Whitstable Pearl (2021) s01e01 Episode Script
The Free Waters
1
[LINE RINGING]
VINNIE: Hi.
You've reached Vinnie
Rowe at Vinnie's Oysters.
Please leave a message.
PEARL: Vinnie!
[CELLPHONE RINGS]
[RINGING]
[CRANKING]
Oh, God.
[GASPS]
[BREATHING HEAVILY, WHIMPERS]
♪
♪
♪
[SIRENS WAILING]
♪
♪
♪
There once was a place
with my little lovely ♪
Whey, hey, ho ♪
And I seek and I search,
and I know that I'll find it ♪
Whey, hey, ho ♪
I know the wind, she blows ♪
I know the tides are low ♪
But you'll find me at the Whitepost ♪
You'll find me at the Whitepost ♪
[CELLPHONE RINGING]
McGuire.
NIKKI: It's DS Nikki Martel.
We're holding a woman
who pulled her friend
out of the water, Pearl Nolan,
found entangled in the anchor.
Where are you?
Uh, I'm on my way. Uh,
the road was closed,
I had to take a detour.
Oh, for Christ's sake.
NIKKI: What?
Move!
- Knob.
- [HORN HONKS]
NIKKI: Good morning to you, too.
- What's your problem?
- Move back.
- [HORN HONKS]
- Why don't you just go back,
and then we can both get past?
There's a passing point right there.
Move back.
The sooner you move,
the sooner you can use
your government subsidies to milk
your cows and shag your sheep.
[HORN HONKS]
Okay, want to play it like that.
NIKKI: Hello? Are you there?
MIKE: Yeah.
NIKKI: Spot of bother, guv?
MIKE: Nah, I'm good.
Always loved the countryside.
TONY: I want to know everything
about his financial situation.
I want to know
I'm Stroud, he owes me money.
His contracts, what he owes,
who he owes, and what
he's got coming in.
MIKE: Pearl Nolan?
- [DOOR CLOSES]
- Sorry to keep you waiting.
I'm Chief Inspector Mike McGuire.
Can I get you a coffee or anything?
No thanks. I've had enough for tonight.
MIKE: Actually, it's
morning already, you know.
You'll get your watch and
phone back when you leave.
Good.
Well, can I go or what?
Soon. Take a seat, please.
You knew him, um, Vinnie Rowe?
You went out to his boat. Why?
I called him several
times, and he didn't answer.
I have explained this.
Don't you people communicate?
All right, one more time then.
Your colleagues think it
was an accident, and I don't.
Okay.
You do hear of fishermen
who fall and get tangled up
in their nets and anchor
and drown, but he wouldn't.
I've known him my whole life.
Is that your theory, because
you know him, he can't drown?
- What do you think happened?
- I don't know.
I don't know what I'm still doing here.
Sure you don't want a lawyer?
[SCOFFS] Wow.
You're even thicker than the other one.
Vinnie delivers oysters
to my restaurant.
He didn't answer his phone.
I needed a batch for the morning,
so I went out to talk to him.
It really is quite straight forward.
I don't think I need a
lawyer to explain that, do I?
Although, I can see you're
struggling to understand it.
[SCOFFS] So you didn't speak with him?
What, the dead man whose
lungs were filled with water?
No, I didn't.
And then you moved the body
and drove the boat back to shore
instead of informing the coast guard?
Well, I tried to pull him up
on to the boat. I couldn't
I couldn't drop him back into
the sea, the boat was drifting.
He's got two small kids.
So, I drove the boat with his
body wrapped round the anchor.
I didn't know what else to do.
Okay.
Thank you for your time.
You can go.
[SIREN WAILING IN DISTANCE]
[DOOR CLOSES]
PEARL: Mum.
[EXHALES DEEPLY]
I am so sorry.
Are you okay?
PEARL: Yeah. You?
Let's get you home.
- I'll open your restaurant.
- No.
You need to get some sleep.
No, no, I just want to have
a shower and get changed.
I'll wake up Charlie. I can work.
He's awake. He's the one
who told me you were here.
It seems half the town knows.
Someone saw you in the police car
coming back from the harbor.
Are you sure you're okay?
Mm.
Yeah, I just
Mum, seeing his face come out the water.
Ooh, I just kept remembering
his face from when I was little.
I know.
Come on.
I've been arrested loads of times.
PEARL: What was that then,
pro-abortion or Falklands War?
DOLLY: [CHUCKLES] There
was many more than that.
I might as well have kept my
toothbrush in that police station.
Protesting against nuclear weapons,
against Vietnam, bra burning.
I threw eggs at Thatcher.
Twice.
The Bristol bus boycott.
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
At a Catholic Church march.
I couldn't have protested more if
I'd been a bloody French farmer.
CHARLIE: Mum? Nan? Is that you?
PEARL: Both of us.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What happened? Are you all right?
Yeah.
So, what did the police say?
[SIGHS] Nothing really.
They just they just
wanted to know what happened.
So, you saw him dead then?
Mm.
Jesus.
Poor Vinnie.
So, what, he fell and got
caught in the anchor chain?
Perhaps.
What about that bloke that
hired you to investigate Vinnie?
I didn't tell them about that.
CHARLIE: What? How comes?
Not sure yet.
They're a bunch of idiots.
Yeah, well
What's this? Manchester?
Yep!
Oh, that looks really big.
CHARLIE: What?
I mean, it looks nice but really big.
Nah, not really.
Only about 40,000 students.
[CELLPHONE RINGS]
McGuire.
NIKKI: Something wrong?
I'm bleaching my teeth, makes
me sound like a shit faced child.
What is it?
NIKKI: Right.
We've received the
preliminary forensics report.
♪
[SEAGULLS CRYING]
♪
♪
PEARL: Hi, Ruby.
Hello, Pearl.
Max was just helping.
Yeah, we just picked
these up from the market.
I'm really sorry for your loss.
PEARL: Well, he was a dear friend.
Thanks.
Is everything all
right with you and Max?
