Original subtitles

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(ROCK MUSIC ON STEREO)

What the hell...?

(TYRES SCREECH)

(BIRD SCREECHING)

Are you all right?

Where are you?

Are you there?

Can you get an ambulance? I've just hit someone.

Whereabouts? About half a mile back.

Bloke just ran out in front of me.

Well, there's a big fire up there, you see. I've just called the fire brigade.

God. That must be where he came from.

Look, you go back up there, see if you can help,

and I'll call an ambulance.

Well, go on.

Hello?

Anyone at home?

Hello?

We searched the road where you say the accident took place,

and all we found was an item of footwear.

Thank God for that. I thought maybe he was lying there dead.

However, when the officer examined the shoe, he found some evidence of blood.

Will you come with me, Mr Rowland?

As a matter of routine, we're gonna ask you to take a breath test.

Open to the four winds up here, sir.

Yeah, it's a bit bleak.

You want to be here in winter, sir.

Do you know the farmer?

Oh, everyone knows old Tots.

But he keeps himself to himself.

No time for no-one, except his dog.

Dying breed.

Looks fresh.

Yeah, the glass was found on the inside.

Do we know what caused it?

SOCO's not sure yet, but it could be a bullet.

He's not married, then? No, sir.

There's bloodstains here.

And a palm print.

Human blood?

I don't know. Could be the dog's. But there's drips leading to the back door.

But if he was shot, he was shot from the outside, through the glass, and he fell there.

Then he might have managed to get up and make his getaway out the back door.

Either that, or it's a very clever setup.

Hm.

Anything? Not so far.

Apart from the blood where the shoe was found.

I've checked with the hospitals. They've had nothing turn up that matched this.

But an assailant fleeing the scene is hardly likely to pitch up at Casualty.

We don't know if there is an assailant.

The driver said the person was carrying a stick. Might've been a gun.

Maybe.

If you get hit by a car, you don't exactly get up and run away, do you?

Not unless you're in some kind of trouble.

It would be nice to know how he got away.

Ah, there you are, sir.

The old bloke's not been seen since yesterday afternoon,

but there's nothing to indicate he planned going away anywhere.

Does he employ anyone on the farm?

Apparently, he sometimes uses a local lad, Rob Mills, to give him an 'and.

Has anyone seen him? I don't know. Not as yet.

You're convinced that what we have here requires our involvement, are you?

Well, our fear has to be that Mr Tots has been murdered.

Hm.

The only trouble with that theory is we don't as yet have a body.

The driver arrived and saw a man in the telephone box.

Told him to ring for an ambulance.

According to the driver's statement,

the man pointed to the fire and said he'd already called the fire brigade.

I checked with the operator, but they only received one call,

asking for the ambulance and the fire service.

Have you tried to trace this man?

He gave the operator a false name and address.

It looks as if he was aware of the fire, but did nothing about it till the driver arrived.

But he was already on the phone when the driver arrived. Who was he talking to?

I've asked...and there's no way we can trace that.

Good. Well, let's get a description of the man in the phone box from the driver.

Look, I'd better go now. We'll talk this afternoon, OK? Bye.

The scene-of-crime chap reckons the fire was started deliberately. There's evidence of an accelerant.

Probably trying to destroy evidence.

All that's left is the remains of a group of sheep in the corner.

That, we think, is his dog.

The poor animal obviously couldn't get out.

Well, no.

Judging by the extent of damage in this area,

I'd say this was the seat of the fire. Wouldn't you? Mm.

The dog wouldn't have stayed here.

It must have been dead before the fire began.

That's a small mercy. Do you think the sheep were alive?

Yeah. They've gone back to that corner, to get away from the fire.

Perhaps the dog was trying to defend Mr Tots. That's why he was killed.

It's how the dog was killed that may be of interest.

What's that? It was in the dog's neck.

Is it a pellet?

Looks to me like it's home-made.

Ever seen one of these before? No, sir.

Are you Rob?

I'm supposed to be working, all right?

