Episode 6 River

Even if you were just colleagues, there was love, perhaps.

What we will do for love. Die for it, even.

We do know that she was investigating something

and Haider Jamal Abdi may have been helping her.

I know him. The man on your appeal.

They come in here with their fake IDs and their licences,

and I send them away just as quick.

Tom Read, I arrest you for perverting the course of justice.

CHRISSIE!

Was there anything, anything different about her?

You worked with her that day. You went for dinner, for Christ's sake.

You must have talked about something.

We worked. We had lunch.

We worked some more. We went for Chinese.

We talked about nothing.

The last time I saw Stevie,

she said that she... she loved someone.

I thought that someone was...

She gave me £10,000 that night, to look after her younger brother.

I think... I think she knew something was coming.

She asked me if something happened to her,

to look after Frankie.

This programme contains some strong language

Just to go back over again...

..you come out of the Chinese restaurant...

Yeah.

After a brief exchange, she crosses the road.

Did you see who shot her?

No, my view was obscured by the van.

But you saw the car pull away?

Yes.

-She crosses the road...

-Do you recall the last thing she said to you?

HE SIGHS

River.

"Screw you, Mr Magoo."

That's the last thing she said to you?

HE SNIFFLES

I've got blood all over my shirt.

What the hell was she up to?

She gave you that money, didn't she?

That's what she was giving you, outside the restaurant, the 10K?

She knew something was coming.

You are caught in what is known as a paradox, my friend.

The closer you get to the truth, the further away you'll get from me.

From who I was.

And then you'll see who I really am.

Solve this, Magoo, and you know what happens.

Oh, Inspector.

For the guilty, there is nothing that gives more masochistic pleasure

than to retrace one's steps.

To replay the details of one's most horrific crimes.

GUNSHOT

GUNSHOT

Alas, you could not heave your heart into your mouth

and tell her how you felt that night.

If only you had taken her in your arms.

If only.

If only.

If only.

Then she may still be alive

and somewhere inside of you would not have died.

But do not be afraid, Inspector.

She may be gone,

but I will still be there, for ever...

..by your side!

River, I went through the three key firms

that Stevie was investigating in the lead-up to her murder.

-Chrissie not in yet?

-No.

Office Work Solutions - an employment agency in Harrow.

They headhunt and supply a variety of staff.

Cleaning contracts, mainly.

The second - TPA Waste Management.

They provide recycling contracts.

And the third - E&F Car Services, of which Bennigan Cars

is one of five subsidiary companies, all providing taxis,

luxury chauffeurs, a collective payroll of 1,900 employees.

Drivers, mainly.

Bennigan Cars has got 76,

maybe 80 applicants through in the last 18 months.

All applying for visas, rights to stay in the country.

Nearly all had their cases approved by one judge, Tom Read,

and then went on to future employment

in one of those companies.

-And what links all those companies is...

-E6 Holdings.

I'm trying to get a list

of all the shareholders, but...

Michael Bennigan...was on the board.

She was researching this as far back as 2003.

Certainly, she's been pulling up information on Michael Bennigan,

periodically, over the years.

It's not enough to arrest him.

I've applied for a warrant to get in there and search.

These companies come under rigorous legislation.

-They can't just employ illegal...

-Illegal immigrants?

They're not illegal.

It's a quick fix to get them into work.

He must get something in return.

I think she sent Haider in... to see how the system worked.

Ira, you lead the search.

I should do that. I know Michael.

You need to deal with Tom.

Find me the links to Stevie's murder.

Where's Chrissie?

Compassionate leave.

Are you going to let her get away with that?

She needs to be here.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

I don't know what tea I drink any more.

Tea is tea.

How did you find me?

Nina opened the door.

School sent her home.

I haven't told them where Tom is.

He's always working, anyway.

And they haven't even asked.

You need to come in.

-You need to sit in and listen to Tom's interview.

-No. No.

If I could get Stevie in a room and find out what she's done,

what she did, if I could do that, I would.

I can't, River.

My husband...is sitting in a cell

four floors below my office.

I can't face anyone. I...

Go away.

-Where's your balls?

-When did I ever need balls?!

When did balls ever make you a better detective?

In 33 years in the force, that's what blokes say.

"Where's your balls?" I got where I got.

I did it, and I didn't need a pair of sodding nuts.

Now piss off and let me do my shopping.

Is this really where you want to be?

This is where I should have been.

