The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2001–2008): Season 4, Episode 4 - Word of God - full transcript
An illegal Jordanian immigrant is found strangled in a meat locker with a page from the priceless "Golden Koran" is found on his person.
Stop it!
Stop it!
Selfish. inconsiderate.
- Good morning!
- Is it? I hadn't noticed.
Well, this should help. A triple-shot espresso.
Jump-stem the heart.
Cheer up. It might never happen.
Lafferty's here already.
He's unbearably keen today.
There's nothing wrong with that.
- Tell me about this trailer.
- Oh. Er...
The container was shipped and sealed
from Denmark four days ago.
It was unloaded in Harwich yesterday.
"Some say the world will end in fire,
some say in ice."
William Butler Yeats.
Robert Frost.
And I thought you were an educated man.
- Hi.
- Hi.
The victim is male. Obviously.
Late 20s. Early 30s.
I'd say Mediterranean or Middle Eastern
in origin.
See this? If he'd frozen to death,
the livor mortis would be red.
Time of death? If he died in Denmark,
it could be a case for their police.
Sorry. Nice try.
The core temperature is still a couple of degrees
above ambient. Been dead less than 48 hours.
How soon can you do a postmortem?
A day at least to thaw.
Think of your turkey at Christmas.
I'd rather not.
- Have you talked to the driver yet?
- Yeah.
The only time the vehicle was unattended was
an hour's break in a service station off the M25.
Then he slept in the cab till the market opened.
The tachograph should confirm it.
Fantastic. So we don't know who the victim is.
We've got no witnesses, no suspects, no motive.
I'm sure something will turn up.
Can you out it out with the platitudes today?
Oh, you silly chumps! Mind what you're doing.
Sir!
He must have been wearing it under his shin.
ID and address.
I told you something would turn up.
OK. Martin Moran. Elver's Way. Dartford.
- Aye aye.
- Hold on.
- There's about 200 here.
- No. The paper. Let me see.
- What is it?
- Vellum parchment.
- What language is that?
- Arabic.
Ancient Arabic, I'd guess.
That's beautiful.
Bag this up very carefully.
We need to take it to a manuscript expert.
- Inspector Lynley.
- Hi. Have I called at a bad time?
- Sorry. Who is this?
- We met at the House of Lords.
- Christine. Of course.
- I was beginning to think you'd forgotten me.
Well, how could I forget?
I was just wondering when we were going
to finally have that cappuccino.
The way I'm going, it's more likely to be
a nightcap, I should think.
Oh?
Well, strangely enough,
I have no plans for this evening.
Hold on a second. Just a moment.
Havers, get in touch with Dartford BCU and
make sure there's a family-liaison officer on call.
Sorry. Yeah. I'm all yours.
Oh, well, would you like me
to book us a table for supper, then?
Well, I'll leave myself in your capable hands.
Great.
Bye-bye.
- The high-flying lawyer?
- Yeah. We're going to have dinner.
- Talk about work. A lot of crossover.
- Is that what they're calling it these days?
Can't two professionals meet
without everyone getting the wrong idea?
"I'm all yours."
"I'll leave myself in your capable hands."
Of course, I forgot. You're the expert on
courtship rituals, with all your dating adventures.
Yeah, well, that all turned out
to be a total waste of time.
How did you know it was Ancient Arabic?
The benefit of a liberal ans education.
Which makes you an expert on everything.
Of course.
Except... women.
It's the family-liaison officer.
OK. Martin Moran. Some juvenile offences,
shoplifting, assault,
a conviction for selling prescription drugs,
anabolic steroids.
You're dead! You're dead!
Happy families, eh?
You're dead!
Mrs Moran?
Detective Sergeant Havers.
This is Detective Inspector Lynley.
Can we come in?
Thank you.
Er...
You are married to Martin Moran? Yeah?
Suppose so. Yeah.
What is it, love?
It's the police. Something about Martin.
What's he done now?
Mrs Moran, when did you last see
your husband?
Er... I don't know. About a week ago.
Why?
Do you know where he's been since then?
No.
When was the last time you spoke with him?
The night... before last.
Yeah.
We had a bit of a row -
you know, access to the kids.
You see, he keeps arguing about
changing all the times and stuff
He wanted to come and pick 'em up today.
We split up a couple of months ago.
I'm with Craig now.
- Just a minute. What's this all about?
- Craig.
Well, I'm... I'm sorry to be
the bearer of bad news.
But we do have reason to believe
that your husband is dead.
You're kidding.
I'm very sorry, Mrs Moran.
Are you all right?
Come on.
Before we can make a formal identification...
Sir.
...we will need you to come and identify the body.
Sir, we might have jumped the gun.
Is this a photograph of your husband?
Yes.
Hold on a minute.
I thought you said he was dead.
Oi!
Dad!
- All right, son?
- Martin Moran?
I'm just picking the kids up.
There's no law against it.
- Do you recognise this passport, sir?
- I ain't got a passport. I've never been abroad.
Have you been burgled recently?
Someone broke into the car in Eltham the other
week. You know what it's like. What's this about?
They came round here, asking all these
questions. They told us you were dead.
- What?
- You nearly gave us a heart attack.
A case of mistaken identity. We found a passport
in your name on a murder victim.
We really didn't mean to cause any distress.
Distress? You can't go around upsetting people
like this without checking your facts.
- I understand how you feel.
- This is out of order.
- You ought to complain.
- I'll get the family-liaison officer.
We're really very sorry. We didn't...
It's just a terrible misunderstanding.
Look what you've done to my wife.
That's emotional trauma.
I should sue you lot for damages.
It's an easy mistake to make.
We should have double-checked first.
It was a good forgery.
Now it's landed us up the proverbial creek
without a paddle.
The Immigration And Naturalisation Department
specialise in forged passports.
Not the IND. You know what a nightmare
they are to work with.
Sometimes, you've got to learn to ask
for a little bit of help.
Don't tell me you were taken in by this?
Feel the intaglio.
Check the laser mark.
Don't they train you to look for these things?
This is your speciality.
That's why we've come to you.
Yes. Everything lands on my plate.
Er... we need an ID on our victim urgently.
And I'd like England to win the World Cup.
IN D keep a database of all foreign nationals
entering the country.
- If they come in legally.
- You do have facial-recognition software?
The system has just gone on-stream.
Look around. I'm understaffed.
Inspector Brennan, I would appreciate it if you
gave this top priority. It is a murder investigation.
We've got major investigations, too.
The Home Office has just made
people trafficking top priority.
It's been given the same rating as drugs.
- I'm very happy for you.
- Um... we might be able to work together on this.
Erm... our victim was found in a container
that came into Harwich.
Go on.
There might be a people-trafficking connection.
Now, if you could help us with our investigation,
we might be able to help you with yours.
