may i take a look inside? go ahead, they're not locked. you're not very good at this sort of thing, are you? bless him, he's never been very good at anything. lewis: i thought you should all know what's happening today. after discussions with your director and the college authorities, it's been agreed that tonight's performance will go ahead as planned and we'll be making this area available all day for rehearsals. and may i say, on behalf of the company how grateful we are for the cooperation we've had from inspector lewis and his team. lewis: however, this remains a crime scene, and we reserve the right to make a nuisance of ourselves at any time. who are you? amanda costello. you've told me your name now tell me what you're doing here. i'm a friend of the family. a student? i was. i finished my degree two years ago. she's a critic. lewis: a journalist? freelance. i'll work for anybody who treats me right. amanda's here to review the play. and i'll probably write a feature piece about the production. the show must go on. that always goes down well. "alas poor shylock." was that you? i didn't write the headline. that would be some cheapskate sub-editor. but the rest? substantially, yes. including the bit that says, "police are exploring a number of motives, "including the possibility that the murder could be linked to artistic differences within the company." that's pure invention. the official police statement never even mentioned motives at all. it simply stated the fact of the murder, nothing more. so should we take it the police are ruling out artistic differences as a possible motive? these people have work to do. you and i'll find a nice quiet corner and you can tell me all about your friends in the family. without the aid of that tape recorder in your bag. he's good, isn't he? so is she. i scored that 30-all. you'll be held in custody pending further inquiries, though my educated guess is you're probably familiar with the procedure. yes. only the names change and each time i'm a little older. and you've got to find a murderer. you say you're a friend of the family. tell me about the family. where would you like me to start? start with richard scott. what have the others told you? that he was heavily in debt, apparently because of a drug habit, and determined to seduce any woman who came within reach. sounds about right. did nobody mention the thieving? why don't you tell me about that? it sort of blew up at the edinburgh festival. things went missing from dressing rooms and digs and so on. whoa, whoa, whoa can you be more precise about these things? money from wallets and handbags a couple of mobiles. phil beaumont's laptop. did anybody report this? not as far as i know. i was rushing around the city reviewing ten shows a day, so i only know the gossip. tell me about the gossip. somebody challenged him about it and it turned into some sort of fight in the bar at the assembly rooms. a fight between... between richard and rezvani, our token iranian. how do you fit into the family? i started as a theater critic. but you'll turn your hand to a good murder story if it's in the family. professionally i have no choice. okay, so that's done you and richard scott. maybe you'd like to turn your journalistic eye on some of the others. like? emma golding. she seems to run the show. emma's brilliant. i think she's too big for oxford but don't tell denise gregson i said so. emma's her blue-eyed girl. this is professor gregson, who also plays landlady to a lot of the students? waifs and strays-- her speciality. mind you, some of them refer to it as alcatraz. must rush, people to catch up with, tales to tell. see you later maybe? sure. she your new friend? journalist. she wrote that. trustworthy? absolutely not. good. how's your con man? fifth-rate. he's sitting in a cell while we check his previous. i think there might be quite a lot of it. he's a sort of professional charmer. (cell phone rings) it takes one to know... lewis. okay, i'll be there. richard scott's mother's arrived. thanks mrs. scott. why do people die before their time? it's not right. i know that very well. i suppose you would in your line of work. i suppose. (sighs) when he was little richard was always dressing up in funny clothes. at parties and such. funny clothes and silly voices. did you know about his way of life here in oxford? not really. i haven't even been to the house. he let us come and see him in the plays, but that was all. i didn't mean the plays. if you mean the drugs, yes, i knew about that. i think it started as a kind of dutch courage thing. he was actually quite nervous about going on stage. he wasn't really at home with other people and it sometimes came across as aggression, i suppose. a sort of defense against the world. but even so... my son was a mess, mr. lewis but he didn't deserve this. he deserved a better ending. i think we all do. hello, professor gregson. do come in. thank you. through here. as i said, my husband grew up and left home and it seemed a pity to waste such