Oi! OI!

Hang on a minute. Do you know anything about what happened here?

No.

Were you up here yesterday?

Yeah, and I went home at lunchtime.

And I were at my cousin's all last night.

You obviously weren't involved, then, eh? No. No.

Did Mr Tots have anyone else help out?

Not since I've been coming up.

What about family?

I didn't think he had any. Friends?

You must be joking!

Only his dog puts up with him.

Sounds to me like you don't like him very much.

Well, I always got on with my job.

Pay all right?

What do you mean?

Well, there's not much money around in this kind of farming any more, is there?

Well...I always got my money.

OK, thank you.

(SIGHS)

All right.

You finish up here. I'll go check out the neighbouring farms.

I don't think we can just hope for Tots to turn up.

(GUNSHOT)

You've not found him, then?

Not yet. So, you know why we're here?

Word gets round.

I'm Superintendent Wycliffe. Superintendent?

I bet George'll be in some trouble when you do find him.

Why's that? Putting you to all this fuss.

He probably had one too many, rolled down the hill, and is lying there blind-drunk.

If you want to find something, you can go after that fox that's been after my farrows.

How well did you get on with him?

He's all right.

Will the community gather round, help him tend his farm?

Rob will probably sort most things out, won't he?

You don't know much about farming, do you, Mr Wycliffe?

A bit.

I've got cattle and pigs. I've nothing to do with sheep.

We need to trace this man who you spoke to in the phone box.

Well, I wish I'd never spoken to him. I wish I'd just driven off.

No, you did the right thing, Mr Rowland.

And I'm gonna lose my licence for it.

Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I didn't cause the accident.

Do you remember what this man in the phone box looked like? No.

I had other things on my mind, like getting an ambulance.

Was he tall?

Average.

I think he had short, fair hair.

And don't ask me what he was wearing.

He said he'd seen the fire. Right?

You'd have thought he might have come up to the farm, try to help.

Yeah.

Well, maybe he'd had a few drinks as well,

and he was a bit smarter than me. Now, if you don't mind...

Just one more question, Mr Rowland.

Was he in a car?

No.

(SHEEP BLEATING)

(KERSEY IMITATING SHEEP)

Baa-aa-aa!

I think it might be a good idea if you had a word with the local vet.

Someone's gonna have to look after these animals.

Yeah, they don't look too clever. And ask him about poachers.

Why? What did the other farmers say?

Nothing. Only, one of them was out shooting...

Yeah, I heard the gunfire. And it set me thinking. You see...

The problem with a 12-gauge shotgun is that it does tend to wake the neighbours. Mm.

The advantage of an airgun, on the other hand, is that it's almost silent.

And coupled with a lethal bullet, it's a perfect weapon for poaching.

But that pellet wouldn't fit a standard airgun.

No.

My guess is we're looking for something home-made.

Do you reckon Tots disturbed a poacher?

(DOG BARKING)

Hello. Hello. Are you the vet?

No, my husband is. But he's out on a call at the moment.

Well, I'm DI Kersey. Maybe I could ask you a few questions?

Well, here he is now.

Alan, it's the police.

Oh, I was just about to pop up to Leap Hill. Someone's got to make provisions for those animals.

Do you think that's necessary? Well, unless you've found him.

No, no, we haven't.

You must know everybody around here. Have you heard anything on the grapevine?

Well, the talk in the village is suicide.

Was he depressed?

Well, George is not a well man. He's had farmer's lung for years.

It would have got most people down, living up there.

No family. No money. Always in debt.

So, he had financial problems as well?

He's too old to work the farm. Grazing's not good.

His crop of lambs was low. He couldn't afford new breeding.

To be fair, George Tots was hit by a rumour of tuberculosis, and that cost him.

Why "rumour"? Well, he rang me and I checked them myself. They were fine.

So, where did this rumour start?

People see the flocks dwindling and they look for reasons.

And some people prefer malicious ones.

Who?

God knows who starts these things.

