May i take a look inside . Go ahead, theyre not locked. Youre not very good at this sort of thing, are you . Bless him, hes never been very good at anything. Lewis i thought you should all know whats happening today. After discussions with your director and the college authorities, its been agreed that tonights performance will go ahead as planned and well be making this area available all day for rehearsals. And may i say, on behalf of the company how grateful we are for the cooperation weve had from inspector lewis and his team. Lewis however, this remains a crime scene, and we reserve the right to make a nuisance of ourselves at any time. Who are you . Amanda costello. Youve told me your name now tell me what youre doing here. Im a friend of the family. A student . I was. I finished my degree two years ago. Shes a critic. Lewis a journalist . Freelance. Ill work for anybody who treats me right. Amandas here to review the play. And ill probably write a feature piece about the production. The show must go on. That always goes down well. Alas poor shylock. Was that you . I didnt write the headline. That would be some cheapskate subeditor. But the rest . Substantially, yes. Including the bit that says, police are exploring a number of motives, including the possibility that the murder could be linked to artistic differences within the company. Thats pure invention. The official Police Statement never even mentioned motives at all. It simply stated the fact of the murder, nothing more. So should we take it the police are ruling out artistic differences as a possible motive . These people have work to do. You and ill find a nice quiet corner and you can tell me all about your friends in the family. Without the aid of that tape recorder in your bag. Hes good, isnt he . So is she. I scored that 30all. Youll be held in custody pending further inquiries, though my educated guess is youre probably familiar with the procedure. Yes. Only the names change and each time im a little older. And youve got to find a murderer. You say youre a friend of the family. Tell me about the family. Where would you like me to start . Start with Richard Scott. What have the others told you . That he was heavily in debt, apparently because of a drug habit, and determined to seduce any woman who came within reach. Sounds about right. Did nobody mention the thieving . Why dont you tell me about that . It sort of blew up at the edinburgh festival. Things went missing from dressing rooms and digs and so on. Whoa, whoa, whoa can you be more precise about these things . Money from wallets and handbags a couple of mobiles. Phil beaumonts laptop. Did anybody report this . Not as far as i know. I was rushing around the city reviewing ten shows a day, so i only know the gossip. Tell me about the gossip. Somebody challenged him about it and it turned into some sort of fight in the bar at the assembly rooms. A fight between. Between richard and rezvani, our token iranian. How do you fit into the family . I started as a theater critic. But youll turn your hand to a good murder story if its in the family. Professionally i have no choice. Okay, so thats done you and Richard Scott. Maybe youd like to turn your journalistic eye on some of the others. Like . Emma golding. She seems to run the show. Emmas brilliant. I think shes too big for oxford but dont tell Denise Gregson i said so. Emmas her blueeyed girl. This is professor gregson, who also plays landlady to a lot of the students . Waifs and strays her speciality. Mind you, some of them refer to it as alcatraz. Must rush, people to catch up with, tales to tell. See you later maybe . Sure. She your new friend . Journalist. She wrote that. Trustworthy . Absolutely not. Good. Hows your con man . Fifthrate. Hes sitting in a cell while we check his previous. I think there might be quite a lot of it. Hes a sort of professional charmer. cell phone rings it takes one to know. Lewis. Okay, ill be there. Richard scotts mothers arrived. Thanks mrs. Scott. Why do people die before their time . Its not right. I know that very well. I suppose you would in your line of work. I suppose. sighs when he was Little Richard was always dressing up in funny clothes. At parties and such. Funny clothes and silly voices. Did you know about his way of life here in oxford . Not really. I havent even been to the house. He let us come and see him in the plays, but that was all. I didnt mean the plays. If you mean the drugs, yes, i knew about that. I think it started as a kind of dutch courage thing. He was actually quite nervous about going on stage. He wasnt really at home with other people and it sometimes came across as aggression, i suppose. A sort of