01x06 - Episode 6

[bunniefuu]

RADIO: Live across the capital,
this is Radio London Live.

Oh. Hello. Hi.

I'm Susan Ryeland.
This is... This is my place.

I've just come to get some clothes.
Right.

Oh, erm, do you know
when you might be finished?

We should be out some time later on.
Great. Thanks.

What are you doing here?

SUSAN GASPS

Well, actually, this is my flat.
How about you?

Just wanted a shot of this
before they paint over it.

Why? You think
that's going to help you?

It'll make a nice souvenir.

SUSAN CHUCKLES WRYLY

I hope you don't mind
if I don't stay for a chat.

You know he's playing you?

I'm sorry?

DI Blakeney.

He's not your friend,
if that's what you were thinking.

It's what we always do.

I don't know what you mean.

Get close to the main suspect.

Quiet meal, glass of wine.

We both know you did it, Susan.

He's just drawing you out, waiting
for you to give yourself away.

Are you serious?

Do yourself a favour
and admit what you did.

It'll save us all a lot of time.

THEME MUSIC

Is he going to help you?
That detective of yours.

Oh, erm, he's called DI Blakeney,

and I'm not sure
I want to see him again.

But I thought he was on your side.
So did I.

You said he was trying to help.

I... I'm not sure what
he's up to any more.

Right, well,
treat the place as yours.

I'll be back at five.

May I ask something?

Oh, erm... Yes, of course.

Why did you want a job?

Erm...

Well, it's...it's my life, David.

Books, publishing.

Does it pay well? Well, yeah,
she does all right for herself.

Don't you, Susan? Not really.

Perhaps you're making a mistake.

No, Susan loves publishing.
It's all she's ever done.

You're going to miss your train.
Oh, yeah... I'll get my things.

I usually drop David off at the
station on my way to work. Mm.

Are you sure you're going to be
all right on your own?

Yes, I'll be fine!
I'm worried about you, Susan.

What happened at the flat,
that was dreadful.

And Hugo!

The flat's being redecorated and
Hugo's going to be as good as new.

Actually, I've quite taken to him.
If I'd known he was going to

get stabbed, I'd never have
let you have him. Dave!

Yeah, I'm here.

Erm, what I meant was,
perhaps you're making a mistake

working for somebody else.

Well, there's no chance of that
right now. Nobody wants me.

Erm... Revenue, 7.1 billion,
a year-on-year increase of 3%,

which is not bad
in the current climate.

Export market, 4.4 billion.

Digital revenue up 13%.

You don't want to WORK
for a publishing house.

You want to be one.

Thank you.

I'll definitely think about that.

Right, I'll...
I think he's trying to help.

Oh... Yeah.

Are you sure you're going to be
all right? Yes. Thank you, Katie.

I'm going home today. Right, well,
just call me if anybody else gets
k*lled.

Right, come on, then.
Let's get your train. Yes, yes.

Look, we are here about Eliot. Then
why are you asking these questions?

I had nothing to do with
the death of my grandmother.

Are you denying that the three
of you planned to k*ll her?

We talked about it,
but we were children.

We talked about lots of things. You
also concocted some kind of poison.

It wasn't poison.
It was stuff from the house,

it was stuff from the garden.
It was chopped-up leaves,

it was cough mixture my brother
stole from the family doctor.

Whatever it was, your brother Eliot
saw you carrying it

towards your grandmother's bedroom.
The very same night she died.

That is rubbish. That is ridiculous.
I d...

Oh, my God.

Tell me.

OK, we made this "poison",

but we were never going to use it.

I was scared to have it in my room.
I had to get rid of it.

There's a toilet opposite
my grandmother's room.

DOOR CREAKS

So I poured it down the toilet.

That was the end of it.

So, you're saying...

..that it's just a coincidence
your grandmother died

a few hours later?

Yes. Yes!
That's exactly what I'm saying.

She was ill. I mean, it could
have happened at any time.

What about the night
that Eliot was run down?

When did you leave the party?

Well, that question is irrelevant,
Detective Constable,

because I can't drive. Why not?

I'm colour-blind. Hmm? It's
something I inherited from my
grandmother.

Being colour-blind
doesn't stop you from driving.

Not legally, no, but I never felt
comfortable behind the wheel,

so I never took the test.
Look, I didn't k*ll my brother!