Ruby, you might only work for me,
but I do worry about you, you know.
Sorry. Uh
PEARL: You all right?
Look, I know it's been a crappy day,
you know we can talk about it
if you want to ask me what happened.
Have you had a falling out?
I'm all right.
Everything's fine, it's
I'm fine.
- What's up with her?
- Oh, I don't know.
I think she's had a
falling out with Max.
She's been a bit distant
lately, hasn't she?
PEARL: I thought you were off today.
And you shouldn't be here, so
pass me the chives, will you?
Charlie showed me the
prospectus for his university.
Ignoring it won't make it go away.
He's gonna move out sooner or later.
Yeah, well, not today.
Have you considered that this might be
the perfect opportunity
for you to live a little?
To fill the inevitable
void with something new.
Someone, even.
When was the last time
you went on a date?
Well, I'm a bit more
quality conscious than you.
Oh.
Quantity's more my thing.
Do you even remember
what a penis looks like?
[SCOFFS]
You know what happens to a wooden boat
when it's been out
of the water too long.
Which part of me are you
comparing to a wooden boat?
[BOTH LAUGH]
Sorry, I'm all right now.
Oh, hi, Dolly. I thought
you had the day off.
Do you want me to make you some coffee?
DOLLY: No, I'm all right, thanks.
What shall I do, Pearl? Shall
I start with the oysters?
What happened to you? You
left here like a zombie.
Uh, yeah, sorry, I just needed
to splash some water on me face
and have a Red Bull.
Must have worked.
Mm, must have.
♪
♪
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
[SIGHS]
All the hours I've sat here
and waited through storms,
terrified, for what?
All the times he promised
me, this time, this time
I'd turn things around.
[SIGHS] So stupid.
Turn what around?
Vinnie was a dreamer, Pearl.
You heard his speech.
Working The Free
Water, laying new seeds.
It was Vinnie's big dream.
Not mine.
Three years living hand to mouth.
When Vinnie worked for Matheson,
he worked seven hours a day,
he earned great money, but
he had to do it by himself.
He had to have his own boats.
His own oyster beds.
And I let him because I could
see how much it meant to him.
But now it means nothing.
Nothing but debt.
How much debt?
I don't know.
He went to the bank, but he
couldn't manage the repayments,
so he borrowed money
from this shady bloke
to cover the debt and do the boat up.
Vinnie closed the door, but I could
still hear them fighting outside.
Vinnie kept saying, "Soon, soon, soon."
What sort of a mantra's
that when you've got kids?
Family?
Who who was he fighting with, Connie?
The guy who lent him the money.
Stroud.
Afterwards, Vinnie acted
like nothing had happened.
Like he always did.
And now he's gone.
[SIGHS]
- Um
- [CHILDREN SHOUTING]
Thanks for coming.
I've got I've got
to check on the kids.
Oh, of course.
If you need anything.
Yeah.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
TONY: I'm not available right now.
Leave a message, and
I'll get back to you.
Hi, Mr. Stroud. It's Pearl Nolan.
Can you call me back?
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
Hi there. Hi, Max.
Are you ready to order?
I'm off now, Mum, yeah.
- See you later.
- See ya.
Your son?
Yeah, it's Charlie.
Have you decided what you want, Max?
Uh, uh, yeah, some oysters.
Definitely. Um, you
should try them, Mum.
PEARL: Okay, rock or native?
Native, and I think
I just want like a
Uh, give us a second with the menu.
- Okay.
- Max told me about your friend.
My condolences.
Poor man.
If there is anything we can do.
Let me know when you're ready.
Life, such a fragile gift.
It doesn't do to dwell on things and
I think she's okay, Dad.
Sorry to interrupt. I'll look after you.
Um, you've got a visitor.
It's the policeman from before.
Oh, okay.
Are you enjoying Whitstable
so far, Mr. McGuire?
No.
I'm not a big fan of small towns.
PEARL: Oh, why's that?
Because you have to talk to people.
Well, I'm sorry you have to be here.
MIKE: Oh, well, life, eh?
The gift that keeps on disappointing.
Nice beer though.
The, um, preliminary investigation shows
that Vinnie Rowe's death
was most likely an accident.
Well, they're wrong.
I'm aware you think that, so
now you need to tell me why.
I'm a bit thick, remember?
[SIGHS]
Can we go outside?
A man came to see me yesterday,
said his name was Stroud.
He said that Vinnie owed him money,
and he asked me to do a
check on Vinnie's finances.
And now I can't get hold of him.
And I saw Connie
today, Vinnie's partner,
and she said that she heard
them fighting outside the house.
And she'd been searching
through everything.
I mean, mortgage papers
and bank statements,
medical checks.
The whole place was upside down.
Well, maybe she wondered
how much they owed.
What, the first thing she
did after Vinnie's death?
MIKE: Why would he do that?
Come to you to ask
for a background check.
Because I run a small business
that does that kind of thing.
A detective agency?
Yeah.
All right, let me see
if I've got this right.
A man came here to get his money back,
desperate enough to hire a detective.
Later that evening, the
man who owed him money,
your friend, turns up
dead chained to an anchor,
and you didn't think it
relevant to tell the police?
Well, why would I, seeing as
you think it's an accident?
So you went out to his boat to warn him?
- Yeah, I did.
- Okay.
Well, how about this.
We've spoken to everyone
who may've been in
the vicinity last night, and right now,
you're the only person we can
place on that boat, Ms. Nolan.
♪
PEARL: Vinnie!
♪
MIKE: McGuire.
Look, I'm sorry that I didn't tell
you about Stroud, but listen
Vinnie had finished for the day.
He'd sorted his catch
and boxed up the oysters.
He couldn't have done that
if he hadn't already been
at anchor, or the boat
would have gone adrift.
MIKE: Don't understand.
The anchor was down.
Vinnie couldn't have sorted his oysters
unless he'd already dropped it.
He couldn't have got tangled up
in the anchor chain
and dragged overboard.
This isn't an accident.
