Jonathan Creek (1997) s03e06 Episode Script

The Three Gamblers

You think he's here yet? No sign of life.
No car or anything.
Geiger's not human.
Probably turned himself into a bat and flew here.
That's not funny, Joe.
In a place like this.
Come on.
You ignored my instructions about coming alone.
Me and Karen are in this together.
So if you've got a problem with that If I've got a problem, Floyd I'll find a solution.
But now she's here maybe she can warm us all up.
We're out of coal.
You'll have to improvise.
You hit the island, the first thing you do is ring a man named Cordila on this number.
When you get back with the stuff, you ring me to say everything's fine.
I'll call our friend in Amsterdam and send someone over to make sure it's all pukka.
The handover will take place here, and that's when you'll get your pocket money.
Questions? No.
I was just thinking if we had the big money man's number, we could ring him.
Save you the bother.
You'll need that sense of humour when I decorate the ceiling with your brains.
Get your hands off her.
That's OK, Floyd.
It was a strictly hands-free operation I had in mind.
Hey, listen, Frankie.
Steady.
You want to cut out the middle man? Go over my head? - Come on.
- Maybe I'll go over your head.
Maybe I'll go right through your greedy little skull.
What are you doing? No one's gonna find him here.
It's what you said.
The guy wasn't human.
Let's get the hell out of here.
"Cards As Weapons".
You star.
Where did you track this down? I actually had to trudge round every bookshop in New York.
This guy does a two-hour show, nothing but card manipulation.
He makes them fly around, chop candles in half.
It's riveting.
See this, Adam? Ricky Jay.
Let me add to the birthday honours with a little token to make your day complete.
A set of Adam Klaus bathroom products.
Merchandising must be tasteful, not tacky.
- You've got your magic foaming crystals.
- Flannel for my face.
- You could use it anywhere.
- Later.
Tonight I thought we'd celebrate.
- Anywhere you want to go.
My treat.
- Really? Ladies and gentlemen, back at the Trick Joint, put your hands together, please, and pray for Lizzie Gillespie! Thank you! I'd like to try something different tonight.
Who's going to help me? Sir? I'd like you to pick one of these at random.
Peel it, show the audience.
Don't let me see.
And put it back again any way you like.
How much would it blow your mind if I was to show you it has completely vanished! Now put your hand in your left pocket and place any loose change on the table.
Tell me, sir, is that your banana? Is it bollocks! Now put your hand in your right pocket.
That's it.
And open it.
Thank you.
You may now applaud! What kind of dumb-ass act was that? I've seen horse shit that was less full of horse shit.
It's called "subverting the form.
" It's what keeps culture alive.
With all the rubbish, you can get fresh, exciting ideas.
There's nothing funny about cold fingers.
They need some heating in this place.
There's nothing irregular? The dolly has not been interfered with in any way? All right! What if I did? She was hot for it.
Now we place the doll inside the casket.
And when I take my hand off the box, I want you please to cleave it cleanly in two.
Not the hand, the box, you cretin! Quick, the tourniquet! For God's sake, out of the way.
Help me get her on her back.
- No.
You could paralyse her for life.
- She's probably just fainted.
She's not exactly underweight.
It's cardiovascular.
Her face is blue.
- In the blue light! I'm turning her over.
- Now she's a cabbage.
- Do you know how to do this? - Firm pressure on the breast bone.
- You don't press it there, press here - Yes! All right, thank you! We've established the cantaloupe's fresh.
I wouldn't last five minutes with you lot faffing round me.
- Great.
So you were just - Trying to scare the shit out of everyone? Hysterical, wasn't it? Sorry.
I've had my fill of this lot tonight.
Back to my place to blow out your candles? There's a couple more acts I wouldn't mind seeing.
If you two want to split OK.
Come back whenever.
I'll still be up.
And while you're giving me a lift, explain what you meant by "not exactly underweight.
" - You Jonathan Creek? - Sorry? My name's Karen Blaine.
I can't talk here.
Could you spare me five minutes? If this is a murder, you should talk to the police.
The police were there.
They saw it.
We all saw it.
I never want to see anything like it again.
It's like Joe was right.
He wasn't human.
So what the hell was he? OK.
Order of events.
I was working in this pub as a barmaid and that's where I met him.
Floyd Goodman.
He'd been a professional boxer, but it hadn't worked out.
