New Tricks s08e07 Episode Script

This is the 7pm train from Charing Cross to Dover, and it's two hours into its journey.
Two hours? Shouldn't they be in Dover by now? Yeah, it should be, but a couple of miles out of the station, someone pulled the emergency handle.
Now, watch this.
Four seconds.
It takes four seconds to go through that first door, along the short connecting corridor and then into the buffet car.
Four seconds.
This guy here is Dr Phillip Mackenna.
He's a physics professor at University College London.
He was due to catch the ferry from Dover to Calais, and then another train to Paris, where he was going to speak at a conference on theoretical physics the following evening.
Now, keep watching.
He talks to the blind man, then he gets up and heads to the buffet car.
Four seconds.
Doesn't matter how long you wait Phillip Mackenna never comes through that door, and he hasn't been seen since.
Let's not waste any time on the first mystery.
The train was stationary for nine minutes, and Mackenna disappeared six minutes into that time.
The connecting corridor between the carriages is where the external doors are, and it seems likely that someone opened that door and grabbed Mackenna on his way to the buffet car.
Now, there's a country lane a few hundred yards from the track, and a witness from the local village reported seeing an unmarked van parked on the verge there around the time of the abduction.
That van has never been traced.
Yeah, but are we really sure it was an abduction? I mean, Mackenna didn't just do a vanishing act to get away from his old woman? There are easier ways to disappear.
CCTV shows Mackenna in his seat when the emergency handle was pulled he couldn't have done it himself.
So who did? Don't know, happened off camera.
Do we know what the blind man said to Mackenna? He came forward as a witness in the original investigation.
He'd been chatting to Mackenna off and on during the journey and had just asked him for a glass of water.
That's a bit of a coincidence, isn't it? I mean, the timing.
Guy checked out, apparently.
Oh, yeah? Who was in charge of the show back then? Thomas Doyle.
He's a DI I know Tom Doyle.
He's good, detailed.
If he said he checked out the blind man The problem with Doyle's investigation was that they got off to a late start.
Although we now know that Mackenna went missing from this train, someone using his passport boarded the ferry to Calais and checked into his Paris room.
He wasn't reported missing until he failed to turn up at the conference the following evening.
And because he checked into the hotel, the search started in Paris? Exactly.
It was four days before anyone thought to check the CCTV from the train and realised that he had gone missing this side of the Channel, at which point it finally became Doyle's case.
Any CCTV footage of this mystery man boarding the ferry or checking into the hotel? No, and he was careful to avoid the cameras, and the hotel staff don't remember him.
So, whoever abducted Mackenna were laying a false trail to buy time.
But for what? Get him out the country.
A boat from the coast, a private airfield.
Take him where? Possibly Switzerland.
Why Switzerland? Well, that's what this new evidence is suggesting.
See, the original investigation hit a brick wall very quickly.
Doyle looked at every single person on that train, he even interviewed most of them, but he couldn't find out who pulled the emergency handle and he couldn't come up with a single passenger that seemed in any way linked to the abduction.
But now, there's this.
Bea Mackenna, Phillip Mackenna's wife, came to us because she's been receiving anonymous e-mails claiming to know what happened to her husband, and the latest one came with a document attached, purporting to be from the archives of a private research institute just outside Zurich.
Now, this document seems to suggest that the institutor engaged in a project which wouldn't be possible without the expertise that Phillip Mackenna possessed.
Cold fusion.
That's what Mackenna worked on, and that's what this company in Switzerland are doing.
Don't ask me to explain it.
Oh, it's to do with splitting atoms and releasing huge amounts of energy, at room temperature.
Most people don't think it'll ever be possible, but if Mackenna thought he had cracked it, it would be massive.
We're talking about wiping out oil, gas and nuclear power overnight, and replacing it with something that's cheaper, cleaner and more efficient.
I do occasionally read the bits before the sports section.
And is this document real? We don't know.
The Swiss company obviously denies it, and we won't know whether it's genuine or not until we find out who sent it and how they got hold of it.
"I know what happened to your husband.
I'll be in touch soon.
" That was the first one, it came about a month ago.
I have since had five more messages, each one getting a little bit more specific, almost as if this person is finding out more information as they go.
And the latest e-mail had the document attached? That's right.
What did you make of the document? I'm not a scientist.
I recognised some of the technical terms and phrases on there from things Phillip has talked about, but really it's gobbledygook to me.
We have a deal - Phillip doesn't try to explain science to me and I don't bore him with anecdotes about my work.
It's probably one of the main reasons we're still married.
Sorry, that sounded a bit, um I just mean our lives are quite separate in a lot of ways.
Are? Excuse me? You said "are separate".
Yes.
As opposed to "were".
My husband is missing, he's not Is there a reason you know of why I should be talking about him in the past tense? No, no, I suppose not.
How are your lives separate, Mrs Mackenna? I just want someone to find my husband.
How difficult can it be? He wasn't trekking through the Amazon, he was on a train to Dover.
