Traces (2019) s01e01 Episode Script
Episode 1
1 I'm really sorry, I hope you don't mind, I need someone to talk to and I thought of you.
It's about my mum's murder.
Oh.
I've heard things that I think could be important, and someone told me that she was dismembered and then I found a photograph and I think it could have something to do with her murder.
Baby, do you understand me now? That sometimes you see that I'm mad Don't you know that no-one alive can always be an angel When everything goes wrong I feel real bad Oh, I'm just a soul Whose intentions are good Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood.
Sipping tequila after dark Wasn't that gave us the head start The world is our playing park And I'm crossed arms with my lucky charm I'm in Scotland.
Great.
I got on the motorway fine.
Great.
And I didn't miss the junction.
Great.
Now, I've just stopped for a snack.
Well great, but don't be late for your new job.
I won't.
Running down the aisles life sparkle bizarre Not a care for a while no-one knows who we are CAR HORNS BEEP HELICOPTER BUZZES OVERHEAD I reckon it'll be a jumper.
Sorry? I just Someone tried to jump off the bridge.
God, that's terrible.
I know, I know We're all going to have to wait.
Until he jumps? Hm.
I can see that it's a water problem and not a road problem.
Welcome to Dundee.
PHONE RINGS Hiya.
Don't put diesel in.
OK.
Are you there yet? No, nearly.
The house is so quiet without you, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it Oh, he must have jumped.
We're off.
I've gotta go, I'll call you later.
OK, love you.
RADIO NEWS: A Dundee man and woman are missing, feared dead, following a fire in the city last night.
Police and Fire Services were called out to Secrets Nightclub at half past ten Thermal decomposition is the action of heat on a fuel to vaporise it and produce a gas.
When this gas mixes with the right amount of air and is ignited, then you have flame and combustion, or visible flame.
The fire then grows and develops, as more fuels thermally decompose, until eventually, a process called flashover happens.
Flashover is when a fire in a room becomes a room completely on fire, everything burns, you have a huge supply of combustible gases and the fire becomes ventilation controlled.
Controlled by the amount of air in the room.
The Procurator Fiscal's on the phone to Kathy, he'd like you to ring them as soon as you can.
I'll bring you a coffee.
Champion.
Hey, what's the Fiscal saying? There was a fatal fire in a nightclub in Larky last night.
I heard it on the news.
Two sudden deaths, he wants both of us to work on it.
And guess who the SIO is? Neil.
How come? All the major investigation teams are tied up in Glasgow.
Good for Neil.
The new lab technician's arriving sometime between two and three - Emma Hedges.
Leave it with me, I'll get her enrolled.
Tell her I'm sorry.
I really wanted to be there to greet her.
Kathy, we could go together.
I'm not going to the strategy meeting, I'm going straight to the scene.
Oh, OK, I'll see you there.
Ah, you want to share this? Yes Bye.
Bye-bye.
Kathy, you have post.
The fire scene is being photographed this morning.
This wall here, everything behind it, are staff quarters.
Kitchen.
Sorry.
Oh, hello, Sarah.
Professor Sarah Gordon from SIFA, everyone.
Fire maestro, but, erm, don't annoy her, she's a tyrant Office - we have human remains here, partly skeletonised, so will be attended by a forensic anthropologist, and a body here, less badly burned, still fleshed, so will be attended by a pathologist.
This body's thought to be male, it's partly covered by debris.
Top priority, identify these two.
Secrets was hired to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a local couple, Tommy and Jean Rattray.
We have a guest list of 84 people.
As far as we know, everyone on that list is accounted for.
Two members of staff were not seen leaving the building and are still missing Shelley Nardoni and Bashir Kumar.
We've applied for their dental records, so, we'll see if these are our bodies.
People became aware of smoke just after half ten and these fire doors, as well as the main entrance, were opened quickly and efficiently.
The manager, Shuggie Brooke, carried a couple of people out.
What's he saying? Shuggie Brooke told us that he was mostly out front.
He was making phone calls in his office early on, but from nine o'clock, he was working the floor with the rest of the staff.
So, he didn't go back through this pass door at all? He said he may have done, he was confused, he seemed very distracted and worried about his niece.
His niece? Shelley Nardoni is his niece.
And he thinks she died in the fire? Yeah.
It seems to me, the fire started in the office, that's the worst affected room, part of the ceiling's down, it wasn't even considered safe to get in there initially.
Now, there's clearly been some flashover, there's a small window about so wide, so high, quite high up on that wall.
Seemingly, staff stand on a chair and smoke out of it.
Thanks, Andy.
Sarah, strategy? Same as ever, really.
Preliminary outside examination.
Preliminary inside examination.
Detailed outside, detailed inside.
Recording and gathering anything untoward outside, cigarette ends, tool marks, footwear marks, tyre tracks.
Same inside, anything of possible relevance.
Looking at security systems, fuses, good or bad housekeeping.
I'd also like to know if any new electrical appliances or processes were installed recently and what's routinely left plugged in and switched on, and we will, of course, be adhering to this.
It's all about the doors, what was locked, what was unlocked, were there new codes, new locks? Did CCTV footage survive? What's it telling us? Was there any trouble at the club, or with the club? How was Secrets doing financially? What was the insurance on that building? Was the cover expanded, or the policy changed, what was there to gain? However, I might write this on my own forehead, actually Until we establish whether the fire was accidental or wilful, we go down both roads.
DI McKinven.
Sir.
Jarvis.
OK.
Thank you.
All right.
All right.
So, Sarah, nothing's been touched, we've just secured the scene and photographed everything.
Hm Well, here's the first body.
Poor guy, he had no chance of getting out.
These fire doors were chained shut.
Fire crew had to cut them open, eh? No soot here, so there was direct flame.
I think this is possibly a toaster.
You've already captured this? Yes.
OK, if we can No thermal insul.