And there's there is something more,
something missing.
Something I'm not getting.
MIKE: Thank you, Ms Nolan.
[CELLPHONE RINGING]
DOLLY: Where the hell are you?
I'm not clearing up on me own.
PEARL: Sorry. I'm coming back now.
[MOTOR WHIRRING, WAVES SPLASHING]
♪
♪
TINA: I've been waiting for you.
[SIGHS] Hello, Tina.
Don't keep spare keys
in the flower pot, Pearl.
I borrowed some wine.
[PEARL SIGHS] What you doing here?
Well, my husband's dead.
Your ex-husband.
TINA: Our divorce was never finalized.
I don't know who was supposed
to send the papers in.
They say he got caught
in the anchor chain.
Well, there's different
opinions about that.
What did the police say?
What did Stroud want with you?
Do you know Stroud?
He used to be nice.
Then he changed.
[SIGHS] What you
really doing here, Tina?
TINA: It's my fault.
Vinnie.
I convinced Stroud to
invest in Vinnie's project,
and then he found out
we were still married.
Kept screaming at me that I used him.
Now I can't find him anywhere.
I saw your name scribbled on a notepad,
so I came here.
And now Vinnie's dead.
Why you telling me all this?
Because I'm not a big fan of the police.
Well, do you think
Stroud's capable of murder?
Yeah.
Right.
[KEYS RATTLE]
Then go and see him now.
How's Connie?
Well, she's got two young
kids and her partner just died.
So how do you think she is?
Well, at least she won't
struggle financially.
Vinnie always paid his life insurance,
even when he was broke.
♪
Never made a mistake in
your life, have you, Pearl?
♪
[SEAGULLS CRYING]
PEARL: Okay, no problem, thanks.
Bye.
[LINE RINGING]
- JO: Hello?
- Oh, hi.
It's Pearl Nolan from
the Whitstable Pearl.
- JO: Hi, Pearl.
- Oh, hey, Jo,
I don't know if you could help me.
Um, I'm looking for a
bloke. He ordered some food,
but he didn't give me his room number.
His name's Stroud.
JO: Uh, he's in room 221.
Lovely. Thank you.
♪
Delivery.
♪
[KNOCKS ON DOOR]
Hello? Mr. Stroud?
Hello?
Mr. Stroud?
♪
Hello?
♪
[LOUD THUD]
[SCREAMS]
[DOOR SLAMS]
♪
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
MIKE: Two bodies in three days.
In a town this size.
And you found them both.
Huh.
You don't think that
was an accident, do you?
'Cause he doesn't strike me as a
Michael Hutchence sort of bloke.
No? Too soon?
All right, let me hear it.
Well, Vinnie owed Stroud money,
Stroud's desperate to get it back,
so he threatens Connie, which explains
why she's got all that paperwork out
'cause she's looking for Vinnie's loan,
and then she finds
Vinnie's life insurance,
and then she realizes Stroud's
gonna come back for that.
So you're saying a small town
housewife suddenly hires a killer?
Or are you saying that
a 5'5" woman killed
and then lifted that man up
on to the door and hanged him?
Okay.
Okay, well, Stroud's only in this town
because of Vinnie, and
now they're both dead,
so that isn't a coincidence, is it?
I mean, I don't know, maybe Stroud
threatened her kids or something.
Connie thinks Stroud killed Vinnie,
so she's desperate, okay,
and she's unbalanced,
and she can't see a way out.
So she finds someone to
help her solve the problem.
Why would Connie tell you
about Vinnie's fight with Stroud
if she was already
planning to have him killed?
I don't know.
I mean, Tina
Tina, she's Vinnie's ex, right?
She's the one that told me
about the life insurance.
She came to see me last night.
She thinks it's her fault
that Stroud killed Vinnie.
She was seeing him.
She dumped him before he turned up here.
I said to her, "Do you reckon
he's capable of murder?"
And she said yes.
- That's Tina Rowe, right?
- Yeah.
Where is she now?
I don't know. I I gave her your card.
Why didn't you tell me
that you used to be police?
Because it was a long time
ago. It was another life.
What happened?
I was too young.
I I got pregnant, and the bloke
I got pregnant with turned
out to be a bit of a prick.
Can I go?
Did you see the binoculars?
You should check that
he asked for that room
because from the window, you can
see right to where Vinnie died.
How do you do this?
How do you see shit like
that day in, day out?
I don't know that guy up there.
To me, he's just one
less person in the world.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
♪
[LAUGHING]
♪
NIKKI: Guv.
Have you found Tina Rowe?
NIKKI: No. No, we haven't yet.
Right, keep looking.
NIKKI: Yeah, will do.
♪
[LOCK CLICKS]
♪
PEARL: All right?
Taught my son to swim here.
You got kids?
No.
PEARL: You married?
Did you, um, want something? Or
I just saw Connie with Frank Matheson,
Vinnie's old boss, coming
out of a lawyer's office.
They're having an affair.
Go on.
Well, she didn't need to hire a killer.
I mean, Matheson was angry with
Vinnie for leaving his company,
so Vinnie was worth more
to both of them dead.
Maybe.
Or maybe they got Stroud to do it?
Said they'd pay him what's
owed out of the life insurance,
and then maybe he wanted
more and Matheson killed him.
Either way, it's not an accident.
Connie and Matheson have
been seeing each other
for a little over a year,
and Matheson has a conviction for GBH.
When he was in his
late 20s, he had a fight
with a fellow fisherman
over a lobster contract,
beat him into a coma with a crowbar
and left him in a ditch with a
foot-long live lobster down his crutch.
You can bet that guy
doesn't have kids either.
And Tina Rowe's gone missing.
♪
[BOTTLES CLATTER]
Ruby, are you okay?
Well?
Yeah, I'm, uh
I didn't
I'm fine.
[GLASSES CLINK]
[POURING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[CHUCKLES]
[TAPPING WINE GLASS]
ARZENI: Thank you.
Thank you everyone for being here.
It's lovely to see you again.