I'll see what I can do.
But it could take a while.
With every hour that passes, the trail gets colder.
I feel your pain.
I feel it, too, in the neck.
Don't let him get to you.
What did I say about working on
multi-agency cases?
Yeah, well, we haven't much choice.
It's the only lead we've got.
Not quite.
Let's not forget our manuscript.
No cameras or eyewitnesses at the lay-by,
I'm afraid,
but the Harwich police had a similar case,
about two years ago.
Five Thai woman suffocated in a truck...
Sir?
"Each hour that passes, the trail gets colder."
I remember the case.
The container wasn't refrigerated,
it was just badly ventilated,
it was manslaughter, not murder,
and those girls were smuggled in
for use in the sex trade -
none of which apply to us.
Well, maybe we should liaise with
Special Branch, the counter-terrorism desk.
Why?
Well... this could be a threat
or some kind of message.
Oh. So, "Arab" equals "terrorist"? Isn't that
what they call "institutional prejudice"?
It's covering all the angles.
Inspector Lynley?
Professor Blackwell. A pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for seeing us at such short notice.
This is Detective Sergeant Havers.
Erm... we wondered
if you could translate this for us.
What are these smudges?
Oh, erm... the manuscript was dusted
for fingerprints.
Unfortunately, we found it on the body of a man
in a refrigerated container.
Er...
"If anyone... killed someone,
unless it be for murder
or spreading mischief in the land,
it would be as if he killed everyone."
Perhaps it is some kind of message.
Oh, it is.
It's a message from God.
Please.
Right.
Sorry. A bit of a maze in here, I'm afraid.
- What did Prince Charles compare it to?
- An academy for secret police.
You know London is the world centre
for stolen antiquities?
Yeah. A rather dubious distinction.
They say an crime is like a barometer
for all other crimes.
Sad, but true. It's an underworld currency.
Old books are used for collateral in their
drug deals, gun running, people trafficking.
Take this, for example.
This was found in an abandoned get-away car
underneath the M40.
Police found traces of Semtex,
blood and cocaine.
That is ironic, isn't it? Something so beautiful
being mixed up with such ugliness.
Beauty brings out the worst in people.
Now... seraph five, I think.
Er...
Verse 32. Yeah.
And it goes on.
"If anyone saved a life, it would be as if
he saved the life of the whole people."
That's a verse from the Koran.
Not just any Koran. Look at this.
Early Kufic script.
I'd have to do some dating tests,
but, looking at the vellum, I'd say...
seventh century,
around the time of Third Caliph Osman.
Didn't he compile the very first official Koran?
Very good, Inspector.
If this is genuine, it's about as close
to the word of God as we can get.
So, that would make this very valuable.
To a historian or a scholar, priceless,
but to a collector, well...
more precious, ounce for ounce, than...
moon dust.
And, if it's genuine, ample motive for murder.
Why do you say that?
We er... strongly suspect that the man
who was holding the page was murdered.
Oh.
Like I said, beauty brings out the worst in people.
Where could our victim have got it from?
Well, there were reports
of one of these Koran's being kept
by a member of the Kuwaiti royal family.
Then it was stolen by the Republican Guard
when Iraq invaded in 1991.
Then, during the chaos of the second Iraqi War,
with museums and libraries being looted
and burned, you can imagine what happened.
It could easily have been lost, found again,
smuggled out or...
Excuse me.
Havers.
How soon can you get this verified?
- We're very busy, Inspector.
- Don't tell me you've got a backlog, too?
I'm sure if I lean on
the Conservation Department,
we can have it authenticated within 24 hours.
Please.
If it is authentic, who'd be in the market
for such a manuscript?
Well... Where to begin?
Unscrupulous collectors...
corrupt officials...
terrorists...
drug barons trying to bypass
the banking system.
Not to mention fundamentalist Wahhabi sects
or Mossad,
or anyone else with some political interest.
We live in dark times, Inspector.
- If you get any results, will you give me a call?
- Of course.
Keep your eye out for any other pages.
If we could recover the whole Koran...
We'll do our best.
That was Brennan. He thinks he's got an ID.
- Thank you very much, Professor.
- Inspector.
Do you want the good or the bad news?
Can we just have the name of our victim,
please?
Latif Ansari -
a Jordanian national.
He came through Heathrow
eight months ago on a six-month visa,
accompanied by his wife Narima
and his brother Ahmed.
Registered address?
That's the bad news - B&B, left six weeks ago.
No forwarding address.
- Credit-card or cash-machine transactions?
- I wasn't born yesterday. Checked. Nothing.
Circulate a full description of these two.
They have to be considered our prime suspects.
- I might have a suspect for you.
- When did you become a murder detective?
Every forger has his own style.
Some things they do well, others not.
We think we know who faked this one up.
The man who made this
is a major people trafficker.
About a couple of years ago,
five Thai girls were found suffocated in a truck.
- We heard about that, but that wasn't murder.
- But this might be.
- Give me means and motive.
- Plenty.
A moody passport like this
costs up to four grand.
Maybe your victim couldn't pay
or was about to shoot his mouth off.
Name and address?
We've been running surveillance on him
for six months. He's slippery.
I'm not going to let you run in there
and blow the operation.
With suspicion of murder,
I can get a warrant overnight.
We can hit him hard in the morning.
If we work together, share intelligence...
...we could both get what we want.
OK.
But I want to talk to him within 24 hours.
It's a deal.
Why do I get the feeling
this case is slipping through my fingers?
You're just tired. You haven't had
a good night's sleep in a week.
I get the message.
At least we've still got the body.
Better check Lafferty hasn't disposed of it
or donated it to science.
Double-check the IDs. There must be
another way of tracking his wife and brother.
What you doing? You calling police?
You know what they do to us if they find out.
Come with me.
Forget about human-rights issues, then. Let's
just look at immigration on economic grounds.
I was. Yours.
I was thinking of all those fat fees you get
for defending asylum seekers.
Oh, yeah. Millions.
Adam Smith,
philosopher of the free-market system.
Yeah. I know who he was.
He argued that capital needed to flow freely
to make competition work.
He also argued for the free movement of labour.
Free trade can only work if people
travel internationally to where the jobs are.
There's a right-wing argument
for economic migrants.
Hold on a minute. Just because I'm a policeman,
it doesn't mean I'm a...
dyed-in-the-wool Conservative.
And just because I'm a lawyer,
it doesn't make me a Bollinger Bolshevik.
Maybe not.
But, you know,
I see the human cost of all this freedom.
Murders involving homeless people,
abandoned children, migrants.
So many displaced people,
uprooted from their families.
Nobody really has a home.
That sounded heartfelt.
No, no, no. no.
Oh, come on. You've got to relax, sometimes,
let yourself loose.
