.
Branka?
Your little sister.
She's coming here.
You...
You told her to come here.
Next time she come.
Marta say we together.
You mean she's selling you together.
Selling...
Yes.
Either he doesn't know or he doesn't
want to talk about it.
I think he's embarrassed they
haven't caught them.
They make the police look like
idiots. They've been caught plenty
of times.
Maybe they can't get anything to
stick. They're always one step
ahead.
By Tuesday morning it'll have been
three days.
Let's meet at Millie's flat. If she's
not there, we'll go to the police and
tell them everything.
Millie and Jasper, the Magros, the
black market, everything.
Better she's in trouble with the law
than with those people.
Where's Jasper?
Calm down. He's not here.
Then where is he?
The business between Jasper and me is
finished.
His shipment came in, he paid his
debts, and he is a long way from here
now.
Did you know about his other
suppliers?
This balancing one hand against the
other?
Were you part of that?
No. I had no idea what he was doing.
What was your arrangement with
Jasper, then?
I was his 'front of house' as he
called it.
He could find buyers for the
cigarettes but not the perfume and
nylons. That was me.
I took my cut, we were doing well.
We trebled orders in the last three
months.
As you probably know. I had no idea
Jasper wasn't paying what he owed.
Interesting.
Let's leave Jasper aside, shall we?
Which leaves you.
What shall I do with you?
Me?
Yes, you.
You need someone who knows the
business as well as Jasper, but who
isn't cheating you.
True.
And you would like to work for me?
For me, not for someone in between?
I think that would be an excellent
idea.
Do you?
Or are you telling me what you think
I want to hear?
Jasper never found the high-paying
clients. I did - while he took most
of the profits.
My filling his shoes wouldn't just
be good for you, it'd good for me
too.
Fair enough.
I think you can do well.
Good.
Well, let's see how we get on, shall
we?
The same amount of merchandise as
usual?
Actually...
..I'm sure I can do rather better.
Really?
With my contacts and direct access
to your stock,
I'm certain I can open doors Jasper
could only dream of.
Let's discuss real amounts, not fairy
tales.
How much are you talking about?
Half as much again.
Easily.
Very well. I'll arrange it.
If I need to see you again, do I
come here?
Where are we, by the way?
Not here, sweetheart.
There is a Greek restaurant on
Stovington Road.
Come there any morning.
Lazzru.
Lazzru...
I'm leaving. I go.
Help me.
Branka, please.
No talking!
Come on.
Wait. Lazzru.
If we're going to be working
together, we need to be friends,
don't you think?
Maybe you're right.
I can be your friend.
No, no!
Or maybe I should come and find you
at night, when you're asleep.
And be friendly then.
Would you like that? Would you like
that?!
Oh, I think you would.
Or perhaps you should just shut your
stupid mouth and do as you're told.
Millie...
Millie!
Thank God.
We were so worried.
What happened?
Where were you?
Meeting some new friends.
Maltese friends?
So you know?
We had to. We were trying to find
you.
Why didn't you tell us what you were
doing?
Because I knew you wouldn't approve.
You're right. How could you be so
stupid?
I know I've been a bloody idiot. I
don't need you to tell me.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to find
out. I'm sorry...
What happened?
Are you all right?
Yes. Yes, I am.
I'm all right.
I'm lucky.
Millie...what's going on?
What did they do?
Nothing.
Not to me.
I've been such a fool.
It was just stockings and perfume.
A sideline.
And then it became a way to pay the
bills
and when I got blacklisted I didn't
have anything else.
Before you know it you're...
Where did they take you?
I don't know.
They were very careful.
You're safe now.
You never have to see those people
again.
Come on.
Let's tidy this mess up.
I know you need money for bills and
we'll find a way.
But this nonsense ends here.
It's not quite that simple.
It isn't just ciggies and perfume and
nylons.
There are people.
What people?
Girls.
There were seven that I saw. There
could have been more.
Their parents pay to get them out
from behind the Iron Curtain,
and Marta and her family make it
happen.
They bring them here, to a kind of
holding pen.
A cattle market, I suppose you'd call
it.
They think they've got themselves
jobs as chambermaids
but actually they're being marked up
and bid on by the men who come as
guests.
And then when they've told their
families that they're safe and well,
they're passed on to their pimps.
The parents are paying her to sell
their daughters. It's...
It's very clever.
How did you find out?
One of the girls talked to me.
She didn't have much English but we
got there in the end.
She's already convinced her sister to
join her and it's too late to warn
her off.
So she's staying put. They'll both be
sold off together.
What about Jasper?
He paid them off and they let him run
for the hills.
Jasper wasn't in a position to pay
anyone off.
He had some big deal coming through.
Millie, all Jasper had was his
gambling debts.
We spoke to his bookie.
I don't think there was any big deal
coming in.
She said he'd paid his debts.
Jasper!
Jasper, it's me!
Get away.
Get back.
Don't go in there.
Don't!
It's OK.
All we need is a Type X. Is there
someone at SOE you can ask?
I know where there might be some.
Bletchley.
Consignment, delivery or handing
over. That's it. Keep going, keep
going.
She's completely new here.
Completely new.
Perfect.
Careful!