The Long Call (2021) s01e02 Episode Script

1
Simon Walton? Single stab wound
to the chest, no DNA.
No witnesses. No motive.
Have you noticed
anything up with Lucy recently?
She's hiding things.
Lying.
You know the worldly aren't supposed
to mourn with us.
I think he would've wanted me here.
He deserved some peace
for his final days.
God knows you've
given neither of us that.
Boss, your mum rang.
Her neighbour's daughter,
Rosa Shapland, hasn't been seen
since this morning.
'My name's Rosa.
I need to get home. He's coming.'
So it's an abduction.
What time is it?
It's five thirty.
Sorry.
Is there any news?
None.
Go back to sleep.
Mm.
Oh, you're You're up.
I said you would be.
I was cleaning her room.
I found this,
hidden down the side of her bed.
It's not from any of the family.
We thought it might be important.
It might be.
Is there any progress?
Er, we started house-to-house
enquiries last night.
We can't pinpoint exactly where
she made the 999 call from, but
the mobile phone masts
give us a search area.
We'll find her.
We will.
You've got work to do, so
Come on, Ruth.
Rosa Shapland.
Volunteers at the Woodyard.
Was last seen there yesterday
at noon.
We believe she made a 999 call
last night for help.
The phone was switched off, so
we couldn't get a precise location,
but we've pinged it and established
a search area around Saunton Sands.
Rosa is 19, but she's lived
an extremely sheltered life.
Very little contact
with anyone outside of her church.
Her mother
found this
hidden in her bedroom.
It's very unlikely
that Rosa bought this herself.
So we need to get the necklace
to forensics ASAP. Sir.
We do know that Rosa had contact
with Simon Walden
in the weeks
leading up to his death.
He attended her church
..and they spent time together
alone.
Walden's mobile provider
has confirmed
that he and Rosa exchanged
a number of texts
in the days leading up to his death.
Without the physical phones,
we don't know the content
of these messages.
But it does appear
that Simon Walden's murder
and Rosa's disappearance
are linked.
So we're looking at
the same perpetrator, Sir?
That's what we need to find out.
Until we have evidence
to the contrary,
we operate on the basis
that she's still alive,
maybe being held somewhere.
She's been missing for 18 hours.
There's still a very good chance
we could get her home safely.
DC Pritchard, I want you
to take a team on house-to-house
in the Saunton Sands area.
Sir, the other numbers
that Walden received messages from,
one of them is a colleague of his
at the Woodyard, another chef.
Name's, erm, William Strensham.
Will Strensham?
What was he like? At school?
Always picked first in PE,
captain of every team.
Girls used to literally
fight over him.
Sounds like a knob.
You know, thing about guys like that
is that school was the pinnacle.
It's all been downhill since then.
Unlike us losers.
I've been looking out for you.
You know, what with Jonathan
and everything.
I didn't know
you knew I was living back here.
Oh, yeah,
you're big news round here.
I mean, to be fair,
there's not much competition, so
Right.
Look, you don't have to pretend
this is a social call, Matt.
I guess you're here
to talk about Simon.
Yeah.
I need you to tell me about
the text messages you exchanged.
I'm in debt. And Simon,
well, he offered to bail me out.
He said he had this cash
that he hadn't got any need of.
It was like he was making excuses
to get rid of it or something.
Only, a few days later, he said he
couldn't give me the cash after all.
Something else he needed
the money for or something, so
Did he say what?
No.
Did he ever mention
a girl called Rosa?
Another volunteer here?
No.
But I did see him talking to the
girls at the day centre sometimes.
Seemed a bit weird.
Sir.
A woman on Harebell Lane says
she saw a light on
at a neighbouring property
last night.
She thinks she saw a man with
a woman matching Rosa's description.
Becky, you better call it in.
I hear that you're friendly
with Rosa, is that right?
I'm friends with everybody here.
And, erm, what about Simon and Rosa,
were they friends?
Did you ever see them together?
Talking? Meeting up?