I didn't k*ll my grandmother.

So can you just, I don't know,
leave me alone?

"..resented me from the moment
I came onto the scene."

HE CHUCKLES

Yes!

HE EXHALES LOUDLY

The following day, Atticus Pund...

..returned to the Villa Belmar.

Oh.

KNOCKING

Good morning, sir.

They are all here? Yes, sir.

Then it is time to bring
this matter to a close.

Come and get it!

BUZZER

Susan. Oh! Sorry. Are you in
the middle of something? Erm...

Just some cleaning. I was just
passing and... Yeah, come in.

So, wh...?

I was burgled. Oh, my God! Mm.

It's one thing after another
with you.

You should've called me. You could
have come and stayed with me.

I stayed a few days with Katie.
Oh, that's nice.

To be honest, Elaine, I'm a little
up to my eyes at the moment.

Is this important?
Yes... Yes, I think it is.

I need to talk to you, Susan.

I want to help you.

Help me? How?

You're in terrible trouble.

I didn't know how bad it was,
but...

..you need to know.

They're about to arrest you
for Eliot's death.

Who told you that?
I spoke to that policeman.

Detective Inspector Blakeney.

They have all the evidence they
need,

and they could be here any
time.

I know it sounds impossible.
It is impossible.

It wasn't me. Of course not,
but that's not going to stop them.

They're going to arrest you
and I know what you'll go through.

It's so horrible.

It's so humiliating.

Elaine... Remand, custody,

court, the newspapers...

..and then prison.
It's not going to happen.

Well, you think that,
but there's so much evidence.

And you had a motive.

If it goes to a jury, there's
no way you're going to get off.

So what are you saying?

SUSAN SIGHS

What do you think I should do?
I...I don't know, Susan, but...

..I saw what happened to Charles.

Every time I visit him,
it makes me sick to my stomach.

And you know what he says?

He says he wishes
he'd taken pills...

..or thrown himself under a train
before they arrested him.

He says it would've been easier.

So what are you suggesting?

That I...

..k*ll myself?

Believe me, as a friend...

..don't let them do to you
what they did to Charles.

Maybe you're right.

Oh...

But there is...one thing.

There's one thing I don't
understand. What's that?

How did you know where I live?

I never told you.

Eliot told me.

Oh, right.

And, of course...

..you've been here before. No.

I've never been here.

SUSAN LAUGHS

Oh, maybe you've forgotten.

When you called me
after I'd visited Charles.

You were here then.

No, I was at home.

That's not true.

I know.

While we were talking,
the doorbell rang.

DOORBELL

Damn. I've got to go. Talk later.

But your doorbell plays
a piece of piano music.

PIANO MUSIC

Susan.
You haven't changed the doorbell.

No. That's Charles playing
his favourite Bach prelude.

It wasn't your doorbell
that I heard. It was mine.

And who was it who rang it?
Well, I can answer that, too.

At 3:27, I got a delivery.

And I've checked.

That's exactly the same time...

..that you called me.

Susan... You smashed up...

..my house.

You wrote "k*ller"...

..on my wall to make it look like
it was someone

who blamed me for Eliot's death.

But it wasn't me,
and you know that.

You were the first person
who found him

when you came out of the party,
weren't you?

And that's when you got the idea

that you'd been looking for
all along.

You didn't call the police,
you didn't call for an ambulance,

you just leant down
and just took a little piece

of what he was wearing.

And then you kicked in the grille
of my MG

and you placed this little
piece of cloth right there.

And of course you were the anonymous
witness who called the police

and gave them part
of my registration number.

Do you really hate me...

..that much, Elaine,

that you'd do all of this
to hurt me?

Yes.

I hate you more than you
can possibly believe.

I hate you for your high-mindedness.

The cruelty of what
you did to Charles.

Charles k*lled Alan Conway...

..and he tried to k*ll me.
I wish he'd succeeded!

He had done so much for you.

He gave you your career.

And you turned on him.

You betrayed him,
without a thought for me,

for my children,
for my grandchildren.

You're out of your mind.
You're as bad as he is.

I think you should go.
The police still think it's you.

You're still going to prison.

The police don't think
anything of the sort.

If the police thought that,
they'd have arrested me.

Well, then, maybe I should give them
something to think about.

Come on, Elaine. You're not serious.
You're not going to use this.

