Episode 4 The Body Farm

THIS PROGRAMME CONTAINS SOME SCENES WHICH VIEWERS MAY FIND DISTURBING.

'We read stories in flesh and blood and bone.

'We piece together lives from residue.

'And every one of those lives is unique,

'except in one respect...

'...that each of us wants to love and be loved.

'Because if we don't connect,

'then we just move through the world like breath in the air

'and we're nothing.'

'Reports are coming in of violent outbreaks

'And at least one known death

'at Langdon Vale Prison.

'No details have been released as yet

'and the prison authorities insist they are regaining control after several hours of rioting.'

'Langdon Vale was first established as an open prison

'exclusively for women offenders

'and has, until now, enjoyed a trouble-free reputation,

'which makes this sudden outbreak of violence all the more surprising.'

Her name's Beth Fox.

Somebody got into her cell last night, slit her throat, et cetera.

-No witnesses.

-Et cetera?

Yeah, body's a mess. It's not pretty.

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

Hi. Jim Ryan. Governor.

Dr Eve Lockhart. How come somebody could just get into her cell?

Well, it's an open prison, they have their own keys.

We've got a suspect.

There was a spat last night between the victim and another prisoner -

-Nicole...

-Henderson.

She's like top hen in the coop.

I've seen the CCTV footage.

She batters the victim over the head with a pool cue,

but that doesn't account for the state of the body.

WOMEN SHOUT

This door was locked, yeah, when you found the body?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, from the outside.

We searched the place. There was no key in the cell.

My God.

Look, I'm gonna have to get you out of here. I thought we'd secured the floor.

No, no, no, we need to get the body back to the Farm

as quick as we can for autopsy.

No-one's gonna stick around here longer than it's safe to.

Have you ever seen bruising like this before?

No. Swelling, I have.

A body'd been left in front of a gas fire for a week

and blew up like a beach ball.

Right...

We've got no outward signs

of sexual assault.

We've got rice-water diarrhoea staining.

-Eve?

-Oggy, do you want to...?

Yep, hello? Is everything all right there? Under control?

I think so. They seem contained, at least. Listen...

-The blood on the floor here.

-Are you getting this, Eve?

There's no spray pattern whatsoever, which suggests to me...

The heart had already stopped pumping when the artery was cut.

Why cut someone's carotid when they're already dead?

There's no obvious signs of a struggle.

Well, there was massive bruising.

Yeah, evenly distributed over...

80% of her body with no clear trauma sites.

Yeah, except for this.

Well, Hale said she was hit over the head with a pool cue,

so that makes sense.

One identifiable injury.

This way, girls.

And you're sure it's safe?

Everyone's banged up in their cells apart frae half a dozen up on the roof.

Eh, and before you ask, I'm no' risking going up there to get them,

-no' with news cameras watching.

-Tell me about Nicole Henderson.

She's coming to the end of an eight for trafficking.

-You said she's top dog here, yeah?

-She's a bloody nightmare.

Always feels the need to, you know, challenge authority.

Sees herself as the union rep, as it were.

So on paper, you run the place,

but actually, she's the one wears the trousers, right?

What was her relationship with Beth Fox like?

Nicole had a girlfriend in here,

until Beth came and broke it up. PHONE RINGS

What was her name?

Tess Williams.

I'll have to take this. My line boss.

Ryan?

No, no. No. no. No, it's under control. Everything's under control.

What happened?

Er, screws took her to the infirmary.

No, I meant what happened to cause the fight?

Look, I've spoken to Jim Ryan.

He reckons you're the cock of the prison.

You don't want to believe everything Jim Ryan tells you.

-Because?

-Because he's a knob-head.

He wants me transferred out and he'll do anything to make that happen.

Did she say something to you? Beth? Did she scare you?

Oh, yeah(!)

Yeah, I was shitting myself.

That's why I smacked her over the head with a pool cue.

-OK. Is that Tess Williams?

-Um... Yeah.

-Your ex?

-I'm not a dyke.

-Oh, no(!) Just all these years in prison - needs must, I understand.

So, you and Tess, you're all sweet,

Beth comes along, takes her off your hands.

-Ooh. You have to go after her with a big stick, don't you?

-We went our separate ways ages ago.

Again...

what was the problem last night, Nicole?

Beth. Beth's the problem.

She's insecure, takes it out on people she's close to.

Eh, I bet you know all about that one, don't you, eh?

Mm? You don't like yourself very much, do you, eh?

Why you ended up stuck here, doing this shitty job.

Yeah, thank you. So, what you're telling me is, Beth and your ex, Tess, they had an argument

-and you decided to step in and play the Good Samaritan?

-Yep.

Oh, come along! You're gonna have to give me something a bit better than that, my love! Hm?

What do you think I am? Some kind of bloody monkey?

-Tell me about Tess.