I can see how persuasive you must be in court.
I buy food.
- I don't want to eat.
- Now, Narima, you must eat.
You can't tell me what to do.
I'd do anything for you.
I put my hand in fire for you, huh, Narima?
- Stop it!
- I am your husband now.
It's none of my business.
Typical nosey lawyer.
Go on.
I heard you were separated from your wife.
We are... living apart.
For a trial period.
I've recently been through the break-up
of a long relationship.
I know what it's like. It's a very...
...unsettling time.
We don't know whether we're going to try and...
make it work again...
...or split up for good.
That's the...
That's the worst thing, isn't it?
The uncertainty.
On the other hand...
...when nothing is certain...
everything is possible.
Hi.
I need to confirm a few things.
I'm all yours.
You said that Latif underwent
some kind of surgery.
He had a kidney removed, at some point,
followed by dialysis, over the last few months.
How do you know?
Come here.
A neat scar here
and he had an AV shunt in this arm
to give easier assess for the dialysis.
It looks fairly recent, too.
We'll know a bit more
when he's warmed up for the Y-incision.
So the dialysis could have happened
during his time in London?
Possibly.
OK. I'll er... check the dialysis clinics.
Thanks for a lovely dinner.
Can I give you a lift home?
I'm just five minutes round the corner.
- Oh, well, I'll walk you, then.
- You don't have to.
It'll be my pleasure.
OK. No luck in the dialysis units.
Cheer up.
I think I've got a cause of death for you.
See? The broken hyoid bone
and the thyroid cartilage.
- The Adam's apple.
- Fractured.
So he was strangled
before he was put in the container?
Yeah, but not manually.
See? There's no finger bruises.
It must have been some kind of soft ligature.
Could a woman have done it?
It takes three... four minutes to kill a man like that.
He could have been very ill,
too weak to put up a fight.
- Erm... I'd better go home.
- Someone special?
Late-night TV.
I'll be here all night.
Go on, then.
Abandon me to this cold, harsh world.
OK.
Enjoy your night on the tiles.
Look, I'd ask you up for a nightcap, but...
...it sounds so loaded.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Oh, but what the hell? Life's too short
Do you want to come up?
OK. I get the message.
No, no, no. Er...
Don't get that message.
I mean, er...
don't take it the wrong way.
Well, how am I supposed to take it?
I just...
I need to be sure that I'm ready.
Mm-hm? You deserve that.
Michael Sweet, 47.
Been running a roaring trade
in false documents for years.
- Previous convictions?
- Just look in the file.
Sweet's trucking company brought in
those poor Thai girls.
We've got surveillance connecting him
to the Turks, the Albanians, even the Chinese.
The boys in black are here.
They'll be going in round the back.
Do you think we really need
the heavy artillery on this?
He's given us the slip twice before. We need to
catch him red-handed, make our charges stick.
Just remember, this is first and foremost
a murder investigation.
You're like a stuck record.
I'm only holding back to help with your operation.
Almost ready.
Have visual on target.
Where have you been?
I was with Lafferty last night.
Doing what? Admiring his motorbike?
Our victim had a kidney removed
and was probably on dialysis.
So I thought we might track down the wife
and brother through his medical records.
- And?
- No go.
Thousands of clinics could have done
the procedure, but I did have a better idea.
Roger. OK. Strike force good to go.
Are you ready?
- Also, Professor Blackwell called.
- What did he want?
Go, go, go!
- Armed police!
- Armed police!
Drop the weapon!
Armed police! Drop the weapon!
Come on, Michael. We've got a passport,
an embossing machine,
a card skimmer, ultraviolet ink.
Even some official stamps.
I've never seen them before in my life.
You can do better than that.
I can't be held responsible
for what my employees get up to.
Your prints on anything and that story falls apart.
Come on. What does a full strike team cost you?
Four grand a day plus?
You've got to have more than this on me.
How about suspicion of murder?
What's going on?
I thought we agreed I'd get first crack at him.
You have. You blew it.
I haven't really got started.
You've had your chance.
I'm taking over this interview.
I'm DI Lynley. This is DS Havers.
We're investigating a murder.
- So I hear.
- Recognise this man?
The body of a Jordanian, Latif Ansari, was found
in a meat truck that came into Harwich.
Frozen to death?
Mind you, there are worse ways to go.
He wasn't frozen. He was strangled.
We found this passport on his body.
Where were you between
one and two am on Monday night?
Out on the town, knowing me.
Probably ended up at some nightclub.
- Yeah. I think it was cabaret, that night.
- Probably?
Well, you know what it's like
when you go on a bender.
Do you have any witnesses
to corroborate this story?
Yeah. Yeah, there were a couple of girls.
One was called Jade, I think.
The other was called Rosa or something.
Not their real names. They were Moldovan -
the hot new thing, at the moment.
- Better than Albanians.
- Stick to the point, Sweet.
I've saved their numbers somewhere.
Oh.
No.
Sorry. Easy come, easy go.
So you don't have an alibi
for the night of the murder?
Talk to the bouncers. They'll remember me.
Maybe I'm famous. Maybe I'm on CCTV.
Now you've become a prime suspect
in a murder investigation.
- Take me down the station. Charge me.
- It'd be our pleasure.
You may think you know the law, Michael,
but we do this for a living.
We know how you think, how you lie.
We know the mistakes you make.
We convict criminals like you every week.
Well, if you're so sure of yourself, prove it.
Right.
I thought you said your intelligence was good.
24 hours in the interview room,
he'll soon trip himself up.
The only evidence you've got is circumstantial
and hearsay. It wouldn't stand up in court
Have you got anything better?
You've brought nothing to this investigation.
We should have spoken to Sweet by ourselves.
I'm going to check out the alibi at the nightclub.
You see what news Blackwell has.
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."
Your page is genuine.
The ink and vellum are sixth or seventh century
and the Kufic script is characteristic
of the Osman era, virtually impossible to fake.
Where's the original?
Under lock and key in the Conservation
Department. I've done some more research.
A similar Koran was stolen from the Topkapi
Library in Istanbul, a couple of years ago.
A couple of the pages turned up at auction.
You see the reserve price?
£120,000 a page?
How many pages in a full Koran?
Up to a thousand. You can work out
how much a complete copy could fetch.
A lot.
It turns out the Turkish pages
were passed by a middle man
through Cyprus and Switzerland
to a dealer in London.
The dealer has a shop on Bond Street.
Dmitri Zavos is one of the leading experts in
Islamic art and involved with the Topkapi pages.
How did he get away with selling
the stolen pages from Turkey?
Dmitri has offices in Switzerland,
which he uses to cleanse stolen items.
Their property laws are notoriously lax.
You know him well?
Hardly.