So, our conceptual basis
for the redesign of Red Sands
is to create a hotel unlike
any other in the world.
For those of you who don't
know him, this is my son Max.
And who better to inform
you about the future
than the man who is
this company's future?
[APPLAUSE]
MAX: Thank you.
Um, uh, we're building for everything,
uh, seminars, music
events, and water sports.
And there's a there's a panoramic,
uh, uh, glass wall that
looks out beyond the sea
to, uh, Europe and
and beyond to the town.
The tourism industry in
Whitstable needs some, uh
[CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]
FRANK: I didn't know it was
you who found both of them.
The bodies.
Are you sure you should be here?
You shouldn't have to work
after going through something
so traumatic.
Yeah, it's better to be busy actually.
Poor Vinnie.
Yeah, poor Vinnie.
Is that what you were thinking
while you were shagging his wife?
ARZENI: Thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Thank you so much.
The food was brilliant.
Everybody loved it.
Well, I'm glad.
Is there anything else
I can help you with?
Uh, no, no.
Max!
Max!
[ARGUING IN RUSSIAN]
[ARGUING IN RUSSIAN]
[ARGUING IN RUSSIAN]
[SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN]
[TYPING]
♪
♪
[ARZENI AND MAX SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN]
[CELLPHONE RINGS]
- Hi.
- MIKE: Pearl, there's a situation here.
I need you to come to the hospital.
It's about Ruby Williams.
Okay.
Hi. Can I see Ruby Williams?
- Ruby Williams?
- Yeah.
MIKE: Pearl.
Where is she?
Listen, was she at work with you today?
Yeah. She was all over the place.
She was with me at the Azarov's.
She was arguing with Max.
What's happened to her?
MIKE: Well, she had a high concentration
of amphetamines in her blood for one.
What caused her to
collapse was the opiates.
PEARL: Can we come in?
How is she?
NURSE: She's stable.
We'll keep her in overnight,
but she's gonna be fine.
Oh, thank God.
Thank you.
Ruby.
- [DOOR CLOSES]
- [SIGHS]
♪
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
[SIREN WAILING]
Mike?
She wouldn't do that to herself.
I took her for a tetanus
once, she passed out.
Is this another one of your,
"I know her so she
couldn't have done it"?
We don't know people as well
as we think we do, Pearl.
I'm gonna go and find Tina Rowe.
You stay here.
♪
♪
[MOTOR REVS]
PEARL: Vinnie!
♪
♪
[LINE RINGING]
Hi. Can I speak to
Ruby Williams, please?
WOMAN: She discharged
herself this morning.
[LINE RINGING]
RUBY: Hello?
PEARL: Ruby, why would
you discharge yourself?
- Pearl.
- I'm at your house.
[DOORBELL RINGS]
Ruby, where are you?
RUBY: Down by The Neptune.
Okay, stay there. I'm coming down.
- Why?
- No, listen, Ruby.
- Look, I've got to go.
- Ruby!
[BEEPING]
MIKE: This is DCI McGuire.
Please leave a message.
PEARL: It's Max. Max Azarov.
I remembered what it was that
I couldn't piece together.
Its Vinnie's boat.
There was a scratch in the paint
at the stern as I climbed on board.
Ruby didn't take those
drugs. He forced her.
She's at The Old Neptune.
I'm on my way there now.
♪
Ruby.
I know Max killed Vinnie.
Was you there? Did you see it?
Is that why he gave you
the drugs, to scare you?
Max called me from the pier.
He was crying.
When he came to my place,
he had blood all on his
clothes, and there was
He couldn't go home, and I couldn't
I just I just let him stay
so he could shower and
then get new clothes.
Why did he kill Vinnie?
Red Sands Fort.
He picks the drugs up at Red Sands.
Someone leaves the
packages there, and he
he takes it ashore, and he sells.
PEARL: Why?
Why why would a rich kid
like that need to do that?
Max has nothing!
His father has everything.
You'll never understand.
He doesn't want
anything from his father.
He he hates him.
Max went out on the jet ski,
but he just misjudged the tide.
Vinnie came to rescue Max.
He was threatening to
call the coast guard
if he didn't come
aboard the boat, and Max,
he had the bags in his hands.
He didn't mean it.
He was just scared.
[SOBS]
I don't know how to make it go away.
I know, I know.
I know, darling.
I know. It's not your fault.
- Max, get off.
- Told you not to say anything.
Max. Max!
Max, get off!
[SCREAMS]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
Get off!
No, Max, stop!
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[COUGHS]
[GASPING]
[PANTING]
I'm so sorry, Pearl.
- [SIREN WAILING]
- I'm so sorry.
You all right? You all right?
Right, Max Azarov, you're under arrest
for the murder of Vinnie Rowe.
No, no, no, no, no. It's me you want.
He's just a child.
It's me!
PEARL: Stroud. Did you kill Stroud?
Azarov, Stroud?
He saw Max on the boat.
He tried to blackmail us.
Hang my son out as a murderer.
Wanted us to pay what
the fisherman owed him.
So what else could I do?
What Max did was an accident.
He slipped and fell it
Azarov, let go of your son.
It was an accident. He's a good boy.
Let go of him!
Please!
♪
How you doing, all right?
Suppose you'll be going
back to London now,
won't you, Mr. Big Shot Detective?
I wish.
Nah, I figured I'd stay
around a bit longer.
Why?
I don't know where to find
oyster stout in London.
[LAUGHS]
What have you done to your teeth?
Have you bleached them?
What?
Are you going for the Jurgen Klopp look?
Is it just me, or have
you softened a little bit
since you've been here?
It's just you.
Still not a fan of small towns then?
Whenever someone says hi when
they pass me in the street,
I feel like punching them in the face.
[CHUCKLES] Well, I'll take that as a no.
CHARLIE: Mum?
I better go, but I'll see
you around then, will I?
I suppose. If you're
not leaving, I mean.
I know a seafood place
up the road that does
a good oyster stout.
I'll check it out some time.