Why not?!
You've left me with nothing.

I'm on my own, my friends have
abandoned me, Charles is in jail.

I've got nothing to live for.

No, no!

Just stop this, Elaine!
This is crazy!

I don't care, I don't care,
I don't care.

Argh!

You've ruined my life.

Elaine, no...

BUZZER

Elaine, you can go.

You can just go.
You can just walk away. No!

BUZZER

Help... Help me!

Arrgh!

Help me! I'm in here!

Stop!

You stay there! Don't move!

Are you hurt?

I'll live.
SUSAN BREATHES HEAVILY

How's that feeling?

Fine.

It's just a scratch.

You should probably still get it
looked at by a professional.

I thought you were a professional.

First aid and emergency life support
training, 30 years ago.

And that's the first time
I've used it.

So what'll happen to her?
She'll go to prison.

She tried to k*ll you.

SUSAN SIGHS

She didn't know what she was doing.
I think she did.

And there's the matters of
obstruction of justice,

wasting of police time.

I feel sorry for her. You shouldn't.

So why were you here?

Elaine said you were coming
to arrest me. She was lying.

I know why you're being kind to me,
Detective Inspector.

Dinner the other night, driving
me to my sister and now this.

And why is that?

I could still have k*lled Eliot
before Elaine found him,

and you hope that by...

..cosying up to me,
you'll get me to give myself away.

Is that what you think?
Well, are you going to deny it?

Who have you been talking to?

Did you see Wardlaw?

We met, yes.

And that's what she told you?

Are you saying it's not true?

Emma Wardlaw is a good detective...

..but she's had a rough time
recently

and sometimes gets the wrong idea
about things.

About me.

All right.

I came here...

..to give you this.

What is it?

The final chapter
of Pund's Last Case.

You found it? Wrote it.

I worked it out.

And I thought I'd put it down
on paper, just to give it a try.

You said you wanted to be a writer.

Well...

You'll probably think it's rubbish.

Oh... The style, I mean.

But I'm pretty sure
I've got it right.

This is what Eliot intended.

Wow.

Wow.

SUSAN CHUCKLES

I'm sorry about the things I said.

So, let me read it.

"The following day, Atticus Pund
returned to the Villa Belmar..."

Good morning, sir.
They are all here?

Yes, sir.

Then it is time to bring
this matter to a close.

JEFFREY SIGHS
What's all this about, Mr Pund?

I don't mind helping you with your
enquiries but what's he doing here?

Mr Carter is very much part
of this story, Lord Chalfont.

It's only right that he should be
present. Harrison Carter is a fake.

He's no detective.

He's a retired professor who came
here and accused me of theft,

in my own home!

I think you need to listen
to what Mr Pund has to say.

Thank you, Police Lieutenant.

Everyone in this family, with
the exception of Mr Waysmith,

who is independently wealthy,
had need of the money

which might have been left to them
in Lady Chalfont's will.

Harry Lyttleton, he was having
financial difficulties

with his new hotel,
while his wife, Judith,

needed money to protect
the Nazca Lines in Peru.

The new Lady Chalfont,
she needed backing for her musical,

while her husband was having
major difficulties

running his estate back in England.

Four people in desperate need
of money.

But it was Elmer Waysmith who is
the reason that I first invited

to the Villa Belmar

following a chance meeting
with Lady Margaret Chalfont.

A week ago, while I was sitting
in my room at the villa,

I overheard something
that shocked me to the core.

Something relating to
your second husband?

Yes.

Lady Chalfont had learned
that her husband was involved

in a dreadful crime
perpetrated by the Nazis.

The theft and resale of stolen
Greek and Roman antiquities.

You can go to hell, Mr Pund!

I don't have to listen to this!

You will sit down and be silent
if you don't wish to be arrested!

Sit down, Pa. I know you didn't do
it. Mr Pund is just playing games.

The investigation of m*rder
is never a game.

But I have to tell you, Robert,

every piece of evidence,
it points to your father.

Don't listen to him!

He was in his room
above the kitchen.

He could easily have come down
to place the aconitine in the tea.

He had a book dedicated to the study
of poisons, in his possession.

We know that the man who bought
the poison, he had white hair,

spoke no Greek.

The same man had taken a room
at the Poseidon Hotel

near to the harbour and signed
his name in turquoise ink.

The same colour
preferred by your father.