Could have been set on its side.
Could have fallen.
It could.
KATHY TORRANCE: Sarah, Neil, I'm through here.
Some of these bone fragments are very small and they've been dispersed by the water jets, so no-one in here till I've searched fully.
Right you are.
Professor Kathy Torrance.
Kathy, this is Andy Jarvis, Fire Services Fire Investigator.
Mm-hm.
Over here, Sarah.
The smokers' window.
Yeah.
What are you thinking about these doors? Don't know yet.
Could have gone to flashover, even with them shut.
The process running up to flashovers are mostly fuel controlled.
These were boxes of crisps.
Eh? Oil, crisps and plastic are a really good fuel source.
Well, you can see the fire travelled out of here and into the kitchen.
Or into here from the kitchen.
Have you looked under the body in the kitchen? We're waiting for the pathologist.
Neil There's another body here.
So, three dead.
You'll have to do it without her.
OK, Mrs Muir.
No problem.
Hiya.
Hello, Emma.
Hi.
I'm a bit early.
Good.
We've gone off piste today.
Professor Gordon's at a fire scene and sends her apologies.
We're all at sixes and sevens, because of the MOOC.
Oh, this is Louise, the post op you'll be working with.
I'm a fool - she interviewed you.
Hi.
Hi.
Take Emma to HR, to get her own e-mail and security lists and all that jazz.
Did you do equality and diversity training and health and safety training? Yeah, online.
Shouldn't take too long then.
I got this ready for you.
Guard it with your life.
I will.
Thank you.
Come on.
What's the MOOC? Massive Open Online Course.
Forensic Science course set up by SIFA, launches at midnight tonight.
It's Professor Torrance's baby and Professor Gordon's.
Well done for getting the job, by the way.
Thanks.
There were a few good candidates, but me and Professor Gordon decided you'd be the most fun.
Welcome to your world.
It's gorgeous.
So, what Professor Gordon suggests is we clean and check the GCMS before we set up a sample run.
We have dedicated use of this one for the project, so that's great - it's called Bobby.
Bobby, this is Emma.
Hi, Bobby.
You went straight into a lab after uni, right? Yeah, in Manchester, near where I live.
Testing soil samples for chemical contamination.
You OK being away from home? I was born here, so it's kind of home.
Cool.
Emma.
Professor Gordon.
This is Professor Torrance.
This is Emma Hedges, my new lab technician.
Hi.
Pleased to meet you.
I'm so sorry I couldn't greet you today, are you all set up? Yeah, all good.
Great stuff.
We'll kick off in earnest when the samples arrive.
Great.
I hope you'll be doing the MOOC.
Definitely.
Looking forward to it.
CHILD LAUGHS DISTANT SOUNDS OF PEOPLE AND DANCE MUSIC I'm Sarah Gordon.
I'm a professor of forensic chemistry and the Director of SIFA, the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy.
Over the next six weeks, you'll be studying a fictional case, designed by us, to teach you the principles of forensic science.
You'll be learning about and tested on different aspects of the work.
The course will culminate in the identification of our body from its remains.
Welcome to the MOOC.
In the early hours of this morning, a dog walker discovered human remains, here on Dundee Law, buried in a shallow grave in the woods.
Emma, Emma, love, what is it? The online course I'm doing is using her story.
What? A body buried in a shallow grave on Law Hill.
You're kidding! Discovered by a dog walker No.
Yeah.
Listen, there's only so many places you can bury a body in Dundee.
Are you OK? My heart is pounding.
Emma, stop doing it, shut your laptop up, try and sleep.
OK.
Night.
KATHY TORRANCE: The primary forms of identity can be established/fon by studying bones.
The super orbital eminences are heavier in the male.
The frontal nasal angle is more acute in the male.
The angle of the mandible is ordinarily less than 125 degrees in the male, while the opposite is true in the female.
Study the skull from the human remains that were recovered from the shallow grave on Law Hill.
Male or female? It is her, they've got her skull.
It can't be, it can't be her skull.
I'm telling you, this woman stood there, holding her skull.
Professor Gordon You're bright and early.
Are you OK? The body in the MOOC's my mum.
The fact is, Emma, we invented a crime to illustrate the lessons we wanted to teach.
There are trends in murder cases, archetypal features that frequently occur.
It's really common for a dog to unearth human remains because their sense of smell is superb.
There are very few ways to dispose of a body, and burial is one of them.
We needed a burial, because soil analysis is a key area of forensic science.
There aren't many places you can dig a grave in Dundee and it's 50-50 whether it's male or female and it's just horribly bad luck for you we chose female.
That must have been really upsetting for you.
I'm really sorry it brought it all back up.
Whose skull is it, then? It's a medical specimen, part of the university collection, donated in the 1940s.
That's my mum, a month before we lost her.
She looks lovely.
Have you heard of her? Marie Monroe? Yes, because I've lived in Dundee for years.
KNOCK AT DOOR Here you go.
Thanks, Janine.
Is this Greg's? Uh-huh.
As in, Greg the person.
Greg is our DNA maestro and this is first foray into baking.
Cake is pivotal here.
Greg has wisely kicked off with a banana loaf.
Not bad.
I'm truly sorry you've had such a shock, Emma, but your mother is not the body in the MOOC.
A button PHONE VIBRATES I did know about her mother's case.
What are you saying? That, that I I must have been aware of similarities.
What do you mean, must have been? Were you aware when we devised the MOOC? No, not consciously.
It was my idea, the woman buried on Law Hill, but Sarah, I was on the other side of the world in 2001, so it's you who was here who needed to point out to those of us who weren't that we should avoid it.
I know.
I feel awful.
I don't know how I failed to connect it.
You didn't work on it, did you? No, I I followed it at the time.
The investigation seemed inept to me.
What did you say to Emma? I said it wasn't Marie Monroe, which it isn't.
Did she accept that? I think so.
