Original subtitles

Divine architect of the universe,

creator and maintainer of all symmetry and equation,

giver of law, stern judge,

we, thy poor, humble, sinful subjects

come before thee for judgement.

- Have mercy. - Have mercy.

JIM: Sue! You haven't watered these flowers, look.

- Well, you ought to have watered them. - Do it yourself.

I was thinking I'd go outside and finish off these reports, okay?

I'm going to St Helier later on. Do you want to come?

You said you wanted to do some shopping.

- No, I don't think so. - Huh? Oh. Suit yourself.

Repeat after me this implication.

May the spirit which once inhabited this skull

rise up and testify against me

if ever I wilfully violate my oath of secrecy and fidelity.

...which once inhabited this skull rise up and testify against me

if ever I wilfully violate my oath of secrecy and fidelity.

Noble Arch of Jerusalem...

Hello?

Yes. Yes, it's me.

...on this very skull.

Vouchsafe thine age...

Okay, bye. Bye.

...grant that this frail mortal

might so dedicate his life to justice and truth

as to become a faithful brother and companion in his degree among them.

Hear our plea.

ALL: Hear our plea.

Arise, Brother Price.

- Welcome. - Thank you.

- Welcome, Brother. - Thank you.

Welcome, Brother, welcome.

Aye, welcome, Alec, good to have you aboard.

- Thanks, Charlie. - Look as if you could do with a drink.

Time for the ceremonial toast.

Well, here we are, then.

There.

It's a bugger, Noble Arch.

Kissing skulls and all that, scared me to death when I did it.

- Dr Anderson. - That is what it's meant to do.

- Thanks, Charles. - Well now, brethren, a toast.

To our newly exalted companion, Alec Price,

and to the great venture on which we are all about to embark. Cheers.

- Cheers. - Hear, hear.

- Brethren? - Eh?

We are still in the temple. Perhaps we should remove ourselves?

- Into the hospitality lounge? - To the antechamber of the exalted.

Exactly, the hospitality lounge!

(ALL LAUGHING)

- It's really nice out there. - Is it?

- Who were you speaking to? - When?

On the phone. I thought I heard you talking to someone.

Oh, yes, Patricia rang.

- Oh, Pat, how is she? - Fine, fine.

You feeling all right?

Yes, of course.

(GASPING)

- CHARLIE: Alec, are you all right? - Is he ill?

Hey, Doctor. You're a doctor, what's happened to him?

One moment he was drinking his drink and then he...

- He's vomited. - All over the carpet.

This is serious. He's having convulsions.

- Get an ambulance quickly. - Right.

- Just a minute. - Yeah?

- Better call the police, too. - Eh?

Are you sure you don't want to come into town with me?

- Quite sure. - That's funny.

You spend weeks looking forward to me having a day off,

and when it comes around...

Are you sure there's nothing you want to do?

- We haven't been out for ages, have we? - No.

(PHONE RINGING)

Hello. Yeah.

Look, can't someone else do it?

I mean, it's supposed to be my day off, innit?

I see.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, right.

Who was it?

Er, I'm sorry, love. I know it is my day off.

Never mind.

- You'll never guess what's happened. - What?

Somebody has poisoned a Mason.

It's not certain yet but one of the brothers,

the members that is, who's a doctor, phoned to say that he suspected poison.

He's gone down to the hospital with the body

- and tests are being carried out. - Where did it happen?

At the Freemasons Hall less than half an hour ago.

Apparently they were in the middle of a ceremony.

What? He just keeled over, did he?

Look, Jim, I know Masons may seem strange...

Rolled-up trouser legs and all that, eh?

But they're also powerful, particularly so on this island.

The Lodge where it took place contains

some of the most influential people in Jersey.

On top of which, the ceremony that was going on when this happened

was being carried out by a chapter of Noble Arch.

Noble what?

Which is a higher degree than most ordinary Masons.

Anyway, I'm going to be supervising this operation.

Has someone told you something they're not going to tell me?