Wasn't much in his life had worked out.
The two of us just seemed to click.
Three of them used to go to this betting shop next door.
Floyd, this other guy Joe and Geiger, who you just knew was pure evil.
It turned out he had these connections - drug dealers - who needed some innocent-looking tourists to fly to Haiti and bring some stuff back.
How he found that place, God only knows.
This derelict old farmhouse that we could feel something horrible was going to happen.
Of course, Joe had never trusted Geiger.
Who would? But now he had his book with the numbers.
Once we got back, he was going to deal with them direct - the big boys on the continent.
Except he never got back.
The police must have had a tip-off.
Go! Go! Floyd and me managed to get clear.
For a couple of months, we went to ground, till it was safe to move.
That's when the rut set in with Floyd.
It only took a couple of locals filling his head with voodoo and witchcraft stuff to convince him that Joe's death was Geiger's revenge from beyond the grave.
And that he was next.
It just totally seemed to turn his brain.
By the time we got back last week, he'd decided it was all a mistake.
He was going to go to the police and hope for the best.
I said of course I'd stick by him, but if I'd known what it was going to lead to.
To check our story, they took us back to Frog Hollow.
This is exactly how you left it three months ago? I locked the door threw the key in the river.
Aagh! When Geiger went in that cellar, he was dead.
With six bullets in his head and no heartbeat.
The room was empty.
There's no way that door had been opened.
How can a corpse crawl up a flight of steps? - If that's it, I'll be getting back - Please! I can prove this is on the level.
They've remanded Floyd in custody, me on bail, for what happened.
He's halfway to losing his mind over this.
Geiger's spirit's still out there.
He's convinced.
Undead.
Like some kind of zombie.
And he's going to come for him.
I heard you were someone who could Go on, then.
Piss off.
I should never have troubled you.
I know you're still up.
What's this all about? Are you going to open this door? I know you can hear me What have we here? Shortlisted for Best Male TV Illusionist.
Grovesnor House on the 23rd.
Amazing.
You wouldn't think that was possible.
Same as a hurricane driving a blade of grass into a tree.
Shortlisted.
Maybe they haven't made a decision.
Use it for your after-dinners.
It's in the wrist action.
With my luck, I'd take a few toupees off.
Talking of wrist action, Jonathan Ross called.
I agreed to do his talk show at a drunken Bar Mitzvah last week.
I wonder if I should cancel.
The guy's so hip and subtextual with the audience.
Last time he said two words and the whole place fell about laughing.
"Nice suit", wasn't it? Right.
Was is that? Some sort of code? But make a good impression and the Magic Awards people might be watching.
That's right.
And you know what carries weight with those guys? .
.
My extensive charity work.
It's not something I like to do a big number on.
- No problem.
- Don't get me wrong.
I'm not trying to dictate Jonathan's agenda.
I just happen to believe - would this were true of all my peers - that with success and wealth comes responsibility.
Ultimately, virtue can be its own reward.
Just a breakdown of my unpaid appearances for the year.
For deep background, whatever.
Jonathan Creek.
At last! I've been trying to get you all morning.
Assuming you saw me go off with that woman, to explain.
I know.
It was just me being a complete arsehole again.
Sorry.
Do you want me to come over? I suppose I could be there for What is it now? 13.
29 just gone.
- Half one? - Great.
That'd be You think I killed him.
I only killed a part of him.
The part you can see.
A guy like Geiger can't be destroyed.
We've seen what he can do.
- Even when he's dead.
- Floyd, pull yourself together.
I know that's hard because we're all freaked out by this, but There's some people here.
Maybe if we just At night's the worst.
When he tells me what he's going to do to me.
To you, if I talk.
You don't want to know, Karen.
The vile things he says.
I wouldn't let him harm you for anything.
You're the only thing keeping me sane.
I think you see our problem.
Not exactly.
What did he mean about what he'd do to him if he talked? Talked about what? Look, if you can explain to me how a man who's certifiably dead, whose brain is in 27 pieces inside his skull, could have hauled himself up those steps I don't deny it would assist my digestion.
- I also have to look at the bigger picture.
- Which is? Frank Geiger was the contact for a major drug dealer operating out of Amsterdam.
Whose name and number were in that book.
Which has now gone missing.
The police in Haiti couldn't find it on Wheeler.
