Silent Witness (1996) s01e07 Episode Script

1 Sure, I'm a doctor.
Dr Fried Rice and his classy restaurant.
She's a traditional girl.
Traditional? Good.
He's so old.
He's rich.
He'll make a good husband.
I won't marry him.
You speak English to disobey, but you will obey me.
You know why.
What family? We have no family.
They're all dead.
How could you ask this of me? The man will want to know about me, and I'll have to tell him.
I can never forget it.
I'm going to be a doctor soon.
I won't need to take this old man.
He'll look after you.
But I have you.
I will not always be here.
I know I have let you down, but this time I will do my duty.
You do yours.
Imagine we don't know who he is.
That's fairly common.
Most murders start off that way.
Identification can be difficult.
I mean, it's hard enough to know yourself, let alone anyone else.
We need clues.
- So what do we look for? - Tattoos? Good, especially with names.
Scars are brilliant.
Anything else? - What about his teeth? - Good.
- Oh, gross or what? - That's disgusting! A set of teeth is as individual as a fingerprint.
In fact, they tell us more.
They tell us how this person lived.
This bloke lived pretty rough.
- Looks like your dad, Craig.
- Leave it out, Harry.
Yes, Harry, leave it out.
But teeth, like fingerprints, are only useful if we have something to compare them to, in this case, a set of dental records.
So they're mainly used for confirmation.
Any other ideas? Sorry.
Personally, I always start with the pockets.
You never know, someone might just have overlooked a wallet.
Unfortunately, not in this case.
What did he actually die of? That, Harry, is what we're about to find out.
Although if you take a look at the nicotine stains on his fingers, it might give you a clue.
Dr Ryan.
Yes? Tran, isn't it? You didn't look very happy in there, but you're a final year, aren't you? - That wasn't your first PM.
- No.
So you weren't squeamish? Of course not.
How can I help? I have things on my mind, family things.
Right.
I know all about those.
Then perhaps I may ask your advice, if you wouldn't consider it impertinent.
Well, can we walk and talk? I'm due at the office.
So what do you need to know? I need to talk about womanly things with a senior woman.
Oh, is that what I am? It was meant as a compliment.
That's all right.
I didn't mean to offend you.
- I'm sorry.
- About what? I don't talk to people much, the other students.
I'm not socially adept.
You must be very busy.
I'm wasting your time.
Do you drink? Yes, I suppose.
Why wouldn't I? No reason at all.
In Vietnam, my father was a doctor, also my mother.
Runs in the family.
My father wished it.
He wanted me to get on.
Don't they all? So what can this senior woman offer? Wisdom.
Go on.
My father wishes me to marry someone he's chosen.
Do you always do what your father wishes? In this case.
Wouldn't you prefer to be free to make your own choice? Who is free? Well, if that's how you feel, I don't see the problem.
No, you don't understand.
This man, he's much older than me.
He will want a traditional girl.
And I am not as a traditional girl is expected to be.
I mean, my condition is not Intact? My fiancé, will he be able to tell that I have That's a strange question for a medical student.
The hymen can be broken in all sorts of different ways.
Yes, I understand anatomy, but I don't know about men.
He may be able to tell in other ways.
Probably not.
Not if you pretend.
But then you'd have to live with that pretence, perhaps for the rest of your life.
Can you do that? And do you want to do that? In my experience, living with a difficult truth may be hard, but it's a darn sight better than living with a lie.
Thank you for your help, Dr Ryan.
Anytime.
Mummy? Is that you? Are you all right? Mummy? Mummy, where are you? What on earth are you doing out here? I'm looking for Daddy.
He wasn't there when I woke up, so I came out to find him.
I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.
He's dead, for God's sake! What? Oh, God, I'm sorry.
Dead? Yes, don't you remember? No.
I was speaking to him only last When? A long time ago.
Dead? What are we going to do without him? I don't know, Mummy.
I don't know what we're gonna do.
Come on.
How's it going? Punctuation is shit.
Watch your mouth, or I'll take the side of your face off.
You're mixing your metaphors.
You wouldn't know a metaphor if it bit you in the arse.
No brains.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Brains are a short commodity in this house.
She forgets he's dead.
Every time she's reminded, she has to grieve for him all over again.
I never forget.
No, neither do I.
My mother, Mrs Quoc.
And these are my children.
Meet your new mother.
Dây là Le, và dây là Minh.
Old people's home? Looks more like a crematorium.
