The Woman in the Wall (2023) s01e02 Episode Script

- Father Percy was found dead.
- He was a family friend.
I'm sorry for, er, your loss.
We just wanted
a quick word with you, Lorna.
Do you remember the last time
you saw Father Percy?
Someone's
trying to cover their tracks.
Hello? Who is that?
- Please don't take my baby!
- [BABY CRIES]
[SHE SCREAMS]
[PHONE RINGS]
Called the Eadrom Group, they're
prepared to lobby on our behalf,
to get the state to recognise
that the convent was a former
Magdalene Laundry.
[ECHOING, WHEELS SQUEAK]
[ECHOING CONTINUES]
[ECHOING GROWS LOUDER]
[CLATTERING]
How many times do I
have to tell you? Get over there!
Come along, girls!
Oh, I'm so tired, Clemence.
Come on, concentrate,
only a few hours left.
Silence!
- Move along, girls!
- ALL: Yes, Sister Eileen.
[BABY CRIES]
- Move along!
- Yes, Sister Eileen.
[BABIES CRY]
[CRYING ECHOES]
[ECHOING STOPS, BIRDS CHIRP]
WHISPERS: Oh, shit.
[PHONE RINGS]
WHISPERS: Who's
this calling you now?
[RINGING STOPS]
[PHONE VIBRATES]
Aoife.
So that's your name.
[PLOP!]
[JINGLE PLAYS]
No.
No. No, no, no, no!
Shit!
This is Father Percy's car
leaving Dublin last Thursday.
Obviously, that's not him driving.
Looks to be a woman
in the passenger seat.
This is it?
- Er, yeah.
- And nothing from the speed vans?
No.
No, he drove the speed limit
all the way,
avoided the main roads
wherever possible.
I'll run these back to Dublin,
get them out
to every station in the country,
see if this guy has a record.
- Where did you get those?
- Barry's.
- Do you like them?
- I do.
They're all right, aren't they?
They are.
And you've none at all
with the woman's face visible?
No.
So, one of them's our murderer, huh?
Probably our arsonist, too.
We'll need to check all local CCTV.
Who owns the stables
at the back of the station?
Maybe they saw something.
The horses won't fuck.
- Come again?
- The horses
[HORSE WHINNIES]
they won't fuck each other.
That helpful to you?
I'm honestly not sure.
The fire scared my studs
into a bunch of frigid queers.
Who's going to make me square
for that?
I noticed your property runs up
along the back of the station.
Are you suggesting I had something
to do with it?
No, I'm wondering had you any CCTV?
[HORSE NEIGHS]
Easy!
They say a horse is a great judge
of character, Detective.
Can always sniff out the bad ones.
Is that why you keep
so many of them, Mr Coughlan?
Lot of bad ones around here?
I keep them because my father kept them.
- Lad, do you know who my father was?
- Why, did your mother not tell you?
Come on, Thomas,
did you see anything or not?
I know who started that fire.
I saw her running down towards
the garage after it started.
Who?
Amy Kane, of course.
- Do me a favour, Thomas.
- Don't pretend it doesn't make sense,
Massey, it's exactly
the kind of thing she would do.
Do you expect us
to take you seriously, do you?
Then, why are you here,
asking me questions?
Fuck off, the pair of you,
I have work to do.
Come on.
Are you all right?
Looks like we're speaking
to Amy Kane again, so.
I guess we fuckin' are.
- [TINNY MUSIC PLAYS]
- WHISPERS: Come on!
Just checked,
there's nothing in the back.
Can you check again, please?
I'll be with you in a minute,
Clemence.
I want to get out of here, Lorna.
I want to be with my baby.
So do I, Clemence.
We will.
I promise you.
[SHE LAUGHS]
- And you were working here all night?
- Yep.
Someone reckons they witnessed you
running away from the fire, Amy.
They're a fuckin' liar.
I was here the whole time.
Did you see anyone approaching
the Garda station that night,
sometime between 3 and 4am?
Not a soul all night.
I don't think you can smoke that
in here, Amy.
- I'm nowhere near the pumps.
- Maybe your CCTV picked something up?
Monitors are in the sales office.
Have at them. They only cover
the pumps, not the road.
Have you seen anyone like this
around?
