Unforgotten

Ripped By mstoll

She said she found it.

- A bottle of Vodka? - I said to her, "So you found it

like you found the 20 quid in my wallet last week."

What'd she say to that?

She said she wished it was me that had left instead of mum.

Oh, nice.

And if I try to ground her she'd make my life hell.

Oh, mate, I'd like to say it gets better but you've got two girls.

It just gets much, much worse.

Oh, fabulous.

- Morning everyone! - Morning.

Morning.

OK, listen up everyone!

So, uh, yesterday evening we ran the name "James Sullivan"

through, uh, missing persons records and very quickly,

uh, we found a 17-year-old man of that name

who was reported missing in November 1976.

Jimmy, as he called himself, was reported missing by his mum

who I spoke to briefly on the phone last night.

I told her I wanted to come up to Liverpool where she lives.

To take a DNA swab so that we could make a formal identification

of remains that we believe to be of her son.

Thirty-nine-years after she last saw him,

she cried like a child at this news.

As did I, um, as she told me how she'd missed her boy...

It's her only child.

For every hour of every day of every week since she last saw him.

So, I want to find who, uh, caused a pain that's very much alive today.

Who took his life. Who took hers.

And I want to punish them.

Thirty-nine years later.

Your associates here, did you do your full due diligence on them?

They have the money, Dad, it's all kosher.

Oh, I'm sure they have the money it's just...

I can't do business with them.

- Why, because they're Turkish? - No, because they're criminals.

They're not criminals.

They or their associates are mixed up in all sorts of illegal activity.

There's no way I can do business with them. Ever.

I'm sorry.

It's just your name, Dad.

That's all they want on the letterhead. Just give me a break here, please.

We all feel the same.

There's nothing more to say.

All right.

So, we're concentrating on five main lines of inquiry.

Firstly, family.

As she just said the boss is driving up to Liverpool to speak to his mum.

Try and get a sense of who Jimmy was.

How he lived his life in the years before his death.

Jake, we want to know anything

and everything about 27 Arlingham Place.

From its incarnation as a hostel in 1972,

up until the point it shut in the late '90s.

Kaz, I want you to trace uniform and CID

who covered that patch in the '70s.

There should be plenty of them still with us.

Was Jimmy Sullivan known to them?

Which residents were known to them?

Murray, there are several missing person report files on him,

the first one from 1976. I want you to follow up on those.

Finally, we need to chase up the names and numbers in this diary.

First up, 'Jo Jo.' Is it a man? Is it a woman?

Friend? Girlfriend? We need to know.

I want everyone to take a copy of these names

and run them past whoever, whoever you speak to.

These are our tangible connections to the past and to Jimmy Sullivan.

Let's start making connections.

OK, good stuff. Thanks, guys.

You OK, boss?

He'd only be a few years older than me.

All the life we've lived.

Yo, Curtis. All right?

Heading down innit.

Have a choke, man.

Help them old brain cells.

Maybe next time.

What? Is she your bitch now?

Don't never trust them mudsharks, fam.

- Morning. - Morning.

OK.

- Fe? - Iron.

I have custard creams, rich tea, and digestives.

Thank you so much.

You didn't have to go to all that trouble.

Well, I thought I'd better get a choice

because the corner shop is gone now

and it is a ten minute walk to Tesco's.

Well, you had me at "custard creams".

- Have you kids yourself? - Uh, yeah, two.

Um, they're, they're grown up now. Both at college.

I only see them when they want, you know,

money or their, um, their clothes washed.

There's no word for it, you know.

Single mother who's lost her only child.

It's like... No word would be enough.

Because I mean what are you, you know?

What's the point of you?

It is him, isn't it?

We'll know for sure when we've done the DNA match but...

I think it's pretty likely it is. Yes.

I'm so sorry.

No, no, no. I want it to be him.

I want it so much to be him.

I got us a plot at St Matthew's.

I just want us to be able to be together again.

How much was in there?

All the money from the disco last night,

drinks, ticket money, about 1,200.

Oh, Sheila.

I normally take it home with me but my car's still in the bloody garage.

And I never use the bus if I've got takings.

And anyway, I thought, you know... Well, this is their money. The estate's.

Why would anyone want to steal their own money?

- Have you phoned the police? - Oh, been and gone.

But, really, what are they gonna do?

I don't think there's CCTV footage and it's not exactly Brinks-MAT, so...

Oh, Lord, Sheila. I'm really very sorry.

Yes, well, I'll call you later.

I met his father in 1959.

He'd come over from Barbados after the war.

I was just 15.

When I fell pregnant, my parents disowned me.

But, Thomas,

he agreed to marry me.

Turns out it was the last nice thing he ever did.

Pretty soon the only thing that gave him any more pleasure than drinking

was beating me.

When Jimmy got older, beating him.

And so I drank too much, to blot it all out.

And, one day I came home from work...

Jimmy was gone.

He left a note.

He'd gone to London to find work and he would send money to help me escape.

Bless his beautiful heart, he did.

And then one day the letters just stopped.

And I waited.

I waited even though I knew. I had this instinct,

this dread that something very, very bad had happened.

And after about four months, I think it was,

I went down to London and I told the police.

They asked me had we had a row, and I said, "No".

They asked me about his father and I told them about that

and they said maybe that's what it was and I said, "No."

No matter what his father was like... Jimmy always loved me.

And so, they told me not to worry. That he'd turn up.

"Like a bad penny," one of them said.

And I said, "He wasn't bad. Ever."

So, I kept waiting and waiting.

But because he'd sort of runaway once,

they decided that's what he'd done again.

Even though I told them

Jimmy wouldn't have done that to me.

Because he loved me.

And I was right,

wasn't I?

Yes, you were.

- Well, we moved here in '72. - Right.

There's no one in our family by that name.

And, uh, no post ever arrived for a... For a similar name?

Uh, Elizabeth, Betty, Liz?

No, but, um, I mean, I could ask my mum.

She did take in a few lodgers when I went to poly.

- Yeah, when was that? - Uh, that would have been 75 to 78.

Well, that would sort of fit.

I mean, I can't promise anything.

She's in a home now and not in the best of health

but I could try.

I would really appreciate that Mr Leeming.

All right, I'll get back to ya.

Thanks, yeah, speak to you soon. Cheers. Bye.

Oh, good afternoon. DCI Kendrick?

Haven't been called that in a while.

Who's asking?

DC Karen Willets, Bishop Street nick.

I was wondering if you could spare me five minutes of your time?

I need to pick your brains about a case we're working on.

Well, I was gonna slit me wrists in front of Cook Me The Money

but seeing as you're so pretty... Come in and pick away, luv.

Some of these lads, you know, not much older

than Jimmy was before he died.

And I've seen them over the years on the telly,

and I think of things they've done and...

and the lives...

It's not just the obvious things, you know,

the birthdays, the christenings, the weddings.

It's the little things your friends tell you about their kids.

The cheap holiday Malcy got online

and the funny video Jason's little girl made for the YouTube.

So much life one person can create, Mrs Stuart.

And I'm gonna do everything I can to find whoever

stole that from you, Maureen. Everything I can.

- What? - Frankie C.

- Rings a bell? - Well, it might if it's the same one.

- Who? - I think the C stands for "Cross".

When he started making a bit of money

he started using his middle name, Phillip.

The "Sir" was still a few years off.

That's Sir Phillip Cross?