01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

It was always gonna be weird

having someone in the house, right?

- Mm.

- The au pair is fine.

The kids will be fine.

And I get to spend all day, every day,

working with my beautiful wife.

So you're completing on

the island this morning?

Money goes in start of business.

- Oi! Oi, yous, come here.

- Move it!

GRUNTS

Mrs Noble, what did your

husband do for a living?

He was an accountant.

Jared is dead. How do I get my money?

So he was working for Morris?

- He was working for Morris.

- And who are the associates?

There's one: his wife, Alexandra Noble.

SHE SOBS

- Somebody's turned Jared's burner on.

- Maybe his missus.

Seems like Jared might

have been planning

to start a new life with his mistress.

What?

Let's say you found out that

he was planning to leave you.

Under that kind of pressure,

there's not many that wouldn't crack.

Jared was the one who set up

the second Maltese account.

Yeah, but he must have

given you the details.

Mummy? There's a man

on the phone for you.

If I'm not back in two hours,

I want you to phone the police.

Tell them I went to St

Columba's on Lawnmarket.

You don't say no to me.

You keep the phone and I'll call you.

I'm off to the office now.

OK, bye.

Bye-bye. Bye, sweetheart.

ENGINE STARTS

SHE GASPS, TYRES SCREECH

LORRY BLARES HORN

Jesus!

SHE GROANS

CAR HORN

- Oh.

- CAR HORN

SHE EXHALES

All the computers are still

working, so that's something.

Yeah. And Sophie's

sorting out all the files,

and, er, they dumped some of

Jared's personal things in boxes.

- Did they?

- Yeah, mainly invoices

and receipts from when

you had the house done.

- So the police didn't hold on to anything?

- No.

No, they said there wasn't anything

relevant to their investigation.

God knows what they expected to find.

Lexie.

How are you?

- Hi, Kathleen.

- I'm so sorry.

- If there's anything that I can do

- Thank you.

Er, so I'm gonna

I'm gonna start calling everyone today

and, um, explain there's

gonna be a handover period.

Yeah. Um, I thought you'd wanna speak

to the bigger corporate clients first,

so printed you off a list.

- OK.

- And Jared's calendar is on his laptop,

so all his meetings and

stuff should be on there.

Um, is there a breakdown for these?

- Because these just say "consultancy".

- Er, no.

No, sorry. Yeah, Jared dealt with

those five clients personally,

so he took care of the billing.

So you don't know what kind

of work he was doing for them?

Ah, said he was advising

on restructuring,

wealth management, that kind of thing.

I'm surprised he never mentioned them.

Those five companies bring in more

than all our other clients combined.

Oh. Thanks.

How the other half live, eh?

DI Royce, DS Livingston,

this is DC Khan from

our Economic Crime Unit.

As I said on the phone,

we have some information

we'd like to share with you.

It appears we've run into a

little conflict of interest.

Cal Morris, prominent local

businessman, philanthropist,

and, as you will be aware,

head of one of Edinburgh's main

crime families for the past 30 years.

A vicious, violent and canny b*stard,

he has been notoriously

difficult to prosecute.

Him and his brother started out

with armed robbery and extortion,

then moved into drugs,

which is where they

made their real money.

He then invested that into property

and has built up quite a little empire:

hotels, restaurants,

shares in a golf course.

- Hmph.

- They're now all run by his daughter, Bianca.

So, seemingly a legitimate businessman

but we know it's all based

on dirty money, we just

just can't get near him.

You see, we've never been able to prove

that the cash involved

is actually dirty.

Then about three months ago,

we learned that he was planning

to take an uncharacteristic risk.

We got intel that he was buying

a large piece of real estate

- a private island

- Huh. Nice.

using his ill-gotten

gains to fund it.

And that's where Jared Noble comes in.

I've managed to establish

that Noble was receiving

sizeable regular payments

into the account of his business

Jared Noble & Associates.

These payments look innocuous on paper,

but, in fact, come from a number

of different shell companies.

Companies I strongly

suspect are being used

as money laundering

vehicles by Cal Morris.