Mostly Wouldn't it really suck if we ended up at court or had to pull the whole MOOC because we used a real person? We need to check the rest of the MOOC for any other similarities with the Marie Monroe case and take every last trace of them out.
Emma? Oh, my God, you look so like your mum! It's so good to see you.
You, too! I've been able to get some blood out of a protected artery in her neck, so we can check toxicology as well as DNA.
Good.
We'll check her against Shelley Nardoni.
We won't get a full DNA profile from these.
We'll need to get his dentition chartered by the odontologist.
He's on his way.
Bashir Kumar's dental records are waiting for him.
We get two matches, then we know which one of these is the odd one out.
Badly need an ID for the unreported person.
Can't really know what happened until we know who it happened to.
Neil, do you remember a murder case of a woman called Marie Monroe? Aye, I do.
She went missing at a festival by the docks.
The Tall Ships.
Assumption was she drowned, but no body.
Three months' later, she was dug up.
Never got any one for it.
I've got a job.
As a what? A lab technician, working on a study to develop new tools and research around the analysis of new and emerging street drugs in Scotland.
I do that every weekend! You sound English.
How'd you lose your accent? It just happened, cos I moved away.
You staying with Jimmy? No way.
I've got a place, it's I'm going to find somewhere else.
Stay with me.
Skye, you've not seen me in years, you can't just We know each other.
I'm serious.
I'm staying at my mum's on my own.
I'd love the company.
Where's your mum? Oh, Emma, she's She's bad.
Her lungs are terrible.
I think she's dying.
What? She'd love to see you.
I'd love to see her.
We'll go.
Have you seen your dad? No, not yet.
I spoke to him a few weeks ago, but I think he's still travelling.
Is he what? He's on half the posters on the Perth Road! Go see him.
SARAH GORDON: Come and have a look.
These were found wedged in the toaster where the bread goes - cardboard.
So it was primed with fuel? It's had cardboard jammed in it, for some reason yet to be established, you can see, when it's opened out A barcode.
Printed on a sticky label.
You know how a label's glossy and smooth? Uh-huh.
The little spaces between the paper fibres are filled with Kaolin - clay, so it burns more slowly.
Hm Pleased with that, aren't you? Yes, I am, Neil.
People think everything gets destroyed by fire, almost everything leaves traces.
If that's a delivery barcode, you could get an address from it.
You could.
The other thing that could be recoverable from inside folded cardboard, even as burnt as this, is fingerprints.
Well, that would be a dream.
We'll get cracking with that.
Right.
You know how you can't get this to stay clicked down, if your toaster's switched off at the wall? I do.
That's cos it's needs the flow of electricity to activate the electromagnet, that's what keeps it clicked down.
When the electricity stops, after however long it takes to toast your toast, it's not magnetised any more and the tray lift pops up.
Was this rigged? Here, look A twist tie has been wrapped around it .
.
so the tray lift couldn't disconnect from the electromagnet.
Huh So why didn't the thermal protection device kick in and break the circuit? It couldn't.
A paper clip's been put across it to hold it together, so the electricity kept flowing through.
The toaster kept heating up? Exactly.
Emma, come and watch.
Emma biked into town to buy it after we deciphered the make and model.
So, we've set up the toaster in exactly the same way as we think it was done.
Off we go.
So, this is surely the source of the fire.
I think we're looking at wilful fire-raising and murder.
You won't be drawn, will you? I'll have to wait for your report.
Yes, you will.
Can I ring you later? I need to ask you a favour.
Yeah.
I can't see much of a future Unless we find out what's to blame What a shame And we won't be together much longer Unless we realise that we are the same Ever fallen in love with someone Ever fallen in love In love with someone Ever fallen in love In love with someone You shouldn't have fallen in love with.
APPLAUSE Oh, God! Emma, darling! Aw.
Hello, gorgeous! Hi, Dad.
Whooooo! Oh, God, no I would have thought the same.
It wasn't a rational reaction.
This is your mother's murder we're talking about here.
How's that ever going to be rational? Well, and then I get told that my mother's murder's just a bog-standard stereotypical one.
Not even a special one.
I mean, please, leave me something.
Ah, you look so like her.
What happened to her? Who killed her? I wish I knew.
I think I've got to an age where I need to know.
I think maybe that's why I've come back.
Well, you can be defined by what happened to your mum, or you can choose to refuse that.
I know.
And I will always be here for you.
I saw Skye today, for the first time since 2002.
Was that sweet? Really sweet.
But Izzy might be dying.
Her lungs are packing up.
Jeez, oh Poor Izzy.
Where will you sleep? Sofa.
Goodnight, darling.
Goodnight, dad.
Thanks.
KNOCK AT DOOR FAST AGGRESSIVE KNOCKING AGGRESSIVE KNOCKING Dad? KNOCKING Hello? Is Drew there? No.
He's got some stuff for me, can I come in? No.
I need my stuff.
I know where it is, just let me in! No.
AGGRESSIVE KNOCKING Thanks for nothing! Tell Drew I'll be coming back.
Shit, shit, shit What the fuck? Thanks, Dad VOICEMAIL: You're through to Drew, you know what to do.
Leave a message, I'll get straight back to you.
Fuck! Where does he keep it? Fucking hell.
BAGPIPES PLAY IN DISTANCE Sarah.
Hey.
You played a blinder.
The barcode on the cardboard, it led us to a woman at an address in Hilltown.
She remembers putting that packaging in the recycling bin shared by the whole block of flats.
Shuggie Brooke lives at number 12.
The manager? The manager of Secrets, aye.
And naturally, we want to go down and ask Mr Brooke if he'd fished the cardboard out of the bin, jammed it in a toaster that he'd rigged and set his nightclub on fire, but, we can't.
Why? Cos Shuggie Brooke jumped off the Tay Bridge the day before yesterday.
Oh, God.
I know.