When you get to the hospital, try and find out from this doctor

exactly what happened as it happened.

Terry is interviewing the other members who were present.

- And remember... - Freemasons can damage your health.

I'm looking for the body that came in this afternoon.

- In the next room... - Ta.

- Doctor? - Yes?

It's Dr Anderson, innit?

James, young James Bergerac.

It's Jim now, Doctor. It's been Jim since I was 12 years old.

You're a detective sergeant too, I hear?

Yes, indeed I am, and that is why I'm here.

Yes, of course. Brother Price, yes, that's him.

- Yeah, so I see. - It was terrible. I was there.

Happened right in the middle of our temple.

What exactly?

We were holding a ceremony to exalt Mr Price...

- Is he an outsider? - Yes, recently moved to Jersey.

We were exalting him, I suppose you'd call it promoting him,

to the Noble Arch of our Lodge.

The Faith and Charity Lodge.

The ceremony was finished, drinks were passed round.

Drinks?

Yes, passed on by somebody you know, I believe. Charlie Hungerford.

- Is Charlie a Mason? - Yes, indeed. A very senior one.

Well, I would never have guessed! You never can tell, can you, eh?

The drinks wee passed round, a toast was made to our new companion

and to a new project, we drank,

and Alec Price just fell to the floor.

What made you think it was poison?

That's the funny thing. The smell...

Anyway, Dr Rodgers, the pathologist, has taken some samples from his tongue.

We should know very soon. Excuse me.

All right, take him.

Hang on a minute.

Okay, thanks.

Yes, you were right.

Oh.

- Detective Sergeant Bergerac. - We have met.

Several times. Professionally, of course.

Professionally?

I would have thought your methods were better described as unorthodox

rather than professional.

However, you're going to need to draw on all your resources as a detective

to solve this little crime.

Perhaps you'd tell Sergeant Bergerac what it is you found.

It's fascinating.

What we have here is not common or garden poisoning.

You know salmonella? Food poisoning.

Given to yet another tourist

in yet another unhealthy landlady's kitchen.

No, in this case we have an intelligent adult,

a respected financier,

pillar of society here on Jersey,

dying from the poison hemlock.

- Hemlock? - Hmm. Grows in marshes and ditches.

Looks like sickly cow parsley.

Now, Sergeant, what does that tell you?

Well...

Very little, hmm?

Think, Sergeant. If you found the victim under a hedge

and was to discover that he was a short-sighted botanist by profession...

What Dr Rodgers means, I believe, is that the poison

was probably administered deliberately by someone else.

Eminent financiers don't spend much time

grubbing around under hedgerows on all fours.

The effect of hemlock is instantaneous.

It must have been administered by somebody at the ceremony.

Must be 150 years since someone was last murdered with hemlock.

Jersey has its very own Lucrezia Borgia.

(CAR HORN HONKING)

My grandfather was a Mason, you know.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

Gave me a tip.

Spit over your left shoulder when you enter the temple proper.

- Really? - Hmm.

Otherwise they put the old evil eye on you, you know,

being a non-brother and all that.

Right. Thanks.

Oh, at last.

Strange how he went to get the keys. Usually me who has to do the legwork.

Why do you think he went? Wasn't to save you trouble.

You don't think they'd let an outsider touch a key to a holy of holies, do you?

- You mean, he's... - He's bound to be.

I'd bet a month's pay on it, wouldn't you?

What?

I expect that's how he got his promotion.

Can anyone join?

Strewth!

Who'd have thought a place like this existed in the middle of St Helier?

Alec Price, 54.

Financier specialising in the currency futures market, victim.

Stanley Patterson, prominent Jersey builder.

Casper Temperley, Jersey's leading tax and foreign exchange lawyer.

JIM: A villain.

An individual with a shrewd grasp of how the law operates.

Spot the difference.

Dr Michael Anderson, director of the Bellcrue Old People's Home,

and Charlie Hungerford, known to all of us.

One of these probably murdered Price.

Right, let's try and work out the basic mechanics of the event.

