Original subtitles

This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting from the start, and strong language.

Father Percy was found dead. He was a family friend.

Sorry for your loss. We just wanted a quick word with you, Lorna.

Do you remember the last time you saw Father Percy?

Someone's trying to cover their tracks.

Hello? Who is that?

Please don't take my baby!

BABY CRIES

SHE SCREAMS

PHONE RINGS

Called the Eadrom Group, they're prepared to lobby on our behalf,

to get the state to recognise that the convent was a former

Magdalene Laundry.

ECHOING, WHEELS SQUEAK

ECHOING CONTINUES

ECHOING GROWS LOUDER

CLATTERING

How many times do I have to tell you? Get over there!

Come along, girls!

Oh, I'm so tired, Clemence.

Come on, concentrate, only a few hours left.

Silence!

Move along, girls! ALL: Yes, Sister Eileen.

BABY CRIES

Move along! Yes, Sister Eileen.

BABIES CRY

CRYING ECHOES

ECHOING STOPS, BIRDS CHIRP

WHISPERS: Oh, shit.

PHONE RINGS

WHISPERS: Who's this calling you now?

RINGING STOPS

Aoife.

So THAT'S your name.

JINGLE PLAYS

No.

No. No, no, no, no!

Shit!

This is Father Percy's car leaving Dublin last Thursday.

Obviously, that's not him driving.

Looks to be a woman in the passenger seat.

This is it?

Er, yeah. And nothing from the speed vans? No.

No, he drove the speed limit all the way,

avoided the main roads wherever possible.

I'll run these back to Dublin, get them out

to every station in the country, see if this guy has a record.

Where did you get those? Barry's.

Do you like them? I do. They're all right, aren't they?

They are.

And you've none at all with the woman's face visible? No.

So, one of them's our murderer, huh?

Probably our arsonist, too.

We'll need to check all local CCTV.

Who owns the stables at the back of the station?

Maybe they saw something.

The horses won't fuck.

Come again? The horses...

HORSE WHINNIES

..they won't fuck each other.

That helpful to you?

I'm honestly not sure.

The fire scared my studs into a bunch of frigid queers.

Who's going to make me square for that?

I noticed your property runs up along the back of the station.

Are you suggesting I had something to do with it? No,

I'm wondering had you any CCTV?

HORSE NEIGHS

Easy!

They say a horse is a great judge of character, Detective.

Can always sniff out the bad ones.

Is that why you keep so many of them, Mr Coughlan?

Lot of bad ones around here? I keep them because my father kept them.

Lad, do you know who my father was? Why, did your mother not tell you?

Come on, Thomas, did you see anything or not?

I know who started that fire.

I saw her running down towards the garage after it started. Who?

Amy Kane, of course.

Do me a favour, Thomas. Don't pretend it doesn't make sense,

Massey, it's exactly the kind of thing she would do.

Do you expect us to take you seriously, do you?

Then, why are you here, asking me questions?

Fuck off, the pair of you, I have work to do.

Come on.

Are you all right?

Looks like we're speaking to Amy Kane again, so.

I guess we fuckin' are.

TINNY MUSIC PLAYS

WHISPERS: Come on!

Just checked, there's nothing in the back.

Can you check again, please?

I'll be with you in a minute, Clemence.

I want to get out of here, Lorna. I want to be with my baby.

So do I, Clemence.

We will.

I promise you.

SHE LAUGHS

And you were working here all night? Yep.

Someone reckons they witnessed you running away from the fire, Amy.

They're a fuckin' liar. I was here the whole time.

Did you see anyone approaching the Garda station that night,

sometime between 3 and 4am?

Not a soul all night.

I don't think you can smoke that in here, Amy.

I'm nowhere near the pumps. Maybe your CCTV picked something up?

Monitors are in the sales office.

Have at them. They only cover the pumps, not the road.

Have you seen anyone like this around?

Maybe last Friday, he was in here?

You have, haven't you?

