Hollington Drive (2021) s01e02 Episode Script
Episode 2
1
Mum, can me and Eva go to the park?
I thought Theresa seemed very off
this afternoon.
I thought she seemed fine.
Fine?
She looked miserable.
I'm really worried that
something's happened.
Our son is missing
and we just want him back.
Probably get a fair few paedophiles
around here.
It could have been one of our kids,
Eddie.
I didn't find the kids in the park,
I found them by the woods.
I found this on Ben's phone.
We didn't see him! Why do you always
think I've done something?
I haven't done anything.
I didn't know Ben's dad.
Never even saw his face, actually.
Ben is fine.
He's more than fine, he's normal.
You've not raised a monster.
You've done a good job.
Suddenly the world is dangerous.
I need you to tell me
what you've done.
They found his phone, Alex's phone.
Tell me what happened, Ben.
We found him.
Found him?
We tried to help him.
We tried to do CPR.
Sweetheart,
but that's not true, is it?
Because you don't know
how to do CPR, Ben.
I do!
We do. We did in school.
Ask Auntie Helen.
I am trying to help you. Please,
please just tell me, just tell me.
Just tell me the truth, it's OK.
It's OK.
Eva said they would think it was us.
Eva said who thought what was you?
The police.
Eva said if they found him,
they would know we've touched him
and they would think it was us.
That's why we didn't say anything.
If that's true,
why did you take his phone?
Why did you put his phone
in a dustbin?
We didn't touch his phone.
I saw you We didn't do anything,
we just found him, I swear.
Where is he?
Where is Alex?
The police,
they want to know where he is.
They want to find out what happened,
and his mummy and daddy,
they want him to
Please just tell me where he is.
He's in the water.
How did you do CPR
if he was in the water?
Benji, how do you do CPR
if he was in the water?
Eva said they would think it was us.
She said they would know who touched
him and they would think it was us.
So we hid him in the water
so no-one would know.
Am I going to go to prison?
Hey.
Oh, my God, Jesus, you scared me.
Are you all right? Yeah,
just need to pop over to Helen's.
But Eddie's gone up for the night.
I thought you and I could
watch that movie or something?
Yeah, no, I just need to talk about
some cafe stuff.
OK.
You got a minute?
Yeah.
What's going on? Ben said that
he and Eva found Alex in the woods.
What do you mean?
What do you mean, they found him?
Erm
Yesterday afternoon
when
..they were out
during the barbecue
Oh, my God. No.
No, no, no, that is not true,
that can't be true.
Eva Eva would have told me.
Apparently, they touched him,
tried to do CPR or something,
and so Eva thought that
they would get into trouble,
and so they
..they hid him and they
that's why they didn't say anything.
Ben said they hid him?
Yeah, they hid him.
Put him in the water.
I don't know that that's
I don't know that's what happened,
that's just
I'm just telling you, Helen,
what Ben told me.
Ben is lying to you, Theresa.
I'm sorry, but there is no way
that Eva would
He's clearly Clearly,
he's trying to make it look like
they both had something to do
with this. I saw them together,
I saw them together by the woods,
I saw them with Alex's phone.
I mean, I saw them
put something in the bin,
I don't know what it was,
but then the police
found Alex's phone in landfill.
Whatever happened,
it happened together,
they were together,
this wasn't just Ben.
What are we gonna do?
We need to find out what happened,
we need to talk to them both,
but separately,
so that they don't
We just, we need to be sure,
we need to be absolutely sure,
so that we don't
We need to talk to them.
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Hey.
Come on, we've got to keep going.
Alex!
Alex!
Eva, look at me.
Eva.
It doesn't matter what Ben said.
I want you to tell me what happened.
We went to the park
and we got bored,
so we decided to go to the woods.
I said we shouldn't,
that we're not allowed,
but Ben got angry,
he went off on his own.
And
I didn't want him
to get us both into trouble.
I went to stop him.
Eva wanted to go to the pond.
I said we shouldn't.
I followed Ben into the woods.
He was standing by the pond.
And we saw him.
Ben was standing over him.
Alex
..was just lying there.
I tried to help him.
I tried to stop him,
but Ben pushed him into the water.
Eva said we had to hide him.
Did you see Ben
do anything to Alex beforehand?
I I don't know.
But
You don't have to protect him, Eva.
Eva said we would get the blame.
But how could you possibly get the
blame when you didn't do anything?
Everyone knew Eva hated him.
She hated him.
She wanted him to die.
That's why she said
we had to hide him.
I didn't hurt him, Mum,
I didn't do anything.
I swear, I swear.
Eva made me keep it a secret,
she made me.
He made me promise not to tell.
We should call the police.
Maybe maybe you're right,
they just got confused,
they didn't want
to get into trouble.
That's not what Eva said.
Well, that's what Ben said, so
Let's not start blaming
each other's
Yeah?
I mean, they both told stories,
we don't actually know
what happened.
Theresa, you know I would
do anything for you,
there is nothing in the world
I wouldn't do for you,
but I believe my daughter.
Eva showed me
the bruises on her arm
..where Ben grabbed her.
