Midsomer Murders (1997) s02e03 Episode Script
Dead Man's Eleven
BIRD SCREECHES WOMAN: 'There was once a land far, far away, that was ruled over by an evil king.
' 'All the people were slaves.
' 'Nobody was ever allowed to have fun.
' 'But in this country,|there lived a knight.
' Matthew, sharpen it up, will you? 'He was brave and handsome.
' 'And his name was Sir Percival Prancelot.
' Sir Percival Prancelot?! That's right! 'He was the kindest, most handsome man in the whole kingdom, and whenever there was a dragon to kill, the King sent him.
' 'So while the King sat in his castle, counting his money' Oh, for God's sake.
Just get on with it, Frasier.
'Sir Percival put on his sword and his armour and set off on his quest.
' HORSE NEIGHS 'He went alone because the other knights were too scared to go.
'They hated dragons more than they hated the King.
' PERSISTENT COUGHING Here, take a sip.
Not too much.
Do you want me to go on? 'They hated dragons more than they hated the King.
' You read that.
(LAUGHS) Right! Anyway 'The next day, Sir Percival got up early and set off.
' 'The King chose a dragon which lived in a cave on the other side of the crimson forest.
' 'Not one person who had approached it had ever been seen again.
' HORSE NEIGHS 'The dragon swallowed them whole with a great fiery gulp.
' DEEP GROWLING 'But Sir Percival wasn't afraid.
' 'He rode to the cave,|and when he got there' DEEP GROWLING THEME MUSIC RUMBLE OF THUNDER GENTLE APPLAUSE Yes, one! Just along here.
It should be coming up on the right.
Here.
It's beautiful.
What do you think, Tom? You want to know what I think? No.
No, don't say anything.
I could just see you here, Dad.
Join the cricket team.
Bat for Fletcher's Cross every Saturday.
Be careful what you say.
|This is all your fault.
Mr and Mrs Barnaby? That's us.
Oh, do come in! It's a lovely sound, the bat against the ball.
It's very English.
Summer afternoons spent in peace and harmony.
I think that if Jesus had played a sport, it would have been cricket.
Yes! No! Run, man, run! No, wait! Andy.
Howzat! CHEERING Sorry.
That was rotten luck, Robbie.
Oh, shut up.
And here we are,|back again in the living room.
There's not a lot to see,|I'm afraid.
It's lovely.
Thank you.
You're so kind.
Here's Colin, my husband.
This is Mr and Mrs Barnaby and, er Cully.
I'm sorry I couldn't be here.
|I've been at the church.
It's Whit Sunday tomorrow.
Colin does the altar arrangements.
So How do you like the house? Oh, it's very nice.
We've been very happy here.
Oh, yes, we've been blessed.
But it's time to move on.
Excuse me asking,|but what is your job, Mr Cooper? Colin is in security at the Causton Museum.
But we're putting that behind us.
We're hoping to travel - in Africa.
Missionary work.
How about you, Mr Barnaby? I'd say you're a businessman.
Or perhaps some sort of civil servant? You're close.
I'm a police officer with Causton CID.
Oh! Really? Thank you.
That's exactly what I mean.
The first house we see,|and the owners are mad.
That's not fair.
|They're just religious.
But did you see their faces when I said what I did? Oh Tom.
They were nervous and anyway, how can a security man in a local museum afford this place? Maybe he inherited it.
Here we are.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Enjoy it.
I don't see why we can't just stay in Causton.
Because with Cully gone Do you really want to move in with Miko? We've been together for two years.
You don't like London.
I love it.
We are moving.
We all agreed.
I thought Portland Place was charming.
It's not just the house.
What is it, then? It's just that I like being in Causton.
A townie! Think about it, Joyce.
Every time I go into any village,|it's always the same.
Blackmail, sexual deviancy,|suicide and murder.
How do you expect me to live in one? Tara! Yes, Robbie? It's that bloody woman again -|Beamish, Beavis, whatever.
Take care of her, will you? Yes, dear (!) Dad What do you want? I was wondering if you'd considered what we talked about.
You know the loan.
Not now, Stephen.
Only it's been a week, and the bank are pressuring me.
This is not the time or the place, damn you.
I'm watching the game.
Right.
Shouldn't you be padded up? Don't worry I won't miss my innings.
Is this what you're looking for? I'm sorry it took so long to find.
No, I'm so sorry.
|We broke your window again.
I should be used to it.
Silly of me.
I always mean to open the windows when there's a match.
But I've a head like a sieve.
This is for you.
Twenty pounds! That's very kind of you.
Thank you.
It's to mend the window.
And the vase? I'm sorry? The vase on the windowsill has gone too.
But don't worry about it.
I'm sure I can stick it together.
No, no|we'll we'll pay for a new one.
Oh thank you, Mrs Cavendish.
Shall we say 45? Trish? What are you doing here? I thought you were playing cricket.
I am but I had to see you.
Can you talk? You were going to call me last night.
I couldn't.
Who were you with? Leave off, Stephen.
I fell asleep.
I was worn out.
It was Friday night.
|You know what it's like here.
I missed you.
Yeah.
Tomorrow morning,|I could come first thing.
I'm not working tonight.
Not tonight.
I've got dinner at the hall.
It's my dad's birthday.
I have to be there.
Oh, I see.
|It's OK if you stand me up.
It's not like that, and you know it.
I need you.
Oh, Stephen.
DOOR OPENS Excuse me.
Who's winning? We're 75 for 3.
Oh.
Have you tried the strawberry cheesecake? No, I don't eat puddings.
Oh, no.
Silly me.
You do have such a wonderful shape.
I wasn't going to have any,|but Mrs Wilson insisted.
And I didn't have any breakfast.
I'm starving.
Where's Stephen? I don't know.
Robbie, do you know? He's gone.
Where? He slipped off while you were inside.
Now, do you mind, Jane,|I'm watching the cricket.
Would you sign the petition? I'm sorry? Fletcher's Cross Ramblers.
We're fighting to reopen the footpath across Cavendish estate.
Actually, I'm not from here so It doesn't matter.
That's the point.
The path has been marked since the 16th century.
It cuts through the mere.
|You can see it.
Robert Cavendish, who owns the hall,|he's fenced it off.
We want right of access.
So far we have 107 signatures on our side.
I'm sorry but I'll sign it.
Thank you, dear.
We'll walk where we want to walk.
We'll walk where our ancestors walked.
Right to roam, Dad.
|She has got a point.
But it's a mere.
|Who'd want to walk across a mere? APPLAUSE Very good.
Well done, everybody! Thank you.
Thank you.
Right.
Well, we've eliminated the Badger's Drift XI pretty much according to plan.
But next Thursday,|we have Midsomer Worthy.
They came second in the league last year, so we're going to need iron determination to eliminate them.
So, I want total mobilisation.
In the nets, Wednesday, six o'clock.
Right? ALL: Right.
OK.
Thank you.
Charles.
A word, if you please.
You're out of the team.
What?! You heard.
I don't want you in the team next Thursday.
You're pissed off because you were run out.
Don't you dare answer me back,|you guttersnipe, or you'll be out of a job too.
You can do the scoring on Thursday,|and be grateful for it.
Do you hear me? Yes, Mr Cavendish.
Right.
That's good.
Very good.
I haven't played since school.
Yes? Well you're just what we want.
Oh! Next Thursday, we're up against Fletcher's Cross.
I want to put you in number one.
Oh, right! I'm glad to meet you, Gavin.
I'm very glad you answered the ad.
As long as I'm not breaking any rules, Ian.
It's not as if I live in Midsomer Worthy.
Who says you have to? And anyway, who's going to ask? The important thing is we take 'em on and beat 'em.
That'll take the smile off his face.
Who? Their captain's a swine,|an evil bastard.
Name of Cavendish.
Robert Cavendish.
You make it sound personal.
You could say that.
It is.
I'm glad to have you on the team,|Gavin.
We're going to kill him! Happy Birthday, Robbie.
Ohhhh! I hope you like it.
It's superb! It's an RLB dagger.
Yeah.
The man said it was used at El Alamein.
(Great days!) I haven't got one of these.
|It's wonderful.
It's still got the leather frog.
Yeah.
Oh, it's perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
Thank you.
God, I was lucky to meet you, Tara.
I was the lucky one.
No, no.
If ever I thought you'd leave me,|Tara Why do you say that? Hmm? We ought to go down.
|They'll be waiting for us.
Right.
Are you going to tell them? If you want me to.
We've got to tell them sometime.
Hm? Happy birthday, sir.
Happy birthday, Dad.
Happy birthday.
I hope you'll be very happy, sir.
You're all making a fuss about nothing.
Robbie Thank you, Mrs Wilson.
|It's a lovely cake.
It's my pleasure, ma'am.
I'll cut it.
Away you go.
I'll go and get the coffee, ma'am.
Ooh, lovely.
Chocolate, my absolute favourite.
I thought you preferred strawberry cheesecake, Jane.
Well I|I like them both, really.
I like them all.
God What's up with you? Nothing.
Well, I mean, look at us.
|It's grotesque.
The four of us in this bloody mausoleum.
It's like Edgar Allan Poe.
You won't have to put up with it much longer.
What do you mean? I've decided to sell.
What? The hall? The whole estate.
But what about our cottage? It's already decided, Jane.
Tara's bored with it.
So am I.
Well, where are you going? I want to live in Orlando.
Orlando?! Florida.
I'm retiring and packing up.
You're right.
|This place is a mausoleum.
Tara has persuaded me.
I've had enough.
What, just like that? Why didn't you talk to me?|Where do I go? Stephen Oh, to hell with you, Tara.
Is this what happens when you marry a woman half your age? You end up in bloody Disneyland.
You said you'd extend the loan on my business.
I've changed my mind.
|I'm fed up bailing you out.
It's time you learnt to stand up on your own two feet.
This is all your doing, isn't it? Ever since you married him, you've been turning him against me.
|I didn't need much turning I want what's best for Robbie.
You'll be all right, Jane.
Have another piece of cake.
DOG GROWLS Kaiser, what's up with you? GROWLS AND BARKS BARKING Kaiser, come on, boy.
You off then, Mrs Cavendish? Yep.
I'll be back at around ten.
It's a beautiful day.
|You enjoy yourself.
Come on, Kaiser.
CLOCK TICKS DOOR CREAKS Where are you going? I didn't want to wake you.
I've got to nip into the office.
But it's Sunday.
You may not be aware of it, Jane, but I'm working a seven day week just to keep afloat.
You weren't working yesterday.
Or did you pop in during the cricket match? What? Robert said he saw you slipping away.
So where did you go? For God's sake, I went for a drink.
|Go back to sleep.
DISTANT BARKING TARA: Kaiser, here boy.
Heel.
Heel.
Come on.
Kaiser, here boy.
(WHISTLES) Kaiser, heel! Come on, Kaiser.
Good boy.
Kaiser.
Kaiser! Kaiser! Come on, boy.
BARKS Kaiser! Where are you? RUSTLING Kaiser? What are you doing here? Aaaah! Morning, Troy.
Good weekend? Yes, sir.
Very active.
This is quite a place, isn't it? Owned by Robert Cavendish.
|Local landowner.
Several businesses.
His wife, Tara,|went missing yesterday morning.
What, 24 hours ago? Uniform were here yesterday but she hasn't shown up yet,|so they passed it to us.
Have you organised a search? Yeah.
The woods and countryside.
|They're out there now.
I'd better have a word with Mr Cavendish.
I should warn you, sir.
|He's not exactly an easy man.
It's about time you people took this seriously.
What rank did you say you were? Detective Chief Inspector, sir.
You could have turned up yesterday.
But I expect you take your weekends off.
What time did your wife leave the house yesterday? I've already told him all that.
Yes, I know, but if you don't mind.
Well, what's he for? She went out at a quarter to eight.
She normally only goes out for about an hour, so at ten o'clock I began to be worried about her.
But at midday,|the dog comes back on its own.
That's when you reported it to the police? That's right.
|Not that it did much good.
Do you think she may have fallen,|sir? I don't know what's happened to her,|I just want her to be found.
Tara Cavendish.
|Fair hair, slim, 5'5".
Wearing a green anorak.
Age 35.
Yes, young man,|she is my second wife.
My first wife and I were divorced.
I see you have an interest in the war, Mr Cavendish.
