Episode 2: Part 2 Hinterland

Trauma to the back the head. Single blow.

-What's this place?

-That could be anywhere.

Old wrecks like that are ten a penny around here.

There were children at Talygroes. There were notches cut into the door frame.

Find out what happened to them!

Idris Williams?

Talygroes gets smaller and smaller every time.

I didn't kill Idris Williams.

Shit!

The same day she finds out about Idris Williams' murder,

Enid Roberts tries to kill herself.

Provisional planning application for Parc-y-Boda, the Williams' place.

They want to build 60 turbines, sir.

Look who's behind it.

Herbert Rees.

BANGING AND MUFFLED SHOUTS

-PHONE RINGS

-What is it?!

He's gone. Herbert Rees has been kidnapped.

What are you talking about?

Get over to the Guild, call Soco and secure the building.

-Are you OK?

-Oh, I'm fine. There's just someone I need to see.

FAINT SIREN WAILS

FAINT BARKING

-I heard him come in.

-But you didn't speak?

I was in bed. We sleep in separate rooms.

I heard him on the landing and I...

-And then he left? For the Guild?

-Yeah.

Was he going there to meet someone?

This is important, Nia.

Was Herbert himself involved in something?

Something he couldn't control?

-(No. He'd never do that.)

-Are you sure?

Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary in the last few weeks?

Phone calls late at night, meetings, changes in his mood?

Well, if you remember anything, please, just...

Are you OK?

Do you want me to call someone?

There's no-one to call.

Forensics are checking the bloods now.

-And the caretaker?

-I've spoken to him. He's on his way in.

-No sign of forced entry.

-Do you think Herbert Rees knew his attacker?

If it was the same person that killed Idris Williams,

why didn't he do the same thing to Herbert Rees? Why kidnap him?

Because Herbert has got something the killer wants.

Get on to Traffic.

We need CCTV of all the roads in and out of the town

between 8:00 and 10:30pm.

Are you OK?

The killer has shown his hand.

This isn't just about Idris Williams.

It goes back further than that.

This is about his father.

About history.

-What's the latest on Enid?

-No change.

-I'll make sure I'm there when she wakes up.

-Good. Good.

You got any contacts at the university?

A couple of old boyfriends. Why?

BIRDSONG

Professor Yorath?

DCI Mathias.

Mared not with you, then?

She's been called away. She sends her regards.

She told you I was an insomniac?

She mentioned it, yes.

Good.

Right.

Wenn wir marschieren.

Together we march.

They were...they were sold

and manufactured in Germany in the early 1940s.

To servicemen?

To soldiers on duty with the Waffen-SS and the Wehrmacht

and to civilians. Where did you get this?

We found it up at the Idris Williams farm.

You might have read about it in the paper.

Any idea how it might have got up there?

Memorabilia of the period is very popular.

-Was...was Idris a collector?

-No.

I've got something to show you.

Prisoner-of-war camps?

Detention camps.

For German and Italian prisoners of war.

You see, the whole of the UK was littered with them.

There were...there were 15 different sites in Wales alone.

How come I've never heard of them?

Well, you know, they were knocked down, flattened

as soon as the war was over.

This is, er... This is all that's left now.

And this place...?

-Henllan Bridge.

-Yeah.

Do you think the mouth organ came from there?

No. Henllan Bridge was built for Italian prisoners of war only.

But, you see, there was another camp, a sister camp

that didn't exist officially.

-For German soldiers?

-Yes. And there's more.

According to local sources, in September 1943,

five German prisoners of war escaped.

Two of them were picked up within half a mile of Henllan Bridge,

but three of them were never caught.

So, what happened to the three that got away?

Well, that's the point. Nobody knows.

CONSTANT BEEPING

FLAMES CRACKLE

SCREAMING

Nothing.

Daily reports from mainland Europe and a load of local stuff.

-But nothing on Henllan Bridge?

-Nothing.

What about the Guild? Anything back from Forensics?

DS Owen's chasing them now. There is something else, sir.

I've been looking into their accounts. The place is in arrears.

Two renovation companies waiting to be paid,

one of them threatening legal action.

Good work, Lloyd!

-Oh, I'm sure it happened, all right.

-Why no mention of it in the papers?

Anything to do with escapees was more than likely censored.

Mr Bracken and his Ministry of Information,

always stealing our best stories.

You're lucky, stories tended to be pulled at the last minute.

So they were written up, just didn't make it into the paper.

Here we are.

October...1943.

Does it say the prisoners' names?

Impatient bugger, aren't you?

Occupational hazard.

Short on facts, I'm afraid. More of a reaction piece.

To the rumours?

Stories like this had a habit of trickling out.