defense against the world. But even so. My son was a mess, mr. Lewis but he didnt deserve this. He deserved a better ending. I think we all do. Hello, professor gregson. Do come in. Thank you. Through here. As i said, my husband grew up and left home and it seemed a pity to waste such a big house. So you filled it with students . Yes. This was Poor Richards room. Where did he get his computer, the v and a . Its an old one i blagged for him. What happened to the laptop he stole in edinburgh . I wasnt in edinburgh. As far as im aware, nothing was ever proved. Im an oldfashioned liberal innocent until proved guilty. Is that why you called him poor richard . Theyre all children when they come to oxford. Some of them just cant handle it. Trust me, richard was one of natures victims. He certainly is now. Phil beaumont says he lives in an airing cupboard here. A touch of hyperbole but he is a writer. I can show you if you like. Please. He used to share a double room here with emma, when they were still a couple. And then when they split. The room at the top of the stairs. He doesnt keep his door locked . He doesnt believe in private property, therefore he doesnt believe in locking doors. Why did he drop out . Phils a throwback. He thinks the entire universe is a capitalist conspiracy against the working class. Its rather endearing in a way. Does he really have an allotment . Yes. I think it belonged to his uncle. Richard used to tease him about it. Hed say, i know you want to get in touch with your proletarian roots but you dont do that by growing carrots. Lewis so, is mr. Gregson still around . Yes, hes still in oxford, but hes not called gregson. I kept my own name when we married. And he kept his own name . Professor james alderson. Well, he should be on your list; he was at the play yesterday. Arrived late, of course. Golding ladies and gentlemen for reasons you will all be aware of, the part of shylock will be played tonight by joe myers. But we are dedicating this performance to the family, friends and the gigantic but sadly unfulfilled talent of the late Richard Scott. We thank you. applause in sooth, i know not why i am so sad. It wearies me; you say it wearies you; but how i caught it, found it, or came by it, what stuff tis made of, whereof it is born, i am to learn. Yes, can i speak to inspector wallace please is that the name . Yes, sir. Whats this in connection with . Hes listed as the arresting officer in a case involving simon monkford. Yes, thats right. Am i right in assuming that mr. Monkford operates under different names . Yeah, hold on. phone beeps hello . Then must that you be merciful . What compulsion must i . Tell me that. The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. tis mightiest in the mightiest it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown. Ive got our version of the story of your life. Tell me your version; it might save us a lot of time. Thrown out of school well, two schools if were being pernickety. Thrown out of oxford. Tried the military but had a little misunderstanding over mess funds. Failed as a racing driver. Failed in the city and as you can see im not desperately good at petty crime, either. But always nonviolent ill say that in my favor. And what about the fiveyear gap . Theres a gap of five years in your records. I ran away to canada to start a new life. And how was your new life in canada . Depressingly similar to the old one. applause crowd bravo bravo crowd chattering ive no idea what youre going to write about us, and this is not to be construed as a bribe but were all going for a drink at prosperos bar. I wouldnt miss it for the world. Brilliant. You are coming to prosperos, arent you, phil . Yeah, if somebody else is paying. Professor alderson . Um, will denise be there . Shes meeting us there. Im not sure im grownup enough. Come on. loud chatter bit of a topper . Everyone. First of all thank you for a wonderful performance under difficult circumstances. applause but before we do anything else id like to propose a toast. To our dear, departed Richard Scott. May he rest in peace. Peace would be a new experience for him. To richard. All to richard. cell phone chimes well, well. Another frontpage story on the way . Trust me, this one will run and run. loud vacuuming hathaway simon monkford also known as sean matthews. No, he would have been with you in toronto from january 2003 to january this year if hes telling the truth, which is a 5050 shot. Woman on phone hey, what time is it over there . What, here . Oneish in the morning. Dont you guys sleep . No, we never sleep and we always get our man. Except when its a woman or even an occasional transsexual. Well, let me see