The matron's expecting us, Wyn.
Come on.
We're already late.
No.
Mr Quoc, there is something I must say.
Mr Quoc? Very proper.
You won't be that formal when we're married, yeah? When we left Vietnam, we were unfortunate.
Our boat was found by pirates.
- No! - Please, I must speak.
Secrets are bad betweenbetween man and wife.
Secrets? What secrets? That is when my mother died.
The pirates, they did things to the women and the girls.
Including myself.
Whore! You whore! How much do you charge, huh? Whore! You screw the English boys in school, and you want to cover it with a lie! Prostitute! Prostitute! It's late.
I must get back to the hostel.
You should never have left my house.
You must come home with me now.
No, I must work for the exams.
Hiya.
- Where were you? - When? Yesterday.
I had to go to Manchester to see the boys.
Christ, I saw you on Saturday night.
Hang on a minute.
A chicken tikka, a quick screw.
You barely took your coat off.
What do you want from me? A bit of affection.
Time together when we're not in bed.
Tom, what's going on? - DI Adams.
- DC Cox.
DS Farmer is the SIO, but you'll probably be dealing with me on this one.
Jesus.
What happened to him? Too much chilli in the chow mein? You don't put chilli in chow mein.
- Guv, just been talking to a neighbour.
- Did he see anything? Nothing unusual, except for the Mercedes he thinks he saw.
But he's not sure.
It was dark.
- Time? - He can't remember.
Oh, very useful.
Extensive burning with charring to much of the body.
The bones are exposed, especially on the hands, arms, shins.
The right side of the torso appears very damaged with exposure of thoracic and abdominal contents.
Fierce localised fire? Accelerant? Possibly, although it's hard to say how much damage was caused by the body being pulled.
From where? The kitchen area.
It was full of smoke.
Zero visibility.
Our boy went in with breathing apparatus, made contact by touch, dragged till he was sure it was dead.
Is he here? Where was the body? Just there.
Was he on his front? Yeah, I think so.
Thanks a lot.
Bit of a stir-fry, sir.
Just a bit.
Some people will do anything to avoid a health inspection.
Save your breath.
You aren't going to wind me up.
Guv? I want to get Fred out to deal with the body.
He's good with the frail ones.
It's going to take days to go through this.
Murder? The torso is the thickest part of the body.
It takes a long time to burn.
But there's a big difference here between the right and the left side.
- There's a reason for that.
- Suspicious? Yeah.
Hi, it's Dr Ryan.
Can I speak to Fred, please? I thought you said it was a Chinese restaurant.
Saigon Palace sounds more Vietnamese to me.
Maybe somebody forgot to change the name.
I mean, these kind of places change hands about three times a week.
Who's the owner? A Mr Binh, who's not answering his phone, but we're checking him out.
Any staff? Waiter, cook? Nobody's turned up, and there's nothing on the National Insurance records, but that doesn't mean very much.
Somebody had to be working, even in a shit-hole like this.
Yeah.
Well, if you find anything, let me know.
She might've got out of the bloody car.
Yes, pretty bad.
Well, as soon as possible, really.
I want you here, Fred.
Interesting.
What? Looks like there might be two kinds of broken glass here, John.
Could be.
What does it mean? Some glass was broken by the fire, and some broken before.
A fight? Perhaps.
Note the pugilistic pose, characteristic of a body being in a fire.
Teeth are present.
Skull is exposed.
Some fracturing, more than likely artefactual.
Probably caused when the body was moved.
Fragments of clothing attached to the upper limbs, arms, chest and back.
Can you smell it? Definitely.
Tom? - Petrol? - We'll see.
This isn't as bad as it looks.
It looks pretty bad to me.
It's very difficult to burn a body away.
The narrow bits usually go first, the arms, legs.
And this is no exception.
As you can see, the skull's burnt right through.
But take a look at the thorax.
The right side's burnt away, but the left's intact.
Body's thickest here.
It's a bit like overdone pork.
If it's barbequed quickly, it can still be quite juicy in the middle.
Well, you might as well stay over here if it's all right with Dr Ryan.
It's a lot more interesting than a wino with hypothermia.
Lucky you.
Mr Chuong.
Chuong Thanh Binh? DC Cox to Control.
Over.
Guv, Kerry's called in.
There's no sign of the owner.
- Better chase up his medical records, then.
- Guv.
No soot or smoke deposits in the trachea.
Clean right down to the bottom.
Here you go, Fred.
