Serangoon Road (2013) s01e10 Episode Script

1 I think Something your husband was investigating could still be in play.
So this could have something to do with his murder? Well, that's James Lim, right? He's a businessman on his way up.
Oh, and his brother's Lim Chee Kit, the senior union leader.
Winston's murder - Lee-Kum Fong was one of the suspects.
He was seen in the area that night.
Please pass on my respects to Mrs Cheng.
Winston was a much respected man in this community and her loss is our loss.
I had his baby.
A boy.
He's four now.
You want me to spy on the CIA for you? I'd have to break into Wild Bill's office.
A challenge surely within your skill set.
Frank, I've met someone.
I'm moving out.
It's not gonna work.
You don't belong here.
Don't leave Frank.
You haven't told him yet? Now, there's what you call a diplomatic incident.
If you're going to go wild with the pool boy, for God's sake don't tell the husband.
What are you looking at? You've never seen me cook before? Just heading out.
I won't be long.
Wait.
Where are you going? A client.
Didn't I tell you? No, you didn't.
Your sister is coming with your niece.
You have to stay.
Baby, I have to go.
This is really important.
Make my favourite egg custard.
I'll be back at nine.
You know what happens when I eat your custard.
Dress up and we'll go to Raffles and dance all night.
Oh, can you bring the songbirds in? I'll bring the songbirds in and I'll cook them for dinner.
I love you.
I hope you have no doubts about that.
Go on! Just go.
Be back before nine, now.
I don't know what you think you're gonna get out of him.
- He won't just confess.
- Why not? He's already up for one murder.
They won't hang him twice.
He could do a deal with his lawyer if he confesses to killing Winston.
They could waive the death penalty.
Is that what Mrs Cheng wants? Her husband's killer not to hang? Besides, we're not too sure he's the killer.
He's still a suspect.
Let's find out.
Where is he? So, we know Uncle Cheng feared for his life and he was being followed.
Also, the case file's missing.
And now Fong's been let out of jail, so someone put up the bail, but his lawyer won't say who.
Someone is trying to hide something and is protecting him.
So now what? How do we find out who or why? We've got to find out who he was meeting that night.
Maybe we can retrace his footsteps.
Well, he left just on dark to meet with a client.
Yeah, I remember.
He had a briefcase.
Sam, are you busy? Got to pick something up.
Then I'm meeting Kang.
Why? That's fine.
Need a hand? It's just a meeting.
It's fine.
It just it didn't seem dangerous.
No mention of a meeting.
We do know where he went first.
Where? He went to see a friend.
Who? Your Uncle Winston had another family.
What? Aunty, I'm so sorry.
Yeah.
Aunty.
How does he like his new school? He loves it.
Thank you.
And the vaccine I hope didn't hurt him too much.
Mei Ling, we're here because we need to trace back Winston's last moments.
Can you think of anything? He was meeting with a client but we're just not sure whether he met with him or not.
Well, he did say he was meeting someone.
That's why he couldn't stay.
I got really upset.
That's when he gave me the watch.
If something goes wrong, give this to my wife.
I know that's a lot to ask.
That is a lot to ask.
So a brown folder and some photographs.
Did you see which way he went when he left? Did he did he walk or take a rickshaw? Well, I don't know if it helps, but he did say if things went well, he would buy me my favourite cakes from the shop at Teck Lim Road.
Well, that's the shop, alright.
Winston came here all the time.
But she can't remember whether he was here that night, though.
It's been so long.
You alright? Yeah.
I'm alright.
Well, if he met the client at a corner or outside a shop, there'd be no trace.
Did Winston have a favourite kopi shop or restaurant? I'm not sure.
If he met inside a restaurant or kopitiam, no-one would remember.
Teck Lim Road.
What? Teck Lim Road.
The Trade Union office on Teck Lim Road.
Chee Kit's office.
Chee Kit and Winston knew each other.
Perhaps Chee Kit is the client.
It's gotta be.
Why should I tell you anything? You've got nothing to lose.
Your brother still wants you dead.
My brother does not concern you.
But tell me - who do you work for? Patricia Cheng.
You hired her husband, Winston.
Did you meet with him the night he was killed at the Trade Union office on Teck Lim Road? No.
He never turned up.
And the next day, I heard he was killed in a robbery.
Do you believe that? It wasn't impossible.
Who were you investigating? I believe my brother was involved with some dangerous people.
I just wanted to know.
So you had Winston follow James? You were never listed as a client? No.
Winston, he had a system.
He wrote it up as an infidelity case.
Of course, he was actually having an affair, which complicated things, but I wasn't interested in his affairs with women.
I wanted to know about his other meetings.
So he was delivering photographs that night? Yes.