It's hard to tell from the picture.

There was a man a bit like that

came in, acting all unscrewed, wanted to buy a bottle of vodka.

Did he pay with a card? I wouldn't serve him. Why?

Wanted to pay cash, spilled coins all over the counter.

Seen he had a five-year chip. You mean like a sobriety chip?

When was this, Amy? Friday. Sometime after ten.

We need to get a look at the cameras.

Start looking at 12-step programmes,

cross-reference anyone with a record... You, Dublin...stay.

It was Thomas Coughlan, wasn't it? He said he saw me starting the fire?

Well, you know I can't say.

Of course you'd take his side.

Men protecting men.

No, I'm on no-one's side.

No?

So you don't know Father Percy?

I saw your face the other day when I said I was happy he was dead.

Is that everything you have to tell us, Amy?

Yes, Officer.

Thanks for your help.

CHILDREN SHOUT

Yeah, that's the right one. Now, then, anything else?

No, no, that's it.

Actually, have you got a plug I can use?

Yeah, I can stick it in back here for you. Thanks.

DOOR BELL CHIMES

Morning, Damian.

Morning, Massey.

Might I ask you, any chance we can get a wee

look-in at your security tapes from Sunday night?

We're hoping to get a glimpse of that fella who started the fire.

Oh, yeah, sure.

Right.

Now...

You're saying he came down this road?

The camera will have picked him up for sure. Right.

Just bear with me a second, now, this takes a few minutes.

How are you, Lorna? A bit of DIY, is it?

No, erm...

PHONE VIBRATES

There you go. No, no.

What time are we looking for here, Colman, 3.30?

3.30am. 3.30am, yeah.

Keep going. 3.30am...

Keep going, a little further. Right.

Come on, that's it. I don't see anyone. There, is that someone?

Erm, yeah, looks like someone there. Can you zoom in, Damian?

Yeah, just give me a second there, hang on.

Ah! Jesus!

Oh, for f...

Sorry, lads, something's not right here.

I might not be able to help you.

I'll have to get someone to take a look at it.

SHE GASPS

WHISPERS: Oh, shit! Shit.

DISTANT CHATTER

OK, Dublin have sent a match on the images.

Dara O'Halloran -

one count of aggravated burglary,

two counts of assault causing serious harm.

He had a little spell in Mountjoy a few years ago, joined AA.

So much for being anonymous.

Sorry, Dara.

Well, he's not from Kilkinure.

Anything on the woman?

No.

There IS a number for the fella.

This is his last known location.

Ah, but that's close to Carrick,

that's not far from here. Can we not get a more exact location?

No, no, the towers out here are few and far between, but, sure,

if he uses the phone again, we'll get a closer match.

RINGING TONE

PHONE RINGS

Aoife? THROUGH PHONE SPEAKER: Aoife?

- Hello? - Hello?

- Hello? - Hello?

Aoife?

Hi.

You what?

Was that Aoife?

Think you've the wrong person, love.

You were talking to Aoife just now, I heard you.

Fuck off and leave me alone!

Look...

..my name's Grace.

I knew Aoife from the convent.

What are you supposed to be, a nun?

I was.

I haven't seen Aoife in years, and then she calls me up

and tells me to meet her here and... You spoke to Aoife? When?

This morning. And what did she tell you?

She said she needed my help to find someone,

a woman from the convent.

Why was she looking for her?

If you're such a good friend of my wife's,

how come I've never heard of you before...Grace?

Well, I told you already, I haven't seen your wife in a very long time.

What was she trying to tell this woman?

It was about her child, wasn't it?

What the fuck did Aoife do?

She didn't do anything. She was trying to do the right thing.

That's why she came back here.

Wait, no, what are you doing?

I'm calling her. She won't answer, she won't...

Where's my wife?

I don't know. I don't know where she is.

You're that woman she went to meet, aren't you? You're Clemence.

What?

Clemence? Clemence Tooley?