We know that Simon had been
to one of Rosa's church meetings.
Do you know anything about that?
No.
Rosa had texted Simon.
Any idea why?
Were they more than just friends,
Lucy?
'She knows more than she's saying.'
'Scared of getting in trouble
if she tells us?'
She ain't scared.
Let's say Rosa and Walden
were involved in some way.
A friendship or something more.
Mm.
Is it possible they were together
at the time of his murder,
that Rosa witnessed the attack?
What, and then the killer took her
to silence her?
Mm Why wait two days?
Ross?
You better come over here.
Any sign of a body being moved?
Not that I can see.
When will we know if it's Rosa's?
Blood type in an hour,
full DNA tomorrow morning.
OK.
Whoever it was broke in
and held Rosa here.
Why this place?
Opportunism? Hmm
A place to hold her.
Why all the mess?
Result of an attack?
Looks more like someone was
searching for something.
Have we tracked down the owners?
Yeah, we're on it.
Apparently, they live abroad
and rent this place out.
The neighbour doesn't think
there's been any guests recently.
But she noticed the light on.
Yeah, more than once
in the last few weeks.
Assumed it was a cleaner.
But there was no sign of a break-in
48 hours ago? No.
Milk, a week out of date.
Someone's been using this place.
That person must have had a key.
Let's step up the house-to-house.
See if anyone else has witnessed
movement in the last few weeks,
or anything else
in the early hours of this morning.
Sir?
This laptop was hidden
in the loft space.
Locked with a password.
Let's get it onto tech.
There's this as well.
A Bible with "Simon Walden"
inscribed in it.
Ruth's in pieces, Matthew.
We all are.
Please find our girl.
We will.
Do you think her disappearance
is linked to this murder?
Er, we don't know yet.
We didn't even realise
it was him that'd been killed
till we saw his photo in the paper.
And when he came here to the church,
did you talk to him?
A bit.
You could tell he was troubled
Smell the booze on him.
Er, we found this in his things.
Oh.
Yeah, I gave him that.
Told him
to come back to the next meeting.
Never did.
I remember doing this
when I was a kid.
Not just homeless now.
Other families need help, too.
They need God's word, too.
Well, I'd expect they'd rather
an extra tin of beans.
When people are suffering,
they start looking for
a different way.
We try to show it to them.
A simpler, kinder life.
Less about buying things
and looking at screens. And
more about helping people.
I know you think it's all hellfire
and damnation.
No.
I remember the kindness.
I remember the judgement, too.
I know what you saw this morning.
Please, Matthew, no.
I refuse to feel ashamed.
I know you do.
And I know it's been easier
to pretend I don't exist.
Is that what you think?
Well, it's true, isn't it?
Better no son than a
..than a gay one.
Mm.
So, it's Rosa's blood type.
Fingerprints place Rosa
and Walden there.
No CCTV in the area?
Nothing.
Still waiting on the owners.
Postie says he's seen a man
and a woman a few times recently
matching Walden's description,
but not Rosa's.
So we know Rosa and Walden
texted each other,
we know they spent time together.
We know they both spent time
at the chalet,
but we don't know
if it was together.
It does seem likely
that whoever abducted Rosa
knew about Simon's
use of this place, so
Possibilities.
Something's going on
between Walden and Rosa.
She witnessed the murder
and was abducted to silence her.
Priority
is unlocking Walden's laptop.
And finding out how and why
he had use of this place.
If we understand that,
we might make some sense of this.
I'll get on it.
Do you think she's still alive, Sir?
Yeah, we'll proceed
on the basis she is.
You been up all night?
Working.
Thought you probably hadn't eaten.
Guilt cake? What've you done?
I need to talk to you about Ed.
You've cheated on him.
I've asked him to move in.
Congratulations.
I mean, obviously,
he'll be paying his own share
It'll just be like
having another lodger.
Right, yeah.
I'm so pleased for you. Come here.
I'll bring some more stuff round
tonight.
How much more is there?!