Sir, Forensics have confirmed that the blood found at the farm is definitely human.

Right. What about the bullet in the dog?

Probably from a low-velocity weapon.

Tests are being done to see if it caused the hole in the door.

Thanks, Andy. Sir.

Sir...

The shoe found at the accident.

OK, I want the blood on that compared with the blood found at the farm.

I was about to send it to the lab, but I was looking at it - it's a size seven.

Yes?

Well, when I was up at Tot's farm, I noticed how small his shoes were.

Well, let's see if the pattern of wear on this matches up with those.

I've checked, sir. It does.

Looks like it was Tots who was hit by the car.

(PHONE RINGS)

Hello? Alan Dutton.

MAN: 'There's a lamb lying in the road.'

I'm sorry? Can you speak up?

'It's at the bottom of Leap Hill Farm. It's been run over.'

Er...look, do you think you could bring it in?

(LINE GOES DEAD)

(DOG BARKING)

(SPLASHING)

Aaaarghh!

(DOG BARKING)

The local police should have called us down here last night.

I mean, this has been forced.

I just thank God I had a fire-extinguisher in the car.

Yeah. Well, some kind of flammable liquid's been used here. There's no other heat source.

You mean it was started deliberately? Why?

I was hoping you were gonna tell me.

MAN: 'I want to report a fire.'

OPERATOR: 'Can you give me the location of the fire?'

'Yeah, it's at Leap Hill Farm.'

Knows the name of the farm.

'It's up Trevern Road, two-and-a-half miles...'

He's local, all right. 'You can see it from the road.'

'What's on fire?' 'The whole building's gone up.'

'It's spreading to the house.'

Is that the chap in the phone box? Yeah.

How did you get on at the vet's?

Well, we should play that tape to him.

He was called out on a wild-lamb chase last night, and somebody set light to his surgery.

What's the link with Tots?

Well, arson.

I mean, if our 999 caller and his hoax caller are the same person, he'll recognise the voice.

Eh?

What are we doing out here, anyway? Divisional Commander's in there.

A bit out of his way, isn't he? Got a conference in Torquay.

Lodge meeting, is it? Well, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Dixon?

Looks like we've been pulled off.

Sorry? You heard.

What does the boss say?

He's still saying it. Ah.

It's where the resources are coming from for all this. That's what concerns me.

We could scale things down, sir. Or leave it to the local station.

The farmer does sound like a missing person.

A farmer doesn't just walk out,

leaving his farm looking like the Mary Celeste.

My belief is that someone has been seriously injured at this farm, possibly killed.

Look, how about suspending the uniform search,

and we just keep going until we've satisfied our inquiries?

I think, if we can ask the locals to help, ask people to search their barns...

Oh, yeah. Do-it-yourself policing.

Maybe the killer will hand himself in.

Why don't you set up a radio appeal?

Yeah, I might do that.

(KNOCKS DOOR PANE)

Er...come through.

How long has Rob been working for you?

Er...a few months.

Doesn't Tots mind? No.

How does he get on with Tots? All right, as far as I know.

Did you recognise the person that phoned you last night?

Well, to be honest, I couldn't really hear him.

Yeah, well, he was probably trying to disguise his voice. Maybe.

Could it be somebody you know? Could it be Rob?

No. No, no, it wasn't him.

Right. I'd like you to listen to this and see if you think this is the same voice.

OPERATOR: 'Fire brigade.' MAN: 'I want to report a fire.'

'Can you tell me where it is, sir?'

'Yeah, it's at...Leap Hill Farm, Leap Hill Farm.'

'Sorry, sir? Where?'

'Leap Hill Farm. It's up Trevern Road. It's about two-and-a-half miles up.'

'Yeah, can you...' (STOPS TAPE)

Anne!

They want to know if we can identify this voice.

OPERATOR: 'Can you spell Trevern, sir?

MAN: 'No, it's Trevern Road. You can't miss it. You'll see it.'

'Trevern Road? What's on fire?'

