The Girl Before (2021) s01e04 Episode Script

1
You make me feel like nothing
bad will ever happen again.
Can you really tell me you feel safe?
I needed you here and you're not here.
You're never here.
You agreed to live
here under certain rules!
I can barely say the words out loud.
A baby.
What are you going to tell Edward?
Have you ever had the
sense of him controlling you?
No. No, no, no, no, not today.
You implied her death might
have been suspicious?
He killed her.
When a man is challenged,
he may become threatened.
Were you and her in a relationship?
Oh
So what I'm wondering is,
could that pearl have
come from that necklace?
Definitely.
Presumably you broke it at some
point and had the pearls restrung?
That's the strange thing,
I've never broken it.
Well, the pearls are identical,
Japanese triple A naturals.
Someone must like you very much.
I'm surprised it broke though.
That's silk thread.
Must've taken quite a bit of force.
Right.
Simon?
Look, this is going to seem
like a very odd question,
but did Edward Monkford
every give Emma any jewellery?
That bitch Leona has just complained
to HR about Saul.
Why?
We've been trying to patch things up,
so he finished with her
and, um, now she's trying to get him fired.
Oh, Mand.
Maybe Leona was right to say something.
I mean, it's not just her,
he hits on loads of women.
He could lose his job.
Yeah, OK,
but what if she was just telling the truth?
Babe, you can't want to be married
to a man that does that to you?
So you're going to lecture me
about relationships now, are you?
Someone who's not kept a
boyfriend more than five minutes.
TOILET FLUSHES
Why why don't we go for a drink?
I don't want to talk to you.
I just needed you to be
a bit more fucking loyal.
I need to speak to you, Edward.
Will you please answer the phone?
It's definitely hers.
I saw her wearing it.
He gave me a dead woman's necklace.
And the jeweller said it
was broken with some force?
Ripped off her neck maybe.
We don't know that.
Look, this may sound extreme,
but you know how serial
killers repeat themselves.
Every time they kill it's the same MO,
the same bizarre rituals?
What if he keeps using
that house to lure women in?
What if that's his ritual?
You're right, Simon,
that does sound extreme.
Although Emma's therapist
did mention this thing
Edward might have,
repetition compulsion she called it,
patterns, doing things over and over.
That's not that dissimilar, right?
And his wife and child
are buried there, so
At Folgate Street?
Emma found out.
Buried in the same place as where they died.
My God.
He never even mentioned that.
Maybe it all started with Elizabeth.
Which means that you need to be careful.
If it is a pattern,
it may not be over.
You came!
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!
I wanted to do this in person.
We are not good for each other.
I can't be like this.
You can't break up with me
because I played a stupid joke
about my friend's tattoo.
That's not why.
It's everything.
The drama, the chaos, your texts.
That paint, I mean, what
the hell is that about?
What have you been doing here?
That's not my fault.
Then whose fault, is it?
It's really complicated.
Yes, exactly.
Everything is with you,
complicated, unnecessary,
messy, cluttered.
I never should have
Never should have what?
Never should have screwed me?
Oh, Emma.
Because you seemed pretty into it at the time?
Yes. Mm.
I was.
I was.
So come on, loosen up.
No, no.
For as long as it was perfect,
that was the agreement.
We have these rules for a reason.
They are there to help us do
the right thing even when it's hard.
You're going to need to find
somewhere else to live.
No, you can't do that.
Yes, I can. This house has rules too
and you've broken every single one.
I thought
I thought you were going to be someone else.
I was wrong.
Be out by the end of the week.
Oh, shit!
Fuck you, house!
Paul Ellis. Thanks for meeting me
at such short notice. Yeah.
I saw you at Edward's office.
You were arguing?
Don't worry.
I'm not likely to have forgotten.
You, uh, look like someone I used to know.
I know.
That's why I'm here.
Is that what you were
arguing about, Elizabeth?
I can't tell you.
I signed a non-disclosure
agreement when I left.
I promise it won't go any further.
I know it happened when
Folgate Street was still
a building site.
It must have been an awful time.
You make it sound like an accident.
It wasn't?
Not entirely.
He killed them.
What do you mean, killed them?
The three of them were
visiting the site one day
to check on progress.
He got angry at the position of a wall,
decided it was a few centimetres out
and he knocked it down
by reversing a digger into it.
Elizabeth and Max were
standing on the other side.
Oh, my God.
But he couldn't have known that.
A few nights before he found
her crying on my shoulder.
I think he suspected she
was going to leave him.
But burying them there?
Why would he do that
unless he felt a terrible guilt?
Edward doesn't do guilt or remorse.
All he cares about is getting
his own way and that house.
I say house, but a more
accurate word might be tomb.
Enjoy your day.
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
If you don't leave me alone,
I swear to God you'll regret it.
