The Field of Blood

That woman has blood on her face. She's a lawyer.

She wants us to leave it.

She had her teeth pulled out and her skull caved in with a hammer.

That guy killed her, McVie, and we took money from him.

The new editor-in-chief is on his way up the stairs.

You need to start attracting some new readers.

The bad news is that not all of you will be embarking

on this exciting new journey. Mark Thillingly. Law Society.

Amnesty International?

There's a link between the death of Vhari Burnett

and Thillingly's suicide.

Her sister's missing and we think that might tie in, as well.

McVie!

It's just some personal things for Mr McVie.

I just want George to have everything he needs.

Thanks very much.

Meehan... trouble seems to follow you around.

Good job he got out the car when he did.

I think your surveillance techniques need a wee bit of work, though, eh?

How did you get Lafferty's address anyway?

Couldn't have been DS Burns now, by any chance, could it?

I hear you two are quite chummy these days.

My personal life is MY business.

Not when it involves one of my officers it's not.

Lafferty's alibi checks out, by the way. He's no longer a suspect.

So, you were wasting your time.

Mark Thillingly killed Vhari, we're sure of it.

And the petrol bomb? What exactly was that?

Well, what did you expect, raking around in his bins?

Oh... stay away from DS Burns.

He can be a charmer... but he can be plenty of other things, as well.

Hey, you.

What's up with your face? I'm fine.

I'm not feeling anything.

They've got me doped up to the gunnels.

When that car went up, I thought you were a goner.

You should change your name to Harry Houdini.

Who was your friend?

What?

A nice man came in and dropped off some stuff for you.

Colin.

Is that your brother? No.

Just a friend? Did I say that?

You're not saying anything.

He's my partner, Paddy.

In what? Life.

Your boyfriend?! You kept that a secret.

Can you imagine what it would have been like working in there

with that lot, if they knew?

They would have made my life a misery.

They're not exactly in touch with their feminine side, are they?

Neither were you.

Well, that was an act.

Why am I telling you this?

The drugs, probably. Mmm.

Yeah, that's it. Just forget I said it.

I'm delusional. I'm so drugged up I've woke up gay.

Ooh, I'm away with it.

Is Colin away with it, as well?

Seeing how they've given you this truth drug,

anything else you'd like to tell me?

No. I think, that's probably enough.

And if you tell anybody else,

I will gouge your eyeballs out with a soup spoon.

You don't need to worry about me. I hate people that can't keep secrets.

Oh, jeez. Get the nurse, will you?

I think I could do with another wee dash of that morphine.

You wishing you could turn back time?

Yeah. Spot on.

In a good way or a bad way?

Let's just forget this happened, shall we? Can we do that?

Yeah, It's already forgotten.

You know, all I wanted was a welcome drink.

You really didn't have to take it that far.

Dick!

Dan, actually.

You have got a big gob.

Aye, thanks very much, it has been mentioned. Give the funnies a rest.

You told Gallagher about us!

And how exactly did Lafferty know we were going to check him out?

Innocent on both charges.

See thanks to you, McVie's lying in a hospital bed.

And now Gallagher thinks I'll shag anyone with a cheesy line in jokes.

Cheesy? Oh, piss off, Burns!

'All right, listen up.'

I want everything we've got on Lafferty. All right, everything.

If he thinks he can attack one of us and get away with it, he can think again.

Thinking's not his strongpoint. The cops don't even know if it was him. Course it was him, the toerag.

I want as much muck as we can find thrown at him and his family, all right?

They're robbing scumbags and I want the whole city to know it. Sounds good to me.

Get on with it.

OK, talk fast, I'm on hold.

I took a bribe.

The night we were at Vhari Burnett's house. 50 quid.

McVie said it was OK, I thought you should know.

Took a bribe from who?

The guy at the door.

The guy that might have murdered her.

He said it could harm her career if her drinking got into the paper.

What, you work for him now, do you?

I needed the money.

Our 'lecky was gonna get cut off. I don't pay you enough?