There was an American newspaper
left in the room!

I mean, it's a simple matter
to piece together

the sequence of events.

At exactly 12 o'clock,

Elmer Waysmith purchases aconitine
in the market in Kassiopi.

We know the time because
the church bell struck the hour.

The timing was perhaps
no coincidence.

It would have made it impossible
for him to return to the old town

in time for lunch with his son
at one o'clock.

Unless, that is, he came
by boat and not by car.

He then enters the Poseidon Hotel,

he changes into the clothes
that he will wear for lunch,

he discards the white linen suit,
the hat, the sunglasses,

all the other elements
of his disguise, in a bin,

which is where we will
later find them.

This is nonsense!

I...I never went to the hotel!

I never went to the market!

Then how do you explain
this matchbook...

..which I found here, in the house?

I can't.

I never saw it before.
It could belong to anyone.

Cedric was right.

It was you all along!

You put poison in her tea.

You went down the service stair
to the kitchen. I heard you.

Pa, tell them it's not true.

Oh, what does it matter what I say?!
He's already made up his mind!

I wish, in a way, it were so simple.
MR PUND CHUCKLES

There's much that troubles me.

Tell me, my friend, would you say

that Mr Waysmith
was an intelligent man?

Intelligent? Yes. Very much so.

Then how could such a man
have made so many mistakes?

The book of matches that
directs us to the hotel,

the American newspaper thrown
into a bin, the turquoise ink,

the book - Erskine's Toxicology -
protruding from a shelf,

and, most damning of all,

the lid of the teapot
that now contains poison,

placed to one side.

He never thought there would be
a police investigation.

He assumed it would look like
a natural death.

And so it would have, Mr Lyttleton.

But it was you who,
for no reason at all,

insisted that the police be called.

Well, you should thank me.

Hmm.

And so we come to
Lady Margaret Chalfont herself.

From the very beginning,
something has puzzled me.

If she believed that her husband
was guilty of theft

and collaboration with the Nazis,

and had called her solicitor,
Mr Lambrose, to change her will,

so why did she never mention
his arrival?

Indeed, she seems to have
completely forgotten it!

So what are you saying, Mr Pund?

I'm saying that nothing
is as it seems

and that, to make sense of it, we...

Well, we must begin again.

So let us ask,
was Lady Chalfont the real victim?

Or could it have been the one person
hated by every single person here,

who was the target?

Elmer Waysmith!

Lady Chalfont gave him control
of all the money,

but with him out of the way...
Exactly.

If he were to face the firing squad
as a result of being found guilty

of the m*rder of his wife, all
the money would pass to the family.

You're saying one of the family
planned to frame my father?

Which one was it?

Well, it was not one of them.

But you know that, Robert.

It was you.

Me?!

That's... That's ridiculous.
I would never hurt my father.

He's looked after me my entire life.
You hate your father.

You tried to disguise it
when you spoke to me,

but it was not difficult to see the
true nature of your relationship.

We don't need you, Robert.
I'll talk to these people on my own.

Whatever you say, Pa.
If that's all right with you?

I said we don't need you!
Just do as I say!

You told us exactly who he was.

This is a man who would not
return home even after the suicide

of your mother, for which
you also held him to blame.

No. Hey, no!
I never... I never said that.

He dominated you and bullied you
and you wished to be rid of him.

This was a m*rder in which every
last detail had been planned,

and it all began with the chance
arrival of Mr Harrison Carter,

who was investigating
the theft of stolen antiquities.

But it was the maid who came to me
and told me about the calyx.

But it was Robert who invited you
to the house.

Yes. He said I should see
the calyx with my own eyes.

His father wasn't too pleased.

He led you into the living room.
The windows, of course, were open.

Yes.

Robert had opened them.

He did so deliberately
because he knew that every word

could be heard by Lady Chalfont
in the bedroom directly above.

How dare you, sir?

How dare you come to my home...

You invited me. ..and make
these foul accusations

with no evidence whatsoever?!

Mr Waysmith,
I have eyewitness testimony

that this piece in front of me right
now was stolen from the Vathy Museum

in Ithaca, and that the director
was m*rder*d trying to protect it.

That's a lie.

You mean Robert wanted
Lady Chalfont to know?

Yes! Because Robert wanted
the police to think that she had

decided to cut Elmer
out of her will

and that Elmer had k*lled her
to stop her doing so.