what i can do and ill get back to you. No, i appreciate that, thank you. cell phone rings hathaway. Yeah, ill be there immediately. Do we know who it is . Amanda costello, the journalist. Alas, poor amanda. Its the wee small hours of the morning and you were still at your desk. I was waiting for the Royal Canadian mounted police to return a phone call. Barman brought down the empties saw the body and immediately called the police. Hathaway cause of death . Shes been strangled. With . Well, its a bit primitive, but probably a piece of string. Thats very definite. It was still around her neck. And i found this. I will lead them up and down. Another shakespeare quote . Puck midsummer nights dream. Someones playing games with us. You had a bunch of theatricals in tonight. Yeah, youre telling me. How were they . Loud. Very loud. Lots of hugging and kissing. Were they here until closing time . They left about half past twelve, quarter to one. They were going back to somebodys house. They bought a few bottles to take with them. No shortage of cash, then. It was an older woman that picked up the tab. One of the professors, i think. Was there much coming and going while they were here . It never stops. You know, if theyre not going for a pee or going out for a smoke. Do you have cctv on the premises . No. Basically, im the security around here. The woman whose body you found did you notice anything about her during the evening . She was louder than most. Showing off, id say. Something about what she was going to write a big story. Was she a journalist of some kind . Of some kind yeah. The Royal Canadian mounted police . Yeah, about simon monkford. He of the suitcases . Hes got a record as long as your arm and he spent five years on the run in toronto, so i thought it might be worth checking. Weve got a double murder on our hands and youre messing about with some twobit con man. Yeah, but i feel theres something more by the pricking of my thumbs. Dont tell me, shakespeare . Bravo. Im getting sick of bloody shakespeare. Lewis now, this second murder changes everything. In what way . Amanda costello left oxford two years ago. So whatever it was behind all this, it didnt happen last week. Maybe in edinburgh in the summer . At the festival . They took a couple of shows up there and all hell broke loose apparently. Scott was accused of stealing and there was a fight. All highly theatrical. Yeah, theres a reason for that. Hathaway we can eliminate one possibility. Make my day. Amanda costello, she gave the play a fourstar review. What possibility does that eliminate . Well, that one of the cast overheard her phoning in her copy to the paper, didnt like what theyd heard, so decided hed have his revenge. Or her revenge. What century are you living in . Journalists dont phone in copy anymore. They do it electronically on their blackberrys and things. Did she have a blackberry . Had it with her at the theater. Where is it now . No idea. It wasnt with the body and it wasnt in her room at the hotel. It strikes me it would be worth finding. Trouble is these actors theyre like some oldfashioned criminal gang closeknit, incestuous. The cardinal sin is grassing on your mates. Like the police force. Ill pretend i didnt hear that. Terry bainbridge. You edit the student paper . One of them. The best, naturally. Amanda costello was a previous editor . Yeah. Its weird, she was in here yesterday afternoon. Doing what . Oh checking up some stuff she wrote while she was here she said. No idea what. Were you at edinburgh in the summer . No. I had a holiday job in skegness. But she stirred things up a bit, didnt she . Its what she did best. Well, i can show you. Ive been checking out her files for the obit. Heres one of her reviews. Joe myers in richard the third joe myers played the king as if somebody else had already played the ace. Thats very clever. Stolen from George Bernard shaw, i believe, but she always said stealing was all right as long as you stole from the best. Do you have anything from edinburgh . Yeah, emma golding took two productions to the festival a moderndress version of timon of athens, reset in beirut, and a new play by phil beaumont. The lad who dropped out . Let me show you. It was called the road to nowhere. What was that about . No idea, and i did see it. But what amanda wrote was, we were promised a cross between Harold Pinter and john osborne; what we were given was a cross between Harold Steptoe and sharon osbourne. I bet that went down well with the troops. She also had a good nose for dirt. She used to write an anonymous column called gossip from the forest. This was her finest hour. All is not well with one of oxfords dream couples. We hear