The Islamic antiquities world in London
is very, very small.
So you think he could be involved in
the buying and selling of this Golden Koran?
With that much money involved,
I'd be surprised if he could resist.
What about murder?
Would he be capable of that?
I can read seven different scripts,
speak Hebrew, speak four Arabic dialects,
but the secrets of the human heart
remain a closed book to me, I'm afraid.
Indecipherable.
OK.
Leave this to me.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye-bye.
From the golden age of Allah Andaluz.
Spain under the Moors.
It's 14th century.
While we were still living in mud huts
and burning witches,
the Spanish Moors were building the Alhambra,
leading the world in navigation,
astronomy, philosophy and mathematics.
I don't need a lesson in ancient history,
Mr Zavos.
What is it, this time?
Have you been interviewed by the police before?
I deal in Islamic art. In the eyes of the authorities,
that makes me a sponsor of terrorism.
But you were involved in selling pages
from a stolen Koran from Turkey.
I was a fool.
I dealt with the client on good faith.
I lost a lot of money,
not to mention my good name.
Oh, well, we won't mention it, then.
Have you had anyone dealing in this?
No.
It's a Golden Koran from the Osman era.
It probably came on the market from Iraq.
That tragic country. The Americans guarded
the oil ministry when they invaded.
They left the museums to be looted
and manuscripts to be burned.
I don't need a lesson in modern history, either.
Have you seen any of these pages?
No.
I wouldn't get involved.
I had my fingers burned already.
What about these faces?
Ring any bells?
No.
But if I should see them, I'll be certain to give you
a call immediately. Do you have a card?
Oh.
If you do come across the Golden Koran,
I'd be careful. You could be in danger.
- How did it go last night?
- Would have been better if you'd stayed around.
Why?
I could have done with a colleague
to vouch for me.
My wife.
Another late night, working.
She's starting to think I might be up to no good.
I didn't know you were married.
Yeah, well, it can happen to the best of us.
So, what have we got?
I must sit down and make my art
"from the foul rag and bone shop of the heart".
Frost again?
No.
That was Yeats.
My report.
The PM confirms that the right kidney
was removed some time ago,
while the remaining one was badly diseased.
Consequently, he was suffering
from acute renal failure for months.
He must have been receiving
advanced medical treatment from somewhere.
Can we track down the people who treated him,
get an address?
Tried that, I'm afraid.
I might have something. I've just been
speaking to the UK Transplant Authority.
They keep a database of all donors
and potential recipients.
I gave them the victim's tissue type
and blood group.
It matches a patient on the waiting list
at a Harley Street clinic.
Now that is poetry to my ears.
- Ms Deakin-Jones?
- You're the main renal surgeon at this clinic?
We need to find out some more
information about a patient of yours.
I'm about to go into theatre.
Why don't you speak to my secretary?
Well, unfortunately, we've tried. She refuses
to discuss cases without your permission.
Patient confidentiality.
What exactly do you want?
We're trying to trace the relatives of this man,
Latif Ansari, who died a couple of days ago.
I understand he had treatment at this clinic.
Yes. Mr Ansari.
He was on dialysis, but in a critical condition.
We put him on the emergency transplant list.
We were just waiting for a new donor.
Sue, get an invoice of Mr Ansari.
How did he die? Renal failure?
No.
Strangulation.
We just need a billing address or something.
When did you last see him?
I don't know. I'll have to check with the registrar.
Thank you.
OK. His billing address
and emergency contact numbers.
Would this be up-to-date?
I assume so.
He was picked up, everyday, by ambulance.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Glad to have been of assistance.
Excuse me. Is this right?
£4,000 for a month's treatment?
Dialysis is a very expensive procedure.
How much would it cost for a kidney transplant?
It varies. Anything between
£15,000 and £20,000.
How was he paying?
I just do the best I can to try and save the
patients' lives, which is what I've got to do now.
Excuse me.
That's her. The victim's wife.
Narima Ansari.
- No sign of the brother?
- Mm-mm.
She's very beautiful.
You know what Blackwell said.
Beauty brings out the worst in people.
What about Sweet's alibi?
Well, the cameras didn't cover all the exits,
but they've got pictures of him
going into the club, late evening,
and leaving in the early hours of the morning.
Still gives him time to leave by another exit,
murder Latif and load him onto the truck.
He'd have to know the body would be found.
Yeah, well, maybe he just panicked.
Or maybe we've got better suspects.
Neither the brother nor the wife
reported Latif missing.
Yeah, well, there could be
all kinds of reasons for that.
Including a Golden Koran worth millions.
Marriages have broken up over a lot less.
And I thought love conquers all.
Because you've never been married.
- Looks like it isn't working.
- Time to get your climbing boots on.
Welcome to London, eh?
Where the streets are paved with gold.
Since Mr Ansari is now deceased,
can you bring up all his medical records?
And then delete him from the system.
Well, we'll never kick this down in a hurry.
No.
Usually, I'd ask you to go round the back,
but, today,
you stay at the front.
Excuse me. Inspector Lynley.
I need access to your balcony.
Mrs Ansari?
This is Detective Sergeant Havers.
Can you open the door, please?
Police! Open up!
Mrs Ansari?
When is your brother-in-law due back?
Silence won't help you, Narima.
We'll just draw our own conclusions.
- When is your brother-in-law due back?
- Sir, look at this.
- Feel the intaglio. Look at the laser marks.
- Where did you get these?
Ever met a man named Marcus Sweet?
You have already broken immigration law.
Now we find two false passports.
We needed to stay in the country.
Latif was so ill.
Why should I believe you? Your husband
is dead and you don't seem surprised.
I knew he was dying.
When he didn't come back the other night,
I knew in my heart...
...he'd gone.
Is this your husband?
He loved London.
I never understood.
He called it "the place where East meets West".
Zero degrees, or something?
Zero degrees longitude. The meridian.
He thought we could make
a new beginning here.
Stan' again.
And how were you going to pay for
this new start?
Dialysis costs thousands of pounds a month,
a new kidney, up to 20.
There is no soul here.
All the people care about is money.
I knew this would not be a new beginning.
Only the end.
Is this how your husband planned to pay?
We found the original on his body.
It's a page from a seventh-century
Golden Koran.
Each page would be worth over £100,000,
a whole book, millions.
What has this got to do with Latif's illness?
Your husband didn't die of kidney failure,
Narima. He was strangled.
But... who?
Why would someone hurt Latif?
This is what we're trying to find out.
This is why I need your full cooperation.
All right? Did anything unusual happen
on the night that he disappeared?
I heard them arguing.
A lot of shouting.
Who?
Latif and his brother, Ahmed.
Sir! I think that's him.
Stay out of sight.
Arrest him when he comes in.
Armed police!
Harris, with me.