-What do you want to know? She's up on the roof.

-You can nip up there and ask her yourself.

-Is she violent?

-No.

-Never?

She does what she wants, she goes her own way.

She's not frightened of anything...

or anybody.

Everybody works for everybody else in here.

So, if you've got a deal happening, you've gotta share.

There is no deal. Nothing that concerns you, anyway.

-It's all right, I'm fine.

-What we had is history.

And if you've got a problem with that, take it out on me, not Beth.

Come on.

Look, I know what you're thinking, but I never killed anybody.

I don't have that kind of form

and I do not hold that kind of grudge.

These are Beth's clothes for examination.

Also, there were two different hair samples on her pillow.

We're gonna need to take DNA profiles,

staff included, to see who that hair belongs to.

Well, the prisoners' DNA is on the police database.

Be just as quick to make your own. I have to go to a judge to access the records.

-OK, let's do bloods and screen for toxins while we're there.

-OK.

And anything you may have on Beth, Tess, Nicole,

-can you send to me and to the Farm?

-Sure.

-Now, Tess is still on the roof, right?

-There's eight of them up there.

Yeah, I need her down.

I told you...

She's a suspect. I don't care

-what it looks like on television.

-I can't make that decision.

Dragging women off the roof, all that bollocks. I need her down here, I need to talk to her now.

My boss is on the way. Speak to him.

Mike, if you're gonna do a sweep of the cells,

can you prioritise Nicole Henderson and Tess Williams, thank you.

Mike, whoever cut Beth's carotid, there may be blood traces on clothes.

-Yeah, yeah, we're on to it.

-Also her throat.

It wasn't stabbed as such,it was more like...a careful incision

with something small, like a modelling knife.

Well, there's no sign of a knife here. I mean, not yet.

It looked like she'd been severely beaten, but there are no impact sites.

Really? You sure about that?

Yeah, of course I am. I wouldn't say it otherwise.

Oggy...

The tox screen on Beth's blood?

-I'm in the middle of it right now.

-What, there?

I'm sorry you've had to come looking for me.

-No, no, I didn't mean that.

-But I like it here, OK?

I mean, why not?

I'm usually on my own in there, I might as well be on my own out here.

-Do you want me to stay and do it with you?

-It's fine.

SHE SIGHS

OK. Well, er, let me know as soon as you have anything, right?

-'Good night.'

-'Good night.'

Am I a suspect?

You'll have to ask the police.

I'm asking you.

I just do the science.

What are you so frightened of, hmm?

Me?

CHUCKLES

Would you be frightened if you saw me on the street, or is it just this place?

I wouldn't see you on the street, would I?

Oh, you might do. We all go out to work here.

I might call on you one day.

So, what is it that you do... for work?

Oh! Heh! Like you give a shit.

All right.

I work for a chippy.

Beth was in a caff on the river.

Tess works for a cleaning company.

There's no such thing as a free lunch here, you know.

We all stand by one another.

It's OK, you know.

You can talk to me. I'm not the police.

I do.

I stand by people, me.

Tess...

What?

Well, she can be so focused, like, so...

..single-minded.

She'd have to be, to do what she did to...

..get put away in the first place.

I can forgive her owt, me. Hmm.

Mm.

She taught me things about myself.

She reminded me of who I was,

that it's OK to care about people.

Hmm.

Hm.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

Hurry up!

Why'd you do that?

Huh!

To see what you'd do.

-Oggy, are you there?

-Whoa!

Oggy? Oggy, I just e-mailed you over some CCTV footage.

Can you research the attached medical files?

Counselling tape of Tess Williams.

I'm trying to find out what your primary state of mind is here.

Well, we need sustenance, don't we?

We need to be inspired to see beyond these four walls.

And, at the risk of sounding ungrateful,

there are very few people I can connect with in here.

I feel alone most of the time.

I suppose my studies are a way

of smuggling something real and good inside me.

It's like medicine.

'Time isn't measurable in terms of experience.

'I mean, sometimes an hour can seem interminable,

'but if, say, you're with somebody that you love, then...

'it's elastic.'

'Sure, but maths deals in measurable absolutes.'

'No, no. Not always.

'It's not that easy to explain.'

'OK.'

'What I'm trying to find out is, what exactly does this do for you,

'besides it being an intellectual challenge?'

'Oh, right.

'Well, that's simple.

-'Maths is the window into other worlds...'

-Mike, whose cell are you in?

Tess Williams.

TESS CONTINUES SPEAKING ON RECORDING

What is she, some kind of mathematician?

'..in quite the way that we experience them.'

'And that mirrors what goes on in your head, yeah?

'Other dimensions that don't obey normal rules?

'That dimension where you take your sister's pain away?'

Oggy? You must have the results of the tox screen by now, surely.

-Oggy?

-Oh, yeah. Nothing's come up.