Yes The Wehrmacht.
The greatest fighting force ever assembled.
Swift, ruthless.
Do you know what that is? That is an Iron Cross,|first class, from the Moers.
General von Reichenau's 6th Army.
A superb campaign.
I brought you some tea, sir.
Thank you.
This is Mrs Wilson,|my cook, housekeeper.
These gentlemen are police officers.
Is there any news yet, sir? No.
I saw her leave, yesterday morning,|just before eight.
That was the last time you saw her? Yes, sir.
But when I made her breakfast at half past seven, she said she'd be walking over to the old quarry.
Why the quarry?|She never usually walks there.
She told you that specifically? Yes, sir.
But why? Why mention it at all? Well, I've no idea, sir.
|She just said that's where she'd be.
That's the long and the tall of it.
And then about|twenty minutes later, she left.
If she was walking near a quarry,|maybe she slipped and fell in.
Yeah, it's always possible, Troy.
There's a face I recognise.
Charles Jennings, Badger's Drift.
I remember him.
|He was on the game, wasn't he? A bum boy.
Sir! Someone smashed her head in.
Eight or more blows.
Shattered the skull.
Time of death|sometime in the last 24 hours or so.
Yeah, well, we knew that.
Hmm But do you know what they used? A cricket bat.
A True Play.
I'm not a cricket fan myself.
Just as well.
|This would put you off for life.
There was a cricket match in the village last Saturday.
The villages play in a local league.
Next week Fletcher's Cross play Midsomer Worthy.
You're well up in local sport, Troy.
Yeah, as a matter of f Go on.
No, nothing.
Could a woman have done this? Man, woman.
Could have been either.
Anything else? Can't help you, I'm afraid.
The ground's dry,|so you won't get any footprints.
Maybe you'll get something off the bat, but I doubt it.
Oh, God.
Oh, no.
Oh no.
There will have to be a formal identification, sir, but (TEARFULLY) No.
It would help if you would answer some questions now.
(TEARFULLY) No.
We can come back later if you want.
No.
No No! We've wasted enough time already.
If you'd started looking for her when I reported her missing What do you want to know? Did she have any enemies, sir? No, Tara wasn't that kind of person.
Tara was Tara was my wife, that's all.
Would she have worn jewellery or be carrying anything of value? No! She was walking the dog! Robert, what's happened? Has Tara been found? Excuse me, you are?|Jane Cavendish.
My daughter-in-law.
Is she all right? Er no, Mrs Cavendish.
We found a body in the woods answering to her description.
What? Dead? Oh, yes.
(MOANS) Oh I mean that's terrible.
What happened? Mrs Cavendish seems to have been attacked.
We found a cricket bat by the body.
A True Play - fairly new.
A True Play? Yes.
A black handle with a red top? Yes.
That's Stephen's bat Stephen? Well I mean, he does have a bat like it.
My husband.
I bought him a bat like it at the start of the season.
But I'm sure it isn't the same bat.
I mean, it couldn't be.
Mr Barnaby.
Mrs Cooper! I didn't expect to see you so soon.
Do you work here? I'm Mr Cavendish's secretary.
Do you want interior design for your new home? No, I'm actually here on official business.
Mr Cavendish, I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby from Causton CID, and I'm afraid I have some rather bad news.
It's just unbelievable.
No-one would want to kill Tara.
It must just have been some nutter,|out in the wood.
Sir, we believe you own a True Play cricket bat.
It has a black handle with a red top.
Yes.
What about it? We think it may be the weapon that killed your stepmother.
What? She was killed with a cricket bat? Yes.
Oh, my Lord.
If it was your bat, can you explain how it came to be taken from you? No.
I keep it in the downstairs loo.
Do many people have access to the house? Not really.
The doors aren't locked.
|Anyone could have come in.
Where were you on Sunday morning,|sir? Between about seven and nine.
Sunday morning? You were at home, perhaps.
|With your wife.
Yes.
Er actually,|I went out for a couple of hours.
I came in here to do some work.
I'd got behind with the invoices.
I was here until about twelve.
That's funny.
That's someone else I've seen before.
Stephen Cavendish? He was at the pub on Saturday, in a passionate embrace with someone who was not his wife.
Not Charles Jennings, I hope (!) Mr Barnaby? Mrs Cooper.
I had to speak to you.
I don't like to be disloyal,|don't get me wrong.
But Mr Cavendish wasn't truthful.
I'm sorry? He was never here on Sunday.
I arrive first on Monday.
|I'd know if he'd been in.
The invoices are up-to-date.
|I do them myself.
So you think Mr Cavendish was lying? I don't like to and I don't want to, but Colin and I,|we're both born-again Christians, and the truth is very important to us.
'Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are true,|think on these things.
' That's what Jesus said.
I had to tell you.
|I had to do what's right.
Thank you, Mrs Cooper.
I'm sure there's a good reason though, why he said that.
He may not be a good or a kind person, but I'm sure he wouldn't hurt anyone.
Thank you.
Right.
Not good.
Not kind? It's his cricket bat.
He's lying.
Do you want to go and arrest him now? No, I think I fancy a drink.
Christine.
Yes,|I just nipped outside, Mr Cavendish.
You spoke to Mr Barnaby,|whatever his name is.
Yes, he's buying our house.
|Well, he might be.
He came to see it last Saturday.
PHONE RINGS Stephen! What? When did it happen? Yes, of course.
I'll do whatever you want.
Well, well, well.
Mr Jennings, isn't it? Mr Barnaby.
You remember me? I'm not likely to forget you.
Weren't you working at the hall? Yeah, I've got a job there.
|Four days a week.
I've got a room here so I help out now and then.
Keeping out of trouble, are you? Aren't you gentlemen being served? Half a bitter for me.
|And Troy - you're driving.
Lemonade, please.
So what's this you're not telling me, Troy? Sir? To do with cricket, I think.
Fletcher's Cross versus Midsomer Worthy.
It's embarrassing,|if you want the truth.
I do.
I've been trying to take a bit more exercise.
It comes to us all, Troy.
I saw an ad in the paper for cricket players.
I was good at school.
|It'll keep me busy at weekends.
And? I'm batting for Midsomer Worthy next week.
If the game isn't cancelled.
Is there a reason why it might be? Robert Cavendish captains the Fletcher's Cross team.
Our captain - Ian Frasier -|was talking about him.
He said Cavendish was an evil bastard.
And then he said,|'I'm going to kill him.
' He meant Robert Cavendish.
Yeah.
And he used the words in a sporting sense.
But there was obviously a grudge between them.
I suppose I should back down from the team.
No, not at all, Troy.
You're ideally placed if there is something to uncover.
Zelda? When's tea? I haven't got time, Ian.
|I'm doing these.
They'll be all over the village tomorrow.
And they'll be in Midsomer Worthy and Badger's Drift.
Are you sure it's appropriate? Appropriate? After the death.
Tara Cavendish was an airhead, an upstart playing queen of the manor.
She doesn't matter.
|These paths are 400 years old.
I still don't see - No, of course you don't.
You were there on Sunday morning -|the Cavendish estate.
Did you see her? Did you? Leave me alone, Ian, please.
I'm busy.
There's last night's nut rissoles.
|Heat them up in the Aga.
All right? What are you so worried about? You haven't said a word all evening.
It's meant.
This is all about that policeman,|isn't it? Barnaby.
He came to the house.
|He came to the office.
He's not interested in us.
It's meant, Colin, I know it is.
He's going to find out.
Come on, Flopsy.
He's not going to find out.
I'll look after you.
I I need to be punished.
I'll punish you.
I want to be hurt.
I'll hurt you.
"Behold, I was shapen in wickedness and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
" I'll hurt you.
Trish Can I borrow that old typewriter in the office? Yeah, as long as you don't drop it.
Cheers.
Goodnight.
CLACKING OF TYPEWRITER KEYS 'We have details on a property that may interest you, Mrs Barnaby.
' It's a converted post office in Fletcher's Cross.
Very unusual.
Two bedrooms.
|A nice view of the green.
It looks very nice, Miss um Beauvoisin.
How did you find Portland Place? We're still thinking about it.
Of course,|I wouldn't wish to hurry you, but these properties get snapped up very quickly.
Would you like me to arrange a viewing of Dunmailin? I'm sorry? The post office.
Good morning, Troy.
Good morning, sir.
What have we got? Robert Cavendish ran a quarrying company.
He closed it nine years ago.
It was unexpected.
|A lot of jobs lost.
Go on.
He married again around that time.
Any news on the cricket bat? Stephen Cavendish says it is his.
No prints though.
|We've got the PM report.
Time of death - 9am on Sunday.
Oh and this might interest you.
'Country Life'.
|That's a bit out of my league.
There's a picture of Robert Cavendish's place.
It seems he put it on the market just before his wife died.
Hmm Let's talk to his son first.
Mrs Wilson! That's right, sir.
|I work at the hall and I do two days for young Mr Cavendish.
Is there any news yet, sir? About Mrs Cavendish, I mean.
Not yet, I'm afraid.
It's a terrible thing.
And to happen the day after his birthday.
His birthday? Yes, Mr Cavendish senior,|he was 60 years old.
And then this.
Is Stephen Cavendish in? No, sir.
|He's nipped out with the dog.
But Mrs Cavendish is here.
Mrs Wilson.
Who is it? Robert did mention that he was going to sell the hall.
He was talking about Orlando,|actually.
Of course, that was Tara's idea.
I mean, Orlando.
Wherever next.
Did you and she get on,|Mrs Cavendish? I suppose so.
No.
I never liked her, to be honest.
I know that's a wicked thing to say.
But why should I lie? It's not as if I murdered her.
Cream? Not for me.
There.
Tara was so young and so pretty.
And so slim.
She had a way of looking down that little nose of hers.
I didn't really like her at all.
Robert adored her.
I don't know why.
You were at home on your own,|the morning she died.
Yes, I was in bed.
Biscuit? No.
No? Mmm I won't either.
Maybe just one.
To be honest I was surprised -|her walking round the quarry.
Why's that? Well, you must know the stories.
No.
They say the quarry's cursed.
Cursed? That's what everybody says.
There was the accident, a long time ago, Robert used to blast there.
Then it was only about 18 months ago - poor Miss Beavis.
Miss Beavis? LIGHT CLATTERING She was the housekeeper before Mrs Wilson.
She took the dog out sometimes.
One day she went out and she never came back.
Just like Tara.
She was killed? Well, it was an accident.
The police said that she slipped and fell but That's why it was strange,|Tara going there, just not a very nice place.
Stephen.
Mr Barnaby.
Sir,|could I have another word with you? Yes, of course.
I had a feeling you might be back.
What I told you the other day Your whereabouts on Sunday morning.
Yes.
Well, the point is I shouldn't have,|but I didn't tell the truth.
I wasn't at the office.
I was with a friend.
A young friend.
Was it, by chance,|a young lady at the Queen's Arms? Yes.
Her name's Trish.
Patricia Smith, actually.
She and I are Well Yes, sir? She doesn't know anyone here.
She came to the village a year ago.
|From London.
All on her own.
She and I just sort of|hit it off.
Were you with her all morning, sir? Yes.
I got there about eight.
|She has a room at the pub.
I was with her until eleven.
And she will confirm all this? Of course.
I'd be grateful if it went no further.
You do understand? Oh, yes, sir, we understand.
Perfectly.
So, what did they want? They were asking questions.
Mmm You told them it was my bat,|didn't you? Why? I don't know.
Do you want me arrested and sent to jail? What - you in prison for 30 years, and me having to start a new life, all on my own? No, Stephen.
I can't imagine anything worse.
Bloody woman.
Advertising her intention to break the law.
Nobody does a damn thing about it.
But you can commit murder around here and still get away with it.
We're doing everything we can.
Right.
What do you want with me? We understand your wife wanted you to sell the hall.
Yes, but I was in perfect agreement.
Did your son and his wife have any say? Stephen and Jane?|No, why on earth should they? It's my property.
Without me, their business would have gone down the pan.
Did they know about the sale? Yes, I told them the night before.
You think they killed her to stop it going ahead? That's absurd.
Is that what you think? We are pursuing several lines of enquiry, sir.
You're wasting time.
Pull.
I'll tell you something that might actually be worth your knowing.
The night before she went missing Your birthday.