Listen, Sarah, I'm sorry I couldn't help you with that favour.
Oh, don't be daft, Neil, I get it.
Have a nice day.
You, too.
Oh, thank you.
What about the MOOC then? 23,000 people.
I know, it's amazing.
So, everyone's raving about your banana loaf.
Ha Beginner's luck.
Greg, um A person has sex with a person while working out of town.
Months later, the person gets a postcard from the person saying they're coming to visit.
The person can't get in touch with the person to ask for more details, because they never exchanged numbers.
How did the person know the person's address? They know where the person works.
Was the sex good? I believe so OK.
Well, I think Lucky person? I'll pass it along, thanks.
The remains in the office are the two members of staff reported missing, Shelley and Bashir, DNA and dentition matched.
And the fleshed remains in the kitchen? There's no match for his DNA on the database - they're stuck.
He could be the one who set the place on fire.
Shuggie Brooke's prints on the cardboard doesn't prove he started the fire.
Three people died and then he jumped off a bridge.
That says to me he felt responsible.
Well, he had boxes of crisps piled high in his office, that probably drove it to flashover.
Corridor to office, corridor to kitchen, kitchen to office.
All three locked.
I've identified the manufacturer of these doors.
We've sent what's left of them to be tested in Edinburgh.
Where are we at with Marie Monroe? The rest of module one was fine, age, height and ethnicity of our body all differ from Marie Monroe.
There are five more modules.
I know, I asked Neil to crosscheck it, but he needs a bona fide policing purpose to access the Marie Monroe files.
So, we apply for the whole Data Protection thing and hope it doesn't take forever.
Sarah, can I say something annoying? Always.
It's very rare for you to make a mistake, but when you do, you dwell on it and while you're dwelling on it, you make another.
Don't beat yourself up, it won't fix it.
Thank you.
VOICEMAIL: Leave a message, I'll get straight back to you.
Dad, how many times do I have to ring you before you ring me back? Bye.
Hiya.
Let me look at you.
You are the spit of her.
Isn't she? Aren't you? Oh Hello, Emma.
Hello, Izzy.
Give her her face back, Mum! Oh, one wee minute more! There, I've let her go, but leave your hand.
Do you smoke? Yeah.
Well, don't.
Don't be like me, that's what I say to you, isn't it? Aye, as you offer me a light! She's terrible! Look at you.
We had fun, didn't we? Our wee after school club, remember? I used to love playing at your house.
Oh, Marie, Marie, Marie I still dream about her.
Do you? You see, in my mind .
.
she never died.
Here we go.
Mum No, let me say.
In my mind, she stepped onto one of those beautiful ships .
.
on the arm of a handsome stranger, and sailed away to a better place.
I know they found her remains, I know they identified her, but I just don't accept it.
I just won't have it that my sweet Marie ended up dumped in the ground with her bones cut up.
PHONE RINGS Hello, love.
Why has no-one ever told me my mother was dismembered Say again.
Was, what? She was what? Dismembered, cut up.
Who told you she was? She wasn't.
Izzy Alessi.
That's not true, OK.
I never heard anybody saying anything like that.
Are you sure? Yes.
Look, I think I would remember if my sister's body had been dismembered.
I mean, and I don't think Izzy Alessi can be relied on.
I don't think you can be relied on.
I beg your pardon? You controlled everything that I was told, you withheld things.
No, Emma, you were seven, OK.
I can't talk to you right now, sorry.
No, Emma, Emma! KATHY TORRANCE: And it's these facts that can lead us to answer/fon the questions, who was this person? What happened to them? There are many forms of identity, physical, digital, social Jimmy, hi.
Hi.
Coffee? I'm all right, thanks.
I can't believe you're working in Dundee and didn't tell me.
Well, I've told you now.
I hope next time you'll come to the house.
Olga and the twins would love to see you.
Your brother would love to see you.
Half-brother Don't be like that.
You're better than that.
Thank you for coming out.
I need to ask you something difficult, that's why I didn't come to the house, but I will come soon.
Good.
You can ask me anything.
Jimmy, when they found Mum's remains, was her body dismembered? Was her body dismembered? Yeah.
Why are you asking me that? Because Izzy Alessi told me she was.
Don't listen to Izzy Alessi.
Why? Because she's a druggy.
You and Julie kept things from me.
Yes, we did, to protect you.
I'm old enough to know.
I can't honour what Mum suffered if I don't know what she suffered.
Do you remember the police questioning you? Yeah.
"What did Jimmy do after he took you home? "Did Jimmy go out? "Did Jimmy ever hurt Mummy? "Was mummy scared of Jimmy? "Is Jimmy a nice stepdad?" I remember.
They suspected me.
They never said as much, but they did.
They told me nothing.
.
.
.
and then they failed us.
Mum was scared of you.
I was.
too.
Not you - your temper.
I do have a temper.
I hate it about myself, but no-one needs to be scared of me.
Emma I swear I never heard a word about .
.
dismemberment.
When was it mum cut her hair off? I was trying to remember.
Er Must have been when you were about six, not long before we lost her.
Hey.
I'm really sorry, I hope you don't mind, I need someone to talk to and I thought of you.
Come in.
Come in, talk to me.
It's about my mum's murder Oh Emma, no, I'm sorry, I'm not the right person to talk to about that.
I've heard things that I think could be important.
Someone told me that she was dismembered and then I found.
.
Emma, stop.
I would love to be able to help, but this is not for my ears, you need to talk to the police.
This is my mum and dad.
Except at the time the photo was taken, my mum wasn't with my dad - she was with my stepdad.
I think it could have something to do with her murder.
Ring me if you ever, um What? Want to ring me.
I was stupid, doing things which maybe made a fire turn into a really bad fire.
She knows something that was never disclosed.
I think we need to look out for her.
When I drove over that bridge, I had to wait for a guy to jump off.
