Silent Witness (1996) s20e03 Episode Script

This programme some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting Ow! No, I'm really not happy with the arrangements for this evening.
Couple of things.
You say you can fit an extra ten people in the alcove by the window, but I've seen that alcove, and, with respect, a romantic meal for two would be a squeeze.
It's my sister's baby shower and I need everything to be perfect.
Listen, I'm coming over now.
To show you how the seating can work.
Honestly, it's no trouble.
See you in a minute.
SHE SIGHS BIRDSONG CAR REVS LOUDLY ON PHONE: '999, emergency' CRASHING BRAKES SCREECH CAR DOOR SHUTS CAR REVS AND DRIVES OFF DCI Andy Steemson.
This is DS Karen Wretzky.
Nikki Alexander, pathologist.
Jack Hodgson, forensics.
I know what you're thinking.
It's only been 24 hours since Lucy disappeared, but there's something we're keeping under wraps.
We got a one-second 999 call from her mobile at 9.
23am.
Nothing audible.
Well, it should help with the location at least.
Only picked up on the one mast.
So we can't triangulate.
No.
Traces of what looks like blood and maybe fingerprints were found here - the samples are on their way to you.
Of course, it's still possible that she walked off into the sunset, but I want to rule out that she was taken by force from this location.
I also want to rule out that she's in this location.
OK.
Let me spell it out.
A missing girl.
A big search party.
A media circus.
Couple of days later, the body shows up in her home, in the attic or cellar, usually.
It's been there all the time.
That's not going to happen on my watch.
You want a forensic guarantee there's not a dead body on the premises basically? Basically, yeah.
Fine.
Then we'll need the run of the house.
OK.
He grows on you.
I look forward to it.
SHE SNIFFS Getting that burnt smell? Mm.
This is a big place for a primary school teacher.
Hm.
I'm thinking family money.
Got some bike treads here.
No bike.
Jack? What is that? I think it was a cake.
Who bakes a cake then disappears into the sunset? HE KNOCKS Haven't you got a rehearsal? No.
Want me to run you in? No.
Someone got a hangover by any chance? No.
You've got two minutes.
I'll make toast to go.
Dad, I've got four lines.
I don't want to spend my Sunday waiting to say them.
Please! Mum won't be happy.
Mum's not going to remember unless you tell her.
Wow.
They're searching the lane.
Think they've found her? No idea.
Tell you what, though, forget about the rehearsal.
Dad, I can look after myself.
Fair enough.
Off you go, then.
WHIMPERING WHIMPERING CONTINUES I found a cycling app on Lucy's laptop - it uploaded automatically and tells us she cycled 3.
75 miles on the morning she vanished.
What time was it activated? Um, 9.
10.
So, she triggered the program as she left her house I'm ahead of you.
Sorry.
Traffic cams on the main road were checked for the morning she went missing.
No sightings? No.
Leaving five surrounding lanes and a B-road.
We've got something - bang on 3.
75 miles from her house.
WHIMPERING SHE GROANS AND CRIES 'We believe Lucy left her home in Felking, Surrey, at around 9am 'on Saturday morning and that she was riding 'the bike in this photograph.
'Did anyone see her in that area at that time? 'Whoever's taken my sister, Lucy is a good person to her bones.
'She'd help anyone in any situation, 'and I want her back.
I NEED her back.
' MOBILE RINGS Hello.
All right, I'll be there in 30 minutes.
Hiya.
Thomas Chamberlain.
DS Steele.
Maureen to my friends.
Right.
She's got track marks on both arms.
Looks like a user.
Just saying.
Ah! I used to have one of them! I couldn't get those little tapes any more.
Bloke on Tottenham Court Road still sells them.
Yeah? When we're done, give me his details, would you? Gladly.
Victim is female, no apparent ID, and is lying on her back.
There's a single, penetrating wound to her chest, dusting of fine white powder to her tracksuit.
Got to be coke, right? Well, yes or talcum powder.
Either way, she's not a primary school teacher, that's for sure.
What is it with bank holiday weekends and girls going missing? I blame the tabloids myself.
Check for a planar distribution of any injuries in case she fell or was thrown from the road above.
Who called this in? Council engineer.
Routine checks on the bridge struts.
He was getting back into his van when, thank God, he found the body.