So I think it is safe to assume

that Jared Noble was actually

Morris's money man,

a person we've been trying

and failing to identify

for a very long time.

Cal Morris was taking an

enormous risk buying this island.

We think he'll want to try again,

this time utilising Alexandra Noble.

We'll be monitoring her, which means

- when he tries again

- We can take him down.

Sir, I understand you wanting

us to proceed with caution,

but I do have to continue

with my investigation.

I mean, I can't just abandon

Lexie Noble as a possible suspect.

She has motive for her husband's m*rder.

I don't see it.

More likely he was k*lled

by one of Morris's rivals.

- Possibly, but

- Look,

until we know where Lexie Noble

fits in the bigger picture,

I don't want Morris to know

we've made the connection.

If he finds out we've linked

them he'll go to ground,

so I need you to tread very carefully.

Can you do that for me?

Yes, sir.

DIAL TONE

- Ecosse Mutual, Angus speaking.

- Angus, hi. It's Lexie Noble.

Mrs Noble. Yes, I've just checked it.

It seems that you no longer

have a mortgage with us.

Right.

Er, can you tell me who

he re-mortgaged with?

Well, he didn't. The mortgage

was repaid in full in 2019.

Repaid?

Do you know who by?

Yes.

The payment came from a company

called Pier Horizon Enterprises.

Hello?

Is there anything else I can

help you with today, Mrs Noble?

Er, no. No, thanks, Angus. Thank you.

PHONE RINGS

Yes?

Sorry to disturb you, Mrs Noble,

but there is a car waiting for you.

- Sorry?

- The driver just called in and said

that he's in a black

Audi on Bishop Street.

He said you'd recognise the car,

that he's taking you to a meeting

with a client of Jared's.

Thanks, Katie.

Lexie Noble?

We should get going.

Uncle Cal's waiting.

I'll need any phones or devices.

And you'll be leaving

that bag in the car.

Come on, slow coach.

CHATTER

This way. How you doing?

How you doing, mate? All right?

CHATTER

- This a dry wine?

- Yes.

SERVER: Welcome.

Can I take your coat for you?

- No, we'll go for the red.

- No, thank you.

We'll go for the Barolo. Barolo?

Sure. Good choice.

CAL: Have a seat.

You hungry?

No.

- What's the risotto today?

- It's mushroom today.

- Mushroom.

Er, I'm not hungry, thank you.

Sure?

Sorry, Marco.

Now, have you found

those account details?

No. Look, I have been

searching, but the thing is,

if you know the banks that are involved,

they can still track the money.

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

Problem is, your husband

was too good at his job.

You see, Jared arranged

for a third party

to withdraw the money in cash

from one foreign account and

then deposit it in another,

but for security reasons,

he didn't share the details

of that second account with us.

Right.

OK.

Well, here's the thing.

I'm in the process of buying

a piece of real estate.

- No.

- An island, to be precise.

Isle of Eris.

Thank you.

It's in the Outer

Hebrides, just off Harris.

It's a very beautiful, magical place.

- I've spent my entire life

- Thanks.

dreaming about owning

an island like that.

Little piece of the Highlands,

something I can hand down to my

daughter and my grand-daughter.

So when it came on the market,

then I knew I had to have it.

I knew the purchase would have

to be handled with discretion.

So obviously I turned to my

trusted accountant, your husband.

Well, here's the thing. Time

is pressing, and

I'll be honest with you,

I have something of a cash flow problem.

So if I don't find that money,

then I could lose my island.

Do you mind if I ask a question?

Are you

Pier Horizon Enterprises?

I'm a very generous man, Mrs Noble.

Your husband asked me, as a friend

to help him out.

So I did.

I look after the people who work for me.

We have 48 hours to complete this deal,

which gives you, shall we say,

till midday tomorrow to

come up with those details.

You do that for us?

ESME CHATTERS

PHONE BUZZES

ESME: They're so sweet,

fluffy and really tiny.

We're going to give them all names.

One of them has got a funny leg

because it got stuck in the shell,

but Miss Laing says it'll be all right.

Hey, lovely. Who are you talking to?