This would not
I'm sorry, this would not be
the first time that Ben lied
or behaved aggressively.
OK, so let's get this straight.
A day ago,
you told me that he was normal,
he was absolutely fine,
and that I was overreacting,
and now you're saying
that Ben could be capable of
Do you know, this
this wasn't just Ben,
Eva is just telling you
what you want to hear, Helen.
So you believe Ben? Do you?
Then yes, we should call the police.
Yeah.
I can't bear to think of it.
Oh, God, that poor little boy,
lying out there, all on his own.
His poor parents.
I think we should check.
What? Check what?
I think we should check the woods.
No, Theresa.
OK, fine, well, I'll do it,
I'll check.
I just think we need to be sure.
I mean, they could just be
making the whole thing up. No.
This is not a good idea. I'll call
the police if I find anything.
I just have to be sure, Helen.
Theresa
Please be careful!
Thanks.
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Excuse me.
Miss? Hello?
Hi!
I'm DS Parks. Everything all right?
Yeah.
I got lost from the group.
Right.
Can I get your name, please?
Theresa Westcott.
OK, Theresa.
We're winding up the search now,
so we'll walk you out, OK?
Yeah, thank you.
Actually, I'm gonna
I left my car that way,
so I'll just go that way,
but thank you.
Are you sure everything's OK?
Yeah, thanks.
OK. Watch your step.
I don't want to go to school. Yeah,
I know you don't, but you have to.
Why?
Because I said so.
I've got a headache.
No, you don't.
I do, I'm on my period.
Go to school.
Look, if it's not safe
for me and Gemma
to go into town
with all our friends,
then it's not safe
for me to go to school.
Fine, then I'll drive you.
Bye.
Bye, Theresa.
Bye, love.
Morning.
Morning.
Oh, sorry, Theresa, I polished that
off before my run this morning.
Did you a favour, though,
because I read they put
weird chemicals in that stuff.
I'm gonna pop round the cafe.
I thought you were having a few
days off? Yeah, change of plan.
I won't be long.
Bye, Theresa.
Yep.
Another 5K.
KNOCK AT THE DOOR Yeah?
Mrs Bardwell, the Boyds are here
to see you. Gareth and Jean.
Oh, OK, right.
Jean.
Gareth.
You're busy. I'm so sorry,
I should have called.
We can go.
Not at all. Please, come, sit down.
Sorry to burst in on you. Simone,
she's our police liaison lady,
she doesn't like us doing this,
but we're just
We want to get Alex's name
out in the public.
We remembered last night
taking a photo of Alex
the last time I saw him,
before I went off on shift.
Saturday night.
I put this stupid badge on him,
they give them out at work,
they're for babies and
little children.
I thought it was funny.
We were going through
some of his clothes
to help the police with their
description of what he was wearing
and we realised
he was wearing this jumper.
We didn't find the badge,
so he must still have it.
We've given this to the police,
but they're using the other picture,
the old one.
We thought maybe you could circulate
this one around the school.
I know the badge is simple,
but sometimes it's
the little things that are
important. Yeah, but it's not
It's not a birthmark, is it?
Or a scar.
I mean, millions of kids
wear badges.
Do you know, I'm sure that
just having a photograph
with the clothes
he was actually wearing
will be incredibly helpful
for the police.
And of course I will circulate
that photograph,
of course I'll help
in any way I can.
Thank you.
Thank you, Helen.
We're gonna find him.
I just, I've got this feeling.
Hey.
Is Jen in?
Erm
The manager.
Er, no, she's gone out, I'm afraid.
Right. Erm
I'll just have a flat white, thanks.
Yeah, sure. That's 3.50, please.
Ah, sorry, it's, er
No, it's fine.
No, it's it's not.
You're new here?
Just started, yeah.
Yeah, so I own this place,
so I'm telling you, definitively,
it's fine.
Yeah, well, I own Tesco.
Look, miss, there's a cashpoint
round the corner.
I'm not "miss", I'm your boss.
Right, it's just that Jen said
not to let anyone pay under
Yeah, no, I hire Jen,
and so I can fire you quicker
than you can say avocado on toast,
so why don't you let me tap my card?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Forget it.
It's ready, you can tap it.
You can have it for free.
He arrived just before you did.
Mrs Westcott?
Miss.
Don't know if you recognise me,
we met in the woods last night,
I'm Detective Sergeant Parks.
Yes, of course.
Sorry What were you doing
in the woods last night?
I went to see Helen,
then I went for a walk
and I joined the search.
Well, sadly,
we found a body this morning.
Almost exactly where we found you.
We've yet to formally
identify the body,
but we believe it, sadly,
to be Alex Boyd.
He was found in the water.
Can I ask what drew you to that
particular area in the woods?
Nothing, I just got
separated from the group.
No rumours or
neighbourhood gossip?
No?
No.
OK.
OK.
At some point down the line,
we might ask you
to come down to the station
to give a DNA sample,
shoe prints, et cetera.
We'll need to eliminate you
from our enquiries.
Given your proximity.
Yeah.