Terry, you interviewed Hungerford and Temperley.

Jim, you spoke to Patterson and Anderson.

Let's see how their stories compare. Jim.

Okay. Well, according to both of mine,

Price stood here during the ritual.

- TERRY: Yeah. - And Patterson was ove here.

TERRY: Yeah, mine agree on that.

Anderson stood directly in front of Price,

who he was exalting to the Noble Arch degree of Masonry.

(CHUCKLING) Yeah.

- Temperley stood about here. - Yep.

And Mr Hungerford was about here.

They did all this in the dark. Shall we switch the lights off?

The pathologist was certain the poison came from the wine?

Yeah, why?

I was just wondering about the closeness of Anderson to Price

all through the ceremony.

Yeah, well, the poison was in the wine.

Have you ever seen any of these Masonic initiations?

No.

I was reading about them in this book.

They're full of knives and nooses and threats to cut your throat if...

If you what?

Well, if you betray your fellow Masons.

Remember we're dealing with middle-aged Jersey businessmen,

not the Sicilian mafia.

(COMPUTER BEEPING)

Mr Hungerford went across to the table,

he picked up the tray of already poured wine...

Who poured it?

- According to this, the tiler poured it. - The who?

The tiler, he's a paid official. A sort of Lodge steward.

Whoever he is, apparently he poured it well before the ceremony began.

So he couldn't possibly have known who'd get the poison goblet, could he?

Same goes for anybody who tried to use the poison

- befoe the drinks were handed around. - Except Hungerford.

Yeah, but Temperley says that Mr Hungerford turned around

to face the others before removing the cloth.

So he didn't have any chance to use it either.

Yeah, Anderson and Patterson agree with that.

- So what happened to the drinks then? - Well, Mr Hungerford handed them around.

They stood in a kind of loose circle.

Nobody seemed to take undue time in choosing a drink.

There were no distinguishing marks on Price's glass?

Not according to the lab.

Then the whole party transferred through to the hospitality lounge.

- Dead end again. - Well, where's it all got to, then?

Stuck in some bank's computer, I should imagine.

I think it's damned strange.

Surely someone must have known where Alec was putting all that money.

- Are you suggesting we're lying to you? - No, of course I'm not.

He's dead, there was a lot of it and it seems to have vanished into thin air.

It is a bit unusual.

I think you're getting yourself into rather hot water, Charlie.

As a lawyer and friend, I would advise you

not to start making idle accusations,

especially where a case of murder is involved.

- CROZIER: Alec Price. - Currency speculator.

International financier,

surrounded by four of his closest business associates,

bites the Axminster.

So, what next?

Well, I'm off to see Temperley.

Why Temperley?

No one thinks it was Hungerford, do they?

And I've known Anderson since I was a kid.

So that leaves Patterson and Temperley.

- And you don't like Temperley? - I've scarcely met the man.

Has anyone seen a phone? I should phone Susan, tell her I'm gonna be late.

I saw her at lunch time, at Roselle.

- Roselle? - Yeah.

Thanks.

- Bergerac. - Mr Temperley.

Sit down, won't you?

You wanted to see me?

You have a most impressive office. Are those originals?

Obviously a very successful man.

What exactly was your business relationship with the late Mr Price?

Alec, until recently, worked in London.

Dealing in international currencies, buying and selling about the world.

Some of that money came through Jersey.

I advised him on the legal aspects of his Jersey transactions.

Two months ago he moved here to Jersey with his family.

You helped him to avoid tax?

You were present when Mr Price was murdered.

One of your people has already interviewed me at length.

How long have you been a member of the Faith and Charity Lodge in St Helier?

Since I arrived in Jersey five years ago.

How did you join?

You do not join Faith and Charity, you are invited.

Oh, I see.

You're also a member of a higher order of Masons, aren't you?

The Noble Arch of Jerusalem?

Right.

Mr Price was being exalted to this higher degree, as you people term it.

Why?

And why was he invited to join such a prestigious Lodge

so soon after arriving?