Yes.
Somebody was outside, spying on us.
|The dog barked.
Knew it was somebody.
That's what he's there for.
Did you see who it was? Dog must have frightened them off.
But if it was some sort of stalker Pull.
Thank you, sir, we'll look into it.
That's all, is it? There is just one more thing.
A year and a half ago,|your housekeeper was involved in an accident at the quarry.
Miss Beavis.
Yes, she died.
What's that got to do with it? You don't see any parallel? No.
Well, I do.
Miss Beavis walks your dog in the quarry and fails to come back.
And then she's found dead.
thing happens to your wife.
But Miss Beavis fell.
I'd still like to know what else you can tell me about her.
Well, I can't tell you anything,|she was the housekeeper.
Now, then, young man.
Miss Beavis has a sister, still lives in the village.
Since your enquiry's going nowhere, you might as well go and waste time talking to her.
Right? Right.
Pull.
CAR HORN BEEPS Sir, wasn't that Yes.
Yes, it was.
Oh, please Lord,|not Fletcher's Cross.
I suppose you're here about poor Mrs Cavendish.
I couldn't believe it when I read it in the newspaper.
Are you sure it was murder? Are you sure it couldn't have been an accident? Oh, I don't think so.
Oh, dear, dear, dear.
But I don't see how I can help.
We wanted to ask about your sister.
Emily.
Could you tell us anything about her death? She fell into the quarry.
It was Mr Cooper that found her.
Colin Cooper.
They knew each other, did they? Yes.
They were quite good friends.
She wrote to me about him once.
I could find the letter if you like.
Yes, that might be very helpful.
I don't suppose you could tell us - was there anything suspicious about your sister's death? Suspicious? Oh, no, nothing.
But she phoned me the night before,|said she wanted to see me.
Did she say why? No.
And now that you mention it, I did think it strange that she went so close to that quarry's edge.
She was always terrified of heights.
And then there was the business of the break-in.
The break-in? Yes, somebody broke into her house.
This house.
The same day that she died.
It didn't look as if anything was taken.
But it was still a very unhappy coincidence.
Yes.
But suspicious, Mr Barnaby? Oh, no.
|There was nothing suspicious at all.
Where to, sir? Causton.
But there's somewhere I want to stop off on the way.
I suppose he told you about us,|did he? Yes.
Stephen doesn't love Jane.
There's been nothing between them for years.
But I wish it was out in the open.
He wants to marry me, you know.
Why doesn't he then? It's them at the hall.
|Mr Cavendish and Tara.
When she was alive.
They're all such snobs.
What time did Stephen Cavendish arrive on Sunday morning? He got here at 8:05,|he left at 11:20.
You're very precise.
I've got a good head for figures.
But the long and tall of it is,|he wasn't at the quarry, if that's what you're thinking.
Was she there? Yes, she was.
And? She's lying.
And there's something else.
You drive.
It'll come to me.
Mr Cooper.
Mr Barnaby.
This is a surprise.
Why is that? You know I'm pursuing a murder investigation.
Yes, but that's got nothing to do with me, has it? We have some questions about the death of Emily Beavis.
Emily.
But I thought that was an accident.
And it happened ages ago.
You found her.
Yes.
It was horrible.
I still pray for her.
She was a friend of mine.
And you used to help her.
I tried to be a good neighbour,|Mr Barnaby.
That's what it says in the Bible.
But I don't understand Mr Cooper, I wonder if you'd mind coming to the quarry with us.
I'd be very interested to know exactly what you saw.
I wasn't on my own.
Christine was with me.
We often used to come here.
We liked the birds.
|The wild flowers.
So you were walking, then? Yes.
It was Saturday afternoon.
|About four.
Kaiser.
Oh, Kaiser.
Do come.
'We heard Emily calling the dog.
' Kaiser.
Come.
'It's so quiet round here.
|You can hear everything.
' 'We didn't take any notice of her,|though.
' 'She could have been miles away.
' 'Anyway,|we wanted to be on our own.
' To meditate together.
And where exactly were you|'meditating', Mr Cooper? I'll show you.
Just there.
'The next thing we knew we heard this scream.
' SCREAM 'I swear to God I could see her eyes as she came down.
' 'I could see right into her soul.
' 'She hit the ground head-first.
' 'We could see at once that she was dead.
' 'There was nothing we could do.
' That was where she hit.
|It was 4:16.
Her watch was smashed,|so that's how they knew.
So what happened next? We ran to the car,|drove off and called the police.
Why are you asking all this? It was an accident.
Let us be the judge of that,|Mr Cooper.
Do you believe him? He believes it was an accident that she fell.
But you don't.
Oh, Troy.
Look at the evidence,|for heaven's sake.
Two deaths in identical circumstances in the same place.
And even without the death of Tara Cavendish.
Use your eyes.
Look how far she travelled.
She didn't come straight down,|she came down in an arc.
That's not a fall.
It's more like a running jump.
And she landed head-first.
If she had gone too close to the edge, she'd have come down feet first,|not in a dive.
But she was scared of heights.
So either she jumped on purpose .
.
or else somebody pushed her.
You know what I think, Troy? Yes, sir.
Emily Beavis was murdered.
And by the same person or persons who killed Tara Cavendish.
The only thing is,|I cannot for the life of me see why.
Cully.
How was the journey? Long.
Where's Dad? He said he'd be here.
Oh, he's bound to be late.
|He's on a case.
How's the house-hunting? Oh, I feel like your father.
I'm not getting anywhere.
Here he is now.
Sorry I'm late.
So you decided to come home early.
Miko's on a tour, the flat's got a leak, and I was missing you.
That's what I like to hear.
|This all you got? I'm only staying a couple of days.
Still,|let's celebrate with dinner out.
So you're not moving to Fletcher's Cross.
I saw a converted post office.
And? Ghastly.
The letter box was the only original feature.
What about the case?|Mum told me.
What was her name? Tara Cavendish.
Bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat.
I'd have been less surprised if it had been her husband, Robert.
What's wrong with him? You can't help disliking him.
He owns the quarry that's the centre of everything.
He closed it down.
|There were redundancies.
You don't kill someone because of that.
Not in the town, dear.
But this is the country.
And in the country, anything goes.
Good night, Ian.
See you tomorrow, Reg.
You take care.
(SIGHS) All set for the game, Gavin? Yeah.
Although I'm surprised it's still on.
You've read about the murder, then.
Yeah.
Quite a bit.
They got the wrong target.
They should have got him.
Robert Cavendish? You knew him? I knew him.
You fancy a drink? I'd like that.
I'm just five minutes away.
I used to work for Cavendish.
I was the quarry manager.
Just outside the village.
That was when he ran the company.
You have been reading up on him.
I'm just interested.
Well, er Maybe you know about the accident, then.
Someone was hurt.
Killed.
I doubt if they felt a thing.
We were late, you see? We were exporting to France,|Holland All over the place.
'And we were having trouble keeping up with the orders.
' 'And that day,|we were supposed to be blasting, but there was a fault in the wire.
' 'One charge didn't go off.
' SILENCE Now, there are special procedures in this eventuality.
'We should have shut down, evacuated and called in the proper people.
' Oh, for God's sake.
Just get on with it! Cavendish was always on my back.
I knew what he'd say.
'Late with an order,|lose a customer.
' Time, efficiency.
That's .
.
all that mattered to him.
'So I persuaded one of the men to try and sort it out.
' 'His name was Matthew Draper.
' I'll never forget it.
'36 years old, married, with a kid.
' There was an investigation,|of course.
And I was the one who took the rap.
And they were right.
|It was my fault.
I lost my licence .
.
and my job.
Cavendish never gave me any help.
And no support,|financial or otherwise.
And then Just nine weeks later He shut down the quarry.
He'd been planning it all along.
Not a word to any of us.
And a man had died for nothing.
We'll leave at two o'clock tomorrow on the dot.
We'll follow the path from here,|just beyond the lane.
It's a two-hour walk.
30 minutes will be on the Cavendish estate.
Any questions? Will we get across the mere? It's been quite wet recently.
I checked the path last week and it's all manageable.
Except for one section.
And there's a bridge.
Anything else? So, until tomorrow at 2:00, then.
And remember, it is our land.
It is our footpath.
It is our right.
I've pulled the file on Emily Beavis.
It's actually 17 months ago she died.
There's no reason to suspect foul play.
She was just a housekeeper.
No-one benefited from her death.
Apart from her sister.
Doreen? She inherited the house.
I can't see Doreen pushing her sister into a quarry.
Can you? What other motive could there have been? Then there's the break-in.
There's a note on it.
Here.
Look.
Colin Cooper called the police from his home at 4:56.
That's 40 minutes after she fell.
And some time that same afternoon,|someone broke into her house.
Cooper.
|I wouldn't trust him an inch.
Today is the cricket match.
Midsomer Worthy against Fletcher's Cross.
That's why I asked for the afternoon off.
I'll be watching.
|As will Cully and Joyce.
What time's kick-off? At two o'clock.
I'll give you a lift.
Ham, cheese and egg-and-cress.
We'll have the biscuits and the cakes here.
Is the urn on, Trish? No, Mrs Wilson.
Well, I asked you to put it on.
I'm sorry.
(SIGHS) It's all right.
I'll do it.
These young girls.
|There's nothing between their ears.
Um I was wondering, Mrs Wilson No-one'll notice.
|You help yourself, my dear.
Thank you.
Mm.
These look rather nice.
I'll take that one, too.
Excuse me.
|Can I have your attention, please? I don't need to tell you about recent events.
As a result, my father is unable to play this afternoon.
I will be captain in his place.
I'd like to thank Colin Cooper, who has agreed to step in as eleventh man at the last minute.
That's it.
It's not pleasant to think of a death in the village, but erlife goes on.
So Ian Frasier used to work for Robert Cavendish.
Until the accident.
Yes.
The accident.
|What was the name again? Matthew Draper.
Matthew Draper,|Emily Beavis, Tara Cavendish.
Three unnatural deaths, Troy.
And all in the same place.
No wonder the locals say the quarry's cursed.
I'll handle this.
|You go get changed.
Oh, right.
Don't end up the way I am about this case.
How's that, sir? Stumped.
Miss Beavis.
Oh, do please come in.
Thank you.
Is everything all right? Yes.
There's a cricket match and I don't want to take any chances.
Oh, right.
Remember that letter you mentioned? Letter? Yes, from your sister.
Oh, yes.
I have it here.
I kept all her letters.
I don't know why.
Mm.
This is it.
It's about Dad's coins.
I'm sorry? That was how Mr Cooper helped her.
She asked him to look at Dad's coin collection.
Emily thought some of them might be valuable.
And she was quite right.
They are.
How valuable? Some of them are worth ã20 each.
But I wouldn't sell them.
Emily wouldn't have wanted me to.
And Colin Cooper valued them for her? Yes.
He's a kind man.
Very kind.
Just remember, People have been walking this path since the time of Henry VIII.
Good afternoon, Mr Frasier.
Hello.
Your call.
Heads.
Tails it is.
We'll bat first.
You look comfortable.
Come and sit down.
I will.
Fletcher's Cross won the toss.
Oh, here comes Troy.
Yep! CHEERS Well done, Troy! You never told me Gavin played cricket.
He obviously has hidden talents.
This way! This way, everyone.
It's quite dry after this.
Aaargh! Just one.
No! That wasn't a four.
Mr Cavendish, will you ask somebody to take tea to the scoring shed? I'll do it.
Oh, that's very kind of you.
Howzat! CHEERING By the way, Tom.
|I think I found the perfect house.
Oh, no.
It's a two-bedroom cottage with two bedrooms, two living rooms and a conservatory.
Sounds like something out of Cluedo.
Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the conservatory.
Tomorrow.
|Four o'clock.
Be on time.
What are they clapping you for? Not very much, I'm afraid.
Useless.
You came out after all, Robert.
Yes.
Oh, you've got blood on you.
|Have you cut yourself? Oh, yes.
I caught my hand on a nail.
Nasty.
(SCREAMS) What's that? (SOBS) THUNDER RUMBLES I thought I saw Stephen go into the scoring shed.
He was carrying a cup of tea.
|I went over to see him.
And when you got there? There was no-one there.
Maybe I was wrong and it wasn't Stephen.
What did you see? I looked inside.