Very definitely dead when the fire started.
Can you say how long? Anywhere between two minutes and five years.
Right.
Let's get a photograph.
Can you get in close? And here.
Take your time.
- Plastic forceps, please, Fred.
- Mm-hm.
Thank you.
There's a piece of metal embedded in the spinal column.
It appears to be the tip of a knife.
It has gone through the lung, causing haemorrhage into the chest cavity.
You can actually see where it has gone through the bony part of the rib.
There.
Thank you.
Couldn't you get anybody else? I was three up with four to go, for Christ's sake.
- Sorry, Peter.
- So I should bloody well think.
Dirty teeth.
Smoker.
There was a gold filling here on this incisor.
Where's the chart? They haven't arrived yet.
Is he Chinese? Teeth aren't labelled, son.
The uppers are angled forward.
Might be East Asian.
Call me when you've got his chart.
Or better still, call somebody else.
A Mr Binh.
Chuong Thanh Binh.
They put the surname first.
Mr Chuong, then.
Well, that's Tran's name.
We can't yet be certain who it is, but I think you ought to prepare yourself.
Do I have to look at the body? No, you leave that to us.
If you could just give us the name of your father's dentist.
He was afraid of the dentist.
Seems stupid now.
Can you think of anyone who might have had a grudge against your father? No, no one.
Was he in any kind of trouble? No.
The cook turned up for work, but there were no waiters.
Now, there must have been waiters.
Just the one.
Well, we'd like to talk to him.
His name is Lan.
Mr Lan.
Hey! Go on.
Smash it.
- Bash the window.
- Come on! Leg it! Let's get out of here! I think I'll stay with her for a while.
Yeah, that's okay.
Tran.
Yes? This is very difficult, but I think I have to ask.
Is what has happened anything to do with my advice? What? My father's dead, and you talk about you.
- I'm sorry.
I didn't mean - Everything's over.
I know.
You don't understand.
You cried out.
- Did I? - Mm-hm.
You do.
Both of you.
Wyn, too.
Where's Daddy? Is he down in the yard, do you think? Bet you that's where he is.
Is it light yet? He'll be wanting his breakfast.
I'll go and see to it.
DC Cox.
We're looking for a Mr Lan, your brother.
Mr Lan, yes? Well, we'd like a word.
Can we come in? It's nothing to worry about.
It's just routine inquiries.
Is your brother at home, then? Maybe upstairs? - Mr Lan.
- Sorry? You work as a waiter at the Saigon Palace Restaurant, yes? Waiter? No waiter.
No.
You didn't turn up for work yesterday.
Why was that? No understand.
You don't understand? Let's have him.
You understand that all right, don't you? It was a very conspicuous car.
Do you know when Mr Coc Mr Quoc will be back from his business trip? You expected him last night? I see.
By the way, is that a Vietnamese name? How'd she take the news? - As badly as you'd expect.
- It was her father.
According to the medical records, he had lung cancer.
You found no evidence of that? No, there's too much damage to the body.
There's a history of mental trouble.
PTSD.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I know.
Is this discussion going to take long? 'Cause I have to get back to the office.
So, is it murder? The metal fragment in the spine, almost certainly from a knife.
The splintering of vertebrae, the involvement of lung with haemorrhage.
He was stabbed.
Hara-kiri? No, not from behind.
The spinal injuries make it clear the knife entered from the back.
So it is murder.
The waiter? Interview room two.
We've sent for a translator, not that we'll need her.
Do you think he knows something? Well, he must do.
Otherwise, why didn't he turn up for work? Right.
I'll do it.
But I thought that I was You think a lot of things, DC Cox.
Sir, I understood that I was going to be interviewing this witness.
Well, you misunderstood.
- Can I have a word, sir? - Not now.
A word! I brought this guy in, and I was the one that you sent out Try, just try to get this straight! I'm your boss! I say when you This is not work.
This is personal.
You just can't keep the two things apart, can you? I can.
Work in this box, personal in that.
Separate.
- You're the one with the problem.
- What? God, emotionally, you're a child.
You don't even realise it! And you're using your position to carry on an argument which has absolutely nothing to do with work.
It's not fair, and I won't have it! What are you going to do, then? Apply for a transfer.
Guv, we've I'll come back.
It's all right.
Go on.
- We've got an interesting car.
- How interesting? Silver Merc found at Littleford Railway Station.
Owned by a Vietnamese guy in London.
- Name? - Quoc Van Nguyen.