Why Dover? What? London to Paris via the ferry is a good old trip.
Oh, Phillip doesn't fly, and he doesn't like tunnels.
It's to do with confined spaces.
This is partly what I mean about our lives being separate.
I work in financial PR, so my job requires a lot of socialising, whereas Phillip's personality is, um He's not very easy with people, certainly not with large groups.
Were your lives separate in any other respect? Phillip hasn't run off with another woman.
Your predecessors wasted a lot of time looking into that possibility, because they didn't understand - Phillip needs me.
He was always, um nervous, I suppose you'd say.
Highly strung.
But over the years, he's become less good at ordinary things buying food, paying bills, social interaction.
I take care of all of that.
I keep the world at bay, because Phillip needs stability so that he can focus on his work.
He just doesn't cope very well with everyday life.
If Doctor Mackenna doesn't cope very well and isn't very good with people, what was he doing going to Paris, alone, to address a conference? He was a last-minute replacement that's why I wasn't able to drop everything and go with him.
Who was he replacing? Brian Rutland? Hi.
Gerry Standing.
I'm with the Metropolitan Police's Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad.
It's about Mackenna? That's right, yeah.
Now, we understand What more can you people possibly need to know? We're re-opening the investigation.
Yes, I got that from the "Unsolved Crimes" reference.
I already answered all the questions.
I'm sure you keep records.
Well, maybe I have some different questions.
I doubt it.
Now, you were Dr Mackenna's partner in the cold-fusion project? Is that supposed to be an example of a question I wasn't asked before? Look, I'm sorry, Mr Rutland, but Why don't you read the extensive records of my conversations with the police on this matter? I'm sure you'll find all the answers you're looking for there, and then you'll only be wasting your time and not mine.
I could phone my Detective Superintendent and get her to drag you down to the station for a formal interview.
Fine.
Yes, I was Phillip Mackenna's partner in the fusion project.
You were supposed to be giving a lecture at a conference in Paris? Yes, but I couldn't go, so Phillip took my place.
Except he didn't.
And why couldn't you go? All this was dealt with in the original investigation.
My house was burgled the night before.
They took my passport, among other things.
It was easier for Phillip to go in my stead than for me to get a replacement passport in time.
And you reported the burglary? I did, yes.
A policeman came round, said it was probably kids, gave me a crime number for my insurance policy and was out the door again inside ten minutes.
Marvellous service you people provide! What made him think kids? I'm not party to the synaptic firework display that went off in that super-sleuth's brain but But how did they get in? They broke a window.
You didn't think it was odd a bunch of kids nicked your passport? Perhaps they wanted to go to Disneyland! It wasn't just my passport.
They broke a window to my office, took whatever was immediately available to hand.
Laptop, some spare cash My passport was in one of the drawers.
None of which struck me as anything other than completely bloody irritating at the time.
Now this talk you were supposed to give in Paris was about the cold-fusion project that you and Mackenna were working on? Well, it was a process that could ultimately lead to cold fusion, yes.
Do you care to be more specific? No, I wouldn't.
Partly because the work was subject to many different confidentiality agreements and partly because you wouldn't understand a word of it.
Try me.
No, I don't think I will.
Are you still working on the project? No, I'm not.
Phillip and I were working together, but separately, coming at the problem from different angles.
Without his knowledge, there is no way to move on.
What about his notes? Phillip's notes were incomplete at best.
The important information was stored in his head.
Now, if this thing worked, presumably it would be worth a great deal of money? You have no idea.
Were you ever approached to sell the research? Once or twice a month, yes.
What corporate entity wouldn't want a chance at providing clean, low-cost energy to the world? But My loyalty, Mr Standing.
Mr Standing, is to this institution, and to the notion of science as a means of human advancement.
I'm not in it to make a quick buck.
And did Dr Mackenna think the same way? Well, he's not here to answer that question, so I suppose you must draw your own conclusions.
So, Rutland's burgled and gets his passport nicked.
And Mackenna has to go to Paris in his place.
What a coincidence.
OK, dig out the original crime report and let's take a look at that.
Oh, you won't get anything there.
They thought it was kids.
Apparently, they sent one uniform and a crime number.
You all right, Brian? Brian? Oh, there you are.
I've got something.
What? It's big.
What is it? It's very big.
Well, what is it, Brian?! Phillip Mackenna was abducted by ghosts.
If Barton was masquerading as Elster, she was only doing it for the money.
But where did that money go? Check the private and business accounts of every single player on this board, find that cash.
And look at Ferguson again, he spent enough time with Barton, he must have known what she was up to.
DI Doyle? Yes.
Detective Superintendent Pullman, yes, I've seen you around.
UCOS, isn't it? You're reopening the Mackenna case.
That's right.
This is Brian Lane.
Memory Lane? Pleased to meet you.
Hi.
Is Jack Halford still over there? Oh, yes, he is.
Give him my best.