Maybe he memorised the contents and destroyed it.
We don't know.
The one piece of evidence that would have led us straight to our man.
But then, as we were driving out to this haunted farmhouse or whatever it is it hits me.
One thing we're all forgetting.
There was another copy of that name and number.
The one that Wheeler wrote down and Geiger grabbed back and put in his pocket.
Well It had to still be there, didn't it? There's another riddle to add to our collection.
Miss Blaine, could you hand me that SOCO report? Maybe someone managed to switch it.
For an exact duplicate that was blank? Returning to your question.
Our friend downstairs is the one person still alive who saw what was in the book.
Anything he can give us - a name, half a name - is a start.
What's he going to tell you in his state? You've seen the effect all this has had.
We're losing him.
It's like this power whatever it is it's slowly starting to take over.
I'm just scared that unless we do something we're not going to get him back.
Do you have a coin I can borrow? Maybe in your right-hand jacket pocket? I never thought I'd say this on TV.
I really didn't feel the banana going in.
How about the other one? I see.
You want me to unzip and see if I recognise what's inside? Ladies and gentlemen, you're watching "George and Mildred" on UK Gold.
There.
- You may applaud.
- But will they? Yes.
You're getting a bit off-the-wall.
I like to "subvert the form" now and then.
Yeah, with my actI Adam, let me ask you about the girlfriends.
There all seem to crop up in the act.
Is this like the Sorcerer's Apprentice? You saw one in half and she keeps dividing? - Something like thatI - OK.
Let me ask you about something you do take seriously - charity work.
ScumbagI You're involved in a lot of deserving causes.
ShameI Shame on youI I can't believe you can do that, you complete arseholeI Just rip off someone's material like thatI This man could toss for EnglandI He is such a phoneyI You should all walk out in disgustI I invite you to follow me through this exit It's just one long endless merry-go-round coming out with you in a car.
"Let's take a shortcut!" The grass is more moist than I expected.
Moist?! We're driving through the Great Grimpon Mire! What? What? I was just thinking those pink extensions really suit you.
Jelly baby? We know from the post-mortem that Geiger was dead when they chucked him down there, but how do we know someone hadn't got in using a second key, moved the body and barricaded the door again? They had to break that thing into pieces to get it out.
That cupboard hadn't been moved.
- There was another way into the cellar.
- The police didn't even find a mouse hole.
Fine.
Just checking it is completely impossible.
That we didn't have a case that was beneath your superhuman powers.
- He who knows absolutely everything.
- Is this still about that Witchdoctor song? Jonathan, as far as I'm concerned, the subject's closed.
You're so cocksure.
Ooh eeh ooh ah ah bing bang wallah wallah bing bang.
Ooh eeh ooh ah ah ding dang wallah lollah don lang! Don lang?! Don Lang was the bloke who sang it? In your dreams.
That was Charlie Drake.
At no point in history did Charlie Drake sing "My Friend the Witchdoctor".
He goes to see one because his boomerang won't come back.
That was "My Boomerang Won't Come Back"! There isn't a witchdoctor in it! I wish we'd never got onto the subject of voodoo.
You'd argue black was blue What? What are you seeing? I just thought there'd be some sort of police presence here still.
Evidently not.
Come on.
How about if the writing on that paper was done in special ink, designed to fade before anyone could see it? The dead body was dragged up the steps by some rope that was fed underneath the door.
The motive, obviously, was to turn our ex-boxer into a gibbering wreck so he'd be too scared to Just slow down.
Stop thinking with your mouth and give your brain a chance to function.
How do you connect a rope to a body through a cupboard and a door? Why would Wheeler use disappearing ink? If they wanted to keep Floyd quiet, why not put a bullet in his brain? You've got to clear your mind of "obviouslys".
Let it all bed in.
And observe.
- What's that? - Dunno.
Old cigarette card.
So OK, then.
Into the bowels of hell.
See what they meant about the stench of death.
That'll be me.
I'm wearing Calvin Klein "Stench of Death" parfum de toilette.
After you.
I'm not just saying this because of the other night, but There's something about that Karen woman keeps niggling at me.
It's like that thing you say - you know you've spotted something wrong but you can't work out what it was.
It'll come to me.
It doesn't half change your perspective on all this when you get here.
Like spending the night in the Chamber of Horrors.
You can see how you could lose your grip on reality.