Maybe last Friday, he was in here?
You have, haven't you?
It's hard to tell from the picture.
There was a man a bit like that
came in, acting all unscrewed,
wanted to buy a bottle of vodka.
- Did he pay with a card?
- I wouldn't serve him.
Why?
Wanted to pay cash,
spilled coins all over the counter.
- Seen he had a five-year chip.
- You mean like a sobriety chip?
- When was this, Amy?
- Friday. Sometime after ten.
We need to get a look
at the cameras.
Start looking at 12-step programmes,
- cross-reference anyone with a record
- You, Dublin stay.
It was Thomas Coughlan, wasn't it?
He said he saw me starting the fire?
Well, you know I can't say.
Of course you'd take his side.
Men protecting men.
No, I'm on no-one's side.
No?
So you don't know Father Percy?
I saw your face the other day
when I said I was happy he was dead.
Is that everything you have
to tell us, Amy?
Yes, Officer.
Thanks for your help.
[CHILDREN SHOUT]
Yeah, that's the right one.
Now, then, anything else?
No, no, that's it.
- Actually, have you got a plug I can use?
- Yeah,
- I can stick it in back here for you.
- Thanks.
[DOOR BELL CHIMES]
Morning, Damian.
Morning, Massey.
Might I ask you,
any chance we can get a wee
look-in at your security tapes
from Sunday night?
We're hoping to get a glimpse
of that fella who started the fire.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Right.
Now
You're saying
he came down this road?
The camera will have
picked him up for sure.
Right.
Just bear with me a second, now,
this takes a few minutes.
How are you, Lorna?
A bit of DIY, is it?
No, erm
[PHONE VIBRATES]
- There you go.
- Er No, no.
What time are we looking for here,
Colman, 3.30?
- 3.30am.
- 3.30am, yeah.
- Keep going.
- 3.30am
- Keep going, a little further.
- Right.
- Come on, that's it.
- I don't see anyone.
There, is that someone?
- Erm, yeah, looks like someone there.
- Can you zoom in, Damian?
Yeah, just give me a second there,
hang on.
Ah! Jesus!
Oh, for f
Sorry, lads, something's
not right here.
I might not be able to help you.
I'll have to get someone
to take a look at it.
- [SHE GASPS]
-
WHISPERS: Oh, shit! Shit.
[PLOP!]
[DISTANT CHATTER]
OK, Dublin have sent a match
on the images.
Dara O'Halloran -
one count of aggravated burglary,
two counts of assault
causing serious harm.
He had a little spell in Mountjoy
a few years ago, joined AA.
So much for being anonymous.
Sorry, Dara.
Well, he's not from Kilkinure.
Anything on the woman?
No.
There is a number for the fella.
This is his last known location.
Ah, but that's close to Carrick,
- that's not far from here.
- Can we not get a more exact location?
No, no, the towers out here are
few and far between, but, sure,
if he uses the phone again,
we'll get a closer match.
[RINGING TONE]
[PHONE RINGS]
Aoife?
THROUGH PHONE SPEAKER: Aoife?
- Hello?
- Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
Aoife?
Hi.
You what?
Was that Aoife?
Think you've the wrong person, love.
You were talking to Aoife
just now, I heard you.
Fuck off and leave me alone!
Look
my name's Grace.
I knew Aoife from the convent.
What are you supposed to be, a nun?
I was.
I haven't seen Aoife in years,
and then she calls me up
- and tells me to meet her here and
- You spoke to Aoife? When?
- This morning.
- And what did she tell you?
She said she needed my help
to find someone,
a woman from the convent.
Why was she looking for her?
If you're such a good friend
of my wife's,
how come I've never heard of you
before Grace?
Well, I told you already
I haven't
seen your wife in a very long time.
What was she trying to tell
this woman?
It was about her child, wasn't it?
What the fuck did Aoife do?
She didn't do anything. She was
trying to do the right thing.
That's why she came back here.
Wait, no, what are you doing?
- I'm calling her.
- She won't answer, she won't
Where's my wife?
I don't know.
I don't know where she is.
You're that woman she went to meet,
aren't you? You're Clemence.
What?
Clemence? Clemence Tooley?
Do you think I'm afraid to hurt you,
do you?