a big house. so you filled it with students? yes. this was poor richard's room. where did he get his computer, the v and a? it's an old one i blagged for him. what happened to the laptop he stole in edinburgh? i wasn't in edinburgh. as far as i'm aware, nothing was ever proved. i'm an old-fashioned liberal-- innocent until proved guilty. is that why you called him poor richard? they're all children when they come to oxford. some of them just can't handle it. trust me, richard was one of nature's victims. he certainly is now. phil beaumont says he lives in an airing cupboard here. a touch of hyperbole but he is a writer. i can show you if you like. please. he used to share a double room here with emma, when they were still a couple. and then when they split... the room at the top of the stairs. he doesn't keep his door locked? he doesn't believe in private property, therefore he doesn't believe in locking doors. why did he drop out? phil's a throwback. he thinks the entire universe is a capitalist conspiracy against the working class. it's rather endearing in a way. does he really have an allotment? yes. i think it belonged to his uncle. richard used to tease him about it. he'd say, "i know you want to get in touch "with your proletarian roots but you don't do that by growing carrots." lewis: so, is mr. gregson still around? yes, he's still in oxford, but he's not called gregson. i kept my own name when we married. and he kept his own name? professor james alderson. well, he should be on your list; he was at the play yesterday. arrived late, of course. golding: ladies and gentlemen for reasons you will all be aware of, the part of shylock will be played tonight by joe myers. but we are dedicating this performance to the family, friends and the gigantic but sadly unfulfilled talent of the late richard scott. we thank you. (applause) in sooth, i know not why i am so sad. it wearies me; you say it wearies you; but how i caught it, found it, or came by it, what stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, i am to learn. yes, can i speak to inspector wallace please is that the name? yes, sir. what's this in connection with? he's listed as the arresting officer in a case involving simon monkford. yes, that's right. am i right in assuming that mr. monkford operates under different names? yeah, hold on. (phone beeps) hello? then must that you be merciful? what compulsion must i? tell me that. the quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. it is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'tis mightiest in the mightiest it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown... i've got our version of the story of your life. tell me your version; it might save us a lot of time. thrown out of school-- well, two schools if we're being pernickety. thrown out of oxford. tried the military but had a little misunderstanding over mess funds. failed as a racing driver. failed in the city and as you can see i'm not desperately good at petty crime, either. but always non-violent i'll say that in my favor. and what about the five-year gap? there's a gap of five years in your records. i ran away to canada to start a new life. and how was your new life in canada? depressingly similar to the old one. (applause) crowd: bravo! bravo! (crowd chattering) i've no idea what you're going to write about us, and this is not to be construed as a bribe but we're all going for a drink at prospero's bar. i wouldn't miss it for the world. brilliant. you are coming to prospero's, aren't you, phil? yeah, if somebody else is paying. professor alderson? um, will denise be there? she's meeting us there. i'm not sure i'm grown-up enough. come on... (loud chatter) bit of a topper? everyone... first of all thank you for a wonderful performance under difficult circumstances. (applause) but before we do anything else i'd like to propose a toast. to our dear, departed richard scott. may he rest in peace. peace would be a new experience for him. to richard. all: to richard. (cell phone chimes) well, well. another front-page story on the way? trust me, this one will run and run. (loud vacuuming) hathaway: simon monkford also known as sean matthews. no, he would have been with you in toronto from january 2003 to january this year if he's telling the truth, which is a 50-50 shot. woman (on phone): hey, what time is it over there? what, here? one-ish in the morning. don't you guys sleep? no, we never sleep and we always get our man. except when it's a woman or even an occasional transsexual. well, let me see what i can do and i'll get back to you. no, i appreciate that, thank you. (cell phone rings) hathaway. yeah, i'll be there immediately. do we know who it is? amanda costello, the journalist. alas, poor amanda. it's the wee small hours of the morning and you were still at your desk. i was waiting for the royal canadian mounted police to return a phone call. barman brought down the empties saw the body and immediately called the police. hathaway: cause of death? she's been