-Do you want me to invent something?

-No, I just want you

to focus on what's important, rather than watching prison TV.

Oh, strewth!

Mike?

Yeah.

I need your help here. I'm looking at sections of Beth's skin

and some of the arterials have burst close to the surface.

Well, that would explain the bruising.

So, what caused the damage, then?

I don't know. Nothing chemical.

Not what we've tested for anyway.

-Bacteria maybe?

-Maybe.

-Tests are still ongoing.

-Well,

it could be a natural toxin. There were some native things here -

moonseed, monkshood,

wolfsbane.

Just focusing on what's important here, but has anyone looked on Tess's bookshelves?

Eve, have a look at this.

She's a very clever girl.

-Aye, got a PhD.

-Where'd she do that?

-Here?

-Within the prison system.

-Did a BSc and then a Masters.

-What in?

-Eh, maths.

-Where was she before?

-She started off at, er,

-Cookham Wood Young Offenders.

-How old was she?

-16.

Then onto Rampton, treated for psychosis with delusional something or other.

-Then back into the general prison population.

-What did she do?

Her younger sister had a disease, cystic fibrosis.

Tess got it into her head that she wisnae gonna survive

if she wisnae with her 24 hours a day, so... They say she nursed her with total dedication

then one day just snapped.

Tried to suffocate her. Put her out her misery.

-She still dangerous?

-Unpredictable, maybe.

OK, violent?

-Mike?

-Yeah, go ahead, Eve.

Rice-water diarrhoea and poor skin turgor - ring any bells?

Who exactly do I have to talk to in order to get her off the roof?

Sorry, excuse me, gents.

Well, that could be a variety of things.

OK, you wouldn't normally get bruising and swelling like this,

so God knows, but the bacteria screen has come back positive.

What for?

Vibrio cholerae.

Cholera?!

'Sooner or later, you're gonna come back late

'from whatever it is that you're doing and Ryan over there

'is gonna use you to pretend that he's got a big dick.'

'So, what are you saying?'

You need more time out there, right?

I can fix it.

We go to work, we clock in, we clock out - there's no leeway on time.

There is if you go to college evening classes.

I know people who'll sign you up.

You don't have to actually go,

but if anyone asks, they'll say that's where you are.

Buys you time.

What, and you'd do that just to be nice? Don't think so.

No.

Making money, aren't you, hm?

Little nest egg for when you get out.

Tell me about it.

Cut me in.

Just how infectious is this exactly?

OK, listen to me, right?

You cannot get this from person to person.

You get it from food and water.

So, kitchens are closed, right? Nothing whatsoever in or out.

Bottled water only.

And we're gonna need blood samples from all the inmates and the staff.

OK?

One more time, loud and clear. I need Tess Williams.

-How many times do I have to tell ye?!

-Shh! So what's it gonna take, hm?

People dying of cholera before you get off your arse?

Not with news cameras, OK?

Oh, so you're gonna wait until we bus them out in ambulances?

Really?

-And how d'you think that's gonna make your public image look?

-Hm?

DI Hale? I'm from the Home Office. Parvez Khan.

At last! Somebody who might be able to make a decision!

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

SCREAMING

Tess Williams? Tess?

Tess Williams?

-Tess Williams? Tess!

-Get off!

Tess Williams...?

Get off me!

There's no-one else up there. Where is she?

Huh? Where is Tess Williams?

So, what do you want to do? Issue a public health warning?

Something tells me the Home Office isn't gonna want to do that.

Country's safe in their hands and all.

Since when did we get cholera in the UK?

So, how the hell did she pick it up, then? A day trip to West Bengal?

Guys, the hairs Rosa found on Beth's pillow...

They match with Tess Williams.

OK, I'm on my way.

We can place Tess in Beth's cell.

Fantastic(!) And can you place where Tess is now?

-She's up on the...

-On the roof? No. Wrong. She's not there, she never has been.

-So who told you she was?

-Nicole!

So she's not on the roof and she didn't go to work. Vanished!

You'd better come up with something quick, man! Think!

She could have just walked out of here really, couldn't she?

This is an open prison, you know.

The doors are open at 6am for people in work placements.

Next of kin, have you contacted them?

Her parents are dead.

The sister - still alive?

I don't know.

What's her name?

Eh, Caitlin.

Do you have an address for Caitlin?

There'll be nothing in the system. It was years ago,

and as far as I know, there's been no contact since she was sentenced.

All right, listen - my concern is we've got somebody out there

-running around with cholera.

-No, we don't know that for certain.

OK. Maybe cholera, then.

Transmission person to person is extremely rare,

so she's not gonna give it to anyone else outside.

Fine. But if it was cholera that killed Beth Fox,

we're not looking at murder any more, am I right?

Look, she was dead before she was cut and yes,

she had cholera in her system, but this is extremely important, OK?