How are you, Tom? How are things,
all right?
- Fuck!
- Hey!
Hey!
Hold it right there. You're under
arrest for the murder
of Father Percy Sheehan. You're not
obliged to say anything unless
MASSEY: You're not
obliged to say anything
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
[DOG BARKS]
[CONTINUES BARKING]
[BARKING]
[GATE CREAKS]
[ECHOING WHISPERS]
[HE GASPS]
[HE GROANS AND PANTS]
[BARKING CONTINUES]
[TYRES SCREECH]
[SHE GASPS AND PANTS]
[BABY CRIES]
[SHE GASPS]
Sh!
[BABY CRIES]
Sh!
[BABY COOS]
Sh!
[LORNA GASPS]
GASPS: Clemence?
[BOAT HORNS HOOT]
[SHE RAPS ON DOOR]
Lorna? Jesus!
Do you know what time it is?
Erm, I need to talk to Clemence.
It's important, David.
Are you sleepwalking?
No! Can you wake her, please?
- You're not talking to Clemence.
- Look, this is about her child.
I think Clemence spoke to someone
who knows something about our kids.
- Take your hand off the door.
- Did you hear what I just said?!
I don't want to hear about it.
Haven't you done enough
without dragging up more of
this shite? Leave my sister alone.
If you come around here again,
I'll call the police.
So you've declined
legal representation. Why is that?
- No comment.
- So what was it, then,
a robbery went sideways, or was it
something more personal?
No comment.
Or did you just steal the car,
you've nothing to do with
the murder?
No comment.
You know you don't
actually have to say, "No comment"?
[HE SIGHS]
We know you weren't alone.
Which one of you killed him?
Was it you, was it her?
Was it a two-man job?
It wasn't a two-man job.
Sorry, could you say that again,
please?
It was me, all right? Only me.
I
I killed that priest.
Why?
Like you said, a robbery got
out of hand. It was an accident.
I never meant to hurt him.
Why did you come to Kilkinure?
Father Percy used to work here
at the convent.
That's the man you killed.
I didn't know the man.
So it was just a coincidence
that you came here?
That's right.
Walk me through the murder.
So you break in where, then?
What?
Do you head for the living room
first, do you go upstairs?
Where did you find Father Percy?
He was coming down the stairs.
I must've woken him.
That's where we found him,
bottom of the stairs.
Yeah, well, that's where I
- where it happened.
- Like the papers said?
Did they?
How did you kill him?
You know how I killed him.
I know, but I want to hear it
from you,
want to know how this woman
was involved.
She wasn't involved.
Well, which one
of you was holding the knife, then?
- I was.
- How many times did you stab him?
I can't remember.
- Just the once.
- You sure?
I can't remember. It was dark.
It might have been
a couple of times.
The papers didn't report that,
did they?
I don't know what the
fuckin' papers said, do I?
They didn't report a murder weapon,
either.
Now, let's get back to that woman.
I'm guessing, since you're ready
to cover up for her,
she's someone close to you?
Did she have a reason
to kill Father Percy?
She didn't kill him.
Well, one of you did
and it obviously wasn't you, so
- She didn't do it!
- Fine.
Look, Dara, if you want us
to draw our own conclusions,
- we'll just call it a day, then.
- No, listen to me.
[HE SIGHS]
She went to the house, all right?
But it was only to talk to the man.
Why would she want
to talk to Father Percy?
They used to work together.
My wife was a nun.
Your wife was a nun?
Here at the convent?
Yeah, at the House of the Sacred
fuckin' whatever.
You mean
the Sisters of the Seven Joys?
Whatever it's called. But she left
that place a long time ago.
- She hasn't seen that man in decades!
- So where is she now?
Leave Aoife out of this.
She's the one who's suffered here.
She still wakes up screaming,
because she thinks she sees kids
standing at the foot of our bed.
And now she's missing!
And our daughter's at her wits' end.
What about the woman from the bar?
Why aren't you looking for her?
What are you saying? That wasn't
your wife with you at the bar?
I told one of yous this already!
Grace, she said her name was.
That was a lie. obviously.
Proper oddball,
asking all sorts of questions
about Aoife, about the priest.
- Why is no-one looking for her?
- What did she look like?