Yeah, I will do.
We've got a couple of things we'd like to go over with you.
Is there somewhere we can go? Of course.
This way.
Thank you.
We're here about the blind man on the train.
The one who asked Mackenna for a glass of water? I don't remember his name.
Geoffrey Bloom.
Bloom, that's right.
You met him? Yeah, he came in after we appealed for witnesses.
Do you remember anything unusual about him? Other than the fact he was blind? Other than the fact he was dead.
Excuse me? Geoffrey Bloom died 17 days before that train left London.
The man who was on that train, the man you subsequently interviewed, was not Geoffrey Bloom.
Oh, that's not possible.
We got the names of the passengers from their credit-card bookings and we cross-referenced those with our databases.
The system would have thrown up a red flag if No, no, not necessarily.
Not in cases where someone dies, leaving no family or friends behind, pressing for the paperwork to be done.
By the time Geoffrey Bloom's death had entered the system, your case was all but closed.
What about Derek Mills? He was the man who went through to the restaurant car ahead of Phillip Mackenna.
Yes.
Well, he came in as a witness.
Yeah, he was a walk-in too.
Derek Mills died 11 days before the man you spoke to got on the train.
Lucy Dawson? How many more are there? That's it.
Two men and a woman.
Lucy Dawson didn't come in, and we couldn't find her.
Why not? The address we had was wrong.
A screw-up on the database or her name wasn't on the electoral register I can't remember, but we couldn't track her down.
Yeah, we don't have an image of her either.
The CCTV camera that was supposed to be covering her end of the carriage was on the blink.
But we think she was the person who triggered the alarm to stop the train.
Here.
Anything you can remember about these two men would be extremely helpful.
It was a long time ago.
I know, but anything, speech pattern, accent I know what you need.
I just It's all up there, everything.
You just need to access it.
I'm sure that's easy for you to say.
There are techniques.
Now, just think yourself back into that room.
A man comes in and he sits opposite you.
Geoffrey Bloom.
He's a blind man, yes? Well, he was wearing dark glasses.
Big glasses.
Presumably to hide his face.
Yeah, he was good.
He came in on the arm of a WPC.
His hand on top of her arm, so she was guiding him rather than leading.
The way he found the edge of the table, got into his chair.
You'd never have known he was faking.
And when he spoke? No, I can't hear him.
I can't hear his voice.
So it was probably neutral.
No heavy accent or unusual speech pattern? No, but there was, um something A muscle thing, on his face.
What do you call it? A tic? Twitch.
Yes.
It was subtle.
And like I say, he was wearing those big glasses, which almost hid it completely.
Which side? The left.
Your left, his left? His left.
Like I say, it wasn't a big thing, but it would have been more noticeable without those glasses.
Yeah, twitch.
He had a twitch.
Show Mr Halford in, please, Daph? Uh, Mr Halford, Mr Fallon will Yes, I heard.
Chief Superintendent.
Oh, Mr now, Martin.
Retired.
Oh, well, that's a very sad loss to the force.
I mean, all this is down to you if you hadn't put in a good word for me in court You were never malicious, Martin, just stupid.
That's very kind of you to say so.
Could I offer you a tea? A coffee? Coffee would be nice.
Two coffees, please, Daph.
How do you take it? Milk, two sugars.
Did you hear that? Yes, Martin.
Ah, business is booming? It doesn't look like much, I know.
But we're doing OK.
A lot of companies are waking up to the fact that they need, well, people like me to protect their computer systems from From people like you? Ha ha! Yes, well, poacher turned gamekeeper now, and that's all down to you, Mr Halford.
I've got a little job for you, Martin.
Really? I help the police sort out unsolved cases.
These e-mails are from our current investigation.
I'd like to know who sent them.
I did hear a rumour one or two policemen had learned how to use a computer - couldn't one of them? Yes, if I want to take a ticket and make myself comfortable for a couple of weeks.
They're too busy chasing People like me.
Yes, we're not easy to catch.
What about this one? Is he easy to catch? Hmm.
Well, you see, his IP address changes with each message, you know.
Some of these are Russian, they're Japanese.
He's bouncing these messages halfway around the world and back again to muddy his tracks.
Can you give me a name? For a fee? No.
Oh.
Because I owe you one.
This is your chance to pay me back for this corporate empire I helped you create.
That's rather good, but you need to give it five more minutes than they say.
Stephen Fisher.
Well, well, well For my money, though, the cod's slightly better.
How are you, Robert? I'm fine.
Still overseeing Unsolved Crimes and Open Among other things, yes.
And you? Oh, you know me - paddled around for a while in the shallow ends of the Special Department until someone found me a cosy desk in Whitehall.
A few more years pushing paper and I'll collect a fat pension.
Thinking of settling somewhere green, might write a book.
Oh? Japanese mythology.
It's a current passion of mine.
You should read up on it, Robert.
Fascinating stuff.
Dining alone? Oh, afraid so.