This is where I should have been for 33 years.

But, instead, I've worked and sweated,

and I've drunk pints with pissed-up commissioners,

and I've taken shit... Oh, God, so much shit!

But the one thing I could say, through all the losses,

through all the missed sports days, and the holidays

and the late nights when my kids needed me

and I was sweating to close a case,

the one thing I could say was that it was worth it.

And now it's not because he's guilty!

He's guilty,

River, and therefore I will be tarred with the same brush.

33 years, River, and this is my fucking carriage clock?!

Sorry.

I hate you.

I hate you for finding him out.

My fault. Never employ anyone good at their job.

I hate you.

I hate you, I hate you.

We're conducting a search. Can you please stand up,

away from your desks, please. Thank you.

HUBBUB OF VOICES

-Chrissie...

-I'm humouring River.

Did you, on November 14th this year,

visit a bank of lockers off Dalston Lane?

Also on the 4th November,

the 23rd October, the 7th October...

..and on three or four other occasions

from September to mid August?

-I haven't been briefed with this...

-Is she here?

Is Chrissie here?

I'll repeat my question.

Did you, on November 14th of this year,

visit a bank of lockers off Dalston Lane?

-Yes.

-Why did you go there?

-To pick up payments.

-How many?

I don't know. Seven, eight. I lost count.

-What were those payments for?

-I wish to confer with my client.

-HE MUTTERS

The person who paid you may be involved in Stevie's death.

I need to talk to Chrissie.

I need to talk to her first.

She's listening.

I received a text message.

From who? Was it Michael Bennigan?

I don't know.

The request was simple.

There were certain immigration cases that would come before me.

I was to quickly waive these cases through.

There were threats...

to reveal certain information.

I refused to respond.

Then photographs were sent...

of me and others.

Others?

Taken - clearly illicitly - taken at work.

Compromising photographs.

Nothing obscene but, to the trained eye, to those that know me,

they would confirm...

that I was having affairs.

Affairs? Plural?

Yes.

I don't see how this connects to Stevie's death.

Four phone calls, Tom, the last made on the morning she died.

-Mm, that doesn't mean...

-The day she was murdered.

She told me that I was to tell Chrissie.

If not, she would talk to her herself...that day.

Chrissie was already home when I got back.

She'd even cooked dinner. She never cooks dinner.

And, miraculously, by nine, all the children had fled,

gone to bed, homework, friends.

Even the dog, even the dog...

was somewhere else.

But I WAS going to tell her.

I was going to tell her...

everything...that night.

And then...the phone rings

and it's you, saying that Stevie's dead.

It's the relief, isn't it?

Because now I won't have to tell Chrissie.

I can comfort her...

..and we can go to bed and cling to one another and tell one another,

"Thank God we're OK."

"I love you, too."

Only we don't.

We didn't.

And I still don't know...

..if Stevie said anything to Chrissie at all.

Charge him!

Yeah.

Oh, God.

Mike's leaving drinks.

Promotion. Criminal Justice Unit. Haverford West.

You knew.

That's what she wanted to talk to you about.

She was talking in riddles. She was upset.

She called me that day and I said...

"We'll talk in the morning,"

and I didn't think anything of it. I didn't, River.

And then she was dead.

-There you go.

-Thanks.

Yeah, just...just lay it down over there.

Hard drives and files.

Michael Bennigan's lawyer will contact you directly.

I went through Bennigan's stuff...

and I found some corrupted data.

Look at this.

Uh, it looks like...

someone's tried to delete it.

I'll get tech, to see if they can clean it up.

The secrets of the heart are buried deep.

Only time will reveal how deeply they are sown.

Open it.

-BRIDIE:

-'Put him down, Stevie.'

'Put your boy down!'

KEYBOARD CLICKS

'Put your boy down!'

You see, no-one is what they seem, Inspector.

She didn't want you to know who she really was.

What to do?

Is the diet going well, then?

HE CHUCKLES

I don't get weighed until tomorrow.

You should exercise.

Do you?

Never.

I went to Zumba once.

I walked in and then I walked back out again.

You needed leggings. I don't have leggings.

I had my jeans on.

We raided the offices today.

-Frankie...

-I don't know anything.

That was the deal.

Stevie said...

Stevie said, if I work for Michael, I was to be kept out of it all.

I mean...

You've already given me,

like, 200 quid.

She gave me ten grand for you.

Take it.

You could go somewhere with it.