'The whole building. It's gone up like a furnace, and it's spreading towards the house.'

'Hello, sir. Is there anything in the building?'

'You'll see it there.' (HANGS UP)

'Yeah. Hello? Hello?'

I don't know. Is it the same man?

I understand your reluctance, but...

whatever your concerns are, they won't go away if this man's still out there.

Well, I don't know if it was him on the phone last night, but er...

..that's Stephen. My son.

By his first wife.

(DOG BARKING)

Heel!

(DOG GROWLING)

Hello, Stephen. These gentlemen are police officers.

How are you, Mary? Fine. What do they want?

We'd like a word with Stephen about a 999 call he made.

(GROWLING)

(BARKING)

We don't need you here.

I'll wait in the car.

No work today?

Or tomorrow.

Unemployed?

There's nothing about, is there?

It'll be shearing time soon. Oh, yeah. Right (!)

Why did you give a false name when you rang the fire brigade, Stephen?

Who says it were me? We've got your call on tape.

We've played it to your father.

Yeah, well, I...I can't remember why.

I'd been drinking.

So, why didn't you go to the house to see if you could do something?

Same reason.

Do you know a lad called Rob Mills?

What if I do?

By not helping us, you're making yourself look guilty, you know.

Look, I don't have to talk to you, do I?

No.

But we find that innocent people usually do.

Let's keep an eye on him.

Everything all right? Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

How often do you see your son?

I don't. It's difficult.

I understand. Thanks a lot, Mr Dutton.

Stephen knows a lot more than he's saying.

So, why's he not talking?

Well, either he's involved, or he knows who is and he's covering up for them.

We need to know if there's any connection between him and Tots.

I want evidence that either links him to the farm or to his dad's fire.

That way we can bring him in for questioning. Right.

I'll see what SOCO have recovered from the vet's, OK?

Thanks for the lift.

I just had your boys look round here.

Er...I know, Mrs Prentice.

I need to talk to you about Stephen Ling.

What about him? Erm...

Do you know how he got on with George Tots?

No-one gets on with George.

Why?

Oh...cos most people don't understand him.

And you do?

I've known him since he was a young man.

Would have been different if he'd married.

But we all knew...

The wages he's on wouldn't hardly keep a dog, let alone a wife,

and that's not good for no-one, Mr Wycliffe.

At least I've got Jenny.

Is that your daughter? Granddaughter.

Her ma couldn't cope on her own. Left me to it.

She's all I've got left now.

(PHONE RINGS)

Incident Room. DI Lane.

Oh, right.

Right. No, that's very helpful.

Yes. Yes, I owe you a drink. Thank you.

Forensics, sir. Really?

I thought for a minute you'd patched things up with Simon.

The blood on the shoe matches the stuff we found at the farm.

It would be helpful if someone could tell me whether the blood belongs to Tots.

What did you find out at the market?

Not a great deal.

I got eyed up like a prize ewe, and that was about it.

I only found one person who'd had any dealings with Tots - a Mr Williams -

and that was over a year ago.

After that, Tots started dealing with people out of the area, probably cos of the rumours.

Well, SOCO was no good. Couldn't get any clear prints from the surgery or from that bottle.

I reckon it's the container used to start the fire. I found it in the road near the surgery.

Oh, flame-wash.

He probably poured out the petrol and thought it was empty.

Lit the fire, with it still in his hand...

not realising there'd still be flammable vapour on the inside.

Well, not until his hand was flame-fried.

Let's go and take a look at Stephen's hand.

He kept one hand in his pocket, didn't he?

What, you reckon he fireballed his own dad's place?

Have you got something, sir? Maybe.

Ah, sorry to disturb you, Mrs Dutton.

Ling. I use my maiden name now.

Well, we need to talk to your son again, Mrs Ling.

It's the police for you!

Stephen?

I know he hasn't gone out.

Stephen?

Would it be all right if we came in?

Does he have a gun?

No, never. I've never allowed one.

Not even an airgun? No.

