Death In Paradise (2011) s10e07 Episode Script
Series 10, Episode 7
1
WHOOPING, CHEERING AND SHOUTING
This is it, lads.
Oh-ho! There she is, boys.
God, she's a beauty.
That's the Midnight Rambler? Oh, I can smell it from here, it's really not helping the hangover.
Lightweight! Call yourself a Scotsman? Don't you worry, Jamie .
.
just need to top my levels up.
Oi, oi! Look out, here comes the condemned man.
Permission to come aboard, sir? Absolutely not, I'm not having any riffraff like you coming onboard and polluting my lovely clean boat.
Come on, then, lads - all aboard HMS Party.
Whoo-whoo! Right, who's who? So Jamie and Ollie are old school mates.
Billy is a mate from uni.
Right, just three rules on this stag trip.
One, don't complain about the smell.
Two, if you're going to puke, do it over the side.
Side.
Three, any alcohol brought on board this boat must be shared with El Capitano Skipper! CHEERING Right, let's go FISHING! CHEERING UPBEAT MUSIC There you go, there you go Pull! Whoa! SHOUTING AND LAUGHING Three, two, one! THEY YELL LIVELY CHATTER AND SHOUTING CHEERING Don't let go of it.
CAMERA CLICKS .
.
urgent confirmation from the captain.
Coastguard to Midnight Rambler, do you copy? We are concerned by your radio silence.
Request urgent confirmation from the captain.
Coastguard to Midnight Rambler VOICE FADES UPBEAT THEME TUNE HAMMER CLINKS HAMMER CLINKS AGAIN Ah! Ha! Yes! Just as I thought - basaltic scoria.
Of course, the real test will be if it sinks in water.
Sorry, sir, but what exactly is bals bals It's a type of volcanic rock, apparently.
We found it exploring the volcano on Saturday.
- I thought you went to the zoo.
- That was Sunday.
We wanted to tick as many things off DI Parker's Saint Marie list as we could.
PHONE RINGS And now there's only one thing left on your list - swimming in the sea.
What? You've never been swimming in the sea, sir? Yeah, of course, every year as a child - Blackpool, Morecambe.
Didn't really care for it much, to be honest.
Freezing water, sensitive skin.
It was a bit like being sandpapered.
Yeah, but the sea here is totally different.
It's like taking a warm bath.
Maybe you should go after work today.
Let's just see how it goes, shall we? OK.
OK, guys.
A body's been found out at Benoit Bay.
Ugh.
Harpoon through the chest.
What a way to go.
Do we have an ID? His name's Skip Marsden.
He was a fisherman but made most of his money running fishing trips for tourists.
From what I heard, fish wasn't the only thing coming off his boat.
Smuggler? Bit of rum, cigarettes, nothing too heavy.
We're miles away from anywhere.
What's he doing out here? We found this in his pocket, sir.
It's a burner phone.
All the calls and messages are from the same number.
And all from last night.
Look - "Change of plans.
Drop happens tonight.
" Did he reply? Yep.
"Benoit Bay, 2:00am.
" Sounds like a straightforward smuggling job that went badly wrong.
Well, the coastguard picked up his fishing boat, the Midnight Rambler, moored a few miles out.
Apparently, there was four tourists on there, some British stag party or something.
Oh, great.
Nothing says cooperation more than a group of drunk Brits abroad.
"Midnight Rambler 2".
Could have put a bit more thought into the name.
I assume this was attached to the main boat.
Guess if you're doing a dodgy drop, a dinghy's a lot more discreet.
True.
Although these motors are not exactly silent.
Hey, is that engine casing loose? Yeah.
No carburettor.
It's not much use without this.
Look.
How did he get all the way here without an engine? Didn't find any oars around? Beach was empty.
Something doesn't add up here.
Excuse me, gentlemen.
I wonder if you'd mind answering a few questions.
I am DS Cassell and this is DI Parker.
HE CHUCKLES Yeah, I knew you boys were up to something.
As if you're a cop.
Look at you.
What, are you going to get the fluffy handcuffs out and arrest me, are you? "No!" Hugo, I think they actually might be the police.
We used to come here every summer as a family.
Skip would take me and my dad out fishing.
He was like this rock star to me.
So when Ollie asked what I wanted to do for my stag, it was a no-brainer.
Pa'll be devastated.
But none of the rest of you had met Skip before yesterday.
Well, I'd spoken to him on the phone a couple of times, organising the trip.
Wasn't an easy man to get hold of.
Can anyone walk me through exactly what happened last night? Uh, well, after we'd reeled in a couple of marlin, we .
.
cracked into the beers.
Got pretty merry.
Skip joined you? That man couldn't half put it away.
Must have been towards, uh, seven? I suggested we play a bit of poker.
Look, long story short, Skip took us to the cleaners.
At some point, we must have all passed out.
Next thing we knew, we woke up to find Skip and the dingy both missing.
Did any of you notice anything suspicious about Skip last night? Any odd behaviour? Plenty.
I mean, the man was a maniac.
Foul mouthed, offensive, crazy.
Legend, basically.
I thought he seemed a bit distracted.
Kept checking his phone.
And did Skip mention Benoit Bay at all, that he was meeting someone there? Listen, erm I trust you can keep our involvement in this quiet.
It's just I've got a, um, certain profile back home.
I'm sure you understand.
No, I can't say that I do.
Well I hope you've got what you need from us cos we fly home this afternoon.
Sorry, can't stick around.
Getting married next week.
Oh, sir.
We found Skip's other phone.
I guess there was one for business and one for pleasure.
Can we get this unlocked? Oh, I might be able to help with that, sir.
How? A magician never reveals his tricks.
And that's not all, sir.
We found .
.
this.
A smuggling compartment.
Well done, JP.
While the stag party slept off what looks like a pretty heavy night, Skip took his contraband from the hidden compartment and set off for Benoit Bay in his dinghy for a prearranged drop.
Except how did he make that journey when the motor was broken? Um sir? Ah.
A missing carburettor.
Looks like its gasket's blown.
I found it inside Skip's tool box, so I guess he was trying to repair it.
Huh.
We need to take a look at that GPS.
OK, so that's the Midnight Rambler, the red triangle.
Um And, um, where's Benoit Bay? Way over here? How far is it? 11 miles or so.
So with no working motor and no oars to paddle with, how did Skip travel 11 miles up the coast? The only way that dinghy's making it to Benoit Bay is if somebody carried it there.
Why would anyone ever do that? Unless .
.
they wanted to make it look like Skip went there of his own accord.
I don't follow you, sir.
I'm saying, what if Skip was already dead and then his body was moved to Benoit Bay to make it look like he was killed there, but he wasn't.
Wait.
Wait, so, are you saying Skip was murdered here on this boat? Maybe.
I don't suppose you found any evidence of the harpoon gun here, did you? Sir, there's one problem with what you're suggesting.
What's that? The GPS log says the boat didn't move from the moment they dropped the anchor yesterday at 4:00 until the coastguard arrived this morning.
Huh.
Initial postmortem confirms that Skip was killed by a harpoon through the chest.
It collapsed his lung, causing asphyxiation.
Which is entirely as expected.
But what's not making sense is WHERE it happened.
If we're saying that Skip's murder was staged at Benoit Bay by one or more of his passengers to look like a smuggling job gone wrong, how is that possible, considering the Midnight Rambler didn't move from its position here, 11 miles away, all night long? HE SIGHS All right.
Well, let's start with what we do know.
Victim is Bruce "Skip" Marsden.
Two priors for smuggling cigarettes and rum, did a bit of jail time, nothing serious.
He also has an ex-wife back in England.
And one in Miami.
What about his passengers? The stag party? Hugo Pickford, the groom, is a viscount.
He, Oliver Gordon and Jamie Santisuk all went to the same exclusive boarding school.
Yeah, he said he had a certain profile back home.
What does that mean? Next week, he's due to marry Charlotte Fairfax, whose father is one of the richest landowners in Britain.
I'm guessing Hugo doesn't have what you might call a normal job.
No, but he and Charlotte were paid five figures for this engagement interview.
The magazine also has exclusive rights to the wedding.
And they say you can't put a price on love.
Ollie Gordon.
Hugo's best man.
And he works as a strategist for a top private equity firm.
He also competes in international triathlons.
I get the feeling Jamie's the life and soul of the party? Yeah, he owned a nightclub.
And he attended two different rehab clinics in the last three years.
Which just leaves Finlay McEwan.
Finlay is the only one of them who didn't go to the same school.
He grew up in a small town in Scotland, but he and Hugo met at university.
Very different backgrounds.
Interesting.
Wonder what it takes for an outsider to gain admittance to a tiny group like this.
So what's your theory, then, sir? If the murder took place on the boat does that mean they were all in on it? Possibly.
The Midnight Rambler's not big and they do seem to function as a pack.