-I don't have a passport.

-Well, get one.

Travel. Go abroad.

No. You're all right.

-I don't want it.

-Why did she want me to look after you?

I don't know what she wanted me to do.

How am I meant to help you?

Tell me, Frankie.

I can't sleep in the flat no more.

I can't sleep at home. I can't sleep...

..anywhere.

I walk around all night, until it's light,

and then I go to work... and I go home.

And, uh...

Yeah, I'm, uh... I'm drowning.

Come on. Come on, Frankie.

-Last one in is...

-Chicken!

SHE SHRIEKS

RIVER LAUGHS

STEVIE WHOOPS

HE LAUGHS

Whoo!

Will your mother be up?

-Yeah. Looks like it.

-FRANKIE CHUCKLES

I knew you'd come home.

The colour's drained out of you.

-Thank you.

-I heard you searched Michael's place?

Yeah.

What did you do that for?

Just a part of the ongoing investigation.

Oh.

Right. Do yous want some toast?

No.

-How old were you there?

-Oh, about...

about a month.

You were born in Cork?

Me waters broke when we were staying at me sister's.

And that's you as well?

Our late surprise.

Frankie. Upstairs and get a dry shirt on.

Do it.

He's got some idea about her flat.

Told him we need to sell it.

You can do something with money.

Not bricks and mortar... and a pasta machine.

Oh, a pasta machine?

You ever known our Stevie make a bowl of food in her life?

She made good scrambled eggs.

And she could laugh till she pissed herself.

She was loyal, passionate and true.

And she loved.

But the one person she loved with everything was that boy.

Why did she love that boy so much, Bridie?

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

Yeah. Yep, I've heard.

-QUIETLY:

-I know.

No. Not now, it's not a good time.

Yeah.

OK.

Yes.

'I don't know why you've brought me here, John.

'Why? Hm?'

RECORDING PLAYS

'Put him down, Stevie.

'Put your boy down!

'Frankie.

'Come on! Come here!'

How do you turn that thing off?

RECORDING CONTINUES TO PLAY

Turn it off.

-Turn it off!

-SIT DOWN!

What else are you prepared to lie about?

E6 Holdings.

Do you know the company?

No comment.

He takes care of you, Michael. Takes care of you well.

He's been a good friend.

The last thing Stevie asked me to do,

before she died, was to take care of Frankie.

Her son.

I want a lawyer.

You can have one.

This is just the warm-up chat.

Who was the father?

I didn't ask.

Probably a poke for a pound round the back of Greens.

She opened her legs for everyone.

Cheap date.

She wanted to flush him away.

Wanted to flush that boy away.

I took him in.

I made him my own.

Kept him on the straight.

Until you let him work for Michael.

Oh, he's a big boy.

Is that why she went in to investigate?

To protect Frankie?

No comment.

The night Stevie was murdered, the car she was shot from...

..was left at a scrapyard. It's a blue Mondeo.

Do you recognise this car?

-No?

-No. No.

But you know who dumped it.

You dumped it, Bridie.

A figure wearing that coat...

was seen ditching it at a scrapyard,

90 minutes after she was shot.

Five foot seven, five foot eight.

About your height, Bridie.

Oh, is it March?

When the mad hares breed? Because you're mad!

SHE CHUCKLES

Madness can bring its own kind of clarity, Bridie.

Did you shoot your own daughter?

Did Michael kill her?

Did Michael kill Stevie?

No comment.

Is that the cleaned-up files?

Yeah.

Found something?

Wait...

CAR GATHERS SPEED

HE REVS ENGINE

Easy, Tonto.

The one thing,

the one thing you asked was that they keep Frankie out of it.

-But they didn't, did they?

-River. Please.

HE RINGS DOORBELL I'm doing this for Frankie.

Some find them a little macabre...

but I like them.

You know, slavery existed even before the Roman Occupation,

although the true pioneers of the English slave trade

didn't really kick in until the mid-16th century.

When Eric and I first arrived in England, it was,

"No Irish, no coloureds," when you tried to rent a room.

You had to fight to get anywhere in this country.

So, I like to think that, uh...

..I'm doing my bit for the next generation coming in.

I'll say the same in court.

I was looking at some CCTV from that night.

You were right - we did have that car out the back.

Everything is digital now, huh?

You paid to have Haider killed.

Did you do the same with Stevie?

You see, that's my point.

You can never underestimate the power of family.

Stevie never really understood that.