He started the fire.
I think you need to stop sleuthing.
You don't know what you're getting into.
It's about my mum's murder.
Oh.
I've heard things that I think could be important, and someone told me that she was dismembered and then I found a photograph and I think it could have something to do with her murder.
Baby, do you understand me now? That sometimes you see that I'm mad Don't you know that no-one alive can always be an angel When everything goes wrong I feel real bad Oh, I'm just a soul Whose intentions are good Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood.
Sipping tequila after dark Wasn't that gave us the head start The world is our playing park And I'm crossed arms with my lucky charm I'm in Scotland.
Great.
I got on the motorway fine.
Great.
And I didn't miss the junction.
Great.
Now, I've just stopped for a snack.
Well great, but don't be late for your new job.
I won't.
Running down the aisles life sparkle bizarre Not a care for a while no-one knows who we are CAR HORNS BEEP HELICOPTER BUZZES OVERHEAD I reckon it'll be a jumper.
Sorry? I just Someone tried to jump off the bridge.
God, that's terrible.
I know, I know We're all going to have to wait.
Until he jumps? Hm.
I can see that it's a water problem and not a road problem.
Welcome to Dundee.
PHONE RINGS Hiya.
Don't put diesel in.
OK.
Are you there yet? No, nearly.
The house is so quiet without you, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it Oh, he must have jumped.
We're off.
I've gotta go, I'll call you later.
OK, love you.
RADIO NEWS: A Dundee man and woman are missing, feared dead, following a fire in the city last night.
Police and Fire Services were called out to Secrets Nightclub at half past ten Thermal decomposition is the action of heat on a fuel to vaporise it and produce a gas.
When this gas mixes with the right amount of air and is ignited, then you have flame and combustion, or visible flame.
The fire then grows and develops, as more fuels thermally decompose, until eventually, a process called flashover happens.
Flashover is when a fire in a room becomes a room completely on fire, everything burns, you have a huge supply of combustible gases and the fire becomes ventilation controlled.
Controlled by the amount of air in the room.
The Procurator Fiscal's on the phone to Kathy, he'd like you to ring them as soon as you can.
I'll bring you a coffee.
Champion.
Hey, what's the Fiscal saying? There was a fatal fire in a nightclub in Larky last night.
I heard it on the news.
Two sudden deaths, he wants both of us to work on it.
And guess who the SIO is? Neil.
How come? All the major investigation teams are tied up in Glasgow.
Good for Neil.
The new lab technician's arriving sometime between two and three - Emma Hedges.
Leave it with me, I'll get her enrolled.
Tell her I'm sorry.
I really wanted to be there to greet her.
Kathy, we could go together.
I'm not going to the strategy meeting, I'm going straight to the scene.
Oh, OK, I'll see you there.
Ah, you want to share this? Yes Bye.
Bye-bye.
Kathy, you have post.
The fire scene is being photographed this morning.
This wall here, everything behind it, are staff quarters.
Kitchen.
Sorry.
Oh, hello, Sarah.
Professor Sarah Gordon from SIFA, everyone.
Fire maestro, but, erm, don't annoy her, she's a tyrant Office - we have human remains here, partly skeletonised, so will be attended by a forensic anthropologist, and a body here, less badly burned, still fleshed, so will be attended by a pathologist.
This body's thought to be male, it's partly covered by debris.
Top priority, identify these two.
Secrets was hired to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a local couple, Tommy and Jean Rattray.
We have a guest list of 84 people.
As far as we know, everyone on that list is accounted for.
Two members of staff were not seen leaving the building and are still missing Shelley Nardoni and Bashir Kumar.
We've applied for their dental records, so, we'll see if these are our bodies.
People became aware of smoke just after half ten and these fire doors, as well as the main entrance, were opened quickly and efficiently.
The manager, Shuggie Brooke, carried a couple of people out.
What's he saying? Shuggie Brooke told us that he was mostly out front.
He was making phone calls in his office early on, but from nine o'clock, he was working the floor with the rest of the staff.
So, he didn't go back through this pass door at all? He said he may have done, he was confused, he seemed very distracted and worried about his niece.
His niece? Shelley Nardoni is his niece.
And he thinks she died in the fire? Yeah.
It seems to me, the fire started in the office, that's the worst affected room, part of the ceiling's down, it wasn't even considered safe to get in there initially.
Now, there's clearly been some flashover, there's a small window about so wide, so high, quite high up on that wall.
Seemingly, staff stand on a chair and smoke out of it.
Thanks, Andy.
Sarah, strategy? Same as ever, really.
Preliminary outside examination.
Preliminary inside examination.
Detailed outside, detailed inside.
Recording and gathering anything untoward outside, cigarette ends, tool marks, footwear marks, tyre tracks.
Same inside, anything of possible relevance.
Looking at security systems, fuses, good or bad housekeeping.
I'd also like to know if any new electrical appliances or processes were installed recently and what's routinely left plugged in and switched on, and we will, of course, be adhering to this.
It's all about the doors, what was locked, what was unlocked, were there new codes, new locks? Did CCTV footage survive? What's it telling us? Was there any trouble at the club, or with the club? How was Secrets doing financially? What was the insurance on that building? Was the cover expanded, or the policy changed, what was there to gain? However, I might write this on my own forehead, actually Until we establish whether the fire was accidental or wilful, we go down both roads.
DI McKinven.
Sir.
Jarvis.
OK.
Thank you.
All right.
All right.
So, Sarah, nothing's been touched, we've just secured the scene and photographed everything.
Hm Well, here's the first body.
Poor guy, he had no chance of getting out.
These fire doors were chained shut.
Fire crew had to cut them open, eh? No soot here, so there was direct flame.
I think this is possibly a toaster.
You've already captured this? Yes.
OK, if we can No thermal insul.
Could have been set on its side.
Could have fallen.
It could.