Do you think I'm afraid to hurt you, do you?

How are you, Tom? How are things, all right?

Fuck! Hey!

Hey!

Hold it right there. You're under arrest for the murder

of Father Percy Sheehan. You're not obliged to say anything unless...

You're not obliged to say anything...

POLICE RADIO CHATTER

DOG BARKS

BARKING

GATE CREAKS

ECHOING WHISPERS

HE GASPS

HE GROANS AND PANTS

BARKING CONTINUES

TYRES SCREECH

SHE GASPS AND PANTS

BABY CRIES

SHE GASPS

Sh!

BABY CRIES

Sh!

BABY COOS

Sh!

LORNA GASPS

GASPS: Clemence?

BOAT HORNS HOOT

SHE RAPS ON DOOR

Lorna? Jesus!

Do you know what time it is?

Erm, I need to talk to Clemence. It's important, David.

Are you sleepwalking?

No! Can you wake her, please?

You're not talking to Clemence. Look, this is about her child.

I think Clemence spoke to someone who knows something about our kids.

Take your hand off the door. Did you hear what I just said?!

I don't want to hear about it. Haven't you done enough

without dragging up more of this shite? Leave my sister alone.

If you come around here again, I'll call the police.

So you've declined legal representation. Why is that?

No comment. So what was it, then,

a robbery went sideways, or was it something more personal? No comment.

Or did you just steal the car,

you've nothing to do with the murder?

No comment. You know you don't actually have to say, "No comment"?

HE SIGHS

We know you weren't alone.

Which one of you killed him?

Was it you, was it her? Was it a two-man job?

It wasn't a two-man job.

Sorry, could you say that again, please?

It was me, all right? Only me.

I...

I killed that priest.

Why?

Like you said, a robbery got out of hand. It was an accident.

I never meant to hurt him.

Why did you come to Kilkinure?

Father Percy used to work here at the convent.

That's the man you killed.

I didn't know the man.

So it was just a coincidence that you came here? That's right.

Walk me through the murder. So you break in where, then? What?

Do you head for the living room first, do you go upstairs?

Where did you find Father Percy?

He was coming down the stairs.

I must've woken him.

That's where we found him, bottom of the stairs.

Yeah, well, that's where I...

..where it happened. Like the papers said?

Did they?

How did you kill him?

You know how I killed him.

I know, but I want to hear it from you,

want to know how this woman was involved.

She wasn't involved. Well, which one of you was holding the knife, then?

I was. How many times did you stab him? I can't remember.

Just the once. You sure?

I can't remember. It was...dark.

It might have been a couple of times.

The papers didn't report that, did they?

I don't know what the fuckin' papers said, do I?

They didn't report a murder weapon, either.

Now, let's get back to that woman.

I'm guessing, since you're ready to cover up for her,

she's someone close to you?

Did she have a reason to kill Father Percy? She didn't kill him.

Well, one of you did and it obviously wasn't you, so...

She didn't do it! Fine.

Look, Dara, if you want us to draw our own conclusions,

we'll just call it a day, then. No, listen to me.

HE SIGHS

She went to the house, all right? But it was only to talk to the man.

Why would she want to talk to Father Percy? They used to work together.

My wife was a nun.

Your wife...was a nun?

Here at the convent?

Yeah, at the House of the Sacred fuckin' whatever.

You mean the Sisters of the Seven Joys?

Whatever it's called. But she left that place a long time ago.

She hasn't seen that man in decades! So where is she now?

Leave Aoife out of this.

She's the one who's suffered here.

She still wakes up screaming,

because she thinks she sees kids standing at the foot of our bed.

And now she's missing!

And our daughter's at her wits' end.

What about the woman from the bar? Why aren't you looking for HER?

What are you saying? That wasn't your wife with you at the bar?

I told one of yous this already!

Grace, she said her name was.

That was a lie. obviously. Proper oddball,

asking all sorts of questions about Aoife, about the priest.

Why is no-one looking for HER? What did she look like?