Then again, it only takes one person to fire a harpoon.
We need to find out a bit more about who exactly Skip Marsden was.
JP, Marlon, could you head over to his house first thing and give it the once over? Will do, sir.
Ah, sir.
We weren't expecting you.
Good evening.
Thought I'd just stop by to see how Sergeant Hooper and trainee officer Pryce are getting on with their presentations.
It's going very well, sir.
Just doing the final polish.
Uh presentations? You may recall me mentioning that the Pan-Caribbean Police Training Board are reviewing you training scheme.
They are keen to hear from you both, first-hand, whether their investment is paying off.
Oh.
Yeah, that presentation.
Yeah, yeah, don't Don't worry about it, Chief.
I'm all over it.
You want me to bring the hype so that you get more money, right? Sorry.
I'm relying on you to keep him on message, Sergeant Hooper.
Of course, sir.
Right.
Marlon, you need to take this seriously.
Don't sweat it, Sarge, I'll just freestyle, it's fine.
To hell you can.
Look.
You need to be eloquent and you need to be honest.
So I want to see a draft of your speech by the morning.
Get typing.
HE SIGHS Are you sure I can't persuade you, sir? The sea's the perfect temperature at this time of the day and there's not too many people around.
Yeah, I-I-I can imagine how pleasant that might be.
But, no, I've got a load in the washing machine and you know what it gets like if you leave it in there too long.
Goodnight, DS Cassell.
Well Goodnight, sir.
I shouldn't be enjoying her company this much.
We're colleagues.
Blur those lines at your peril.
You're right.
Need to nip this feeling in the bud before it goes any further.
I need to keep my professional distance.
HE EXHALES OK.
OK, your speech.
Let's see what you got.
"I've got to say, this scheme is a sweet deal.
" Look, like I said, it's just a first draft.
"Instead of going to jail, you just have to play at being a cop "for a year and then you're free to go back to doing whatever you want.
" Is this how you really feel, Marlon? Man, this place is a hole.
So, you're telling me you're going to do this for a year and then back to your old ways? No.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
I mean, now that I know how you guys work, I'll be way better at staying out of trouble.
All right.
All right, thanks, JP, that's great.
So, apparently, Skip was in debt up to his eyeballs.
JP says they found three separate overdue demands for child support.
Maybe that's why he developed a sideline in smuggling.
Well, it might also explain the photos I found on his phone.
They were taken the night before the fishing trip.
That's Hugo.
But that's definitely not his fiancee.
No, it is not.
Look, here's another picture.
If Hugo's engagement photos are worth five figures, what do you suppose a tabloid would pay for these? Oh, I bet that's exactly what Skip was thinking.
Listen, I know these don't look great but, honestly, guys, nothing happened.
I mean, I was a bit worse for wear.
We had the briefest cheeky snog and that's all.
That's not all, though, is it, Hugo? Because we know that you left with this young lady in a cab.
I wanted to make sure she got back to her hotel safe and sound.
I'm a gentleman.
My apologies.
You don't seem surprised to see these.
In fact, you haven't even asked who took them.
Just thought it was some paps.
No.
You've seen them before.
Skip showed them to you.
We found them on his phone.
It was when we were out on the fishing trip, he snuck up to me.
Hugo.
Who's been a naughty boy? How much did he ask for? 70 grand.
Yeah! I was staggered.
I thought he was a mate.
But now you realised he was a man with the power to end your high-profile marriage before it even begun.
Everything all right? They know about the photos, Oll.
The whole situation had already been dealt with.
How exactly? How do you think? Offered Skip 70 grand, just like he asked for, to delete the pictures.
As soon as we were back on dry land.
It's a lot of money.
You can't put a price on a friendship like ours.
I'd take a bullet for this guy.
Or a harpoon? You told us Skip was found miles away in some bay.
You know we have nothing to do with this, so why don't you give us back our passports and focus on finding the actual killer? They're hiding something.
I can feel it.
You saw how Ollie swept in to protect Hugo, it's like he was terrified he was going to give something away.
What about background on these four? Did we dig anything else up? Yeah, I managed to get hold of Hugo, Ollie and Jamie's old head teacher.
Oh, yeah? What do he have to say? Well, Hugo wasn't academic, but he was popular, and Ollie was badly bullied until Hugo took him under his wing, you know, looked after him.
No wonder Ollie said he'd do anything for him.
Which means if Hugo did kill Skip over those photos, it's entirely plausible that Ollie would help to cover it up.
Or maybe Ollie was willing to kill to protect his friend's reputation.
Even though we're edging closer to a motive, we're still clueless as to how the killer managed to magic Skip's body from the boat 11 miles up the coast to Benoit Bay.
Oh, if we could only speak to whoever he was supposed to meet there.
Maybe they witnessed something.
You didn't have any luck calling that number on Skip's burner phone, did you? I'm sorry, sir.
The number was disconnected.
Probably a burner phone, too.
Mm.
But there is a guy that I know of that hangs around the harbour, might know what went down that night.
Zeke he's called.
Yeah.
I know Zeke.
Can you try and track him down? Yeah, yeah, will do, sir.
Um, sir, the full postmortem's come through and, um, there was something strange.
They say they found canine hairs in the back of Skip's throat.
Dog hairs? How do you end up with dog hairs in the back of your throat? You know what? I think I saw a photo of Skip and a dog, now that I think about it, at his home.
OK.
All right.
I'll head over there, see what I can find.
I'll come too.
Oh, you don't need to.
Doesn't need two of us.
Sir, we're a team.
That's how it works.
OK.
Suit yourself.
OK, we need to talk about this.
Talk? Talk about what? About why you've been acting so weirdly around me.
What, you think I haven't noticed? Have I? You think I don't know what it's about? It is so obvious.
Oh.
You're terrified of swimming.
Yes.
Busted.
That-that's what it is.
Why didn't you just say so? Well, I suppose I didn't want you to think any less of me.
Sir, honestly, I am so proud of the way you've been trying new things.
And I know you can do this, too.
I'll tell you what, after work today, we will grab your swim shorts and go.
There's nothing to be nervous about.
Great.
Excellent.
I'm looking forward to it.
Looks like someone beat us to it.
Yeah, but I don't think they were looking for the dog.
BOTTLE CLATTERS SHE YELLS Stop! Police! Stop! CAMERA CLICKS I'm sorry, sir, she got away.
But I managed to take a couple of pictures, though, including her number plate.
Oh, yeah, good work.
Well, I found Skip's dog.
Although I'm guessing he hasn't been walked in a while.
Oh.
So two key questions.
Who is this woman and what was she searching for? Her car registration number's not in the system.
Must have been a fake plate.
So she's operating under the radar.
Which suggests she might be the person Skip was texting from his burner phone.
The person he was supposed to meet at Benoit Bay.
But maybe Skip never got a chance to hand over what was hidden on his boat.
She turned his house upside down.
She was clearly desperate to find it.
Seems like a lot of trouble to go to for some bootleg rum and cigarettes, though, doesn't it? JP, Any luck with your informant, Zeke? Afraid not, sir.
Smuggler just got murdered and there's a lot of heat about.
I suspect he's gone to ground.
You're right about that, Sarge.
Zeke does not want to be talking to cops right now, but I think I know where I can find him.
But you're a cop.
Yeah, but not a real one.
Just leave it to me.
You know, I should come with you.
OK.
If you have to, Sarge, but just be cool.
Yeah? Try not to cramp my style.
I'm not going I can be cool, Marlon.
Well, see if this Zeke can identify this woman.
I have a feeling she may be the key to everything.
All right, let's reconvene first thing.
See you all in the morning.
Sir, aren't you forgetting something? Am I? Time to put those swim shorts on.
THUNDER RUMBLES Be honest with me, sir.
Did you do a little rain dance when I wasn't looking? Reminds me of our caravan holidays in Blackpool, this.
Two days of sunshine and the rest of the time it'd tip it down.
Nothing else to do except play board games against my mum and dad.
You know what? One of your predecessors had quite a selection.
I wonder if any of them are still here.
No, you really don't need to do that.
I've taken up enough of your time, DS Cassell, it's certainly not part of your job description.
- SHE GASPS - Oh, yes! This was my absolute favourite as a child.
A jewellery shop in Paris gets robbed and you have to work out who did it.
That does sound right up my street.
Well, Lottie suspects something.
I'm running out of excuses to why we haven't left yet.
I say let's get another round and bed in for the night.
Maybe shots this time.
Good idea.
I'll have a rum if you're paying.
S-Sorry.
This is a private party.
Oh, well, excuse me.
Thing is I think you boys might have something of mine.
OK, wait a second.
I got it.
I think the thief .
.
is Monsieur Chappel.
Unbelievable! How do you do that? Yes! Simple deduction.
This is something else.
It's 4-0! I'm getting humiliated here.
