Thorne

Round the back!

Let's go!

Hey!

He's right there!

- Come on! - Over there! Come on!

He's round the back! Come on!

I've got it!

...gonna marry her.

I found her! I found her!

She was already dead!

She was already dead! It wasn't me!

It wasn't me! It... it wasn't me!

- Stay there. - Jesus.

Reports of an incident. Possible ABH. Female victim.

She's been here a while.

No blood. No sign of a struggle.

What do you think, she fell, hit her head?

Heart attack?

Hello?

What's got a one-inch knob and hangs down?

I don't know. What has a one-inch knob and hangs down?

A bat.

Your mother's got me on this diet. My pee smells of stewed cabbage.

Oh, yeah? That's nice.

Listen, what is it, Dad? I'm at work, all right?

- What's got a nine-inch knob and hangs up? - I don't know. What has a nine...

Natural causes, then, sir?

- You want to call Borough, let them handle it? - No.

You think this is a crime scene.

Yeah, I do. Call it in.

And, er... call Phil Hendricks.

Ow! Ow!

- Ow, that's my neck, Phil! - Shut up. You're mashed out on midazolam.

With a sedative that strong, I can do anything I like.

Now, I just bend your head a few degrees this way,

apply pressure to these points here to kink the artery,

and it's good night, Tom Thorne.

So she wasn't strangled, then?

That's what I've been trying to tell you.

- It's a bit elaborate, isn't it? - Yeah.

If it wasn't for the midazolam, the tranquilliser, I would have said ischaemia.

I presume that that was the idea, make it look like a stroke. Natural causes.

- What, a stroke? She's only 28. - You see it. Smokers. On the pill.

So the only suspicious indicators we've got are these bruises and the sedative, yeah?

Yeah, looks like a left-hander.

If she's the only one that we found...

How many have you missed?

What have you got for me?

What is this, the Pussycat Dolls?

We circulated the indications to pathologists in the southeast on Tuesday.

Came up with two further matches. Madeleine Vickery, deceased February '09.

Christine Owen, died April.

That's three dead girls and all looked like strokes.

Looks like a stroke, quacks like a stroke. How do I know it isn't one?

We don't, but even if I dig up Madeleine and Christine, the bodies are 12 and 14 months old.

So, no use to us. But all three are under 30.

All three died of ischaemic strokes. Oedema in the same places.

Upper neck, both sides. A bit deeper on the left.

So, our guy's left-handed?

We picked up a partial print from the Carlish flat. Puma, size nine.

But not from the guy who tripped over her, right?

No, he wears a ten and he's a thief, not a multiple killer.

So he must be trained, medical.

There'll be more. Why not?

He's careful. There's no sexual assault, no heat.

All three girls were found in their flat. There was no forced entry, no sign of a struggle.

- He's there and he's gone. - Sounds like the fucking angel of death.

Yeah, wearing size nine Pumas.

I'll take care of you.

Hello, Alison.

Are you OK?

Are you in any pain?

I can't see! I can't see!

I'm going to help you, Alison.

I'm going to take care of you now.

Don't worry. I'm here.

You're sleepy.

I attended service at a little church in the country not long ago.

A prayer was led by an old country preacher,

who then raised his hands as everyone stood and sang My God Is Real.

A warm breeze through the open windows

brought in the smell of new-mown hay in a nearby field

and the singing of birds could be heard in the moment of silence...

Er... Alison Willetts, 23.

That's good work. Well done.

Holland, sir, David. Dave.

Yeah, I knew that.

Actually, it weren't me, really. Hospital called it in as suspicious a week ago.

Didn't seem like much of a priority then.

- Want some free advice, Dave? - Sir?

Take the credit. Come on.

I suppose she's lucky, this one, Alison?

- Oh, so a coma's lucky in Dave world? - Luckier than dead.

Yvonne? Where am I going?

- Third floor, Neurology, ICU. - Look after this one for us, will you?

- Hi. - You all right?

Jesus.

Over there.

Should be all right. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Mr Ramsey.