Yay high, Joan of Arc fuckin' haircut on her.

She knows where Aoife is.

And yous need to find her!

RATTLING

ELECTRONIC WHIRRING

We'll hide the babies in the laundry basket.

Then, when we get to the hotel, he'll go inside.

And then we get out and run.

What if the babies start crying? The driver will hear us.

They won't cry.

They'll be with their mammies.

Watch the step. Come on, this way.

Are you all right getting out there? James, hi.

I'm so sorry, we're a few minutes late.

Can you give us two more minutes, OK?

Clemence?

You came?

I'm shittin' a brick. It's a nice place, though, isn't it?

Yes, it's very nice. We used to clean their sheets for them.

You're kidding me? No!

Shit!

Are you cold, Peggy?

The wind, it nearly took me away.

Hey!

Clemence, can we talk?

Clemence... # I know something you don't know. #

What do you want, Amy? Nothing.

I just wanted to let you know I've got your back.

Us mothers have to stick together, haven't we?

Sister, how are you?

It's a pleasure. Well, we won't take up too much

of your time, Sister.

The woman we're enquiring about is Sister Aoife Cassidy.

She would have been here sometime between 1983 and 1987.

It's such a long time ago. Before my time, obviously.

I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best.

And we appreciate that, Sister.

KEYBOARD KEYS CLACK

That's odd, there's no record of her.

Perhaps one of the older Sisters might remember her?

Could we speak to someone from her time?

I don't think that's going to be possible.

Right, well, we wouldn't want to disturb... Or we can just bring them

down to the station, if you'd prefer this to be more official.

I'm sure they'd be happy to help,

this being an investigation into the murder of a priest.

My name is James Coyle,

and I'm the co-founder of the Eadrom Group.

I'm inspired by the courage you have shown coming here today

to share your stories.

Truly.

I want you to know that it's going to be worth it.

I'm going to be using your stories

to build us a case.

We are going to get the state to acknowledge what they should

have acknowledged a heck of a time ago, if you'll excuse my language.

And now I am going to shut my trap,

because it's you we are here to hear from today.

OK.

Who'd like to speak first?

Um, did anyone bring anything they'd like to show today?

Does anyone want to talk about any of these...these things?

What's that you brought, Amy? Nail clippers?

SHE SIGHS

There was this one nun,

and she was a real sadistic bitch

when it came to punishment.

Whenever it was ironing, she'd hover over me the entire time

because, well, she knew, I was no good at the ironing.

The moment a crease appeared,

she'd pull out a little pair of clippers, and...

SHE EXHALES

..she'd cut all my fingernails back too far.

And then I'd bleed.

There'd be blood all over the sheets...

..and that would give one of the other nuns cause

to punish me properly.

And I used to think it was like, you know...

..it was like she was feeding sharks, you know?

Blood on the sheets, blood in the water.

I saw her do it to you too, once, Lorna.

What was that for?

I was telling knock, knock jokes.

How did you get the clippers, Amy?

They're not the ACTUAL clippers, you know?

You know, symbolic.

There's a sheet of paper there - what's that?

That's mine.

That's...those are my, erm, exam results, apparently.

They used to send those back to my mother to make her think

I was sitting my exams

instead of working a calendar machine

16 hour a day.

"Writing, 86%, maths..."

We don't lock the doors here.

For some reason, they assumed I was older...

We don't lock the doors here.

This isn't a prison.

You can leave any time you want.

But where would you go?

Who would have you?

No-one wants YOU.

You're a sinner.

SHE SCOFFS

We're here to help you, Lorna.

To teach you how to be a proper mother.

Now, be a good girl now...

..and tell us what you and Clemence had planned."

BABIES GURGLE AND COO

Look...

WHISPERS: Come on.

This is my baby.

You were right, Lorna,

she isn't crying.

And if you're good, only if you're very good,

you can leave here with your baby.

DOOR OPENS

Lorna? Lorna?