KATHY TORRANCE: Sarah, Neil, I'm through here.
Some of these bone fragments are very small and they've been dispersed by the water jets, so no-one in here till I've searched fully.
Right you are.
Professor Kathy Torrance.
Kathy, this is Andy Jarvis, Fire Services Fire Investigator.
Mm-hm.
Over here, Sarah.
The smokers' window.
Yeah.
What are you thinking about these doors? Don't know yet.
Could have gone to flashover, even with them shut.
The process running up to flashovers are mostly fuel controlled.
These were boxes of crisps.
Eh? Oil, crisps and plastic are a really good fuel source.
Well, you can see the fire travelled out of here and into the kitchen.
Or into here from the kitchen.
Have you looked under the body in the kitchen? We're waiting for the pathologist.
Neil There's another body here.
So, three dead.
You'll have to do it without her.
OK, Mrs Muir.
No problem.
Hiya.
Hello, Emma.
Hi.
I'm a bit early.
Good.
We've gone off piste today.
Professor Gordon's at a fire scene and sends her apologies.
We're all at sixes and sevens, because of the MOOC.
Oh, this is Louise, the post op you'll be working with.
I'm a fool - she interviewed you.
Hi.
Hi.
Take Emma to HR, to get her own e-mail and security lists and all that jazz.
Did you do equality and diversity training and health and safety training? Yeah, online.
Shouldn't take too long then.
I got this ready for you.
Guard it with your life.
I will.
Thank you.
Come on.
What's the MOOC? Massive Open Online Course.
Forensic Science course set up by SIFA, launches at midnight tonight.
It's Professor Torrance's baby and Professor Gordon's.
Well done for getting the job, by the way.
Thanks.
There were a few good candidates, but me and Professor Gordon decided you'd be the most fun.
Welcome to your world.
It's gorgeous.
So, what Professor Gordon suggests is we clean and check the GCMS before we set up a sample run.
We have dedicated use of this one for the project, so that's great - it's called Bobby.
Bobby, this is Emma.
Hi, Bobby.
You went straight into a lab after uni, right? Yeah, in Manchester, near where I live.
Testing soil samples for chemical contamination.
You OK being away from home? I was born here, so it's kind of home.
Cool.
Emma.
Professor Gordon.
This is Professor Torrance.
This is Emma Hedges, my new lab technician.
Hi.
Pleased to meet you.
I'm so sorry I couldn't greet you today, are you all set up? Yeah, all good.
Great stuff.
We'll kick off in earnest when the samples arrive.
Great.
I hope you'll be doing the MOOC.
Definitely.
Looking forward to it.
CHILD LAUGHS DISTANT SOUNDS OF PEOPLE AND DANCE MUSIC I'm Sarah Gordon.
I'm a professor of forensic chemistry and the Director of SIFA, the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy.
Over the next six weeks, you'll be studying a fictional case, designed by us, to teach you the principles of forensic science.
You'll be learning about and tested on different aspects of the work.
The course will culminate in the identification of our body from its remains.
Welcome to the MOOC.
In the early hours of this morning, a dog walker discovered human remains, here on Dundee Law, buried in a shallow grave in the woods.
Emma, Emma, love, what is it? The online course I'm doing is using her story.
What? A body buried in a shallow grave on Law Hill.
You're kidding! Discovered by a dog walker No.
Yeah.
Listen, there's only so many places you can bury a body in Dundee.
Are you OK? My heart is pounding.
Emma, stop doing it, shut your laptop up, try and sleep.
OK.
Night.
KATHY TORRANCE: The primary forms of identity can be established/fon by studying bones.
The super orbital eminences are heavier in the male.
The frontal nasal angle is more acute in the male.
The angle of the mandible is ordinarily less than 125 degrees in the male, while the opposite is true in the female.
Study the skull from the human remains that were recovered from the shallow grave on Law Hill.
Male or female? It is her, they've got her skull.
It can't be, it can't be her skull.
I'm telling you, this woman stood there, holding her skull.
Professor Gordon You're bright and early.
Are you OK? The body in the MOOC's my mum.
The fact is, Emma, we invented a crime to illustrate the lessons we wanted to teach.
There are trends in murder cases, archetypal features that frequently occur.
It's really common for a dog to unearth human remains because their sense of smell is superb.
There are very few ways to dispose of a body, and burial is one of them.
We needed a burial, because soil analysis is a key area of forensic science.
There aren't many places you can dig a grave in Dundee and it's 50-50 whether it's male or female and it's just horribly bad luck for you we chose female.
That must have been really upsetting for you.
I'm really sorry it brought it all back up.
Whose skull is it, then? It's a medical specimen, part of the university collection, donated in the 1940s.
That's my mum, a month before we lost her.
She looks lovely.
Have you heard of her? Marie Monroe? Yes, because I've lived in Dundee for years.
KNOCK AT DOOR Here you go.
Thanks, Janine.
Is this Greg's? Uh-huh.
As in, Greg the person.
Greg is our DNA maestro and this is first foray into baking.
Cake is pivotal here.
Greg has wisely kicked off with a banana loaf.
Not bad.
I'm truly sorry you've had such a shock, Emma, but your mother is not the body in the MOOC.
A button PHONE VIBRATES I did know about her mother's case.
What are you saying? That, that I I must have been aware of similarities.
What do you mean, must have been? Were you aware when we devised the MOOC? No, not consciously.
It was my idea, the woman buried on Law Hill, but Sarah, I was on the other side of the world in 2001, so it's you who was here who needed to point out to those of us who weren't that we should avoid it.
I know.
I feel awful.
I don't know how I failed to connect it.
You didn't work on it, did you? No, I I followed it at the time.
The investigation seemed inept to me.
What did you say to Emma? I said it wasn't Marie Monroe, which it isn't.
Did she accept that? I think so.