And he was just lying there -|Charles Jennings.
At first I thought he was asleep.
Miss Smith, you told me Stephen Cavendish came to the pub at five past eight last Sunday morning.
Now, think very carefully.
Are you sure that was the right time? I don't know, maybe it was later.
I told you what he wanted me to say.
|Please don't ask me any more! I was in here.
Mrs Wilson asked me to take tea to the scoring shed.
I took it.
I gave it to him.
He said thank you.
I left.
Thank you? Ta.
Something like that.
According to Mrs Wilson,|you offered to take the tea.
Yes.
Maybe.
I don't know.
She asked and I just happened to be there.
Do you recognise this, sir? Yes.
It's one of my father's.
Why don't you talk to him?|He was at the match.
He came out of nowhere.
|And he had blood on him.
I had no reason to kill Charles Jennings.
We found this is his pocket.
So he had cash.
ã500 in cash, sir? A lot of cash.
Sir, were you and Charles Jennings involved in a relationship of a sexual nature? Don't be disgusting.
You didn't give him any money? No! Look I'm not saying any more until I've spoken to my solicitor.
That might be a good idea, sir.
(SIGHS) Sir.
Thank you.
'I saw what happened in the quarry.
' 'I was watching Mrs Cavendish,|and I know who killed her.
' 'I don't want to go to the police,|but I do want money.
' 'I want ã500 in cash before the end of the week.
' 'Or else.
' Looks as though we've got our man,|sir.
Yes, Troy.
It looks as if we have.
You are going to formally charge Stephen Cavendish? Your infinitives are splitting.
Yes, I will charge him.
I'm going to exactly do the wrong thing.
Stephen Cavendish killed Charles Jennings.
Oh, did he? He went into the shed.
|Jennings was still alive.
He had access to the weapon.
And the letter was in his house.
|Yeah.
Jennings blackmailed Stephen over the murder in the quarry.
Stephen killed Tara Cavendish to stop her selling the hall.
You've got it all worked out (!) There's the lab report on Jennings' ã500.
Stephen's fingerprints were on three of the notes.
Tens or twenties? Tens? Does it make any difference? It might.
|It's too neat, too straightforward.
There are questions you haven't answered.
Such as? Stephen Cavendish is a rich man,|on the face of it.
If we believe the letter,|he has committed murder.
Why did Jennings ask for so little?|ã500? It's nothing.
That'd be a first instalment.
Even so, he could've asked for ten times as much.
He didn't want to push his luck.
It was the last thing he did in his life, the cricket match.
You bowled.
|Colin Cooper made one run.
But Charles Jennings put up the score as a four.
Why? He must have been distracted.
Yes.
But why? Was he trying to tell us something by changing the score? Here's something you have forgotten:|Emily Beavis.
Did Stephen Cavendish kill her, too? Maybe she has nothing to do with this.
If she was killed,|maybe it was for a different reason.
Mr Barnaby.
Mrs Cooper.
I think you know why I'm here.
I'm giving you one opportunity,|just one, to tell the truth.
Do you understand? Yes.
You killed Emily Beavis.
No! No.
We could never - Never what, Mrs Cooper? How far would you go? You've got it wrong.
Sweet Jesus! Then tell me what happened that day in the quarry.
It was like we said.
Almost like we said We saw her fall.
SCREAM 'When we got to her,|she wasn't dead.
' 'But she was dying.
' 'There was obviously nothing we could do.
' 'And then she she pointed up.
' 'And we looked up there and' 'There was someone with her.
' We realised that she must have been pushed.
You never told this to the police? We were afraid.
Don't lie to me, Mrs Cooper! You didn't tell the police, because you had plans of your own.
Yes? How do you know? Because you drove all the way home before you reported the death.
Anyone else would have gone straight to a phone.
But you had plans, didn't you? She had these coins.
She asked me to look at them.
'There was one there - I knew immediately what it was worth.
' 'I'd see something like it once at the museum.
' 'A Henry III gold penny.
' 'A classic one-type coin.
' Could you believe it was just sitting there in an old box with some pennies and ha'pennies? So when you found her dying,|you went back for it.
And then you sold it? How much for? ã100,000.
It wasn't stealing.
Nobody knew.
Nobody would ever have known.
She didn't need it.
If it wasn't stealing, what was it? It was a sin, Mr Barnaby.
It's not wrong to sin.
Christ came into this world for the sinners.
To call people to repentance.
I think that's a word that's alien to you.
You left an old woman to die .
.
and helped cover up a murder for more than a year.
Troy.
Sir? They're under arrest.
Caution them.
That'll be a real pleasure.
You did say four o'clock prompt,|Mrs Barnaby.
Yes.
It's not like him to be late.
Mum.
Well, he is on a case.
Here he is now.
Sorry I'm late.
I was beginning to think you weren't coming.
I made you a promise.
Here I am.
Is this it? Dad! I think it's very pretty.
Good afternoon, Mr Barnaby.
Oh! Miss Beauvoisin, isn't it? I used to know her former employer.
Mr Eastman is now divorced .
.
and living in Morocco.
Shall we go in? Anyway, welcome|at last to Long Trees, which has been on the market a very short time.
Sorry.
What did you just say? I just said that - I'm sorry, Miss Beauvoisin.
|Er Joyce.
Cully.
Mr Barnaby! Some other time.
You told Sgt Troy about an accident that happened in the quarry nine years ago.
You never told me you were a police officer.
You never asked.
I invited you into my home, and all the time you were spying on me.
Please, tell me about the man that was killed in that accident.
There's not much to tell.
His name was Matthew Draper.
You said he was married,|with a child.
But that child was a girl,|wasn't it? Yes.
Forget that.
What about me? Robert Cavendish was responsible for this.
He sabotaged the bridge.
|What will you do? Oh, shut up! You stupid, stupid woman.
They're not interested in you.
Nobody's interested in you,|or your bloody footpaths.
They never have been.
Now, if you don't mind .
.
I'll show you the door.
Zelda is right, for what it's worth.
Robert Cavendish probably did sabotage it.
Aaargh! But whatever you may think about him, he's no killer.
In fact, he's much more likely to be the victim.
He closed down the quarry.
You said it.
|Not the easiest of men, is he? The way he ran that business.
|An arrogant man.
All that Nazi stuff.
If anyone here is a target, he's it.
You mean someone was out to get him? They killed his wife, framed his son.
Killing him's too easy.
They want to destroy him, slowly.
'So Charles Jennings' letter' 'There was no name.
|It could have been sent to anyone.
' 'And planted in Stephen's house.
' 'Yes.
Jennings wrote it to someone with far less money than Stephen.
' 'He only asked for ã500.
' But who? Someone with access to the hall and the lodge, who could steal the bayonet and the bat, plant the letter, and get banknotes they knew carried Stephen's fingerprints.
More wine, sir? Yes, please.
Oh, it's a terrible business, sir.
I can't imagine how you must be feeling.
First, lovely Mrs Cavendish - and on the day after your 60th birthday.
So young.
With her pretty face all smashed in like that with a cricket bat.
And now young Master Cavendish, too.
He'll be going to prison.
No doubt about it.
I don't think you'll be seeing him again.
Now, you drink up, sir.
Dinner's almost served.
Take the killing of Emily Beavis.
|Why was she killed? It had nothing to do with her coin.
What reason could you have to kill an elderly housekeeper? Well, you might kill her if you wanted to replace her.
BEEPS HORN Actually, I can imagine how you must be feeling, sir.
I used to be married myself.
My Matthew, .
.
he was a wonderful man.
Of course, you wouldn't remember his name.
He was nothing to you.
To me 'he was the kindest, most handsome man in the whole kingdom.
' 'Whenever there was a dragon to kill, the King sent him.
' To me .
.
he was everything.
He was my knight in shining armour.
And I'll never forget the day he died! The day you took him from me! (SLURS) It wasn't me.
It was F-Frasier.
Frasier was doing what you told him to do! It was you! You were the one! Oh.
Oh, but you must forgive me, sir (!) I shouldn't be talking like this.
How's the wine? I hope the little Valium I put in it didn't spoil the bouquet.
Mrs Wilson had access to the bat and the bayonet.
The ã10 notes with Stephen's fingerprints - probably her wages.
So she's Matthew Draper's wife? His widow, yes.
She spent nine years planning revenge.
Changing her name.
|Changing her appearance.
Moving to Fletcher's Cross,|killing an innocent housekeeper, just so she could replace her.
When we first met,|I knew something was wrong.
Except when I made her breakfast at half past seven, she did mention that she'd be walking over by the quarry.
Why should Tara have been so specific? Why tell Mrs Wilson?|But maybe she never did.
Remember, it was essential to Mrs Wilson that the body be found.
Of course,|she knew exactly where it was.
Kaiser! Where are you? Kaiser? What are you doing here? (SCREAMS) Can you overtake this thing? CAR HORN BLARES Well, you said it, sir.
Oh, right.
So Mrs Wilson killed Tara Cavendish? Yes.
She committed that murder.
But she wasn't working alone.
What? There were two of them? Oh, come on, Troy.
Try and keep up.
She had her daughter, too.
Mummy, I'm here.
Ah! Dear, at last.
That's my girl.
Show him what you've got.
Can he see me? Oh, yes.
He's awake.
Show him.
Would sir care to commit suicide? So who killed Charles Jennings? That was Patricia Smith.
Alias Trish, the barmaid.
In fact, Matthew Draper's daughter.
Mrs Wilson set up Stephen, but it was Trish who wielded the knife.
'It happened when Colin Cooper hit his single.
' 'The scoring went wrong.
' 'The scores are on a rotating loop.
' 'He must have been pulling it down when she struck.
' No! That wasn't a four! 'Her timing was perfect.
|Mrs Wilson watched Trish go in.
' Mr Cavendish, could you ask someone to take tea to the scoring shed? I'll do it.
Oh, that's very kind of you.
'There was no light inside the shed.
' 'It would be dark coming in from the sun.
' 'It was a hell of a risk.
' 'They don't come more cold-blooded than these two.
' I brought you a cup of tea.
(DEEP VOICE) Ta.
'After that, all she had to do was put the body back, put back the cap and the jersey, step into the doorway as if she'd just got there and' (SCREAMS) I have to say, they both acted their parts brilliantly.
And Trish, she had an affair with Stephen simply to destroy him.
She gave him an alibi,|but made us know she was lying.
Remember how she broke down? I don't know.
Maybe it was later.
I told you what he wanted me to say.
|Don't ask me any more.
'I told you what he wanted me to say.
' It had me fooled.
I mean, it's unbelievable.
|All this planning.
They're incredible.
|And they haven't finished.
SIRENS Well, I've enjoyed working for you,|Mr Cavendish.
But if you don't mind,|I'll say goodbye now.
(WEAKLY) No.
Wait! Oh, no.
We've waited quite long enough for this.
You killed my daddy! Wh-What? I paid! Compensation? Money?|That's all you thought he was worth.
Can I do it now? Yes, dear.
But remember,|it has to look like suicide.
You wife in the grave,|your son in jail.
Is it any wonder you took the easy way out? SIRENS Finish it! Do it now! (CRIES OUT) (SCREAMS) No! (SOBS) All right, Tom.
You win.
A terraced house in Addison Crescent.
A bungalow in Brolly Street.
A Victorian semi in Raven Court.
All right in the centre of Causton.
Ah.
After that horrible story, I'm not sure I want to visit the country ever again.
There's one thing though, Dad.
What did that estate agent say that made it all click for you? Ah! Miss Beauvoisin.
It was the house name, Long Trees.
Welcome, at last, to Long Trees, which has been on the market a very short time.
Sorry.
What did you just say? It had been on the market only a short time.
What about it? I was talking to Mrs Wilson - this is before we found Tara Cavendish - she said something very odd.
I've no idea, sir.
She just said that's where she'd be.
That's the long and the tall of it.
Then about 20 minutes later,|she left.
It hardly registered then.
But a couple of days later,|I heard it again.
I've got a head for figures.
The long and tall of it is,|he was with me all morning.
The long and the short of it.
That's the actual phrase.
For one person to make that mistake is odd.
But two of them.
Two people who hardly knew each other? It's the sort of linguistic peculiarity A daughter picks up from her mother.
Exactly.
Once I made the connection,|everything just fell into place.
Here's one for you.
|A flat above a butcher's.