We'll be in touch. Thanks.
Actually, sorry, there is
I feel stupid saying this.
Erm
I I saw a man by the woods,
erm, near the children's playground,
and he'd hang about,
and I didn't want to say anything
because I didn't want to seem like
some awful curtain twitcher, but
You know, pointing the finger
at the first weird bloke
but nevertheless
What did he look like, this man?
Oh, I don't know,
I was too far away.
You said you saw him repeatedly.
Did you notice anything?
Any patterns?
Any particular clothing?
A long coat.
And he was older.
Grey-ish. Balding.
When was the last time you saw him?
In the woods a few days ago.
I'd like to drop by later with
an E-fit specialist, if that's OK?
Why?
I'm not sure there's much more
I can add.
Well, can't hurt to try, can it?
And this gentleman
could be a person of interest.
So obviously we need to pursue
every available avenue.
Do you think you'll be able
to do that? Oh, yeah.
Good. Thank you.
You sure there's nothing else?
No.
OK, thanks a lot.
I'll I'll show you out.
So, you didn't think to tell me
that there was a guy in the village
who was staring at kids?
No. I'm sorry, I didn't.
Sorry.
I'm sorry, I'll be right back.
I'm here. What is it?
The police were here.
'What?'
I've done something really stupid.
Why were the police there?
Because they saw me last night,
that's where they found Alex.
The detective wanted to know
what I was doing there.
What did you say?
I told him Hmm!
I
I-I told him that I saw a man
behaving suspiciously
around the children.
'What?!'
I know, I just freaked out.
I was just trying to
I just I wanted to protect Ben.
What did the detective say?
Er, they're sending over somebody
..an E-fit specialist.
You just tell them you don't really
remember what he looked like.
They're gonna know I'm lying, Helen.
'Then you tell them very little.'
You don't really remember,
you can't be sure.
That way, you've given them nothing
and you won't get into trouble.
So, you're saying that
we shouldn't tell the truth?
Just do what you think is best, OK?
'I've got to go. I love you.'
Come through.
I'm sorry, I can't see him
like that. I can't!
It's OK.
It's OK, I'll come with you.
No, go with Gareth. I'm not
Please, I'll just
I'll wait.
Yeah.
Take your time, Theresa,
Domonique here can work with
whatever it is you remember.
He had a wider nose.
It's difficult, isn't it,
because I don't know
I couldn't even describe
Fraser's nose
if it wasn't right in front of me.
OK. Why don't we just look at
what you do know?
You said grey hair.
Yes, grey hair, messy.
Right. So not "balding", then?
Balding on top,
and then the hair was at the side.
Like a ring.
He's quite heavy set,
like, quite drooping-shoulders,
not much of a neck to speak of.
And he had a paunch.
Tiny eyes.
Yes, that's it.
And he was wearing a long coat,
browny beige.
Oh, sweetheart.
Sorry.
I thought I was being discreet.
I think we're all allowed a bit of
an office cry at the minute.
I heard you went to see him.
Yes. Jean asked me to, so
My God.
Oh, my God, Helen, you're amazing.
I couldn't
Go home, hmm?
Get some sleep. Hmm?
I'm so sorry
I should have told you.
Told me what?
This is Alex's tablet.
There are some things on it.
Nasty things.
They're from Eva and Ben.
What do you mean?
I wanted you to see it
before we give the tablet back
to Alex's parents.
Thank you for letting me know.
I will, erm
I will talk to the children.
And to Alex's parents.
OK. You've done the right thing,
thank you.
Now, listen, if you feel like
you need to take tomorrow off,
then you just take tomorrow off,
all right?
Thank you.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
Shit.
Oh, hi. Erm
Look, I'm so sorry, I was just
trying to park Fraser's car
and, erm
Look, I'll buy a new flowerpot.
A bigger one, whatever Helen wants.
I was just trying to get out
of everyone's way,
erm, give them some
Oh, man.
Well, you try to please one, you
always end up pissing off the other.
David, it was an accident.
Look, just tell
It was my fault.
I was reversing, I wasn't looking.
No, you can't I can't let you
It's fine.
No, let me pay for a new one.
Why don't you come round for a drink
tomorrow night?
We can sort it all out then.
Really?
Looks like you need it.
Huh. I think I do, actually.
So do I.
Eat up, it's my treat.
It's nice, isn't it,
just the two of us?
Never get to do this,
just us together.
Fine, don't eat it. You're missing
out, it's really nice.
I know things are really difficult.
She lied about me.
Who lied?
Eva said it was all me. It wasn't.
OK, I can see how that
would make you feel angry.
She's a bitch!
Stop that!
How do you know that language?
Do you think I killed Alex?
Did you?
Ben, baby, I'm sorry.
Look, if you're struggling,
if you're worried about something,
why don't we get someone
for you to talk to?
Maybe you'd like to talk to someone.
You don't have to tell them
anything about this.
But you're my baby,
you're my little boy, my baby,
and I just don't want you,
I don't want you to
I'm going to the toilet.
Grace's mum said she recognises him.
Grace's mum shares Brexit memes
on the internet.
