The Thursday Murder Club

Our latest cold case is from the evening of May 11th, 1973.

At approximately 12:48 a.m. in the Brick Lane section of East London,

a man was walking back from the pub

to the home of his girlfriend, Angela Hughes,

when he heard two voices emanating from her second-floor window.

Hey, stop! You!

Stop!

When the police arrived, Angela Hughes was already dead.

They searched her apartment, but nothing had been stolen.

Well, I think it stinks.

What stinks, Ron?

Well, where's the motive? For a robbery.

They were a broke young couple. Makes no sense.

Very good point.

And have I understood correctly, the only person

to actually see this masked man was the boyfriend?

According to the police report, yes.

Who was the boyfriend?

Does he have a name?

Peter Mercer. 25 years old. Mechanic.

Discharged from the army with a knee injury.

It was a gunshot wound in the field.

Oh, good chance of unprocessed trauma.

- Can cause erratic behavior. - Hmm.

Mercer chased the masked man but couldn't catch him.

Then he disappeared. Short while after. Never seen again.

See? Stinks. Stinks like a rat up a drainpipe.

Um, do you think there's any way the poor girl could have been saved?

I don't know. It's hard to tell.

The report claims it was the knife wound that killed her, not the fall.

So that's murder.

Well, Mercer would have known basic first aid.

Why didn't he save her? Plonker.

He told the police she died on the spot. But I know it takes time to bleed out.

I confess I'm a little stumped.

- Yeah? - But this is a particularly tough one.

Makes the case of the dismembered body in the postbox look like child's play.

Yes. What we need now is some medical expertise.

So this is the famous Coopers Chase. Hm.

I'll give you a tour.

Over there is the hospice wing for when things get a bit, well, you know.

Ah, we have archery classes,

and one of the residents won the silver medal in the 1972 Olympics.

Nice one! Well done. Yes, that's it.

You must admit, Joanna, it is beautiful.

And we even have llamas as support animals.

Everybody's got llamas these days, Mum.

- Oh. - You should be careful.

Llamas can be very temperamental. Biting, spitting in your face.

Oh well, I've known humans to do that under severe stress too.

Look, I want to show you the jigsaw room.

So did she bleed to death from the stab wound or the fall?

Oh my God.

Oh, hello.

Isn't this room usually for jigsaws?

Not on a Thursday, no.

Oh.

Okay. Sorry.

We'll leave you to it.

Hmm.

- Mum? - Oh.

Must be the Agatha Christie club or something.

- I really do have to get back on the road. - Oh.

Traffic is murder,

and I'm taking a very important client to the opera tonight.

Look, Mum.

- I think it's a mistake, you living here. - What?

Why don't you let me buy you a little flat near me?

Well, you know, nearish.

Joanna, I need to be somewhere where I have a chance to make new friends.

How can I possibly do that living on my own in Hackney,

surrounded by, I don't know, hipsters and vegan bakeries?

- They don't want an old woman around. - All right, fine.

I just... I want you to be happy.

Since Dad died...

- Well, I worry about you, that's all. - I'm fine.

Oh.

- Drive safely. - Will do.

I do hope I'm right about this, Gerry.

I'm not used to making big decisions on my own.

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to...

Oh, there she is.

Happy birthday...

- Yeah. No. It could be... - So it must be a two in here.

- Are you a nurse? - Sorry, what?

It's just that you didn't flinch at those photos earlier on,

so I'm thinking that maybe you have some sort of medical training.

You could've been a doctor,

but, uh, female doctors were very rare when we were young,

so I'm thinking a trauma nurse, seen a lot of fatal injuries.

Am I close?

Bang on target.

- Um... - Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Elizabeth.

Ibrahim.

Mmm. Ron.

- I'm Joyce. - Joyce.

So, Joyce, would you take a look at that for me, please?

Dear God.

Uh, perhaps we could leave the finer details for later.

Could that girl have survived an injury like that?

Well, that would depend partly on how much she weighed.

It is a lot of blood.

Forty-six kilos.