that the police were called to a domestic incident involving two of our most eminent academics. Who, we wonder, will get custody of the spade . The spade . As in archaeology . This is professor gregson and professor alderson . Yeah. Apparently amanda also said last night that she was working on something big. Any idea what that might have been . No idea. But it would have been investigative journalism. Also known as muckraking. Five years ago your brother went to canada. Yes. He says he was on the run. Well, hes been on the run all his life. Canadas a long way to run; he could have come here. He. He had some sort of breakdown. A nervous breakdown . Are they still called that . Or is it posttraumatic stress . Anyway, it was Something Like that. So there was a trauma . He was a bit vague about it but it was some sort of car accident. He was driving and i think he might have hit somebody. That made it worse, because he was proud of his driving. Wanted to drive racing cars for a living at one point. Where did this happen . In london. Somewhere in the west end, i think. Do you remember the date . Oh yes, easily. It was my birthday. December 19. The phone rang and i heard his voice and i assumed it was a happy birthday call, but then it was obvious something was wrong. Sorry, thank you very much youve been very helpful. Lewis youre very thoughtful. Because im thinking. Serves me right for asking. May we come in . Of course. This is common land. It belongs to the people. So, what can i do for you . Ive got some nice potatoes but the carrots need another week. Wed like you to tell us about edinburgh. Its a big city in scotland. You had a play on at the festival there. Amanda costello blasted it out of the water. And last night she was murdered. If writers murdered critics because of bad reviews thered be no critics left. It might be worth trying. Even so, were detectives and we detect a possible motive. Why would i wait till now . If i was the murdering kind, id have done it there and then, before she could wreck any more careers. Did she wreck yours . Dont be ridiculous i havent got a career. Yet. Do you use a lot of string . As much as is necessary. Thats a weird question. There are weirder ones where that came from. Excellent. I like weird. Were told Richard Scott stole your laptop while you were in edinburgh. Nothing was ever proved. He was a lightfingered bastard with a drug habit but. Ive gone back to pen and paper. Good enough for shakespeare, good enough for me. When we first talked to you, we asked you whether you actually liked anyone in oxford. You said youd get back to us. Shall i do it now . Go ahead. We all arrive here as more or less innocent, freshfaced 18, 19yearolds. But then the place corrupts us. Its a rat race its poisonous, and it doesnt make for very nice people. Is that why nobody cries . Sorry . Two of your friends are murdered nobody seems very upset. Well, im not crying because i didnt like either of them. As for the rest, i dont know perhaps weeping isnt considered cool. The people on these allotments they nice . Yes. Because were only competing with the earth and we know were going to lose. Someone else uses string. Well, theres a lot of it about. Sorry to disturb you while youre busy, professor alderson. Dont worry. In this line of work time is not of the essence. You can probably guess why were here. Did you go to the party after the show last night . Yes, i popped in for half an hour or so just to give moral support to Young Antonio here. Good afternoon gentlemen. But you didnt go to professor gregsons afterwards . No, no, im persona non grata. No doubt denise has given you the stock line . I grew up and left home . It has been mentioned. Were also told that your marriage was mentioned in the gossip column of a student newspaper. Police called to an incident . We were shouting at each other and a neighbor got worried. In our defense we were both under a lot of pressure at work. You had to get your ration of firsts its not just primary schools that have League Tables these days. We all have to tick our boxes, dont we . Did these arguments ever get violent . We were sometimes near the edge. But we never tipped over. Lewis thanks, jane. I asked for back copies of all the student papers with contributions from Amanda Costello including anonymous gossip. Busy girl. Oh, yeah. A muckraker in the great tradition dishing the dirt on fellow students and members of staff. Also a thief. She stole some of her best lines. Joe myers played the king as though someone else had already played the ace. George bernard shaw. phone rings inspector lewis. Man on phone can i speak with sgt. Hathaway . Yes, hes here. All right, hang o