Payback (2023) s01e02 Episode Script

1
It was always gonna be weird
having someone in the house, right?
- Mm.
- The au pair is fine.
The kids will be fine.
And I get to spend all day, every day,
working with my beautiful wife.
So you're completing on
the island this morning?
Money goes in start of business.
- Oi! Oi, yous, come here.
- Move it!
GRUNTS
Mrs Noble, what did your
husband do for a living?
He was an accountant.
Jared is dead. How do I get my money?
So he was working for Morris?
- He was working for Morris.
- And who are the associates?
There's one: his wife, Alexandra Noble.
SHE SOBS
- Somebody's turned Jared's burner on.
- Maybe his missus.
Seems like Jared might
have been planning
to start a new life with his mistress.
What?
Let's say you found out that
he was planning to leave you.
Under that kind of pressure,
there's not many that wouldn't crack.
Jared was the one who set up
the second Maltese account.
Yeah, but he must have
given you the details.
Mummy? There's a man
on the phone for you.
If I'm not back in two hours,
I want you to phone the police.
Tell them I went to St
Columba's on Lawnmarket.
You don't say no to me.
You keep the phone and I'll call you.
I'm off to the office now.
OK, bye.
Bye-bye. Bye, sweetheart.
ENGINE STARTS
SHE GASPS, TYRES SCREECH
LORRY BLARES HORN
Jesus!
SHE GROANS
CAR HORN
- Oh.
- CAR HORN
SHE EXHALES
All the computers are still
working, so that's something.
Yeah. And Sophie's
sorting out all the files,
and, er, they dumped some of
Jared's personal things in boxes.
- Did they?
- Yeah, mainly invoices
and receipts from when
you had the house done.
- So the police didn't hold on to anything?
- No.
No, they said there wasn't anything
relevant to their investigation.
God knows what they expected to find.
Lexie.
How are you?
- Hi, Kathleen.
- I'm so sorry.
- If there's anything that I can do
- Thank you.
Er, so I'm gonna
I'm gonna start calling everyone today
and, um, explain there's
gonna be a handover period.
Yeah. Um, I thought you'd wanna speak
to the bigger corporate clients first,
so printed you off a list.
- OK.
- And Jared's calendar is on his laptop,
so all his meetings and
stuff should be on there.
Um, is there a breakdown for these?
- Because these just say "consultancy".
- Er, no.
No, sorry. Yeah, Jared dealt with
those five clients personally,
so he took care of the billing.
So you don't know what kind
of work he was doing for them?
Ah, said he was advising
on restructuring,
wealth management, that kind of thing.
I'm surprised he never mentioned them.
Those five companies bring in more
than all our other clients combined.
Oh. Thanks.
How the other half live, eh?
DI Royce, DS Livingston,
this is DC Khan from
our Economic Crime Unit.
As I said on the phone,
we have some information
we'd like to share with you.
It appears we've run into a
little conflict of interest.
Cal Morris, prominent local
businessman, philanthropist,
and, as you will be aware,
head of one of Edinburgh's main
crime families for the past 30 years.
A vicious, violent and canny bastard,
he has been notoriously
difficult to prosecute.
Him and his brother started out
with armed robbery and extortion,
then moved into drugs,
which is where they
made their real money.
He then invested that into property
and has built up quite a little empire:
hotels, restaurants,
shares in a golf course.
- Hmph.
- They're now all run by his daughter, Bianca.
So, seemingly a legitimate businessman
but we know it's all based
on dirty money, we just
just can't get near him.
You see, we've never been able to prove
that the cash involved
is actually dirty.
Then about three months ago,
we learned that he was planning
to take an uncharacteristic risk.
We got intel that he was buying
a large piece of real estate
- a private island
- Huh. Nice.
using his ill-gotten
gains to fund it.
And that's where Jared Noble comes in.
I've managed to establish
that Noble was receiving
sizeable regular payments
into the account of his business
Jared Noble & Associates.
These payments look innocuous on paper,
but, in fact, come from a number
of different shell companies.
Companies I strongly
suspect are being used
as money laundering
vehicles by Cal Morris.