But somehow my brother found out that I was investigating him.
And he paid for someone to intercept Winston.
Lee-Kum Fong - do you know him? No.
So you never saw any photographs? You don't know who was in them? No.
The only one who can tell you is my brother, but he has already killed once to keep it secret.
Hello.
What do you know about a guy called James Lim? Conrad, I know we shouldn't be asking you, but we're desperate.
We really need to find out who killed Mr Cheng.
Mrs Cheng's miserable and if we don't help her, she might close the agency and then I won't have a job and my parents will finally be able to marry me off to some nice young rich Peranakan boy.
And then I won't be able to go to America (.
.
with the love of my life.
) Tommy? You told him his wife tastes sweet.
What's this guy's name again? James Lim.
James Lim.
Harrison, you got a minute? Yeah, sure.
Look, there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna come right out with it.
The monthly report's back to HQ.
I'm recommending they post you somewhere else.
Why? Someone's leaking confidential reports to the Brits.
Well, we talk to MI6, they talk to us.
We give them stuff that they already know.
Not on Vietnam.
That National Security Council report on the Tuesday lunch meetings? Mm-hmm.
HQ sent it only to the offices in Asia.
Now London has it.
Well, that could have come from any of those offices.
But it didn't.
It's not that you did it.
It's whatever he's got on you that made you do it.
You're compromised.
I can't use you.
Everyone crosses the line, Harrison, but it's important when you look back you can at least still see it.
I hope you remember that, wherever you end up.
G'day, Frank.
I came here to fight you.
What are you talking about? I'm sure you think that's ridiculous.
But if this was any sort of just world where a man who loved his wife and took care of her and never, ever dreamed of cheating on her, and another man If this was any sort of just world, I would fight you and I would beat you.
In this world, a man like you wins that fight.
A man like you with what? What have you got that my wife chooses you over me? Friday night, we're leaving Singapore for good.
We're going to Europe by ship and we're not coming back.
I understand.
No, you really don't.
I want you to go to her before we leave.
I want you to make your case.
If you love her in a way that will care for her forever, you tell her that.
Frank, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life with Claire if part of her never leaves here.
If she chooses you, she chooses you.
You've got till Friday night.
- James Lim.
- What do you know about him? I thought our arrangement was clear.
When I ask you for something, I get it.
I don't recall there being any quid pro quo.
Right now it doesn't matter what you tell my boss because he's about to terminate me.
So what I need from you - I need some dirt on him so they get rid of him instead of me.
What made you choose James Lim in particular? Sam Callaghan wanted to know about him.
When I went to look at the file, the file's missing.
The only one with access to that - Wild Bill.
So if he's up to something Oh, yes.
He's up to his neck.
But what's in it for me? Washington.
I didn't give you everything that was in that NSC file.
Now, if you're the guy that tells your bosses the rest, tell them who's in the room with the President, who's got his ear, you get that stateside transfer you want, guaranteed.
Alright.
I'm in.
Oh, I almost forgot.
There's one more thing.
I want the files on Su Ling.
All copies.
My, my! Baby Bear really has grown up, hasn't he? Mr Harrison called.
He said there was no file on James Lim.
That's bullshit.
James Lim wants to get into politics.
For God's sake, his brother's a jailed trade union leader accused of bombings.
They've got files on streetsweepers.
He knew you'd say that.
He said to say they don't have as many tentacles as you think.
Well, I don't believe him.
Why would he lie? So he's the one man in the whole of Singapore the CIA doesn't have a file on? Like he said.
Aunty, it's a sign to stop.
Oh, yeah, they're just birds.
I can get her some more, for cheap too.
Maybe even throw in a duck.
Explain the whole thing to me again.
Winston was investigating James Lim.
I don't know what he found, but it was enough to get him killed.
Maybe now's not such a good time to Everything alright, Mr Lim? Oh.
That was Lee-Kum Fong? What the hell was he after? I don't know.
He was saying something about a key.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Forget it.
Come on.
Never going to get this sucker open.
Nope.
How long have you been with Joo Ee? Huh? Do you think she's the one? Uh I'm with that girl for life, man.
Yeah? Yeah.
All you do is argue.
Sure.
She drinks too much.
I gamble too much.
She yells at me.
We fight.
What's the alternative? A life without her.
Forget it, man.
There's only one Joo Ee, and I like her.
There's nobody else.
Shit.
I got an idea.
I don't know about this, Kang.
You don't think we're using too much? What else am I going to use this for? Yeah, don't think so much.
It went out.
Why did it go out? Stupid old fuse.
Kang! Kang, are you alright? Oh You're alright, yeah? You hear me? Hey, hey, hey, hey.
That opened it, you bloody lunatic.