Yes, then I think she could have survived, providing she had...

Look, how long is all this kerfuffle going to last?

We're doing the extra-hard Sudoku here.

Joyce, would you care to join us to discuss things further?

Privately?

Oh, all right.

But who is "us"?

I'm sorry, how rude of me.

We're the Thursday Murder Club.

Give me some good news, Lloyd.

I'm not paying you a small fortune to get me screwed over.

Good morning, Ian. Okay, so here's the latest.

Mrs. Ventham says she wants the car and the house

and the apartment in Majorca.

My God, it was one shag!

This is an overreaction of dickish proportions!

And she's no angel either, by the way. I have proof of that now. Leverage.

Well, overreaction or not, you need to buckle up, Ian.

Gemma is serious about this divorce,

and she's coming at you with everything she's got.

Right.

Ian.

So, uh, why is all this so urgent? Why are we meeting in... in private, huh?

I need to maximize my assets, now more than ever.

So I'm cracking on with the cemetery clearance,

paperwork or no paperwork.

Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission, right?

Then we demolish the church. We use the ground for luxury flats.

Ah, no, no, no. What about the old people? They will not like it.

They don't have to like it. They'll be gone.

And I'll use the original building as an event space.

But they will not leave so easily.

You know, many of them were very strong, very powerful in their time.

It's not their time, is it? It's my time. And it's my bloody land.

No, I'm not worried about the cantankerous old farts.

The only real issue is Tony Curran.

Why?

- There you are, Mr. Ventham. - Thank you.

Tony is part owner in Coopers Chase. He will make a lot of money too, no?

Yeah, he would if he'd agree to it. But he's being a stubborn prick as always.

His Auntie Maud is a resident, and he doesn't want her disturbed.

So if he refused to do it, who will take job?

Ah, me?

You like that? Be the boss? Make more money?

Yes, uh, sure.

Yeah, it would be good for me.

My mother is very sick back in Poland,

and, you know, I need to send extra money for her care. But...

Bogdan, the diggers are booked for Monday morning.

All you need to do is show up at the cemetery and break ground,

you get a nice fat payday.

More than enough money to look after your mum back in Romania.

- Poland. - Poland. Okay, all right.

Tony Curran is a dangerous man, mixed up in dangerous things.

If you fire him,

maybe he kill you.

Oh. Bogdan.

I'm an experienced mixed martial artist, all right?

Regional level.

- Mm. - Yes, I'm a pretty dangerous man myself.

Mm-hmm.

Now, do we have a deal or not?

Okay, okay. I do it.

- We have a deal. Yeah. - Yeah!

Good morning, Auntie Maud.

My favorite!

Don't you look lovely today, girl?

Oh, you're a good boy, Tone.

- Morning, Tony. Hello, mate. How are you? - Ah, Ron. Good morning, mate.

I'd like to introduce you to Joyce here. She's just joined us.

- Oh, welcome to Coopers Chase, Joyce. - Oh, thank you.

Morning, Maud.

Mmm.

Who is that?

Tony Curran, co-owner of Coopers Chase with Ian Ventham.

He bought the run-down convent for cash back in the '80s.

Got a pretty good deal on it too.

Yeah, I should say.

Did the early renovation himself, he said, with his bare hands.

Then he brought in Ventham for the extra capital to finish the job.

- So they're business partners? - Yeah.

- He seems a bit... - Rough, yes, but don't worry.

Tony's on our side. That's the most important thing.

What do you mean, on our side?

Rumor has it, Ian Ventham wants to get rid of Coopers Chase.

What? Why?

Build luxury flats. Send us all packing.

But I've only just moved in.

Oh, that's not gonna fly with Tony, is it? Not while Auntie Maud is still kicking.

So Tony Curran is quite important to us in his way.

As is Aunt Maud.

- Let's have some of that cake, shall we? - Let's.

Mmm. Oh.

The Thursday Murder Club has been in need of medical expertise for some time now.

So, Joyce, we would like you to join us, but, um, on a temporary basis.

It all sounds rather fun.