I have several clients waiting.

- Now, about this project of yours. - What project?

Oh, you members of the Faith and Charity Lodge

have this private project, don't you?

- Who told you that? - Nobody told me that.

Intentionally. What is it?

Freemasonry is above all a charitable organisation.

Our project is charitable.

We are engaged in raising funds to build a hospital here in Jersey.

A charitable hospital.

Charlie Hungerford's been in here, hasn't he?

How do you know?

I'd recognise the smell of those cigars anywhere.

Well, must away.

Find out what you two have been plotting. Good day to you, sir.

No, there's no argument about it, Jim.

The general public, to say nothing of your good self,

have got hold of entirely the wrong end of the stick with regard to us Masons.

I mean, we are involved in charity.

Charity, Jim, only we keep quiet about it.

We don't shout it from the rooftops.

I mean, some of the top people in the world, leading government figures,

financiers, royalty even, are Masons.

It therefoe follows that

in certain matters there's got to be a degree of delicacy, of confidentiality.

Yeah, Charlie, all I asked you was how is this hospital to be financed?

- You've got money it, I presume. - Of course I have.

Now, Stanley Patterson was going to build it,

Dr Anderson was going to run it.

So where did Temperley come in, and where did Price come in?

Well, you see, Jim, we swear this oath

- of silence. - Oh, yeah. Omertà.

"If I do not keep the secets of this Lodge,

"let my throat be cut across,

"my tongue torn out by the root and buried in the sand at low watermark."

- Jim. Hang about.

"My left breast laid open, my heart torn out from there

"and given to the ravenous birds of the air."

Charlie, relax.

Relax, he says, when there's a blooming murderer on the loose.

All right, Jim, I will tell you. A bit.

- But not a word to anyone, understood? - Rub's honour.

In only a few days' time, men of great importance...

- Masons. - Aye, Masons.

Will be coming to Jersey for a confidential meeting.

Internationally respected famous people.

Statesmen, businessmen, financiers...

- Just for a local hospital? - Yes.

And that's all I can say.

Let's hope we catch this maniac before he strikes again, eh?

Aye. Let's hope.

PEGGY: The Applewhites from Croydon, you remember?

- I've often talked to you about them. - Oh, yeah.

Mrs Applewhite used to grow the best roses in Croydon,

much better than these.

Always won the first prize at the local flower show.

Mark you, there was a rumour that she used to buy her winning entries

- from a florist. - Oh, yeah?

Anyhow, one night, must have been about three years ago now,

Reggie and I were over at their house playing bridge.

In the course of conversation it emerged that

Mr Applewhite had been a very eminent Mason in Croydon.

- The Grand Wizard of... - Oz?

Anyway, when the men settled down to watch billiards on television,

Mrs Applewhite took me upstairs and showed me his full regalia

- in their wardrobe. - Charlie Hungerford's a Mason.

- So I gather. - Hey, Terry.

Can you do me a run-down on the international VIPs list, please?

Anyone expected on the island in the next few days.

- Any particular ones? - Yeah, financiers,

bankers, politicians, likely Masons.

Oh, that'll be a piece of cake, won't it?

Hang on, telex City of London Police

requesting details of Price's financial transactions during the last year.

- Especially with Casper Temperley. - Hang on a minute.

And earmak any funds concerned with the hospital in Jersey, okay?

Okay.

- You're very smartly dressed. - Yes, I'm going to a Masonic funeral.

The road to success is paved with funny handshakes.

(CAR HORN HONKING)

ANDERSON: Certainties, James. There are very few certainties in this life.

There's God and there's death.

And very often there's unhappiness.

You tend to sort of expect to see that everything should be for the best,

and perpetual disappointment that it never is.

That's how God treats us, you see?

Perpetually hung over a chasm into which we never plunge,

clinging to a cliff we can't climb,

caught eternally betwixt and between.

VICAR: Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live.

And is full of misery.

ANDERSON: People say we have no ritual, no formality left in our lives,

but it's not true.