(DOG GROWLING)

Why didn't you answer your mam?

Dunno.

Must have had my headphones on.

What have you done to your hand, Stephen?

I fell over.

I see. (DOG GROWLING)

We'd like to ask you some questions about the fire at your dad's last night.

Oh, yeah?

It'll mean coming to the station.

Fine.

The doctor's going to examine your hand, to see if it's the result of a fall, as you claim.

All right. Can you move your chair over here, please?

And I'll give you a proper dressing for this, as well.

When did this happen? The other night, after I left the phone box.

I'd had a few to drink.

With who?

By myself.

Where? There's no pub out there.

All right.

You want me to tell you the truth?

Well, what have you been telling me so far?

I smoked a bit of dope. OK?

I got a bit paranoid.

That's why I didn't want to give the operator my name and address.

I didn't want your boys turning up and finding me like that.

When I saw the fire, that's who I was on the phone to.

Some bloke I know who deals a bit.

Well, I didn't want to say nothing earlier.

I'm not gonna get into trouble, am I?

Have a look at the hairs on these fingers.

An absence of hair on the index finger.

On his little finger it's been singed to a stubble.

It's a burn, all right.

I'm still waiting for you to tell us the truth.

Well, Stephen's mother said she washed the boy's clothes this morning.

There was blood on his jeans. He told her it was from where he cut his hand.

Probably from the farm.

The lab may still be able to do something with the clothes,

and he might have got blood on his shoes, so check them out, as well.

What else did his mum say?

She couldn't think of anything linking him to Tots,

or why he'd want to set fire to his father's place.

She gave us this. It was in his jeans this morning.

A chisel.

I was gonna get SOCO to see if it matched the window frame in the surgery.

But why go to the trouble of forcing the window?

It would be much easier, surely, just to...

break the glass and pour in the petrol.

Maybe the motive wasn't arson.

Is it unusual to put a bandage on a small burn?

Yes, I suppose it is. A dressing and tape are more for surgical use.

Have you an evidence bag, please?

Right, then, we'll see him in two weeks' time, for the booster injections.

Sorry, Mr Dutton. Can we have a word?

Yes, sure. Thank you.

Can you identify this?

Is this the sort of dressing used at this surgery?

Yes. Why?

It was on your son's hand when we interviewed him earlier.

Have you at any time provided him with any sort of bandaging?

No.

Could he ever have taken any, when he was visiting you?

Well, he doesn't come here. As you know, we don't really get on.

Then I think the reason for last night's fire

may well be to cover up the theft of medical equipment.

You think Stephen started the fire?

Mr Dutton, could you check, to see if anything has been stolen?

Well, nothing here. I mean, there's a store room, but I keep it locked.

Would you check it, please? Yes.

Well, you're right. Someone has been here.

Your son must have burned himself starting the blaze,

and then later, instead of a plaster,

he's used some of the stolen bandages.

Well, why did he take it in the first place?

I don't think he was trying to get at you, Mr Dutton.

He needed the bandages for some other reason.

And since there's no doctor's surgery or chemist in the village,

he probably couldn't think where else to get them.

Tots or someone was injured at the farm.

My guess is that Stephen knows where he is, and is helping to look after him.

Judging by the amount of dressings taken, I'd say that

he was in serious need of medical attention.

Radio Kersey. We need to find out what Stephen knows.

How would Stephen know about the store room?

So, I burnt my hand. That don't mean nothing.

No, but where you got that bandage from does, doesn't it?

I could have got that from hundreds of places.

Detective Superintendent Wycliffe enters the room at 15:32.

So, tell us. Where could you have got the bandages from?

You tell me what that's got to do with the farm.

Two cases of arson in two days.

Someone gets injured at the farm.

The farmer goes missing.

A whole load of medical equipment also goes missing.

So?

Instead of taking Tots to hospital, you've been trying to look after him yourself, haven't you?

No. Come on! He needs treatment.

Well, the good thing is that he's still alive.