Daddy. I want to tell

him about the baby chicks.

Right.

He can come and see

them when he picks me up.

Es

- You know Daddy can't come and pick you up.

- Yes, he can.

- We can go to the park afterwards.

- He can't, honey.

'Cos he's not here any more.

Hey, let's unpack this

bag from the hotel. Hmm?

- It's all my clothes.

- Yeah.

These can all go in

the wash, can't they?

Es, why do you have this in your bag?

I don't know.

Where did you find it?

On the chair.

Did you want to keep

it 'cos it's Daddy's?

It smells like him.

Yeah, it does. Right, come on.

Shall we get you some

breakfast? Come on.

There we go.

OK, you go down.

I'll be down in a second, OK?

IDLE CHATTER

Lexie, you want I should

take Esme to school?

No, um No, it's OK.

I'm just gonna get dressed.

I'm back.

You all right?

We have no fishfingers for lunch.

- Don't we?

- No.

We do not have anything.

- Do you want me to go shopping?

- Er, yeah.

That You'll need money.

They're still not letting

me get cash out. Erm

Look, I'm so sorry. I know

I haven't paid you either.

- I will sort it out, OK?

- When will that be?

If you can't afford me, I

It's not It's not that. It's

not that I can't afford you.

- OK.

- You will get paid, I promise.

But if not

I have to work.

Yeah, I know.

I know.

I I understand that,

but if I could just extend

my overdraft temporarily?

We offer a premium current account.

- OK.

- But

- OK, if

- it requires a deposit.

That's fine. If I

If I were to apply for a

loan, how long would that take?

Well, depending on the type

of loan, two to three weeks.

OK. OK, that's fine.

I'm I'm actually gonna

have to call you back, OK?

Thanks.

PHONE RINGS

LEXIE RECITES NUMBERS

Two, three, three, seven, zero,

five, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, two,

one, zero, nine, eight,

four, eight, two, six.

Two, six, three, nine.

- You're sure that's right?

- Yeah.

Oh No, no, no, it's not.

God, I'm sorry, it's not.

It's a Jared used

a hang on, hang on.

OK, so it's M-T, but

then it's three, one,

M-A-L-T,

zero, one, one, five, eight, three,

one, two

Yeah, that's the

number we've been given.

Yes, the format is correct.

- It's definitely a Maltese account?

- Absolutely.

Thanks, Dimitri, that's great.

Let me know when you're in.

I need confirmation

that the money is there.

- OK.

- Well done, Mrs Noble!

I think that deserves

a drink, don't you?

That won't won't be necessary.

Oh, no. I'm sorry, I have to insist.

There's a lovely c*ck

bar that I think you'd like.

It'll give us a chance

to talk about your house.

Er, OK.

You know the car park behind the castle?

Er, Castle Terrace?

Six is Six is fine.

She never uses his name?

No. We only got her

side of the conversation.

She must have a mobile

we don't know about.

Gonna be pushing it

to get a full team authorised in time.

If we can confirm she's meeting

Morris, that's all we need.

It would prove she's involved as well.

Right. Colin, get on to Turncross Road.

They're the closest to Castle Terrace.

Tell them we need an unmarked car.

Erm, should we inform Royce?

Let's hold off on that for now.

See how it plays out.

Right, what's happening?

Subject's parked up on

third. She's on the move.

Party prep. What do you think so far?

Yeah. Yeah.

Looking very pink,

very gold, very colourful.

- A work in progress.

- Are you all right?

Yeah, just been been

a bit of a week at work.

Trouble in paradise?

Eh, no

Turtles are snapping a bit.

- Should I be worried?

- No.

Why don't you just concentrate on

on decorating and

creating this vision of

loveliness for Olivia,

so give her a day she'll never forget.

She's three months old.

- She's never gonna remember it.

- You don't know that.

You need to hear this.

So?

So, the Maltese transfer went through.

All right, so the money's gone in?

Yeah. Yeah, it's there.

Problem is?

Well, I wanted to be sure

that we weren't missing

any other account details,

so I had Dimitri's guys go

through all the shell companies.