- Have you talked to him? - I can't, guv.
He's not at home.
Hasn't been for 36 hours.
Right.
Leave it with us.
Guv.
Okay.
Apply for a transfer, if that's what you want.
Right, I will.
In the meantime, if you still accept my orders, follow up that car.
Oh, the excitement, the tension, the appreciation.
Yes, the moment has finally arrived, we're gonna find out who the best team It's okay, dear.
I'll get it.
Yes? Mummy, it's Sam.
Who? Sam.
I'm sorry.
There's no one of that name here.
Mummy? Who was that? Wrong number, dear.
Translator's here, sir.
We won't be needing a translator, will we? Snout? What? That's what they call cigarettes in prison.
You'd better start learning the lingo, son, because if you don't talk to me now, you're gonna need it.
National Insurance, Social Security, income tax.
Recognise any of those? I work for my money.
Aye, I know that, but you're not on the books.
He seems to have taken a train to Doncaster.
Thank you, DC Cox.
Silver Mercedes.
Distinctive.
Owned by a certain Mr Quoc Van Nguyen.
Vietnamese.
And a rail ticket to Doncaster purchased at 6:20 in the morning after the fire, by a gentleman of Oriental appearance.
Like Mr Quoc Van Nguyen himself.
Do you know him? Look, mate.
Just tell me what happened on the night of the fire.
What's wrong? She's getting worse.
I just called her and she didn't even recognise my name, for God's sake.
Oh, well, now there's a surprise.
You're avoiding the issue.
She's only going to get worse.
Me? Me avoid the issue? You've been avoiding the bloody issue for the last 20 years, ever since Daddy's death.
This helps no one.
That bomb didn't just kill him.
I mean, it killed her, too, in the head, but slowly.
Alzheimer's is a disease of the brain.
It has no emotional It's truth I'm talking about, not science.
Grief, Sam.
Grief ate her up day by day.
Of course, you didn't see that.
You'd run away.
Well, now you've come back to make tough decisions.
Well, I've got news.
You have no right.
I will not put my mother in some bloody awful home so that you don't have to look at what you've done.
What did I do? Destroyed our lives.
Is there a problem with this customer? I'm not a customer, I'm her sister.
Look at me, Sam.
Look what you did.
I pay you to serve my customers.
You pay me shit for a shit job! And you can take it and stuff it up your arsehole, which is where shit belongs.
All the years you've spent poking about inside dead bodies, avoiding the issue, the big issue, the one dead body you could not face.
The day of his death.
I mean, do you remember the row you two had in the kitchen, shouting about your Catholic boy? That had nothing to do with his death.
He checked that Land Rover every day.
It was second nature to him until you, his favourite wee girl, hurt him so much you drove everything out of his head.
I won't listen to this.
Daddy's death was your fault and you know it, Sam! What is it? A silver money clip for bank notes.
- Where did they find it? - Under the sink.
The metal fragment Sam found in the body.
Right.
Almost certainly the point of a knife, which snapped on entry, presumably from contact with the spine.
Poor quality steel, broad blade, frequently sharpened.
Most likely a kitchen knife.
How long before we know if it's in the restaurant? It'll take us another couple of days to clear the scene, and then we'll know.
London? Farmer first.
The victim's clothing shows traces of petrol and the kitchen floor is porous.
Almost certainly some petrol will have soaked in.
It should allow us to reconstruct what happened.
Ma'am.
Thank you.
- Well? - There was a silver Merc left at Littleford Station.
The conductor there remembers selling a ticket to a man of East Asian appearance for the 6:30 to Doncaster.
Cash.
Pity.
It's as if he just dumped the car and cleared off.
And there was a glass cabinet in the kitchen broken before the fire.
In a fight? The waiter says there was a Vietnamese guy arrived at the restaurant that night in a silver Merc.
He was very angry, and he's since disappeared, according to his family.
We're going to see them now.
I see.
Tom? So you've got one live Vietnamese guy leaving the scene in a hurry and another dead in the restaurant, but you don't know which is which? Well, not definitely, no.
- Jarvis.
- Ma'am? Get onto the Met and ask them to go round and see the family.
- Get his dental records faxed up.
- Ma'am.
Let's go.
What are we going to do? Oh, oh, oh, oh.
What are we going to do? Oh, what are we going to do? - Where's Jenny? - Shopping.
For long? Stay away from people like that.
No maternal instincts.
A fax for you.