I'm facing early retirement because of you.
Now piss off!
What the hell is this?
It's about Emma.
I'm trying to work out how she died,
who killed her.
And you think I could've done it?
It wasn't an accident.
I'm certain of that.
The more people I talk to,
the more one name keeps
coming up again and again,
and I need to know what
that man is capable of.
I'm falling in love with you
..and you're investigating me.
I know you killed Elizabeth and Max,
and I can't begin to imagine the grief
and guilt you must have felt,
but I need to.
I need to understand how this
relates to me and to Emma.
You of all people must
know what it feels like
to feel responsible for the
death of someone you love,
or am I wrong about that, too?
Have I just totally
misunderstood you all along?
Why are you doing this?
Because I'm pregnant.
No, you're not.
You can't be.
You can't be.
Not again.
You can't keep changing things like this!
I haven't decided yet
whether to keep it or not.
A child. For us. Of all people!
I know it wouldn't be easy.
Easy?
After what happened to you.
To me!
I'm sorry you feel this way
but if you won't tell me the truth
about what really happened to Emma.
Do you know why I accepted you living here?
You said you've designed
a house with integrity
and I will strive to
live there with integrity.
And now this?
You're lecturing me about integrity?
You knew all of this
and you said nothing.
Yes. Because I was trying to protect you!
I knew you'd become obsessed
with her because I had been.
It was like an illness.
I hated myself but I just couldn't stop.
And now you.
Uh!
How, could you?
Call me when you've made a decision.
Thanks for coming.
Don't be silly.
I'll come any time.
Jesus.
We broke up.
Me and Edward.
And the house is
..it's like it's turning on me.
Why did you break up?
Because
Oh, it's such a long story.
I've been all over the place recently.
Si, there's something we
need to talk about.
Something I
..should have told you ages ago.
He didn't actually say get rid of it,
but that's what he meant.
And he knows I've been doing
all this behind his back now.
Are you in danger?
He said he was falling in love with me.
It felt so real.
Or is he just manipulating you?
I don't think so.
But on the other hand,
everyone who's ever met him seems
to think he's some kind of monster,
and let's face it,
anyone who could build this place
could probably do pretty much
anything they set their mind to.
What do I do?
It's about
Saul.
Saul?
It was, uh, after that
sales thing in Brighton.
We were
drinking
drunk,
doing dares
..flirting.
The bar closed at midnight, but
..he said he had more booze in his room.
I wasn't going to go up with him.
I was going to go to sleep.
He texted me that he had opened the bottle.
Was I coming?
And I went.
Like a fucking idiot, I went.
We always flirted.
It's just what we did.
And then suddenly he just went at me.
And I don't think I actually
said no, but that's because
I couldn't say anything.
He didn't have a knife
..but he was so strong
..and I was terrified.
And then after he was like I agreed
to it or something, but I didn't.
The next morning he, uh,
he texted me.
No words
..just that video.
I knew I should take it to the police,
that's why I kept it.
I'd gone to his room,
I'd flirted with him in front of everyone.
I couldn't tell you.
I couldn't
I couldn't even look at you.
You, Amanda, work.
I couldn't face it.
So when the police
thought it was the burglar, I
I didn't think it would go anywhere,
but it didn't.
It just kept getter bigger
and bigger and bigger.
Em, Em.
Why didn't you tell me?
It would have been tough, sure,
but we'd have got through it.
Don't you see?
We'd have worked it out.
So you believe me?
Of course I believe you.
Hey, come here.
Saul's a bastard and I'm going to
I'm going to tear him apart.
No.
No, I'm going to
I'm going to tell HR what he did to me.
There's already a complaint against
him so when I tell them this,
he'll definitely lose his job.
OK.
If that's what you want.
Listen, I'm not going to spoil things
by asking if I can move back in.
But if you see anyone
suspicious round the house,
anyone, that includes Edward Monkford,
you'll call me, yes?
I'll come sleep on the sofa any time.
Thanks.
Friends again?
Yeah. Friends.
I just keep thinking why?
Why did it happen?
No. Why I was such an idiot.
I should have never
I've never met a rape survivor
who didn't blame themselves to some extent.
"I drank too much."
"I wore the wrong clothes."
"I led him on."
But drinking with someone is not consent.
Flirting is not consent.
Fancying someone is not consent.
Only consent is consent.
And it can be withdrawn at any time.
You have done nothing wrong.
He is a rapist.
I know that's meant to be true,
but it's different when it happens to you.
I've messed everything up,
haven't I?
No.
You've survived.
Come on, then.
I'll kill you!
Think I'm fucking around?
I'll fucking kill you!
Oh, my God.
Simon?
I was outside.
What are you doing here?
I was keeping watch, just in case.
Wh-what happened?