It's your round.
THEME MUSIC HEWITT & JOE SHEEHAN
' 'All the people were slaves.
' 'Nobody was ever allowed to have fun.
' 'But in this country,|there lived a knight.
' Matthew, sharpen it up, will you? 'He was brave and handsome.
' 'And his name was Sir Percival Prancelot.
' Sir Percival Prancelot?! That's right! 'He was the kindest, most handsome man in the whole kingdom, and whenever there was a dragon to kill, the King sent him.
' 'So while the King sat in his castle, counting his money' Oh, for God's sake.
Just get on with it, Frasier.
'Sir Percival put on his sword and his armour and set off on his quest.
' HORSE NEIGHS 'He went alone because the other knights were too scared to go.
'They hated dragons more than they hated the King.
' PERSISTENT COUGHING Here, take a sip.
Not too much.
Do you want me to go on? 'They hated dragons more than they hated the King.
' You read that.
(LAUGHS) Right! Anyway 'The next day, Sir Percival got up early and set off.
' 'The King chose a dragon which lived in a cave on the other side of the crimson forest.
' 'Not one person who had approached it had ever been seen again.
' HORSE NEIGHS 'The dragon swallowed them whole with a great fiery gulp.
' DEEP GROWLING 'But Sir Percival wasn't afraid.
' 'He rode to the cave,|and when he got there' DEEP GROWLING THEME MUSIC RUMBLE OF THUNDER GENTLE APPLAUSE Yes, one! Just along here.
It should be coming up on the right.
Here.
It's beautiful.
What do you think, Tom? You want to know what I think? No.
No, don't say anything.
I could just see you here, Dad.
Join the cricket team.
Bat for Fletcher's Cross every Saturday.
Be careful what you say.
|This is all your fault.
Mr and Mrs Barnaby? That's us.
Oh, do come in! It's a lovely sound, the bat against the ball.
It's very English.
Summer afternoons spent in peace and harmony.
I think that if Jesus had played a sport, it would have been cricket.
Yes! No! Run, man, run! No, wait! Andy.
Howzat! CHEERING Sorry.
That was rotten luck, Robbie.
Oh, shut up.
And here we are,|back again in the living room.
There's not a lot to see,|I'm afraid.
It's lovely.
Thank you.
You're so kind.
Here's Colin, my husband.
This is Mr and Mrs Barnaby and, er Cully.
I'm sorry I couldn't be here.
|I've been at the church.
It's Whit Sunday tomorrow.
Colin does the altar arrangements.
So How do you like the house? Oh, it's very nice.
We've been very happy here.
Oh, yes, we've been blessed.
But it's time to move on.
Excuse me asking,|but what is your job, Mr Cooper? Colin is in security at the Causton Museum.
But we're putting that behind us.
We're hoping to travel - in Africa.
Missionary work.
How about you, Mr Barnaby? I'd say you're a businessman.
Or perhaps some sort of civil servant? You're close.
I'm a police officer with Causton CID.
Oh! Really? Thank you.
That's exactly what I mean.
The first house we see,|and the owners are mad.
That's not fair.
|They're just religious.
But did you see their faces when I said what I did? Oh Tom.
They were nervous and anyway, how can a security man in a local museum afford this place? Maybe he inherited it.
Here we are.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Enjoy it.
I don't see why we can't just stay in Causton.
Because with Cully gone Do you really want to move in with Miko? We've been together for two years.
You don't like London.
I love it.
We are moving.
We all agreed.
I thought Portland Place was charming.
It's not just the house.
What is it, then? It's just that I like being in Causton.
A townie! Think about it, Joyce.
Every time I go into any village,|it's always the same.
Blackmail, sexual deviancy,|suicide and murder.
How do you expect me to live in one? Tara! Yes, Robbie? It's that bloody woman again -|Beamish, Beavis, whatever.
Take care of her, will you? Yes, dear (!) Dad What do you want? I was wondering if you'd considered what we talked about.
You know the loan.
Not now, Stephen.
Only it's been a week, and the bank are pressuring me.
This is not the time or the place, damn you.
I'm watching the game.
Right.
Shouldn't you be padded up? Don't worry I won't miss my innings.
Is this what you're looking for? I'm sorry it took so long to find.
No, I'm so sorry.
|We broke your window again.
I should be used to it.
Silly of me.
I always mean to open the windows when there's a match.
But I've a head like a sieve.
This is for you.
Twenty pounds! That's very kind of you.
Thank you.
It's to mend the window.
And the vase? I'm sorry? The vase on the windowsill has gone too.
But don't worry about it.
I'm sure I can stick it together.
No, no|we'll we'll pay for a new one.
Oh thank you, Mrs Cavendish.
Shall we say 45? Trish? What are you doing here? I thought you were playing cricket.
I am but I had to see you.
Can you talk? You were going to call me last night.
I couldn't.
Who were you with? Leave off, Stephen.
I fell asleep.
I was worn out.
It was Friday night.
|You know what it's like here.
I missed you.
Yeah.
Tomorrow morning,|I could come first thing.
I'm not working tonight.
Not tonight.
I've got dinner at the hall.
It's my dad's birthday.
I have to be there.
Oh, I see.
|It's OK if you stand me up.
It's not like that, and you know it.
I need you.
Oh, Stephen.
DOOR OPENS Excuse me.
Who's winning? We're 75 for 3.
Oh.
Have you tried the strawberry cheesecake? No, I don't eat puddings.
Oh, no.
Silly me.
You do have such a wonderful shape.
I wasn't going to have any,|but Mrs Wilson insisted.
And I didn't have any breakfast.
I'm starving.
Where's Stephen? I don't know.
Robbie, do you know? He's gone.
Where? He slipped off while you were inside.
Now, do you mind, Jane,|I'm watching the cricket.
Would you sign the petition? I'm sorry? Fletcher's Cross Ramblers.
We're fighting to reopen the footpath across Cavendish estate.
Actually, I'm not from here so It doesn't matter.
That's the point.
The path has been marked since the 16th century.
It cuts through the mere.
|You can see it.
Robert Cavendish, who owns the hall,|he's fenced it off.
We want right of access.
So far we have 107 signatures on our side.
I'm sorry but I'll sign it.
Thank you, dear.
We'll walk where we want to walk.
We'll walk where our ancestors walked.
Right to roam, Dad.
|She has got a point.
But it's a mere.
|Who'd want to walk across a mere? APPLAUSE Very good.
Well done, everybody! Thank you.
Thank you.
Right.
Well, we've eliminated the Badger's Drift XI pretty much according to plan.
But next Thursday,|we have Midsomer Worthy.
They came second in the league last year, so we're going to need iron determination to eliminate them.
So, I want total mobilisation.
In the nets, Wednesday, six o'clock.
Right? ALL: Right.
OK.
Thank you.
Charles.
A word, if you please.
You're out of the team.
What?! You heard.
I don't want you in the team next Thursday.
You're pissed off because you were run out.
Don't you dare answer me back,|you guttersnipe, or you'll be out of a job too.
You can do the scoring on Thursday,|and be grateful for it.
Do you hear me? Yes, Mr Cavendish.
Right.
That's good.
Very good.
I haven't played since school.
Yes? Well you're just what we want.
Oh! Next Thursday, we're up against Fletcher's Cross.
I want to put you in number one.
Oh, right! I'm glad to meet you, Gavin.
I'm very glad you answered the ad.
As long as I'm not breaking any rules, Ian.
It's not as if I live in Midsomer Worthy.
Who says you have to? And anyway, who's going to ask? The important thing is we take 'em on and beat 'em.
That'll take the smile off his face.
Who? Their captain's a swine,|an evil bastard.
Name of Cavendish.
Robert Cavendish.
You make it sound personal.
You could say that.
It is.
I'm glad to have you on the team,|Gavin.
We're going to kill him! Happy Birthday, Robbie.
Ohhhh! I hope you like it.
It's superb! It's an RLB dagger.
Yeah.
The man said it was used at El Alamein.
(Great days!) I haven't got one of these.
|It's wonderful.
It's still got the leather frog.
Yeah.
Oh, it's perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
Thank you.
God, I was lucky to meet you, Tara.
I was the lucky one.
No, no.
If ever I thought you'd leave me,|Tara Why do you say that? Hmm? We ought to go down.
|They'll be waiting for us.
Right.
Are you going to tell them? If you want me to.
We've got to tell them sometime.
Hm? Happy birthday, sir.
Happy birthday, Dad.
Happy birthday.
I hope you'll be very happy, sir.
You're all making a fuss about nothing.
Robbie Thank you, Mrs Wilson.
|It's a lovely cake.
It's my pleasure, ma'am.
I'll cut it.
Away you go.
I'll go and get the coffee, ma'am.
Ooh, lovely.
Chocolate, my absolute favourite.
I thought you preferred strawberry cheesecake, Jane.
Well I|I like them both, really.
I like them all.
God What's up with you? Nothing.
Well, I mean, look at us.
|It's grotesque.
The four of us in this bloody mausoleum.
It's like Edgar Allan Poe.
You won't have to put up with it much longer.
What do you mean? I've decided to sell.
What? The hall? The whole estate.
But what about our cottage? It's already decided, Jane.
Tara's bored with it.
So am I.
Well, where are you going? I want to live in Orlando.
Orlando?! Florida.
I'm retiring and packing up.
You're right.
|This place is a mausoleum.
Tara has persuaded me.
I've had enough.
What, just like that? Why didn't you talk to me?|Where do I go? Stephen Oh, to hell with you, Tara.
Is this what happens when you marry a woman half your age? You end up in bloody Disneyland.
You said you'd extend the loan on my business.
I've changed my mind.
|I'm fed up bailing you out.
It's time you learnt to stand up on your own two feet.
This is all your doing, isn't it? Ever since you married him, you've been turning him against me.
|I didn't need much turning I want what's best for Robbie.
You'll be all right, Jane.
Have another piece of cake.
DOG GROWLS Kaiser, what's up with you? GROWLS AND BARKS BARKING Kaiser, come on, boy.
You off then, Mrs Cavendish? Yep.
I'll be back at around ten.
It's a beautiful day.
|You enjoy yourself.
Come on, Kaiser.
CLOCK TICKS DOOR CREAKS Where are you going? I didn't want to wake you.
I've got to nip into the office.
But it's Sunday.
You may not be aware of it, Jane, but I'm working a seven day week just to keep afloat.
You weren't working yesterday.
Or did you pop in during the cricket match? What? Robert said he saw you slipping away.
So where did you go? For God's sake, I went for a drink.
|Go back to sleep.
DISTANT BARKING TARA: Kaiser, here boy.
Heel.
Heel.
Come on.
Kaiser, here boy.
(WHISTLES) Kaiser, heel! Come on, Kaiser.
Good boy.
Kaiser.
Kaiser! Kaiser! Come on, boy.
BARKS Kaiser! Where are you? RUSTLING Kaiser? What are you doing here? Aaaah! Morning, Troy.
Good weekend? Yes, sir.
Very active.
This is quite a place, isn't it? Owned by Robert Cavendish.
|Local landowner.
Several businesses.
His wife, Tara,|went missing yesterday morning.
What, 24 hours ago? Uniform were here yesterday but she hasn't shown up yet,|so they passed it to us.
Have you organised a search? Yeah.
The woods and countryside.
|They're out there now.
I'd better have a word with Mr Cavendish.
I should warn you, sir.
|He's not exactly an easy man.
It's about time you people took this seriously.
What rank did you say you were? Detective Chief Inspector, sir.
You could have turned up yesterday.
But I expect you take your weekends off.
What time did your wife leave the house yesterday? I've already told him all that.
Yes, I know, but if you don't mind.
Well, what's he for? She went out at a quarter to eight.
She normally only goes out for about an hour, so at ten o'clock I began to be worried about her.
But at midday,|the dog comes back on its own.
That's when you reported it to the police? That's right.
|Not that it did much good.
Do you think she may have fallen,|sir? I don't know what's happened to her,|I just want her to be found.
Tara Cavendish.
|Fair hair, slim, 5'5".
Wearing a green anorak.
Age 35.
Yes, young man,|she is my second wife.
My first wife and I were divorced.
I see you have an interest in the war, Mr Cavendish.
Yes The Wehrmacht.
The greatest fighting force ever assembled.