strangled. with? well, it's a bit primitive, but probably a piece of string. that's very definite. it was still around her neck. and i found this. "i will lead them up and down." another shakespeare quote? puck-- midsummer night's dream. someone's playing games with us. you had a bunch of theatricals in tonight. yeah, you're telling me. how were they? loud. very loud. lots of hugging and kissing. were they here until closing time? they left about half past twelve, quarter to one. they were going back to somebody's house. they bought a few bottles to take with them. no shortage of cash, then. it was an older woman that picked up the tab. one of the professors, i think. was there much coming and going while they were here? it never stops. you know, if they're not going for a pee or going out for a smoke... do you have cctv on the premises? no. basically, i'm the security around here. the woman whose body you found did you notice anything about her during the evening? she was louder than most. showing off, i'd say. something about what she was going to write a big story. was she a journalist of some kind? of some kind yeah. the royal canadian mounted police? yeah, about simon monkford. he of the suitcases? he's got a record as long as your arm and he spent five years on the run in toronto, so i thought it might be worth checking. we've got a double murder on our hands and you're messing about with some two-bit con man. yeah, but i feel there's something more-- by the pricking of my thumbs. don't tell me, shakespeare? bravo. i'm getting sick of bloody shakespeare. lewis: now, this second murder changes everything. in what way? amanda costello left oxford two years ago. so whatever it was behind all this, it didn't happen last week. maybe in edinburgh in the summer? at the festival? they took a couple of shows up there and all hell broke loose apparently. scott was accused of stealing and there was a fight. all highly theatrical. yeah, there's a reason for that. hathaway: we can eliminate one possibility. make my day. amanda costello, she gave the play a four-star review. what possibility does that eliminate? well, that one of the cast overheard her phoning in her copy to the paper, didn't like what they'd heard, so decided he'd have his revenge. or her revenge. what century are you living in? journalists don't phone in copy anymore. they do it electronically on their blackberrys and things. did she have a blackberry? had it with her at the theater. where is it now? no idea. it wasn't with the body and it wasn't in her room at the hotel. it strikes me it would be worth finding. trouble is these actors they're like some old-fashioned criminal gang-- close-knit, incestuous. the cardinal sin is grassing on your mates. like the police force. i'll pretend i didn't hear that. terry bainbridge. you edit the student paper? one of them. the best, naturally. amanda costello was a previous editor? yeah. it's weird, she was in here yesterday afternoon. doing what? oh checking up some stuff she wrote while she was here she said. no idea what. were you at edinburgh in the summer? no. i had a holiday job in skegness. but she stirred things up a bit, didn't she? it's what she did best. well, i can show you. i've been checking out her files for the obit. here's one of her reviews. joe myers in richard the third-- "joe myers played the king as if somebody else had already played the ace." that's very clever. stolen from george bernard shaw, i believe, but she always said stealing was all right as long as you stole from the best. do you have anything from edinburgh? yeah, emma golding took two productions to the festival-- a modern-dress version of timon of athens, reset in beirut, and a new play by phil beaumont. the lad who dropped out? let me show you. it was called the road to nowhere. what was that about? no idea, and i did see it. but what amanda wrote was, "we were promised a cross between harold pinter "and john osborne; "what we were given was a cross between harold steptoe and sharon osbourne." i bet that went down well with the troops. she also had a good nose for dirt. she used to write an anonymous column called "gossip from the forest." this was her finest hour. "all is not well with one of oxford's dream couples. "we hear that the police were called to a domestic incident "involving two of our most eminent academics. "who, we wonder, will get custody of the spade?" the spade? as in archaeology? this is professor gregson and professor alderson? yeah. apparently amanda also said last night that she was working on something big. any idea what that might have been? no idea. but it would have been investigative journalism. also known as muckraking. five years ago your brother went to canada. yes. he says he was on the run. well, he's been on the run all his life. canada's a long way to run; he could have come here. he... he had some sort of breakdown. a nervous breakdown? are they still called that? or is it post-traumatic stress? anyway, it was something like that. so there