Give her to me. No, no, she's mine!

No.

No! Stop! No!

No! Lorna!

How could you do this?

No! No! No!

How could you do this to me? No! No!

SNIPPING

SHE SOBS

Thank you, Lorna.

You ARE a good girl.

I'm not good. I'm not good, I'm not.

SOBS: I didn't want to do it!

I'm sorry!

SHE SOBS

Sister, two detectives...

INDISTINCT WHISPERING

That's all right, bring them in.

Detectives?

This is Sister Eileen.

She was Mother Superior at the time in question.

You've finally caught me.

MASSEY LAUGHS

Yeah.

Sister, this is Detective Colman Akande, from Dublin.

How do you do? Yeah, we'd just like to ask you a few questions, please,

if you have the time, of course.

Have you recently been in contact with a Sister Aoife Cassidy?

"Recent" is a very relative term to an old anchorite like myself.

Say in the last week?

It's understandable, of course, if you don't remember

Sister Aoife at all.

That's a title we take very seriously around here.

Aoife Cassidy never made her final vows, so please don't call her that.

That must be why she didn't show up on your system, so.

But you do remember her?

Oh, I remember her.

She was a lovely woman. But troubled.

She didn't take to the work, poor girl. And you haven't seen her?

I haven't seen that woman for about...oh, 30 years.

That would have been around the time

Father Percy Sheehan used to work here, wasn't it?

I read about him in the paper.

Why would someone want to hurt Father Percy?

You don't suspect that Miss Cassidy

had anything to do with that, do you?

No, we were just hoping to talk to this woman as part of our inquiries.

You say she didn't take to the work.

What did you mean by that?

You had to have the stomach for our kind of job.

Especially with the babies.

It was awful easy to get attached to those lovely babies.

That'd be the Mother and Baby home?

Speak up?

You're saying Aoife Cassidy worked in the Mother and Baby home?

There was no Mother and Baby home.

This was a training centre.

A few of the girls got into trouble, that's all.

But we did all we could for them. Like what?

Well, they came to us.

Their families sent them to us

because they knew that they'd be better off with us.

And we received no compensation from their families.

No funding whatsoever to support those young women.

Is that why you ran a laundry as well?

We had a small laundry facility.

And it wasn't for profit.

And it wasn't for punishment.

And it wasn't for any horrible thing you might be imagining.

It was our only means of supporting those girls.

And every government investigation and report said that same thing!

SOME would paint a very different picture of this place.

I've no doubt they would.

But the truth of it is, some of those girls couldn't be helped.

They were never destined to be mothers.

We did all we could for them.

You didn't answer my question

about Father Percy.

What was his involvement here with the Sisters of the Seven Joys?

Father Percy gave Mass in the chapel on Sunday.

Once in the morning and once in the evening.

That's all? That's it.

And is this the only convent that he said Mass at?

Ah, forgive me, my memory's not what it used to be.

I'm tired.

Sorry, Detectives, we'll have to stop there for today.

Thank you for your time, Sister.

I read something downstairs in the office, something in Latin.

"Montra...esse te...matrum."

"Monstra te esse matrem." What does that mean?

"Show thyself a mother."

What did Aoife tell you about our kids, Clemence?

You spoke to her, didn't you?

Look, what did she tell you?

Hey, Clemence! Clemence, it's time to go! Are they alive?

Come on, Clemence, what did she say? She... That's enough, Lorna.

She... God, I really...I can't!

It's all right, it's all right. CLEMENCE SOBS

I'm sorry.

Can we talk tomorrow, please?

I'll tell you everything.

I'll tell you everything.

Clemence, come on.

You nearly had the head off that poor woman.

"Poor woman"?! I'd half a mind to request a warrant

and turn the entire place top to bottom.

To look for what, exactly? Aoife Cassidy, for starters.

Why are you working so hard to connect this crime to this place?

Why are you working so hard to disconnect them?

It feels like you've been trying to knock off early since this began.