Well, maybe - maybe - I let you win the next game.
I'm guessing you played this a lot as a child.
I grew up in a very noisy house, five brothers, I was always sneaking off for some peace So I'd either play this or read a book.
See, peace is the one thing I didn't like.
Spend a lot of my time reading alone.
Not my choice, mind.
Whose choice was it? Well my mother was protective.
I was allergic to everything so you can't blame her for wanting to keep me out of harm's way.
Sounds a little lonely.
I found loads of ways to amuse myself.
I suppose you could argue it's made me a little risk averse as an adult.
Yeah a little, maybe.
Look at you now.
On an island on the other side of the world.
Goes to show, what if I'd never come here? I could have gone through my whole life and never known that I had it in me to feel this .
.
happy.
Still raining.
I'm sorry you missed your swim.
Well, I'm not.
Let's go again.
Are you sure? Yes.
Come on, don't be cocky.
4-1, I'm coming, the comeback is on, here we go.
I'm ready.
- SHE LAUGHS - Let's do this.
So how was your big swim, sir? Rain stopped play, alas.
Postponed, not cancelled.
Yeah.
Although we did manage to complete no fewer than five games of Inspecteur.
You guys sure know how to cut loose.
All right.
I'll let them know.
Sir, Sarge, the Commissioner wants to see you both right away.
Sir? This meeting is being called at the behest of the British Ambassador.
British Ambassador? My grandfather's high up in the Foreign Office.
He was pretty unimpressed with what I had to tell him.
About what, exactly? The viscount and his friends have raised concerns about the direction of your investigation.
They feel they are being unfairly targeted based on scant evidence.
Correction.
In the light of incontrovertible evidence of our innocence.
Well, the investigation is still ongoing.
Not for us, it isn't.
We've booked the 8:00pm flight back to London.
So if you don't mind, we're going to need our passports back.
I'm afraid that's not going to happen.
What you don't seem to grasp here is who you're dealing with.
Hugo is not just anybody.
It's a done deal anyway, Inspector.
Detective Inspector.
It seems the ambassador has come to an arrangement with our Justice Department and agreed for these gentlemen to return home.
Sir, that's Just the way the cookie crumbles, Neville, old boy.
Sorry about that.
Now passports, if you don't mind.
How certain are you of their guilt? Almost 100%, sir.
Then find me the evidence that proves it.
I want this case solved before they set one foot on that plane.
The problem with people like Viscount Hugo Pickford is they think they're above the law.
You wear the right tie and you know the right people, they think they can get away with anything.
How do you get on with Zeke last night, JP? Oh, we had a very interesting conversation.
Oh, yeah? Zeke recognised the woman right away as Pamela Bellman.
She's wanted on a number of islands for drug smuggling.
Looks like she just moved around to avoid the law.
You're not saying Skip was involved in drug smuggling? Word is he was due to deliver two kilograms of cocaine to Miss Bellman the night he was killed.
If that's what she's been searching for, what happened to it? Zeke reckons it must have been stolen.
I'm willing to bet it was one of these four.
Well, that's what we thought, sir, so I got Marlon dusting the smuggling compartment for prints.
Good thinking.
I mean, that amount of cocaine's worth, what, 50, 60,000? Ha.
Well, what do you know? INDISTINCT CHATTER Listen, Lydia, I'll call you back.
Can I help? I'm actually in the middle of an important deal right now, so don't have long to Don't worry, this will only take a minute.
Well, I already gave you my statement.
Except you left out a few crucial details.
Didn't you, Finlay? Like the fact that you found Skip's smuggling compartment on the Midnight Rambler.
Now, before you go to deny it, we should probably tell you that we found an exact match of your fingerprints.
And I expect they'll be on the missing cocaine when we find it.
There is actually a very simple explanation for this.
We would love to hear it.
Mm.
Well, the truth is, um .
.
I went below deck to grab some beers when I caught sight of Skip stashing something in the floor.
Doesn't take a genius to work out this wasn't exactly legit.
So, later on, once he was back on deck, I went and checked.
I'm not like the others.
I'm a lawyer.
If I get caught up in drug smuggling, my career is over.
I'd be disbarred like that.
So I took my phone out to call the police but .
.
Skip, he had other ideas.
He just flipped out.
He was going crazy, managed to get the phone off me before the call was put through, making all kinds of threats.
If you don't believe me, you can check my outgoing calls.
So, in your words, Skip flipped out.
Maybe you started looking around for something to defend yourself.
Didn't need to defend myself, Inspector, because, fortunately, Hugo showed up and managed to talk Skip down.
Guys, guys, guys.
Chill, chill.
OK? So, to be clear, the others knew about the drugs.
Yeah.
I assume they weren't very happy that you were going to call the cops.
I mean, no, they weren't exactly thrilled about it.
And, I mean, fair enough, I was about to make it all about me and my career.
They're a tight-knit group, look out for each other.
So what did you do? Made it up with the lads and they were really good about it, eventually.
We just promised Skip we'd keep our noses out of his business.
No pun intended.
That was that.
They let me back in again.
So if, um, you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my call.
Hi.
Lydia? No, no, no, no, it was nothing.
So all four members of the stag party were fully aware that Skip had $60,000 worth of drugs stashed on his boat.
What if one of them decided that was a price worth killing for? But haven't we established that all of them are rich? Yeah.
PHONE RINGS JP, what you got? I've just been looking into Jamie's finances and apparently his club is losing serious money.
He's basically bankrupt.
Oh.
Follow that boat.
Sarge, Sarge, I'm in pursuit of Jamie Santisuk.
You're what? Look, there's no time to explain, Sarge.
I need backup now.
He's heading in the direction of Sally Cove.
All right? Hurry up.
Ahh! Go on, boss.
Go on, go, go.
That's not what we agreed! Just hand it over.
No way! Money first.
Why would I pay for something that's already mine? Because we made a deal.
You are so out of your depth right now, it's not even funny.
Give it.
Freeze! Police! Hands where I can see them.
Did it not occur to you to check if you were being followed? You're both under arrest.
Oh, yeah? How's that going to work? You can't catch us both, can ya? No.
But I know that you really want to get back to the UK, so you wouldn't want to be a fugitive on this island, would you? And if there's one thing that I am good at, it's running fast.
Just depends if you're bothered to try.
You took your time, Sarge.
You seem to have it all covered.
Come.
Sure looks like you're a real cop to me, Officer Pryce.
Are you insane? Why would I kill Skip? Because once you found out there were two kilos of cocaine on the boat, you saw a way to make 60 grand.
Do your homework.
I really don't need the money.
Oh, we have.
And you really do.
We know your nightclub is about to go bust.
You're facing bankruptcy.
And your father, who's bailed you out for years, has cut you off until you finally get sober.
Earlier that night, I guess maybe the others were too drunk to notice, I saw Skip lean over the side of the boat and pull up a lockbox attached to a buoy.
We were moored right beside it.
Did you say anything to him? God, no.
Thought it might not be wise to ruffle a drug smuggler's feathers.
But later Finlay would make sure everyone knew about it.
That was very Finlay.
Always putting himself first.
So the others all promised Skip they'd forget about the cocaine, but you couldn't.
You had to work out a way to get rid of him.
How many times? We never left the boat! And Skip was found miles away! So the lockbox was attached to a buoy moored right beside the Midnight Rambler here.
Presumably it's where Skip always collected his goods before taking them to the drop-off.
Mm-hm.
Marlon, can you head back out to the buoy and retrieve the lockbox, please? I need to take a closer look at it.
Sure thing, sir.
Now, we know that while the drugs didn't make it to Benoit Bay, Skip did.
We just don't know how he got there.
No.
But we do have a witness who was on the beach the night Skip was murdered.
He was dead when I got there.
Had this .
.
big harpoon sticking out of 'im.
And no sign of, you know, what I was there to collect, although I'm pretty sure, at this point, we're all clear who'd stolen it.
Didn't take long for you to track it down.
Boys denied all knowledge of it, at first.
Although I could tell, you know, they were hiding something.
It's only after they'd gone to bed that the Jamie fella comes over, you know, trying to act the big man.
Seriously, you're all wasting your time here.
We all know those toffs stole the cocaine.
They must have murdered Skip.
So, Skip arranged to meet Pamela Bellman at Benoit Bay that night, but by the time she arrived, he was already dead.
The dinghy lay a short distance away but we know that can't possibly be how he got there.
Because the engine was missing a part and didn't work.
Most plausible explanation is that he and the dinghy were taken there by his boat, the Midnight Rambler.
Except that's not possible because the GPS shows the boat didn't move an inch all night.
Exactly.
So if he WAS killed aboard the Midnight Rambler and then his body was moved to Benoit Bay, how did the four suspects manage it? Only a few hours till their flight leaves.
Here you go, sir.
Oh, great.
One lockbox.
