Father Brown

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

A few words for the press, Mr Flambeau. Mr Flambeau!

A few words for the press!

Hercule Flambeau - our star prisoner.

Unshackle me, I'll give you an autograph.

Ooh!

HE GRUNTS

Any more of your smart mouth and the next one's across the jaw.

You're a man of God?

My whole life.

You'll need him where you're going.

WOLF WHISTLE

RHYTHMIC CLAPPING

CLAPPING CONTINUES

That's enough!

Into to your cells.

Here... reading material.

I'm here to see Hercule Flambeau.

Father Brown?

Yes.

I'm here to see... I know what you're here for.

Governor wants to see you first.

Arms, please.

Turn.

Oops.

It's for personal use.

Follow me.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Come in.

He had this on him.

A priest with a lock pick?

Always getting locked out of the presbytery.

I'll look after that, shall I?

Flambeau has requested you as his chaplain. Why?

We have history.

You're his spiritual advisor?

I try to be.

Must be an uphill task.

By all accounts, he's a sociopath.

And now a murderer.

No-one is beyond redemption.

You should try working in the prison service for a few years,

see if that's how you feel.

Amen to that, sir.

Much as we'd like to be a place of rehabilitation,

the truth is far uglier.

Men are not sent here to be rehabilitated.

They're sent here to be punished.

Flambeau hasn't been tried yet.

He may be innocent.

Have you read this? Yes.

Doesn't seem very innocent to me. No.

You're not to go anywhere without an escort. Do you understand?

Yes.

Thank you, Mitchell.

Chapel's this way. Chapel?

It's where he spends most of his time.

If he gives you any trouble, just call and I'll come running.

DOOR LOCKS FROM OUTSIDE

You answered my call.

How could I refuse?

Given my past transgressions against you,

you have every right to refuse.

And turn my back on an old acquaintance?

Acquaintance? Is that all I am to you?

What would you prefer? Friend?

Ally. Depends on what you want.

Your counsel, nothing more.

When have you ever asked for my counsel?

When have I ever been charged with murder?

Did you do it?

You've read the papers. What do you think?

You were seen arguing with Flynn Hardwick on

the night of his disappearance.

He was trying to swindle me.

Cross words were spoken, but it's purely circumstantial.

And his wife saw you dumping his body in the river.

She's either mistaken or lying.

Besides, no body's been discovered.

For all we know, my business associate's lying drunk

in a ditch somewhere.

And his blood was on your shirt.

Planted.

Forgive me for saying,

but if you are innocent, why this sudden devotion to prayer?

I found it in an antiques shop in London two months ago.

Worthless, and yet something about it spoke to me.

St Michael the Archangel.

The leader of angels - summoning men from their lives on Earth

to their heavenly judgment.

Are you saying you want redemption?

I'm saying, if I'm found guilty I will surely hang.

If that comes to pass, I want you to hear my confession,

the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Will you do it, Father?

Of course.

Thank you.

In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.

Flambeau.

Lenny.

So you remember me. I'm touched.

Well, I never forget a pretty face.

You ought to watch yourself talking like that around here,

some blokes might get the wrong idea.

But then again, maybe that's what you like.

As much as I'm enjoying this flirtation,

I have business to discuss.

I'm in here cos of you.

You sounded the alarm.

You sounded the alarm!

You ran off with the loot and left me to get caught.

Paranoid fantasies. That always was your problem.

Oi! Keep your hands off him.

This ain't over.

Go on.

Thank you for your intervention.

Well, it's not their job to snuff you out. It's ours.

You look like a man who can get things. For a price.

So, you're what?

Giving spiritual guidance... to the killer of my husband?

I understand you may not think he deserves it...

He deserves Hell.

Perhaps he does.

I am not just there for him.

I'm here for you.

And we've brought you some Bakewell tarts.

Mrs McCarthy, parish secretary. And...

Bunty Windermere. I'm the parish grief counsellor.

How are you coping?

It's not been easy, obviously.

We were married for 18 years.

It must have been terrible witnessing what you did.

It was.

If you don't mind my asking,

what were Flambeau and your husband arguing about?

Money. What else?

But I didn't hear all of it.

I was up in the bedroom, getting ready for bed.

So, you didn't see the murder?

Well, no, but...

Why are you asking all these questions?

Well, I've heard Flambeau's side of the story

and I'd like to hear yours.

I was about to come in here and tell them to shut their mouths...

..then it all went quiet.

I looked out of the window.

Saw that monster dragging my husband into the woods.

That must have been awful.

I followed him, to the river,

saw him throw his body in like a ragdoll.

Oh, that's just from the last night I spent with Flynn.

I've not been able to bring myself to clear them away.

Now, if you don't mind, I think I'd rather be alone.

Of course. So sorry for your loss. God bless.

I'm telling you, that woman was lying through her teeth.

And right to our faces.

She's having an affair.

That could be it. Deceiving her husband before he was killed.

So, maybe she did it.

Or her lover did.

Her lover. Wait a minute!

Wait a minute, supposing her husband isn't dead at all, he's still alive

and they're both in on it together to stitch up Flambeau.

But why would they do that?

Well he probably double-crossed them,

just like he double-crosses everyone.

So, the wine and the candles...

Yes, a husband and wife having a romantic night together,

and no doubt celebrating Flambeau's arrest.

Romantic nights after 18 years of marriage? I don't think so.

Ah, yes, but then you are a cynic.

I'm a realist.

Well, either way,

we need to find out if there's someone else in that house with her.

A stakeout, like they do at the pictures.

Exactly! Father?

I am going to Flambeau's pre-trial hearing,

and I leave the surveillance in your capable hands.

CHATTERING

Order. Order.

Hercule Flambeau,

you are charged on indictment that on August 17th, 1953,

you did wilfully murder Flynn Hardwick in

the county of Gloucestershire.

How do you plead?

Guilty.

CHATTERING

GAVEL BANGS

Order! Order!

Thank you.

Why the change of heart?

I've finally accepted my need for salvation.

I'd like to believe you...

But?

I've seen you wear too many disguises.

I just confessed to murder. There's no disguising that.

And yet you seem remarkably...

..unperturbed for a man facing the death sentence.

Is it really that difficult for you to believe that I might be at peace, Father?

That unburdening myself has finally released me?