Only old people say "the internet",
Dad.
It's not just Grace's mum, anyway.
Lots of people recognise him.
They say they've seen him about
and that he's really weird.
Well, Helen'll probably know.
Has she said anything?
No. And, er, the police are just
talking to him as a witness.
Yeah, but imagine if you actually
caught the murderer, though.
They'd probably make a podcast
about you.
Shall I tell him
No.
We just had a disagreement
about school. He's best left.
Can I get you anything else?
Cheers.
Hi.
Jen's out the back, I
No, it's cool,
I don't don't need Jen.
Erm, actually, I just I wanted
to apologise for being so rude.
I've had a lot going on at home
and
That's not an excuse.
What's your name?
Er, it's Jeremy.
Sorry, Jeremy.
That's OK.
I'd love that flat white now,
if you? Yeah.
I saw you, er,
looking at the papers.
Sorry?
The, er
Yes. Horrid.
Everyone seems to think
it's that photographer.
What photographer?
Well, I, erm I don't want to
You know, the guy from the paper,
Colin Chiswick. Bit weird.
Yeah. Everyone seems to think
that's he's done it.
I wouldn't be too surprised,
to be honest.
Normal blokes don't go around taking
pictures of kids at sports day,
but don't ask me.
I don't want to spread
any fake news, you know.
Ah. Sorry, the, er,
the register's broken today,
it's, er, it's card only.
I-I was just joking.
Cool.
Hello?
'Miss Westcott? It's, er, DS Parks.'
Yes, right?
'Hi.'
Yeah, I'd like you to make time
to come down to the station
as soon as you can, please.
We'd like you to look at
some photographs,
see if you can identify
the man you saw in the woods.
So you've found him, then?
'Just whenever you can come down,
we'd really appreciate it.'
OK.
'Yeah.'
Oh, Jesus Christ.
'Hello, this is Helen Bardwell.
Sorry I can't take your call.
'If you leave a message after
the beep, I'll call you back.'
You can't just barge in here!
You didn't answer the telephone,
Helen!
You nearly caused
a full security incident!
The police want to see me,
they want me to look at photographs,
they want me to point someone out,
someone that I have never seen.
Excuse me!
It's this erm, guy called,
erm, something Chiswick,
some photographer from the Herald!
I know who he is, Theresa,
Colin Chiswick,
he takes the bloody
sports day photographs!
I didn't picture him!
I didn't picture him!
I've never seen him,
I wasn't describing him.
I was just It was
Th-They're going to expect me
to identify him.
How do you know it's him they have?
Well, they're going to expect me
to identify someone.
What do you expect me to say?
You shouldn't even be in here
discussing this.
Everybody just saw you
fly in here in a panic!
You don't think!
Everything you do is chaos!
I can't keep saving you every time
you make another stupid mistake!
What are you saying?
I can't get caught up in this
any more.
Why are you saying this?
It's like I am the problem
when your daughter is involved
as well.
I'm just trying to help.
At least I haven't got my head
buried in the sand.
You made this your problem
when you decided to go to the woods
to "check", when you decided
to make somebody up to the police!
I'll tell them I don't remember.
I'll tell them
I don't recognise any of them.
No-one has mentioned Eva or Ben.
Because they'll
They'll just think
that I'm I'm mad or stupid,
that's what people think
half the time anyway.
We'll be fine.
It's not. It's really not fine.
This is Alex's tablet.
He has it for learning difficulties.
His teacher found these.
Miss Westcott.
Hi.
Hi.
They're messages from Ben to Alex.
The last is as recently
as a few days ago.
I can show you others.
No.
I'm worried that, eventually,
the police will ask to see it.
That will lead them to Ben
..that will lead them to you.
Maybe if the police
had something else,
if they were onto someone else,
then those might seem less relevant.
So if you wouldn't mind
scrolling down.
Just see if you recognise
any of these gentlemen.
They wouldn't be
holding Chiswick
if they didn't have something
on him.
It might not be the worst thing.
Do you know what happens to children
in Ben's position?
Is this what you would do
if it was Eva?
What would you do?
What would you do?
I think it's him.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Thanks, Miss Westcott.
Yes.
Sorry. Sorry. Can I ask you,
the man I, erm That man
..do you think he did it?
Just out of interest, did you
did you recognise him at all?
Why?
He's a bit of a figure round here,
you know?
His name came up several times
after we published the E-fit.
Mm-hm.
He has a bit of a history.
Right. How?
Well, he destroyed
several hard drives.
He has some
questionable collections.
And also now
we have your identification
and no good alibi
for the night of the murder.
Night?
Sorry, I
Er I-I heard that
Alex died in the daytime, Sunday.
He was killed Saturday night,
the night before
he was reported missing.
Pathology thinks he was lying
in the woods for almost two days.
He was killed in the night.
Thanks, Miss Westcott.
Hiya.
'How was it?'
Alex was killed at night. He wasn't
killed during the barbecue,
he was killed the night before.
So it couldn't have been them,
because they were in bed.
It wasn't them.
'We were wrong.'
A man's gonna get arrested, Helen.