He is still alive, isn't he?

Obviously, something happened at the farm.

Accident, probably.

Yeah?

You didn't want to get into trouble.

Thought maybe you could sort it all out.

Maybe you got someone to help you.

That's why you made the call from the phone box. Is that right?

No.

OK. So, why don't you tell us your side of the story?

I'm not saying nothing.

We can't afford to stretch things out, Stephen!

All right. What's happened so far may well be an accident.

But if Tots doesn't get treatment and dies...

..you know what that would mean.

It would mean murder, Stephen.

No. Look...

What if Tots died because he got knocked over by that car?

Then that would be the driver's fault, right?

You're recording the radio appeal in ten minutes. Thank you.

Well, we're certain Tots is the injured man. He said that?

Well, Stephen asked what would happen if Tots had died in the accident.

That's implicit, isn't it?

Unfortunately, then he clammed up.

So, it was definitely Tots who got hit by the car?

Well, I reckon maybe he was trying to flag it down.

Except, according to the driver,

Tots appears to have run across the road, disappeared,

and then jumped back out onto the road in front of the car.

Yes, but who says it was just Tots running across the road?

What if someone was chasing after him?

Well, it wasn't Stephen.

Two minutes later, he was seen down the road in the phone box. He didn't appear out of breath.

So...there's another person involved.

And whoever that person is is holding Mr Tots.

We need to know where Stephen Ling's been keeping Tots.

It's nothing to do with me.

What business would he have, coming up here?

None.

We've evidence that he broke into the surgery, that he took bandages from the store room.

How would he know about the store room?

I don't know.

Is he a mate of yours? No.

So, who are his friends?

Look, there's only one person for Stephen, and that's himself.

It seems to me like you know him rather well.

Look, Mr Wycliffe, I started early so I could finish early.

Then just tell me who he hangs around with!

No-one that I know.

(SIGHS) Where could he be keeping Mr Tots?

I don't know.

What about friends?

Well, he don't bring them back here.

He must talk about them. Oh, I've given up trying.

I hoped he'd be more like his dad.

At least get a career.

But I don't know what he wants.

I don't think he cares.

Can I take this away with me?

The lab have found traces of blood on Stephen's shoes.

Matches the blood we found here.

Doug's questioned him again, but he's still not talking.

This lad's playing silent, as well.

And he's certainly not telling us the truth about Stephen.

I found this on Stephen's bedroom wall.

Looks to me as though they're friends.

If Rob was involved,

he wouldn't have needed to break into the vet's. He works there.

Maybe that's why they did break in.

Rob!

Who is it you're protecting?

Look, I know you think you're doing the right thing, but...

if George Tots dies, this person's gonna be in a lot of trouble.

You don't think he's dead already? I hope not.

But...

the sooner we can get to him, the more chance there is of finding him alive.

(CROWS CAWING)

You may be able to save your friend from going to prison.

That's probably a dead animal they're after.

I put some traps down, to keep out the foxes.

No-one's necessarily gonna find out that you've told us.

I can't.

Rob...

I don't want to have to charge you with obstructing the police.

Let me try talking to him.

Rob, listen.

We don't think this person's a criminal, and we think some sort of accident occurred -

Lucy!

This is what was attracting the birds.

What is it?

Ever find anything like this before?

It's a pig's tail.

It's not fresh. Maggot infestation. Bits of earth.

Looks like it's been buried.

Where's it come from?

Is this Jenny?

Mrs Prentice, the pig farmer - I met her here.

She was shooting foxes. Said they'd been after her farrows.

So, the fox got one?

Yes, but I've got a feeling it got this one out of the ground.

Sir! Over here!

You're right.

This earth's been dug. Get a stick.

I hope this isn't where we're gonna find Tots.

Look.

This is where the pig's tail's come from.

Some of the animal's been bitten away.

I'm not sure, but I think this is a pig, as well.

Why are they buried here? Disease.

I think we'd better stop.

These are the farrows that Mrs Prentice was trying to protect.