Mostly Wouldn't it really suck if we ended up at court or had to pull the whole MOOC because we used a real person? We need to check the rest of the MOOC for any other similarities with the Marie Monroe case and take every last trace of them out.
Emma? Oh, my God, you look so like your mum! It's so good to see you.
You, too! I've been able to get some blood out of a protected artery in her neck, so we can check toxicology as well as DNA.
Good.
We'll check her against Shelley Nardoni.
We won't get a full DNA profile from these.
We'll need to get his dentition chartered by the odontologist.
He's on his way.
Bashir Kumar's dental records are waiting for him.
We get two matches, then we know which one of these is the odd one out.
Badly need an ID for the unreported person.
Can't really know what happened until we know who it happened to.
Neil, do you remember a murder case of a woman called Marie Monroe? Aye, I do.
She went missing at a festival by the docks.
The Tall Ships.
Assumption was she drowned, but no body.
Three months' later, she was dug up.
Never got any one for it.
I've got a job.
As a what? A lab technician, working on a study to develop new tools and research around the analysis of new and emerging street drugs in Scotland.
I do that every weekend! You sound English.
How'd you lose your accent? It just happened, cos I moved away.
You staying with Jimmy? No way.
I've got a place, it's I'm going to find somewhere else.
Stay with me.
Skye, you've not seen me in years, you can't just We know each other.
I'm serious.
I'm staying at my mum's on my own.
I'd love the company.
Where's your mum? Oh, Emma, she's She's bad.
Her lungs are terrible.
I think she's dying.
What? She'd love to see you.
I'd love to see her.
We'll go.
Have you seen your dad? No, not yet.
I spoke to him a few weeks ago, but I think he's still travelling.
Is he what? He's on half the posters on the Perth Road! Go see him.
SARAH GORDON: Come and have a look.
These were found wedged in the toaster where the bread goes - cardboard.
So it was primed with fuel? It's had cardboard jammed in it, for some reason yet to be established, you can see, when it's opened out A barcode.
Printed on a sticky label.
You know how a label's glossy and smooth? Uh-huh.
The little spaces between the paper fibres are filled with Kaolin - clay, so it burns more slowly.
Hm Pleased with that, aren't you? Yes, I am, Neil.
People think everything gets destroyed by fire, almost everything leaves traces.
If that's a delivery barcode, you could get an address from it.
You could.
The other thing that could be recoverable from inside folded cardboard, even as burnt as this, is fingerprints.
Well, that would be a dream.
We'll get cracking with that.
Right.
You know how you can't get this to stay clicked down, if your toaster's switched off at the wall? I do.
That's cos it's needs the flow of electricity to activate the electromagnet, that's what keeps it clicked down.
When the electricity stops, after however long it takes to toast your toast, it's not magnetised any more and the tray lift pops up.
Was this rigged? Here, look A twist tie has been wrapped around it .
.
so the tray lift couldn't disconnect from the electromagnet.
Huh So why didn't the thermal protection device kick in and break the circuit? It couldn't.
A paper clip's been put across it to hold it together, so the electricity kept flowing through.
The toaster kept heating up? Exactly.
Emma, come and watch.
Emma biked into town to buy it after we deciphered the make and model.
So, we've set up the toaster in exactly the same way as we think it was done.
Off we go.
So, this is surely the source of the fire.
I think we're looking at wilful fire-raising and murder.
You won't be drawn, will you? I'll have to wait for your report.
Yes, you will.
Can I ring you later? I need to ask you a favour.
Yeah.
I can't see much of a future Unless we find out what's to blame What a shame And we won't be together much longer Unless we realise that we are the same Ever fallen in love with someone Ever fallen in love In love with someone Ever fallen in love In love with someone You shouldn't have fallen in love with.
APPLAUSE Oh, God! Emma, darling! Aw.
Hello, gorgeous! Hi, Dad.
Whooooo! Oh, God, no I would have thought the same.
It wasn't a rational reaction.
This is your mother's murder we're talking about here.
How's that ever going to be rational? Well, and then I get told that my mother's murder's just a bog-standard stereotypical one.
Not even a special one.
I mean, please, leave me something.
Ah, you look so like her.
What happened to her? Who killed her? I wish I knew.
I think I've got to an age where I need to know.
I think maybe that's why I've come back.
Well, you can be defined by what happened to your mum, or you can choose to refuse that.
I know.
And I will always be here for you.
I saw Skye today, for the first time since 2002.
Was that sweet? Really sweet.
But Izzy might be dying.
Her lungs are packing up.
Jeez, oh Poor Izzy.
Where will you sleep? Sofa.
Goodnight, darling.
Goodnight, dad.
Thanks.
KNOCK AT DOOR FAST AGGRESSIVE KNOCKING AGGRESSIVE KNOCKING Dad? KNOCKING Hello? Is Drew there? No.
He's got some stuff for me, can I come in? No.
I need my stuff.
I know where it is, just let me in! No.
AGGRESSIVE KNOCKING Thanks for nothing! Tell Drew I'll be coming back.
Shit, shit, shit What the fuck? Thanks, Dad VOICEMAIL: You're through to Drew, you know what to do.
Leave a message, I'll get straight back to you.
Fuck! Where does he keep it? Fucking hell.
BAGPIPES PLAY IN DISTANCE Sarah.
Hey.
You played a blinder.
The barcode on the cardboard, it led us to a woman at an address in Hilltown.
She remembers putting that packaging in the recycling bin shared by the whole block of flats.
Shuggie Brooke lives at number 12.
The manager? The manager of Secrets, aye.
And naturally, we want to go down and ask Mr Brooke if he'd fished the cardboard out of the bin, jammed it in a toaster that he'd rigged and set his nightclub on fire, but, we can't.
Why? Cos Shuggie Brooke jumped off the Tay Bridge the day before yesterday.
Oh, God.
I know.
Listen, Sarah, I'm sorry I couldn't help you with that favour.