- Are you sitting on Sir Denis Compton? - Fresh air's probably what we need.
No, it's all right.
Here he is.
Hiding in the corner.
Are you taking leave of your senses? - Possibly, but I haven't just eaten a slug.
- No, but Aagh! Oh! Oh, God! You bastard! How could you let me do that? What have you found over there anyway? Quite enough to confirm we're not dealing with zombies or witchcraft here.
In fact, this is as fascinating a solution as I've ever come Aagh! I'm just being dumb about this.
It was probably cut and dried weeks ago.
If you've won, you always know.
Always.
I've heard that said many times Harry! How are you doing? Adam.
You pipped me to the post, you old rascal.
It couldn't have gone to a nicer guy.
The Magic Awards.
Oh, you haven't? That's the whisper that's been going around, but you didn't hear it from me.
Anyway, just wanted you to know I'm thrilled.
OK.
Bye.
So it's not him.
Remember, left wrist under right to create the slack, then spring the thumb knots open.
Louisa! What's happening? It's Adam.
Listen, don't bother him if he's busy.
Just give your husband a big wet kiss from me and tell him I still love him.
Adam Klaus.
You hadn't heard? The Magic Awards.
A little bird tells me you'll be drinking champagne on Sunday.
Well, you'd better believe it.
And no sour grapes.
Just say to him I'm thrilled.
OK.
See you there.
Bye.
Interesting.
Well, who knows? The theory may be wrong.
No one's been told anything.
Hi.
Is that the very wonderful Deborah Cadabara? Fellow nominee Adam Klaus here ringing to say congratulations You're welcome.
When did you hear? A couple of weeks ago? No, of course.
Not officially till the night.
I just wanted you to know you know I'm thrilled.
OK.
Bye.
Deborah Cadabara! They're giving Best Male Illusionist to a drag act! What he's got wouldn't fill a Twinkie wrapper! We were just saying it's funny there wasn't someone here what with what's happened.
I've just been trying to radio in, but my battery's flat.
No one's coming to relieve me till five.
Talk about feeling cut off.
Derek Spratley.
This ain't a place to come to for a picnic.
You've got international drug barons operating out of here.
- There was a bloke in the cellar - We know.
- Brain had been mashed to a pulp.
- So we heard.
Six bullet holes in the head! Just stay put, they said, and keep your eyes peeled.
Who knows what they've got stashed away, and if they come back, we'll have them.
But I'm here if the cast of "Goodfellas" suddenly turns up.
Yeah.
Well We're not going to get far without assistance now.
Where's your phone? Oh Still in the car.
Sorry.
I put it in the glove compartment when we Sorry.
So this might have been used as more than just a meeting place? There might be drugs still on the premises? Yeah.
But they wouldn't risk coming back for them now.
Not now the police are around.
Depends how desperate they are.
You just don't Oh, dear God.
- How long ago did he call? - A good two hours.
He'd seen this guy prowling round, thought he was armed.
Maybe he's been sent by our Dutch friend to do a final sweep of the premises, remove anything that shouldn't be there.
Who knows? Not the sort of man you want to mess with.
OK.
You want to go in by some subtle means, get her arse out and yours, then leave it to us.
We're too late.
OK! Listen up out here! Important things you should know.
I'm not a real policeman! I'm also not a very nice person.
The people I work for don't pay me to be nice.
Last count, I killed 11 people, and we can make it 12.
The decision's yours.
Or you can back off away from that jeep.
Get right back! And watch me drive the hell out of here.
- Once I'm clear, I'll release her.
- How do we know that? You're right.
I may still kill her.
It's not much of a gamble, is it? Shit.
What are you doing? Get up.
Get up! All right.
No sharp moves from anyone.
You, duffel coat.
Come on! You're going for a ride.
Get ready to fire.
Keep your hands up.
Above your head where I can see them! If you'd missed I'd be dead.
I did.
I was aiming for his balls.
What about Furry Lewis? Like his stuff? "Catfish Blues" we could do.
We could open with that.
No, it's only three chords.
OK.
I'll see you guys there.
Sunday at six.
Yeah.
New career? The rough tunes of a man from the Mississippi Delta, Madeline.
Still does it to me every time.
Just as Woody Allen shuns Hollywood on Oscars night to play jazz in a humble New York pub, so I shall be giving a wide berth to the meaningless bunfight known as the British - .