What's this? Look at it?

The magnificent solemnity, Alec Price,

an ordinary mortal, neither notably good nor notably evil,

leaves this world.

We're saying farewell to him on his voyage into eternity.

See, he enters the portals, passes through into another world.

You see, he goes. One second he's here, Alec Price, the next,

he's transported, dispatched without trace.

As though he never existed, dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

...he is unable to subdue all things to himself.

Certainties, James. Death is the only certainty in this life.

James, it's finished.

- Do you want to walk back? - Oh, yeah. Yeah. Of course.

JIM: Who's going to be at the reception? ANDERSON: Are you thinking of attending?

- Of course! - You wouldn't be entirely popular.

I'd hate to see you turned back at the door.

I don't think anyone's going to stop me, do you?

Will all the guests be Masons, then?

Yes, I expect so, people who knew him through his work.

- What's your connection with him? - Of course. I'm one of your suspects.

Well, you were there. You're one of the five.

And I presume you have something to gain from this hospital business.

Well, then you presume wrongly, James.

It's not my object in life to gain by it,

engineer dubious financial rewards.

I'm here on earth as a doctor and a Freemason to help my fellow men.

I'm sorry. No, really, I apologise.

Look, I remember how you treated me and my parents from way back,

and I know that you are an honest man.

Honesty can be a ruse.

There can be no greater cover for a dishonest man than honesty.

I sometimes wish I could talk about the Lodge.

About the things that have been going on here in Jersey in recent years.

Then why don't you?

Because my God has commanded silence.

One might question that command, one may never break it.

You mean you are afraid of having you heart torn out and your vitals removed?

Physical death, James, who's afraid of that?

It's spiritual death I fear.

JIM: I'll see you at the reception.

(ALL CHATTERING STOPS)

- Excuse me, please. Thank you. - Sorry.

Hello, James.

I see you've managed to get in without coming through the front door.

- Going to set the bouncer on me, Doctor? - No, I don't think so. See you later.

Oh, thank you.

Moonlighting, are you, Jim?

(CHUCKLING)

Just my little joke. Mmm, delicious.

Mince pie, sirs?

Thank you, Bergerac. My London office have been in touch.

Apparently you've been snooping around them as well.

Ought to be catching murderers instead of harassing honest businessmen.

I was simply checking up on Mr Price's business connections.

Your interests and his in the hospital appear to coincide.

You realise you'll end up looking extremely foolish.

Anyone who's anyone in Jersey will hear

all there is to hear about your ham-fisted interference

in matters that have got nothing to do with you.

You threatening me, sir?

What do these taste like, Casper?

- What? - These mince pies.

- Fine. - Well, must circulate. Goodbye.

Stanley!

JIM: Give him some air. Stand back.

- Mr Patterson? Doctor? - Excuse me.

I tried to phone you a couple of times, Diana said you were out.

Oh, yes, I forgot. I had to go to the printers twice

to arrange some new leaflets.

Look, I'm sorry, I can't eat this.

I think I'd better get back to it.

- Your case? - Yeah.

Yeah, I've got to go over the whole thing again, in detail.

- Going out tonight, are you? - Wasn't planning to.

Well, I shouldn't bother staying up for me.

I'm going to out all night on this one for sure. Bye.

Bye.

- Bergerac to Control, over. - WOMAN: Control.

I'd like you to run a check on car registration J 19963, please.

- Will do. - Out.

CROZIER: You want me to go through it again?

JIM: Won't be any use. CROZIER: You might remember something.

No, I won't. There is nothing to remember, is there?

I mean, the whole point about this case is that it makes no logical sense.

I know you're tired, Jim. But every crime has its motive.

- Again. - All right.

I came in through the kitchen door.

They all turned towards me as I came in.

CROZIER: Yes.

As I came in through the door,

I picked up the tray of mince pies.

I walked across to Dr Anderson, he was chatting to the vicar.

And he was a bit curt but friendly.

- You managed to get in without... - He helped himself to mince pie.