Uh
Oh, my God. Was that Ray Nelson?
We should call the police.
No. I don't want them involved.
OK. Well at least let me stay.
I can stay down here on the sofa,
in case he comes back.
OK. Thank you.
You're amazing.
I'll call you, OK?
Thanks, for everything.
Jane? Jane, do you have, uh
To make the whole town self-sustainable.
How dare you?!
What?
I found the cameras.
There was some sort of malfunction,
and they came up on my laptop.
The bedroom for Christ's sake, the shower!
Would you give us a moment, Peter?
Let me know when you're done.
No-one can access those cameras.
It's face recognition software,
so the house can track your movements.
They're not even connected to the internet
precisely to ensure your privacy.
You said it was nothing
Facebook wouldn't do.
Yes. Facebook has had
facial recognition for years.
And Emma?
If there were cameras, microphones,
there'd be something from
the night she died, right?
Unfortunately the house
systems had an outage that day.
An outage, that didn't
strike you as suspicious?
There was nothing to suggest
the two events were connected.
Cos everyone wanted it to look
like an accident, didn't they?
The police, the partnership,
it suited all of you
not to have a murder on your hands,
how convenient that that
weirdo happens to be your alibi.
Jane, you are being irrational.
I found a pearl.
Oh, for God's sake.
This necklace you gave me,
you originally gave it to her, didn't you?
And then when it broke,
you mysteriously got it
back and had it restrung.
But you missed one.
Jane
Don't "Jane" me!
There were two necklaces.
As you know,
I'm very particular about
the objects I allow into my life.
When I've made a choice,
I tend to stick to it.
And us?
Your women?
Are we just objects too to be replicated
and replaced whenever we do
something you don't like?
For the last fucking time, Jane,
I had nothing whatsoever to
do with Emma Matthews' death.
I wish I could believe you.
Hi, it's Jane. Um,
do you have any time later?
There's something I need help with.
Thanks for coming.
These are for you.
Oh, wow.
I always felt bad about being so rude
the first time we met.
And you didn't say if you had any food,
but I brought some anyway.
Thank you.
Shall we?
Mm.
One of the inputs to the server was
marked "cameras". I've disabled it.
Thank you.
Makes you think, though.
That outage would've had to
have been caused by someone
who knew where the service cupboard was.
That pretty much rules out Ray Nelson.
But what about Edward's
partner, Peter Creed?
There's definitely
something weird about him.
My God, what if it was both of them?
Look, this may or may not be relevant,
but when Monkford told Emma
about his family being buried here,
he used a Japanese word,
"hitobashira".
He said it was a good luck thing,
but after you called,
I looked it up.
Turns out it was a bit more than that.
It was making a sacrifice to a building
so that it would last 1,000 years.
Jesus.
For Monkford,
it's all about this house.
Can we talk about something else now?
Something that isn't about
death, murder and burials?
Of course.
Is there anything I can do?
Wine?
I'm not drinking, but there's
Pinot Grigio in the fridge.
I'll get it.
Pinot Grigio was Emma's favourite too.
I used to tease her about it.
White wine with steak?
Lots of people prefer white.
You know, it feels weirdly
familiar being here, opening wine.
Oh, I said I wouldn't have any.
I was going to put water in yours,
so you can keep me company.
Are you pregnant?
That's very personal.
It's Monkford's I take it?
Sorry. None of my business.
We're not together,
if that's what you're wondering.
I wanted a family with Emma.
I was going to propose to her,
after we got back together.
I wanted to do the most
amazing proposal ever,
like those viral videos
where the guy gets a choir
to sing the girl's favourite song
in a tube carriage or something.
She would've definitely had said yes
with all those people watching.
What are you doing here?
You look nice, Em.
Were you going to ask me out?
How did you get in?
Before I moved out I told
the agent I lost my wristband,
so he gave me a spare.
Well, you can't stay,
I'm expecting someone.
Anyone I know?
No, just someone I met online.
Right.
Nice.
Edward Monkford will be disappointed.
What do you mean?
Not that he's really coming.
I changed his contact details in your phone,
so when I text you from this,
you think it's him.
Hello, trouble.
When did you have my phone?
A few nights ago.
I've been sleeping in
the service cupboard.
To protect you.
How about you?
Me what?
I mean what sort of person
would tick your boxes?
Um
..I'm not looking for a relationship,
at least not for the
foreseeable future anyway.
If I was, any woman
would be lucky to have you?
Oh, no, you've, um
..you've got the wrong end of the stick.
I'm already seeing someone.
Oh.
It's the, uh, the first person
since Emma, actually.
Her death must've been awful for you.
I know about the rape.
I'm sorry.
Saul.
It's partly why she wanted to live here.
And she thought this
place would change her.
The funny thing is,
it didn't, not really.