- Police!
- Stop! Police!
What's going on? I was poised to make an arrest
until you turn up, like some bad TV cop show.
- You couldn't even catch the guy!
- I'm not the loose cannon here. We had a deal.
Why didn't you tell me where the illegals lived?
So much for sharing intelligence.
I didn't know you had any to share.
- I want to interview her now.
- You hold on.
I've got the power
under the Naturalisation And Immigration Act
to send her for immediate deportation.
I thought you were more interested in people like
Sweet. People traffickers. Concentrate on them.
She could be a key witness.
I am this close, all right?
Just give me a little bit more time.
- You've got till morning. Then I want her back.
- Come on.
Move.
Come on!
We don't have much time, Narima.
I need you to tell me everything.
I am.
You said that Ahmed and Latif were arguing
on the night he disappeared.
It was something to do with business.
Exactly what business were they in?
They sold books, mainly schoolbooks,
and journals and magazines.
Would that include ancient manuscripts?
I don't know.
They didn't tell me everything.
Did you ever meet
any of their business associates?
What about...
...this man?
I'm trying to help you, Narima.
I'm trying to see that justice is done for Latif.
About a week ago...
I'd been shopping.
I went to meet Latif and Ahmed
at a café in Edgware Road.
Latif and Ahmed were talking to this man
and another man.
This second man, would you be able
to identify him again, if you saw him?
I think so. Yes.
He was short,
not a lot of hair.
He wore a lot of rings.
Mrs Ansari. Hello.
This way, please.
Well, the second man -
her description matches the dealer I spoke to.
I think she's telling the truth. What do you think?
Yeah, but I don't think
she's telling us everything.
Beloved.
I never got the chance to tell you.
You're going to be a father.
We're going to have a child.
From what I saw of that dealer, Zavos,
I think he'd be very keen to get hold of
a complete Golden Koran.
Sir?
She's pregnant.
Narima.
Sorry.
You should have told us you were pregnant.
Maybe we should go and get a checkup, eh?
It doesn't get any easier, does it?
I've been thinking about this.
The left kidney was necrotic, badly diseased,
while the right kidney had been
surgically removed, some time ago.
- Maybe it was diseased, too.
- Maybe. But...
It's never a 100% thing.
You wouldn't remove a kidney,
even if it was down to 10% functioning,
if the other kidney was also diseased.
What does that mean?
Well...
Nothing. Maybe.
Or...
perhaps the surgeon removed the good kidney...
accidentally.
It's happened before.
Is that the man you saw
with Ahmed and your husband?
I think so.
Yes.
Do you want to interview him this time?
We need a short cut. Get hold of Blackwell.
Tell him to bring the manuscript with him.
Inspector.
Oh, Professor. Thank you.
Havers tells me you authenticate manuscripts
for this Zavos chap.
- Only legally imported artefacts.
- I'm sure.
I need you to introduce me to him.
I'm going to be Tom Cranwell,
an ex-pat collector, living in South Africa.
What if something happens,
if I blurt something out?
You'll be fine. We need to make sure
that he's in the market for a Golden Koran.
- Now, how shall I best come across?
- I don't know.
Be offhand, er... arrogant.
- Treat everyone like they're a slave.
- I can do that.
I think it's one of the great tragedies of our time,
that such a diverse culture
can be taken over by fundamentalists.
I couldn't agree with you more.
Imagine if the whole Christian tradition,
from Russian icons to Chartres,
Rafael, Tintoretto, even,
was hijacked by a few Bible-belt
American evangelicals.
- Couldn't have put it better.
- Nice doors. Where do they come from?
Baluchistan. I have the provenance,
if you'd like to see it.
No. Don't worry about that.
Professor, could you give us a moment?
Much easier to haggle by oneself.
Of course.
Of course, the price is always cheaper
if you can pay cash.
Let's forget about the doors, shall we?
I'm looking for ancient Koran's.
In Kufic script.
I'm not sure if I can help you.
I've done my research, Dmitri.
I know you're the best in the business.
I also know there is a Golden Koran
doing the rounds at this minute.
Hm?
If anyone can get hold of it, you can.
Be assured, I pay top dollar.
I can outbid any rival
and I don't ask too many questions.
Such an object would command
a very high price, indeed.
Mm.
Try me.
I don't understand.
What has this got to do with Latif?
It could be the reason he was murdered.
If he was trying to sell the Golden Koran...
No.
Latif would never do that.
You said you saw him talking to Zavos.
But Latif was devout.
He read Koran every day.
He believed it was the word of God
and belonged to everyone.
He would not out it to pieces
and sell it on the street.
He was dying.
Maybe he changed his mind.
No.
Because he was dying,
it was even more important
for him to keep his true faith.
What about Ahmed?
I can't answer for Ahmed.
Where's the rest of the book, Narima?
I don't know.
Can I ask you something else?
Your husband had a kidney removed,
a couple of years ago.
Why was that?
We think he had the surgery here in London.
What is it you're not telling me, Narima?
Thank you. You played your pan perfectly.
My hunch is he knows something.
It was fun. Quite exhilarating.
I suppose that's Ketman.
- What's that?
- Deception. Lying.
A key concept in Islamic philosophy.
Also approved of in the Koran and the Hadith.
How does it go?
"He who is in possession of the truth
must not expose himself
to the blindness and folly
of those whom it has pleased God
to place and maintain in error."
I must try and remember that one.
- Is that...
- The victim's wife? Yes.
Poor woman.
Thanks very much, Professor. I'll call you soon.
You were right. Zavos is a player.
I think he's taken the bait.
I need to talk to you about Narima.
She can't stay at the flat. It's not safe. Call
the local station, see if they can organise a bed.
I was right, when I said
she wasn't telling us everything.
Is she OK?
Latif's kidney wasn't removed
because it was diseased.
He needed money to buy a new place to live.
He came to London to sell a healthy kidney.
Organs for cash.
Who did the surgery?
- Couldn't you have called in advance?
- I'm afraid not.
Well, I'm off to the country for the weekend.
My daughter's playing polo.
We need to see all of Latif Ansari's
medical records.
Well, I'm afraid that won't be possible, Inspector.
If need be, we can get a court order.
You told me he was dead.
My secretary sent all the records back to Jordan.
You could try his doctor there.
Latif Ansari had a kidney surgically removed,
a couple of years ago. Did you notice that?
Well, of course.
I assumed he'd had it removed in Jordan.
We have reason to believe he sold it.
For cash, here, in London.
Yes, I've heard of such things going on,
but, naturally, no self-respecting surgeon I know
would be involved in it.
You told me this morning
that a new kidney costs upwards of £115,000.
We get our kidneys
through registered organ donation.
But demand exceeds supply, it seems.
What are you suggesting?
