Above Suspicion

Clicking of mouse

Printer whirs

Where's the body, officer? Excuse me!

This way, guvnor. Excuse me, sir!

PC Travis. Are you dci Langton?

Langton? No, I'm not!

You know Dave hill's going to be in hospital at least two more weeks? Burst appendix.

So I contacted the back-up, the one you ok'd - Anna Travis. Good.

Any particular reason you earmarked her?

Only she's got very little cid experience.

She's a pen pusher. Knew her father. Owed him a favour.

Did you come straight here when I phoned you? Yeah, got the train.

Shit!

What are you doing here? This one's nothing to do with you.

Might be one of mine, Charlie. No way does that fit your mo, Jimmy. She's just a kid!

Gill, I'm off to depot one.

As soon as you're done, get that body over to the mortuary. Gill: Will do, sir.

Anna Travis? Yeah. Di Mike Lewis. Get a suit on.

Camera shutter clicks

mask up, for Christ's sake!

Stinks, huh?

Ease the body over fully.

See? The knot's tightened the same way as all the others.

She is ours! Yep, looks like it.

Train rattles past

I'm going to take this one, Charlie, whether you like it or not.

That's bullshit, Jimmy! The boss has already allocated the next murder to my team.

Hey, want a bacon sandwich? No, thank you.

No way can you link this to your investigation! DC Travis, sir.

Have you got your own transport? Yes, sir.

I'll see you back at the incident room. Mike.

Hudson's not going to let this one go without a fight,

so as soon as they get her in the mortuary, we get over there.

Charles assigned him to us. Are you driving, or am I?

Wpc: No, it's your turn.

Hum of conversation

yes, I understand your problem.

We have extra officers patrolling the area. Excuse me, sergeant.

Overlapping voices

er, could you tell me where dci Langton's incident room is, please?

Excuse me one moment, sir. Yes. Through the door, second floor.

Thank you. We just don't have enough officers to do that.

I will pass your concerns on.

Where's the bloody socks, Barbara? They're here, sir!

Right. Could be on a long shot,

but the victim, we think, is Melissa Stephens, aged 18.

Reported missing a few weeks ago.

Last known sighting of her was by her boyfriend

as they said their goodbyes outside a restaurant in spitalfields.

The parents called it in when she failed to turn up at home.

Clean-living student at London university.

No criminal record, no trouble at home.

Certainly not a prostitute.

Park yourself over on that empty desk. Thanks.

She may not be connected, but we desperately need a fresh case.

Well, Hudson's already screaming about you being there, guv.

He's taken the girl to the mortuary. Yeah, well, he's not having her.

Phone rings Mike!

Hey!

Woman: Can I take your name and address? And your phone number?

Ever been to a postmortem, Travis? Yes, sir, I have. Sorry about this morning, sir.

You'll be even sorrier if you throw up at the mortuary.

I've been going through all the cold cases.

First one was a tart called Mary Murphy.

When that flatlined, we just kept sifting through the case files

and found one bloody victim after another, all with the same mo,

but no leads. We've been on this for eight months now.

Isn't that right, Mike? That's right.

And the uh... The top brass are just about to pull the finances from us.

You want a mint? No, thank you.

The knot is very secure, as is the one on the tights round her neck.

Hold on, Veronica! Hold on.

I need the knot intact.

Can you just slice away from... Jimmy, I have done this before.

Can I get a close-up picture of this?

We're gonna get a lot of gases released from this one.

I'd say... Dead at least a month. There's a lot of infestation.

There you are. Right, get this over to forensics.

I want it compared to the other girls,

to confirm the knots are tied in the same way. Can you turn the body over? Yes.

I'm going to cut the tights loose next.

Camera shutter clicks

Now, let's see...

On first impression, it looks like she was garrotted.

Tied from the front, so he was looking at her

while he was doing this.

There's some trauma to the left side of the face.

He may have knocked her out.

There's some facial animal predation...

..And her tongue appears to be partially eaten.

Camera shutter clicks let's get the clothes off her.

Jimmy, we need to talk - like, now!

This is bang out of order! Wanna bet? She's mine.

These'll prove it. You... Dci Hudson!

You get out of my mortuary and put a bloody gown on!

Camera shutter clicks

Joan, we need an ID. Get Melissa's parents driven straight to the mortuary.

Are you all right at the back there, Travis? It was the smell, sir.

Well, next time, take the mint when it's offered to you.