.
Magic Awards.
- Absolutely.
Who needs them? Ah, the man of the moment.
That last little enquiry seems to have locked it all up.
I think we can go back to Detective Inspector Gallo.
OK.
I'll get my coat.
Was Adam talking about the Magic Awards? Yeah.
I get the feeling he knows he hasn't won.
On the contrary.
He's getting a Lifetime Achievement Award, which is all very hush-hush, so don't go blurting anything out to him.
Oh, thank you! As if.
Hey, did I leave a bottleneck on that cervanti? - Come again? - A finger slide on that hidden shelf.
Oh.
Right.
Got you.
OK.
It seems Mr Creek has managed to pull us all back from the edge of insanity, so Floyd, are you hearing me? - Karen? - Didn't I say they'd sort this all out? The problem here was that the demons were in place before you'd even started.
You already think this guy's out of "Hellraiser III" - someone you can't write off even when they're dead.
And if anyone was dead when you sealed the cellar, it was Geiger.
So when you find his corpse at the top of the steps, what else are you going to think? There's got to be some kind of force at work.
A force so evil and unholy, it can not only cause a dead man to rise up from the floor but three cigarette cards as well.
And a force which, for reasons best known to itself, can cause writing to miraculously vanish from a piece of paper.
I think you must begin to see now where all this is heading.
River bursting its banks - an unstoppable tide that, by the next day, had flooded the valley.
Flooded everything in its path.
Of course, you're talking about a cellar that hadn't been watertight in years.
Week by week, the level would have slowly dropped but Geiger didn't.
That's what took the ink off.
Water soaking through the paper.
You're on the level with all this? When summer came, it all dried out - not entirely, as we discovered.
Conditions can get pretty bad there, but no one's ever around to find out.
Saving the odd hit man and drug dealer.
Frog Hollow served as their main rendezvous point and storage facility.
And though we've got a nice collection of dead underlings, it's not taking us any nearer the top man.
You saw his name that time.
Nothing's going to happen if you tell them.
It'll help his case.
Get you off, hopefully, with a suspended.
Then it'll be like you and me? Just like before.
OK.
Well It was something like I know it began with an M.
Was it Mondrian? Nice happy ending all round, would you say, Inspector? Except what's he going to do, do you think, when he finds out? - What? - That his girlfriend's a copper.
I'm not sure Who tipped off the police when they were busted in Haiti? By some miracle, they escaped.
I wonder how.
It was all part of the game plan to come back here and nab the rest of them.
It wasn't until the last minute I twigged what it was - last time we were here - that hadn't quite gelled.
Miss Blaine, hand me that SOCO report.
How many people know SOCO stands for Scene Of Crime Officers? It's like expecting me to know what a magician's "cervanti" is.
And yet out of a dozen files there, she went straight for it.
I'm sorry.
All right.
What do you want from me? Moral indignation because she used him? He lost most of his brain cells in the ring.
Do you know how long she was on Geiger's tail before he came along? Undercover work isn't just thrown together.
We've got police on three continents trying to prise this open.
We're grateful to you for straightening him out, so we could work with him.
And I don't doubt there'll be tears before bedtime.
But if it means we get some of the filth out there who systematically destroy people's lives I can live with it.
As I said before the bigger picture.
I'm sorry I'm late.
I got stuck behind this idiot in a bus lane It was a bus actually.
What have I missed? I haven't seen Adam coming in.
- He won't be here.
- What do you mean? - He knows he hasn't won.
- In his category.
There's the other.
- Oh, don't worry.
I didn't breathe a word.
- You what? As instructed.
You swore me to secrecy.
Since when could you keep a secret? The whole point of me telling you was so you could leak it to him on the quiet.
It might have been handy if you'd said that! Am I a mind reader now? He told me he was going to do a Woody Allen.
He plays jazz in a pub instead of going to the Oscars.
He's going to get down to playing some Delta blues.
You are winding me up? Michael's Pub where Woody Allen plays isn't a pub, it's a swanky nightclub.
Also Oh, I give up.
So out of sheer pigheaded pride, he's going to boycott the show for a bit of cheap street cred? Where in God's name do you think he's? No.
The image is too painful.
# Oh, I wish # I was a catfish # Swimming in, Lord, the deep blue sea # And all you pretty # You all right, Jimmy?
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