But she did want to change her will.
She called her lawyer.

No, she did not! She loved your
father and wanted to trust him.

What she did was ask me
to investigate him.

So who called Lambrose?

I would suggest a talented actress
who could imitate her voice.

An actress such as Lola Chalfont.

She's not talented. How dare you!

It's not true.

I had no part in it.

And who bought the aconitine in
the market, if it wasn't Elmer?

It was Robert,
disguised as his father.

White suit, hat, sunglasses.

Aconitine.

They're father and son.
They have similar appearance.

But what about his hair? The old man
in the market, Georgios Leonidas,

was sure that the man
he met had white hair.

That was Robert's one mistake.

That's what finally made it
all clear to me.

What was the object that was found
under the bed in the hotel?

A tin of shoe polish.
White shoe polish!

Do you not see?

He used the white shoe polish
to change the colour of his hair.

And it would also have had a smell
not dissimilar to surgical spirit.

Which is why Leonidas thought
that he might be a doctor.

You made it appear that your father
had m*rder*d his second wife.

That was not enough.

You wanted us to think that he had
attempted to cover his tracks

with a disguise, the timing,
all the rest of it,

knowing that in the end it would
only incriminate him further.

And it was also you

who pretended to be in love
with a...

..poor, innocent girl,

Sofia Androulakis.

The assistant to Mr Lambrose.

That wasn't me. That was Harry.

Wait a minute! No, Robert.

You are handsome, clever, young.
You are also unmarried.

You would have had no difficulty
in manipulating her.

She had his photograph.

No! No, you took it!

You're right, Mr Pund.
It was Robert from the very start!

He used my picture
to take the heat off himself.

He was the one who did it.
And I had an alibi. I was here.

Harry, you shut your mouth!

It's too late, Robert. I know!

You persuaded Miss Androulakis

to inform you of the contents
of the will.

She was terrified from the moment
that Lady Margaret was poisoned.

I am conducting an official
m*rder investigation.

m*rder?

Fearing that she'd played
a part in the crime.

And that was why you
had to silence her.

You strangled her on the beach.

But Harry Lyttleton knew
what was going on?

He was part of it. They were all
part of it. The whole family.

No! That's outrageous!
It's impossible! Enough!

Why?

Because they had an immediate
need of the money.

They'd learned from Sofia that Lady
Chalfont left everything to you,

but if you were arrested
and ex*cuted for m*rder,

you'd receive nothing.
It would all pass to them.

You're wrong, Mr Pund.
We loved our mother.

Maybe you did.
But she was dying anyway.

What would it matter if the end came
a week or a few days earlier?

No, no, no, no.
You've got this all wrong.

I am never wrong.

Every one of you
played a part in it.

You planted all the evidence,
all the clues.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Luan?

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hello, Mama.

Are you coming out for tea?

When Lady Chalfont died,
you called the police,

shouted that she'd been poisoned.

You spoke badly of Elmer
every opportunity.

Even the fight when the will was
read was staged only for my benefit.

You're a crook! A gold-digger!

Just like we always thought.

Do not talk to my father like that.
It's true!

Ladies and gentlemen, please.

He turned Margaret against us
from the day he married her!

Now, you listen to me! You k*lled
her, didn't you? You knew about

the will, so you put poison in
her tea! You take that back!

Your father is a thief
and a m*rder*r!

Argh!

It wasn't real?

It was staged...

..to make us think
that they were unaware

of what was contained
within the will.

That they were enemies.

HE SIGHS

But this is the truth.

Robert Waysmith, he longed
to be free of the man

who tormented him all his life.

He led you into this,
but you are all guilty.

And all of you must pay.

It was...

..my...

Robert Waysmith.
It's an anagram, isn't it?

So you spotted it, too. Mm.

It's very well-written,
what you've done.

Really.

Very Alan Conway, and the solution
makes complete sense.

Robert Waysmith.

Mm. "It was my brother."

Suggesting that it was Roland Crace
who k*lled his grandmother.

And also k*lled Eliot.
Trouble is, I've spoken to Roland,

and he admits the three of them
concocted a poison of sorts

but he then says he poured it away.

Do you believe him? He also
couldn't have run over Eliot.

He doesn't drive.

He's colour-blind.

Colour-blind? Says he inherited it.