We were wrong.
Mum, can me and Eva go to the park?
I thought Theresa seemed very off
this afternoon.
I thought she seemed fine.
Fine?
She looked miserable.
I'm really worried that
something's happened.
Our son is missing
and we just want him back.
Probably get a fair few paedophiles
around here.
It could have been one of our kids,
Eddie.
I didn't find the kids in the park,
I found them by the woods.
I found this on Ben's phone.
We didn't see him! Why do you always
think I've done something?
I haven't done anything.
I didn't know Ben's dad.
Never even saw his face, actually.
Ben is fine.
He's more than fine, he's normal.
You've not raised a monster.
You've done a good job.
Suddenly the world is dangerous.
I need you to tell me
what you've done.
They found his phone, Alex's phone.
Tell me what happened, Ben.
We found him.
Found him?
We tried to help him.
We tried to do CPR.
Sweetheart,
but that's not true, is it?
Because you don't know
how to do CPR, Ben.
I do!
We do. We did in school.
Ask Auntie Helen.
I am trying to help you. Please,
please just tell me, just tell me.
Just tell me the truth, it's OK.
It's OK.
Eva said they would think it was us.
Eva said who thought what was you?
The police.
Eva said if they found him,
they would know we've touched him
and they would think it was us.
That's why we didn't say anything.
If that's true,
why did you take his phone?
Why did you put his phone
in a dustbin?
We didn't touch his phone.
I saw you We didn't do anything,
we just found him, I swear.
Where is he?
Where is Alex?
The police,
they want to know where he is.
They want to find out what happened,
and his mummy and daddy,
they want him to
Please just tell me where he is.
He's in the water.
How did you do CPR
if he was in the water?
Benji, how do you do CPR
if he was in the water?
Eva said they would think it was us.
She said they would know who touched
him and they would think it was us.
So we hid him in the water
so no-one would know.
Am I going to go to prison?
Hey.
Oh, my God, Jesus, you scared me.
Are you all right? Yeah,
just need to pop over to Helen's.
But Eddie's gone up for the night.
I thought you and I could
watch that movie or something?
Yeah, no, I just need to talk about
some cafe stuff.
OK.
You got a minute?
Yeah.
What's going on? Ben said that
he and Eva found Alex in the woods.
What do you mean?
What do you mean, they found him?
Erm
Yesterday afternoon
when
..they were out
during the barbecue
Oh, my God. No.
No, no, no, that is not true,
that can't be true.
Eva Eva would have told me.
Apparently, they touched him,
tried to do CPR or something,
and so Eva thought that
they would get into trouble,
and so they
..they hid him and they
that's why they didn't say anything.
Ben said they hid him?
Yeah, they hid him.
Put him in the water.
I don't know that that's
I don't know that's what happened,
that's just
I'm just telling you, Helen,
what Ben told me.
Ben is lying to you, Theresa.
I'm sorry, but there is no way
that Eva would
He's clearly Clearly,
he's trying to make it look like
they both had something to do
with this. I saw them together,
I saw them together by the woods,
I saw them with Alex's phone.
I mean, I saw them
put something in the bin,
I don't know what it was,
but then the police
found Alex's phone in landfill.
Whatever happened,
it happened together,
they were together,
this wasn't just Ben.
What are we gonna do?
We need to find out what happened,
we need to talk to them both,
but separately,
so that they don't
We just, we need to be sure,
we need to be absolutely sure,
so that we don't
We need to talk to them.
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Hey.
Come on, we've got to keep going.
Alex!
Alex!
Eva, look at me.
Eva.
It doesn't matter what Ben said.
I want you to tell me what happened.
We went to the park
and we got bored,
so we decided to go to the woods.
I said we shouldn't,
that we're not allowed,
but Ben got angry,
he went off on his own.
And
I didn't want him
to get us both into trouble.
I went to stop him.
Eva wanted to go to the pond.
I said we shouldn't.
I followed Ben into the woods.
He was standing by the pond.
And we saw him.
Ben was standing over him.
Alex
..was just lying there.
I tried to help him.
I tried to stop him,
but Ben pushed him into the water.
Eva said we had to hide him.
Did you see Ben
do anything to Alex beforehand?
I I don't know.
But
You don't have to protect him, Eva.
Eva said we would get the blame.
But how could you possibly get the
blame when you didn't do anything?
Everyone knew Eva hated him.
She hated him.
She wanted him to die.
That's why she said
we had to hide him.
I didn't hurt him, Mum,
I didn't do anything.
I swear, I swear.
Eva made me keep it a secret,
she made me.
He made me promise not to tell.
We should call the police.
Maybe maybe you're right,
they just got confused,
they didn't want
to get into trouble.
That's not what Eva said.
Well, that's what Ben said, so
Let's not start blaming
each other's
Yeah?
I mean, they both told stories,
we don't actually know
what happened.
Theresa, you know I would
do anything for you,
there is nothing in the world
I wouldn't do for you,
but I believe my daughter.
Eva showed me
the bruises on her arm
..where Ben grabbed her.