Yay high, Joan of Arc fuckin'
haircut on her.
She knows where Aoife is.
And yous need to find her!
[RATTLING]
[ELECTRONIC WHIRRING]
We'll hide the babies in the laundry
basket.
Then, when we get to the hotel,
he'll go inside.
And then we get out and run.
What if the babies start crying?
The driver will hear us.
They won't cry.
They'll be with their mammies.
Watch the step. Come on, this way.
- Are you all right getting out there?
- James, hi.
I'm so sorry,
we're a few minutes late.
Can you give us two more minutes,
OK?
Clemence?
You came?
- I'm shittin' a brick.
- It's a nice place, though, isn't it?
Yes, it's very nice. We used
to clean their sheets for them.
- You're kidding me?
- No!
Shit!
Are you cold, Peggy?
The wind, it nearly took me away.
Hey!
Clemence, can we talk?
- Clemence
- I know something you don't know.
- What do you want, Amy?
- Nothing.
I just wanted to let you know
I've got your back.
Us mothers have to stick together,
haven't we?
- Sister, how are you?
- It's a pleasure.
Well, we won't take up too much
of your time, Sister.
The woman we're enquiring about is
Sister Aoife Cassidy.
She would have been here
sometime between 1983 and 1987.
It's such a long time ago.
Before my time, obviously.
I can't promise anything,
but I'll do my best.
And we appreciate that, Sister.
[KEYBOARD KEYS CLACK]
That's odd,
there's no record of her.
Perhaps one of the older Sisters
might remember her?
Could we speak to someone
from her time?
I don't think that's going to
be possible.
Right, well, we wouldn't
want to disturb
Or we can just bring them
down to the station,
if you'd prefer
this to be more official.
I'm sure they'd be happy to help,
this being an investigation
into the murder of a priest.
My name is James Coyle,
and I'm the co-founder
of the Eadrom Group.
I'm inspired by the courage
you have shown coming here today
to share your stories.
Truly.
I want you to know
that it's going to be worth it.
I'm going to be using your stories
to build us a case.
We are going to get the state
to acknowledge
what they should
have acknowledged
a heck of a time
ago, if you'll excuse my language.
And now I am going to shut my trap,
because it's you
we are here to hear from today.
OK.
Who'd like to speak first?
Um, did anyone bring anything
they'd like to show today?
Does anyone want to talk
about any of these these things?
What's that you brought, Amy?
Nail clippers?
[SHE SIGHS, CLEARS HER THROAT]
There was this one nun,
and she was a real sadistic bitch
when it came to punishment.
Whenever it was ironing,
she'd hover over me the entire time
because, well, she knew,
I was no good at the ironing.
The moment a crease appeared,
she'd pull out a little pair
of clippers, and
[SHE EXHALES]
she'd cut all my fingernails
back too far.
And then I'd bleed.
And
there'd be blood
all over the sheets
and that would give one of
the other nuns cause
to punish me properly.
And I used to think it
was like, you know
it was like
she was feeding sharks, you know?
Blood on the sheets,
blood in the water.
I saw her do it to you too, once,
Lorna.
What was that for?
LORNA: I was telling
knock, knock jokes.
How did you get the clippers, Amy?
They're not the actual clippers,
you know?
You know, symbolic.
COYLE: There's a sheet
of paper there. What's that?
That's mine.
That's those are my, erm,
exam results, apparently.
They used to send those back
to my mother to make her think
I was sitting my exams
instead of working
a calendar machine
16 hour a day.
"Writing, 86%, maths"
We don't lock the doors here.
For some reason,
they assumed I was older
IN A HIGH-PITCHED VOICE:
We don't lock the doors here.
This isn't a prison.
You can leave any time you want.
But where would you go?
Who would have you?
DEEPER: No-one wants you.
You're a sinner.
[SHE SCOFFS]
We're here to help you, Lorna.
To teach you how
to be a proper mother.
Now, be a good girl now
and tell us what you and Clemence
had planned.
[BABIES GURGLE AND COO]
Look
WHISPERS: Come on.
This is my baby.
You were right, Lorna,
she isn't crying.
And if you're good,
only if you're very good,
you can leave here with your baby.
[DOOR OPENS]
Lorna? Lorna?