Thank you, Marlon.
Here we go.
Don't actually know what I was expecting to find in there, to be honest.
I left the buoy where it was, though.
I wasn't quite sure how to move it.
That's all right, the buoy can stay where it was.
Because buoys don't move.
Ha! That's the point.
That's why it's a perfect place to hide the drugs because it stays in exactly the same spot.
The GPS log says the boat didn't move from the moment they dropped the anchor yesterday at 4:00 until the coastguard arrived this morning.
No carburettor.
We never left the boat! And Skip was found miles away! Of course! That's the only way they could have done it! Although it still doesn't explain which one of them did it and why.
Sir, the results from the lab are back.
OK They confirm that the dog hairs found in Skip's throat is an exact match with the ones you collected from his house.
She same hairs as the dead dog, Nelson.
So how did they get there if Skip was murdered miles out at sea? Maybe Nelson's some kind of vampire dog and he came back to life.
Yeah, Marlon, I bet that's it.
Yes! That is it! Marlon, you're a genius! Skip was murdered by a vampire? No, not a vampire, but the dog was definitely involved.
So you know who killed him? I do.
I know exactly who killed Skip Marsden.
Just don't know which one of them fired the harpoon.
Although we could draw it out of them.
What was the brand of the harpoon gun that shot Skip? Erm, the Orca 57.
Why? We need to get our hands on one.
It's time to go fishing.
Well, boys, it's certainly not a stag any of us will forget in a hurry.
Who needs Vegas? TYRES SCREECH You come to wave us off, Inspector? You didn't need to do that.
Actually, no.
I'm here to arrest the man who killed Skip Marsden.
You know, it's a common fallacy that fingerprints are destroyed the moment they touch water.
The FBI actually did a study on it.
Tossed a few handguns into the sea, dredged them up a couple of days later, and they found that most of the fingerprints had remained perfectly intact.
With that having been said, I was just wondering if there's anything any of you wanted to tell me about this? For the last and final time, Inspector, the body was found miles from the boat and the boat never moved.
Yet that's not entirely true, though.
Is it, Finlay? Because the only thing that actually remained stationary was this.
Which, for the duration of that night, contained this.
The GPS system from the Midnight Rambler.
Giving the illusion that it was actually the boat that stayed in place, whereas in fact, the boat sailed all the way to Benoit Bay and back again.
All the while the GPS remained in exactly the same spot, floating just below the surface of the sea, inside this box here.
Feel free to contradict me at any time.
It was me.
Hugo, don't say a damn word.
Stop! You tried to help, you all tried to help, but it's no use.
OK? I killed Skip but it it was an accident.
It was a stupid, terrible accident.
We had a few and we were messing around when we found it - the harpoon gun.
I just wanted a bit of target practice.
It was supposed to be a bit of fun.
INDISTINCT DRUNKEN CHATTER How do you make this thing work? Put that down, Hugo.
HE GRUNTS HE GROANS He was just standing there with this thing sticking out of him.
It just looked so absurd.
And then I realised that he was dead.
And they've been trying to protect you ever since.
After you saw what happened, the rest of you swung into action to try and cover it up.
You'd already found the lockbox and the drugs, so you realised you could stage Skip's death as a drug deal gone wrong.
Here's what I think happened that night after Skip was shot by the harpoon gun.
First, I think you unscrewed the GPS from its casing in the wheelhouse.
The internal battery would make sure it kept working for a while after it was disconnected.
You disposed of the evidence, threw the harpoon gun overboard, then, with the GPS safely secured in the lockbox, you set off for Benoit Bay and moved Skip into the dinghy in preparation.
You set Skip into place and you put his burner phone into his pocket for us to find, knowing that it would incriminate Skip as a drug smuggler.
The illusion might have actually worked, had you not overlooked one small detail - the dinghy's engine had no carburettor.
Unbeknownst to you, Skip had been repairing it before you arrived.
Oi, oi! Look out, here comes the condemned man.
But it meant that we knew there was no way Skip could have made the 11-mile journey to Benoit Bay in that dinghy.
I still don't understand, how did you retrieve that? Oh, this? Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm sorry, this isn't the actual harpoon gun.
No, I imagine that's somewhere on the bottom of the ocean being nibbled at by fish.
Ironically.
I'm sorry.
Was that not clear? Thank you for the confession, though.
Although, in a way, it doesn't really matter that that's not the real harpoon gun because the actual murder weapon wasn't a harpoon at all.
Of course it was, I shot him with it, everybody saw it.
Yeah, I know.
But there's one piece of evidence that doesn't fit with the account of that night's events.
What do you mean? We found traces of dog hair in Skip's throat.
In fact, hairs from his own dog, Nelson, who, strangely enough, has been dead for the last two months.
The harpoon you fired, Hugo, didn't kill Skip.
This did.
Because although shooting Skip with a harpoon may have been an accident, suffocating him with this blanket wasn't.
Was it, Finlay? Spotted it as soon as I saw you.
Oil marks on the knees of those otherwise pristine chinos.
It wasn't until later that I worked out how they'd got there.
You see, while you were all busy covering up your crime, Finlay was busy in the wheelhouse, disconnecting the GPS.
And that is when I imagined it happened.
Skip came to.
Probably considered helping him for a moment.
We know you have a conscience because you almost called the police when you found the drugs.
What you didn't tell us was the real reason you ended your call to the police before it connected.
It wasn't because you were afraid of Skip, it was because you were afraid of what the others might think.
Guys, guys, guys.
Chill, chill.
OK? I wasn't going to call, it's just a misunderstanding, yeah? I think that ever since you met Hugo at university, you wanted to be a part of his gang.
Wonder what it takes for an outsider to gain admittance to a tight-knit group like this.
What you don't seem to grasp here is who you're dealing with.
Hugo isn't just anyone.
That was very Finlay, always putting himself first.
You realised that this could be a bond for life.
Unless, of course, Skip wasn't actually dead.
You reached for the first weapon to hand.
And then you hid it in plain sight, not realising that only two months after the dog had died, his hairs would still be all over the blanket.
You let me believe it was me that killed him.
I was only trying to help.
I have to be honest, from the start, Marlon has never corresponded in any way to what I believe makes a good officer.
But that doesn't mean I was right.
Marlon is agile, street smart, enterprising.
He does things that no-one else could do, like getting informants to talk or, even just today, he put away a drug runner who has been wanted for five years.
Marlon has proved to me that he has the potential to make an excellent police officer.
I only hope that he has proved it to himself.
Thank you.
HE CLEARS HIS THROA Uh, so I don't have anything written down.
And, to be honest with you, this is not my first time in front of a jury.
I pretty much spent my whole life standing in front of people in suits telling me how bad I am - a serial offender, hopeless case, irredeemable.
Every teacher I ever knew gave up on me.
Even my mum said, "Marlon, what's to become of you?" But my man, Sarge, here, I swear down, I've never heard anybody stick up for me the way he does.
And, I don't know, I kind of like that Marlon he's speaking about.
I think I might like to try and be that guy for a bit longer, if you let me stick around.
Um right, that's all I got.
Marlon out.
Trainee Officer Pryce .
.
the board were immensely impressed with your account.
They said they'd never heard a speech quite like it, in fact.
Don't mention it, boss.
Any time you need bigging up, you only have to ask.
Now, if you don't mind, I'd like a word with the Sergeant.
Oh, yes.
Is everything OK, sir? Did I say something wrong up there? As a matter of fact, no.
Quite the opposite.
If anything, you were too eloquent.
How do you mean, sir? You've become a real credit to the Saint Marie Police Force, Sergeant Hooper.
Which is why I'll be so sorry to see you go.
Go where, sir? The board would like you to consider becoming the head of the new police training programme.
Oh For-for real? Uh Wait, does that mean I have to leave my job here, sir? Not only your job .
.
but Saint Marie.
Uh In that case, sir, please thank the board on my behalf, but I love my life here.
May I suggest you sleep on it, discuss it with your wife? Opportunities like that don't come along too often and I'd hate for you to miss your chance.
You ready, sir? Are we sure there aren't any sharp rocks nearby? Yeah, positive.
Or jellyfish? Mm.
Or riptides.
Or giant squid.
Or nuclear submarines.
Yeah, yeah, all right, I get the message.
Let's go.
Oh, no.
SHE LAUGHS Well? Huh.
Hey, you know what? That's That's not bad.
It's a lot warmer than I was expecting.
Much nicer than Morecambe.
Come on Don't matter who I'm with There's blood on your shirt.
Is everything all right? I've killed her.
Why would a man suddenly, out of the blue, kill his best friend for no reason? Tarone Vincent.
Hey! Stop! Let go of the bag! What do you want me to do? If you like her, go and tell her.
What, now? Then when, Neville? The school friend I bumped into wants to know if I fancied going for a drink sometime.