♪
♪
La, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
Ooh ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
[LINE RINGING]
VINNIE: Hi.
You've reached Vinnie
Rowe at Vinnie's Oysters.
Please leave a message.
PEARL: Vinnie!
[CELLPHONE RINGS]
[RINGING]
[CRANKING]
Oh, God.
[GASPS]
[BREATHING HEAVILY, WHIMPERS]
♪
♪
♪
[SIRENS WAILING]
♪
♪
♪
There once was a place
with my little lovely ♪
Whey, hey, ho ♪
And I seek and I search,
and I know that I'll find it ♪
Whey, hey, ho ♪
I know the wind, she blows ♪
I know the tides are low ♪
But you'll find me at the Whitepost ♪
You'll find me at the Whitepost ♪
[CELLPHONE RINGING]
McGuire.
NIKKI: It's DS Nikki Martel.
We're holding a woman
who pulled her friend
out of the water, Pearl Nolan,
found entangled in the anchor.
Where are you?
Uh, I'm on my way. Uh,
the road was closed,
I had to take a detour.
Oh, for Christ's sake.
NIKKI: What?
Move!
- Knob.
- [HORN HONKS]
NIKKI: Good morning to you, too.
- What's your problem?
- Move back.
- [HORN HONKS]
- Why don't you just go back,
and then we can both get past?
There's a passing point right there.
Move back.
The sooner you move,
the sooner you can use
your government subsidies to milk
your cows and shag your sheep.
[HORN HONKS]
Okay, want to play it like that.
NIKKI: Hello? Are you there?
MIKE: Yeah.
NIKKI: Spot of bother, guv?
MIKE: Nah, I'm good.
Always loved the countryside.
TONY: I want to know everything
about his financial situation.
I want to know
I'm Stroud, he owes me money.
His contracts, what he owes,
who he owes, and what
he's got coming in.
MIKE: Pearl Nolan?
- [DOOR CLOSES]
- Sorry to keep you waiting.
I'm Chief Inspector Mike McGuire.
Can I get you a coffee or anything?
No thanks. I've had enough for tonight.
MIKE: Actually, it's
morning already, you know.
You'll get your watch and
phone back when you leave.
Good.
Well, can I go or what?
Soon. Take a seat, please.
You knew him, um, Vinnie Rowe?
You went out to his boat. Why?
I called him several
times, and he didn't answer.
I have explained this.
Don't you people communicate?
All right, one more time then.
Your colleagues think it
was an accident, and I don't.
Okay.
You do hear of fishermen
who fall and get tangled up
in their nets and anchor
and drown, but he wouldn't.
I've known him my whole life.
Is that your theory, because
you know him, he can't drown?
- What do you think happened?
- I don't know.
I don't know what I'm still doing here.
Sure you don't want a lawyer?
[SCOFFS] Wow.
You're even thicker than the other one.
Vinnie delivers oysters
to my restaurant.
He didn't answer his phone.
I needed a batch for the morning,
so I went out to talk to him.
It really is quite straight forward.
I don't think I need a
lawyer to explain that, do I?
Although, I can see you're
struggling to understand it.
[SCOFFS] So you didn't speak with him?
What, the dead man whose
lungs were filled with water?
No, I didn't.
And then you moved the body
and drove the boat back to shore
instead of informing the coast guard?
Well, I tried to pull him up
on to the boat. I couldn't
I couldn't drop him back into
the sea, the boat was drifting.
He's got two small kids.
So, I drove the boat with his
body wrapped round the anchor.
I didn't know what else to do.
Okay.
Thank you for your time.
You can go.
[SIREN WAILING IN DISTANCE]
[DOOR CLOSES]
PEARL: Mum.
[EXHALES DEEPLY]
I am so sorry.
Are you okay?
PEARL: Yeah. You?
Let's get you home.
- I'll open your restaurant.
- No.
You need to get some sleep.
No, no, I just want to have
a shower and get changed.
I'll wake up Charlie. I can work.
He's awake. He's the one
who told me you were here.
It seems half the town knows.
Someone saw you in the police car
coming back from the harbor.
Are you sure you're okay?
Mm.
Yeah, I just
Mum, seeing his face come out the water.
Ooh, I just kept remembering
his face from when I was little.
I know.
Come on.
I've been arrested loads of times.
PEARL: What was that then,
pro-abortion or Falklands War?
DOLLY: [CHUCKLES] There
was many more than that.
I might as well have kept my
toothbrush in that police station.
Protesting against nuclear weapons,
against Vietnam, bra burning.
I threw eggs at Thatcher.
Twice.
The Bristol bus boycott.
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
At a Catholic Church march.
I couldn't have protested more if
I'd been a bloody French farmer.
CHARLIE: Mum? Nan? Is that you?
PEARL: Both of us.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What happened? Are you all right?
Yeah.
So, what did the police say?
[SIGHS] Nothing really.
They just they just
wanted to know what happened.
So, you saw him dead then?
Mm.
Jesus.
Poor Vinnie.
So, what, he fell and got
caught in the anchor chain?
Perhaps.
What about that bloke that
hired you to investigate Vinnie?
I didn't tell them about that.
CHARLIE: What? How comes?
Not sure yet.
They're a bunch of idiots.
Yeah, well
What's this? Manchester?
Yep!
Oh, that looks really big.
CHARLIE: What?
I mean, it looks nice but really big.
Nah, not really.
Only about 40,000 students.
[CELLPHONE RINGS]
McGuire.
NIKKI: Something wrong?
I'm bleaching my teeth, makes
me sound like a shit faced child.
What is it?
NIKKI: Right.
We've received the
preliminary forensics report.
♪
[SEAGULLS CRYING]
♪
♪
PEARL: Hi, Ruby.
Hello, Pearl.
Max was just helping.
Yeah, we just picked
these up from the market.
I'm really sorry for your loss.
PEARL: Well, he was a dear friend.
Thanks.
Is everything all
right with you and Max?
Ruby, you might only work for me,
but I do worry about you, you know.