- Give her to me.
- No, no, she's mine!
No.
No! Stop! No!
- No! Lorna!
- [BABY CRIES]
How could you do this?
No! No! No!
How could you do this to me? No! No!
[SNIPPING]
[SHE SOBS]
Thank you, Lorna.
You are a good girl.
I'm not good.
I'm not good, I'm not.
SOBS: I didn't want to do it!
I'm sorry!
[SHE SOBS]
Sister, two detectives
[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]
That's all right, bring them in.
Detectives?
This is Sister Eileen.
She was Mother Superior
at the time in question.
You've finally caught me.
[MASSEY LAUGHS] Yeah.
Er, sister, this is Detective
Colman Akande, from Dublin.
How do you do?
Yeah, we'd just like
to ask you a few questions, please,
if you have the time, of course.
Have you recently been in contact
with a Sister Aoife Cassidy?
"Recent" is a very relative term to
an old anchorite like myself.
Say in the last week?
It's understandable, of course,
if you don't remember
Sister Aoife at all.
That's a title we take
very seriously around here.
Aoife Cassidy never
made her final vows,
so please don't call her that.
That must be why she didn't show up
on your system, so.
But you do remember her?
Oh, I remember her.
She was a lovely woman.
But troubled.
- She didn't take to the work, poor girl.
- And you haven't seen her?
I haven't seen that woman
for about oh, 30 years.
That would have been around
the time Father Percy Sheehan
used to work here, wasn't it?
I read about him in the paper.
Why would someone want to hurt
Father Percy?
You don't suspect that Miss Cassidy
had anything to do with that,
do you?
No, we were just hoping
to talk to this woman
as part of our inquiries.
You say she didn't take to the work.
What did you mean by that?
You had to have the stomach
for our kind of job.
Especially with the babies.
It was awful easy to get attached
to those lovely babies.
That'd be the Mother and Baby home?
Speak up?
You're saying Aoife Cassidy worked
in the Mother and Baby home?
There was no Mother and Baby home.
This was a training centre.
A few of the girls got into trouble,
that's all.
- But we did all we could for them.
- Like what?
Well, they came to us.
Their families sent them to us
because they knew
that they'd be better off with us.
And we received no compensation
from their families.
No funding whatsoever
to support those young women.
Is that why you ran a laundry
as well?
We had a small laundry facility.
And it wasn't for profit.
And it wasn't for punishment.
And it wasn't for any horrible thing
you might be imagining.
It was our only means of supporting
those girls.
And every government investigation
and report said that same thing!
Some would paint a very different
picture of this place.
I've no doubt they would.
But the truth of it is, some
of those girls couldn't be helped.
They were never destined
to be mothers.
We did all we could for them.
You didn't answer my question
about Father Percy.
What was his involvement here
with the Sisters of the Seven Joys?
Father Percy gave Mass
in the chapel on Sunday.
Once in the morning
and once in the evening.
- That's all?
- That's it.
And is this the only convent
that he said Mass at?
Ah, forgive me,
my memory's not what it used to be.
I'm tired.
Sorry, Detectives,
we'll have to stop there for today.
Thank you for your time, Sister.
I read something downstairs
in the office, something in Latin.
"Montra esse te matrum."
- "Monstra te esse matrem."
- What does that mean?
"Show thyself a mother."
LORNA: What did Aoife tell you
about our kids, Clemence?
You spoke to her, didn't you?
Look, what did she tell you?
Hey, Clemence! Clemence,
it's time to go!
Are they alive?
- Come on, Clemence, what did she say?
- She
That's enough, Lorna.
She God, I really I can't!
- It's all right, it's all right.
- [CLEMENCE SOBS]
I'm sorry.
Can we talk tomorrow, please?
I'll tell you everything.
I'll tell you everything.
Clemence, come on.
You nearly had
the head off that poor woman.
"Poor woman"?!
I'd half a mind to request a warrant
and turn the entire place
top to bottom.
- To look for what, exactly?
- Aoife Cassidy, for starters.
Why are you working so hard
to connect this crime to this place?
Why are you working so hard
to disconnect them?
It feels like you've been trying
to knock off early since this began.
I know this town, OK?
It's not all about that,
it's about listening
to what's around you.