That's why she was trying to shoot the foxes.

She knew they'd started digging them up.

What if she shot Tots? Blamed him for the spread of the disease?

He could be buried here. Yeah.

But we can't excavate until the Ministry's been down here.

They'll need to quarantine the area.

(KNOCKS) Mrs Prentice? Police!

Anybody home?

Don't say she's gone missing.

I'll search the house. Yeah. I'll do the buildings.

Oh, and be careful.

Mrs Prentice?

(PIGS SQUEALING)

The size of these pigs!

How do you reckon she got them to the woods?

I think they were taken there alive.

Probably at night, to stop them being seen.

And then killed with a weapon that doesn't make much noise.

The weapon the dog was killed with?

Yeah.

(PIGS SQUEALING)

Out. Come on.

It's nothing to do with me.

I just came to warn the family that you'd found out.

Why didn't you tell us they were involved?

Cos I was going out with Jenny first, see?

So, what's happened to Mr Tots?

They said it was an accident.

Who are "they"?

Jenny and Stephen.

They asked me to get them bandages from the surgery. And did you?

Well, if I'd taken them, Mr Dutton would have known it was me.

I did the phone call. I told them when Mrs Dutton wouldn't be there and where the bandages were.

But I didn't know they were gonna set fire to the place.

And where are the Prentices now? I don't know.

Where have they been keeping George Tots?

I...I can't think where else they'd have him.

Bandages. (VEHICLE PULLING UP)

That's them. I'm going.

MRS PRENTICE: What do you want? What's happened to George Tots?

I told you - I ain't seen him.

We've found the pigs you buried at Leap Hill.

What pigs? They could be anybody's.

Then you won't mind if we have the vet come down and examine your animals for notifiable diseases?

My animals are MY business.

Not when they threaten the livelihood of other farmers.

Gran...

I've worked here since I was born and, when I die,

this farm'll be for Jenny and her children.

No-one's trying to take your farm away from you, Mrs Prentice.

Did you shoot Tots because he found out about your farrows?

I shot him.

Is that the gun?

Poacher's arm?

I'm not gonna let you take her away, as well.

She didn't mean it. It was Mr Tots' fault.

He came nosing around.

He caught us burying up in the woods. He threatened to report us.

We got in an argument.

So, you and Stephen followed him back to the farm,

and the argument continued.

Mr Tots wouldn't listen.

He set his dog on us, so I shot it.

He came at me, shouting, crying.

I panicked.

Give me the gun, Mrs Prentice.

You think you can shoot me and cover that up, as well?

How do you think you're gonna get away with it?

Gran...

It's gonna be all right, Gran.

We didn't mean for this to happen.

When Stephen rang me and said that Tots had been shot,

we just thought we could bring Mr Tots back here and patch things up.

But he got away, didn't he?

Tried to flag down a car and got himself run over.

Is he still alive, Mrs Prentice?

He was. He was getting bad. He needed treatment.

But we couldn't get him a doctor.

You've taken him to the vet's, haven't you?

They brought him here half an hour ago. I've rung for an ambulance, but it's too late.

He's dead.

(SIGHS) Where is he? Upstairs.

But it wasn't Stephen's fault. I know. I know.

They didn't know how bad he was.

Sure, sure.

Look, once his farm went downhill, he lost the will to live.

Will Stephen be prosecuted?

I expect so. He's prevented us from getting to Tots in time.

And he's also committed arson, Mr Dutton.

(SIREN)

Now, Charles, don't be too hard on yourself.

If the man's next-door neighbours had him stashed underground,

well, the entire constabulary would have been hard-pushed to recover him. Yeah.

So, what are you charging them with?

Manslaughter?

We don't know if he died from the bullet wound or the car accident.

No, of course not.

Right.

Well, then... I'd better be off.

Yeah, erm...

Goodbye, sir, and thanks for your support.

(CAR DRIVES OFF)

Make a great golf course, wouldn't it? Eh?

subtitles by Deluxe

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