Case Histories

'Est-ce que Angelica est dans ca maison?' Oui.

Angelica est dans ca maison.

'Est-ce que Pierre est derriere le bonhomme de neige?' Oui.

Pierre est derriere le bonhomme de neige.

'Est-ce que Marie-Claire est dans le bain?' Bonjour, mademoiselle.

Comment allez-vous?

'Est-ce que le chien est dans le jardin?'

'Est-ce que le canard est dans la riviere?'

Do you want chicken or fish? Chicken or fish?

'Est-ce que le poulet...'

Jackson Brodie. 'Where are you?'

I'm fine, thanks. How are you?

'Are you out and about?' I'm not out and about, I'm working.

What do you want? 'Binky Rain phoned. She wants to see you.

'I said you were too busy doing jobs that actually pay.

'Bye, now'. 'Est-ce que le ciel est bleu?' Non, le ciel n'est pas sodding bleu.

Binky, you can't call a cat that.

It's not named after a black man.

It's Captain Scott's cat on the Discovery. It's still not all right.

They always take the black ones first. They turn them into gloves.

Black gloves. Are you sure it's missing?

How can you possibly tell?

Please, Mr Brodie, go and find him.

Please. I will.

That's all I ask.

Who fancies a drink?

Julia, you've just had breakfast.

And that's Victor's best wine. He doesn't need it any more, does he?

What are we going to do with Daddy? Burial or cremation?

Burn the bugger. OK.

Come on. Show yourself. ..Oh, come on, you.

Are you hurting my babies, Mr Brodie?

Would I ever?

It's quite a nice room, really.

Naughty Daddy.

Oh, God! How horrible.

It's been 20 years since Mummy died.

The poor man's allowed the odd wank.

Don't be disgusting, Julia.

Talking of sex, how's Henry these days?

I'm not discussing Henry with you.

Blue mouse.

Get off me! Get off me!

Amelia!

Amelia!

Is everything OK?

Who the hell are you?

Our father died two days ago. I'm very sorry for your loss.

Don't be. We were both delighted.

Blue mouse...

The blue mouse.

Um, let's just recap, shall we, for a second?

Your father died, you're here clearing out the old family home?

Well, yes.

It's just, that sounds so warm, "old family home".

Didn't mean anything by it. Remove the emotional significance, shall we? Couple of adjectives and a noun.

Old. Family. Home. True or false?

True. Strictly speaking, "family"

isn't an adjective. Familial would be the adjective.

Right. And, er... the blue mouse?

BOO!

It was a long, hot summer.

Mummy had all these ludicrous little rules.

Trying to keep the lid on our chaos.

Olivia. Mummy's favourite.

She was everybody's favourite. Hello. Shall I give blue mouse a kiss?

Come on!

Come and play! Go on, then. But put your slippers on.

Why mention the slippers? What?

You remembered the detail of the slippers. Why?

They were never found either.

Mummy wasn't a bad person.

Just not a very good mother.

She simply couldn't cope.

What about your father?

Daddy was once a promising mathematician.

He preferred numbers to his family.

Why aren't you in bed?

It's too hot in our room. Can I sleep in the tent with Olivia?

No, you can't. It's bad enough you look like gypsies, without living like them.

Please, Mummy, please?

She was so perfect. So peaceful.

We never saw Olivia again.

We've looked everywhere! She has her little rabbit slippers on!

Please, you have to go find her! Please!

This is the first time we've seen blue mouse since Olivia went missing.

Well, you'll have to tell all this to the police.

I think fate brought you to us, Mr Brodie, don't you think?

Er, not really.

I don't believe in fate. I think you do.

Look, I've got to be honest with you, OK?

With a case like this, the first 24 hours are the most critical.

And the first 24 hours were over 30 years ago. There's really no chance of finding anything out.

Won't you just come and look in the garden and the alleyway?

The man's not interested, Julia. Let him go.

Yum. Julia.

My beauties!

Oh!

Mr Brodie. What are you still doing here?

Looking for your cat, obviously, Binky. It's my life's work.