I can keep the money, right? It belongs to a dead man.
Huh? Today must be my lucky day.
There's no doubt it's Winston's file.
Uncle Winston used to say, 'No fuss, no rush.
The picture won't hurry because you do.
' Nothing here.
Nope.
This one either.
Come on.
We need a face.
The next ones look different.
Is that Wild Bill.
James Lim is having a secret meeting with the CIA.
No, not for me, thank you.
Thank you.
Conrad lied to you.
James Lim's a CIA informant.
There's got to be a file on him.
You must have found it.
It's not that simple.
Yes, it is.
James Lim works for the CIA, yes or no? No.
Alright.
I'm going to take this whole thing to Amran.
The Singaporean police would be most interested in the CIA's involvement in the murder of an upstanding Chinese citizen.
James Lim did not work for the CIA.
He was working for Wild Bill.
Bullshit.
Wild Bill doesn't even work in the field.
Exactly.
James Lim was his vanity case.
Bill hates sitting behind a desk.
You know that.
Always talking about being on the ground.
'45, he was in East Germany.
'52, he's drinking vodka with the Ruskies.
So, when James Lim walked in, Bill decided that he's going to run him himself under the radar.
So they start having these secret meetings.
Wild Bill's taking all the case notes himself.
They've got this deal.
What sort of deal? I don't know.
If the CIA wanted to build a station here, they'd need a Singaporean contact to secure the land.
Come on, Sam.
If I knew that information to be true, you really think I'd be talking to you about it? All I know - and I got this second-hand - is that James Lim went to see Wild Bill because he thought a private investigator was following him, and there may be some photos of them together.
And? What did Wild Bill do? I don't know.
I don't.
The file's gone missing.
Someone destroyed it.
Let's go.
You play 500, Callaghan? I've had a game.
A gentleman's game.
Not like poker.
Poker's for assholes.
Did you kill Winston Cheng? No.
Shit no.
Of course not.
No.
Lim had told you there'd been photographs taken of the two of you together.
It meant nothing to me.
We're the CIA.
We have informants.
He was one of them.
Big deal.
Publish them in The Straits Times for all I care.
Tell everyone the CIA is buying up land on the quiet to build a covert operational base? Not great, but deniable.
Not for James Lim.
No.
He was freaking out.
He wants to get into politics.
Not a good idea to be in bed with the Yanks, but his problem, not mine.
So he hired Fong to kill Winston? That's what I thought.
Until today.
Yeah.
Who had Lim killed? And there's something else.
Apparently, someone, some poker-playing asshole, has been doing some digging, found out something even I didn't know about.
What's that? James Lim has a silent partner.
Somebody's bankrolling him.
Who? Head office won't say.
But they must be real bad, because, whoever it is, my involvement with them, even through a third party like Lim, is enough to get me shipped out of here.
There's not too many people the CIA won't do business with.
The Russians? North Vietnamese? I'd love to know.
Whoever it is, they've got the money to bankroll James Lim's land deals.
And to bail Fong out of jail.
And they'll kill anyone to keep their involvement secret.
You find out who that is, you find out who murdered Winston.
But, Callaghan .
.
make sure you find them before they find you.
Sam, you won't believe this.
No Oh.
I was looking at these documents when this man broke in.
At first I thought it was you.
No, that's Fong alright.
And there's no doubt he killed Winston.
So they killed Winston for this information.
What I found out was that Kay Song and James Lim had been in partnership for years, buying up land.
Kay Song? But the Red Dragons would never be in bed with the CIA.
Kay Song is on his own.
The Tiger General doesn't know.
If that's Kay Song's secret .
.
that's how we get him.
If the Tiger General knew his grandson was in bed with the CIA, he'd kill him.
Are you sure of this? Absolutely.
If we don't, Kay Song will keep sending people after us.
You, me, Su Ling.
I respectfully seek an audience with Toh Kay.
Look, we don't want any trouble.
Whoa.
This is about the murder of my husband, Winston Cheng.
Woman, this is not your place.
Hey, leave her alone! Oh! Somebody help! Somebody! Oh! Your grandson is cheating you.
He has secret accounts.
He has secret money.
He's working for himself.
I will hear them.
It is a good tradition, making one's own coffin.
It is our custom to do so many years before it is needed.
To be prepared for death is to be prepared for life.
Do you have this custom in your country? You should.
A man who blunders here and there may need a coffin sooner than he thinks.
Speak.
Not you.
What are you doing with this man? I have meetings with a lot of people.
Businessmen, clan leaders.
Secret money? For buying cheap land to sell to the Americans.
We were going to make a fortune.
Americans?! The CIA.
For over 100 years, we controlled this island.
Others think they have the power.