We've a witness ready to testify, on oath,
that Latif Ansari sold his kidney to this clinic.
Allegations like this are made all the time.
You'd need an audit trail,
tissue type and DNA to make it stick.
We'll get a court order and do just that.
Do you think that's a wise idea?
I'm about to be elected Vice President
of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Do you think that the word of an illegal immigrant
desperate to stay in the country,
angry at the loss of a relative,
would stand up against mine?
That sounds like a good reason to cover this up.
I think this conversation has gone far enough.
Next time, it'll be on caution...
for suspicion of murder.
You're not seriously suggesting that I could have
anything to do with this man's death?
Why not? You've the motive.
If you were involved in the surgery,
you'd be struck off the medical register.
Tens of thousands of pounds
lost from consultancy fees.
Not to mention the post
at the Royal College of Surgeons.
It would be humiliating, wouldn't it? Devastating.
Inspector, you're clearly a successful
and experienced policeman.
I'm sure your superior officers like to hear
only the best reports about you.
Is that meant to be some kind of a threat?
Simply an observation.
I can't imagine you've got this far,
if defamation of character
and wild accusations are your stock-in-trade.
I'm trying to put this down
to a temporary aberration.
If we say no more about it,
then I won't be making a formal complaint.
£15,000 an operation.
You wouldn't have to do too many of them in
a week to pay for your daughter's polo for a year.
Can I quote you on that?
I don't think it will be me making a statement.
We'll see.
Well, that could have gone better.
I'm finding it hard to bite my tongue, these days.
So I noticed.
What if Ahmed and Latif were trying
to blackmail the clinic?
They'd kill a patient just to shut him up?
It's Zavos.
Dmitri.
I might have someone who can provide
what you're looking for.
Excellent. When can I meet the supplier?
People in this kind of market
often prefer to remain anonymous.
I'm not stupid, Dmitri. I need to see a sample
before I go ahead with the deal.
I should have a page for you tonight.
Shall I meet you at the shop?
No.
I have a lockup, a secure unit in Camden.
24, Griffiths Road NW1.
I'll be there.
Zavos swallowed it?
Hook, line and sinker.
He says he'll have a page for us by tonight.
We'd better get back in touch with Blackwell,
make sure we're not being sold a fake.
Sir...
All this Koran stuff, as fascinating as it is,
it could be a bit of a sideshow.
Maybe, but, for the moment,
it's the only show in town.
Let's run through this just one more time.
These girls were found dead in a container.
We have audit trails
linking that consignment with you.
You've got nothing
and you're running out of time.
We have evidence of your involvement
in counterfeit passports,
one of which was found on a murder victim.
It won't take long for us to paint the right picture.
Painting pictures, now, are you?
Is that, like, a new hobby of yours?
If you cooperate with us, it'll look better in court.
OK.
Let's just say, for a moment,
that I know about this counterfeit document...
...which I don't.
Why would I smuggle girls from Thailand,
when I could just bring them in
using moody passports?
Paint that picture for me.
I think we're done here, don't you?
You're early.
Hi, Christine.
- Oh, don't tell me you're still working.
- I'm afraid so. No rest for the wicked.
So, you won't make that nightcap, then, will you?
- Not this time.
- It'd be late.
Very late.
I don't mind.
So long as you're sure.
All right. I'll be there.
I've got to go. Bye.
Sorry. I don't quite understand.
Why do you need me at this meeting?
- To authenticate anything we find.
- Zavos knows I work at the British Library.
- He could suspect a trap.
- Don't worry. We've got Havers here for backup.
Mr Zavos?
Mr Zavos!
Stay here.
Mr Zavos?
Mr Zavos?
Lynley!
Havers!
- What is it?
- In there.
I'm sorry you had to go through all this.
Wait here. They're going to need some samples
to exclude us from the scene.
There are prints on it.
- I bet they're Ahmed's.
- How can you be sure?
I can't, but I saw the silhouette
and it was definitely his profile.
Same MO.
Ligature to neck. Look at the bruising.
Oh, and there's this.
Both thumbs broken.
Torture?
Doesn't make sense.
- Why would Ahmed want to trash the place?
- He must have been looking for something.
One thing is for sure, anyone capable of this
would be capable of killing his brother.
Nothing is "for sure", Havers.
Are you OK, sir?
I set up this meeting.
I precipitated this man's death.
- You don't know that.
- That's the point. I don't know.
- I'm just stumbling around in the dark.
- Why don't you take a break, sir?
I'll get a full description of Ahmed circulated.
Better check up on Michael Sweet's movements.
They could be connected.
Make sure Professor Blackwell gets home.
Leave it to me.
I don't know how you cope with all this.
Who says we cope?
Hello.
Christine.
Tommy. I didn't think you'd make it.
Erm...
Is it...
Is it too late for that nightcap?
No. Never too late.
Wait a moment and I'll buzz you in.
What's wrong?
Everything.
I'm sorry it's such a tip.
No, please.
It's better than my place.
Everything is so tidy there.
Empty-
Can I get you anything?
A nightcap?
Yeah.
Oh. I checked on Michael Sweet.
He was bailed this morning.
- Here.
- Thank you.
I got a letter from Helen yesterday.
She's going on holiday
and would like to talk when she gets back.
She's going to ask me for a divorce.
You don't know that.
I feel so powerless.
I was just over at Christine's place just now.
She asked me over tonight.
I got as far as the door bell.
And I couldn't do it.
What's wrong with me?
How about you're still married?
I saw the way you looked at Narima
when you heard she was pregnant.
It must be almost a year now
since Helen lost the baby.
These things take time to get over.
I think you're still grieving.
Not just for the baby.
For my marriage.
For the life I had.
Then why don't you tell Helen that?
Go back and fight for her.
What for?
I don't even know if I love her any more.
I don't know if I ever did love her.
I loved the idea of her.
I loved the idea of being married to her.
I love it that my mother was delighted by her.
She's my best friend.
But did I love her?
Like Narima loved her husband?
I don't know what I feel.
Isn't that terrible?
No. It's human.
I can't go back to my house tonight.
You can stay here.
You can kip on the sofa.
I'm sure this will look better in the morning.
How do you do it? Living alone?
You get used to it.
I've never been married. Erm...
I've never had anything
that you could call a relationship.
So you get to a point
where you just have to accept what you are,
what you have.
And then you find something else and that gives
you the reason to get up in the morning.
And I have that, don't I?
We both do.
Good night.
Sir?
Havers.
- Er... sugar?
- Yes, please.
You're right about a good night's sleep.
I was thinking about what you said last night.
It does all come down to passion in the end,
doesn't it?
Oh. You're talking about your marriage.
What?
No, no, no. About the murders.
We've been thinking that it's a financial motive.