Sorry. Uh
PEARL: You all right?
Look, I know it's been a crappy day,
you know we can talk about it
if you want to ask me what happened.
Have you had a falling out?
I'm all right.
Everything's fine, it's
I'm fine.
- What's up with her?
- Oh, I don't know.
I think she's had a
falling out with Max.
She's been a bit distant
lately, hasn't she?
PEARL: I thought you were off today.
And you shouldn't be here, so
pass me the chives, will you?
Charlie showed me the
prospectus for his university.
Ignoring it won't make it go away.
He's gonna move out sooner or later.
Yeah, well, not today.
Have you considered that this might be
the perfect opportunity
for you to live a little?
To fill the inevitable
void with something new.
Someone, even.
When was the last time
you went on a date?
Well, I'm a bit more
quality conscious than you.
Oh.
Quantity's more my thing.
Do you even remember
what a penis looks like?
[SCOFFS]
You know what happens to a wooden boat
when it's been out
of the water too long.
Which part of me are you
comparing to a wooden boat?
[BOTH LAUGH]
Sorry, I'm all right now.
Oh, hi, Dolly. I thought
you had the day off.
Do you want me to make you some coffee?
DOLLY: No, I'm all right, thanks.
What shall I do, Pearl? Shall
I start with the oysters?
What happened to you? You
left here like a zombie.
Uh, yeah, sorry, I just needed
to splash some water on me face
and have a Red Bull.
Must have worked.
Mm, must have.
♪
♪
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
[SIGHS]
All the hours I've sat here
and waited through storms,
terrified, for what?
All the times he promised
me, this time, this time
I'd turn things around.
[SIGHS] So stupid.
Turn what around?
Vinnie was a dreamer, Pearl.
You heard his speech.
Working The Free
Water, laying new seeds.
It was Vinnie's big dream.
Not mine.
Three years living hand to mouth.
When Vinnie worked for Matheson,
he worked seven hours a day,
he earned great money, but
he had to do it by himself.
He had to have his own boats.
His own oyster beds.
And I let him because I could
see how much it meant to him.
But now it means nothing.
Nothing but debt.
How much debt?
I don't know.
He went to the bank, but he
couldn't manage the repayments,
so he borrowed money
from this shady bloke
to cover the debt and do the boat up.
Vinnie closed the door, but I could
still hear them fighting outside.
Vinnie kept saying, "Soon, soon, soon."
What sort of a mantra's
that when you've got kids?
Family?
Who who was he fighting with, Connie?
The guy who lent him the money.
Stroud.
Afterwards, Vinnie acted
like nothing had happened.
Like he always did.
And now he's gone.
[SIGHS]
- Um
- [CHILDREN SHOUTING]
Thanks for coming.
I've got I've got
to check on the kids.
Oh, of course.
If you need anything.
Yeah.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
TONY: I'm not available right now.
Leave a message, and
I'll get back to you.
Hi, Mr. Stroud. It's Pearl Nolan.
Can you call me back?
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
Hi there. Hi, Max.
Are you ready to order?
I'm off now, Mum, yeah.
- See you later.
- See ya.
Your son?
Yeah, it's Charlie.
Have you decided what you want, Max?
Uh, uh, yeah, some oysters.
Definitely. Um, you
should try them, Mum.
PEARL: Okay, rock or native?
Native, and I think
I just want like a
Uh, give us a second with the menu.
- Okay.
- Max told me about your friend.
My condolences.
Poor man.
If there is anything we can do.
Let me know when you're ready.
Life, such a fragile gift.
It doesn't do to dwell on things and
I think she's okay, Dad.
Sorry to interrupt. I'll look after you.
Um, you've got a visitor.
It's the policeman from before.
Oh, okay.
Are you enjoying Whitstable
so far, Mr. McGuire?
No.
I'm not a big fan of small towns.
PEARL: Oh, why's that?
Because you have to talk to people.
Well, I'm sorry you have to be here.
MIKE: Oh, well, life, eh?
The gift that keeps on disappointing.
Nice beer though.
The, um, preliminary investigation shows
that Vinnie Rowe's death
was most likely an accident.
Well, they're wrong.
I'm aware you think that, so
now you need to tell me why.
I'm a bit thick, remember?
[SIGHS]
Can we go outside?
A man came to see me yesterday,
said his name was Stroud.
He said that Vinnie owed him money,
and he asked me to do a
check on Vinnie's finances.
And now I can't get hold of him.
And I saw Connie
today, Vinnie's partner,
and she said that she heard
them fighting outside the house.
And she'd been searching
through everything.
I mean, mortgage papers
and bank statements,
medical checks.
The whole place was upside down.
Well, maybe she wondered
how much they owed.
What, the first thing she
did after Vinnie's death?
MIKE: Why would he do that?
Come to you to ask
for a background check.
Because I run a small business
that does that kind of thing.
A detective agency?
Yeah.
All right, let me see
if I've got this right.
A man came here to get his money back,
desperate enough to hire a detective.
Later that evening, the
man who owed him money,
your friend, turns up
dead chained to an anchor,
and you didn't think it
relevant to tell the police?
Well, why would I, seeing as
you think it's an accident?
So you went out to his boat to warn him?
- Yeah, I did.
- Okay.
Well, how about this.
We've spoken to everyone
who may've been in
the vicinity last night, and right now,
you're the only person we can
place on that boat, Ms. Nolan.
♪
PEARL: Vinnie!
♪
MIKE: McGuire.
Look, I'm sorry that I didn't tell
you about Stroud, but listen
Vinnie had finished for the day.
He'd sorted his catch
and boxed up the oysters.
He couldn't have done that
if he hadn't already been
at anchor, or the boat
would have gone adrift.
MIKE: Don't understand.
The anchor was down.
Vinnie couldn't have sorted his oysters
unless he'd already dropped it.
He couldn't have got tangled up
in the anchor chain
and dragged overboard.
This isn't an accident.
And there's there is something more,
something missing.