Swift, ruthless.
Do you know what that is? That is an Iron Cross,|first class, from the Moers.
General von Reichenau's 6th Army.
A superb campaign.
I brought you some tea, sir.
Thank you.
This is Mrs Wilson,|my cook, housekeeper.
These gentlemen are police officers.
Is there any news yet, sir? No.
I saw her leave, yesterday morning,|just before eight.
That was the last time you saw her? Yes, sir.
But when I made her breakfast at half past seven, she said she'd be walking over to the old quarry.
Why the quarry?|She never usually walks there.
She told you that specifically? Yes, sir.
But why? Why mention it at all? Well, I've no idea, sir.
|She just said that's where she'd be.
That's the long and the tall of it.
And then about|twenty minutes later, she left.
If she was walking near a quarry,|maybe she slipped and fell in.
Yeah, it's always possible, Troy.
There's a face I recognise.
Charles Jennings, Badger's Drift.
I remember him.
|He was on the game, wasn't he? A bum boy.
Sir! Someone smashed her head in.
Eight or more blows.
Shattered the skull.
Time of death|sometime in the last 24 hours or so.
Yeah, well, we knew that.
Hmm But do you know what they used? A cricket bat.
A True Play.
I'm not a cricket fan myself.
Just as well.
|This would put you off for life.
There was a cricket match in the village last Saturday.
The villages play in a local league.
Next week Fletcher's Cross play Midsomer Worthy.
You're well up in local sport, Troy.
Yeah, as a matter of f Go on.
No, nothing.
Could a woman have done this? Man, woman.
Could have been either.
Anything else? Can't help you, I'm afraid.
The ground's dry,|so you won't get any footprints.
Maybe you'll get something off the bat, but I doubt it.
Oh, God.
Oh, no.
Oh no.
There will have to be a formal identification, sir, but (TEARFULLY) No.
It would help if you would answer some questions now.
(TEARFULLY) No.
We can come back later if you want.
No.
No No! We've wasted enough time already.
If you'd started looking for her when I reported her missing What do you want to know? Did she have any enemies, sir? No, Tara wasn't that kind of person.
Tara was Tara was my wife, that's all.
Would she have worn jewellery or be carrying anything of value? No! She was walking the dog! Robert, what's happened? Has Tara been found? Excuse me, you are?|Jane Cavendish.
My daughter-in-law.
Is she all right? Er no, Mrs Cavendish.
We found a body in the woods answering to her description.
What? Dead? Oh, yes.
(MOANS) Oh I mean that's terrible.
What happened? Mrs Cavendish seems to have been attacked.
We found a cricket bat by the body.
A True Play - fairly new.
A True Play? Yes.
A black handle with a red top? Yes.
That's Stephen's bat Stephen? Well I mean, he does have a bat like it.
My husband.
I bought him a bat like it at the start of the season.
But I'm sure it isn't the same bat.
I mean, it couldn't be.
Mr Barnaby.
Mrs Cooper! I didn't expect to see you so soon.
Do you work here? I'm Mr Cavendish's secretary.
Do you want interior design for your new home? No, I'm actually here on official business.
Mr Cavendish, I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby from Causton CID, and I'm afraid I have some rather bad news.
It's just unbelievable.
No-one would want to kill Tara.
It must just have been some nutter,|out in the wood.
Sir, we believe you own a True Play cricket bat.
It has a black handle with a red top.
Yes.
What about it? We think it may be the weapon that killed your stepmother.
What? She was killed with a cricket bat? Yes.
Oh, my Lord.
If it was your bat, can you explain how it came to be taken from you? No.
I keep it in the downstairs loo.
Do many people have access to the house? Not really.
The doors aren't locked.
|Anyone could have come in.
Where were you on Sunday morning,|sir? Between about seven and nine.
Sunday morning? You were at home, perhaps.
|With your wife.
Yes.
Er actually,|I went out for a couple of hours.
I came in here to do some work.
I'd got behind with the invoices.
I was here until about twelve.
That's funny.
That's someone else I've seen before.
Stephen Cavendish? He was at the pub on Saturday, in a passionate embrace with someone who was not his wife.
Not Charles Jennings, I hope (!) Mr Barnaby? Mrs Cooper.
I had to speak to you.
I don't like to be disloyal,|don't get me wrong.
But Mr Cavendish wasn't truthful.
I'm sorry? He was never here on Sunday.
I arrive first on Monday.
|I'd know if he'd been in.
The invoices are up-to-date.
|I do them myself.
So you think Mr Cavendish was lying? I don't like to and I don't want to, but Colin and I,|we're both born-again Christians, and the truth is very important to us.
'Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are true,|think on these things.
' That's what Jesus said.
I had to tell you.
|I had to do what's right.
Thank you, Mrs Cooper.
I'm sure there's a good reason though, why he said that.
He may not be a good or a kind person, but I'm sure he wouldn't hurt anyone.
Thank you.
Right.
Not good.
Not kind? It's his cricket bat.
He's lying.
Do you want to go and arrest him now? No, I think I fancy a drink.
Christine.
Yes,|I just nipped outside, Mr Cavendish.
You spoke to Mr Barnaby,|whatever his name is.
Yes, he's buying our house.
|Well, he might be.
He came to see it last Saturday.
PHONE RINGS Stephen! What? When did it happen? Yes, of course.
I'll do whatever you want.
Well, well, well.
Mr Jennings, isn't it? Mr Barnaby.
You remember me? I'm not likely to forget you.
Weren't you working at the hall? Yeah, I've got a job there.
|Four days a week.
I've got a room here so I help out now and then.
Keeping out of trouble, are you? Aren't you gentlemen being served? Half a bitter for me.
|And Troy - you're driving.
Lemonade, please.
So what's this you're not telling me, Troy? Sir? To do with cricket, I think.
Fletcher's Cross versus Midsomer Worthy.
It's embarrassing,|if you want the truth.
I do.
I've been trying to take a bit more exercise.
It comes to us all, Troy.
I saw an ad in the paper for cricket players.
I was good at school.
|It'll keep me busy at weekends.
And? I'm batting for Midsomer Worthy next week.
If the game isn't cancelled.
Is there a reason why it might be? Robert Cavendish captains the Fletcher's Cross team.
Our captain - Ian Frasier -|was talking about him.
He said Cavendish was an evil bastard.
And then he said,|'I'm going to kill him.
' He meant Robert Cavendish.
Yeah.
And he used the words in a sporting sense.
But there was obviously a grudge between them.
I suppose I should back down from the team.
No, not at all, Troy.
You're ideally placed if there is something to uncover.
Zelda? When's tea? I haven't got time, Ian.
|I'm doing these.
They'll be all over the village tomorrow.
And they'll be in Midsomer Worthy and Badger's Drift.
Are you sure it's appropriate? Appropriate? After the death.
Tara Cavendish was an airhead, an upstart playing queen of the manor.
She doesn't matter.
|These paths are 400 years old.
I still don't see - No, of course you don't.
You were there on Sunday morning -|the Cavendish estate.
Did you see her? Did you? Leave me alone, Ian, please.
I'm busy.
There's last night's nut rissoles.
|Heat them up in the Aga.
All right? What are you so worried about? You haven't said a word all evening.
It's meant.
This is all about that policeman,|isn't it? Barnaby.
He came to the house.
|He came to the office.
He's not interested in us.
It's meant, Colin, I know it is.
He's going to find out.
Come on, Flopsy.
He's not going to find out.
I'll look after you.
I I need to be punished.
I'll punish you.
I want to be hurt.
I'll hurt you.
"Behold, I was shapen in wickedness and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
" I'll hurt you.
Trish Can I borrow that old typewriter in the office? Yeah, as long as you don't drop it.
Cheers.
Goodnight.
CLACKING OF TYPEWRITER KEYS 'We have details on a property that may interest you, Mrs Barnaby.
' It's a converted post office in Fletcher's Cross.
Very unusual.
Two bedrooms.
|A nice view of the green.
It looks very nice, Miss um Beauvoisin.
How did you find Portland Place? We're still thinking about it.
Of course,|I wouldn't wish to hurry you, but these properties get snapped up very quickly.
Would you like me to arrange a viewing of Dunmailin? I'm sorry? The post office.
Good morning, Troy.
Good morning, sir.
What have we got? Robert Cavendish ran a quarrying company.
He closed it nine years ago.
It was unexpected.
|A lot of jobs lost.
Go on.
He married again around that time.
Any news on the cricket bat? Stephen Cavendish says it is his.
No prints though.
|We've got the PM report.
Time of death - 9am on Sunday.
Oh and this might interest you.
'Country Life'.
|That's a bit out of my league.
There's a picture of Robert Cavendish's place.
It seems he put it on the market just before his wife died.
Hmm Let's talk to his son first.
Mrs Wilson! That's right, sir.
|I work at the hall and I do two days for young Mr Cavendish.
Is there any news yet, sir? About Mrs Cavendish, I mean.
Not yet, I'm afraid.
It's a terrible thing.
And to happen the day after his birthday.
His birthday? Yes, Mr Cavendish senior,|he was 60 years old.
And then this.
Is Stephen Cavendish in? No, sir.
|He's nipped out with the dog.
But Mrs Cavendish is here.
Mrs Wilson.
Who is it? Robert did mention that he was going to sell the hall.
He was talking about Orlando,|actually.
Of course, that was Tara's idea.
I mean, Orlando.
Wherever next.
Did you and she get on,|Mrs Cavendish? I suppose so.
No.
I never liked her, to be honest.
I know that's a wicked thing to say.
But why should I lie? It's not as if I murdered her.
Cream? Not for me.
There.
Tara was so young and so pretty.
And so slim.
She had a way of looking down that little nose of hers.
I didn't really like her at all.
Robert adored her.
I don't know why.
You were at home on your own,|the morning she died.
Yes, I was in bed.
Biscuit? No.
No? Mmm I won't either.
Maybe just one.
To be honest I was surprised -|her walking round the quarry.
Why's that? Well, you must know the stories.
No.
They say the quarry's cursed.
Cursed? That's what everybody says.
There was the accident, a long time ago, Robert used to blast there.
Then it was only about 18 months ago - poor Miss Beavis.
Miss Beavis? LIGHT CLATTERING She was the housekeeper before Mrs Wilson.
She took the dog out sometimes.
One day she went out and she never came back.
Just like Tara.
She was killed? Well, it was an accident.
The police said that she slipped and fell but That's why it was strange,|Tara going there, just not a very nice place.
Stephen.
Mr Barnaby.
Sir,|could I have another word with you? Yes, of course.
I had a feeling you might be back.
What I told you the other day Your whereabouts on Sunday morning.
Yes.
Well, the point is I shouldn't have,|but I didn't tell the truth.
I wasn't at the office.
I was with a friend.
A young friend.
Was it, by chance,|a young lady at the Queen's Arms? Yes.
Her name's Trish.
Patricia Smith, actually.
She and I are Well Yes, sir? She doesn't know anyone here.
She came to the village a year ago.
|From London.
All on her own.
She and I just sort of|hit it off.
Were you with her all morning, sir? Yes.
I got there about eight.
|She has a room at the pub.
I was with her until eleven.
And she will confirm all this? Of course.
I'd be grateful if it went no further.
You do understand? Oh, yes, sir, we understand.
Perfectly.
So, what did they want? They were asking questions.
Mmm You told them it was my bat,|didn't you? Why? I don't know.
Do you want me arrested and sent to jail? What - you in prison for 30 years, and me having to start a new life, all on my own? No, Stephen.
I can't imagine anything worse.
Bloody woman.
Advertising her intention to break the law.
Nobody does a damn thing about it.
But you can commit murder around here and still get away with it.
We're doing everything we can.
Right.
What do you want with me? We understand your wife wanted you to sell the hall.
Yes, but I was in perfect agreement.
Did your son and his wife have any say? Stephen and Jane?|No, why on earth should they? It's my property.
Without me, their business would have gone down the pan.
Did they know about the sale? Yes, I told them the night before.
You think they killed her to stop it going ahead? That's absurd.
Is that what you think? We are pursuing several lines of enquiry, sir.
You're wasting time.
Pull.
I'll tell you something that might actually be worth your knowing.
The night before she went missing Your birthday.
Yes.
Somebody was outside, spying on us.
|The dog barked.
Knew it was somebody.