Cholera doesn't cause bruising and swelling...

-He asked a simple question.

-Yeah, and I'm trying to explain.

-Look, we don't want an essay.

All we want is a very simple answer, because to be quite honest with you,

-I'm fed up with running about looking like a bloody idiot.

-There are no simple answers.

We make an observation suggesting one thing

and then it's immediately contradicted by something else.

It takes time to come up with scientific proof.

You can't just throw a paddy and expect results, Hale - you have to learn some patience.

All right, let's just assume for one moment it was cholera that killed her and Tess has it too.

Now, worst-case scenario - say the police can't find her quickly,

and it remains untreated. How long will she have?

The closest strain to what we found in Beth is El Tor 01,

a Haitian strain which can kill within anything from 2 to 48 hours.

Hello? Hello, it's Hale. I need an address. Caitlin Williams.

As quick as you can.

We test everyone.

If anyone else is carrying it, they go straight onto antibiotics.

Except Tess Williams. How are you gonna test her?

-She's not here, is she?

-So, find her.

All right, whatever. For now, we keep this under wraps, OK?

Nobody here needs to know about this. We can't afford a panic.

You knew she wasn't up on the roof. You were stalling.

Is that what this riot is about, to cover her getting out the front door?

She didn't tell me anything.

Now, you said that Beth was really hard work, right?

That she was really insecure? She gave Tess a hard time.

-I never said that.

-So, Tess comes to you,

she says, yeah, we've had a fight,

she lost control, but she didn't mean to actually kill her.

She's in pieces and she needs time to get away

before they discover the body, will you help? Nicole, will you help?

So, you stir things up. You put a couple of people up on the roof

because you know that Ryan over there is too soft to go up and get 'em down,

and by the time that we do, she's had, what, a three-hour head start?

I need to know where Tess is, Nicole. Where is she?

BUZZ OF CONVERSATION

'Well, we all need sustenance, don't we? Whoever we are.'

-She's fascinating.

-That's one way of describing her.

Takes something special, I suppose, to cut somebody's throat.

-She was already dead.

-Well, that's all right, then(!)

'There are few people I can connect with in here.'

Would you do that to somebody you say you love?

'I feel alone most of the time.

'I suppose my studies are a way

'of smuggling something real and good inside me.

'It's like medicine.'

RECORDING REWINDS

'It's like medicine.'

Rosa, can you check if Tess gave blood in the last few days?

I don't know, routine drug screening, whatever.

I've got to test her somehow.

I've gotta find out what we've got walking around out there.

Mike, I'm couriering a faeces sample from Tess's cell.

If she has cholera, she'd have D and V, right?

It'd show up in her faeces.

-Can you scan it?

-Yeah, will do.

Also, I'm thinking we might need some expert help here.

A specialist in tropical diseases.

Well, I know someone at university might be able to help.

His name's, um, Neil Olsen.

-Do you want me to get in touch?

-Yeah.

No... No.

Actually, let's just hang fire, see how widespread this is.

These are from her cell, right? Her sister, Caitlin.

Caitlin, Caitlin, Caitlin... Completely obsessed with her.

-So obsessed she tried to kill her?

-Yeah. But there was a kind of noble logic to that.

Did she survive, the sister?

Yeah.

'I suppose my studies are a way

'of smuggling something real and good inside me.

'It's like medicine.

'I get the faintest glimpse of other dimensions

'where things don't obey the rules of the universe

'in quite the way that we experience them.'

'And that mirrors what goes on in your head, yeah?

'Other dimensions that don't obey normal rules?

That dimension where you take your sister's pain away?

-'Tell me about Caitlin.'

-'Like I said,

'every breath she took gave her pain.

'I used to hear her screaming for someone to take it away.'

-'Where were your parents?'

-'My dad was next to useless.

'My mum was...

'impotent, like me.'

'Except you weren't, though, were you?'

-'She wanted to be free of it.'

-'Would you do it again?'

-'I thought she was better off dead.'

-'Yes, I realise that.

'What I'm asking is, would you do it again?'

'Yeah, I'd do it again. Course I would.

'Both our parents are dead now.

'Without question, she's solely my responsibility.

'So, if she was hurting that badly, then yeah, whatever it takes.'

DIALLING TONE

'Hi. Ben and Cat aren't here right now,

'so leave us a message.' BEEP

Sorry.

I am here.

Hello?

Hello?

'Time isn't measurable in terms of experience.

'I mean, sometimes an hour can seem interminable,

'but if, say, you're with somebody that you love, then it's elastic.

'It's not that easy to explain.'

'OK.

'What I'm trying to find out is, what exactly does this do for you?

'Besides being an intellectual challenge.'

Hi, sorry, you're needed.

Khan needs to make a public statement and he needs information.

'Attempts are being here to move press and public away from the area,

'but so far, no explanation has been forthcoming.