Either that, or use a nose plug! (Chuckles)

Left! Go left! There's a shortcut.

Tyres screech

each woman strangled with her own tights,

bras removed and used to tie the hands.

As you can see, most of the victims had previous convictions for prostitution.

All been dumped in different areas of London dating back to 1996.

All murdered in exactly the same way? That's why they're on the board.

Can I take the files home with me?

I've got a lot of catching up to do. As long as you don't tell me about it.

Travis, get me Melissa's misper file from borough.

I need everything they've got - especially any cctv footage.

We don't even know if it is Melissa's - parents just confirmed her clothing.

We've got ID from her dental records.

Like a little angel, wasn't she?

Get me a coffee, Travis.

Woman: He needs the comparison results as soon as possible. Ok.

Can you do a handwritten statement?

Do you have a fax number?

Great. Thanks for your help. Bye.

Knock at door

yes?

Could you just take that from me, sir?

Had to go all the way to Colombia for it, did we (?)

Thank you.

Shut the door.

I worked with your father a few years back. He was a bloody good cop.

That's why you're here, Travis. Thank you, sir.

I'm sorry to hear he passed on.

I hope you don't mind me asking. Erm...

Do you think there should be a press release to warn all the other girls?

Warn them all you like. It won't stop them if they need a fix.

Right. Were they all from London? None of them were from London.

They were what we call "weekenders". They come up to London to do the business

and then go back to Manchester or sheffield or Leeds - wherever.

And there's no evidence that they knew each other.

You need to read up on the inquiry details and the thousands of statements.

Well, go on. Get cracking.

Mike: We're doing a lot of work on a case we don't officially have yet.

That prick Hudson gets his way,

we're going to have to hand it all over to him.

This cctv is not in any kind of order. This one comes after no.2.

That's so typical of bloody borough! Yes. Can't detectives count?

Not in borough, they can't! Look, Mike...

Langton: I know I only saw the body briefly at the scene...

Voices drift off

indistinct tannoy announcement

Hiya, are you all right? Are you looking for business? Could be.

Put that out.

Langton: As far as I'm concerned, we should have the first call on this.

Rapid, rhythmic moaning

engine starts up

Hudson's wrong, Jane. I really had a closer look at the mortuary.

This murder is linked to my investigation. I'm sure of it.

Well, I've got a scientist looking at the knots as we speak.

I'm expecting a call from her any minute to confirm it.

Dreamlike music and indistinct vocals

Indistinct tannoy announcement

Paul, have you viewed all the Melissa Stephens cctv?

I looked at everything they sent, but there may be more we haven't got yet.

I don't think I've missed anything, but I've had to do it all on my own. How many cameras picked her up?

Five. The restaurant, artillery row, the tube, hoxton square...

And coronet street.

I'll double-check I haven't missed anything if we get the job. We'll get it. Is that Melissa?

That's our girl. Stop it there!

Take it back to the footage outside the restaurant.

They're on different DVDs. They're split between different locations,

so usually I have to find...

Commander Leigh. Dci Hudson.

Barbara! Yes, sir?

Do us a favour - get me a chicken-and-cheese sandwich from the canteen. Ok.

No tomatoes.

My team was in the frame for the next assignment...

Should I put all these on one DVD? Maybe wait.

Indistinct raised voices

Hudson: Me? You're the one that nosed in at the murder scene.

Never mind edging me out of the fucking mortuary!

Melissa Stephens is my case!

Plus clever bollocks here told the borough that they had authority

to seize all the cctv and missing persons files! All right, all right.

I admit that I'm not going to give her to you

so that you and your flat-footed team - sit down. Sit down!

Now, I'm not the least bit interested... dci Langton, if you have unequivocal evidence...

He's got a bloody nerve! First socks, now a sandwich!

It's like I'm his personal shopper.

And I'm fed up with collecting his dry cleaning every week!

Engine starts up

Hey, er...

Ladies and gentlemen, the Melissa Stephens case is officially ours!

And the commander, god bless her, is going to give us some extra man power and resources.

Your sandwich, sir. Thanks. No tomatoes?

No, sir, but if there's a trace of one, I'll pick it out personally.

How did Hudson take it?

He's ecstatic (!)

Right, let's get started.

You get in touch with their office.

I need these as quickly as possible tomorrow. Now, let's go through -

knock at door boss?

What is it, Paul? Got them all on one disk?

I'm no Spielberg, but I put it together.

I'll let the commander know that you're stalling, shall I? Thank you.