Turns out the Maltese

account wasn't the only one

we don't have access to.

Hi, Dimitri.

- Mr Morris.

- What's he talking about?

As you know, my team of lawyers

set up multiple corporate identities

so that Mr Noble could

move the money around.

Right, yeah, we know that.

But it appears that during the process,

someone set up regular transfers

to a dozen corporate accounts

we knew nothing about.

How can that be? We've got

records of all the transfers.

Jared showed statements

of all the accounts

and you checked them yourself, so

How how can that money go elsewhere?

It is our suspicion that, um,

Mr Noble may have been, um

doctoring the paperwork.

What do you mean, doctoring?

How much?

- How much?

- We don't have a final figure.

- Roughly.

- So far there's around, er

£28 million unaccounted for.

£28 million?

He stole £28 million, and

you knew f*ck all about it?

We're still trying to

- Where's Aaron?

- He's gone to pick up the wife.

Seems we were wrong to

trust either of them.

What did you say?

What did you just say?

PHONE RINGS

Hey.

OK.

Are you sure?

Fine.

Change of plan.

ELEVATOR DINGS

Mr Morris.

Sit.

Did you know?

Sorry?

Did you know your husband

was robbing me blind?

- I don't understand.

- Tell her.

Over the past 12 months,

someone's been

systematically removing funds

from the companies Jared set

up to protect Mr Morris's money.

£28 million in total.

Now, I pride myself on being

a good judge of character

but it seems that your husband

my friend, Jared

was helping himself to my money.

So I'm gonna ask you again.

Did you know about it?

No.

I didn't. I didn't even know

that Jared was working for you.

Why should I believe you?

How do I know you're not just

lying to me the way he did?

I'm not. Jared didn't tell me anything.

You were with him day in, day out.

You shared a bed with the man.

Did you not think anything was up?

I did

I did think that he

might be hiding something.

He he There were some

meetings and phone calls that

But I asked him about it

and he just said everything

was fine, and then

You just believed him?

You didn't ask, where's all

this extra cash coming from?

28 million!

There wasn't any extra cash!

Apparently he wasn't even

paying my daughter's school fees.

He's emptied my savings accounts.

I haven't got any money.

THAT'S how little I knew!

Well, you know now.

SHE BREATHES HEAVILY

Nobody steals from me.

No-one.

That money was mine,

and I will tear this city apart

if need be to get back what's mine.

SHE GASPS

I own your house.

I own you.

And unless you get me my money,

I'm going to be taking a lot

more than just property from you.

- You understand me?

- Mr Morris,

I'm not a forensic accountant.

I can't find your money.

I would have to go through

every corporate bank account,

every transfer, every

Look for recurring

It would take me months, it

would take me years to do that.

Well, you'd better

get started then, huh?

Nothing leaves this room.

Computer, spreadsheets, software -

you tell us what you

need and we'll provide it.

Aaron here will be

with you at all times.

And I need to know

exactly what you're doing,

so I'm gonna want

regular detailed updates.

There's a file for each of the companies

Jared and the lawyers set up.

Inside, you'll find the statements

for the corresponding bank accounts.

Why are there two sets of

statements for each period?

One set came from the

bank this afternoon.

The others are the ones

your husband showed us.

The ones he doctored.

If I'd found out sooner

I would have k*lled him myself.

- How long have you known about this?

- Just found out.

Noble must have had a death wish.

Guess that worked out

about right for him, then.

Think she could be playing us?

Maybe she already knows how he did it.

Then she'd be wise to admit it.

Sooner rather than later.

So

what can you tell me?

I I think I can see a pattern,

but I can't concentrate any more. I'm

I'm exhausted.

If I could just go home,

get some rest, see my kids.

Please, we could continue this tomorrow.

OK. Aaron, you can take her to her car.

Get some sleep. Back first thing.

And, Mrs Noble?

Don't do anything stupid.

We're watching.

Eyes on vehicle drop-off.

Subject exited black

Audi. Driver unknown.

Registration Sierra, Kilo,

2, 2, Alpha, Uniform, Yankee.

Audi is registered to one Aaron Morris.