Something I'm not getting.
MIKE: Thank you, Ms Nolan.
[CELLPHONE RINGING]
DOLLY: Where the hell are you?
I'm not clearing up on me own.
PEARL: Sorry. I'm coming back now.
[MOTOR WHIRRING, WAVES SPLASHING]
♪
♪
TINA: I've been waiting for you.
[SIGHS] Hello, Tina.
Don't keep spare keys
in the flower pot, Pearl.
I borrowed some wine.
[PEARL SIGHS] What you doing here?
Well, my husband's dead.
Your ex-husband.
TINA: Our divorce was never finalized.
I don't know who was supposed
to send the papers in.
They say he got caught
in the anchor chain.
Well, there's different
opinions about that.
What did the police say?
What did Stroud want with you?
Do you know Stroud?
He used to be nice.
Then he changed.
[SIGHS] What you
really doing here, Tina?
TINA: It's my fault.
Vinnie.
I convinced Stroud to
invest in Vinnie's project,
and then he found out
we were still married.
Kept screaming at me that I used him.
Now I can't find him anywhere.
I saw your name scribbled on a notepad,
so I came here.
And now Vinnie's dead.
Why you telling me all this?
Because I'm not a big fan of the police.
Well, do you think
Stroud's capable of murder?
Yeah.
Right.
[KEYS RATTLE]
Then go and see him now.
How's Connie?
Well, she's got two young
kids and her partner just died.
So how do you think she is?
Well, at least she won't
struggle financially.
Vinnie always paid his life insurance,
even when he was broke.
♪
Never made a mistake in
your life, have you, Pearl?
♪
[SEAGULLS CRYING]
PEARL: Okay, no problem, thanks.
Bye.
[LINE RINGING]
- JO: Hello?
- Oh, hi.
It's Pearl Nolan from
the Whitstable Pearl.
- JO: Hi, Pearl.
- Oh, hey, Jo,
I don't know if you could help me.
Um, I'm looking for a
bloke. He ordered some food,
but he didn't give me his room number.
His name's Stroud.
JO: Uh, he's in room 221.
Lovely. Thank you.
♪
Delivery.
♪
[KNOCKS ON DOOR]
Hello? Mr. Stroud?
Hello?
Mr. Stroud?
♪
Hello?
♪
[LOUD THUD]
[SCREAMS]
[DOOR SLAMS]
♪
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
MIKE: Two bodies in three days.
In a town this size.
And you found them both.
Huh.
You don't think that
was an accident, do you?
'Cause he doesn't strike me as a
Michael Hutchence sort of bloke.
No? Too soon?
All right, let me hear it.
Well, Vinnie owed Stroud money,
Stroud's desperate to get it back,
so he threatens Connie, which explains
why she's got all that paperwork out
'cause she's looking for Vinnie's loan,
and then she finds
Vinnie's life insurance,
and then she realizes Stroud's
gonna come back for that.
So you're saying a small town
housewife suddenly hires a killer?
Or are you saying that
a 5'5" woman killed
and then lifted that man up
on to the door and hanged him?
Okay.
Okay, well, Stroud's only in this town
because of Vinnie, and
now they're both dead,
so that isn't a coincidence, is it?
I mean, I don't know, maybe Stroud
threatened her kids or something.
Connie thinks Stroud killed Vinnie,
so she's desperate, okay,
and she's unbalanced,
and she can't see a way out.
So she finds someone to
help her solve the problem.
Why would Connie tell you
about Vinnie's fight with Stroud
if she was already
planning to have him killed?
I don't know.
I mean, Tina
Tina, she's Vinnie's ex, right?
She's the one that told me
about the life insurance.
She came to see me last night.
She thinks it's her fault
that Stroud killed Vinnie.
She was seeing him.
She dumped him before he turned up here.
I said to her, "Do you reckon
he's capable of murder?"
And she said yes.
- That's Tina Rowe, right?
- Yeah.
Where is she now?
I don't know. I I gave her your card.
Why didn't you tell me
that you used to be police?
Because it was a long time
ago. It was another life.
What happened?
I was too young.
I I got pregnant, and the bloke
I got pregnant with turned
out to be a bit of a prick.
Can I go?
Did you see the binoculars?
You should check that
he asked for that room
because from the window, you can
see right to where Vinnie died.
How do you do this?
How do you see shit like
that day in, day out?
I don't know that guy up there.
To me, he's just one
less person in the world.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
♪
[LAUGHING]
♪
NIKKI: Guv.
Have you found Tina Rowe?
NIKKI: No. No, we haven't yet.
Right, keep looking.
NIKKI: Yeah, will do.
♪
[LOCK CLICKS]
♪
PEARL: All right?
Taught my son to swim here.
You got kids?
No.
PEARL: You married?
Did you, um, want something? Or
I just saw Connie with Frank Matheson,
Vinnie's old boss, coming
out of a lawyer's office.
They're having an affair.
Go on.
Well, she didn't need to hire a killer.
I mean, Matheson was angry with
Vinnie for leaving his company,
so Vinnie was worth more
to both of them dead.
Maybe.
Or maybe they got Stroud to do it?
Said they'd pay him what's
owed out of the life insurance,
and then maybe he wanted
more and Matheson killed him.
Either way, it's not an accident.
Connie and Matheson have
been seeing each other
for a little over a year,
and Matheson has a conviction for GBH.
When he was in his
late 20s, he had a fight
with a fellow fisherman
over a lobster contract,
beat him into a coma with a crowbar
and left him in a ditch with a
foot-long live lobster down his crutch.
You can bet that guy
doesn't have kids either.
And Tina Rowe's gone missing.
♪
[BOTTLES CLATTER]
Ruby, are you okay?
Well?
Yeah, I'm, uh
I didn't
I'm fine.
[GLASSES CLINK]
[POURING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[CHUCKLES]
[TAPPING WINE GLASS]
ARZENI: Thank you.
Thank you everyone for being here.
It's lovely to see you again.