'We are experiencing a really distressing scene. You can feel the tension here.'

-Turn that shit off.

-'I will, of course, keep you updated.'

Right, once again, simple question.

Is this murder?

And likewise, once again, for everyone's benefit,

she had cholera in her system, and her carotid artery was cut postmortem.

-Why is this so difficult to answer?

-Because...

I can't give you an absolute yes or no yet.

Right now, we don't even understand how the cholera got into the building,

and it's not behaving as I would expect, so...

All right, you just listen to me, yeah? Just so you understand.

I have the Home Secretary on my back about this.

See, this is not some little incident

that you can handle in your own sweet way.

Now, I have to hand them a bone,

but I can't until I get something more than supposition from you,

-and you are being paid handsomely...

-Do you want me to make something up

to get the press off your back? Is that what you want me to do? Do you?

I'm as frustrated as you are, but I...

I can only deal with the evidence I have,

and if that's not good enough for you,

then I suggest you pick up the phone and get someone else.

No, no, no. No-one's asking to do that.

PHONE RINGS

Hale.

Do we know yet if any of the other inmates have been infected?

No, we don't.

As soon as we do, you'll be the first to know.

Good. Good, fantastic.

Found Tess's sister's address.

Yeah, go on.

-Eve?

-Yeah, go ahead, Mike.

I got some results on the blood and faeces tests.

-Yep?

-I'm still working my way through them,

-so my results are inconclusive...

-OK, I'll be right there.

..but I thought you might want to know.

So far, only one more prisoner has tested positive for V cholerae. It's Tess Williams.

-How long has she got?

-I don't know. Depends when she was infected.

Hours at most. That's if antibiotics will even work against this thing. That's if we can even find her.

So, you're just gonna give her a death sentence?

I've also finished tests on the food and water - they're both clear

so the infection couldn't have come in that way.

Then it has to have been brought in by Tess and Beth,

picked up somewhere outside the prison.

See you in a bit.

Move over.

-Tess, what are you doing?

-Shut up, please.

ENGINE STARTS

Look, she's a good person, OK? She's decent.

-Yeah, and we'll find her.

-How? How are you gonna find her?

-Well, Hale...

-Hale?! Hale wouldn't know where to start.

-Oggy...

-She is way ahead of him. She's cleverer than him, she's much more capable than him...

-Please.

-Calm down.

-Are you still there, Mike?

-Yeah, I'm listening. Please...

-She just wants to make things right.

I'm guessing Beth and Tess both had jobs outside the prison.

-She wants to make things right!

-Shut up!

Will you please shut up, please?!

That's it. That's it, that's it.

'We all need sustenance, don't we?'

Did, um...

Beth and Tess, did they work together?

No.

Well, they must have got it from the same source, surely.

Mike, is this a new strain?

Well, I dunno.

We need to break it down, we have to identify it

so that we know how to treat it. If it's not El Tor 01 Haitian strain, then what is it?

'I get the faintest glimpse of other dimensions where things don't obey

'the rules of the universe in quite the way that we experience them.'

'And that mirrors what goes on in your head, yeah?

'Other dimensions that don't obey normal rules?

'That dimension where you take your sister's pain away?'

You're not getting out of here, so just stop it.

SIGHS

-PHONE RINGS

-Oh, yeah, hang on.

Yep, hi.

Her boyfriend says she should've been back ages ago.

Well, did she tell him where she was going?

Yeah, just to the local shops.

Well, why'd she want to see her sister?

My guess is she came back to see Caitlin to...do whatever it was that she failed to do years ago.

She knows she's got 48 hours.

-Less than 48 hours.

-What?

Well, we don't know precisely when she was infected.

What precisely do you know, then, Eve? Cos the clock is ticking here.

Hey! It's your job to find her, not mine. I'm just doing the science.

-Is that right? Well, not that I'd have noticed.

-Excuse me?

-PHONE BEEPS

-THERAPIST: 'Tell me about Caitlin.'

'You mentioned what things were like when you were at home.'

'Like I said, every breath she took gave her pain.'

-Oggy.

-'I used to hear her screaming...'

You need to put your head somewhere else, OK?

'My dad was next to useless.

'My mum was...

'impotent, like me.'

'Except you weren't, though, were you, ultimately?'

-'She wanted to be free of it...'

-Jeez!

So, how are you feeling?

Fantastic(!)

-What else do you want me to say?

-The truth?

-D'you know, the last time I saw you, years ago...

-I know.

Yeah.

..I woke up and you asked me the same question.

And you want me to be honest with you now?!

And what are you gonna do with that information, Tess?

Are you gonna go away and write me a letter

saying you hope I feel better soon, is that what you're gonna do?

Or are you gonna try and make things better right here and now,

-like you did last time?

-So, when you wake up at night,

-who's taking care of you?