What is it? Teeth.
Teeth? Whose teeth? Quoc Van Nguyen.
Can you pass me the cream? Have you any idea how painful nappy rash can be? Something wrong? The corpse in the restaurant.
It isn't Tran's father.
So what does this guy have to do with it? - You know, don't you? - No.
You do.
I can see it in your face.
Not for certain.
Hi, it's Dr Sam Ryan for PC Jarvis, please.
Sam, just tell the police what you know.
Hello, it's about the dental records.
Yeah, I'm afraid I can't be definite.
You need a forensic dentist.
Well, you'll have to ask Abercrombie.
Yeah, I know, I'm sorry.
Okay, thanks.
Bye.
You just lied to the police.
What's going on? I can't say.
Sam, tell them what you know.
I can't.
I'm responsible for this, or I might be.
I've got to go and talk to her.
Abercrombie's going to ring back for the file.
What am I supposed to do? Whatever you think is right.
Looks like I'm left holding the baby.
Now, I know that might seem rather obvious to you now.
One day you'll understand.
Yes, yes, yes.
The mother's here.
She doesn't speak English, so you'll have to talk through her granddaughter, Le.
How are they? - Worried.
- Good.
Mrs Quoc, I'm Detective Inspector Adams from the East Anglia Police.
- The dentist worried them.
- Yeah, they worry me and all.
Yes, that belongs to my father, but what's happened to it? What's happened to him? Where is my father? We don't know.
We found his car at a railway station.
Littleford.
Is it possible he went on to Doncaster from there? She asks, what are you saying? He's a businessman.
Does he have any business interests in Doncaster? He has business interests everywhere.
A body was found in the remains of a fire in a restaurant.
The Saigon Palace in Cambridge.
Do you know it? Cambridge? - What's she saying? - That she is a whore.
Who? The woman he was to marry in Cambridge.
Her name was Tran.
Rosie, have you seen Tran? - No, sorry, I haven't seen her all day.
- Thanks.
She never said a word.
No, she's been lying her head off from the beginning.
Looks like it.
DI Adams.
Get me Superintendent Farmer.
No, I'm sorry.
I haven't seen her all day.
Sorry.
Tran? Tran? I know you're here.
Mr Chuong? Sea water.
I brought it all the way from Vietnam.
I kept it in a plastic bag inside my clothes, but the water still got in.
This was our life before.
Your father didn't die in the fire.
You know that.
You've known all along.
Yes.
Was the man in the fire your fiancé? The police know Nguyen is dead? You lied to me.
Where's your father? - You'll tell the police.
- I'll have to.
What happened? I told Nguyen I was not a virgin.
Tried to explain.
But he was obscene! You think the past can be wiped out if you're honest.
No.
The past eats you.
Ask my father.
Ask him how the past eats your soul.
Did Nguyen fight with your father? Yes.
You have to go to the police.
I'll come with you.
I've seen your father's medical file.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The court will take it into consideration.
They'll understand.
So you think you understand? He always wanted me to be educated.
Here, he was just some kind of Chinese waiter, a little chink.
Back at home, he was an educated man.
They persecuted him because he worked for Americans.
It was a problem.
The whole family was disadvantaged.
We'd never get to university.
So he took everything we had and bought us a place on the boat.
Down Saigon river in the dark to avoid patrol boats and out to sea.
The sea is so big for one small boat of 50 people, but we had an engine.
Not much fuel.
The idea was you would head off towards Malaysia.
With luck, it's one, two, three days, and you see the flame on the oil rigs.
My father told us this.
My mother, the baby, my brother and me.
I was 12 years old.
So in my imagination, I see the flames high up in the night sky above the boat.
Safe, if we have the fuel and the luck.
First, the luck goes.
We hit a storm, and the fuel ran out.
And we drifted towards the islands, towards the coast.
Pirates here are a joke, but in the South China Sea, they murder and rape.
You'll call me, then? Yes, tomorrow, I promise.
But my father will not be easy to persuade.
This has wounded his mind.
Do you understand? Yes.
He's frozen in the past.
He cannot change.
That is why I obeyed and took that man, and so much bad karma was made.
Karma like guilt? No.
Unlike guilt, karma is useful.
Misery is a great teacher.
My father once asked me to give up a man, a boy.
I wouldn't, and bad things happened because of it.
We can turn away from the bad and make good.
Persuade him to come in.
I will try.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Father.
Father, they know the body's not yours.
Why did you keep the knife?