So I think it is safe to assume
that Jared Noble was actually
Morris's money man,
a person we've been trying
and failing to identify
for a very long time.
Cal Morris was taking an
enormous risk buying this island.
We think he'll want to try again,
this time utilising Alexandra Noble.
We'll be monitoring her, which means
- when he tries again
- We can take him down.
Sir, I understand you wanting
us to proceed with caution,
but I do have to continue
with my investigation.
I mean, I can't just abandon
Lexie Noble as a possible suspect.
She has motive for her husband's murder.
I don't see it.
More likely he was killed
by one of Morris's rivals.
- Possibly, but
- Look,
until we know where Lexie Noble
fits in the bigger picture,
I don't want Morris to know
we've made the connection.
If he finds out we've linked
them he'll go to ground,
so I need you to tread very carefully.
Can you do that for me?
Yes, sir.
DIAL TONE
- Ecosse Mutual, Angus speaking.
- Angus, hi. It's Lexie Noble.
Mrs Noble. Yes, I've just checked it.
It seems that you no longer
have a mortgage with us.
Right.
Er, can you tell me who
he re-mortgaged with?
Well, he didn't. The mortgage
was repaid in full in 2019.
Repaid?
Do you know who by?
Yes.
The payment came from a company
called Pier Horizon Enterprises.
Hello?
Is there anything else I can
help you with today, Mrs Noble?
Er, no. No, thanks, Angus. Thank you.
PHONE RINGS
Yes?
Sorry to disturb you, Mrs Noble,
but there is a car waiting for you.
- Sorry?
- The driver just called in and said
that he's in a black
Audi on Bishop Street.
He said you'd recognise the car,
that he's taking you to a meeting
with a client of Jared's.
Thanks, Katie.
Lexie Noble?
We should get going.
Uncle Cal's waiting.
I'll need any phones or devices.
And you'll be leaving
that bag in the car.
Come on, slow coach.
CHATTER
This way. How you doing?
How you doing, mate? All right?
CHATTER
- This a dry wine?
- Yes.
SERVER: Welcome.
Can I take your coat for you?
- No, we'll go for the red.
- No, thank you.
We'll go for the Barolo. Barolo?
Sure. Good choice.
CAL: Have a seat.
You hungry?
No.
- What's the risotto today?
- It's mushroom today.
- Mushroom.
Er, I'm not hungry, thank you.
Sure?
Sorry, Marco.
Now, have you found
those account details?
No. Look, I have been
searching, but the thing is,
if you know the banks that are involved,
they can still track the money.
You'd think so, wouldn't you?
Problem is, your husband
was too good at his job.
You see, Jared arranged
for a third party
to withdraw the money in cash
from one foreign account and
then deposit it in another,
but for security reasons,
he didn't share the details
of that second account with us.
Right.
OK.
Well, here's the thing.
I'm in the process of buying
a piece of real estate.
- No.
- An island, to be precise.
Isle of Eris.
Thank you.
It's in the Outer
Hebrides, just off Harris.
It's a very beautiful, magical place.
- I've spent my entire life
- Thanks.
dreaming about owning
an island like that.
Little piece of the Highlands,
something I can hand down to my
daughter and my grand-daughter.
So when it came on the market,
then I knew I had to have it.
I knew the purchase would have
to be handled with discretion.
So obviously I turned to my
trusted accountant, your husband.
Well, here's the thing. Time
is pressing, and
I'll be honest with you,
I have something of a cash flow problem.
So if I don't find that money,
then I could lose my island.
Do you mind if I ask a question?
Are you
Pier Horizon Enterprises?
I'm a very generous man, Mrs Noble.
Your husband asked me, as a friend
to help him out.
So I did.
I look after the people who work for me.
We have 48 hours to complete this deal,
which gives you, shall we say,
till midday tomorrow to
come up with those details.
You do that for us?
ESME CHATTERS
PHONE BUZZES
ESME: They're so sweet,
fluffy and really tiny.
We're going to give them all names.
One of them has got a funny leg
because it got stuck in the shell,
but Miss Laing says it'll be all right.