And then I went to Charlie Hungerford.

He had a mince pie and made some remark about moonlighting.

And then Temperley and Patterson.

They both had pies.

Temperley came on a bit with the aggression. And then...

CROZIER: Jim? Jim?

Was I right that time?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Perfect.

Then why do you say it doesn't make sense?

Well, say you are our grand poisoner, right?

Anderson, Temperley... Hungerford?

You're using a rather exotic group of poisons.

First of all you put hemlock in the wine,

and then you lace a mince pie with deadly nightshade.

A man presents you with a plate

on which you know the poisoned pie to be.

Now, you make bloody sure you don't pick that one out, right?

You actually stare at it to make sure. Now, not one of our suspects

so much as glanced at the plate when they chose, they were looking at me.

Like in the previous killing, nobody looked at the wine glasses.

- What are you saying? - I don't know,

but we are concentrating on the mechanics, aren't we?

If there's a crime committed in Jersey,

we assume the crime has a motive, we assume that motive to be

- materialistic or mercenary, right? - Mmm-hmm.

But I don't feel this is like that.

- Jim. - Yeah?

That information you wanted from the City of London.

- Yeah. - They've come through with some answers.

Oh, yeah?

According to the detective sergeant I was speaking to,

two million pounds was raised

by the Prudence and Foresight Lodge in the City of London

to build a charitable hospital here in Jersey.

The money was transferred to the hospital trustees a month ago.

Do you mean the St Helier Faith and Charity Lodge?

Yeah, and then the money promptly disappeared.

Much to the anger of the London Masons who are coming over here

in a couple of days' time to hold an enquiry.

In order to get the money to disappear, whose signatures would it have required?

Price, Patterson, Temperley and Hungerford.

CROZIER: Not Anderson?

Apparently not.

Now, according to my sources,

Price was using the money to play the international currency market.

Presumably to the advantage of all four.

Since Price's death, two million pounds has disappeared.

It's a mechanical motive if ever I saw one.

Yeah, okay. Fine. Follow it up if that's the way you feel,

but I still think there is more to this case than that.

- What? - Oh, I don't know.

Mania, passion. I mean, our man is using poisons which are 200 years old.

Jim, poison and grand passion went out with Dr Crippen.

We're living in the 1980s.

(VEHICLE APPROACHING)

ANDERSON: Honesty can be a ruse.

There can be no greater cover for a dishonest man than honesty.

JIM: Dr Anderson, I'd like to ask you a question.

Well, come into my study. What's your question, James?

Yes.

If you have a great emotion, Doctor, a great passion,

how far can you go in releasing it?

Letting it live, acting it out, discovering where it will lead you?

I'm not quite sure I understand you, James.

Doctor, I haven't had very much sleep as you can see.

And you know that funny state you find yourself in

when your dreams become the world and the world becomes your dreams?

It's just that I feel myself, sense myself,

standing on the beach in front of this tearing, hungry sea.

And I sense you standing beside me.

What is your great passion, Doctor?

What's yours, James?

Jealousy.

You've obviously had some sort of shock, perhaps you should go home.

These men that are coming here tomorrow,

the bankers, the silly financiers, the self-seeking politicians,

there's someone going to be like a cat among the pigeons, isn't there?

You've changed, haven't you, Doctor?

- Have I? - Yes, you have.

You're not the same Dr Anderson I knew all those years ago, I...

What has changed you?

- (CHUCKLES) Nothing has. - No, something has.

What is it about this hospital, this hospital that you are gonna run,

that you hate so much.

Jim, I think we ought to be talking about your problem.

- Oh, come on, don't change the subject. - Jealousy.

- I'll deal with that in my own way. - It's a disease, you know.

Well, I'll just have to endure it, won't I?

Learn to live through it, like other diseases.

You need a rest, James. Some peace and quiet. You're very upset.

I'm going away to think, Doctor. To think, not to rest.

And if you should think of anything you wanna tell me,

about the meeting tomorrow, I'll be available to talk.