was a trauma? he was a bit vague about it but it was some sort of car accident. he was driving and i think he might have hit somebody. that made it worse, because he was proud of his driving. wanted to drive racing cars for a living at one point. where did this happen? in london. somewhere in the west end, i think. do you remember the date? oh yes, easily. it was my birthday. december 19. the phone rang and i heard his voice and i assumed it was a happy birthday call, but then it was obvious something was wrong. sorry, thank you very much you've been very helpful. lewis: you're very thoughtful. because i'm thinking. serves me right for asking. may we come in? of course. this is common land. it belongs to the people. so, what can i do for you? i've got some nice potatoes but the carrots need another week. we'd like you to tell us about edinburgh. it's a big city in scotland. you had a play on at the festival there. amanda costello blasted it out of the water. and last night she was murdered. if writers murdered critics because of bad reviews there'd be no critics left. it might be worth trying... even so, we're detectives and we detect a possible motive. why would i wait till now? if i was the murdering kind, i'd have done it there and then, before she could wreck any more careers. did she wreck yours? don't be ridiculous-- i haven't got a career. yet. do you use a lot of string? as much as is necessary. that's a weird question. there are weirder ones where that came from. excellent. i like weird. we're told richard scott stole your laptop while you were in edinburgh. nothing was ever proved. he was a light-fingered bastard with a drug habit but... i've gone back to pen and paper. good enough for shakespeare, good enough for me. when we first talked to you, we asked you whether you actually liked anyone in oxford. you said you'd get back to us. shall i do it now? go ahead. we all arrive here as more or less innocent, fresh-faced 18-, 19-year-olds. but then the place corrupts us. it's a rat race it's poisonous, and it doesn't make for very nice people. is that why nobody cries? sorry? two of your friends are murdered nobody seems very upset. well, i'm not crying because i didn't like either of them. as for the rest, i don't know perhaps weeping isn't considered cool. the people on these allotments they nice? yes. because we're only competing with the earth and we know we're going to lose. someone else uses string. well, there's a lot of it about. sorry to disturb you while you're busy, professor alderson. don't worry. in this line of work time is not of the essence. you can probably guess why we're here. did you go to the party after the show last night? yes, i popped in for half an hour or so just to give moral support to young antonio here. good afternoon gentlemen. but you didn't go to professor gregson's afterwards? no, no, i'm persona non grata. no doubt denise has given you the stock line? i "grew up and left home"? it has been mentioned. we're also told that your marriage was mentioned in the gossip column of a student newspaper. police called to an incident? we were shouting at each other and a neighbor got worried. in our defense we were both under a lot of pressure at work. you had to get your ration of firsts-- it's not just primary schools that have league tables these days. we all have to tick our boxes, don't we? did these arguments ever get violent? we were sometimes near the edge... but we never tipped over. lewis: thanks, jane. i asked for back copies of all the student papers with contributions from amanda costello including anonymous gossip. busy girl. oh, yeah. a muckraker in the great tradition-- dishing the dirt on fellow students and members of staff. also a thief. she stole some of her best lines. "joe myers played the king as though someone else had already played the ace." george bernard shaw. (phone rings) inspector lewis. man (on phone): can i speak with sgt. hathaway? yes, he's here. all right, hang on. metropolitan police want a word. (phone rings) hi. did you find out anything? well, it's the answer i expected; i'm just not sure whether it's the answer i wanted. thank you. what's all that about? simon monkford, con man, the early years. is that all? yeah, for now. there are complications. (phone rings) inspector lewis. all right. okay, we'll be right there. there's been a break-in at professor gregson's house. anyone hurt? apparently not. but there's a bit of a mess. you stay here, carry on with these. you're better at all this than i am. and you're better at messes? i have my moments. they seem to have targeted my study. nowhere else? nowhere else. i don't lock my door, so once you're inside the house, it would be alarmingly easy. who else has keys to the front door? all the people who live here and all the people who've lived here in the past. there must be dozens of keys around oxford. do you have anything valuable? well, a computer, cd player, some of the books, i suppose. we'll have our forensics people check it over. and