-Me. I am.

No-one else?

Why is that so important now, all of a sudden?

Cos you know, I haven't spoken to you since I was a child.

What happened, happened, and we both had to deal with the consequences.

So, what are you gonna do?

Cos after years and years of prison and psychiatrists

and God knows what else...

..it's still in you, isn't it?

Well, d'you know something? Whatever warped shit is driving you on,

I've survived you before.

I beat you and I'm still here.

And I am actually a grown-up.

-No, you're still my...

-No!

I'm an adult.

No, you're still my responsibility.

I'm all you've got.

No.

Yeah.

And even when Mum and Dad was around, it was all down to me, and you know it.

I found some plant debris in Tess's cell, dandelion seeds,

and there's something else I need to ID.

Mike, have you had a look at Beth's clothes?

-I haven't had time yet, Rosa.

-Oh, come on, Mike!

Eve?

OK, look, I'm sorry. It's just that we are running out of time.

What, and you think I don't know that?

Look, the balance of probability

is that something to do with cholera killed her, right?

Yeah, agreed.

So, why stab her after she's dead?

Most likely because Tess

had to convince Nicole to help her get away, and the easiest way to do that

was to claim that she had actually killed Beth. Now, listen - what I'm thinking is...

It's a donkey.

So, you're saying she stabbed her because she was a donkey, is that right?

No, this is. It's what geneticists call a donkey. The cholera's man-made,

-It's a manufactured genetic mutation.

-I don't understand.

It's not a natural strain of the disease, it's been made in a lab for medical purposes.

Here. The bacteria's been deactivated to make it safe

then modified to carry medication directly to a target.

Look, if you had a tumour, this would deliver the chemo straight to it.

Tess kind of triggered the thought for me, listen.

'I suppose my studies are a way of smuggling something real and good inside me.

'It's like medicine.'

"Like medicine." That's literally what this was designed to do.

OK, slow down.

What you're saying is that this donkey, or whatever, is the real cholera.

Yes, it's just been redesigned, which is why it didn't behave

like regular cholera would. Just think of it like a donkey carrying a load of medicine on its back.

Yeah, but there is no load here.

No, because I think this was just an experiment to see how

the modified bacteria would react to being injected into the host.

The load was gonna be added later.

So, the cholera was somehow reactivated when it was introduced to Tess and Beth?

- Yes. - How?

-I have no idea.

-So, this isn't about cholera at all.

It's about something else entirely.

I mean, cholera's just the agent.

-No, look...

-So...so, why cholera? Why use that?

That's my limit. We wanna know more, we have to get a geneticist on board.

Not on this budget, we won't. Can't afford expertise, can we, Inspector?

What are you trying to do, Mike? Hm? Bleed me dry?

I don't believe I'm hearing this. Are we actually trying to save this woman's life here

or is it all about costs and profit?

Hey. You're overreacting.

That was for Hale's benefit, to get more money out of him.

-It's just a game they play.

-Funny kind of game.

He wouldn't deny us expert help, not at this stage.

I don't want to have to examine Tess's dead body.

Why?

I don't know.

Maybe because...

we're so similar.

Her mind takes her to places she doesn't wanna to go, so does mine.

She's locked up, so am I. We're both...

..we're both on our own.

You can't know someone from looking at images of them.

Evidence and observation - it's what we do.

I've watched her in therapy, Eve.

Hey, listen to me.

If this gets personal, it'll only confuse things.

Anyway, the truth is, you're not connecting with who she actually is,

-just who you think she is.

-No.

-Yes, you are. Which is kind of typical bloke.

Really?

Look, I think she is passionate and selfless and that there is a goodness in there.

-She said she'd harm her sister again if she got the chance.

-No.

-She did, in therapy. I've just watched it.

-You are wrong.

-She's dangerous.

No!

-Oggy...

-No, you can't see her because...

Because what?

OK, look.

I have got a skin that's paper thin and you, you're the opposite,

you know?

She's not like either of us.

Whatever bad stuff has happened to her,

she's not frightened to say when she's wrong.

She's not afraid of getting close to people like you are.

Eve, the contact at the university I was telling you about, Neil Olsen.

Um, he...

Do you want me to go and see him or do you want to do it?

Thanks.

Tess...

I'm gonna be all right. I'm on the list for a transplant...

Oh, and what if you don't get it?

What then? More infections, more pain?

Yeah, but that, that is my decision, isn't it? That's my life.

Tess, I don't need you or anybody.

You see, that's where you're wrong and that is what worries me.

Because it's all right being independent,

but what are you gonna do when you really, really need help?

Ben.

-He'll tire of it, Caitlin. He will.

-No, he won't.

-He will.

-Everyone does.

-And did you?

-No.

-No.

But you did what you thought was for the best for me.

But you were wrong, Tess, weren't you?

OK.