Hey, lovely. Who are you talking to?
Daddy. I want to tell
him about the baby chicks.
Right.
He can come and see
them when he picks me up.
Es
- You know Daddy can't come and pick you up.
- Yes, he can.
- We can go to the park afterwards.
- He can't, honey.
'Cos he's not here any more.
Hey, let's unpack this
bag from the hotel. Hmm?
- It's all my clothes.
- Yeah.
These can all go in
the wash, can't they?
Es, why do you have this in your bag?
I don't know.
Where did you find it?
On the chair.
Did you want to keep
it 'cos it's Daddy's?
It smells like him.
Yeah, it does. Right, come on.
Shall we get you some
breakfast? Come on.
There we go.
OK, you go down.
I'll be down in a second, OK?
IDLE CHATTER
Lexie, you want I should
take Esme to school?
No, um No, it's OK.
I'm just gonna get dressed.
I'm back.
You all right?
We have no fishfingers for lunch.
- Don't we?
- No.
We do not have anything.
- Do you want me to go shopping?
- Er, yeah.
That You'll need money.
They're still not letting
me get cash out. Erm
Look, I'm so sorry. I know
I haven't paid you either.
- I will sort it out, OK?
- When will that be?
If you can't afford me, I
It's not It's not that. It's
not that I can't afford you.
- OK.
- You will get paid, I promise.
But if not
I have to work.
Yeah, I know.
I know.
I I understand that,
but if I could just extend
my overdraft temporarily?
We offer a premium current account.
- OK.
- But
- OK, if
- it requires a deposit.
That's fine. If I
If I were to apply for a
loan, how long would that take?
Well, depending on the type
of loan, two to three weeks.
OK. OK, that's fine.
I'm I'm actually gonna
have to call you back, OK?
Thanks.
PHONE RINGS
LEXIE RECITES NUMBERS
Two, three, three, seven, zero,
five, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, two,
one, zero, nine, eight,
four, eight, two, six.
Two, six, three, nine.
- You're sure that's right?
- Yeah.
Oh No, no, no, it's not.
God, I'm sorry, it's not.
It's a Jared used
a hang on, hang on.
OK, so it's M-T, but
then it's three, one,
M-A-L-T,
zero, one, one, five, eight, three,
one, two
Yeah, that's the
number we've been given.
Yes, the format is correct.
- It's definitely a Maltese account?
- Absolutely.
Thanks, Dimitri, that's great.
Let me know when you're in.
I need confirmation
that the money is there.
- OK.
- Well done, Mrs Noble!
I think that deserves
a drink, don't you?
That won't won't be necessary.
Oh, no. I'm sorry, I have to insist.
There's a lovely cocktail
bar that I think you'd like.
It'll give us a chance
to talk about your house.
Er, OK.
You know the car park behind the castle?
Er, Castle Terrace?
Six is Six is fine.
She never uses his name?
No. We only got her
side of the conversation.
She must have a mobile
we don't know about.
Gonna be pushing it
to get a full team authorised in time.
If we can confirm she's meeting
Morris, that's all we need.
It would prove she's involved as well.
Right. Colin, get on to Turncross Road.
They're the closest to Castle Terrace.
Tell them we need an unmarked car.
Erm, should we inform Royce?
Let's hold off on that for now.
See how it plays out.
Right, what's happening?
Subject's parked up on
third. She's on the move.
Party prep. What do you think so far?
Yeah. Yeah.
Looking very pink,
very gold, very colourful.
- A work in progress.
- Are you all right?
Yeah, just been been
a bit of a week at work.
Trouble in paradise?
Eh, no
Turtles are snapping a bit.
- Should I be worried?
- No.
Why don't you just concentrate on
on decorating and
creating this vision of
loveliness for Olivia,
so give her a day she'll never forget.
She's three months old.
- She's never gonna remember it.
- You don't know that.
You need to hear this.
So?
So, the Maltese transfer went through.
All right, so the money's gone in?
Yeah. Yeah, it's there.
Problem is?
Well, I wanted to be sure
that we weren't missing
any other account details,
so I had Dimitri's guys go
through all the shell companies.