Goodbye, Doctor.

Goodbye, James.

CHARLIE: Who is it?

Charlie?

Oh, Jim.

- You're looking rough. - You don't look too good yourself.

- Gonna invite me in? - Eh?

Oh, of course, sorry. Come in.

You don't know who you can trust these days, do you?

- JIM: Where's Chico? - I've sent him on leave.

Come into the kitchen. I'm preparing all me own food now.

- Baked beans for lunch? - Yeah, fine.

I went down to the supermarket, bought all this lot myself.

Straight off the shelf, no messing.

Where's the two million pounds, Charlie?

- If I knew that, Jim... - Charlie!

I'm tired of playing around.

All right.

We did have the two million pounds. For a month, in trust.

Alec Price and Casper Temperley thought they could play the currency market,

net us all a nice little profit.

Stanley Patterson agreed and so did I, then...

Alec got killed and the money was

mislaid.

Mislaid! Who killed Price and Patterson?

If I knew the answer to that one...

And where does Dr Anderson fit into all this?

Anderson? Well, he doesn't as far as I know.

It's his hospital.

Yes, but he's a doctor. He's not involved in the finances.

That just leaves Casper Temperley and me, doesn't it?

Look, Jim, I'm telling you. You got to nail this beggar by tomorrow,

whoever he is, before he gets a chance to get at our London brethren,

because if that happens...

Yes?

- His name, tell me his bloody name. - No!

Tell me. I want to know.

It's none of your bloody business. He isn't anyone.

None of my business?

Jim, I never meant for this to happen, for you to know, honestly.

I never wanted to hurt you.

Hurt me? Hurt me? You've made me sick.

Jim, I told you, this is something I've got to work out. Now leave me alone.

- No! - Jim!

(PHONE RINGING)

Hello.

With the greatest of pleasure.

Well, who was it?

Tell me, who was it?

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

Come in, James. Come in.

You said you wanted to tell me something about this meeting tomorrow?

Well, sit down, won't you? Please.

Now, about this meeting...

We don't need to rush things, do we? Let's have a drink.

I can only offer you orange juice, I'm afraid.

Yes, of course, you think you're dealing with a poisoner.

There's the juice, James. Pour them both from the same carton.

You decide which glass I must drink from, I shall drink first.

James.

Dr Anderson.

(GUN COCKING)

I thought you were a poisoner.

A memento of the occupation.

I never liked the thing.

Taxus baccata, dicotyledon from the berries of the yew tree.

A poison of the toxin group.

This poison has a peculiar property.

For sometime, the victim feels no disturbance whatever,

some of the constituents of the poison merely beraking down the ability

of his kidneys and liver to fight off the other constituents.

Once these defences are down, however, after about 30 minutes,

the real poison gets to work. Death is inevitable.

Neither nature nor man has ever discovered an antidote.

One of us has just drunk a glass of it.

I left the choice of glass to you, James.

The poison was smeared around the inside of one of the glasses.

I don't know any better than you do which one of us drank it.

If I survive, I shall strike down those great, haughty men tomorrow.

If you survive, you will have got your man,

albeit a dead one.

God has already judged.

We must sit and await his decision.

You did the same with the other poisonings, didn't you?

Left it to chance whether you or the victim would die?

- Left it to God. - But why?

Because I'm not God. I'm his mere sevant.

I must run the same risks as all other mortal men,

so that God may choose who he saves, who he strikes.

If he chooses me to live, and he has, I know I do right.

Look at the way our master has created this world, hmm?

Its infinite variety.

All manner of creeping, crawling, lively creatures.

Plants, animals, insects, tiny, minute organisms,

all roaring with life.

And as God sows the seeds of creation,

so he also sows the seeds of destruction.

A hawk, a wolf,

hemlock, nightshade, disease.

That is his wisdom.

That everything should have, in itself, a beginning and an end.

But man has forgotten that truth.

In his pride, he boasts only the generous, creative sides of his nature.

He forgets the destructive side, indeed he suppresses it.