This would not
I'm sorry, this would not be
the first time that Ben lied
or behaved aggressively.
OK, so let's get this straight.
A day ago,
you told me that he was normal,
he was absolutely fine,
and that I was overreacting,
and now you're saying
that Ben could be capable of
Do you know, this
this wasn't just Ben,
Eva is just telling you
what you want to hear, Helen.
So you believe Ben? Do you?
Then yes, we should call the police.
Yeah.
I can't bear to think of it.
Oh, God, that poor little boy,
lying out there, all on his own.
His poor parents.
I think we should check.
What? Check what?
I think we should check the woods.
No, Theresa.
OK, fine, well, I'll do it,
I'll check.
I just think we need to be sure.
I mean, they could just be
making the whole thing up. No.
This is not a good idea. I'll call
the police if I find anything.
I just have to be sure, Helen.
Theresa
Please be careful!
Thanks.
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Alex!
Excuse me.
Miss? Hello?
Hi!
I'm DS Parks. Everything all right?
Yeah.
I got lost from the group.
Right.
Can I get your name, please?
Theresa Westcott.
OK, Theresa.
We're winding up the search now,
so we'll walk you out, OK?
Yeah, thank you.
Actually, I'm gonna
I left my car that way,
so I'll just go that way,
but thank you.
Are you sure everything's OK?
Yeah, thanks.
OK. Watch your step.
I don't want to go to school. Yeah,
I know you don't, but you have to.
Why?
Because I said so.
I've got a headache.
No, you don't.
I do, I'm on my period.
Go to school.
Look, if it's not safe
for me and Gemma
to go into town
with all our friends,
then it's not safe
for me to go to school.
Fine, then I'll drive you.
Bye.
Bye, Theresa.
Bye, love.
Morning.
Morning.
Oh, sorry, Theresa, I polished that
off before my run this morning.
Did you a favour, though,
because I read they put
weird chemicals in that stuff.
I'm gonna pop round the cafe.
I thought you were having a few
days off? Yeah, change of plan.
I won't be long.
Bye, Theresa.
Yep.
Another 5K.
KNOCK AT THE DOOR Yeah?
Mrs Bardwell, the Boyds are here
to see you. Gareth and Jean.
Oh, OK, right.
Jean.
Gareth.
You're busy. I'm so sorry,
I should have called.
We can go.
Not at all. Please, come, sit down.
Sorry to burst in on you. Simone,
she's our police liaison lady,
she doesn't like us doing this,
but we're just
We want to get Alex's name
out in the public.
We remembered last night
taking a photo of Alex
the last time I saw him,
before I went off on shift.
Saturday night.
I put this stupid badge on him,
they give them out at work,
they're for babies and
little children.
I thought it was funny.
We were going through
some of his clothes
to help the police with their
description of what he was wearing
and we realised
he was wearing this jumper.
We didn't find the badge,
so he must still have it.
We've given this to the police,
but they're using the other picture,
the old one.
We thought maybe you could circulate
this one around the school.
I know the badge is simple,
but sometimes it's
the little things that are
important. Yeah, but it's not
It's not a birthmark, is it?
Or a scar.
I mean, millions of kids
wear badges.
Do you know, I'm sure that
just having a photograph
with the clothes
he was actually wearing
will be incredibly helpful
for the police.
And of course I will circulate
that photograph,
of course I'll help
in any way I can.
Thank you.
Thank you, Helen.
We're gonna find him.
I just, I've got this feeling.
Hey.
Is Jen in?
Erm
The manager.
Er, no, she's gone out, I'm afraid.
Right. Erm
I'll just have a flat white, thanks.
Yeah, sure. That's 3.50, please.
Ah, sorry, it's, er
No, it's fine.
No, it's it's not.
You're new here?
Just started, yeah.
Yeah, so I own this place,
so I'm telling you, definitively,
it's fine.
Yeah, well, I own Tesco.
Look, miss, there's a cashpoint
round the corner.
I'm not "miss", I'm your boss.
Right, it's just that Jen said
not to let anyone pay under
Yeah, no, I hire Jen,
and so I can fire you quicker
than you can say avocado on toast,
so why don't you let me tap my card?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Forget it.
It's ready, you can tap it.
You can have it for free.
He arrived just before you did.
Mrs Westcott?
Miss.
Don't know if you recognise me,
we met in the woods last night,
I'm Detective Sergeant Parks.
Yes, of course.
Sorry What were you doing
in the woods last night?
I went to see Helen,
then I went for a walk
and I joined the search.
Well, sadly,
we found a body this morning.
Almost exactly where we found you.
We've yet to formally
identify the body,
but we believe it, sadly,
to be Alex Boyd.
He was found in the water.
Can I ask what drew you to that
particular area in the woods?
Nothing, I just got
separated from the group.
No rumours or
neighbourhood gossip?
No?
No.
OK.
OK.
At some point down the line,
we might ask you
to come down to the station
to give a DNA sample,
shoe prints, et cetera.
We'll need to eliminate you
from our enquiries.
Given your proximity.
Yeah.
We'll be in touch. Thanks.