From Miriam Crace.

Oh, my God!

What?

I know who k*lled them.

Both of them.

I've had quite enough
of this family so,

if you don't mind,
I'm going to keep this brief.

Eliot always believed that it was
Roland who k*lled Miriam Crace.

But he kept it quiet all these years
because...

..he revered and loved the brother

who'd looked after him
when they were young.

But then Roland betrayed Eliot
in the worst possible way,

by sleeping with his wife.

So Eliot decided to get his revenge

by naming him as the k*ller
in his book.

What happened between me
and Gillian was wrong.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

I am.

But I didn't k*ll anyone.

But Eliot didn't know that.

And, at the party,
he still thought it was you.

Ladies and gentlemen,
forgive the interruption.

I think we should raise a toast
to someone in the room.

Someone who k*lled my grandmother.

"Someone in the room."

He meant Roland, but there was
someone else who heard him,

and that person had every
reason to be afraid.

The real k*ller. Mm.
It could have been any one of you.

All of you were bullied by her.

Edward, Jonathan,
you were terrified of her.

I... I wouldn't hurt her.
She was my mother.

She needed me. We needed each other.

What about you, Frederick?

She didn't bully me.

She saved me.

You were a second-class citizen
in that house.

You lived in the attic,
you were trained to be

the family's accountant
and you ended up as a tour guide.

Mrs Crace adopted me...

..and she gave me a home.

Still "Mrs Crace". You weren't even
allowed to call her "Mother".

That was because I respected her.

No... No, it was because
she didn't respect you.

As far as I can see,
there was no love between you.

She was almost ashamed of you.
This is nonsense!

You couldn't be more wrong.

Let me ask you a question,
Frederick,

about all these injuries of yours.

How exactly did you manage
to crash your car?

I told you. I wasn't concentrating
and I had a bad cold.

Leilah, you were there.
Is that how you remember things? No.

You weren't ill.

I told you. He went through a red
light. He didn't even see it.

And that was when Frederick
discovered that he was colour-blind.

A genetic trait which, like Roland,
he'd inherited from his mother.

His real mother.

Miriam Crace.

What?! Nonsense. No.

You're even left-handed,
just like Miriam,

who had a collection
of left-handed pens.

I noticed at the party.

I have to say, I didn't expect
to see you here tonight.

You picked up your wine glass
with your left hand.

Miriam was many things,
but she was also a Roman Catholic.

And, according to Charles Clover,
who I visited in prison,

she was sexually promiscuous.

The big secret about Miriam Crace
was that throughout her marriage

she was a nymphomaniac,
chasing anything in trousers.

She was having it away
with half the domestic staff,

and there were rumours that
included one of the nannies.

So...it makes you think, doesn't it?

Why do you think she kept
a photograph

of her Albanian chauffeur
in her library?

You're talking about Luan?

Yes. Luan was name-checked
in Eliot's book as the gardener

at the Villa Belmar, so maybe he
was trying to tell us something.

He was your father... Luan?

..wasn't he, Frederick?

No, I told you,
my father was a traveller.

You see, I think Miriam
became pregnant

and that's why she disappeared to a
clinic in Lausanne for six months.

She went away to give birth...

..and then she placed the baby
into her own orphanage.

That baby was you, Frederick.

And then, later, she "adopted" you,

but she never treated you decently.

She never even told you
who your father was.

Uncle Fred?

No.

This is wrong.

You can't think I k*lled her.

It's over, Frederick.

You've been living a lie your whole
life.

You can stop now.

You know, I feel sorry for you.

The way she treated you
must have been hard to bear.

Hard to bear?

I never knew my father.

She fired him before she brought me
to Marble Hall,

so that I would never
get to meet him.

And she lied to me about who I was.

What I was.

She was my mother!

You poisoned her?

Yes, Jonathan.

I'm sure it amused her,

me taking over my father's job
as an unpaid chauffeur.

But after the accident...

..I asked questions,
found my birth certificate,

and, when I realised the truth,
I had no choice.

She deserved to die. What?!

You knew about us?
About Roland, Eliot and me?

Oh, yes.

You and your witch's potion
in the garden.

You were the perfect cover.

Except you didn't use aconitine
or Liqufruta. You used arsenic.

How do you know that?

It was something Dr Lambert said.
He treated Miriam's husband, Arthur.