Miserable, isn't it? Audrey's off on some evening class or other.
Fad of the week stuff.
Can I buy you dinner? Well, I suppose It'd be good to catch up.
I know a place that does a beef Wellington you won't forget in a hurry.
You haven't turned vegetarian or anything, have you? Me? No.
Excellent.
We can get a table before the rush starts.
Fascinating stuff, I'd have thought, sniffing out people who think they got away with it years ago.
Well, it can be.
Satisfying to get cases off the books.
The Wellington was very good, Carlo.
As always.
Thank you, sir, I'll pass that on.
Will you have dessert? Not for me You'll try the baked Alaska.
Really You'd never forgive yourself.
Two baked Alaska? Thank you, Carlo.
Of course, news of UCOS's escapades does reach us in Whitehall from time to time.
Oh, really? In the most positive light, of course.
I'm still not clear on exactly what it is you do now, Stephen.
Although lately perhaps, the light isn't quite so positive.
I'm sorry? We shouldn't talk shop.
What did you mean by that? Perhaps past successes have gone to your head.
Perhaps that has encouraged your team to get involved with cases that don't always represent the best use of scarce resources.
Such as? A man disappears from a train with a lot of very important knowledge in his head.
Is this really something a bunch of over-the-hill bobbies should be concerned with? The Mackenna case falls very well within our purview.
As does a whole host of unsolved murders and robberies that would, I'm sure, prove a better focus for your concern than pursuing the likes of Simon Crane.
Simon Crane? I'm simply expressing concern.
One likes one's friends to be well thought of.
What exactly is your job now, Stephen? Doesn't this look wonderful? Who is Simon Crane? Delicious.
There are seven Simon Cranes with criminal records, none of whom seem linked to Mackenna.
This one may not have a criminal record.
Is Fisher trying to help us, do you think, or is he warning us off? Stephen Fisher is never that black and white.
It's possible someone has told him to warn us off and that he has a completely different agenda.
So what do you want to do? Keep this Simon Crane in mind, in case his name comes up, but let's not put him front and centre until we have a clearer idea of the game Fisher's playing.
Kirsty Daniels? No.
Is she in? What's it regarding? And you are? Asking you what it's regarding.
Who is it? Kirsty Daniels? Yes.
Detective Superintendent Pullman, Brian Lane, from the Metropolitan Police's Unsolved Crime and Open Case squad.
This is about Dr Mackenna? Yes.
You were his research assistant at UCL? Yes.
You don't have to let them in.
I know.
It's fine, Alice, really.
Well, I've got work to do.
Come in.
Thank you.
Was that your lawyer? No, Alice is a web designer.
Her last girlfriend was involved in the anti-globalisation protests, so Alice has developed a bit of an attitude towards the police.
So you're freelance now, are you? Yes, for the last three years.
You didn't fancy staying on at UCL? I was hired specifically to assist with the research on that project.
Without Dr Mackenna, there was no project and no job.
In the weeks leading up to Dr Mackenna's disappearance, did you notice anything different about his behaviour? No.
He didn't seem agitated, worried about anything? Nothing like that.
I racked my brains at the time for any clue something was wrong, but there was nothing.
If someone abducted Dr Mackenna to advance their own cold fusion project, would that be possible? Theoretically, yeah.
I don't know how you'd get that knowledge out of him, though.
How do you mean? He could have sold his expertise to any number of companies for a fortune, but he chose to work out of UCL because he wanted the fruits of his labours to be available to all.
He really wasn't interested in financial rewards.
Well, it wouldn't necessarily have been money.
There are some pretty unpleasant ways of forcing someone to tell you what they know.
We understand that Dr Mackenna was quite dependent on his wife.
If someone threatened her, for instance I don't know.
Maybe.
Even then, it's really hard to imagine anything making him betray his work.
Did he ever mention a man named Simon Crane? Crane? Mmm.
No.
No, I don't think so.
Sorry.
It's the timeline that's bothering me.
In what way? Well, after the abduction, somebody checked in to the hotel in Paris, pretending to be Phillip Mackenna, which bought them some time, and don't forget, it was four days before anyone checked the CCTV from the train.
Four days would be long enough to fiddle with Mackenna's passport, or get a new one, to get him out of the country.
Plenty of time.
So why did two of the kidnappers stay in character and present themselves to Doyle as witnesses two weeks after the abduction? It doesn't make sense.
It's a huge risk.
And one you'd only take if you really needed the extra time.
For what, though? Perhaps it wasn't Mackenna they needed, but what he knew.
It's a lot easier to smuggle information across a border than a person.
So if they can get him to tell them what he knows here Then they don't need to take him anywhere.
Oh, dear God, that's why they needed the two weeks, to break him.
And once he'd given them what they wanted Hello? Brilliant, where is he? You're kidding OK, I'll meet you there in half an hour.
Bye.
I'll give you a lift back to UCOS.
Pull the files of every unidentified Caucasian male body found in the South East of England during the six months following the abduction.