The whole purpose of censorship was to starve the story of oxygen.

Hope it would go away.

But you're talking about German soldiers running around Aberystwyth.

People are going to talk.

Here we are, got himself a witness.

An old farm hand says he saw the Germans up on the ridge.

RAPID BEEPING

The men were headed west.

From some place called Carn yr Awel.

-The ridge, sir.

-Do you know it?

Used to go up there with my father before he was ill.

There's only one way down from there, sir.

Look at the first place it leads you.

Talygroes.

Sir, something in from Traffic.

One of the cameras on the prom picked this up.

Freeze it there.

Go in on the van, see if you can get the plates.

Let's get a trace of it, quick.

FOOTSTEPS

HE SPLUTTERS

GASPS FOR BREATH

Wake up!

You've got work to do.

Please!

The van was registered to a Mr Aneirin Roberts. He died 2008.

-Enid's brother?

-Yes, sir.

Do we know if he had any children?

-A son. We're trying to trace him.

-Why didn't we pick this up before?

-Aneirin left Aber in the '60s. We didn't realise...

-Find him!

Yes, sir.

PHONE RINGS

Mathias.

Nia.

WAVES CRASH

BIRDSONG

I promised my husband it was over.

Promised him I wouldn't see Idris again, but...

I couldn't do it.

For a couple of years, yes, but in the end...

..I couldn't stay away.

Knowing he was up there on his own.

The sweetest, gentlest man.

The kindest soul.

Herbert knew Idris and my father were friends.

That's why he sent me up there...to Parc-y-Boda.

To see if I could...

..persuade Idris to move off the mountain.

Herbert sent you up there?

The first time, yes.

He thought the connection with Dad would help.

-Did it?

-(I don't know.)

I don't think Idris would have moved. Not for anybody.

Every day he spent on that mountain

was another nail in his father's coffin.

Why did Idris hate his father so much?

Caradog was a bully.

All Idris ever wanted was a father.

In the end, the mountain was all Idris had.

It was everything to him.

Not everything, Nia.

You loved him, didn't you?

With all my heart.

Tom.

I've just had Hywel from the Cambrian Herald in my office

going on about German prisoners of war.

Idris Williams is dead,

Herbert Rees is missing and what do I see?

My top man running around Aberystwyth,

chasing after the bloody Luftwaffe.

-The two things are linked, sir.

-They'd better be.

Otto Ernst, Christian Sommer,

Lukas...Lukas Schmidt.

Find out if any of these men made it back to Germany.

They were last seen headed towards Talygroes.

Now, we need to know where they went from there.

-Yep, I'm on it.

-Thanks, DS Owen.

She loved him.

She was young.

So?

PHONE RINGS

-Sian?

-The prisoners never made it home.

They were officially declared dead in the late '70s.

What about family, descendants?

Christian Sommer had a daughter, Eva Sommer, born 1943.

1943?

That's who the letter's to.

Your loving father.

He was saying goodbye to his little girl in case he didn't make it home.

Get a number for this Eva Sommer, find out what she knows.

-You sure that's a good idea, sir?

-Hold on.

She doesn't know her father and we don't know what happened to him.

Is it fair to go stirring things up like that?

-Do it.

-'Yes, sir.'

So, how come Enid ended up with the letter?

Maybe Christian Sommer gave it to her to send on.

You saw her back there.

Maybe she couldn't bear to let it go.

Maybe the letter is the only thing she has left to remember him by.

Her only memory.

FOOTSTEPS

Hello.

Hello?

Herbert Rees said he was at the Guild

the night Idris Williams was murdered. Can you vouch for that?

I was here all night. Saw him with my own eyes.

-You weren't aware of him behaving oddly?

-No more than the rest.

He was with the others the whole time?

Yeah. He did nip out the back to make a call at one point,

-but other than that...

-Make a call?

-Yeah.

-How long was he gone?

-Five minutes.

I thought DC Ellis said there were no record of any calls?

Nothing came up. Perhaps he has another phone.

Perhaps he didn't make a call.

How far back does that thing go?

-Three weeks.

-Can you show me the night in question?

Yeah, I can try.

I must've got it wrong. There's nothing here.

Stop it there.

Play it again.

There!

Look at the time. 8:43.

Rewind it.

Play it again.

There's 20 minutes missing.

He deleted it.

Or he turned the camera off before going outside.

-You say all the other members were inside?

-Yeah, that's right.

And they're the only ones to have keys to this place?

Yeah, more or less.

More or less?

The only other people with keys are the boys from the Esplanade.

-Yeah, we do the odd function for them.

-How do you find them?

Not too quick paying their bills.

Apart from that, they're the same as everybody else here.