And there we have it.

OK, people. We know she went

for a ride with the monkey.

Stay on her. Let's see if she'll

take us to the organ grinder.

CHURCH BELLS CHIME

OK.

So if we take this first

company, Sentinel Bridge Holdings,

and we call that Company A.

Now, it has a number of

corporate bank accounts,

which in itself is not unusual.

Now, Jared had set up a standard

automated transfer system

that moved money from account A1

to A2, A2 to A3, etc.

And then at the same

time, there's smaller sums

that are being transferred

to the next shell company.

- So account A1 to B1, A2 to B2, etc.

- OK. OK.

But then when I compare

the statements from

the bank with these

these fake ones that you've been given,

it appears that for each

of these shell companies,

there's one account

In this case, account A5.

that you don't have access to.

So any money that goes

into that account goes

Into someone else's pocket.

Mm-hm.

But then, these have been

altered to make it look like

that money is still

moving through the system.

So you're saying each shell company

has one of these extra accounts

that we don't have access to?

Well, I've only looked

at the first three.

But if we're talking about this

one, Sentinel Bridge Holdings,

well, you've got the real

statements right there.

So presumably, you can see

where the money's been going.

Yeah. Well, it's been

going to account A5.

And A5 is the extra account

that we don't have access to.

Correct, because it

belongs to someone else.

Hang on, hang on.

We own Sentinel Bridge Holdings,

and all of these accounts, A1,

two, three, four, are all in that name.

- Yeah, that's right.

- What about A5?

Also called Sentinel Bridge Holdings.

Well, last I checked, you

can't incorporate two companies

with the exact same name.

Not in the same jurisdiction.

So the most likely explanation is

that someone incorporated

a duplicate company,

also called Sentinel Bridge Holdings,

but in a different legal

territory, probably abroad,

and with a different beneficial owner,

and THAT is who this

extra account belongs to.

So how do we get the money back?

Well, I mean, the first

step would be to find out

where each duplicate

company is registered.

If you're not gonna go

through official channels,

that's not an easy task.

You'd basically have to go

through the company registers

of every legal jurisdiction.

There's hundreds of them.

OK. So what do you need?

Secure browser? Encrypted email?

I mean, that

That would make it safer, yeah,

but it won't make it any faster.

Well, when it's ready,

we'll let you know.

Aaron will take you home.

Where are we? You said you

were taking me back to my car.

Don't be daft.

- What's going on?

- This way.

He won't be long.

Don't touch anything.

You OK, Dad?

- Hello! She sleeping?

- Mm.

Who's the woman?

That's Jared's wife.

Oh.

Oh, the poor lamb.

She must be in pieces.

I wouldn't give her too much sympathy.

Turns out he's been stealing.

How much?

Enough.

No-one steals from us.

I know.

Malky tells me you're making progress.

Yeah. I am, but it's gonna take

a really long time to trace it.

How long?

- I don't know.

- Roughly.

A day? A week?

A month? A year? A decade?

- What? Help me.

- I can't I can't say.

It's a huge amount of work.

Maybe this will help you concentrate.

I can't take your money.

Why not?

Jared took it.

That's why you're in this mess.

Here.

That's fine. I'll speak

to the bursar directly.

Yeah. It was just to say

I'll be in in the morning

and I'll I'll

settle the fees in full.

Great. Thank you. Bye.

- You have money now?

- Yeah. Erm

I have to pay you in cash.

Erm

I'm gonna give you a bit extra 'cos

I know it's really late.

Thanks.

And I'll I'll find some time today

- to get to the supermarket, get some food and

- Sure.

Hello, sir.

I just spoke to a contact at

the Scottish Land Registry.

Apparently the agent handling

the sale of the Isle of Eris

has gone missing, along with

some fairly crucial paperwork.

It's got to be Morris.

- I knew he hadn't given up.

- Course he hasn't.

Have a look at who's been

helping him with his finances.

I would say that was

a cash in hand payment.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

Which means she could

be very useful to us.

Mrs Noble.

DCI Adam Guthrie.

I'd like to speak to you regarding

your relationship with Callum Morris.