Listen, can I ask you something?

The little girl, Olivia Land, that went missing next door about 30 years ago? Do you remember that?

Oh, those girls, they were so wild.

The night she went missing, Olivia, did you hear anything, see anybody?

Anything unusual? They even came and questioned me.

Well, I gave them short shrift. Do you know, those girls used to break into my garden and steal my flowers.

That stopped as soon as the little one disappeared.

Every cloud has a silver lining, eh? Mr Brodie.

She's our lost sister, Mr Brodie.

Misha!

There you are. I want you to print out everything you can on Olivia Land.

She went missing in Edinburgh in 1981. You mean she's actually not a cat?

Mr Andrews phoned, wants to know if you found out anything on his slutty wife? Not his exact words.

Did Mrs Rain pay her invoice? Not as such.

You've been looking for her imaginary stolen cats for a month.

She's never paid you a penny.

Remind me, Debbie, when you run the business, to ask your opinion.

Just as long as you've got enough money to pay me at the end of the month, that's all I care about.

And it's Deborah. Deborah.

Olivia Land, when you can spare a minute.

Jackson Brodie, private detective.

Deborah speaking, how can I help you?

Theo Wyre.

Laura Wyre's father, right?

The case is getting cold.

It's been months since she died, and they've run out of ideas.

I'm sure that's not true, Mr Wyre... I want you to work for me.

There's an ongoing police investigation, Mr Wyre. I've got to wait till it runs its course.

My daughter was murdered, Mr Brodie. A man walked in off the street and slaughtered her in broad daylight.

I'm truly sorry for what happened...

You're not a police officer any longer.

You're free to help me. I beg you...

Mr Wyre. I can't take the case.

My mistake.

Niamh! Niamh!

Niamh!

Niamh!

Niamh?

Niamh?

Niamh...?

Niamh?

Jackson Brodie.

No, I'm not smoking.

And it's nothing to do with you any more anyway, is it?

Marlee? Yeah, sure.

Why, where are you going?

Solicitor? I thought we were done with all that.

All right. I'll be there.

You like him, don't you?

Jackson. No, I don't.

Yes, you do. That's why you were so antagonistic towards him.

I'm antagonistic towards everyone.

Anyway, you like him too.

I do. There's something very attractive about Mr Brodie.

Are you sure Olivia had blue mouse with her in the tent that night?

Of course. She always had blue mouse.

It's just... if it wasn't with her, we might be barking up the wrong tree.

It was with her.

Then how did it get in Daddy's drawer?

I don't know. Maybe we should let sleeping dogs lie, Amelia.

She's not a dog, she's our sister!

Amelia, what's the matter? I was only asking... It was my fault! I should have looked after her.

I wasn't suggesting that.

She's coming back, Julia.

Mr Brodie will find her.

I'm sorry, Mr Brodie. I'm afraid I won't take no for an answer.

How did you find out where I lived?

I have to know who killed my daughter.

Laura, I'm so sorry I can't be there on your first morning.

I'll be fine.

Cheryl will show you the ropes.

I should be back from my clients round about lunchtime.

Maybe we can go out? That'd be nice.

Have you got your inhaler?

Yes.

Good luck at work.

Any questions, just ask. Love you, Dad.

I love you too, sweetheart.

'She was my little girl.'

Only a few months go, she had her whole life to look forward to.

'I wanted to get back to the office to settle her in'.

Why weren't you back in time?

'Stupid train hit a flock of sheep.

Otherwise, I would have been there, and she'd still be alive'.

How long's it going to take?

What's happened?

Where's the ambulance?

It's all right, Laura. Daddy's here.

That's what makes it so hard.

It should have been me.

She had a place waiting for her at Aberdeen University to study marine biology.

She just wanted a year in my office,

earn some money.

Here.

Theo, where did you get this?

You're not meant to have these.

I'm a lawyer. I have a few contacts.

The police have conducted a full investigation.

No leads. Not one. And what makes you think I can do any better?

A man walked into my offices wearing a yellow golfing sweater.