If she was dumped from up there, killer's on camera one side of the bridge or the other.
Well, I'll get on with the postmortem, if that suits.
Before you do, do me a favour? What? Run her prints.
If she hasn't got a record a mile long, I'll take it all back.
Bike gets dragged under the car Paint's a visual match to Lucy's bike - manufacturer will confirm that.
Now we know the road she took, we can do targeted house-to-house Strand of hair! Must've hit her at speed to send her off the road at this height.
Brake marks on the asphalt back that up.
Bastard.
Tread prints? Jack? We'll see, but when wheels lock up, all you tend to get is burnt rubber.
We need to search these woods now in case she came round and wandered off.
What, you're not hopeful? That velocity and impact - no.
Given that her bike and phone are missing, it's more likely the assailant removed her body from the scene.
You'll be pleased to know you were entirely correct.
About our victim? Mm-hm.
Tina Lunt, 32.
Long record for theft and possession - coke and cannabis - nothing for a couple of years, though.
She's listed as divorced, ten-year-old son.
Jack, I need you to check out the white powder on this tracksuit.
Sure.
Just leave it on my desk.
Right.
When do you think you might get round to it? Er, this afternoon, the earliest.
Might need a gentle nudge.
Count on it.
Although both arms bear scars suggestive of needle-use, the marks are old - months, possibly years - no evidence of recent activity.
Maybe she was smoking it? Yeah, why don't we see what tox says? There's some kind of metal object embedded in her chest.
Can you see? Oh.
Clean, neat entry wound.
Right.
Let's have a look at it.
My God.
It's a fork screwdriver.
The tip of the screwdriver has been bent at a 45-degree angle.
The metal is discoloured with a mottled sheen, suggesting it's been heated and recast.
There's also, can you see, crisscross markings on the shaft, possibly from being clamped in a vice.
Wow.
You see these plastic flakes in the wound? Yeah.
She was stabbed with such force, the handle broke clean off.
That's unusual? Very.
Tool handles are made with cellulose acetate - noted for its extreme durability.
All of which suggests it was done deliberately.
And that couldn't have bent when it struck her sternum? No.
So, what kind of person needs to modify the end of a screwdriver? Did you see or hear anything unusual yesterday morning? Car alarm.
That's right.
My car alarm went off.
I didn't hear it because our bedroom faces the back.
And you sleep like a donkey.
That, too.
Yep.
It woke you up, though? I went out and checked on the car.
Nothing suspicious - no indication why it'd gone off.
Has that happened before? Once or twice.
Not lately.
I just turned it off.
What time was that? When you were out on the drive? It was about nine, I think.
Maybe a bit after.
Mr Timpson, that's exactly when we think Lucy cycled past on the lane.
You're sure you didn't see her? Positive.
What about a vehicle? I'm sorry.
I just shut off the alarm, went back to bed.
It was my day off.
What do you do? I'm a GP.
You're married? My wife's in her study if you need to speak to her.
Was she around Saturday morning? She was asleep next to me.
I saw someone this morning in the lane big guy in his 30s.
He was weird.
He pulled up across the road, just staring at the house.
When he saw me, he drove off.
Do you remember what kind of car? The colour? Golf Fiesta? That kind of thing.
Black or navy.
You definitely didn't recognise him? Why? Guess I'm just wondering whether he was watching the house or watching you.
Good, we got the CT scan back.
Seems the shaft made an upward, diagonally-oriented chest wound, penetrated the pleural cavity here and was cause of death.
I don't get it.
It must've gone through the flesh with massive force not to tear the surrounding skin See these fragments of bone? Smashed right through her sternum.
So, what, we're looking for a body-builder? A giant? Maybe to the former, no to the latter.
If you were going to stab me with a screwdriver, DS Steele, how would you do it? Go on, show me.
Yeah, classic stabbing movement.
Downward arc.
But a downward arc yields a downward wound tract.
What, and we've got the opposite? Yeah.
Upward trajectory - so either our killer is three foot tall or they stabbed her from some kind of lowered position, but that would've resulted in a far messier entry wound.
Clarissa? Tox is back on Tina Lunt - clean for drugs and alcohol.
Fancy a trip to her flat in Hounslow? SHE GROANS SHE CRIES OU Oh.
OK.
Thanks.
Bad news? No traffic cams on the bridge.