I've messed up big time, haven't I? I have no choice but to stand Trainee Officer Pryce down.
Oh-ho! There she is, boys.
God, she's a beauty.
That's the Midnight Rambler? Oh, I can smell it from here, it's really not helping the hangover.
Lightweight! Call yourself a Scotsman? Don't you worry, Jamie .
.
just need to top my levels up.
Oi, oi! Look out, here comes the condemned man.
Permission to come aboard, sir? Absolutely not, I'm not having any riffraff like you coming onboard and polluting my lovely clean boat.
Come on, then, lads - all aboard HMS Party.
Whoo-whoo! Right, who's who? So Jamie and Ollie are old school mates.
Billy is a mate from uni.
Right, just three rules on this stag trip.
One, don't complain about the smell.
Two, if you're going to puke, do it over the side.
Side.
Three, any alcohol brought on board this boat must be shared with El Capitano Skipper! CHEERING Right, let's go FISHING! CHEERING UPBEAT MUSIC There you go, there you go Pull! Whoa! SHOUTING AND LAUGHING Three, two, one! THEY YELL LIVELY CHATTER AND SHOUTING CHEERING Don't let go of it.
CAMERA CLICKS .
.
urgent confirmation from the captain.
Coastguard to Midnight Rambler, do you copy? We are concerned by your radio silence.
Request urgent confirmation from the captain.
Coastguard to Midnight Rambler VOICE FADES UPBEAT THEME TUNE HAMMER CLINKS HAMMER CLINKS AGAIN Ah! Ha! Yes! Just as I thought - basaltic scoria.
Of course, the real test will be if it sinks in water.
Sorry, sir, but what exactly is bals bals It's a type of volcanic rock, apparently.
We found it exploring the volcano on Saturday.
- I thought you went to the zoo.
- That was Sunday.
We wanted to tick as many things off DI Parker's Saint Marie list as we could.
PHONE RINGS And now there's only one thing left on your list - swimming in the sea.
What? You've never been swimming in the sea, sir? Yeah, of course, every year as a child - Blackpool, Morecambe.
Didn't really care for it much, to be honest.
Freezing water, sensitive skin.
It was a bit like being sandpapered.
Yeah, but the sea here is totally different.
It's like taking a warm bath.
Maybe you should go after work today.
Let's just see how it goes, shall we? OK.
OK, guys.
A body's been found out at Benoit Bay.
Ugh.
Harpoon through the chest.
What a way to go.
Do we have an ID? His name's Skip Marsden.
He was a fisherman but made most of his money running fishing trips for tourists.
From what I heard, fish wasn't the only thing coming off his boat.
Smuggler? Bit of rum, cigarettes, nothing too heavy.
We're miles away from anywhere.
What's he doing out here? We found this in his pocket, sir.
It's a burner phone.
All the calls and messages are from the same number.
And all from last night.
Look - "Change of plans.
Drop happens tonight.
" Did he reply? Yep.
"Benoit Bay, 2:00am.
" Sounds like a straightforward smuggling job that went badly wrong.
Well, the coastguard picked up his fishing boat, the Midnight Rambler, moored a few miles out.
Apparently, there was four tourists on there, some British stag party or something.
Oh, great.
Nothing says cooperation more than a group of drunk Brits abroad.
"Midnight Rambler 2".
Could have put a bit more thought into the name.
I assume this was attached to the main boat.
Guess if you're doing a dodgy drop, a dinghy's a lot more discreet.
True.
Although these motors are not exactly silent.
Hey, is that engine casing loose? Yeah.
No carburettor.
It's not much use without this.
Look.
How did he get all the way here without an engine? Didn't find any oars around? Beach was empty.
Something doesn't add up here.
Excuse me, gentlemen.
I wonder if you'd mind answering a few questions.
I am DS Cassell and this is DI Parker.
HE CHUCKLES Yeah, I knew you boys were up to something.
As if you're a cop.
Look at you.
What, are you going to get the fluffy handcuffs out and arrest me, are you? "No!" Hugo, I think they actually might be the police.
We used to come here every summer as a family.
Skip would take me and my dad out fishing.
He was like this rock star to me.
So when Ollie asked what I wanted to do for my stag, it was a no-brainer.
Pa'll be devastated.
But none of the rest of you had met Skip before yesterday.
Well, I'd spoken to him on the phone a couple of times, organising the trip.
Wasn't an easy man to get hold of.
Can anyone walk me through exactly what happened last night? Uh, well, after we'd reeled in a couple of marlin, we .
.
cracked into the beers.
Got pretty merry.
Skip joined you? That man couldn't half put it away.
Must have been towards, uh, seven? I suggested we play a bit of poker.
Look, long story short, Skip took us to the cleaners.
At some point, we must have all passed out.
Next thing we knew, we woke up to find Skip and the dingy both missing.
Did any of you notice anything suspicious about Skip last night? Any odd behaviour? Plenty.
I mean, the man was a maniac.
Foul mouthed, offensive, crazy.
Legend, basically.
I thought he seemed a bit distracted.
Kept checking his phone.
And did Skip mention Benoit Bay at all, that he was meeting someone there? Listen, erm I trust you can keep our involvement in this quiet.
It's just I've got a, um, certain profile back home.
I'm sure you understand.
No, I can't say that I do.
Well I hope you've got what you need from us cos we fly home this afternoon.
Sorry, can't stick around.
Getting married next week.
Oh, sir.
We found Skip's other phone.
I guess there was one for business and one for pleasure.
Can we get this unlocked? Oh, I might be able to help with that, sir.
How? A magician never reveals his tricks.
And that's not all, sir.
We found .
.
this.
A smuggling compartment.
Well done, JP.
While the stag party slept off what looks like a pretty heavy night, Skip took his contraband from the hidden compartment and set off for Benoit Bay in his dinghy for a prearranged drop.
Except how did he make that journey when the motor was broken? Um sir? Ah.
A missing carburettor.
Looks like its gasket's blown.
I found it inside Skip's tool box, so I guess he was trying to repair it.
Huh.
We need to take a look at that GPS.
OK, so that's the Midnight Rambler, the red triangle.
Um And, um, where's Benoit Bay? Way over here? How far is it? 11 miles or so.
So with no working motor and no oars to paddle with, how did Skip travel 11 miles up the coast? The only way that dinghy's making it to Benoit Bay is if somebody carried it there.
Why would anyone ever do that? Unless .
.
they wanted to make it look like Skip went there of his own accord.
I don't follow you, sir.
I'm saying, what if Skip was already dead and then his body was moved to Benoit Bay to make it look like he was killed there, but he wasn't.
Wait.
Wait, so, are you saying Skip was murdered here on this boat? Maybe.
I don't suppose you found any evidence of the harpoon gun here, did you? Sir, there's one problem with what you're suggesting.
What's that? The GPS log says the boat didn't move from the moment they dropped the anchor yesterday at 4:00 until the coastguard arrived this morning.
Huh.
Initial postmortem confirms that Skip was killed by a harpoon through the chest.
It collapsed his lung, causing asphyxiation.
Which is entirely as expected.
But what's not making sense is WHERE it happened.
If we're saying that Skip's murder was staged at Benoit Bay by one or more of his passengers to look like a smuggling job gone wrong, how is that possible, considering the Midnight Rambler didn't move from its position here, 11 miles away, all night long? HE SIGHS All right.
Well, let's start with what we do know.
Victim is Bruce "Skip" Marsden.
Two priors for smuggling cigarettes and rum, did a bit of jail time, nothing serious.
He also has an ex-wife back in England.
And one in Miami.
What about his passengers? The stag party? Hugo Pickford, the groom, is a viscount.
He, Oliver Gordon and Jamie Santisuk all went to the same exclusive boarding school.
Yeah, he said he had a certain profile back home.
What does that mean? Next week, he's due to marry Charlotte Fairfax, whose father is one of the richest landowners in Britain.
I'm guessing Hugo doesn't have what you might call a normal job.
No, but he and Charlotte were paid five figures for this engagement interview.
The magazine also has exclusive rights to the wedding.
And they say you can't put a price on love.
Ollie Gordon.
Hugo's best man.
And he works as a strategist for a top private equity firm.
He also competes in international triathlons.
I get the feeling Jamie's the life and soul of the party? Yeah, he owned a nightclub.
And he attended two different rehab clinics in the last three years.
Which just leaves Finlay McEwan.
Finlay is the only one of them who didn't go to the same school.
He grew up in a small town in Scotland, but he and Hugo met at university.
Very different backgrounds.
Interesting.
Wonder what it takes for an outsider to gain admittance to a tiny group like this.
So what's your theory, then, sir? If the murder took place on the boat does that mean they were all in on it? Possibly.
The Midnight Rambler's not big and they do seem to function as a pack.
Then again, it only takes one person to fire a harpoon.
