The Chelsea Detective

Good to see you.

Ah! Bloody things.

Here, let me.

Cheer up.

Tonight is all about you.

I hate evenings like this.

All that backslapping.

People telling me how brilliant I am.

It's a lifetime achievement award, presented in a hotel

you designed yourself, in front of an audience of your peers.

Most architects would swap places with you in a heartbeat.

Stop scratching, darling.

You'll only make it worse.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ah, Francis.

- Hello. - Lovely to see you.

How do I look?

You look lovely, darling.

Have you noticed how this terrace is perfectly positioned

to pick up the reflexion of the light in the river?

I must say...

I think we got it right.

You mean, you got it right, darling.

Hmm.

Hello?

Really?

Alright, I'll come down.

If he arrives, you will be nice to him.

Promise?

I promise.

I'll be nice to him.

- These ones? - Yes.

- Thank you. - You're welcome.

Ground floor.

G oing up.

The penthouse.

What's happened?

Rowan?

Rowan? Rowan, where are you?

Give him a gentle reminder, please, Jess.

Can you keep him back? Please? Keep behind the tape.

Layla?

- Evening. - Hi.

Um... We have an IC1 Male.

Early indications are that he fell from the penthouse balcony.

Uh, do we know who he is?

The guest of honour for the evening,

Rowan Jameson, the architect.

We mustn't let anyone leave without them being interviewed.

I didn't do anything.

This is ridiculous.

I'm the victim of an assault.

- Put him in the car. - What? Why?

Who was that?

Victor Budimir. He was found outside Rowan Jameson's room.

See you later.

We were getting ready.

I went down to reception to collect some flowers.

But when I came back, Victor Budimir

was sitting in the corridor.

Is he somebody you know well?

Not really.

He and Rowan used to work together, but

it's complicated.

I can't believe I encouraged him to come to our room.

Take your time, Mrs Jameson.

I told Rowan to be nice to him.

Victor was due to present Rowan's award.

You'd need to be strong to lift someone

- over these railings. - And quick.

Helped that Jameson was on his own.

Yeah. Yeah. But did the attacker know that?

Was it a coincidence that his wife

was out of the room, or was it timed?

You don't think he threw himself off, do you?

I mean performative suicide in front of his peers?

What, like Tosca?

Oh, um.

Well, she died throwing herself from the battlements.

I knew that.

Have you ever seen Tosca?

Er, it's an opera, isn't it?

- By Panini. - Puccini?

I knew that. Connor's taken Victor Budimir's statement.

He claims that he was assaulted

by a man who rushed out of the Jameson Suite

and elbowed him in the face.

Well, have we found anyone else who's seen the man?

Not yet.

He was wearing a baseball cap,

about six foot, I suppose, white, dark clothing.

Did you challenge him?

No, I didn't have time to react.

I was... It all happened so quickly.

I didn't even see his face.

You didn't run after him.

Have you ever been hit in the face? No.

No. I collapsed to the floor

and the, the lift doors opened and Venetia came out.

I didn't, I didn't know what to say.

Mr Budimir, I believe you and Rowan Jameson

had known each other a long time.

Yeah. Yeah. We, we studied together at Cambridge

In 2009,

you published this article accusing him of plagiarism.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's all ancient history.

We, we had our ups and downs,

we were business partners for a while, and, um,

then he decided he wanted to go it alone.

Well, only last year he reported you to the police

with allegations of harassments and threats.

That would suggest you have a motive.

No, it wouldn't.

This is absurd.

We had professional disagreements.

So you didn't kill Rowan Jameson?

No, of course not.

He sustained multiple fractures in his arms

from where he would have tried to break his fall.

He also suffered a dislocation

of the neck and spine, and traumatic brain injury.

He'd have died almost as soon as he hit the ground.

How long would the fall have taken?

Less than three seconds, depending on body weight,

wind speed, resistance.

You did physics at school, didn't you, Max?

A while ago.

I found some fragments of skin under his fingernails.

Jameson had psoriasis, so it may simply just be his

from scratching himself, but it could also be

from his attacker, or a mixture of the two.

Well, he'd presumably have grabbed anything

to stop himself falling.

Exactly.

Unfortunately, treatments for psoriasis

tend to corrupt DNA, but we do what we can.

And, er Victor Budimir.

He was examined at the crime scene.

So some people will injure themselves

to make it look as if they've been attacked.

And he did have a bloody nose,

but we don't think that's the case here.

Less than three seconds.

Would that be long enough for your life to flash before you?

Depends what you've done with your life.

All right, Connor,

There's no CCTV at the Royal Chelsea at all.

- What? - Management-side privacy issues.

Maybe it's one of those hotels

where you can rent a room for a couple of hours.

Like a love hotel.

Stayed in one of those in Japan.

- What were you doing there? - I was on holiday.

No. What were you doing...

None of your business, Connor.

We're interviewing witnesses who were in the vicinity,

and I spoke to the hotel.

And here's the curious thing.

They said they always deliver flowers to people's rooms.

So it's possible someone wanted Venetia out of the way.

We should talk to her again.

Mrs Jameson, Victor Budimir said he was attacked by a man

in a baseball cap who came running out of your room.

Did you see this man?

No, I didn't.

Surely he's just making it up.

We wanted to discuss the phone call from reception.

The hotel manager said that they always

deliver flowers to guests rooms.

It was a busy night.

Well, it's possible that whoever called

simply wanted to make sure that you weren't in the room.

Did you recognise the voice?

No.

Any indication who the flowers were from?

No. It was just a printed card that said "Congratulations."

Did your husband have any enemies?

Mrs Jameson?

He wasn't the easiest man.

He liked people who shared his point of view.

I would sometimes say to him,

"Why do you have to be at war with everyone?"

Anything recently that comes to mind?

Well, obviously, there's the disagreement

over the Petrov extension at Saint Cuthbert's.

I assume you know about that.

Rowan was determined to oppose it.

And how did you feel about it?

Me,

I thought it was an amazing design.

Did you have many disagreements?

From time to time.

But you were happily married.

Perfectly.

Thank you.

Rowan Jameson was the chair

of the university planning committee...

Thank you, at Cambridge.

They're due to vote next week