Actually, sorry, there is
I feel stupid saying this.
Erm
I I saw a man by the woods,
erm, near the children's playground,
and he'd hang about,
and I didn't want to say anything
because I didn't want to seem like
some awful curtain twitcher, but
You know, pointing the finger
at the first weird bloke
but nevertheless
What did he look like, this man?
Oh, I don't know,
I was too far away.
You said you saw him repeatedly.
Did you notice anything?
Any patterns?
Any particular clothing?
A long coat.
And he was older.
Grey-ish. Balding.
When was the last time you saw him?
In the woods a few days ago.
I'd like to drop by later with
an E-fit specialist, if that's OK?
Why?
I'm not sure there's much more
I can add.
Well, can't hurt to try, can it?
And this gentleman
could be a person of interest.
So obviously we need to pursue
every available avenue.
Do you think you'll be able
to do that? Oh, yeah.
Good. Thank you.
You sure there's nothing else?
No.
OK, thanks a lot.
I'll I'll show you out.
So, you didn't think to tell me
that there was a guy in the village
who was staring at kids?
No. I'm sorry, I didn't.
Sorry.
I'm sorry, I'll be right back.
I'm here. What is it?
The police were here.
'What?'
I've done something really stupid.
Why were the police there?
Because they saw me last night,
that's where they found Alex.
The detective wanted to know
what I was doing there.
What did you say?
I told him Hmm!
I
I-I told him that I saw a man
behaving suspiciously
around the children.
'What?!'
I know, I just freaked out.
I was just trying to
I just I wanted to protect Ben.
What did the detective say?
Er, they're sending over somebody
..an E-fit specialist.
You just tell them you don't really
remember what he looked like.
They're gonna know I'm lying, Helen.
'Then you tell them very little.'
You don't really remember,
you can't be sure.
That way, you've given them nothing
and you won't get into trouble.
So, you're saying that
we shouldn't tell the truth?
Just do what you think is best, OK?
'I've got to go. I love you.'
Come through.
I'm sorry, I can't see him
like that. I can't!
It's OK.
It's OK, I'll come with you.
No, go with Gareth. I'm not
Please, I'll just
I'll wait.
Yeah.
Take your time, Theresa,
Domonique here can work with
whatever it is you remember.
He had a wider nose.
It's difficult, isn't it,
because I don't know
I couldn't even describe
Fraser's nose
if it wasn't right in front of me.
OK. Why don't we just look at
what you do know?
You said grey hair.
Yes, grey hair, messy.
Right. So not "balding", then?
Balding on top,
and then the hair was at the side.
Like a ring.
He's quite heavy set,
like, quite drooping-shoulders,
not much of a neck to speak of.
And he had a paunch.
Tiny eyes.
Yes, that's it.
And he was wearing a long coat,
browny beige.
Oh, sweetheart.
Sorry.
I thought I was being discreet.
I think we're all allowed a bit of
an office cry at the minute.
I heard you went to see him.
Yes. Jean asked me to, so
My God.
Oh, my God, Helen, you're amazing.
I couldn't
Go home, hmm?
Get some sleep. Hmm?
I'm so sorry
I should have told you.
Told me what?
This is Alex's tablet.
There are some things on it.
Nasty things.
They're from Eva and Ben.
What do you mean?
I wanted you to see it
before we give the tablet back
to Alex's parents.
Thank you for letting me know.
I will, erm
I will talk to the children.
And to Alex's parents.
OK. You've done the right thing,
thank you.
Now, listen, if you feel like
you need to take tomorrow off,
then you just take tomorrow off,
all right?
Thank you.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
Shit.
Oh, hi. Erm
Look, I'm so sorry, I was just
trying to park Fraser's car
and, erm
Look, I'll buy a new flowerpot.
A bigger one, whatever Helen wants.
I was just trying to get out
of everyone's way,
erm, give them some
Oh, man.
Well, you try to please one, you
always end up pissing off the other.
David, it was an accident.
Look, just tell
It was my fault.
I was reversing, I wasn't looking.
No, you can't I can't let you
It's fine.
No, let me pay for a new one.
Why don't you come round for a drink
tomorrow night?
We can sort it all out then.
Really?
Looks like you need it.
Huh. I think I do, actually.
So do I.
Eat up, it's my treat.
It's nice, isn't it,
just the two of us?
Never get to do this,
just us together.
Fine, don't eat it. You're missing
out, it's really nice.
I know things are really difficult.
She lied about me.
Who lied?
Eva said it was all me. It wasn't.
OK, I can see how that
would make you feel angry.
She's a bitch!
Stop that!
How do you know that language?
Do you think I killed Alex?
Did you?
Ben, baby, I'm sorry.
Look, if you're struggling,
if you're worried about something,
why don't we get someone
for you to talk to?
Maybe you'd like to talk to someone.
You don't have to tell them
anything about this.
But you're my baby,
you're my little boy, my baby,
and I just don't want you,
I don't want you to
I'm going to the toilet.
Grace's mum said she recognises him.
Grace's mum shares Brexit memes
on the internet.
Only old people say "the internet",
Dad.