But they come, they go.
The British, here for a century, they go too.
Finally we have this island to ourselves.
And you help the Americans take power.
I did it for you.
You did it for yourself.
For money.
It's over.
Do not let me see the body.
You stupid boy.
You think you can kill us all? This thinking confirms my decision.
No.
It confirms mine.
An old man like you So frail, so weak.
You're mad.
I have many years in me.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
You may leave.
My grandfather had a heart attack.
We have witnesses.
Go tell our people the bad news.
I'm sorry you had to be here for this sad day.
Mrs Cheng, Sam.
You may now leave me to my grief.
Come in.
You wanted to see me, sir.
I'd happily never set eyes on you again.
But the powers that be, in their wisdom, have decided to put a freeze on all transfers.
Yes, sir.
It seems my position's the one up for review.
I don't know what you did or who you owe.
But remember this - you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
Well, you played the game your way, sir.
With James Lim, with the land deal.
I just did what I had to do.
Everything I did, I did for this organisation and for my country.
If they sack me sure, it'll hurt.
But I can look in the mirror every day.
What do you see when you look in the mirror, Harrison? 'Cause one day, maybe not today, not tomorrow, but one day that thing is going to eat you alive.
Thank you, sir.
Oh.
You're right about one thing.
Not today.
Major Miller.
I just got the telegram.
I'm off to Washington next month.
This is the only copy? We had a deal.
You kept up your end.
I kept up mine.
Maybe I'll see you in Washington.
One day.
Good chance.
I hope she's worth it.
Winston is a good man.
.
.
is for family, and you are like family to me.
As a matter of fact, you are the only family I have.
So, thank you.
Well, I tried to imagine what Winston would say, and I realise he'd just be drinking and dancing and joking all night long, so this is what I want you to do tonight.
Ooh, this old heart of mine been broke a thousand times Each time you break away I think you're gone to stay Lonely nights that come Memories that flow Bringing you back again Hurting me more and more Maybe it's my mistake to show this love I feel inside 'Cause each day that passes by You've got me never knowin' if I'm comin' or goin', but I I love you-ou-ou This old heart, darling, is weak for you I love you-ou-ou Yes, I do Yes, I do These old arms of mine miss having you around Makes these tears inside start falling down Always with half a kiss you remind me of what I miss Though I try to control myself Like a fool I start grinnin' 'Cause my head starts spinnin' 'cause I I love you-ou-ou This old heart, darling, is weak for you I love you-ou Yes, I do Yes, I do Ooh, I try hard to hide my hurt inside This old heart of mine always keeps me cryin' I'm sorry that I lied to you.
I guess I just I wanted to be with you so badly that I lost sight of what I was doing to get there, and I understand if you don't want to talk to me - that's OK.
I just needed you to know that I had no idea who killed Winston Cheng.
I know.
Sam found out everything.
Mr Cheng's death had nothing to do with the CIA.
Conrad, I know and accept that you can't tell me everything about your job, but if I ask you a question I expect an honest answer.
Or just say, 'No comment.
' No comment.
'No comment.
' Don't lie.
Uh-huh.
I need to know that I can trust you.
You can.
Then let's try to make this work.
I got you this.
Thank you.
Take that, you little piece of shit.
Oh I swallowed my pride And I beg I beg of you Oh, baby, stop these tears that you are putting me through Please read my letter Why don't you read every line Sometimes, I can literally feel his hand in my hair.
Like in a dream, except I'm awake.
You've been thinking about her all night.
This is my last letter, baby Oh, darling, this is goodbye Go to her.
You see, I need no picture To remind me of you Oh, and all these wonderful moments that I have spent here with you So, I swallowed up my pride And I beg, I beg, I beg of you Oh, baby, why don't you stop now Claire.
Sam.
Can we talk? I'll finish packing the luggage.
You should talk to him.
Claire, wait.
What are you doing here? Stay.
Stay? I'm in love with you, Claire.
I've never loved anyone before.
Do you have any idea what it's been like for me? I didn't know you'd told Frank.
Why didn't you tell me? Because you made it very clear that life with me was too hard or cramped or I thought I was doing the right thing.
How? How were you doing the right thing by leaving me at the Tuckworths', everyone sniggering at me behind their back? I I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I know you are.
Look at your face.
Don't go.
So what happens now? Well, we've got to get your luggage out of the car.
And then? And then we go back to my place.
We get noodles and some chilli crab.
We get mooncake.
It's the Festival of the Moon.
Watch the moon rise, then watch it set.
I'll never let you go again.
It sounds more wonderful than I can imagine.
Uh, sir, it's time.
Yes.
What about tomorrow? We'll work it out.
It's too late, Sam.
I love you.
And I will always love you.