Where are you going? Gerry's found the blind man.
Oh.
There are seven con men on the wanted lists of seven different European police forces.
Now, it wasn't until we circulated a description of our blind man that they all realised they were looking for the same bloke.
One Peter Rowley.
And we had you all along.
18 months into a five-year stretch for fraud.
It's always nice to have visitors.
We're here to talk about the abduction of Dr Phillip Mackenna.
And what are you putting on the table? What are we putting on the table, Gerry? Is that better? Your faces.
You think you've cracked this whole thing by finding me, don't you? Well, I've got some bad news for you.
I never met these people, never knew their names.
Then how E-mail.
All my instructions came via e-mail.
And no, I didn't keep them.
I'm not that stupid.
The only reason I'm still walking around today is because I don't know anything.
That won't stop us charging you for the part you played.
Hard to prove conspiracy, though, when I didn't know any of the conspirators.
Why don't you tell us what you do know? I was given a passport and a train ticket How? Dropped through the letter box of the place I was staying, in the middle of the night.
They wanted me to get on a train and cosy up to the guy sitting in the seat next to me.
They didn't even tell me his name.
He did, though, while we were talking.
Odd bloke, nervy.
They said the train would stop before Dover.
I was to give it a couple of minutes, then ask the guy if he'd fetch me a glass of water.
That was it.
I caught the ferry, spent the night in Paris, and then I came back.
You spent the night in Paris? Where did you stay? I don't remember.
You checked into Mackenna's hotel.
You were the one masquerading as Phillip Mackenna.
Just a bit of fun.
But it didn't end there, did it? Two weeks later you presented yourself to the police.
That was an add-on.
A bonus payment to show up in character and act like I didn't know anything.
Didn't really have to act, did I? How did you get paid? Cash.
In an envelope.
Again, it landed on my doormat while I was asleep.
Easy money.
Did you recognise anyone on the train? I couldn't see much of anything.
Those dark glasses were practically black.
Helped with the act, though.
The original owner of that passport was registered blind, would have been a bit of a giveaway to show up at passport control doing the crossword.
Yeah, but the glasses didn't hide the twitch, did they? That's nice, bring that up.
Well, it's a bit of a distinguishing feature for a con man, isn't it? You'd be surprised.
An affliction like this tends to draw the eye.
People remember it, but most of the time that's all they remember.
You say that you didn't know the people who hired you.
How did they know you? Mutual acquaintance.
Who? And now you want a name.
So now you have to deal.
I've already told you, when we charge you What difference does a few more months in here make to me, versus the advantage to you in getting a name? A few more months? I don't think so, Mr Rowley.
You see, we have reason to believe that Phillip Mackenna was murdered by whoever took him off that train.
I don't know anything about that.
Yeah, but if you're the only person involved Well, you know the courts, they're going to want to punish somebody.
Then we'll see how easy that money was, won't we? Well played.
Townsend.
He put them on to me.
David Townsend.
Window shopping, Mr Townsend? Window shopping.
That's very good.
Detective Superintendent Pullman, Jack Halford.
Jack Halford, really? I thought you'd retired, Mr Halford.
That's right.
Which makes this a visit from UCOS.
Welcome to my fully-licensed premises.
It's charming.
I think we can allow it has character.
Can I offer either of you a refreshment? No, we're fine.
What piece of gloomy underworld history can I illuminate for you? Peter Rowley.
Peter Rowley.
The maestro of the short con and scourge of rich widows.
Currently a guest of Her Majesty, I believe.
You put him on to a job.
No, that's not right.
While he may have dropped by once in a while to wet his whistle after a long day peculating from the gullible, our relationship didn't extend beyond cheerful publican You're an authority on the history of the underworld? Well, you flatter me, but I like to consider I have a certain flair That means you must know a fair amount about the police.
That follows, yes.
What have you heard about me, Mr Townsend, that makes you think I'd come in here without knowing exactly who you are and what you do? What job are we talking about? The abduction of Dr Phillip Mackenna.
I don't know anything about that.
That's not what Peter Rowley says.
Criminals will say anything.
Yes, you will.
This case involves the illegal transportation of sensitive information across international borders.
We have reason to believe the people who abducted Dr Mackenna may have murdered him once he'd told them what they wanted to know.
That's quite a conspiracy charge you'll want to get out from under.
Excuse me for a moment.
I have an irritable bowel, specifically irritated by threats from the law enforcement community.
Go with him.
Jack? He came out of nowhere.
Townsend took off.
Oh, no.
Detective Superintendent Pullman.
Can you hear me? An MIT and an ambulance to He's been stabbed.
I don't know how many times.
Sutton Yard.
Listen.
An ambulance is coming.
You'll be OK.
I doubt it.
What do you know about the Mackenna abduction? Tell me something, come on! Jack Come on! K K Kit.
Soon.
Jack! You're sure it was the second man from the train? Positive, yeah.