And I'll tell you something else,
if Aoife Cassidy was
still in this town,
we'd have heard something by now.
Yeah, that's something else
that's been bugging me.
Oh, yeah, what's that?
You keep on about this tight-knit
community of yours,
the dependability of your network
of chatter and gossip,
where everyone knows
everything about everyone.
Someone farts in church on Sunday
morning and the entire town's
laughing about it before lunch,
and yet, in that fuckin' building
back there, I'm hearing girls were
locked up and children were stolen,
and you're trying to tell me
no-one knew anything about it?
How does something like that
escape your network?
Because there's knowing
and there's knowing.
[HE SIGHS]
[COLMAN GASPS]
Are you OK?
[COLMAN GASPS]
All right, all right!
- Hey, hey!
- [GATE CLANGS]
Whoa! You're all right.
You're all right, cub,
you're all right.
Take a big breath, a big one.
Come on, slow it down.
Slow it down, you're all right.
[COLMAN GASPS]
Have you ever had one of these
before?
Not in years.
I was born
in a Mother and Baby home.
Nothing like that place, just
It's all right.
- Just
- It's all right.
It's fine.
It won't happen again.
- [MUSIC PLAYS, CRISPS CRUNCH]
-
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
I do remember you.
You know, you say
I didn't remember you, but I do.
Huh?
The last time I saw you was
at that disco in the GAA club.
You were wearing way too much denim.
That sounds about right.
That is a lot of crisps.
They're mine.
I've this thing I do,
where I take one of one flavour
and another of another flavour,
and I eat them at the same time.
So it kind of makes, like,
a whole new kind of
You're a bit weird, aren't you?
Were you always like this?
I don't remember you being so weird.
I suppose I was.
You know, you haven't changed,
either.
At school you were always
the funny one.
- I was not.
- You were.
- I thought you were.
- Funny?
No. You're thinking
of someone else, Michael.
I'm not!
- You were funny.
- No, I was not funny.
OK.
[BABY CRIES]
I'm so fuckin' tired.
You're not sleeping well?
Not sleeping.
What?
You know, you and your friend
wanted to take me
and my friend up to the
wailing woman's house that night.
That's right.
We did.
But you went home early.
[SHE YELLS]
- Yeah.
- Last orders!
[BELL RINGS]
I haven't been up there in 30 years.
[TRICKLING]
MICHAEL: Jesus!
I don't know why teenagers used to
think this place was romantic.
SCOFFS: They didn't.
They just had nowhere else to go.
Ah, I suppose you're right. That was
the country we were living in.
Having to come to a place like this
just to be together.
Can you get in?
[DOOR CREAKS]
[ECHOING LAUGHTER]
ECHOING: Look, you fizzed it up!
[LAUGHTER]
- BOY: You did that on purpose!
- GIRL: I did not!
- Yeah, you did!
- I did not!
Yes, you did!
ECHOING: Come on!
Come on! Come on, this way,
this way, come on!
BOY: Warmer.
Colder.
- Warmer.
- Stupid!
Warmer.
[GIRL GIGGLING]
Warmer.
Do you ever see Declan O'Brien?
Erm no.
Liar.
Erm
he's married.
Four or five kids.
Of course he is.
BOY, ECHOING: Come on up here, quick!
[BABIES CRY]
[SHE GASPS]
[CRYING ECHOES]
Stop! Stop!
Lorna, how could you do this to me?!
No! Stop! No! No! No!
How could you do this to me?!
No! No!
Give her back!
Can I be with my baby now?
IN DISTANCE: No! Stop!
[BABY GURGLES]
What are you waiting for?
Aren't you going to pick her up?
[RAGGED BREATHING]
Which one is mine?
Which one is yours?
And you call yourself a mother?
[SHE SOBS]
[BABIES CRY]
[CRYING INTENSIFIES]
[CRYING STOPS]
Lorna?
Are you all right?
Clemence knows what happened
to my kid.
She what?
She's telling me tomorrow.
I'm really scared.
I'm really scared.
[TRICKLING, SQUELCHING]
[ECHOING SCREAM]
Clemence?
Clemence?
Clemence?
Clemence?
[HE GASPS]
[ECHOING SCREAM]