Just listen to me.

The truth is...

I need to be able to just go, but I can't unless...

Unless!

Unless you know that I've got someone to look after me?

Yeah.

Is that what all this is all about?

For God's sake.

Yes, I'm with someone that I love

and who loves me.

You probably won't understand this, but this is what normal people do.

They take care of each other.

I don't need you, so you can go...

go and do whatever it is that you need to do,

but just leave us to get on with our lives, please.

OK.

If we're testing some sort of hypothesis,

-don't you think I should know?

-Sure, just...

Eve questions everything I say, so I want to be certain

before I start making any announcements, so...please?

Just the lungs?

Yeah.

Um, first I wanna know what's going on with you and Eve.

Nothing. We just had a difference of opinion.

Eve is very...anal-ytical.

-CHUCKLES

-And you're not?

No, I... Well, maybe.

-But not exclusively, you know. I...I'm open to other aspects of us that make us who we are.

-Such as?

Eve sees things very simply, you know. For her, it's just cause and effect.

This happens here and that happens there,

and somehow it all leaves an evidence trail

and all we have to do, Oggy, is be clever enough to find it.

Get to the point. This difference of opinion, that's about this girl, Tess, innit?

Yeah.

Look...

I believe people can recover

and people can be motivated to do right by others

and the particular thing you did at a particular time

shouldn't damn you for the rest of your life.

Look, I'm sorry to bring you both back to basics,

but, um...I've finished testing Beth's clothes

and there is plant material on it,

maybe the same as you found in Tess's cell.

Er, would you mind, Rosa?

Yeah, yeah, I'll be right there.

(Sorry.)

All right, go. It's fine.

In my head these last few years...

..I've always been here with you.

I know.

But we have to move on. Both of us.

And this responsibility thing that I keep talking about...

Well, it makes you do strange things.

It becomes like an obsession.

I only ever wanted to help you.

I hope you know that.

But there's been a price to pay.

And it's not just for me.

So, like you say...

..it's time we moved on.

Enough.

Enough.

It's time it all stopped.

LOCK CLUNKS

BUZZ OF CHATTER

Er, Professor Olsen? Excuse me, I'm so sorry.

-I'm Dr Eve Lockhart.

-Oh, hello.

This DI Hale. We need to talk to you somewhere private.

Is there somewhere suitable we could go?

Excuse me. Um, come this way, please, it's more private.

Dr Fields, could you join us?

Yeah, I work in genetics. It's part of what I do.

We think it's genetically modified V cholerae.

-Modified for what purpose?

-That's what we're hoping you can tell us.

-We found it postmortem in a local patient.

-Contracted in this country?

-It appears so, yes.

This woman, have you seen ever her before?

-Was she the person infected?

-Yeah, it was.

-No.

What about that one?

No.

Thank you. Look, does anyone else do this kind of work here?

-There's a whole department.

-There's people all over the country.

-No, I said here.

These women, they can't travel.

Well, if the question is am I responsible for this work,

then the answer's no - I'm not doing any research right now.

If you want confirmation of that, check with the IREC.

-The ethics committee.

-PHONE RINGS

-Research has to be approved and registered.

-I'm sorry, but we're needed.

You're needed here. We need help.

-I'm making a speech.

-Hello?

-We're running out of time. Please.

-Where?

My details.

-Send me what else you've got, I'll look at it tonight.

-Right.

Jim Ryan, they've got another suspected case of cholera.

OK, thank you.

She's positive - same strain as Tess and Beth.

But she's not to be told, OK? We don't want a panic.

What, you don't think she's got a right to know what's going on with her own body?

-No, no, she forfeited that right when she was sent down.

-Big hairy bollocks. Tell you what.

This is now a police investigation and members of the public...

are not invited. Thank you very much.

OK, this is what happened.

Tess killed Beth, showed you the body,

you stuck a couple of women on the roof to buy her time.

Tactical genius, me.

Tess told you that they'd had a fight and she'd stabbed her, right?

Wrong.

She was stringing you along. Beth was already dead by the time she knifed her.

Why would she do that?

-Why would she lie to me?

-Like I said, to get you to help her.

Nicole...

Beth died of cholera.

And you've got it.

Tess has got it too, and she knows it.

If she knew she's got cholera, then why would she just leave?

She would get help. Why would she leave?

Because she can't live without her girlfriend?

Because she wants to go and see her sister before she dies?

You tell me. Whatever, the clock is ticking

and the longer you hold out on me,

the less chance she has of surviving, and it's also true for you.

Tell me about the cholera, then.

You must've all got it from the same source.

Why should I help her? She lied to me.

Because you told me she's a good person

and she taught you how to care about people.

You owe her this.

I don't know where she's gone, I swear. I swear.

Look...

This is, um... This is an engineered version of the disease.

It's not responding to treatment.