Nearest one is the other side of a six-outlet roundabout.
Oh, so, no way of telling which vehicles went over the bridge? And they whine about us being the CCTV capital of the world Oh, hang on.
We should get uniforms to sweep, shouldn't we? Oh, sod that.
Hello? Oh Jesus! You all right? Yes.
Go on! CAR DOOR CLOSES Oh! Did you get his registration number? If you remember anything else, please call us.
Thank you.
FOOTSTEPS That was the police.
I heard.
Why did you have to tell them about the bloody car alarm? When you turned the alarm off, was Alec's Land Rover outside? You're getting in a state about nothing.
Was it parked outside? No, I don't think so.
But that doesn't mean much.
He always parks beside the guesthouse, and you can't see back there from the drive.
SHE GROANS Find anything? Five empty beer bottles.
No alcohol in Tina's blood, remember.
Could be our runner's? Yeah.
What do you think? Came back here to clean up? No sign of a mobile? No.
Empty, but still a mess.
Bit like my place.
DS Steele.
Same crisscross markings as the one I extracted from Tina's chest.
What was she into? Something tells me our runner might've had an inkling.
All right.
Don't rub it in.
Christ.
It's probably been like this for days.
Sell-by date tomorrow.
So? So, it means he could've been here on Friday night.
Ellie Like you said, we wouldn't know.
OK, so he was here on Friday night? So what? What are you worried about? I don't know.
You can't think Alec's got anything to do with this girl? No! No, of course not.
So? It doesn't matter what I think.
If they find out about Alec, they'll They'll be all over him like a rash.
He won't survive it, not again.
SHE GRUNTS Isn't this a bit excessive? I hope so.
What's going on? Just having a bit of a clear-out.
That's Alec's coat.
Why are you chucking it out? It's falling apart.
It's his coat.
Jessica, please, what do you want? I'm sure your brother can look after himself.
Can he? I'm not so sure.
Is that dope? I thought the first rule of Alec using the guesthouse was no guests, female or otherwise? Jessica.
What? How do you know? It's my lipstick.
She's always borrowing it.
I'll talk to Jess.
I'm better at that stuff than you.
It's not her I'm angry with.
RINGING RINGING CONTINUES 'Please leave a message after the tone.
' BEEP Alec, listen, it's very important that you don't use the guesthouse for a bit.
Don't even come to the house.
Um I'll explain when I speak to you.
Jessica? Jessica, are you OK? Yeah.
Sorry.
I'll turn around.
OK.
RINGING Just finishing up here, sir.
Yep HOOTS HORN Hey! Watch out! Are you all right? No, I'm fine.
Yep, sorry.
ENGINE DOOR CLOSES DOOR CREAKS Ah! BREATHES HEAVILY CLATTERING You didn't call me back.
Want a drink or something? No, no, I'm fine.
You got my message? Yes.
Some girl has gone missing? Just down the road from us.
All things considered, I I think it would be best if you What? If I If I stayed away? Of course.
Fine.
I'll stay away.
OK.
Last week, which night did you stay at the guesthouse? Um Tuesday, Wednesday I was panelling at the golf club .
.
er Thursday night.
Not Friday night? Why are you asking? The girl went missing on Saturday morning.
If they found out that you were in the area .
.
we all know how quickly they jump to conclusions.
What about you, Ellie? Are you jumping to any conclusions? That is not fair, Alec.
But it's true.
Back then, do you think that I would've lied for you? Do you think I would have given you an alibi if I'd had any doubts whatsoever? I'm sorry.
Thanks.
Lucy has a swallow tattoo on her left wrist.
No visible decomposition.
She can't have been in the water long.
You think he dumped her today? I'd say in the last two to four hours.
He's confident.
I swabbed the tool kit - multiple prints and DNA samples, mostly belonging to Tina herself.
What about the lager bottles? Well, again, multiple prints and DNA, but only one overlapping with the samples from the tool kit.
Belonging to a Wesley Beale.
His CV reads like a criminal decathlon.
That's him.
That's the man I chased.
You chased someone? Yeah.
Is there CCTV? What have we got - blackmail, housebreaking, drug dealing And that's just the shit we nicked him for.
Current address? Er, no, but last time he was arrested, he gave Maconi's car mechanics in Hounslow as his place of employment.
Owner Marc Maconi nicked but not charged back in '04 for stealing stereos and airbags.