I know this town, OK?

It's not all about that,

it's about listening to what's around you.

And I'll tell you something else, if Aoife Cassidy was

still in this town, we'd have heard something by now.

Yeah, that's something else that's been bugging me.

Oh, yeah, what's that?

You keep on about this tight-knit community of yours,

the dependability of your network of chatter and gossip,

where everyone knows everything about everyone.

Someone farts in church on Sunday morning and the entire town's

laughing about it before lunch, and yet, in that fuckin' building

back there, I'm hearing girls were locked up and children were

stolen, and you're trying to tell me no-one knew anything about it?

How does something like that escape your network?

Because there's knowing and there's knowing.

HE SIGHS

COLMAN GASPS

Are you OK?

COLMAN GASPS

All right, all right!

GATE CLANGS

Whoa! You're all right.

You're all right, cub, you're all right.

Take a big breath, a big one. Come on, slow it down.

Slow it down, you're all right.

COLMAN GASPS

Have you ever had one of these before?

Not in years.

I was born in a Mother and Baby home.

Nothing like that place, just...

It's all right.

Just... It's all right.

It's fine.

It won't happen again.

MUSIC PLAYS, CRISPS CRUNCH

INDISTINCT CHATTER

I do remember you.

You know, you say I didn't remember you, but I do.

Huh?

The last time I saw you was at that disco in the GAA club.

You were wearing way too much denim.

That sounds about right.

That is a lot of crisps.

They're mine.

I've this thing I do,

where I take one of one flavour

and another of another flavour,

and I eat them at the same time.

So it kind of makes, like, a whole new kind of...

You're a bit weird, aren't you?

Were you always like this? I don't remember you being so weird.

I suppose I was.

You know, you haven't changed, either.

At school you were always the funny one. I was not. You were.

I thought you were. Funny?

No. You're thinking of someone else, Michael.

I'm not!

You were funny. No, I was not funny.

OK.

BABY CRIES

I'm so fuckin' tired.

You're not sleeping well?

Not sleeping.

What?

You know, you and your friend wanted to take me

and my friend up to the wailing woman's house that night.

That's right.

We did.

But you went home early.

SHE YELLS

Yeah. Last orders!

BELL RINGS

I haven't been up there in 30 years.

TRICKLING

Jesus!

I don't know why teenagers used to think this place was romantic.

SCOFFS: They didn't. They just had nowhere else to go.

Ah, I suppose you're right. That was the country we were living in.

Having to come to a place like this just to be together.

Can you get in?

DOOR CREAKS

ECHOING LAUGHTER

ECHOING: Look, you fizzed it up! LAUGHTER

You did that on purpose! I did not! Yeah, you did! I did not!

Yes, you did!

ECHOING: Come on!

Come on! Come on, this way, this way, come on!

Warmer.

Colder.

Warmer. Stupid!

Warmer.

GIGGLING

Warmer.

Do you ever see Declan O'Brien?

Erm...no.

Liar.

Erm...

..he's married.

Four or five kids.

Of course he is.

ECHOING: Come on up here, quick!

BABIES CRY

SHE GASPS

CRYING ECHOES

Stop! Stop! Lorna, how could you do this to me?!

No! Stop! No! No! No!

How could you do this to me?! No! No!

Give her back!

Can I be with my baby now?

IN DISTANCE: No! Stop!

BABY GURGLES

What are you waiting for?

Aren't you going to pick her up?

RAGGED BREATHING

Which one is mine?

Which one is yours?

And you call yourself a mother?

SHE SOBS

BABIES CRY

CRYING INTENSIFIES

CRYING STOPS

Lorna?

Are you all right?

Clemence knows what happened to my kid.

She what?

She's telling me tomorrow.

I'm really scared.

I'm really scared.

TRICKLING, SQUELCHING

ECHOING SCREAM

Clemence?

Clemence?

Clemence?

Clemence?

HE GASPS

ECHOING SCREAM