He had a hobby. Taxidermy.

It brought him into contact with
some quite unpleasant chemicals

and he developed a skin disease.

I put him on a course of dimercaprol
and it cleared up in the end.

The Victorians used arsenic
in taxidermy.

Dark skin and lesions are the
symptoms of arsenic poisoning.

Dimercaprol is the cure.

You're right.

I cut open one of his specimens.
A kingfisher in a glass case.

The insides were coated
in white powder.

Arsenic.

I didn't know if it would work,
but the children had given me

the perfect opportunity,
so why not try?

And what about Eliot?

Wait, he wouldn't...

You couldn't...
Yes, I k*lled him, too.

I had to stop him.

I thought he was threatening me,

so what was I meant to do?

ENGINE STARTS

You waited for him outside the
party, and you ran him down.

TYRES SCREECH

LOUD THUD/GLASS SMASHES

But there was no need. It wasn't
even you he was talking about.

That was his own fault.
He shouldn't have boasted like that.

He wasn't boasting, Frederick.

He was in pain.

Just like you.

Poor Eliot.

SHE LAUGHS RUEFULLY

What a family!

Hello, everyone.

Hello. Thank you for coming.

Right, this evening
we are celebrating the first book

published by my own imprint,
Redlayn Books.

APPLAUSE

And for those of you who haven't
noticed, "Redlayn" is an anagram.

I'll leave you to work that one out!
SUSAN LAUGHS

Anyway, here it is,

Pund's Last Case, and this time
I really do think it will be.

Ian Blakeney, he might be
a first-time writer,

but he's done a fantastic job
not just of working out who did it,

but also writing the missing
chapters of Eliot Crace's book.

And I'm happy to tell you
that I'm going to be publishing

his first original novel,
Mile End Murders, next year.

I'd also like to thank
my wonderful sister, Katie,

who first introduced me
to Alan Conway,

even though it nearly k*lled me.
LAUGHTER

Twice!

And her partner, David,
who is an investment fund manager,

who managed to raise the funds
to launch Redlayn... Oh. ..so...

APPLAUSE

Thank you. Thank you, David.

Anyway, thank you for your support,

thank you for being my friends.

I suppose this is what
I always dreamed of.

And I can't quite believe
that it's actually arrived, so...

SUSAN CHUCKLES

Anyway, thank you.

APPLAUSE

I hate making speeches.

You did great.

Listen, would you mind signing
a few books? Do I have to?

Oh, come on. You ought to know
by now, a signed book...

Is a sold book. Yeah.

Are you and him?
Mind your own business.

Ssh, ssh.

Can you just give me a minute?
There's... What?

There's somebody I need to see.

Did you see that?

Well, I didn't expect
to see you here.

How could I stay away?

Did you ever go to any
of Alan's book launches?

I think not.

SUSAN CHUCKLES

Is something wrong?

No, no.

Not at all.

Let's go somewhere quiet.

So, tell me what's the matter.

I was just thinking.

We've said goodbye to each other
twice...

THEY LAUGH

..but this time, I believe
it really is over between us.

Why do you say that?

Well, I've come to the end
of my story.

And as for you...

..you have your own detective now.

Ian's left the force.

He's going to become
a full-time writer.

I wish you every happiness. Hmm.

No... No, no, no.

You don't get rid of me
quite that easily, Atticus.

HE SIGHS

I'm sorry?

Well, you obviously haven't seen
my list of upcoming titles.

Unusual of you to miss
a detail like that.

HE EXHALES LOUDLY

So, what are you publishing?

I have a very interesting book
coming out soon.

It's a sort of...

..meditation on the nature
of crime and detection,

with illustrations.

It's called The Landscape
Of Criminal Investigation.

You are publishing my book?

Why not?

You have a huge following, you know.

No... Nobody cares who writes
detective novels.

It's the detectives they care about,
and a great many care about you.

But it's not yet complete.
Who... Who will finish it?

I suppose you and I will.

Together.

All my life...

..I waited to see my book in print.

You can do this?

Of course I can.

I'm a publisher now.

THEY CHUCKLE

Are you going to come back
to the party? Oh, no.

No, you...you...you go ahead.

I need to think about this.

All right.

HE SIGHS

Don't be long.

SHE CHUCKLES KNOWINGLY

MUSIC PLAYS/CHATTER