But it's still there.

And because it's hidden, when it does emerge,

it's all the uglier.

Jim!

Do you feel strange in yourself? Is it the poison?

Why do you always pick on Masons?

I'm a Mason, always have been.

To be a Mason used to be a matter of distinction.

Masons were serious, responsible people.

Saw themselves as humble servants of the great God,

instruments of his divine will, his to make or break.

Here on this earth to help their fellow men through the travails of the flesh.

But they've forgotten. They've grown fat and selfish.

The hospital. You discovered the money disappeared.

- Oh, it's of no importance. - What?

Thieves falling out amongst themselves.

Do you want to know the real truth about the hospital? The real robbery?

My lodge, the Faith and Charity Lodge,

once an honourable institution,

and the Prudence and Foresight Lodge from the City of London,

they came to me.

"Dr Anderson," they said, "you're a prominent, respected man in Jersey.

"We would like to build your hospital to serve all the people of Jersey.

"We are bringers of charity."

Well, I was delighted. I agreed.

The money arose, a very great deal. "Oh, surely, this is too much," I said.

"We want nothing but the best," they replied.

I smoothed the planning permission, got Jersey on their side.

And then I started to realise

this hospital was not for the people of Jersey.

There are men in this world, James, great men,

men who are so great that, like gods, they fly through the skies above us,

never setting foot on mere mortal soil, except in a few hallowed sanctuaries.

The Cayman Islands, the Bahamas.

(SCOFFS)

The Isle of Man.

Gods of men conjuring up fortunes in the clouds.

But even these mighty men must occasionally fall ill, get stricken.

And then where shall they go?

They can't go into ordinary hospitals like most of us. No.

So, they wing their unerring way here to Jersey,

and I, I must sew them up and send them off again,

soaring above the world.

(CLOCK CHIMING)

This hospital was not to be a haven for the sick, the lame and the helpless.

It was to be another filthy tax-dodge sty

for those who already wallow and choke in their own wealth.

- That a reason to kill them? - I do not kill them!

God chooses who shall die.

And God chooses that the great and the mighty of this earth shall fall,

to teach all men a lesson!

An ancient law.

Those who rise highest must fall the furthest.

An endless, natural cycle by which life on this earth is ensured.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

He has chosen me,

the Lord God has.

And you, the unproud, the unmighty,

he has spared. I'm glad.

It works within me.

Feels, burrows, turns...

Stabs.

That is God wreaking his will,

breaking down his creation,

destroying

a righteous desire.

I see him beckon.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

NURSE: Dr Anderson?

Dr Anderson?

(KNOCKING)

Dr Anderson? Dr Anderson!

Dr Anderson? Dr Anderson!

All right, thanks, thanks.

The Masons have closed ranks.

Apparently, very conveniently, the money turned up at the last minute.

Temperley discovered it in an Australian bank,

converted from Japanese yen and Swiss francs.

They certainly made a few bob.

Which is going into an opeating theatre for the hospital.

I rather suspect they feel they've had more than enough scandal already.

You all right, mate?

You better get some sleep. We'll sort things out here.

Go on, on your way.

I'd like to explain now.

Try and explain.

Jim, you have to listen to me, you have to understand.

I never meant this to happen to me, to you.

To both of us.

Will you please listen? Let me explain!

Explain. Explain all you want.

I don't know what came over me, do you understand?

I don't know. It was a madness.

- Eric means nothing to me. - Eric? That his name, is it? Eric?

You're so bloody superior!

You want to know why I... Because you're never here, that's why!

Because you... You take me for granted, that's why!

Because I have absolutely no idea how you feel about me any more.

I had an affair,

and it's over.

Do you hear me? Over.

I love you.

- I love you so... - Get off!

Jim?

Jim?

It's all right.

It's all right.

Divine architect of this universe,

creator and maintainer of all symmetry and equation,

giver of law, passer of judgement,

we, thy poor, humble, sinful subjects, come before thee for judgement.

ALL: Have mercy.