Jack? Yes.
We need a name.
Somebody's got to know who he is.
This thing Townsend said Kit.
Soon.
Sure that was it? He'd been stabbed, if he wasn't speaking clearly It was clear enough.
I don't know what it means, but that's what he said.
So does this case actually have a solid lead yet? We think there's a good chance Mackenna never left the country, whoever abducted him extracted the information they needed then killed him.
But there's only been a handful of unidentified bodies found in that area since 2004, none of them a match for Mackenna.
That's not to say he's not there.
They just haven't found him.
Short of digging up the whole of the South East of England We are trying to trace the e-mails Bea Mackenna was sent.
Look, if you want to get that kind of information out of a man like Mackenna torture is the obvious way.
I mean, even the tough-nut army guys say that everyone cracks eventually.
But this is complicated information.
There'd be no way they could verify it then and there.
How could they know Mackenna had given them what they needed? I don't know.
Money? Even his partner, Brian Rutland, said everyone has a price.
Not Mackenna, though.
By all accounts, he was odd, absolutely single-minded about his work.
So how do you get someone like that to talk? What? Slash his bicycle tyres? Threaten his wife? That could work, if he was that dependent on her.
Noooo.
Why not? Well, for the threat to be real, they'd have had to abduct the wife as well, wouldn't they? They'd have to show her to him, threaten to hurt her in front of him.
And we know Bea Mackenna wasn't abducted.
Well, even if she had been, it still wouldn't work as a threat.
How do you know they won't kill you both once you've offered up the information? It wouldn't guarantee them Mackenna had told them everything.
So what then? They'd have to make him want to talk.
No, there's nothing I can think of.
There'd be no amount of money that would make Phillip talk.
He's not interested in money.
I don't think he even knows how much he earns.
Why are you talking about him in the present tense? Brian! I believe he's still alive, somewhere.
Where? Well, if this Swiss company are working on the same project, then how could they be doing it without Phillip's know-how? You said there's no way Dr Mackenna would have sold out No, but if they were putting his work to better use Phillip was only ever concerned about how his work would benefit people.
Then why hasn't he been in touch since 2004? Why didn't this Swiss company just offer him a job? I mean, why abduct him from a train? I think you should leave.
We have to look at every possibility, Mrs Mackenna.
My husband is alive.
Just supposing, for a moment I've said No, no, no.
Just supposing for a moment that your husband did give up the information, and it wasn't for money, or because they'd threatened him, or threatened you even, and it wasn't because he thought that whoever wanted it might put it to better use than him.
What might make him do that? I've told you, I have no idea.
Because this is his life's work? Yes.
You said your husband didn't socialise or have any hobbies.
He had work and he had home.
Yes.
What if the reason he gave up the information had nothing to do with work? I'm not following you.
He's asking if there's anything about your home life that could have been used as leverage, Mrs Mackenna.
Is there something they could have told him that he didn't already know? No, nothing.
Now, if you don't mind What is it, Mrs Mackenna? So you haven't been able to trace these e-mails yet? Um, no.
Do you want more time? Um, no.
It can't be done.
Whoever sent these covered their tracks very well.
These messages have been sent through some servers that are very hard to access.
Great! Although that is in itself is a clue, because whoever did this is a pro.
I did have a little more luck, however, with the document.
Go on.
I can't be too specific about my methods because that would compromise your position as an officer of the law Look, just tell me.
I hacked into the Swiss company.
And? I was actually very impressed with their security.
I made some notes.
I'm going to incorporate some of their methods into a project Does the document originate from them? I believe so.
I mean, I couldn't get all the way into their archives, but I did manage to match up some of the reference numbers on this document to the numbers system that they employ.
So I would say there is a 90% certainty this document came from there.
But you didn't actually find it? No.
Admittedly that would not stand up in a court of law, but again, the fact that I couldn't get into the system, whereas someone else did, is in itself a valuable clue.
It means the person who sent these e-mails is a better hacker than you.
Yeah.
I should have gone to him in the first place.
I don't think it's very likely he'd have helped you, seeing as he is in fact It was a joke! Oh, yeah.
So you have no idea who this person might be? Actually, I've got a very good idea.
You know, out of all the hackers I know, there is only a handful I can think of who could give me as many problems as this one has, and of that handful there is one whose trail I've been on before, and was routing his connections through very many of the same servers as this one was.
So? Ninetails.
Excuse me? That's the handle he uses.
Ninetails.
I was the Ghost Doctor, he's Ninetails.
But what's his real name? Oh, I've no idea.
That's the whole point of having a handle, anonymity.
There must be a way to find out! Someone this good? No, no, no.
Trust me, Mr Halford, you will find Lord Lucan feeding sugar lumps to Shergar before you get close to discovering Ninetails' real name.
We met online, on a financial forum that I help administer.
We got chatting over the course of a couple of weeks and This had never happened before, or since.
I love my husband, I consider myself very happily married, I just Phillip didn't like going out, he wasn't at all sociable.