That's what he's there for.
Did you see who it was? Dog must have frightened them off.
But if it was some sort of stalker Pull.
Thank you, sir, we'll look into it.
That's all, is it? There is just one more thing.
A year and a half ago,|your housekeeper was involved in an accident at the quarry.
Miss Beavis.
Yes, she died.
What's that got to do with it? You don't see any parallel? No.
Well, I do.
Miss Beavis walks your dog in the quarry and fails to come back.
And then she's found dead.
thing happens to your wife.
But Miss Beavis fell.
I'd still like to know what else you can tell me about her.
Well, I can't tell you anything,|she was the housekeeper.
Now, then, young man.
Miss Beavis has a sister, still lives in the village.
Since your enquiry's going nowhere, you might as well go and waste time talking to her.
Right? Right.
Pull.
CAR HORN BEEPS Sir, wasn't that Yes.
Yes, it was.
Oh, please Lord,|not Fletcher's Cross.
I suppose you're here about poor Mrs Cavendish.
I couldn't believe it when I read it in the newspaper.
Are you sure it was murder? Are you sure it couldn't have been an accident? Oh, I don't think so.
Oh, dear, dear, dear.
But I don't see how I can help.
We wanted to ask about your sister.
Emily.
Could you tell us anything about her death? She fell into the quarry.
It was Mr Cooper that found her.
Colin Cooper.
They knew each other, did they? Yes.
They were quite good friends.
She wrote to me about him once.
I could find the letter if you like.
Yes, that might be very helpful.
I don't suppose you could tell us - was there anything suspicious about your sister's death? Suspicious? Oh, no, nothing.
But she phoned me the night before,|said she wanted to see me.
Did she say why? No.
And now that you mention it, I did think it strange that she went so close to that quarry's edge.
She was always terrified of heights.
And then there was the business of the break-in.
The break-in? Yes, somebody broke into her house.
This house.
The same day that she died.
It didn't look as if anything was taken.
But it was still a very unhappy coincidence.
Yes.
But suspicious, Mr Barnaby? Oh, no.
|There was nothing suspicious at all.
Where to, sir? Causton.
But there's somewhere I want to stop off on the way.
I suppose he told you about us,|did he? Yes.
Stephen doesn't love Jane.
There's been nothing between them for years.
But I wish it was out in the open.
He wants to marry me, you know.
Why doesn't he then? It's them at the hall.
|Mr Cavendish and Tara.
When she was alive.
They're all such snobs.
What time did Stephen Cavendish arrive on Sunday morning? He got here at 8:05,|he left at 11:20.
You're very precise.
I've got a good head for figures.
But the long and tall of it is,|he wasn't at the quarry, if that's what you're thinking.
Was she there? Yes, she was.
And? She's lying.
And there's something else.
You drive.
It'll come to me.
Mr Cooper.
Mr Barnaby.
This is a surprise.
Why is that? You know I'm pursuing a murder investigation.
Yes, but that's got nothing to do with me, has it? We have some questions about the death of Emily Beavis.
Emily.
But I thought that was an accident.
And it happened ages ago.
You found her.
Yes.
It was horrible.
I still pray for her.
She was a friend of mine.
And you used to help her.
I tried to be a good neighbour,|Mr Barnaby.
That's what it says in the Bible.
But I don't understand Mr Cooper, I wonder if you'd mind coming to the quarry with us.
I'd be very interested to know exactly what you saw.
I wasn't on my own.
Christine was with me.
We often used to come here.
We liked the birds.
|The wild flowers.
So you were walking, then? Yes.
It was Saturday afternoon.
|About four.
Kaiser.
Oh, Kaiser.
Do come.
'We heard Emily calling the dog.
' Kaiser.
Come.
'It's so quiet round here.
|You can hear everything.
' 'We didn't take any notice of her,|though.
' 'She could have been miles away.
' 'Anyway,|we wanted to be on our own.
' To meditate together.
And where exactly were you|'meditating', Mr Cooper? I'll show you.
Just there.
'The next thing we knew we heard this scream.
' SCREAM 'I swear to God I could see her eyes as she came down.
' 'I could see right into her soul.
' 'She hit the ground head-first.
' 'We could see at once that she was dead.
' 'There was nothing we could do.
' That was where she hit.
|It was 4:16.
Her watch was smashed,|so that's how they knew.
So what happened next? We ran to the car,|drove off and called the police.
Why are you asking all this? It was an accident.
Let us be the judge of that,|Mr Cooper.
Do you believe him? He believes it was an accident that she fell.
But you don't.
Oh, Troy.
Look at the evidence,|for heaven's sake.
Two deaths in identical circumstances in the same place.
And even without the death of Tara Cavendish.
Use your eyes.
Look how far she travelled.
She didn't come straight down,|she came down in an arc.
That's not a fall.
It's more like a running jump.
And she landed head-first.
If she had gone too close to the edge, she'd have come down feet first,|not in a dive.
But she was scared of heights.
So either she jumped on purpose .
.
or else somebody pushed her.
You know what I think, Troy? Yes, sir.
Emily Beavis was murdered.
And by the same person or persons who killed Tara Cavendish.
The only thing is,|I cannot for the life of me see why.
Cully.
How was the journey? Long.
Where's Dad? He said he'd be here.
Oh, he's bound to be late.
|He's on a case.
How's the house-hunting? Oh, I feel like your father.
I'm not getting anywhere.
Here he is now.
Sorry I'm late.
So you decided to come home early.
Miko's on a tour, the flat's got a leak, and I was missing you.
That's what I like to hear.
|This all you got? I'm only staying a couple of days.
Still,|let's celebrate with dinner out.
So you're not moving to Fletcher's Cross.
I saw a converted post office.
And? Ghastly.
The letter box was the only original feature.
What about the case?|Mum told me.
What was her name? Tara Cavendish.
Bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat.
I'd have been less surprised if it had been her husband, Robert.
What's wrong with him? You can't help disliking him.
He owns the quarry that's the centre of everything.
He closed it down.
|There were redundancies.
You don't kill someone because of that.
Not in the town, dear.
But this is the country.
And in the country, anything goes.
Good night, Ian.
See you tomorrow, Reg.
You take care.
(SIGHS) All set for the game, Gavin? Yeah.
Although I'm surprised it's still on.
You've read about the murder, then.
Yeah.
Quite a bit.
They got the wrong target.
They should have got him.
Robert Cavendish? You knew him? I knew him.
You fancy a drink? I'd like that.
I'm just five minutes away.
I used to work for Cavendish.
I was the quarry manager.
Just outside the village.
That was when he ran the company.
You have been reading up on him.
I'm just interested.
Well, er Maybe you know about the accident, then.
Someone was hurt.
Killed.
I doubt if they felt a thing.
We were late, you see? We were exporting to France,|Holland All over the place.
'And we were having trouble keeping up with the orders.
' 'And that day,|we were supposed to be blasting, but there was a fault in the wire.
' 'One charge didn't go off.
' SILENCE Now, there are special procedures in this eventuality.
'We should have shut down, evacuated and called in the proper people.
' Oh, for God's sake.
Just get on with it! Cavendish was always on my back.
I knew what he'd say.
'Late with an order,|lose a customer.
' Time, efficiency.
That's .
.
all that mattered to him.
'So I persuaded one of the men to try and sort it out.
' 'His name was Matthew Draper.
' I'll never forget it.
'36 years old, married, with a kid.
' There was an investigation,|of course.
And I was the one who took the rap.
And they were right.
|It was my fault.
I lost my licence .
.
and my job.
Cavendish never gave me any help.
And no support,|financial or otherwise.
And then Just nine weeks later He shut down the quarry.
He'd been planning it all along.
Not a word to any of us.
And a man had died for nothing.
We'll leave at two o'clock tomorrow on the dot.
We'll follow the path from here,|just beyond the lane.
It's a two-hour walk.
30 minutes will be on the Cavendish estate.
Any questions? Will we get across the mere? It's been quite wet recently.
I checked the path last week and it's all manageable.
Except for one section.
And there's a bridge.
Anything else? So, until tomorrow at 2:00, then.
And remember, it is our land.
It is our footpath.
It is our right.
I've pulled the file on Emily Beavis.
It's actually 17 months ago she died.
There's no reason to suspect foul play.
She was just a housekeeper.
No-one benefited from her death.
Apart from her sister.
Doreen? She inherited the house.
I can't see Doreen pushing her sister into a quarry.
Can you? What other motive could there have been? Then there's the break-in.
There's a note on it.
Here.
Look.
Colin Cooper called the police from his home at 4:56.
That's 40 minutes after she fell.
And some time that same afternoon,|someone broke into her house.
Cooper.
|I wouldn't trust him an inch.
Today is the cricket match.
Midsomer Worthy against Fletcher's Cross.
That's why I asked for the afternoon off.
I'll be watching.
|As will Cully and Joyce.
What time's kick-off? At two o'clock.
I'll give you a lift.
Ham, cheese and egg-and-cress.
We'll have the biscuits and the cakes here.
Is the urn on, Trish? No, Mrs Wilson.
Well, I asked you to put it on.
I'm sorry.
(SIGHS) It's all right.
I'll do it.
These young girls.
|There's nothing between their ears.
Um I was wondering, Mrs Wilson No-one'll notice.
|You help yourself, my dear.
Thank you.
Mm.
These look rather nice.
I'll take that one, too.
Excuse me.
|Can I have your attention, please? I don't need to tell you about recent events.
As a result, my father is unable to play this afternoon.
I will be captain in his place.
I'd like to thank Colin Cooper, who has agreed to step in as eleventh man at the last minute.
That's it.
It's not pleasant to think of a death in the village, but erlife goes on.
So Ian Frasier used to work for Robert Cavendish.
Until the accident.
Yes.
The accident.
|What was the name again? Matthew Draper.
Matthew Draper,|Emily Beavis, Tara Cavendish.
Three unnatural deaths, Troy.
And all in the same place.
No wonder the locals say the quarry's cursed.
I'll handle this.
|You go get changed.
Oh, right.
Don't end up the way I am about this case.
How's that, sir? Stumped.
Miss Beavis.
Oh, do please come in.
Thank you.
Is everything all right? Yes.
There's a cricket match and I don't want to take any chances.
Oh, right.
Remember that letter you mentioned? Letter? Yes, from your sister.
Oh, yes.
I have it here.
I kept all her letters.
I don't know why.
Mm.
This is it.
It's about Dad's coins.
I'm sorry? That was how Mr Cooper helped her.
She asked him to look at Dad's coin collection.
Emily thought some of them might be valuable.
And she was quite right.
They are.
How valuable? Some of them are worth ã20 each.
But I wouldn't sell them.
Emily wouldn't have wanted me to.
And Colin Cooper valued them for her? Yes.
He's a kind man.
Very kind.
Just remember, People have been walking this path since the time of Henry VIII.
Good afternoon, Mr Frasier.
Hello.
Your call.
Heads.
Tails it is.
We'll bat first.
You look comfortable.
Come and sit down.
I will.
Fletcher's Cross won the toss.
Oh, here comes Troy.
Yep! CHEERS Well done, Troy! You never told me Gavin played cricket.
He obviously has hidden talents.
This way! This way, everyone.
It's quite dry after this.
Aaargh! Just one.
No! That wasn't a four.
Mr Cavendish, will you ask somebody to take tea to the scoring shed? I'll do it.
Oh, that's very kind of you.
Howzat! CHEERING By the way, Tom.
|I think I found the perfect house.
Oh, no.
It's a two-bedroom cottage with two bedrooms, two living rooms and a conservatory.
Sounds like something out of Cluedo.
Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the conservatory.
Tomorrow.
|Four o'clock.
Be on time.
What are they clapping you for? Not very much, I'm afraid.
Useless.
You came out after all, Robert.
Yes.
Oh, you've got blood on you.
|Have you cut yourself? Oh, yes.
I caught my hand on a nail.
Nasty.
(SCREAMS) What's that? (SOBS) THUNDER RUMBLES I thought I saw Stephen go into the scoring shed.
He was carrying a cup of tea.
|I went over to see him.
And when you got there? There was no-one there.
Maybe I was wrong and it wasn't Stephen.
What did you see? I looked inside.
And he was just lying there -|Charles Jennings.
At first I thought he was asleep.