Oh, don't be daft, Neil, I get it.
Have a nice day.
You, too.
Oh, thank you.
What about the MOOC then? 23,000 people.
I know, it's amazing.
So, everyone's raving about your banana loaf.
Ha Beginner's luck.
Greg, um A person has sex with a person while working out of town.
Months later, the person gets a postcard from the person saying they're coming to visit.
The person can't get in touch with the person to ask for more details, because they never exchanged numbers.
How did the person know the person's address? They know where the person works.
Was the sex good? I believe so OK.
Well, I think Lucky person? I'll pass it along, thanks.
The remains in the office are the two members of staff reported missing, Shelley and Bashir, DNA and dentition matched.
And the fleshed remains in the kitchen? There's no match for his DNA on the database - they're stuck.
He could be the one who set the place on fire.
Shuggie Brooke's prints on the cardboard doesn't prove he started the fire.
Three people died and then he jumped off a bridge.
That says to me he felt responsible.
Well, he had boxes of crisps piled high in his office, that probably drove it to flashover.
Corridor to office, corridor to kitchen, kitchen to office.
All three locked.
I've identified the manufacturer of these doors.
We've sent what's left of them to be tested in Edinburgh.
Where are we at with Marie Monroe? The rest of module one was fine, age, height and ethnicity of our body all differ from Marie Monroe.
There are five more modules.
I know, I asked Neil to crosscheck it, but he needs a bona fide policing purpose to access the Marie Monroe files.
So, we apply for the whole Data Protection thing and hope it doesn't take forever.
Sarah, can I say something annoying? Always.
It's very rare for you to make a mistake, but when you do, you dwell on it and while you're dwelling on it, you make another.
Don't beat yourself up, it won't fix it.
Thank you.
VOICEMAIL: Leave a message, I'll get straight back to you.
Dad, how many times do I have to ring you before you ring me back? Bye.
Hiya.
Let me look at you.
You are the spit of her.
Isn't she? Aren't you? Oh Hello, Emma.
Hello, Izzy.
Give her her face back, Mum! Oh, one wee minute more! There, I've let her go, but leave your hand.
Do you smoke? Yeah.
Well, don't.
Don't be like me, that's what I say to you, isn't it? Aye, as you offer me a light! She's terrible! Look at you.
We had fun, didn't we? Our wee after school club, remember? I used to love playing at your house.
Oh, Marie, Marie, Marie I still dream about her.
Do you? You see, in my mind .
.
she never died.
Here we go.
Mum No, let me say.
In my mind, she stepped onto one of those beautiful ships .
.
on the arm of a handsome stranger, and sailed away to a better place.
I know they found her remains, I know they identified her, but I just don't accept it.
I just won't have it that my sweet Marie ended up dumped in the ground with her bones cut up.
PHONE RINGS Hello, love.
Why has no-one ever told me my mother was dismembered Say again.
Was, what? She was what? Dismembered, cut up.
Who told you she was? She wasn't.
Izzy Alessi.
That's not true, OK.
I never heard anybody saying anything like that.
Are you sure? Yes.
Look, I think I would remember if my sister's body had been dismembered.
I mean, and I don't think Izzy Alessi can be relied on.
I don't think you can be relied on.
I beg your pardon? You controlled everything that I was told, you withheld things.
No, Emma, you were seven, OK.
I can't talk to you right now, sorry.
No, Emma, Emma! KATHY TORRANCE: And it's these facts that can lead us to answer/fon the questions, who was this person? What happened to them? There are many forms of identity, physical, digital, social Jimmy, hi.
Hi.
Coffee? I'm all right, thanks.
I can't believe you're working in Dundee and didn't tell me.
Well, I've told you now.
I hope next time you'll come to the house.
Olga and the twins would love to see you.
Your brother would love to see you.
Half-brother Don't be like that.
You're better than that.
Thank you for coming out.
I need to ask you something difficult, that's why I didn't come to the house, but I will come soon.
Good.
You can ask me anything.
Jimmy, when they found Mum's remains, was her body dismembered? Was her body dismembered? Yeah.
Why are you asking me that? Because Izzy Alessi told me she was.
Don't listen to Izzy Alessi.
Why? Because she's a druggy.
You and Julie kept things from me.
Yes, we did, to protect you.
I'm old enough to know.
I can't honour what Mum suffered if I don't know what she suffered.
Do you remember the police questioning you? Yeah.
"What did Jimmy do after he took you home? "Did Jimmy go out? "Did Jimmy ever hurt Mummy? "Was mummy scared of Jimmy? "Is Jimmy a nice stepdad?" I remember.
They suspected me.
They never said as much, but they did.
They told me nothing.
.
.
.
and then they failed us.
Mum was scared of you.
I was.
too.
Not you - your temper.
I do have a temper.
I hate it about myself, but no-one needs to be scared of me.
Emma I swear I never heard a word about .
.
dismemberment.
When was it mum cut her hair off? I was trying to remember.
Er Must have been when you were about six, not long before we lost her.
Hey.
I'm really sorry, I hope you don't mind, I need someone to talk to and I thought of you.
Come in.
Come in, talk to me.
It's about my mum's murder Oh Emma, no, I'm sorry, I'm not the right person to talk to about that.
I've heard things that I think could be important.
Someone told me that she was dismembered and then I found.
.
Emma, stop.
I would love to be able to help, but this is not for my ears, you need to talk to the police.
This is my mum and dad.
Except at the time the photo was taken, my mum wasn't with my dad - she was with my stepdad.
I think it could have something to do with her murder.
Ring me if you ever, um What? Want to ring me.
I was stupid, doing things which maybe made a fire turn into a really bad fire.
She knows something that was never disclosed.
I think we need to look out for her.
When I drove over that bridge, I had to wait for a guy to jump off.
He started the fire.
I think you need to stop sleuthing.
You don't know what you're getting into.