However much she tried,
she was exactly the same old Em.
But me
..right from the start,
I felt different here.
It's like Emma said to
Monkford at our interview,
I wasn't going to let
some bullying bastard
just walk all over me any more.
I'm sure you were never a pushover.
If Edward Monkford
said he wanted you back,
you'd be happy to be in a
relationship then, wouldn't you?
You wouldn't give him the brush off.
Simon, I thought we'd patched things up.
We made friends again.
Ugh.
Friends, yeah.
There's a big difference though,
isn't there,
between friends and you know,
the other thing.
The real thing,
and that's why I had to test you.
Text you.
All you had to do was ignore him, Em.
In my dreams,
you'd tell him to piss off,
but,
ignoring him would have done.
Why?
Why?
Why?
That's what I keep asking myself!
Why Monkford?
Why Saul?
Why any of them when none of them
love you the way that I love you.
And you love me,
I know you do.
Si
We were happy, Em.
I'm not right for you, Si.
You deserve someone nice.
Stop saying that, you are.
Just tell me how to fix this.
There's nothing to fix.
I want you to leave
please.
No.
I can't do it, Em.
You can't do what?
I can't let you be that person
who wants him but not me.
You're crazy.
Where are you going?
I'm calling the police. What?
At least Edward would
never be so insen!
Where the fuck are you going?!
I love you!
I fucking love you!
Don't answer it.
Jane, come on.
What's going on, Jane?
I need you to go, Simon.
Let me in Jane.
We can work this out.
We've got through worse, right?
Like the time you decided to screw
my best friend behind my back.
I-I've got my work phone.
I'm calling the police.
Yes, 1 Folgate Street.
There's a man threatening me.
I haven't threatened anyone.
Unless you count the graffiti.
I thought if she was scared
she'd come back to me
..but she just took me for granted.
Please hurry. It's very convincing.
But then,
you're a good liar, aren't you?
Just like every woman
I've ever fucking met!
Ugh!
Ugh! Open the door!
Ugh!
Doesn't bother me, Jane.
I'm here all day.
I fancied you from the
very first time we met.
It was like meeting Emma all over again.
But you knew that, didn't you?
They say a woman always knows,
you just choose to ignore it,
because, really
..you're the ones with all
the fucking power.
Are you listening to me, Jane?
Are you listening to me?
Suit yourself.
Ugh!
Ugh!
Ugh!
Ugh!
Ah!
It's me.
Something's happened.
There are two possible narratives here.
One is what really happened,
and you acted in self-defence.
And the other?
He came here to kill
himself in the same spot
where his beloved Emma tripped and fell.
You hid in the service cupboard,
that's where you called me from.
When I got here, we found him dead.
You'd lie for me?
If you tell the truth about this, Jane,
there will be an investigation,
months of legal process,
maybe even
a trial for manslaughter.
I was wrong about you.
I should never have suspected what I did.
But you were right about Emma.
You've been good to her.
And that's why I want to tell the truth,
in court if necessary,
about Saul, Simon, all of this.
She deserves the world to
know what really happened.
No more lies.
OK.
OK.
Hello.
Hi.
Saul Cosby, I'm arresting you
for the rape of Emma Matthews.
Whoa, whoa, are you
are you fucking joking?
Jane?
It's time to go.
We will have a child one day.
A child that's planned.
Jane Cavendish?
Would you like to come with me, please?
I'll be right here.
We think we know what we need, don't we
..to fill the holes inside us.
But we're wrong.
Well, at least I was.
I thought moving into that house
and getting rid of everything,
everyone, would help.
But at the end of the day,
it doesn't matter how pretty or
empty your surroundings are,
not if you're messed up inside still.
That's all anyone's
looking for, really, isn't it?
Someone to help take care of
the mess inside our heads.
Do you have a pen?
The man waiting,
could you give him this for me?
Of course. Maybe in about half an hour.
Oh, and this.
"Dearest Edward,
"I wanted you to know,
our child was planned.
"I don't mean I meant to get pregnant,
"at least not consciously,
"but I knew you were someone
I could have a child with,
"who could be a good
father again one day.
"And that's why I hope this will
be the wake-up call you need.
"I'm giving you something,
a name.
"She helped Emma,
and she's been helping me,
"and I think she'll help you too,
if you'll let her.
"I think right now you're
trapped in the past,
"and I can't let myself get
trapped in there with you.
Thank you for welcoming me to the team.
I want to bring some of the
techniques from my old job
to what I'll be doing
here at Stillbirth Action.
"Until then, I guess this is goodbye."
Not because of Emma in the end,
but because of what I need,
and because of the girl before,
I mean a girl called Isabel.
The owner was going to live here
himself at one stage I believe,
but now he sets an
affordable rent to people
who will live here the way he intended.