All right, it's not too late
to change your mind.
Actually, it is.
I've handed in notice on my flat,
so you're stuck with me.
Good.
Dad.
On at me to meet for a drink.
He wants to talk.
Oh. What a total bastard.
I just can't deal with him
at the moment.
Why?
I don't know. This
Simon stuff.
The police.
Bad memories, I guess.
Of the accident?
You know
you don't have to hide your scars.
I know he just wants to help, but
Well, then, let him help.
I'm serious, you're lucky.
My dad panics
when my mum leaves the room,
in case he has to talk to me.
Just call him back.
This is nice, innit?
Could never have done this
in London, could we?
I know I've been working a lot
recently.
I know we haven't checked in
with each other for a while.
Like, five days.
This is nice, though, yeah.
Made the right decision coming here,
didn't we?
Away from your dad.
How's school?
And by that, I mean,
is there anybody nice?
There is one.
Mm?
Asked me out.
And?
Told him I was too busy with exams.
Oh
I think there must have been
a mix-up at the hospital
when you were born.
Mm!
Sorry, love.
Ross. 'Hey.
Got hold of the chalet owners.'
According to them, the only people
with a set of keys are a local pub.
'Their staff do a load of cleaning
for some holiday lets.'
You'll never guess which pub.
Hi.
You and the staff here
clean holiday lets, is that right?
Yeah.
Well, can I have a look
at the rotas?
Wasn't expecting to see you again.
Yeah, me neither.
Did you get my text?
I thought maybe
I got the number wrong.
No, you didn't.
Erm, I'm gonna need you
to just never mention
the other night ever again.
This isn't like some negging thing
to keep you interested.
I-I mean, literally,
wipe it from your mind forever.
OK.
Are these the names of the people
that had access?
Are they staff here?
It's me, and two girls
that work in the kitchen.
And there was a mate of theirs
that lives down the street,
but she got sacked.
Is this her?
Yeah. Gaby Chadwell.
I gave Simon a key, yeah.
So you were in a relationship.
I wouldn't call it a relationship.
Whatever it was,
you concealed it from us.
And that's a potential crime.
When did it start?
A few months ago.
Nothing happened at Hope Street.
We hardly spoke.
So, you met up at the holiday let?
I'd been sacked by then.
I was the shittest cleaner ever,
I just wiped around stuff.
But I still had a key.
Got one copied and gave it to Simon.
Just told him to meet me there
that night.
So you met there for sex.
That was the plan.
When I arrived, he'd cooked.
And we stayed up all night,
talking about childhoods.
We saw flowers there.
Food in the fridge.
We started meeting there most days,
just for an hour or two.
Once, we had a whole night.
The owners wanna press charges
for trespassing and theft.
I guess you've seen my record
already.
Proud history of shoplifting
and petty fraud.
Did you or Simon
ever take anyone else there?
No. He
..broke up with me.
Broke up with you? Why?
More interested in that church,
I guess.
You know Rosa Shapland's
a member of the church?
Rosa who?
She's missing.
Did Simon ever take Rosa
to the chalet?
I don't know.
Maybe.
I didn't even really know him.
'She is hurt. Angry.'
Hiding it, but
Is it possibility that
she knew about Walden and Rosa?
Killed him out of jealousy and
abducted her?
Well, whoever took Rosa
knew about the chalet.
Who else did, apart from her?
Why hide
they were sleeping together?
Eurgh. Your housemate?
That's gotta be awkward.
I need to speak to Rosa's mother.
All right, Sir.
So, did you tell him?
That your barman
is now a person of interest
in our investigation?
I'm sure
you'll take great pleasure in it.
I'm actually
not that much of a prick.
It's her blood?
We think so.
There's no sign
of what happened to her next.
But we'll keep searching.
Do you think she's still alive?
I don't know, Ruth.
But I promise you
..we will find her.
Matthew.
Will you
..come in for a minute?
Er
Oh, erm, you Go through.
I-I just wanna fetch something.
We followed your career.