But what if the only thing that can explain
Ahmed's actions is passion?
Passion not for wealth, but for Narima.
Or the Golden Koran.
Yeah.
We've been assuming that Ahmed
has the Koran and has been trying to sell it.
But what if he doesn't have it? I'll bet that's
what he was looking for at the lockup.
So our best chance of catching Ahmed
is to get to the Koran before he does.
And if he doesn't already have it,
where the hell is it?
- What is happening?
- There's been another murder.
- We think Ahmed is responsible.
- Narima, you have to tell us everything.
What is going on between you two?
Nothing.
Does Ahmed want more from you, in some way?
Is he in love with you?
I can't speak for Ahmed.
- It's Brennan.
- You're supposed to be handing her over today.
I'll stall him.
What?
Get her round the back. Get in my car.
Where's Mrs Ansari?
Inside.
I still need her.
Have you charged her with anything?
Then it's my turn to speak to her.
You've had your chance.
I would like to use her for a decoy operation.
Tough.
You'll have to wait.
You tell me off for breaking the rules.
- What did you tell him?
- I was using her as a decoy.
You're going to push him too far.
- I was thinking on my feet.
- It certainly wasn't with your head.
Latif may not have wanted to sell the Koran,
but he wouldn't have destroyed it, either.
I think he wanted to keep it somewhere safe,
with someone he trusts.
Narima. Now, where would you hide something
you only wanted your wife to find?
Go back to the flat. Do another search.
...they're so up against it,
they just need to see something really quickly.
Do you know what I mean? If it's too
long-winded, they're just going to switch right off.
- So I think...
- Christine?
- Excuse me.
- I'll catch up with you.
Bye-bye.
I'm sorry about last night.
Yes, well...
It was a work crisis. I'll explain...
Actually, I'm rather busy, myself.
I know that and this is a professional visit.
I need your advice.
Talk to my clerk. He'll make you an appointment.
You don't understand.
This is a little bit more urgent than that.
Erm...
Remember the overstayer I talked to you about?
Narima Ansari. Christine Miller.
How do you do?
"Where East meets West."
- Yes? Inspector Lynley.
- Sir.
Erm... I think I've found something.
It's some kind of message.
What does it say?
I don't know. It's in Arabic.
Call Blackwell. I'll be over as soon as I can.
OK. Bye.
This isn't really my field.
I thought you spoke five Arabic dialects.
Well, I do, but this is Persian.
My Persian's a bit rusty.
Has this got anything to do with
the missing Koran?
Yeah. Latif might have been trying to hide it
from his brother, but wanted his wife to find it.
This isn't going to be much help, I'm afraid.
It says, literally,
"On this side of life,
there is you and I,
but behind...
but behind the veil,
there is no more you and I, only us."
I don't get it.
It's the last two lines of a love poem
by Omar Khayyam.
So, it's just a tribute to his wife?
I suppose so. Yeah.
Do you think there's any chance
of us recovering the book?
I don't know.
Looks like we're going
to have to take the stairs again.
Ahmed.
Stay here.
Sir, Ahmed is here.
He's running down the stairs.
Right.
Ahmed!
No!
We know you were at the lockup
when Zavos was murdered.
We found your prints all over the place.
And I saw you.
You might as well say something.
We have all we need to charge you with murder.
Then why I speak?
To put your case.
To admit or deny your guilt.
Of course. I'm guilty.
Why did you kill your brother?
I no kill him.
Allah is almighty. He take Latif back.
God has nothing to do with this.
Latif didn't die because of kidney failure.
He was killed in just the way Zavos was.
He was strangled.
What was it, hm?
Did you want Narima to yourself?
You no talking of Narima here.
She have nothing to do with this.
That's why you killed your brother, isn't it?
To get his wife, your sister-in-law.
Or was it for the Golden Koran?
Which one? Money or lust?
How you understand!
Then explain it to us.
Under Sharia law, it is my duty.
If my brother wife become widow,
then she become my wife.
What about Zavos
and selling pages of a Golden Koran?
Is there anything in Sharia law about that?
I buy book from trader in Baghdad.
I thinking it was old Koran.
I didn't know until I am here how sacred it was.
Sacred?
You were flogging pages on the black market.
Only for paying my brother medicine.
Then something changed, didn't it?
You argued with Latif
on the night he disappeared.
Why was that?
Perhaps because you found out
how much the Koran was worth.
- And then we find his dead body...
- He was angry.
He said...
the word of God belongs to everyone.
He had the Koran
and then go to get pages back.
So, that's what you were doing with Zavos?
I give him one page as sample.
But when Latif disappeared,
I knew it was Harem.
We were all being punished by God.
So you confess to the murder of Dmitri Zavos?
Of course, I am guilty,
because I am Muslim, huh?
Ahmed, don't hide behind your religion.
God punished that man. I did not.
He was dead when I get there.
What about your brother?
Narima think I kill him?
Well, I expect so, unless, of course,
you can offer a better explanation.
I take one page to show the Greek man,
Latif have the other one.
But when he find out what it was,
he wanted to return the Koran to mosque,
give God's word back to the people.
What was Latif doing the night he disappeared?
We found the other page on his body.
He go to service station
to tell the other man he is not selling.
What other man?
Was it this man, Michael Sweet?
The man who solo you the passports?
No.
Well, then, who was it?
How I trust you, huh? You all working together.
What other man?
I see him with you, when the Greek man die.
And with you at the flat.
- That is why I run away.
- Blackwell?
He is the one who knew
how sacred the Koran was.
So, he's after the rest of the Koran.
Zavos is dead. Ahmed's in custody.
- Where does he go next?
- Narima?
- Where's she?
- I told her it was safe to go home.
- What?
- With Ahmed in custody.
Blackwell knows where she lives.
Hello, Narima.
I don't want to hurt you.
I don't really want to hurt anyone.
What do you want?
Narima.
Your husband loved you, you know.
Your name was the last word on his lips.
Narima.
You... killed him?
You killed Latif.
He refused to tell me where the book was.
What do you mean?
Why did you kill him?
Oh, come on, Narima. You know.
He showed me one of the pages, like that one.
- Where's the rest of it?
- I don't know.
Help!
Help!
They don't care.
They can't hear you.
You were the only one he could trust, eh?
What was all this "no more you or I"?
- What was that?
- This is just a poem.
No. It was a message. Latif was trying to tell you
where the book was hidden. Where is it?
- Where's it hidden? Tell me!
- Someone, help me!
- Tell me where it is. You know where it's hidden.
- Please!
- Tell me where it is!
- I don't know where it is.
- You're lying!
- No!
Please, I don't know.
Tell me! Where's the book? Tell me where it is.
No!
Blackwell!
- Where's the book?
- Blackwell.
Move back. I'll throw her over.