We need to find out a bit more about who exactly Skip Marsden was.
JP, Marlon, could you head over to his house first thing and give it the once over? Will do, sir.
Ah, sir.
We weren't expecting you.
Good evening.
Thought I'd just stop by to see how Sergeant Hooper and trainee officer Pryce are getting on with their presentations.
It's going very well, sir.
Just doing the final polish.
Uh presentations? You may recall me mentioning that the Pan-Caribbean Police Training Board are reviewing you training scheme.
They are keen to hear from you both, first-hand, whether their investment is paying off.
Oh.
Yeah, that presentation.
Yeah, yeah, don't Don't worry about it, Chief.
I'm all over it.
You want me to bring the hype so that you get more money, right? Sorry.
I'm relying on you to keep him on message, Sergeant Hooper.
Of course, sir.
Right.
Marlon, you need to take this seriously.
Don't sweat it, Sarge, I'll just freestyle, it's fine.
To hell you can.
Look.
You need to be eloquent and you need to be honest.
So I want to see a draft of your speech by the morning.
Get typing.
HE SIGHS Are you sure I can't persuade you, sir? The sea's the perfect temperature at this time of the day and there's not too many people around.
Yeah, I-I-I can imagine how pleasant that might be.
But, no, I've got a load in the washing machine and you know what it gets like if you leave it in there too long.
Goodnight, DS Cassell.
Well Goodnight, sir.
I shouldn't be enjoying her company this much.
We're colleagues.
Blur those lines at your peril.
You're right.
Need to nip this feeling in the bud before it goes any further.
I need to keep my professional distance.
HE EXHALES OK.
OK, your speech.
Let's see what you got.
"I've got to say, this scheme is a sweet deal.
" Look, like I said, it's just a first draft.
"Instead of going to jail, you just have to play at being a cop "for a year and then you're free to go back to doing whatever you want.
" Is this how you really feel, Marlon? Man, this place is a hole.
So, you're telling me you're going to do this for a year and then back to your old ways? No.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
I mean, now that I know how you guys work, I'll be way better at staying out of trouble.
All right.
All right, thanks, JP, that's great.
So, apparently, Skip was in debt up to his eyeballs.
JP says they found three separate overdue demands for child support.
Maybe that's why he developed a sideline in smuggling.
Well, it might also explain the photos I found on his phone.
They were taken the night before the fishing trip.
That's Hugo.
But that's definitely not his fiancee.
No, it is not.
Look, here's another picture.
If Hugo's engagement photos are worth five figures, what do you suppose a tabloid would pay for these? Oh, I bet that's exactly what Skip was thinking.
Listen, I know these don't look great but, honestly, guys, nothing happened.
I mean, I was a bit worse for wear.
We had the briefest cheeky snog and that's all.
That's not all, though, is it, Hugo? Because we know that you left with this young lady in a cab.
I wanted to make sure she got back to her hotel safe and sound.
I'm a gentleman.
My apologies.
You don't seem surprised to see these.
In fact, you haven't even asked who took them.
Just thought it was some paps.
No.
You've seen them before.
Skip showed them to you.
We found them on his phone.
It was when we were out on the fishing trip, he snuck up to me.
Hugo.
Who's been a naughty boy? How much did he ask for? 70 grand.
Yeah! I was staggered.
I thought he was a mate.
But now you realised he was a man with the power to end your high-profile marriage before it even begun.
Everything all right? They know about the photos, Oll.
The whole situation had already been dealt with.
How exactly? How do you think? Offered Skip 70 grand, just like he asked for, to delete the pictures.
As soon as we were back on dry land.
It's a lot of money.
You can't put a price on a friendship like ours.
I'd take a bullet for this guy.
Or a harpoon? You told us Skip was found miles away in some bay.
You know we have nothing to do with this, so why don't you give us back our passports and focus on finding the actual killer? They're hiding something.
I can feel it.
You saw how Ollie swept in to protect Hugo, it's like he was terrified he was going to give something away.
What about background on these four? Did we dig anything else up? Yeah, I managed to get hold of Hugo, Ollie and Jamie's old head teacher.
Oh, yeah? What do he have to say? Well, Hugo wasn't academic, but he was popular, and Ollie was badly bullied until Hugo took him under his wing, you know, looked after him.
No wonder Ollie said he'd do anything for him.
Which means if Hugo did kill Skip over those photos, it's entirely plausible that Ollie would help to cover it up.
Or maybe Ollie was willing to kill to protect his friend's reputation.
Even though we're edging closer to a motive, we're still clueless as to how the killer managed to magic Skip's body from the boat 11 miles up the coast to Benoit Bay.
Oh, if we could only speak to whoever he was supposed to meet there.
Maybe they witnessed something.
You didn't have any luck calling that number on Skip's burner phone, did you? I'm sorry, sir.
The number was disconnected.
Probably a burner phone, too.
Mm.
But there is a guy that I know of that hangs around the harbour, might know what went down that night.
Zeke he's called.
Yeah.
I know Zeke.
Can you try and track him down? Yeah, yeah, will do, sir.
Um, sir, the full postmortem's come through and, um, there was something strange.
They say they found canine hairs in the back of Skip's throat.
Dog hairs? How do you end up with dog hairs in the back of your throat? You know what? I think I saw a photo of Skip and a dog, now that I think about it, at his home.
OK.
All right.
I'll head over there, see what I can find.
I'll come too.
Oh, you don't need to.
Doesn't need two of us.
Sir, we're a team.
That's how it works.
OK.
Suit yourself.
OK, we need to talk about this.
Talk? Talk about what? About why you've been acting so weirdly around me.
What, you think I haven't noticed? Have I? You think I don't know what it's about? It is so obvious.
Oh.
You're terrified of swimming.
Yes.
Busted.
That-that's what it is.
Why didn't you just say so? Well, I suppose I didn't want you to think any less of me.
Sir, honestly, I am so proud of the way you've been trying new things.
And I know you can do this, too.
I'll tell you what, after work today, we will grab your swim shorts and go.
There's nothing to be nervous about.
Great.
Excellent.
I'm looking forward to it.
Looks like someone beat us to it.
Yeah, but I don't think they were looking for the dog.
BOTTLE CLATTERS SHE YELLS Stop! Police! Stop! CAMERA CLICKS I'm sorry, sir, she got away.
But I managed to take a couple of pictures, though, including her number plate.
Oh, yeah, good work.
Well, I found Skip's dog.
Although I'm guessing he hasn't been walked in a while.
Oh.
So two key questions.
Who is this woman and what was she searching for? Her car registration number's not in the system.
Must have been a fake plate.
So she's operating under the radar.
Which suggests she might be the person Skip was texting from his burner phone.
The person he was supposed to meet at Benoit Bay.
But maybe Skip never got a chance to hand over what was hidden on his boat.
She turned his house upside down.
She was clearly desperate to find it.
Seems like a lot of trouble to go to for some bootleg rum and cigarettes, though, doesn't it? JP, Any luck with your informant, Zeke? Afraid not, sir.
Smuggler just got murdered and there's a lot of heat about.
I suspect he's gone to ground.
You're right about that, Sarge.
Zeke does not want to be talking to cops right now, but I think I know where I can find him.
But you're a cop.
Yeah, but not a real one.
Just leave it to me.
You know, I should come with you.
OK.
If you have to, Sarge, but just be cool.
Yeah? Try not to cramp my style.
I'm not going I can be cool, Marlon.
Well, see if this Zeke can identify this woman.
I have a feeling she may be the key to everything.
All right, let's reconvene first thing.
See you all in the morning.
Sir, aren't you forgetting something? Am I? Time to put those swim shorts on.
THUNDER RUMBLES Be honest with me, sir.
Did you do a little rain dance when I wasn't looking? Reminds me of our caravan holidays in Blackpool, this.
Two days of sunshine and the rest of the time it'd tip it down.
Nothing else to do except play board games against my mum and dad.
You know what? One of your predecessors had quite a selection.
I wonder if any of them are still here.
No, you really don't need to do that.
I've taken up enough of your time, DS Cassell, it's certainly not part of your job description.
- SHE GASPS - Oh, yes! This was my absolute favourite as a child.
A jewellery shop in Paris gets robbed and you have to work out who did it.
That does sound right up my street.
Well, Lottie suspects something.
I'm running out of excuses to why we haven't left yet.
I say let's get another round and bed in for the night.
Maybe shots this time.
Good idea.
I'll have a rum if you're paying.
S-Sorry.
This is a private party.
Oh, well, excuse me.
Thing is I think you boys might have something of mine.
OK, wait a second.
I got it.
I think the thief .
.
is Monsieur Chappel.
Unbelievable! How do you do that? Yes! Simple deduction.
This is something else.
It's 4-0! I'm getting humiliated here.
Well, maybe - maybe - I let you win the next game.
I'm guessing you played this a lot as a child.