Turns out the Maltese
account wasn't the only one
we don't have access to.
Hi, Dimitri.
- Mr Morris.
- What's he talking about?
As you know, my team of lawyers
set up multiple corporate identities
so that Mr Noble could
move the money around.
Right, yeah, we know that.
But it appears that during the process,
someone set up regular transfers
to a dozen corporate accounts
we knew nothing about.
How can that be? We've got
records of all the transfers.
Jared showed statements
of all the accounts
and you checked them yourself, so
How how can that money go elsewhere?
It is our suspicion that, um,
Mr Noble may have been, um
doctoring the paperwork.
What do you mean, doctoring?
How much?
- How much?
- We don't have a final figure.
- Roughly.
- So far there's around, er
£28 million unaccounted for.
£28 million?
He stole £28 million, and
you knew fuck all about it?
We're still trying to
- Where's Aaron?
- He's gone to pick up the wife.
Seems we were wrong to
trust either of them.
What did you say?
What did you just say?
PHONE RINGS
Hey.
OK.
Are you sure?
Fine.
Change of plan.
ELEVATOR DINGS
Mr Morris.
Sit.
Did you know?
Sorry?
Did you know your husband
was robbing me blind?
- I don't understand.
- Tell her.
Over the past 12 months,
someone's been
systematically removing funds
from the companies Jared set
up to protect Mr Morris's money.
£28 million in total.
Now, I pride myself on being
a good judge of character
but it seems that your husband
my friend, Jared
was helping himself to my money.
So I'm gonna ask you again.
Did you know about it?
No.
I didn't. I didn't even know
that Jared was working for you.
Why should I believe you?
How do I know you're not just
lying to me the way he did?
I'm not. Jared didn't tell me anything.
You were with him day in, day out.
You shared a bed with the man.
Did you not think anything was up?
I did
I did think that he
might be hiding something.
He he There were some
meetings and phone calls that
But I asked him about it
and he just said everything
was fine, and then
You just believed him?
You didn't ask, where's all
this extra cash coming from?
28 million!
There wasn't any extra cash!
Apparently he wasn't even
paying my daughter's school fees.
He's emptied my savings accounts.
I haven't got any money.
THAT'S how little I knew!
Well, you know now.
SHE BREATHES HEAVILY
Nobody steals from me.
No-one.
That money was mine,
and I will tear this city apart
if need be to get back what's mine.
SHE GASPS
I own your house.
I own you.
And unless you get me my money,
I'm going to be taking a lot
more than just property from you.
- You understand me?
- Mr Morris,
I'm not a forensic accountant.
I can't find your money.
I would have to go through
every corporate bank account,
every transfer, every
Look for recurring
It would take me months, it
would take me years to do that.
Well, you'd better
get started then, huh?
Nothing leaves this room.
Computer, spreadsheets, software -
you tell us what you
need and we'll provide it.
Aaron here will be
with you at all times.
And I need to know
exactly what you're doing,
so I'm gonna want
regular detailed updates.
There's a file for each of the companies
Jared and the lawyers set up.
Inside, you'll find the statements
for the corresponding bank accounts.
Why are there two sets of
statements for each period?
One set came from the
bank this afternoon.
The others are the ones
your husband showed us.
The ones he doctored.
If I'd found out sooner
I would have killed him myself.
- How long have you known about this?
- Just found out.
Noble must have had a death wish.
Guess that worked out
about right for him, then.
Think she could be playing us?
Maybe she already knows how he did it.
Then she'd be wise to admit it.
Sooner rather than later.
So
what can you tell me?
I I think I can see a pattern,
but I can't concentrate any more. I'm
I'm exhausted.
If I could just go home,
get some rest, see my kids.
Please, we could continue this tomorrow.
OK. Aaron, you can take her to her car.
Get some sleep. Back first thing.
And, Mrs Noble?
Don't do anything stupid.
We're watching.
Eyes on vehicle drop-off.
Subject exited black
Audi. Driver unknown.
Registration Sierra, Kilo,
2, 2, Alpha, Uniform, Yankee.
Audi is registered to one Aaron Morris.