In the newspapers.
I ordered them from Bristol.
It was no surprise to us
that you'd done well as a detective.
You were raised to listen
rather than talk, and
always were an observant child.
Noticing everything.
I never tried
to pretend you didn't exist.
You left us, Matthew.
You left us.
No. I left the church.
You told me
I wasn't welcome in this house.
Well, that's because I
knew I'd already lost you.
Er
This little world of ours
..I know people make fun of us.
What we try and hold onto.
I knew when you were, oh, 15, 16
..it it wasn't enough for you.
So, I didn't believe.
We could've still been a family,
couldn't we?
D'you remember that visit,
that Christmas?
You know,
after you'd left for university.
When you were 19.
I could feel how much
you didn't want to be here.
Even before you
..you stood up in that meeting.
I could see
how ridiculous you found us.
The contempt you felt.
You rejected
everything we'd given you.
Everything we'd raised you to be.
Everything we wanted for you.
I've been grieving that
for 20 years.
What you should've been.
Who you should've been.
And the grief's turned me sour.
Took any joy
I-I had left and dried it up.
Stopped me forgiving
..hoping for things.
Your poor dad.
I did wrong
..not bringing you here
in his last days.
I know I did.
But it wasn't because of
what you thought.
Er
His-his name's Jonathan,
by the way.
Oh.
So, the police haven't
made any progress?
They haven't arrested anyone yet.
And you haven't been sleeping,
by the looks of it.
I'm OK.
No, you're not.
Your housemate died
and you're grieving.
You need a few weeks' fun.
Somewhere away
from all this trauma.
I was thinking Barcelona.
Barcelona?
On me.
You can fly from Bristol
on Wednesday.
Dad, I have work.
You can take a holiday.
I've asked Ed to move in.
That could wait till you got back,
couldn't it?
He's moving his stuff today.
Well
just think about it, OK?
For someone who always says
we don't spend enough time together,
you're quite keen
to get rid of me recently.
What are you not telling me?
That you need a break. That's all.
Right.
Is that why you told them
to take me off the volunteer rota
at the Woodyard?
I know how busy you are.
Caroline
Gaby said I'd find you here.
I, er, need to talk to you
about Simon.
Erm, sure.
Great, thanks.
Did you know that Gaby
and Simon were together?
Who's that for?
I thought we could talk?
About the lies you told me?
Or the ones you told the police?
Caz, I'm so sorry.
You lied to us all.
You potentially
impeded the murder investigation.
Everything's been a big act,
and you got caught.
So you don't want to talk.
You want me to say I forgive you.
Well, I don't.
You know what,
I thought it was weird.
The little jokes, glib comments,
like it was all so ironic.
I thought, everyone has
their own way of coping.
The man you were with had died.
Why didn't you tell me
you were with him?
I was embarrassed.
He was a good person.
He was an alcoholic.
It wasn't like it was
a normal relationship.
Are you hiding anything else?
No.
What's going on, maid?
Nothing.
I saw you getting into his car.
The bloke from the Woodyard.
The handyman.
You followed me?
Rosa is missing. Someone took her.
You had no right.
You are gonna tell me everything,
or I swear to God
you'll not be
leaving this house alone again.
I am sick and tired
of you treating me like a child!
You are a child! You always will be!
I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.
Lucy!
I think I officially
came out to my mum today.
You've been hiding it so well
Shut up.
She had this scrapbook.
All of my cases,
going back over the years.
Er clippings from local papers.
You know, it's OK
to want your mum to be proud of you.
Yeah. She's proud of my work,
but she's not proud of me, is she?
Not of us.
Do you want her to be?
I don't know.
Do you wanna drink some vodka
and go skinny dipping?
Yes.
Yes, well
Wait.
Yep?
Well, I'll meet you there
in half an hour.
Rosa?
Yeah.
A woman on the bus thinks
she might have seen her
in the woods near Lovacott.
Alive? Don't know.
Well, I'm coming with you.
Anything?