Sir, can I have your full name, please?

Now, you're the one who found Miss Willetts, aren't you?

Yeah, I found her passed out in the car park.

I almost left her, I was so late for work.

I just, er... I thought she was drunk.

No, you did great.

She probably wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for you.

What part of the States are you from, Josh?

The Canadian part.

What time exactly did you find Miss Willetts?

Oh, it's too bright.

Turn the light off. Light hurts.

Oh, my God. Am I in hospital? I'm OK, right? I'm alive?

Alison?

Are you a doctor? Oh, you don't look like a doctor.

Alison, can you hear me?

Yes.

- Alison? - You're the deaf one.

Alison, um...

My name's, er... Tom.

- Tom Thorne. I'm a police officer. - You've got kind eyes, Tom.

Can I ask you some questions about what happened to you?

I... don't remember.

Why are... are you looking at me like that?

What's wrong with me?

What happened to me?

- Tell me! Tell me what happened to me! - What's going on?

- Is she all right? - Tom!

Why can't you hear me? Why? I'm talking to you!

- Alison. Everything's all right. - Please!

- You're in a hospital. - Please help me!

You've been unconscious for over a week.

- Please help me. - But you're awake now.

I'm your doctor. My name's Anne.

I'm going to be looking after you, OK?

OK. So, we had her down as a straightforward stroke at first.

- You know she was found in the car park? - Yeah.

Yeah, we presumed that she'd collapsed on her way to A&E,

but then one of my housemen saw bruising, oedema around her neck ligaments,

which came up as bright white patches on her MRI scan.

Sorry, are you pissed off with us?

Yeah, well, we called you a whole week ago. It's been a week.

Yeah, I'm sorry about that.

What's wrong with her? She can see me and hear me.

Yes, yes, she's got locked-in syndrome.

The damages to the ventral part of the pons.

It's characterised by complete paralysis of all voluntary muscle function in the body,

apart from those which control eye movement.

So, her brain works, she can hear you, she can understand everything,

but she can't move.

It's like waking up in your own coffin.

Her, um... A friend reported her missing. Have you heard from the family at all?

Her mother died and so her father remarried and moved to Palm Springs.

When I called him to tell him the news,

he actually asked me if it was worth him coming to visit.

So...

So, you know, she's got a lot to come to terms with without some six foot something...

Three.

...detective standing over her bedside.

- The thing is, Doctor, um... - Coburn.

Coburn. We've got three girls just like Alison.

Same bruising, same indications, only they're dead.

So if there's any chance that she can communicate, you know.

Well, if she does communicate, it's gonna be minimal.

And there's no guarantee that she'll remember anything.

It's very unlikely that she's gonna regain any motor function.

She'll succumb to an infection and she'll die in that bed.

So, I really hope she's not your only line of inquiry.

You have to excuse me.

Yeah, perhaps you could come down to A&E.

That's really all I can tell you. I... I found her.

I handed her over to Dr Bishop and he... he took her up to ICU.

I really have to get back to work. Good luck with this.

Shit.

Please move it now.

Mr Ramsey.

Josh.

- Get off me! Get off me! - Hey, calm down! Calm... calm down!

Well, he is left-handed. And he does take size nines, apparently.

According to his entry visa,

Mr Ramsey hadn't entered the country till six months after the murders began.

Yeah, could hamper a conviction, couldn't it?

Yeah.

Holland's what, 12?

Give him a break.

Oh, rookie with an instinct.

I should have known he'd be up your street, Tom.

Henry'll be going nuts.

Is, er... Henry your partner, Mr Ramsey?

He's my dog.

Right.

So, I'm free to leave?

Just one minute, please.

He said that she was wearing something white,

like a slip or something, when he found her.

Not the clothes she'd been wearing, sir.

Everybody's laughing at me.

Except Thorne. He just looks right through you.

Well, you can't blame him. Not much of a first-team debut, was it, Dave?

Yep.

Thorne's first time out, cracks the Pretty Boy Killer.