It's not just Grace's mum, anyway.
Lots of people recognise him.
They say they've seen him about
and that he's really weird.
Well, Helen'll probably know.
Has she said anything?
No. And, er, the police are just
talking to him as a witness.
Yeah, but imagine if you actually
caught the murderer, though.
They'd probably make a podcast
about you.
Shall I tell him
No.
We just had a disagreement
about school. He's best left.
Can I get you anything else?
Cheers.
Hi.
Jen's out the back, I
No, it's cool,
I don't don't need Jen.
Erm, actually, I just I wanted
to apologise for being so rude.
I've had a lot going on at home
and
That's not an excuse.
What's your name?
Er, it's Jeremy.
Sorry, Jeremy.
That's OK.
I'd love that flat white now,
if you? Yeah.
I saw you, er,
looking at the papers.
Sorry?
The, er
Yes. Horrid.
Everyone seems to think
it's that photographer.
What photographer?
Well, I, erm I don't want to
You know, the guy from the paper,
Colin Chiswick. Bit weird.
Yeah. Everyone seems to think
that's he's done it.
I wouldn't be too surprised,
to be honest.
Normal blokes don't go around taking
pictures of kids at sports day,
but don't ask me.
I don't want to spread
any fake news, you know.
Ah. Sorry, the, er,
the register's broken today,
it's, er, it's card only.
I-I was just joking.
Cool.
Hello?
'Miss Westcott? It's, er, DS Parks.'
Yes, right?
'Hi.'
Yeah, I'd like you to make time
to come down to the station
as soon as you can, please.
We'd like you to look at
some photographs,
see if you can identify
the man you saw in the woods.
So you've found him, then?
'Just whenever you can come down,
we'd really appreciate it.'
OK.
'Yeah.'
Oh, Jesus Christ.
'Hello, this is Helen Bardwell.
Sorry I can't take your call.
'If you leave a message after
the beep, I'll call you back.'
You can't just barge in here!
You didn't answer the telephone,
Helen!
You nearly caused
a full security incident!
The police want to see me,
they want me to look at photographs,
they want me to point someone out,
someone that I have never seen.
Excuse me!
It's this erm, guy called,
erm, something Chiswick,
some photographer from the Herald!
I know who he is, Theresa,
Colin Chiswick,
he takes the bloody
sports day photographs!
I didn't picture him!
I didn't picture him!
I've never seen him,
I wasn't describing him.
I was just It was
Th-They're going to expect me
to identify him.
How do you know it's him they have?
Well, they're going to expect me
to identify someone.
What do you expect me to say?
You shouldn't even be in here
discussing this.
Everybody just saw you
fly in here in a panic!
You don't think!
Everything you do is chaos!
I can't keep saving you every time
you make another stupid mistake!
What are you saying?
I can't get caught up in this
any more.
Why are you saying this?
It's like I am the problem
when your daughter is involved
as well.
I'm just trying to help.
At least I haven't got my head
buried in the sand.
You made this your problem
when you decided to go to the woods
to "check", when you decided
to make somebody up to the police!
I'll tell them I don't remember.
I'll tell them
I don't recognise any of them.
No-one has mentioned Eva or Ben.
Because they'll
They'll just think
that I'm I'm mad or stupid,
that's what people think
half the time anyway.
We'll be fine.
It's not. It's really not fine.
This is Alex's tablet.
He has it for learning difficulties.
His teacher found these.
Miss Westcott.
Hi.
Hi.
They're messages from Ben to Alex.
The last is as recently
as a few days ago.
I can show you others.
No.
I'm worried that, eventually,
the police will ask to see it.
That will lead them to Ben
..that will lead them to you.
Maybe if the police
had something else,
if they were onto someone else,
then those might seem less relevant.
So if you wouldn't mind
scrolling down.
Just see if you recognise
any of these gentlemen.
They wouldn't be
holding Chiswick
if they didn't have something
on him.
It might not be the worst thing.
Do you know what happens to children
in Ben's position?
Is this what you would do
if it was Eva?
What would you do?
What would you do?
I think it's him.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Thanks, Miss Westcott.
Yes.
Sorry. Sorry. Can I ask you,
the man I, erm That man
..do you think he did it?
Just out of interest, did you
did you recognise him at all?
Why?
He's a bit of a figure round here,
you know?
His name came up several times
after we published the E-fit.
Mm-hm.
He has a bit of a history.
Right. How?
Well, he destroyed
several hard drives.
He has some
questionable collections.
And also now
we have your identification
and no good alibi
for the night of the murder.
Night?
Sorry, I
Er I-I heard that
Alex died in the daytime, Sunday.
He was killed Saturday night,
the night before
he was reported missing.
Pathology thinks he was lying
in the woods for almost two days.
He was killed in the night.
Thanks, Miss Westcott.
Hiya.
'How was it?'
Alex was killed at night. He wasn't
killed during the barbecue,
he was killed the night before.
So it couldn't have been them,
because they were in bed.
It wasn't them.
'We were wrong.'
A man's gonna get arrested, Helen.
We were wrong.