when they've finished maybe if you could let us know if there's anything vital missing. they were obviously looking for something. any idea what it was? none whatsoever. do you think this is connected with these ghastly things that have been happening? chances are... five years ago on december the 19th you were driving a car along oxford street in london. the car was being used as a getaway vehicle following a robbery on the premises of a building society. the car did indeed get away, but not before it mounted the pavement, hitting a woman, who died later. it was you driving wasn't it? yes. did you ever wonder about the identity of the woman that you killed? honest answer, no, i didn't. maybe i thought it would be easier for me to deal with if she remained anonymous. well, her name was mrs. valerie lewis and she was married to inspector robert lewis, my boss. so maybe you'd like to deal with that. (knock on door) come in. oh, what's this? hot news from high wycombe? in a sense, yes. i need to ask your advice. isn't that inspector lewis's responsibility? it's about inspector lewis. tell me. simon monkford, the con man that we have in custody, he was driving the car that killed mrs. lewis. oh, my god. you're absolutely sure about this? mm-hmm. (sighs) well, the only legal question is whether it's murder or manslaughter. that's not the only question. the question is should i tell him when he's halfway through a murder inquiry? why not? well, the last time i mentioned his wife he jumped down my throat. he's made it very clear that his marriage is a total no-go area; he doesn't talk to anybody about it. well, i think it all depends on the state of your personal and professional relationship with him. mmm. you're not sure what that is? well, not always, no. why is that, do you think? well, he's a lovely guy. everyone likes him. he's just very private, and you get the feeling there's a lot going on in his head which he doesn't want to share. and you're not exactly a breezy extrovert yourself, are you? no. maybe the two of you should join some encounter group and get in touch with your true feelings. that was a joke. serious answer... there's only one reliable way to find out about any relationship: test it to destruction. (cell phone rings) oh, it's him. could be your moment. hello? i'll be right there. he wants a second opinion on a mess. good luck. thanks. lewis: so you're pretty sure nothing was taken? gregson: seemingly not. it's possible i might miss the odd paperclip or ballpoint pen in the next couple of days but as far as i can tell the whole thing is totally without meaning or purpose. ah, like life. it could be somebody making mischief for its own sake. the sort of prank students get up to in england. dawson: haven't we got as much mischief as we can cope with at the moment? is that the sort of thing students do? make a mess of your study? they do some mad things, but i have to confess, this is a first. and if it were anyone who lives here, he or she would be instantly homeless. sorry, have i walked into an agatha moment? an agatha moment? agatha christie. she gathers all the suspects together in one room and then the detective says something really clever. and the murderer makes a run for it. generally through the french windows which, unfortunately we have not got. well, i'm sorry to disappoint you, but i'm going to finish my tea and disappear back to work. i need a drink. you've just had a cup of tea. it was herbal. you do need a drink. so, what did you think of the mess? not the real thing. exactly. it's the kind of mess you could tidy up in half an hour. not a professional job either-- there was some dresden untouched, a couple of edward lear watercolors on the wall and what looked like some valuable first editions on the shelves. a proper vandal would have smashed all the dresden and peed all over the floor at least. conclusion? a gentle warning for the good professor? unless she did it herself. try and depict herself as a victim, perhaps. anyway, what you been up to all day? plowing through old student journalism trying to make a case for joe myers as our killer. myers that's taken over playing shylock? why? the quotations by the bodies, one from hamlet one from a midsummer night's dream. myers is the only one in our gang who was in both productions. and on both occasions amanda costello singled him out for special attention in print. so he murders two people and leaves clues incriminating himself? doesn't make sense. so, then, someone's trying to stitch him up.

Related Keywords

Beirut , Beyrouth , Lebanon , Canada , Athens , Attikír , Greece , Netherlands , Iran , Toronto , Ontario , France , London , City Of , United Kingdom , Edinburgh , Iranian , Canadian , Scotland , French , Dutch , Phil Beaumont , Sean Matthews , Agatha Christie , Edward Lear , Emma Golding , Harold Steptoe , John Osborne , Harold Pinter , Richard Scott , Amanda Costello , James Alderson , Sharon Osbourne , George Bernard Shaw , Joe Myers , Denise Gregson , Terry Bainbridge ,