So, our conceptual basis
for the redesign of Red Sands
is to create a hotel unlike
any other in the world.
For those of you who don't
know him, this is my son Max.
And who better to inform
you about the future
than the man who is
this company's future?
[APPLAUSE]
MAX: Thank you.
Um, uh, we're building for everything,
uh, seminars, music
events, and water sports.
And there's a there's a panoramic,
uh, uh, glass wall that
looks out beyond the sea
to, uh, Europe and
and beyond to the town.
The tourism industry in
Whitstable needs some, uh
[CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]
FRANK: I didn't know it was
you who found both of them.
The bodies.
Are you sure you should be here?
You shouldn't have to work
after going through something
so traumatic.
Yeah, it's better to be busy actually.
Poor Vinnie.
Yeah, poor Vinnie.
Is that what you were thinking
while you were shagging his wife?
ARZENI: Thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Thank you so much.
The food was brilliant.
Everybody loved it.
Well, I'm glad.
Is there anything else
I can help you with?
Uh, no, no.
Max!
Max!
[ARGUING IN RUSSIAN]
[ARGUING IN RUSSIAN]
[ARGUING IN RUSSIAN]
[SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN]
[TYPING]
♪
♪
[ARZENI AND MAX SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN]
[CELLPHONE RINGS]
- Hi.
- MIKE: Pearl, there's a situation here.
I need you to come to the hospital.
It's about Ruby Williams.
Okay.
Hi. Can I see Ruby Williams?
- Ruby Williams?
- Yeah.
MIKE: Pearl.
Where is she?
Listen, was she at work with you today?
Yeah. She was all over the place.
She was with me at the Azarov's.
She was arguing with Max.
What's happened to her?
MIKE: Well, she had a high concentration
of amphetamines in her blood for one.
What caused her to
collapse was the opiates.
PEARL: Can we come in?
How is she?
NURSE: She's stable.
We'll keep her in overnight,
but she's gonna be fine.
Oh, thank God.
Thank you.
Ruby.
- [DOOR CLOSES]
- [SIGHS]
♪
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
[SIREN WAILING]
Mike?
She wouldn't do that to herself.
I took her for a tetanus
once, she passed out.
Is this another one of your,
"I know her so she
couldn't have done it"?
We don't know people as well
as we think we do, Pearl.
I'm gonna go and find Tina Rowe.
You stay here.
♪
♪
[MOTOR REVS]
PEARL: Vinnie!
♪
♪
[LINE RINGING]
Hi. Can I speak to
Ruby Williams, please?
WOMAN: She discharged
herself this morning.
[LINE RINGING]
RUBY: Hello?
PEARL: Ruby, why would
you discharge yourself?
- Pearl.
- I'm at your house.
[DOORBELL RINGS]
Ruby, where are you?
RUBY: Down by The Neptune.
Okay, stay there. I'm coming down.
- Why?
- No, listen, Ruby.
- Look, I've got to go.
- Ruby!
[BEEPING]
MIKE: This is DCI McGuire.
Please leave a message.
PEARL: It's Max. Max Azarov.
I remembered what it was that
I couldn't piece together.
Its Vinnie's boat.
There was a scratch in the paint
at the stern as I climbed on board.
Ruby didn't take those
drugs. He forced her.
She's at The Old Neptune.
I'm on my way there now.
♪
Ruby.
I know Max killed Vinnie.
Was you there? Did you see it?
Is that why he gave you
the drugs, to scare you?
Max called me from the pier.
He was crying.
When he came to my place,
he had blood all on his
clothes, and there was
He couldn't go home, and I couldn't
I just I just let him stay
so he could shower and
then get new clothes.
Why did he kill Vinnie?
Red Sands Fort.
He picks the drugs up at Red Sands.
Someone leaves the
packages there, and he
he takes it ashore, and he sells.
PEARL: Why?
Why why would a rich kid
like that need to do that?
Max has nothing!
His father has everything.
You'll never understand.
He doesn't want
anything from his father.
He he hates him.
Max went out on the jet ski,
but he just misjudged the tide.
Vinnie came to rescue Max.
He was threatening to
call the coast guard
if he didn't come
aboard the boat, and Max,
he had the bags in his hands.
He didn't mean it.
He was just scared.
[SOBS]
I don't know how to make it go away.
I know, I know.
I know, darling.
I know. It's not your fault.
- Max, get off.
- Told you not to say anything.
Max. Max!
Max, get off!
[SCREAMS]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
Get off!
No, Max, stop!
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[COUGHS]
[GASPING]
[PANTING]
I'm so sorry, Pearl.
- [SIREN WAILING]
- I'm so sorry.
You all right? You all right?
Right, Max Azarov, you're under arrest
for the murder of Vinnie Rowe.
No, no, no, no, no. It's me you want.
He's just a child.
It's me!
PEARL: Stroud. Did you kill Stroud?
Azarov, Stroud?
He saw Max on the boat.
He tried to blackmail us.
Hang my son out as a murderer.
Wanted us to pay what
the fisherman owed him.
So what else could I do?
What Max did was an accident.
He slipped and fell it
Azarov, let go of your son.
It was an accident. He's a good boy.
Let go of him!
Please!
♪
How you doing, all right?
Suppose you'll be going
back to London now,
won't you, Mr. Big Shot Detective?
I wish.
Nah, I figured I'd stay
around a bit longer.
Why?
I don't know where to find
oyster stout in London.
[LAUGHS]
What have you done to your teeth?
Have you bleached them?
What?
Are you going for the Jurgen Klopp look?
Is it just me, or have
you softened a little bit
since you've been here?
It's just you.
Still not a fan of small towns then?
Whenever someone says hi when
they pass me in the street,
I feel like punching them in the face.
[CHUCKLES] Well, I'll take that as a no.
CHARLIE: Mum?
I better go, but I'll see
you around then, will I?
I suppose. If you're
not leaving, I mean.
I know a seafood place
up the road that does
a good oyster stout.
I'll check it out some time.
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La, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
Ooh ♪
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