You and Tess will both need help. And that's why we need to find whoever planted it in you.

OK.

Tess got me and Beth involved in drug trials.

What were they for?

I don't know.

Who conducted the trials? Was it Professor Olsen?

Some woman in his department. But I don't remember her name.

I'll be fine, right?

Please find her.

We will.

I'm gonna go and get you some help.

No.

Look, if this gets out,

they're gonna transfer you back to maximum security.

We won't see each other again.

Look...

we'll just... we'll get out in the morning and we'll sort it then, OK?

OK.

Try and get some rest.

-PHONE RINGS

-Yep, go ahead, Oggy.

What part of the body does cholera target?

Primarily the small intestine. Why?

Definitely not the lungs, because we've just examined Beth's lungs

and there's a massive concentration of V cholerae there.

I don't understand that.

Because the lungs are the target. The donkey was programmed to carry the medication there.

Why the lungs?

-Because Tess's sister has...

-Has cystic fibrosis. Of course.

They were treating cystic fibrosis.

Yeah, but I still don't understand it. I mean,

-why cholera specifically?

-OK, two reasons.

Firstly, it's very fast-acting, and secondly,

because they have a natural resistance to it.

It's a safe option.

Cystic fibrosis sufferers can carry the cholera in the blood

and not actually suffer from the disease.

Look, Eve, I am sorry, but I was right and you were wrong.

Tess is not a threat to anybody. She only got involved to help her sister.

Yeah, well done, Oggy!

Have you checked, is anyone up at the university

researching cystic fibrosis?

Right now, no-one.

But a Dr Fields ran out of money last year.

Same department as Olsen.

Right, we know the bacteria's been engineered.

One woman has already died.

Over here. Look, please.

Two more are infected. We're into damage limitation.

I don't know anything about this, I swear.

-Oh, come on.

-Look, it's very simple.

I have witness statements implicating you. Either they're lying or you are.

We need your help to resolve this before anyone else is affected.

OK.

I met Tess when I tutored her on her first degree at Holloway.

I bumped into her a few months back.

The cleaning company she works for have a contract here.

And you thought because you knew Tess and Caitlin's history,

you'd get them to take part in an unregistered trial.

SCOFFS Neil knows

I was perfecting a system for delivering medication.

-I didn't know about these trials.

-No, but I'm sure you'll agree,

-this is massively beneficial.

-Did you tell Tess it was unregistered?

Absolutely, yes, and she was all for it, for Caitlin.

I mean, do you realise how difficult it is to get funding right now?

-Strangely enough, I do, yeah.

-Look,

I deactivated the modified cholera bacteria

before injecting it into the test subjects.

I mean, obviously they have no natural immunity.

I had no idea that the bacteria would reactivate.

If I did, I would've called a halt to the trial.

And the subjects would've been in touch, surely, if there was a problem?

They were in prison. It's not that easy.

I'm sorry.

So, why has it reactivated?

Possible contact with protein cell receptors, I don't know. I'll have to look into it.

Your cholera is not responding to tetracycline or doxycycline.

We could try a combination high dose of tetramethoprim

and sulphamethoxazole - we should start there.

OK. I'm gonna call the prison.

Um... if I could come with you, I could maybe help.

The women are presumably in the hospital.

Nicole is.

Did you pay any of them?

Nicole I did, not the other two.

They weren't in it for the money.

We were all trying to do something decent.

Yep.

Beth.

Beth?

(Beth?)

We found Tess's sister.

-She's OK.

-And Tess?

-Well, what are you doing?! You have to find her!

-You think we're not trying?

We've looked everywhere that she's got a connection with. We're running out of options, mate.

I've made an analysis from the plant debris on Beth's clothes

and we've got a match with one of the samples from Tess's cell.

I've just got to ID it.

-Taraxacum.

-Dandelion.

-And this one?

-Could be anything.

Well, guess. We haven't got time to be 100% certain.

-Typha angustifolia?

-In English!

Bulrushes.

Well, Nicole did say that Beth had a job in a cafe on the river.

HEART THUMPS SLOWLY

INDISTINCT CHATTER ON POLICE RADIO

SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE

'The paths we take sometimes lead us away from people we know and love.

'But in the end, what matters is that we affect the lives of others for the better somehow -

'whoever we are, whatever our story.

'Obsession always destroys what it intended to nurture.

'But if you're able to let yourself love honestly and without fear,

'then maybe that huge heart you have will somehow set you free.'

'We pretty much know who this is. Or rather was.'

-Richard Warner.

-The barrister?

He was a human rights lawyer.

-I'm not going to invest another penny.

-Thanks, Dad.

-Thanks for believing in me(!)

-Anything else you're not telling me?

Anything else I don't need to know?

You need to catch this guy!

-I know you, Mr Warner.

-Police! Don't move!

You do not know the meaning of pain...

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