I have to be in my line of work and I just started to feel as though there was something missing, going out on my own all the time.
And this man filled the gap? Yes.
We'd just get together for drinks sometimes, or dinner.
Sex? Yes.
It's probably hard to understand how I could love my husband and still do that Did anyone else know about this? No.
I didn't tell a soul.
Neither did he.
He has a family to protect in Cambridge.
But if your husband had found out somehow, could the revelation that you'd been unfaithful to him have tipped him over the edge? The realisation that everything solid and stable in his life was in flux.
The thought that you were about to leave him for another I had no intention of leaving! He didn't know that, did he? Whoever it was that was trying to manipulate him would have certainly painted the bleakest picture possible.
Thank you, Brian.
What was this man called? Simon.
Simon Crane.
What? That name has already come up in connection to the disappearance.
No, that can't be Simon was in marketing.
He had no connection at No, no, no, that's not possible.
We were still in contact after Phillip had disappeared.
For how long? Not long.
A week, maybe ten days.
Simon said he felt uncomfortable continuing the relationship, given how worried I was about Phillip.
He called it off? Yes.
Have you spoken to him since? No.
We both wanted a clean break.
Neither of us wanted to make things difficult.
I did try, once, a few weeks later.
I just needed somebody to talk to and, um his phone was dead.
And I sent him an e-mail and it bounced back, saying the recipient's address was unknown.
I don't suppose you have a photograph of Simon Crane? And no-one else ever saw him but you.
How could I have been so stupid? There was something.
Erm, Simon's parents had left him a house, here in London, in the suburbs, which he used to use if he had to stay over for work.
You went there? Yeah.
Yes, I did, a few times, because I couldn't bring him here.
We'll need the address of the house.
The house is owned by a company called InfoTech Analysts.
They bought it in November 2003.
The company's registered in Luxembourg, they have no offices or employees etc, they're just a shell company.
Looks like it's been empty for a while.
Yeah, the articles of incorporation list Simon Crane as the director of the company.
Is there an address for him? Right here.
Oh, I don't think he's home.
Not exactly riddled with clues, is it? Ah, that's interesting.
What? Hold on.
This is a co-axial cable carrying a video signal from Ah.
What you got? Hidden camera.
It's proper kit too, the sort our surveillance guys use.
See, the cable runs all the way round there, through the other side of the wall and then straight downstairs.
Wow, look at this.
Bolted to the floor.
Here's our cable, and this is a bracket for a TV.
Feeding pictures from the bedroom So whoever was in the chair was forced to watch Mrs Mackenna? Detective Superintendent Pullman.
Did you ever spend a night with Simon Crane after your husband disappeared? Mackenna was grabbed from the train, driven here and put in the basement.
And given Mackenna's aversion to confined spaces, that was probably bad enough.
The next night, Simon Crane invited Bea Mackenna over.
She didn't have a clue her husband was missing - she thought he was still in Paris, and they ended up having sex in this bedroom.
And Mackenna was forced to watch from the basement.
'He must have been horrified.
' That's how they finally cracked him.
He thought he had a secure, stable home life and they pulled the rug out from underneath him.
Pretty nasty, eh? Have a look at this.
Hang on, Jack.
What? Look.
In the corner.
Where? In front of the tree.
The foxes have paid more attention to that patch there than to the rest of the garden.
They can smell something.
They found him? The remains in the garden were male right height and age.
It'll take a few days to confirm, but it's going to be Mackenna.
So it's a murder charge.
Yeah, if we could ever find anyone to arrest.
Simon Crane.
Somewhere there's a trace of that man.
What about Strickland's mate? Maybe he knows more than he's letting on.
But whether he gives it up or not is going to be down to Strickland.
Any luck with Fallon? Yes, and no.
He's pretty certain the document is genuine and he thinks he knows who sent the e-mails.
That's a result, isn't it? Not really.
He thinks he's a hacker, only knows him by his nickname Ninetails.
Like the fox? You what? Japanese mythology.
Esther did a night class in Japanese painting, few months back.
There's a god in Japanese mythology, a trickster A trickster? Yeah - a being not to be trusted, that goes out of its way to deceive.
The shape that it usually takes is that of a fox with nine tails.
I thought Esther had lost the plot with the paintbrush but, no, nine tails.
Kitsune! Eh? Kitsune.
That's the name of this Japanese nine-tailed fox! Kitsune.
That's what David Townsend was trying to tell us.
So the word Townsend said to you and the nickname of the hacker who sent the document to Bea Mackenna are the same? Yeah.
But if the hacker was Townsend's original contact, he helped plan the abduction in the first place.
So what's he doing now sending clues as to what happened? Maybe he had a change of heart and wanted to make amends.
Maybe Simon Crane double-crossed him and this is payback.
Or her.
I mean, why are we assuming that Ninetails is a man? Yeah.
The woman on the train, the one who pulled the emergency handle.