Not yet.
Get this road closed
in both directions.
If Rosa's body's here,
it's us who's finding her. Right.
Dad?
'Rosa?'
Rosa?
Rosa? Rosa, can you hear us?
Can you hear us?
Rosa?
Rosa?
Over here!
She has a laceration to her scalp
and she's very confused.
But overall, she's doing well.
Do we know
what caused the laceration?
Possibly a fall. Possibly
a blow with something blunt.
The head injury means
she may not have clear memories
of what happened.
OK, thanks.
Thanks.
Have we got anything
on the necklace?
No DNA or prints on it.
Big brand, though
120 quid.
How many sold
in the last three months?
Er, 500-odd across the country.
We can pull the credit card
transactions, but not the cash.
But they've got the times and dates
of the sales?
Well, let's get all of the in-store
CCTV within a hundred miles
and find out if it was Walden
who bought the necklace. Sir.
Matthew.
Well done.
You could
come and eat with us later
..if you wanted to.
Hello? Can I help you?
My boyfriend broke up with me
for this place.
I heard it's a cult.
Did you indeed?
Would you like to see for yourself?
Come on
'Look, we don't believe in
religious symbols,
'clergy, or hierarchy.'
That's why we've got these circles
instead of pews and an altar.
Anyone can stand up and speak
during a meeting.
Did Simon
..say anything?
Simon Walden?
Was he your boyfriend?
He didn't say anything about me?
No.
I'm so sorry
about what happened to him.
People didn't know about us.
But you loved him.
I'm having his baby.
Oh.
I'm ready
to tell you the full story.
You don't have to
if it's too painful.
I want to.
Me and my mum and dad were
going home from a family party.
My dad was driving.
It was clear no rain or anything.
But somehow, we came off the road.
I know how much my dad drank.
I remember his breath
stinking of Scotch every night.
Still, now.
He'd have been tested.
And and there would've been
an inquest?
You don't know what my dad is like.
How he manipulates people.
He was drunk.
And he killed my mum.
And he covered it up.
I think my dad might know
something
about Simon's death.
Why?
He's been trying to keep me away.
On at me about going abroad.
Stopping me volunteering
at the Woodyard.
I found this on my dad's computer.
A non-disclosure agreement.
It's vague,
but it has Simon's name on it.
He he wanted Simon
to keep something quiet.
Look, wait
You've bought his whole act.
I-I just think
Look, you're upset
you're grieving.
You know nothing about grief.
Feel like the big man, do you?
Taking advantage
of an innocent young girl?
What?
I know
about you and my maid.
I'm guessing Jonathan doesn't.
Betting the police don't either.
She's not a kid.
She can do what she wants.
You young prick!
You think that
I'm some doddering old fool.
You don't know what I'm capable of.
You don't know
what I'd do for that girl.
Sir, we've unlocked Walden's laptop.
'So, he used messaging apps
from his laptop.'
We managed to retrieve the archive.
So someone was telling Simon
to stay away from Rosa?
Maybe Walden had done something to
Rosa and this person had found out?
Well, yeah.
But then, Walden sent this reply.
That was sent
to an unregistered burner.
There's also emails
sent to a solicitor,
talking about putting his whole 200K
into a trust account
in the Woodyard's name.
200 grand to charity?
Yeah, what if it wasn't charity?
What if it was
some form of redemption?
Rosa was being hurt,
but not by Simon.
He was going after whoever it was
who had been hurting her,
and they found out.
Is the CCTV footage in
from the jewellery stores yet? Yeah.
If we find out
who gave Rosa that necklace,
we might find out
who was hurting her.
Maybe even Simon Walden's killer,
too.
Right, I'll-I'll get on it.
Matthew.
Thank you for finding our girl.
Mm.
Matthew?
You're not staying to eat?
I-I can't, I
I thought I could meet him.
Jonathan
sometime.
If you wanted.
Sir?
Gotta see this.
Right, so you don't see him
make the purchase
but it's right day, right time.
It's him.