I grew up in a very noisy house, five brothers, I was always sneaking off for some peace So I'd either play this or read a book.
See, peace is the one thing I didn't like.
Spend a lot of my time reading alone.
Not my choice, mind.
Whose choice was it? Well my mother was protective.
I was allergic to everything so you can't blame her for wanting to keep me out of harm's way.
Sounds a little lonely.
I found loads of ways to amuse myself.
I suppose you could argue it's made me a little risk averse as an adult.
Yeah a little, maybe.
Look at you now.
On an island on the other side of the world.
Goes to show, what if I'd never come here? I could have gone through my whole life and never known that I had it in me to feel this .
.
happy.
Still raining.
I'm sorry you missed your swim.
Well, I'm not.
Let's go again.
Are you sure? Yes.
Come on, don't be cocky.
4-1, I'm coming, the comeback is on, here we go.
I'm ready.
- SHE LAUGHS - Let's do this.
So how was your big swim, sir? Rain stopped play, alas.
Postponed, not cancelled.
Yeah.
Although we did manage to complete no fewer than five games of Inspecteur.
You guys sure know how to cut loose.
All right.
I'll let them know.
Sir, Sarge, the Commissioner wants to see you both right away.
Sir? This meeting is being called at the behest of the British Ambassador.
British Ambassador? My grandfather's high up in the Foreign Office.
He was pretty unimpressed with what I had to tell him.
About what, exactly? The viscount and his friends have raised concerns about the direction of your investigation.
They feel they are being unfairly targeted based on scant evidence.
Correction.
In the light of incontrovertible evidence of our innocence.
Well, the investigation is still ongoing.
Not for us, it isn't.
We've booked the 8:00pm flight back to London.
So if you don't mind, we're going to need our passports back.
I'm afraid that's not going to happen.
What you don't seem to grasp here is who you're dealing with.
Hugo is not just anybody.
It's a done deal anyway, Inspector.
Detective Inspector.
It seems the ambassador has come to an arrangement with our Justice Department and agreed for these gentlemen to return home.
Sir, that's Just the way the cookie crumbles, Neville, old boy.
Sorry about that.
Now passports, if you don't mind.
How certain are you of their guilt? Almost 100%, sir.
Then find me the evidence that proves it.
I want this case solved before they set one foot on that plane.
The problem with people like Viscount Hugo Pickford is they think they're above the law.
You wear the right tie and you know the right people, they think they can get away with anything.
How do you get on with Zeke last night, JP? Oh, we had a very interesting conversation.
Oh, yeah? Zeke recognised the woman right away as Pamela Bellman.
She's wanted on a number of islands for drug smuggling.
Looks like she just moved around to avoid the law.
You're not saying Skip was involved in drug smuggling? Word is he was due to deliver two kilograms of cocaine to Miss Bellman the night he was killed.
If that's what she's been searching for, what happened to it? Zeke reckons it must have been stolen.
I'm willing to bet it was one of these four.
Well, that's what we thought, sir, so I got Marlon dusting the smuggling compartment for prints.
Good thinking.
I mean, that amount of cocaine's worth, what, 50, 60,000? Ha.
Well, what do you know? INDISTINCT CHATTER Listen, Lydia, I'll call you back.
Can I help? I'm actually in the middle of an important deal right now, so don't have long to Don't worry, this will only take a minute.
Well, I already gave you my statement.
Except you left out a few crucial details.
Didn't you, Finlay? Like the fact that you found Skip's smuggling compartment on the Midnight Rambler.
Now, before you go to deny it, we should probably tell you that we found an exact match of your fingerprints.
And I expect they'll be on the missing cocaine when we find it.
There is actually a very simple explanation for this.
We would love to hear it.
Mm.
Well, the truth is, um .
.
I went below deck to grab some beers when I caught sight of Skip stashing something in the floor.
Doesn't take a genius to work out this wasn't exactly legit.
So, later on, once he was back on deck, I went and checked.
I'm not like the others.
I'm a lawyer.
If I get caught up in drug smuggling, my career is over.
I'd be disbarred like that.
So I took my phone out to call the police but .
.
Skip, he had other ideas.
He just flipped out.
He was going crazy, managed to get the phone off me before the call was put through, making all kinds of threats.
If you don't believe me, you can check my outgoing calls.
So, in your words, Skip flipped out.
Maybe you started looking around for something to defend yourself.
Didn't need to defend myself, Inspector, because, fortunately, Hugo showed up and managed to talk Skip down.
Guys, guys, guys.
Chill, chill.
OK? So, to be clear, the others knew about the drugs.
Yeah.
I assume they weren't very happy that you were going to call the cops.
I mean, no, they weren't exactly thrilled about it.
And, I mean, fair enough, I was about to make it all about me and my career.
They're a tight-knit group, look out for each other.
So what did you do? Made it up with the lads and they were really good about it, eventually.
We just promised Skip we'd keep our noses out of his business.
No pun intended.
That was that.
They let me back in again.
So if, um, you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my call.
Hi.
Lydia? No, no, no, no, it was nothing.
So all four members of the stag party were fully aware that Skip had $60,000 worth of drugs stashed on his boat.
What if one of them decided that was a price worth killing for? But haven't we established that all of them are rich? Yeah.
PHONE RINGS JP, what you got? I've just been looking into Jamie's finances and apparently his club is losing serious money.
He's basically bankrupt.
Oh.
Follow that boat.
Sarge, Sarge, I'm in pursuit of Jamie Santisuk.
You're what? Look, there's no time to explain, Sarge.
I need backup now.
He's heading in the direction of Sally Cove.
All right? Hurry up.
Ahh! Go on, boss.
Go on, go, go.
That's not what we agreed! Just hand it over.
No way! Money first.
Why would I pay for something that's already mine? Because we made a deal.
You are so out of your depth right now, it's not even funny.
Give it.
Freeze! Police! Hands where I can see them.
Did it not occur to you to check if you were being followed? You're both under arrest.
Oh, yeah? How's that going to work? You can't catch us both, can ya? No.
But I know that you really want to get back to the UK, so you wouldn't want to be a fugitive on this island, would you? And if there's one thing that I am good at, it's running fast.
Just depends if you're bothered to try.
You took your time, Sarge.
You seem to have it all covered.
Come.
Sure looks like you're a real cop to me, Officer Pryce.
Are you insane? Why would I kill Skip? Because once you found out there were two kilos of cocaine on the boat, you saw a way to make 60 grand.
Do your homework.
I really don't need the money.
Oh, we have.
And you really do.
We know your nightclub is about to go bust.
You're facing bankruptcy.
And your father, who's bailed you out for years, has cut you off until you finally get sober.
Earlier that night, I guess maybe the others were too drunk to notice, I saw Skip lean over the side of the boat and pull up a lockbox attached to a buoy.
We were moored right beside it.
Did you say anything to him? God, no.
Thought it might not be wise to ruffle a drug smuggler's feathers.
But later Finlay would make sure everyone knew about it.
That was very Finlay.
Always putting himself first.
So the others all promised Skip they'd forget about the cocaine, but you couldn't.
You had to work out a way to get rid of him.
How many times? We never left the boat! And Skip was found miles away! So the lockbox was attached to a buoy moored right beside the Midnight Rambler here.
Presumably it's where Skip always collected his goods before taking them to the drop-off.
Mm-hm.
Marlon, can you head back out to the buoy and retrieve the lockbox, please? I need to take a closer look at it.
Sure thing, sir.
Now, we know that while the drugs didn't make it to Benoit Bay, Skip did.
We just don't know how he got there.
No.
But we do have a witness who was on the beach the night Skip was murdered.
He was dead when I got there.
Had this .
.
big harpoon sticking out of 'im.
And no sign of, you know, what I was there to collect, although I'm pretty sure, at this point, we're all clear who'd stolen it.
Didn't take long for you to track it down.
Boys denied all knowledge of it, at first.
Although I could tell, you know, they were hiding something.
It's only after they'd gone to bed that the Jamie fella comes over, you know, trying to act the big man.
Seriously, you're all wasting your time here.
We all know those toffs stole the cocaine.
They must have murdered Skip.
So, Skip arranged to meet Pamela Bellman at Benoit Bay that night, but by the time she arrived, he was already dead.
The dinghy lay a short distance away but we know that can't possibly be how he got there.
Because the engine was missing a part and didn't work.
Most plausible explanation is that he and the dinghy were taken there by his boat, the Midnight Rambler.
Except that's not possible because the GPS shows the boat didn't move an inch all night.
Exactly.
So if he WAS killed aboard the Midnight Rambler and then his body was moved to Benoit Bay, how did the four suspects manage it? Only a few hours till their flight leaves.
Here you go, sir.
Oh, great.
One lockbox.
Thank you, Marlon.
Here we go.
Don't actually know what I was expecting to find in there, to be honest.