And she was savvy enough to avoid the CCTV.
Doyle said they couldn't trace her because her records got mixed up.
Maybe she hacked the databases.
Oh, blimey.
If she's that good, what chance have we got of finding her? She wants us to find her.
Ninetails is a fox.
A fox.
"A.
Fox".
Sorry, now's not a very good time.
Actually, we'd like to speak to Alice.
Alice? Is she in? No, she She's not here.
She left.
When's she coming back? She's not, is she? Alice Fox.
I was out at a meeting this morning.
When I came back, she'd packed up her things and Did she leave a note? She said she was sorry she'd lied to me.
That was it.
What did she lie about? Everything.
Could we see Alice's office? Sure.
Simon Crane.
The chops are particularly good tonight, Robert, can I tempt you? That photograph was left for us by a woman named Alice Fox.
Ah, yes, the delightful Ninetails.
Quite a resourceful character, I'm led to believe.
Japanese mythology.
Just another breadcrumb on a trail your team followed quite impressively.
You should be proud.
Alice left behind her confession, along with that picture.
Did she happen to mention her real name? No.
Not much of a confession then, is it? She was on the train, she pulled the emergency handle so that Crane could abduct Mackenna.
Crane had hired her to construct the false identities of his associates.
She claims she didn't know he was planning to torture and kill Mackenna.
When she found out, she threatened to blow the whistle and Crane tried to kill her.
She's been in hiding ever since, trying to gather evidence against Crane.
That sounds about right.
So who is he? Crane? Usual story.
We trained him, Army Intelligence, then he went freelance.
Abducting Mackenna was the tip of the iceberg.
Simon Crane has been a very naughty boy, I'm afraid.
But he has dirt on all the right people, so no-one could get the green light to go after him.
But when Alice Fox contacted Bea Mackenna and Bea came to us Awkward, yes.
I was asked to gently steer you off the case.
But you didn't want Crane to get away with it.
Well, if I happen to casually let slip a couple of useful details over a pleasant dinner with an old friend So your bosses were quite prepared to let Crane walk away, just to protect their own reputations? Despite the fact that he'd stolen something worth billions to this country? Billions? I rather think not.
Why not? It doesn't work.
As I'm sure your detectives have gathered by now, Phillip Mackenna was as mad as a box of frogs.
I'm sure he was quite brilliant in his own way, but cold fusion was a pipe dream, I'm afraid.
You used us.
Hardly.
Simon Crane wasn't to know cold fusion was dead in the water.
He still abducted and murdered a British citizen and your people tracked him down.
Well done.
Except we don't know where he is.
Oh, that's easy.
He'll be at St Pancras Station tomorrow morning.
He and his associate, Paul Leonard whom you'll recognise as the other person you've been looking for are booked on the 8:17 to Brussels.
Obviously, you don't have to act on that information, Robert.
Wouldn't want you to feel used.
So what was the point of all this? This is the intelligence community, Robert.
If you start worrying about the point of it all, you'll end up tying yourself in all sorts of knots.
Yep.
They're here and they're going downstairs.
That's them.
No-one approaches till they go through check-in.
I don't want anyone getting hurt.
Crane's buying a newspaper.
They're very aware of their surroundings.
Yeah.
Your men are all out of sight, yeah? Yes, yes.
OK.
Here they come.
What's happened? I've lost all the signals.
Well, get them back! Radios are down.
I'm going to change position.
Hello? Brian, we've lost camera feed, can you see them? Brian? Brian? Gerry, can you hear me? Governor? Sandra? Can anybody hear me? Shit! Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Cos Alice Fox is here.
Hi, Gerry, it's me.
All the radios are down and we've lost CCTV feed.
I don't know how.
Yeah, can you make sure that Crane and Leonard don't come back past you? Have you see Brian? Yeah.
Well, I could a minute ago.
Where the bloody hell's he gone?! OK, cheers.
We've lost contact with Brian, but Gerry's on his way back Jack! Stop him! Stay where you are! Don't move! There's somebody shooting! Hello? Excuse me, can I help you? Yes, please, quick.
Come on.
You're all right now! There's a man up there with a gun! Get back to the concourse, find a policeman.
Hold it! Police! It's me, Brian! Where is she? I was following Crane, I heard a shot.
Alice Fox.
Alice? Oh, shit! 'Well, good luck in finding her, she's well gone.
' How did she know Crane was going to be at the station? I imagine she was tipped off by the same person that told us.
Your friend making sure Crane never got away.
Or that Crane didn't embarrass anyone with his testimony.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, if you ask me.
Crane, I mean.
He should have stood trial for murder.
He was never going to stand trial.
No, he'd have wriggled out of it.
It's still vigilante justice, Brian.
Well, as Gerry says, good luck tracking down Alice Fox.
On the other hand, she might be hiding in the pub! I'll get the first round in.
Bloody hell! Yeah, well, don't get used to it.
I don't think there's any danger of that, Sir.