She always put truth before blood.

She was throwing around the threats.

Bridie and Jimmy and Frankie were upset.

I mean, I was willing to let it pass.

I mean, that girl was like a...

I loved her...more than my own.

Yeah, Stevie had a fight with Bridie,

threatened to tell Frankie the truth.

When the truth is, the only mother who will protect him now

is the one who brought him up.

It would have devastated Frankie to know who his mother really was.

That's why someone... had to stop her.

He didn't need much persuading. He was in a terrible way!

He'd been on the lash with Jimmy.

He failed to get it up with some little tart

that Jimmy found for him. Came crying to me.

Frankie came to realise the error of his ways...in confiding in her.

He knew the damage that she could do.

He told me that Stevie was going to her boss.

He told Stevie things about my business.

Things he really shouldn't have said.

Now, I knew that the truth would come out - the whole truth -

the good and the bad. I couldn't let Frankie know that.

It's a terrible thing to know,

that you were destined for a toilet pan.

Because there is nothing more precious than human life.

A lesson, sadly, Stevie learned too late.

GIGGLING IN DISTANCE

Ha-ha!

That's my Monica's girls!

Ah!

Who was the father?

HE WHISPERS: Christ...

She was 14.

You're a monster.

Monsters are for children.

We're all grown-ups here.

I'd hoped employing Tom Read

might have provided a few insurances,

but in the absence of those...

Do you really want Frankie to know the truth?

The whole truth?

That boy won't come back from that.

Prison?

It would break Stevie's heart.

I will leave it...in your hands.

-CONFUSION OF VOICES FRANKIE:

-We went for a drink, I got pissed too quick.

We went home and we... we watched TV.

RIVER: Frankie, you're lying.

-BRIDIE:

-You saying I'm lying?

No, Bridie, I'm saying he's your son...

The person to fear the most is...

..and a mother protects her son.

..the one to whom you gave all your trust.

-CREAM:

-If only you had replied to Stevie's question.

We talk, she crosses the road...

If only you had taken her in your arms...

..she turns her head...and there's a look of recognition.

-If only.

-She knew something was coming.

-If only.

-GUNSHOT

-If only.

-BRIDIE:

-You want to know who needs protecting? Frankie.

-STEVIE:

-Do you blame yourself?

-CHRISSIE:

-I should have sensed something was wrong.

I ignored it, River, I did, I ignored it, and you did, too.

-STEVIE:

-You don't know what to do.

Sorry.

Sorry.

You're late.

I am indeed late, yeah.

Ask me why I bothered to come again, after last time.

Why did you come back?

And it wasn't because I missed your sorry faces!

You want to hear my story?

I'm six years old, I'm sitting on a bus together with my mother.

It's the last stop.

My grandmother's house is the last stop and it's a beautiful day.

And my grandmother says to me, "Boy, go and swim in the lake."

And I swim and I swim and I swim.

And when I come back, my mother is gone.

Has got back on that bus and driven away.

And I don't see her again for eight years.

Eight years.

And when I do see her again, I am 14 and she's stoned.

And we have nothing to say.

What would you like to say?

All of the things you want to say to someone who suddenly went away.

How you miss them.

How the air was sucked out of your lungs the moment they left.

How you will never, ever...

..fully inhale again in the same way.

How you miss them.

How you miss them till your teeth ache.

Thank you.

UNCERTAIN APPLAUSE

Yes, thank you, River.

I-I was almost moved for a moment, there, my friend.

Poor River.

-WHISPERS:

-All alone.

Why don't you tell them about the day you thought you were Rasputin?

You have made your own hell, River.

You have bowed down to despair.

All I have ever done is shown you that those who feel

capacity for love also feel hate!

FEEL HATE, RIVER!

UNTIL DEATH IS YOUR ONLY ESCAPE!

No matter. The mind is its own place...

..and, in itself, can make a heaven of hell.

I'm your hell.

I will never leave you.

I'm not listening to you any more.

I'M NOT LISTENING!

I'm sorry.

When I was 14, I was riding buses and buying records.

You weren't to know.

-You were...

-Because I didn't tell you.

Where we're from...

..where we come from, that...

doesn't make us, River.

It can't be all we are.

I don't know what you want from me.

I've put on another three pounds.

-I know. SCOFFS:

-Right!

I know the truth, Frankie.

I, uh...

I passed this bloke I went to school with yesterday.

He had his kids with him.

