Midsomer Murders

You've reached Old Vogue Vintage Emporium.

Feel free to leave us a lovely message.

Naomi, I know you're there.

Naomi.

I'm home now but if you want to help, give me a call.

Hi.

It's £4, please. Oh, thank you.

The scarecrows are all on the map. You can vote for your favourite.

Great.

Oh, look, Betty.

Some of these are brilliant.

Bit corny, if you ask me.

I'm just getting started.

You can try and stop me, but you'll be clutching at straws.

This is gonna be a really long day.

Reverend, have you seen Naomi?

She's supposed to be filming this so she can put it online,

you know, encourage people to come.

She said she'd open up the shop.

I'm sure she's on her way.

Is he OK to be doing that?

Oh, I should think so.

Stephan!

Tried to track down your good lady wife.

Oh, I haven't seen her.

Thea! Hi.

This is Lukesh, Asham and Carly.

So, you're the famous Thea from boot camp.

Samira's basically allergic to exercise.

I don't know what's got into her.

Ooh, guess what.

My bonus came through from work, so I booked it.

To the Maldives?

Five-star, all inclusive. I can't wait.

It's good to meet you guys.

How much is boot camp per month?

Hello and welcome to the 7th Midsomer Scarecrow Festival

in aid of the church restoration fund.

Last year's event raised...

We raised over £11,000,

and this year we're hoping for even more, so please do...

Naomi!

Oh!

NO!

What the...?

I know.

You got an ID?

Naomi Ashworth, 35.

She ran this place with her friend Adele Paige,

but it was a sideline, apparently.

Her main job was some sort of PR thing.

That's Naomi's husband, Stephan Ashworth, and her father,

Reverend Oscar Hayden.

Forced entry.

Yes.

But if the intruder smashed this glass to get in

and then the table was knocked over during the struggle,

why is the glass on top of the table?

The door was smashed after the murder.

And why do killers stage forced entry?

To cover up the fact that their victim let them in.

Exactly. This was no random encounter.

Naomi knew her killer.

God almighty!

One, two, three, four...

..five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Good morning.

Are you OK?

Scarecrows.

The deceased I can cope with.

They're endlessly fascinating.

But I don't do straw.

OK.

Horizontal injury to the neck, plus petechial haemorrhage

indicate ligature strangulation.

We've got thin, deep furrows, so electrical cord, wire, maybe.

Time of death?

Rigor seems fully established.

So that's at least 12 hours.

What's that tying her in place?

Looks like the stuff I use in my garden.

I'll, um...

..get it to the lab.

See if you can find her mobile

and get the ball rolling on bank details and IT.

I'll speak to her husband.

When did you last see your wife?

Thursday.

I had a two day hairdressing conference in Bath. Just got back.

Was there anything unusual about her behaviour recently?

Not at all.

She hadn't fallen out with anyone?

You see what they've done to her.

That's not a falling out, is it?

That's a sicko preying on women.

We can't assume anything.

We'd be doing your wife a disservice.

There's this homeless kid her dad's been helping.

Jack Baldwin.

This gold communion cup went missing.

Naomi accused him of taking it.

She confronted this person?

She said he was shouting in her face.

Bryony saw it all.

Who's Bryony?

Naomi's twin sister.

Ah. Is she here?

No, Bryony doesn't really...

She's had difficulties.

What kind of difficulties?

She doesn't leave the house.

She hasn't been out in public in years.

This was yesterday afternoon at our company event.

Naomi, my sales manager, Thea,

a few of our customers.

And Ventuity. That's your company?

We're an online casino.

Naomi did our PR.

Were there any problems yesterday with Naomi?

Nope.

She was on good form, funny and bubbly.

She was brilliant.

How long had you known her?

Six, maybe seven years.

I worried we might be pushing it, setting this place up together,

but it's been great.

What time did you leave the event yesterday?

Seven-ish.

We got back here around eight to put the scarecrows up.

But then I got this text saying my burglar alarm had gone off,

so I had to leave her to it.

Who was the text from? I don't know.

I assumed it was a neighbour.

By the time I got home, the alarm had stopped.

I'll need your phone, I'm afraid, to trace the text.

Thanks. Thank you.

Would you be OK to take a look inside now,

see if anything has been taken?

Nothing's obviously missing.

Where do you find your stock?

Various places.

Lots of it online.

That came from a house clearance last week.

Coo-ee!

Hello? Yoo-hoo!

Stay behind the corden, please

I'm Rachel Taylor, head of the Scarecrow Committee.

I need to know with some urgency if the festival can still go ahead.

It can, but I do need you on the other side of that corden.

Thank goodness. Everybody has worked so hard.

Is the reverend in there?

I don't know where he is, Rachel.

I'll try the church. Poor man.

Oscar's probably hiding from her.

She has a little crush.

Sorry, just, Naomi did this amazing impression of her.

Rachel Taylor, cassock chaser.

I see. You had to be there.

Slightly awkward at the committee meeting

when Rachel walked in on her doing it.

I really should go and rescue Oscar, if there's nothing else.

That's all for now. Thank you.

Why aren't uniform on this call?

Sorry, sir.

Excuse me.

I'll please ask you to step away from...

Caitlin. Jamie.

Oh, my God. Hi.

Friend of yours?

Uh, we were at university together.

Same... Same halls.

Same halls.

OK.

What are you doing here?

Well, they had me cover the Scarecrow Festival,

and the lotto win vicar,

but obviously there's a bigger story here now.

The lotto win vicar?

Yeah, the victim's father, Reverend Hayden.

He won 15 million quid back in 2008, lives in a mansion,

yet he still expects people to raise money for his church roof.

"Disgraced reverend"? Who's that?

Fergus Rooney.

He used to be the vicar of Midsomer Langley

until 10 years ago he made the mistake of crossing Oscar and Naomi.

What happened?

Well, he went public about Oscar keeping the money

instead of giving it to charity.

And all of a sudden a story comes out about Fergus visiting a brothel.

She planted the story.

According to Fergus.

But on to bigger things.

How was she killed?

We can't give out any details.

Should local women be concerned?

No matter how many times you ask.

Oh, I'll keep asking, don't worry.

It was good to see you.

Should catch up properly.

Yeah.