And there we have it.
OK, people. We know she went
for a ride with the monkey.
Stay on her. Let's see if she'll
take us to the organ grinder.
CHURCH BELLS CHIME
OK.
So if we take this first
company, Sentinel Bridge Holdings,
and we call that Company A.
Now, it has a number of
corporate bank accounts,
which in itself is not unusual.
Now, Jared had set up a standard
automated transfer system
that moved money from account A1
to A2, A2 to A3, etc.
And then at the same
time, there's smaller sums
that are being transferred
to the next shell company.
- So account A1 to B1, A2 to B2, etc.
- OK. OK.
But then when I compare
the statements from
the bank with these
these fake ones that you've been given,
it appears that for each
of these shell companies,
there's one account
In this case, account A5.
that you don't have access to.
So any money that goes
into that account goes
Into someone else's pocket.
Mm-hm.
But then, these have been
altered to make it look like
that money is still
moving through the system.
So you're saying each shell company
has one of these extra accounts
that we don't have access to?
Well, I've only looked
at the first three.
But if we're talking about this
one, Sentinel Bridge Holdings,
well, you've got the real
statements right there.
So presumably, you can see
where the money's been going.
Yeah. Well, it's been
going to account A5.
And A5 is the extra account
that we don't have access to.
Correct, because it
belongs to someone else.
Hang on, hang on.
We own Sentinel Bridge Holdings,
and all of these accounts, A1,
two, three, four, are all in that name.
- Yeah, that's right.
- What about A5?
Also called Sentinel Bridge Holdings.
Well, last I checked, you
can't incorporate two companies
with the exact same name.
Not in the same jurisdiction.
So the most likely explanation is
that someone incorporated
a duplicate company,
also called Sentinel Bridge Holdings,
but in a different legal
territory, probably abroad,
and with a different beneficial owner,
and THAT is who this
extra account belongs to.
So how do we get the money back?
Well, I mean, the first
step would be to find out
where each duplicate
company is registered.
If you're not gonna go
through official channels,
that's not an easy task.
You'd basically have to go
through the company registers
of every legal jurisdiction.
There's hundreds of them.
OK. So what do you need?
Secure browser? Encrypted email?
I mean, that
That would make it safer, yeah,
but it won't make it any faster.
Well, when it's ready,
we'll let you know.
Aaron will take you home.
Where are we? You said you
were taking me back to my car.
Don't be daft.
- What's going on?
- This way.
He won't be long.
Don't touch anything.
You OK, Dad?
- Hello! She sleeping?
- Mm.
Who's the woman?
That's Jared's wife.
Oh.
Oh, the poor lamb.
She must be in pieces.
I wouldn't give her too much sympathy.
Turns out he's been stealing.
How much?
Enough.
No-one steals from us.
I know.
Malky tells me you're making progress.
Yeah. I am, but it's gonna take
a really long time to trace it.
How long?
- I don't know.
- Roughly.
A day? A week?
A month? A year? A decade?
- What? Help me.
- I can't I can't say.
It's a huge amount of work.
Maybe this will help you concentrate.
I can't take your money.
Why not?
Jared took it.
That's why you're in this mess.
Here.
That's fine. I'll speak
to the bursar directly.
Yeah. It was just to say
I'll be in in the morning
and I'll I'll
settle the fees in full.
Great. Thank you. Bye.
- You have money now?
- Yeah. Erm
I have to pay you in cash.
Erm
I'm gonna give you a bit extra 'cos
I know it's really late.
Thanks.
And I'll I'll find some time today
- to get to the supermarket, get some food and
- Sure.
Hello, sir.
I just spoke to a contact at
the Scottish Land Registry.
Apparently the agent handling
the sale of the Isle of Eris
has gone missing, along with
some fairly crucial paperwork.
It's got to be Morris.
- I knew he hadn't given up.
- Course he hasn't.
Have a look at who's been
helping him with his finances.
I would say that was
a cash in hand payment.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Which means she could
be very useful to us.
Mrs Noble.
DCI Adam Guthrie.
I'd like to speak to you regarding
your relationship with Callum Morris.