Miss Smith, you told me Stephen Cavendish came to the pub at five past eight last Sunday morning.
Now, think very carefully.
Are you sure that was the right time? I don't know, maybe it was later.
I told you what he wanted me to say.
|Please don't ask me any more! I was in here.
Mrs Wilson asked me to take tea to the scoring shed.
I took it.
I gave it to him.
He said thank you.
I left.
Thank you? Ta.
Something like that.
According to Mrs Wilson,|you offered to take the tea.
Yes.
Maybe.
I don't know.
She asked and I just happened to be there.
Do you recognise this, sir? Yes.
It's one of my father's.
Why don't you talk to him?|He was at the match.
He came out of nowhere.
|And he had blood on him.
I had no reason to kill Charles Jennings.
We found this is his pocket.
So he had cash.
ã500 in cash, sir? A lot of cash.
Sir, were you and Charles Jennings involved in a relationship of a sexual nature? Don't be disgusting.
You didn't give him any money? No! Look I'm not saying any more until I've spoken to my solicitor.
That might be a good idea, sir.
(SIGHS) Sir.
Thank you.
'I saw what happened in the quarry.
' 'I was watching Mrs Cavendish,|and I know who killed her.
' 'I don't want to go to the police,|but I do want money.
' 'I want ã500 in cash before the end of the week.
' 'Or else.
' Looks as though we've got our man,|sir.
Yes, Troy.
It looks as if we have.
You are going to formally charge Stephen Cavendish? Your infinitives are splitting.
Yes, I will charge him.
I'm going to exactly do the wrong thing.
Stephen Cavendish killed Charles Jennings.
Oh, did he? He went into the shed.
|Jennings was still alive.
He had access to the weapon.
And the letter was in his house.
|Yeah.
Jennings blackmailed Stephen over the murder in the quarry.
Stephen killed Tara Cavendish to stop her selling the hall.
You've got it all worked out (!) There's the lab report on Jennings' ã500.
Stephen's fingerprints were on three of the notes.
Tens or twenties? Tens? Does it make any difference? It might.
|It's too neat, too straightforward.
There are questions you haven't answered.
Such as? Stephen Cavendish is a rich man,|on the face of it.
If we believe the letter,|he has committed murder.
Why did Jennings ask for so little?|ã500? It's nothing.
That'd be a first instalment.
Even so, he could've asked for ten times as much.
He didn't want to push his luck.
It was the last thing he did in his life, the cricket match.
You bowled.
|Colin Cooper made one run.
But Charles Jennings put up the score as a four.
Why? He must have been distracted.
Yes.
But why? Was he trying to tell us something by changing the score? Here's something you have forgotten:|Emily Beavis.
Did Stephen Cavendish kill her, too? Maybe she has nothing to do with this.
If she was killed,|maybe it was for a different reason.
Mr Barnaby.
Mrs Cooper.
I think you know why I'm here.
I'm giving you one opportunity,|just one, to tell the truth.
Do you understand? Yes.
You killed Emily Beavis.
No! No.
We could never - Never what, Mrs Cooper? How far would you go? You've got it wrong.
Sweet Jesus! Then tell me what happened that day in the quarry.
It was like we said.
Almost like we said We saw her fall.
SCREAM 'When we got to her,|she wasn't dead.
' 'But she was dying.
' 'There was obviously nothing we could do.
' 'And then she she pointed up.
' 'And we looked up there and' 'There was someone with her.
' We realised that she must have been pushed.
You never told this to the police? We were afraid.
Don't lie to me, Mrs Cooper! You didn't tell the police, because you had plans of your own.
Yes? How do you know? Because you drove all the way home before you reported the death.
Anyone else would have gone straight to a phone.
But you had plans, didn't you? She had these coins.
She asked me to look at them.
'There was one there - I knew immediately what it was worth.
' 'I'd see something like it once at the museum.
' 'A Henry III gold penny.
' 'A classic one-type coin.
' Could you believe it was just sitting there in an old box with some pennies and ha'pennies? So when you found her dying,|you went back for it.
And then you sold it? How much for? ã100,000.
It wasn't stealing.
Nobody knew.
Nobody would ever have known.
She didn't need it.
If it wasn't stealing, what was it? It was a sin, Mr Barnaby.
It's not wrong to sin.
Christ came into this world for the sinners.
To call people to repentance.
I think that's a word that's alien to you.
You left an old woman to die .
.
and helped cover up a murder for more than a year.
Troy.
Sir? They're under arrest.
Caution them.
That'll be a real pleasure.
You did say four o'clock prompt,|Mrs Barnaby.
Yes.
It's not like him to be late.
Mum.
Well, he is on a case.
Here he is now.
Sorry I'm late.
I was beginning to think you weren't coming.
I made you a promise.
Here I am.
Is this it? Dad! I think it's very pretty.
Good afternoon, Mr Barnaby.
Oh! Miss Beauvoisin, isn't it? I used to know her former employer.
Mr Eastman is now divorced .
.
and living in Morocco.
Shall we go in? Anyway, welcome|at last to Long Trees, which has been on the market a very short time.
Sorry.
What did you just say? I just said that - I'm sorry, Miss Beauvoisin.
|Er Joyce.
Cully.
Mr Barnaby! Some other time.
You told Sgt Troy about an accident that happened in the quarry nine years ago.
You never told me you were a police officer.
You never asked.
I invited you into my home, and all the time you were spying on me.
Please, tell me about the man that was killed in that accident.
There's not much to tell.
His name was Matthew Draper.
You said he was married,|with a child.
But that child was a girl,|wasn't it? Yes.
Forget that.
What about me? Robert Cavendish was responsible for this.
He sabotaged the bridge.
|What will you do? Oh, shut up! You stupid, stupid woman.
They're not interested in you.
Nobody's interested in you,|or your bloody footpaths.
They never have been.
Now, if you don't mind .
.
I'll show you the door.
Zelda is right, for what it's worth.
Robert Cavendish probably did sabotage it.
Aaargh! But whatever you may think about him, he's no killer.
In fact, he's much more likely to be the victim.
He closed down the quarry.
You said it.
|Not the easiest of men, is he? The way he ran that business.
|An arrogant man.
All that Nazi stuff.
If anyone here is a target, he's it.
You mean someone was out to get him? They killed his wife, framed his son.
Killing him's too easy.
They want to destroy him, slowly.
'So Charles Jennings' letter' 'There was no name.
|It could have been sent to anyone.
' 'And planted in Stephen's house.
' 'Yes.
Jennings wrote it to someone with far less money than Stephen.
' 'He only asked for ã500.
' But who? Someone with access to the hall and the lodge, who could steal the bayonet and the bat, plant the letter, and get banknotes they knew carried Stephen's fingerprints.
More wine, sir? Yes, please.
Oh, it's a terrible business, sir.
I can't imagine how you must be feeling.
First, lovely Mrs Cavendish - and on the day after your 60th birthday.
So young.
With her pretty face all smashed in like that with a cricket bat.
And now young Master Cavendish, too.
He'll be going to prison.
No doubt about it.
I don't think you'll be seeing him again.
Now, you drink up, sir.
Dinner's almost served.
Take the killing of Emily Beavis.
|Why was she killed? It had nothing to do with her coin.
What reason could you have to kill an elderly housekeeper? Well, you might kill her if you wanted to replace her.
BEEPS HORN Actually, I can imagine how you must be feeling, sir.
I used to be married myself.
My Matthew, .
.
he was a wonderful man.
Of course, you wouldn't remember his name.
He was nothing to you.
To me 'he was the kindest, most handsome man in the whole kingdom.
' 'Whenever there was a dragon to kill, the King sent him.
' To me .
.
he was everything.
He was my knight in shining armour.
And I'll never forget the day he died! The day you took him from me! (SLURS) It wasn't me.
It was F-Frasier.
Frasier was doing what you told him to do! It was you! You were the one! Oh.
Oh, but you must forgive me, sir (!) I shouldn't be talking like this.
How's the wine? I hope the little Valium I put in it didn't spoil the bouquet.
Mrs Wilson had access to the bat and the bayonet.
The ã10 notes with Stephen's fingerprints - probably her wages.
So she's Matthew Draper's wife? His widow, yes.
She spent nine years planning revenge.
Changing her name.
|Changing her appearance.
Moving to Fletcher's Cross,|killing an innocent housekeeper, just so she could replace her.
When we first met,|I knew something was wrong.
Except when I made her breakfast at half past seven, she did mention that she'd be walking over by the quarry.
Why should Tara have been so specific? Why tell Mrs Wilson?|But maybe she never did.
Remember, it was essential to Mrs Wilson that the body be found.
Of course,|she knew exactly where it was.
Kaiser! Where are you? Kaiser? What are you doing here? (SCREAMS) Can you overtake this thing? CAR HORN BLARES Well, you said it, sir.
Oh, right.
So Mrs Wilson killed Tara Cavendish? Yes.
She committed that murder.
But she wasn't working alone.
What? There were two of them? Oh, come on, Troy.
Try and keep up.
She had her daughter, too.
Mummy, I'm here.
Ah! Dear, at last.
That's my girl.
Show him what you've got.
Can he see me? Oh, yes.
He's awake.
Show him.
Would sir care to commit suicide? So who killed Charles Jennings? That was Patricia Smith.
Alias Trish, the barmaid.
In fact, Matthew Draper's daughter.
Mrs Wilson set up Stephen, but it was Trish who wielded the knife.
'It happened when Colin Cooper hit his single.
' 'The scoring went wrong.
' 'The scores are on a rotating loop.
' 'He must have been pulling it down when she struck.
' No! That wasn't a four! 'Her timing was perfect.
|Mrs Wilson watched Trish go in.
' Mr Cavendish, could you ask someone to take tea to the scoring shed? I'll do it.
Oh, that's very kind of you.
'There was no light inside the shed.
' 'It would be dark coming in from the sun.
' 'It was a hell of a risk.
' 'They don't come more cold-blooded than these two.
' I brought you a cup of tea.
(DEEP VOICE) Ta.
'After that, all she had to do was put the body back, put back the cap and the jersey, step into the doorway as if she'd just got there and' (SCREAMS) I have to say, they both acted their parts brilliantly.
And Trish, she had an affair with Stephen simply to destroy him.
She gave him an alibi,|but made us know she was lying.
Remember how she broke down? I don't know.
Maybe it was later.
I told you what he wanted me to say.
|Don't ask me any more.
'I told you what he wanted me to say.
' It had me fooled.
I mean, it's unbelievable.
|All this planning.
They're incredible.
|And they haven't finished.
SIRENS Well, I've enjoyed working for you,|Mr Cavendish.
But if you don't mind,|I'll say goodbye now.
(WEAKLY) No.
Wait! Oh, no.
We've waited quite long enough for this.
You killed my daddy! Wh-What? I paid! Compensation? Money?|That's all you thought he was worth.
Can I do it now? Yes, dear.
But remember,|it has to look like suicide.
You wife in the grave,|your son in jail.
Is it any wonder you took the easy way out? SIRENS Finish it! Do it now! (CRIES OUT) (SCREAMS) No! (SOBS) All right, Tom.
You win.
A terraced house in Addison Crescent.
A bungalow in Brolly Street.
A Victorian semi in Raven Court.
All right in the centre of Causton.
Ah.
After that horrible story, I'm not sure I want to visit the country ever again.
There's one thing though, Dad.
What did that estate agent say that made it all click for you? Ah! Miss Beauvoisin.
It was the house name, Long Trees.
Welcome, at last, to Long Trees, which has been on the market a very short time.
Sorry.
What did you just say? It had been on the market only a short time.
What about it? I was talking to Mrs Wilson - this is before we found Tara Cavendish - she said something very odd.
I've no idea, sir.
She just said that's where she'd be.
That's the long and the tall of it.
Then about 20 minutes later,|she left.
It hardly registered then.
But a couple of days later,|I heard it again.
I've got a head for figures.
The long and tall of it is,|he was with me all morning.
The long and the short of it.
That's the actual phrase.
For one person to make that mistake is odd.
But two of them.
Two people who hardly knew each other? It's the sort of linguistic peculiarity A daughter picks up from her mother.
Exactly.
Once I made the connection,|everything just fell into place.
Here's one for you.
|A flat above a butcher's.
It's your round.
THEME MUSIC HEWITT & JOE SHEEHAN