What about Herbert Rees? Have you had anything to do with him?

He's a humourless bugger. I try and stay out of his way if I can.

He sent you down here, did he?

Were any of your staff up at the Guild last night?

-Last night? No.

-You're definitely sure about that?

We had a wedding on. It was all hands on deck.

Nobody left early?

Nobody off sick?

Well, there's Jo.

-Jo?

-Joseph Roberts.

Well, he's been off for ten days. Stomach bug or something.

How long has he worked for you?

Couple of years. Hard worker. From north Wales.

Have you got an address for him?

He lives with his auntie, I think. On the old road to Borth.

I got it written down in the office.

RAPID CLICKING

BREATHES HARD

BREATHES DEEPLY

VEHICLE APPROACHES

We should wait for backup.

The place is empty.

ENGINE REVS

Shit!

TYRES SCREECH

BIRD'S WINGS FLUTTER

FAINT POLICE RADIO

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

He was one of the boys from the Esplanade.

I found him in my office one day.

He'd spotted the painting.

He was upset.

He said his family had been cheated out of their land.

That it was all Caradog Williams' fault.

And was it?

No.

It wasn't Caradog who killed those soldiers.

It was Eric Roberts.

Joseph's grandfather.

They were sheltering in his barn.

Roberts' daughter Enid found them up there.

She took pity on them.

Started going to see them at night, taking them food.

One of them was injured.

She...got close to him.

How long were they there?

I don't know. Days, a week.

Roberts caught his daughter running back from the barn one night.

He asked her what was going on, she told him.

He took things into his own hands.

He torched the barn.

Let them burn.

Caradog had heard the men screaming.

He went up there the next morning.

Saw what his neighbour had done.

And he blackmailed him?

The men came to an agreement.

Just like the one between you and Joseph Roberts.

Was this him?

Do you recognise the place?

What happened, Herbert?

The man wanted his land back.

What was I supposed to do?

Be straight with him.

Tell him that it wasn't possible.

But instead of that, you made a deal with him.

Get rid of Idris Williams and I'll give you your land back.

Joseph came to the Guild, didn't he, the night Idris was murdered?

He came to tell you what he'd done.

He came to tell you he'd kept to his side of the bargain,

now it was up to you to keep yours.

That's why you turned off the security cameras.

You didn't go outside to make a phone call,

you went outside to meet the killer!

You got a desperate man to do your dirty work for you.

A man who'd lost his father.

Lost his inheritance. Lost everything!

You used him and then you turned him away!

We're up to our necks in debt!

I...I tried talking to Idris. He didn't want to listen.

So you sent Joseph up there.

Just like you sent Nia up there before him.

She never loved you, Herbert.

I should never have married her.

She's ruined everything.

No. She didn't.

You did that all by yourself.

You were right about the mountain, Tom.

Sir, they've found the van.

Have we got a position?

It was abandoned on the B4275

just north of the junction with the A651.

-I'll call out a search team.

-No need. He's not trying to get away.

-What?

-He's trying to go home.

-Tom?

-You saw his house, his place was like a shrine.

Talygroes was everything to him. Where else would he go?

RUSTLING

BIRDSONG

SIRENS WAIL

FAINT POLICE RADIO

-Joseph?

-Stay away from me!

Put the lighter down, Joseph.

I know what happened to the prisoners.

I know what your grandfather did to them.

It wasn't your fault.

We lost everything.

Our land, our future.

Everything.

I know.

I know what my grandfather did was wrong,

but when are we going to stop paying for his sins?

Talygroes.

All his life, my dad spoke of nothing else.

This is where he grew up!

Even at the end, cooped up in his little flat,

coughing his guts up!

He never forgot!

I sat with him...right till the end.

You were a good son.

Do you have any idea what it's like...

..to watch someone close to you dying like that?

Yes.

He was a lonely man miles away from home, dying.

He should've been here, on the mountain, where he belonged!

I know, I know.

The doctors said it was dust from the quarry that killed him.

You blame Caradog Williams, don't you?

All I wanted was the farm back, that's all.

I thought Idris would understand.

I tried talking to him, tried to reason with him.

Begged him to help me, but he wouldn't! He wouldn't listen!

I just wanted back what was ours.

Joseph? Joseph!

Hey.

It's going to be all right.

Do you hear me?

All the pain...

..all the suffering...

..it ends here.

It ends now.

Thank you.

No!

FIRE ROARS

Sir, please, you've got to come now!

GLASS SHATTERS

GLASS SHATTERS

BIRDSONG

RUSTLING

FAINT CHATTER

POIGNANT INSTRUMENTAL

BIRDSONG

WAVES CRASH

BIRDSONG

BREATHES HARD