Off-limits, I'm afraid - as he didn't do it.
Weasley Beale worked here, right? About two years ago.
So what? When did you last see him? We didn't stay in touch.
Aww, did you and Wesley have a falling out(?) After he got busted, you lot turned this place over for days.
And that was a cause for concern, was it? Loss of trade was my concern, nothing else.
So, do you know where we might find Wesley? No.
Oi! What, you lost or something? Need a warrant to be nosing about in here.
You got one? No.
Well, it's trespassing, then, innit? And if you're trespassing If I'm trespassing, what? Then the law's on my side.
Wouldn't bet on it, mate.
Let's go.
What was that about? You get anything on Beale? Nope.
RINGING Thomas.
Jack.
Have you checked out the white powder on that tracksuit? Sorry, haven't got to it yet.
Right.
I did say you might need to nudge me.
Yeah, well, consider this a nudge.
First and last.
He hung up on me! There's a deep ligature wound to the throat.
Skin damage has released a serum that's dried out in patches in a parchment effect - that could be consistent with death by strangulation.
Left earlobe's torn - a wound often caused by a snagged earring.
Could've happened when she came off the bike? Hm, scabbing over the wound suggests it was sustained at least a week ago - maybe longer.
We'll ask her sister about it.
A clump of her hair's been cut off.
Trophy? The lack of lividity and general decomposition suggests she died between 12 and 24 hours ago.
So, where was he keeping her since Saturday morning? Two distinct injuries to the skull.
One, here - to the side .
.
where we can see bark embedded in the flesh.
This one's partially healed.
Well, that makes sense - we know she didn't die when he ran her down.
Second head injury .
.
right on the back of the skull.
Unhealed.
And there's what look like cement chips in this wound.
So, he hits her head against a wall? The floor? And with massive force - it staved in the rear of her skull.
Death would've been almost instantaneous.
So, what killed her? The ligature wound or the smashed skull? I don't know.
Yet.
So, given the victim's criminal history, I thought I'd start with a wet chemistry test to see if the powder was cocaine.
Negative? Negative.
So, I spun it down in this guy, checked it under the scope.
It's cornstarch.
Cornstarch? Which is found pretty much everywhere.
But the dispersal of the powder - not just all over the clothes but embedded in the fabric - prompted a best guess.
I think your victim was in a car where the air bag exploded.
Maconi has form for stolen airbags.
That's leverage.
He tells us where Beale is or we take our time turning his garage over.
Yeah, starting with that machine room upstairs.
Marks on his vice match marks on Tina's screwdrivers.
My guess is she's into air-bag theft and bent the tips to prise them out Always happy to help! There's no bruising in the musculature of the neck.
OK.
The hyoid bone is fractured, but there's no bleeding.
And that tells you what? That the ligature wound was inflicted after death.
The skull fracture killed her? Making strangulation redundant.
Maybe not.
Maybe that was the main event.
I worked on a serial case when I was a DC.
The guy's thing was posthumous mutilation.
He killed his victims with a hammer and then had his fun.
He's confident, careful and forensically aware.
I'd be very surprised if he hadn't killed before.
I might be able to help with a timeline on the injury to Lucy's ear.
How? A recent selfie.
Uploaded automatically to her cloud.
Yeah.
Note there, the lovely - but snaggable - earrings.
Photo was taken nine days ago.
You thought the ear injury was over a week old.
Could have just been a sartorial mishap.
But it would be nice to be sure.
If you'd nothing to hide, Mr Beale, why did you run? You never said you was police! You never gave us much chance.
I didn't know who you were.
Tina had a lot of dodgy mates, God rest her soul.
God rest her soul.
Dumped in wasteland.
Talk about insult to injury.
That's where you found her? Where is this place? I ask the questions, Wesley.
Your finger prints are all over these screwdrivers.
Want to tell me what the angled tips are about? No idea.
I think they make it easier to prise the airbags out without them deploying.
That's your line of work, isn't it? Airbags.
One of them, anyway.
Well, what happened? You and Tina have a falling out? She didn't want to do it any more? And you found another use for your screwdrivers? KNOCKING You got a minute? We swept his car and his flat.
There's no sign of any air-bag residue.
Shit! You said whoever killed Tina had superhuman strength? Well, I didn't use those precise words.