Not enough to support a whole family.

And you took the money and you walked away?

And now you're putting yourself in danger, trying to make it right.

Or putting others in danger, to be precise.

I handed it over to the cops.

I thought it might have had the killer's fingerprints on it.

Look, I know it was stupid to take it in the first place.

I couldn't hate myself any more.

It's not the reason that I became a journalist.

Yeah, well, you know what?

You're not the first journalist to get a sore arse from sitting on their scruples.

Thing is, Maloney knew about it - the 50 quid.

She must have a contact in the cop shop.

It's Gallagher.

I saw them, together.

She's a fast mover, eh?

The thing is, you and I are going to have to cover our backs

when it comes to Miss Maloney.

OK? Is that a deal? If you say so.

Get some rest, you look knackered.

Hey, and no more backhanders,

you understand? That can never happen again.

Yeah.

How's McVie?

He's OK.

Whose idea was it to stake out the biggest psycho in the city, anyway?

No, wait, don't tell me - you. See, if you ask me,

I think you'd be better sticking to the knitting supplement.

Well, nobody did ask you, because nobody gives a toss what you think.

Hey, get off.

I'm impressed by the loyalty that Devlin shows his staff.

This McVie incident, he's taken it personally, hasn't he?

The press can't be intimidated by thugs.

Not unless they own the paper.

Keep that up and you're out the door.

I can't keep pulling it out of the bag. It's always on my shoulders, in the end.

I mean, what choice do you have? Well we're no starving yet, are we? Aye, well, we're not far from it.

What's up? You sure you want to keep these cords? They've seen better days.

They're looking for scabs to break the strike.

Want to bus folk into Fife. Your mother thinks I should go. A scab?

Are you serious?

Don't start getting all romantic about the working class. Leave that to the posh folk.

The union doesn't make the rules. I can't do it. It goes against everything I believe.

And what's that, exactly?

No. No, no. No, tell me, I'm fascinated.

What do you believe in, Conor Meehan?

Letting other people suffer because of your principles?

Well, I believe in having a roof over me head

and I believe in making sure that there's food

on the table for me children!

I'd rather beg.

Well, I've never accepted charity and I'm not going to start now.

You can't ask him to do this. He'll be despised.

Well, there's worse things.

Don't do it, Dad. Please.

Why did you say that to him?

It is none of your business.

If we don't stick together, then we're nothing.

Oh, is that right, Comrade Paddy?

Well, I don't see you doing much to help others.

Stay out of this. No.

When you're in my house, my rules.

Well, maybe I shouldn't be in your house.

Meaning? Meaning, maybe it's time I got my own flat.

Well, if that's the way you feel, maybe you should.

No!

Come here. You're going nowhere.

Please. You don't have to do this. Please.

So, did you have any other valuables taken?

I did, yeah. I had a watch, my wallet...

OK, well, if you do notice anything...

Don't touch anything. Place was broken into last night.

Cops are checking for prints. Junkies, probably.

What was the night editor doing?

Sleeping, naturally.

That the cop you were shagging?

You fell for the mad wife in the attic routine, then?

Aye, apparently he's famous for it.

Of course. the violin lessons are completely banjoed.

Not the only thing you'll not be able to do. Meehan'll help you out.

What are you doing here?

Er, well I didn't want to lie in a hospital bed

when we had a story to finish.

Hey, I'm absolutely fine. Totally compos mentis.

Just don't expect me to clap along to anything.

Listen, thanks very much for not mentioning Colin to that lot.

And I won't, but you can't live a double life.

Well that's easy for you to say, you don't come from Barlanark.

Right, what have we got?

The cops believe that Thillingly killed Vhari Burnett,

then topped himself. Why do we think different? He's not the type.

We need more on Thillingly, just in case he did it.

That's a double-page spread, easy. Are you missing something?

Somebody sent me a key.

I wanted to check it out, but it's definitely gone. A key?

Do you mind if I ask why CID are investigating a break-in?

Aye, I do. Is it true, about your wife?

On you go.