I left the buoy where it was, though.
I wasn't quite sure how to move it.
That's all right, the buoy can stay where it was.
Because buoys don't move.
Ha! That's the point.
That's why it's a perfect place to hide the drugs because it stays in exactly the same spot.
The GPS log says the boat didn't move from the moment they dropped the anchor yesterday at 4:00 until the coastguard arrived this morning.
No carburettor.
We never left the boat! And Skip was found miles away! Of course! That's the only way they could have done it! Although it still doesn't explain which one of them did it and why.
Sir, the results from the lab are back.
OK They confirm that the dog hairs found in Skip's throat is an exact match with the ones you collected from his house.
She same hairs as the dead dog, Nelson.
So how did they get there if Skip was murdered miles out at sea? Maybe Nelson's some kind of vampire dog and he came back to life.
Yeah, Marlon, I bet that's it.
Yes! That is it! Marlon, you're a genius! Skip was murdered by a vampire? No, not a vampire, but the dog was definitely involved.
So you know who killed him? I do.
I know exactly who killed Skip Marsden.
Just don't know which one of them fired the harpoon.
Although we could draw it out of them.
What was the brand of the harpoon gun that shot Skip? Erm, the Orca 57.
Why? We need to get our hands on one.
It's time to go fishing.
Well, boys, it's certainly not a stag any of us will forget in a hurry.
Who needs Vegas? TYRES SCREECH You come to wave us off, Inspector? You didn't need to do that.
Actually, no.
I'm here to arrest the man who killed Skip Marsden.
You know, it's a common fallacy that fingerprints are destroyed the moment they touch water.
The FBI actually did a study on it.
Tossed a few handguns into the sea, dredged them up a couple of days later, and they found that most of the fingerprints had remained perfectly intact.
With that having been said, I was just wondering if there's anything any of you wanted to tell me about this? For the last and final time, Inspector, the body was found miles from the boat and the boat never moved.
Yet that's not entirely true, though.
Is it, Finlay? Because the only thing that actually remained stationary was this.
Which, for the duration of that night, contained this.
The GPS system from the Midnight Rambler.
Giving the illusion that it was actually the boat that stayed in place, whereas in fact, the boat sailed all the way to Benoit Bay and back again.
All the while the GPS remained in exactly the same spot, floating just below the surface of the sea, inside this box here.
Feel free to contradict me at any time.
It was me.
Hugo, don't say a damn word.
Stop! You tried to help, you all tried to help, but it's no use.
OK? I killed Skip but it it was an accident.
It was a stupid, terrible accident.
We had a few and we were messing around when we found it - the harpoon gun.
I just wanted a bit of target practice.
It was supposed to be a bit of fun.
INDISTINCT DRUNKEN CHATTER How do you make this thing work? Put that down, Hugo.
HE GRUNTS HE GROANS He was just standing there with this thing sticking out of him.
It just looked so absurd.
And then I realised that he was dead.
And they've been trying to protect you ever since.
After you saw what happened, the rest of you swung into action to try and cover it up.
You'd already found the lockbox and the drugs, so you realised you could stage Skip's death as a drug deal gone wrong.
Here's what I think happened that night after Skip was shot by the harpoon gun.
First, I think you unscrewed the GPS from its casing in the wheelhouse.
The internal battery would make sure it kept working for a while after it was disconnected.
You disposed of the evidence, threw the harpoon gun overboard, then, with the GPS safely secured in the lockbox, you set off for Benoit Bay and moved Skip into the dinghy in preparation.
You set Skip into place and you put his burner phone into his pocket for us to find, knowing that it would incriminate Skip as a drug smuggler.
The illusion might have actually worked, had you not overlooked one small detail - the dinghy's engine had no carburettor.
Unbeknownst to you, Skip had been repairing it before you arrived.
Oi, oi! Look out, here comes the condemned man.
But it meant that we knew there was no way Skip could have made the 11-mile journey to Benoit Bay in that dinghy.
I still don't understand, how did you retrieve that? Oh, this? Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm sorry, this isn't the actual harpoon gun.
No, I imagine that's somewhere on the bottom of the ocean being nibbled at by fish.
Ironically.
I'm sorry.
Was that not clear? Thank you for the confession, though.
Although, in a way, it doesn't really matter that that's not the real harpoon gun because the actual murder weapon wasn't a harpoon at all.
Of course it was, I shot him with it, everybody saw it.
Yeah, I know.
But there's one piece of evidence that doesn't fit with the account of that night's events.
What do you mean? We found traces of dog hair in Skip's throat.
In fact, hairs from his own dog, Nelson, who, strangely enough, has been dead for the last two months.
The harpoon you fired, Hugo, didn't kill Skip.
This did.
Because although shooting Skip with a harpoon may have been an accident, suffocating him with this blanket wasn't.
Was it, Finlay? Spotted it as soon as I saw you.
Oil marks on the knees of those otherwise pristine chinos.
It wasn't until later that I worked out how they'd got there.
You see, while you were all busy covering up your crime, Finlay was busy in the wheelhouse, disconnecting the GPS.
And that is when I imagined it happened.
Skip came to.
Probably considered helping him for a moment.
We know you have a conscience because you almost called the police when you found the drugs.
What you didn't tell us was the real reason you ended your call to the police before it connected.
It wasn't because you were afraid of Skip, it was because you were afraid of what the others might think.
Guys, guys, guys.
Chill, chill.
OK? I wasn't going to call, it's just a misunderstanding, yeah? I think that ever since you met Hugo at university, you wanted to be a part of his gang.
Wonder what it takes for an outsider to gain admittance to a tight-knit group like this.
What you don't seem to grasp here is who you're dealing with.
Hugo isn't just anyone.
That was very Finlay, always putting himself first.
You realised that this could be a bond for life.
Unless, of course, Skip wasn't actually dead.
You reached for the first weapon to hand.
And then you hid it in plain sight, not realising that only two months after the dog had died, his hairs would still be all over the blanket.
You let me believe it was me that killed him.
I was only trying to help.
I have to be honest, from the start, Marlon has never corresponded in any way to what I believe makes a good officer.
But that doesn't mean I was right.
Marlon is agile, street smart, enterprising.
He does things that no-one else could do, like getting informants to talk or, even just today, he put away a drug runner who has been wanted for five years.
Marlon has proved to me that he has the potential to make an excellent police officer.
I only hope that he has proved it to himself.
Thank you.
HE CLEARS HIS THROA Uh, so I don't have anything written down.
And, to be honest with you, this is not my first time in front of a jury.
I pretty much spent my whole life standing in front of people in suits telling me how bad I am - a serial offender, hopeless case, irredeemable.
Every teacher I ever knew gave up on me.
Even my mum said, "Marlon, what's to become of you?" But my man, Sarge, here, I swear down, I've never heard anybody stick up for me the way he does.
And, I don't know, I kind of like that Marlon he's speaking about.
I think I might like to try and be that guy for a bit longer, if you let me stick around.
Um right, that's all I got.
Marlon out.
Trainee Officer Pryce .
.
the board were immensely impressed with your account.
They said they'd never heard a speech quite like it, in fact.
Don't mention it, boss.
Any time you need bigging up, you only have to ask.
Now, if you don't mind, I'd like a word with the Sergeant.
Oh, yes.
Is everything OK, sir? Did I say something wrong up there? As a matter of fact, no.
Quite the opposite.
If anything, you were too eloquent.
How do you mean, sir? You've become a real credit to the Saint Marie Police Force, Sergeant Hooper.
Which is why I'll be so sorry to see you go.
Go where, sir? The board would like you to consider becoming the head of the new police training programme.
Oh For-for real? Uh Wait, does that mean I have to leave my job here, sir? Not only your job .
.
but Saint Marie.
Uh In that case, sir, please thank the board on my behalf, but I love my life here.
May I suggest you sleep on it, discuss it with your wife? Opportunities like that don't come along too often and I'd hate for you to miss your chance.
You ready, sir? Are we sure there aren't any sharp rocks nearby? Yeah, positive.
Or jellyfish? Mm.
Or riptides.
Or giant squid.
Or nuclear submarines.
Yeah, yeah, all right, I get the message.
Let's go.
Oh, no.
SHE LAUGHS Well? Huh.
Hey, you know what? That's That's not bad.
It's a lot warmer than I was expecting.
Much nicer than Morecambe.
Come on Don't matter who I'm with There's blood on your shirt.
Is everything all right? I've killed her.
Why would a man suddenly, out of the blue, kill his best friend for no reason? Tarone Vincent.
Hey! Stop! Let go of the bag! What do you want me to do? If you like her, go and tell her.
What, now? Then when, Neville? The school friend I bumped into wants to know if I fancied going for a drink sometime.
I've messed up big time, haven't I? I have no choice but to stand Trainee Officer Pryce down.