Oh, whatever.
He's a big bastard, isn't he? I haven't got a thing to hold him on.
I'm sorry to put you through this, Alice.
It's OK.
Look like them? They were Mum's.
Is that your husband outside? Yes.
He's waiting to take me home.
So, Lucy lived here all by herself? You can ask.
Why didn't big sister get the big house? My parents cut me out of their will.
They were worried whatever money they left me would've gone straight up my nose.
Back then, they were probably right.
The blood found here matched Lucy's DNA.
Lucy told her sister that she caught her earring on a bush getting out of a taxi.
But even if the taxi didn't drop her at the front door Seems a stretch she'd stumble into the bushes.
So, why lie about it? We'll swab for DNA, but there's an outside chance you won't have to wait that long.
Why not? Partial print in the blood.
Probably Lucy's, but it's on the large side.
Not Lucy's.
Christ! That's Alice's husband.
Lucy's blood.
Your fingerprint.
With your record, I'm thinking you wanted drug money.
When Alice's parents cut her out of their will, Lucy promised that she'd get her share.
She reneged? They died within a month of each other two years ago.
We never saw a penny.
And Alice with a baby on the way.
Exactly, and we've been clean for more than a year.
Both of us.
So, you confronted her? What do you want, Jasper? Can I come in a second, please? My financial affairs are between me and my sister.
Well, your sister's carrying my child.
If she wants to play happy families with a junkie, that's her prerogative.
Oh! If If she'd have just talked to me in a civilised way Where were you Saturday morning? At home.
With Alice? No, she had an antenatal class.
You must've been crapping yourself she'd tell Alice what you'd done.
That was motive enough to shut Lucy up, and if it wasn't? Well, there's the massive sweetener that with her gone, Alice would inherit and you'd be moved into that big house before the baby was born.
That is NOT what happened.
Prove it.
- No.
That's your job.
Alice.
There's something you need to know about Jasper.
Tell me you've got something, please? Jasper's car tyres match the width of the brake marks on the lane.
We can compare rubber samples all day long, but it's not DNA.
What does he do? Jasper? He taught creative writing.
Interesting.
Why? Well, if you're right about him, we could be looking at some very creative staging.
He runs Lucy down but she doesn't die.
He doesn't have the stomach to kill her with his bare hands, so he keeps her somewhere while he summons the courage.
When it comes to disposal, he does everything he can to suggest a psychosexual motive.
The severed hair, the body left naked, the posthumous strangulation.
All misdirection.
He is arrogant enough to try that on, but I need more than theories.
If it wasn't for the water we would know more about where he kept her.
There is one place that we haven't looked.
Her turbinates.
The cavities in her nose.
Not usually examined at PM, but they can trap material not detectable elsewhere on the body.
Listen, please There's nothing I want to hear you say.
She was never going to give us the money.
Never.
I-I was thinking of our baby! My baby! I ran the washings from Lucy Chatham's turbinates - nothing out of the ordinary except trace levels of cornstarch.
Cornstarch? What? Thomas! You're going to want to see this.
What is it? What's this sample from? This is cornstarch found on their victim, Tina Lunt.
As you know, I think it's from an air bag.
Yeah, and? And Clarissa's just retrieved cornstarch powder from Lucy Chatham's turbinates.
The samples are identical.
Hang on, hang on If they are from airbags, then surely hundreds are deployed every day, yeah? But the majority have silicate filling, not cornstarch.
What are the chances of two women being murdered within a day of each other coming into contact with the same cornstarch powder? Bloody slim, I'd say.
We're working the same case.
Do you have a suspect in your case? Listen I'm not stupid.
When nice people like you don't call the police, that's unusual.
When you start moving dead bodies, that's just plain weird.
I don't want an explanation.
I just want paying.
MOBILE RINGS SHE KNOCKS VEHICLE APPROACHES VEHICLE REVS LOUDLY CRASHING Argh! Argh! CRUNCHING HE GASPS If this is the same killer, he's learning fast.
We know from Lucy that you blow up when things don't go your way.
Is that what happened to Beale? You were found innocent, so why did you change your name? And I know her well enough to know when she's lying.
I think they've seen each other.
It's very important you don't take any more calls, Jess.
The police will be tracking your phone.
- What? It's our worst decisions that define us, Nikki - they're the ones we have to live by.