The Brokenwood Mysteries

Susanna, are you home?

Susanna.

Oh my god, are you okay?

What happened?

Morning.

Morena.

Usual?

Yeah, Frodo, thanks.

Coming right up.

Mike.

What am I looking at?

The top of that tree.

Why do you guys do that?

Is he all right?

Isn't he a bit old for that kind of prank?

So many questions.

You okay up there?

Uh, yeah, no worries.

What's that, uh, sign he's wearing?

Can't you read that?

"Greed is dead"?

"Bad."

"Greed is bad."

I totally agree with that.

Good on you, Frodo.

Morning.

And you owe me for yesterday as well.

- Really? - Tell him we'll park.

Really.

And another day before that.

Just saying.

But, hey, I'm totally good with an IOU

from someone in your profession.

Oh.

Sims?

Mike, we've been called to 291 Powers Lane.

You might want to take a look at this one.

Could be a freak accident or something more.

I'm on my way.

Fire service guys are minutes away.

When they get him down, I'll have a chat.

Find out what that sign is about.

How are you doing up there?

Uh... fine, yeah.

Who would have thought getting down would be the hard bit?

The fire service guys won't be long.

Just hang on a bit longer.

Tell them to hurry up, would ya?

And the victim is your husband, Mrs.?

Sterling.

Yes.

And you were alone in the house

when the incident occurred?

It was an accident.

Where were you when it happened?

I was upstairs in my office.

You work from home?

I'm an interior designer.

I was working on a brief for a client.

I heard a terrible crashing sound, and I came down.

And...

It's Marie, right?

Yeah.

And you phoned it in?

Yeah.

I clean the house for Susanna and Jeremy.

I got here about half an hour ago.

Uh, why don't you take Mrs. Sterling into another room,

away from all of this.

Yeah.

Constable.

We'll be in the kitchen.

Thanks.

Morning.

Morena.

Man versus chandelier?

Introducing the very unlucky Jeremy Sterling.

Hello, Jeremy.

Impressive place you've got here.

Although possibly a few structural issues at play.

The victim's wife is in the kitchen.

Oh, we need to get access to the ceiling space.

Yep.

Oh, that's Mrs. Sterling.

Oh, thanks.

Hi.

Uh, Mrs. Sterling?

I'm DSS Mike Shepherd.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry you've been called out.

I told your colleague it was an accident.

Of course, but it would be good to get a clear sense

of exactly what happened here.

I see you have CCTV in the house.

Uh, yes.

Jeremy had the system installed a couple of years ago,

but we never use it.

Have there been any questions as to the safety

of the ceiling?

Not that I know of.

And, Mrs. Sterling, how much time was there between you

discovering your husband and Marie making the call?

I don't know!

I just found my husband's body on the floor of my home.

Do what you need to and leave, please.

Marie, how long have you worked for the Sterlings?

Uh, just a couple of months.

Do you still need me?

I've got another property to attend to, and I'm already late

Uh, sure.

But we may need to talk to you again,

so can I grab a phone number?

028-917-4350.

Thanks.

Well, seems like nobody wants to talk to us today.

Mm.

We have access to the ceiling space upstairs.

Ah.

You'll need this.

Ah, thanks.

Are you all right with this?

Why wouldn't I be?

Oh, you know, your relationship with anything

higher than half a meter off the ground.

You exaggerate.

You know, my father fell off a ladder once.

Really messed up his shoulder.

Thanks for that.

He never was quite the same after that.

Sort of walked a bit like Quasimodo.

Shut up.

Gina.

Oh.

Good morning, Mike.

You know, this could almost be an art installation,

"Man on Floor with Shattered Glass."

Yep, that's one way of looking at it.

There is an old Russian saying that comes to mind.

Sometimes the angels let things fall from heaven to remind

us that we are not immortal.

So some angels are homicidal?

In Russia, yes.

Oh.

We need to know the cause of death, ASAP.

The victim's wife says it was accidental.

I need to be sure.

You and I both know there are no such things

in life as accidents, Mike.

Ah, I'll leave you to it.

Hm.

Hell of a coincidence that the victim just happened

to be standing in the right spot for the chandelier

to fall on him.

And at just the right time.

I'll look into Jeremy and Susanna's

backgrounds, financial position,

check if there are any flags.

Great.

How'd you go with cone boy?

The fire service guys got him down safely.

Huh.

Any insights?

He said it was a dare.

That's all it was.

Some old mates visiting from out of town.

Putting cones on tall things is something

we used to do in our youth.

And the sign?

Oh.

Just part of the joke.

It's quite a dangerous joke.

Look, I've done better in life than my mates.

This is just a way to cut me down to size.

Yeah, do you want me to charge

him with public nuisance?

Oh, as long as he contributes to the fire service call out,

let's leave it.

Hey, any sign of these mates of his?

No.

Funny, that.

You'd think they'd stick around to see how the dare turned out.

You would.

Mm.

Yeah?

Okay, so Jeremy Sterling was the chief executive

of a local construction company, JSJ.

Susanna is his second wife.

Yeah.

Any children?

Both in their 20s.

The son, Alan, is working in China.

The daughter, Grace, was harder to track down,

but her last known address is Auckland.

Jeremy's company has got into some financial strife

and is on the verge of collapse.

Which may mean angry creditors.

Do you want us to keep digging?

Uh, get a jump on things while

we wait for the post-mortem.

Oh, excuse me, detectives?