One on his shoulder and the other was in the buggy.

And he asked about Stevie.

Gave his condolences and that.

But all I could think was...

"That's a real man."

"That's... That's what a real man...is."

Ask me why.

Come on. Ask me why I did it.

Why?

This time...

..she were going to let her do it to us again.

"Frankie. She's going to break the family.

"Again."

No, Mummy. No.

So tired of always being at Michael's beck and call.

I thought..."Stevie."

If I tell Stevie,

Stevie could always make it...

Better.

Only, this time...

HE WHIMPERS

Stevie wasn't listening any more.

Why wasn't she listening any more?

"We have to do this, now!" But...

"But what about Mummy?

"We can't do that to her."

Because Stevie left me.

Stevie left me...

with Mummy...

for so many years.

No! You weren't there!

YOU WEREN'T THERE!

It was me alone with her!

Me alone with Mummy! ME! NOT HER!

Year after year.

Do you know what that feels like?!

Francis Eric Stevenson...

..I arrest you for the murder

of Detective Sergeant Jacqueline Stevenson.

River, what are you doing here?

The cleaner let me in.

Oh, the kids will be back soon.

You have foxes.

I was going to make some...some tea.

-She's Columbian.

-Who?

-Your cleaner.

-Oh, yes.

-Is she?

-Yeah.

She's new, so...

Tom's on his way home.

They've granted bail.

I'll need to resign.

I know.

I know, you think I'm an idiot, but he's my husband and...

I have to tell the kids.

Right.

-What will you say?

-The truth.

That their father is a weak, dishonest...

..faithless shit.

Sounds good. CHRISSIE CHUCKLES

What are you doing here?

'Even if you were just colleagues,

'there was love, perhaps?

'There should be more than one word for love.

'I've seen love that kills and I've seen love that redeems.

'I've seen love that believes in the guilty,

'and love that saves the bereaved.

'What we will do for love.

'Die for it, even.'

Which one?

Red.

Nice, blood. Nice.

Don't be nervous, man.

You can do this.

-Table for two?

-Yes.

Hurry up. Come on, hurry up.

You're wearing lipstick.

I've ordered crispy duck, pancakes.

There can't be many points in seaweed, can there?

No. Practically pointless.

You look tired.

I should take a vacation.

I was thinking of a week in Ibiza.

And then you say...

I took my mother to dinner with my first pay cheque.

She didn't eat anything.

Wanted to go.

-And she said...

-"Mais je n'aime pas la cuisine Francaise...

"..mon cheri."

You speak French now?

When what she meant to say was...

"I'm so proud of you.

"My beautiful boy.

"You have grown into a fine young man.

"And, one day...

"..you will sit here...

"with the woman you love."

And I did. I have.

I am.

Then say it.

Stevie!

We can skip the next bit.

No.

No, no.

This is when you give me the 10,000...

-and you say...

-Look after Frankie.

And I tried. I tried.

And I failed.

And then you say?

Stevie, I...

Still can't say it.

Screw you, Mr Magoo.

GUNSHOT

I love you.

I love you more than life.

More than life.

And then you say...

HE LAUGHS THROUGH TEARS

Sing, you nutter. Sing.

# Oh, I love to love

# But my baby just loves to dance

# He wants to dance He loves to dance

# He's got to dance

# Oh, I love to love

# But my baby just loves to dance

# Oh, I love to love

# But there's no time for our romance

# No, no, no

# Oh, I love to love

# But my baby just loves to dance

# The minute the band begins to swing it

# He's on his feet to dig it

# And dance the night away

# Stop I'm spinning like a top

# We'll dance until we drop

# But if I had my way

# Oh, I love to love

# But my baby just loves to dance

# He wants to dance He loves to dance

# He's got to dance

# Oh, I love to love

# But my baby just loves to dance

# Oh, I love to love

# But he won't give our love a chance

# No, no, no

# Oh, I love to love

# But my baby just loves to dance... #

CAR HORN BEEPS, MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY

All right?

Yeah.

You eaten yet?

No.

Thought not.

17.

There are 17 points in seaweed.

And I say...

..I love you, too.

QUIET CHATTER

Here, would you...?

Here you go.

Want the brown one? Yeah.

Yeah, it's in the brown... Er, no, it's the pink one, OK?

-HER VOICE FADES INTO BACKGROUND

-No, that's nappies.

I brought enough for two.

Hello!

HE LAUGHS