- You don't mean that.
- I do.
- She's got nothing to do with this.
- She knows where the book's hidden.
Think about it. You don't need any more
innocent blood on your hands. She's pregnant.
I don't care.
Humans breed all the time.
They're like vermin.
You see, all life is worthless,
but one page from that book,
it abides, it shines.
You mean this? You'd kill for this?
No.
No!
Sir!
Life is worthless, is it?
ls your life so worthless now?
- Sir!
- How did you do it?
- You'd kill for a piece of a paper?
- It's easy.
Sir!
- Do it. Push me.
- Sir!
Do it. Push me!
Sir!
Yeah, got him, Sarge. Be with you shortly.
I need Mrs Ansari handed over for deportation.
For what?
She's an overstayer,
travelling under false papers.
Then you'd better talk to her lawyer,
Christine Miller.
Apparently, she's got a good defence
under Article 31 of the UN Refugee Convention.
Asylum seekers shouldn't be removed
while there's an outstanding legal action,
and Mrs Narima Ansari
is a principal witness in a murder case.
She's got a good brief.
No big deal.
Plenty more where she came from.
I've been talking to people about you, Lynley.
You've really come off the rails, this time.
You're heading for a crash.
This could be a monumental waste of time,
Havers.
Latif wouldn't have hidden the Koran
without leaving a clue.
I think it's just a love poem to his wife.
Narima said he recited the verse
under that tree the day he proposed to her.
He said, "There's no more you and I, only us."
Inspector! We've found something.
Havers, you were right.
You're a genius!
It's beautiful.
The Golden Koran.
So much pain and suffering.
- For this?
- What will you do with it?
It should be given to a mosque.
That is what Latif would have wanted.
I'll try my best.
- Can you...?
- Sir.
We can't give it to a mosque, can we?
No.
No, it'll probably end up in a vault, somewhere,
with various governments
arguing over who owns it.
What's this?
Who are they?
- Inspector Lynley?
- Yeah?
Detective Chief Inspector Harris, CIB.
We need to speak to you.
About what?
There have been several official complaints
and an allegation of a serious assault.
Thomas Lynley, you are under arrest.
You do not have to say anything,
but it may harm your defence,
if you do not mention when questioned,
something you may later rely on in court
I'm sorry, Barbara.
Stop it!
Selfish. inconsiderate.
- Good morning!
- Is it? I hadn't noticed.
Well, this should help. A triple-shot espresso.
Jump-stem the heart.
Cheer up. It might never happen.
Lafferty's here already.
He's unbearably keen today.
There's nothing wrong with that.
- Tell me about this trailer.
- Oh. Er...
The container was shipped and sealed
from Denmark four days ago.
It was unloaded in Harwich yesterday.
"Some say the world will end in fire,
some say in ice."
William Butler Yeats.
Robert Frost.
And I thought you were an educated man.
- Hi.
- Hi.
The victim is male. Obviously.
Late 20s. Early 30s.
I'd say Mediterranean or Middle Eastern
in origin.
See this? If he'd frozen to death,
the livor mortis would be red.
Time of death? If he died in Denmark,
it could be a case for their police.
Sorry. Nice try.
The core temperature is still a couple of degrees
above ambient. Been dead less than 48 hours.
How soon can you do a postmortem?
A day at least to thaw.
Think of your turkey at Christmas.
I'd rather not.
- Have you talked to the driver yet?
- Yeah.
The only time the vehicle was unattended was
an hour's break in a service station off the M25.
Then he slept in the cab till the market opened.
The tachograph should confirm it.
Fantastic. So we don't know who the victim is.
We've got no witnesses, no suspects, no motive.
I'm sure something will turn up.
Can you out it out with the platitudes today?
Oh, you silly chumps! Mind what you're doing.
Sir!
He must have been wearing it under his shin.
ID and address.
I told you something would turn up.
OK. Martin Moran. Elver's Way. Dartford.
- Aye aye.
- Hold on.
- There's about 200 here.
- No. The paper. Let me see.
- What is it?
- Vellum parchment.
- What language is that?
- Arabic.
Ancient Arabic, I'd guess.
That's beautiful.
Bag this up very carefully.
We need to take it to a manuscript expert.
- Inspector Lynley.
- Hi. Have I called at a bad time?
- Sorry. Who is this?
- We met at the House of Lords.
- Christine. Of course.
- I was beginning to think you'd forgotten me.
Well, how could I forget?
I was just wondering when we were going
to finally have that cappuccino.
The way I'm going, it's more likely to be
a nightcap, I should think.
Oh?
Well, strangely enough,
I have no plans for this evening.
Hold on a second. Just a moment.
Havers, get in touch with Dartford BCU and
make sure there's a family-liaison officer on call.
Sorry. Yeah. I'm all yours.
Oh, well, would you like me
to book us a table for supper, then?
Well, I'll leave myself in your capable hands.
Great.
Bye-bye.
- The high-flying lawyer?
- Yeah. We're going to have dinner.
- Talk about work. A lot of crossover.
- Is that what they're calling it these days?
Can't two professionals meet
without everyone getting the wrong idea?
"I'm all yours."
"I'll leave myself in your capable hands."
Of course, I forgot. You're the expert on
courtship rituals, with all your dating adventures.
Yeah, well, that all turned out
to be a total waste of time.
How did you know it was Ancient Arabic?
The benefit of a liberal ans education.
Which makes you an expert on everything.
Of course.
Except... women.
It's the family-liaison officer.
OK. Martin Moran. Some juvenile offences,
shoplifting, assault,
a conviction for selling prescription drugs,
anabolic steroids.
You're dead! You're dead!
Happy families, eh?
You're dead!
Mrs Moran?
Detective Sergeant Havers.
This is Detective Inspector Lynley.
Can we come in?
Thank you.
Er...
You are married to Martin Moran? Yeah?
Suppose so. Yeah.
What is it, love?
It's the police. Something about Martin.
What's he done now?
Mrs Moran, when did you last see
your husband?
Er... I don't know. About a week ago.
Why?
Do you know where he's been since then?
No.
When was the last time you spoke with him?
The night... before last.
Yeah.
We had a bit of a row -
you know, access to the kids.
You see, he keeps arguing about
changing all the times and stuff
He wanted to come and pick 'em up today.
We split up a couple of months ago.
I'm with Craig now.
- Just a minute. What's this all about?
- Craig.
Well, I'm... I'm sorry to be
the bearer of bad news.
But we do have reason to believe
that your husband is dead.
You're kidding.
I'm very sorry, Mrs Moran.
Are you all right?
Come on.
Before we can make a formal identification...
Sir.
...we will need you to come and identify the body.
Sir, we might have jumped the gun.
Is this a photograph of your husband?
Yes.
Hold on a minute.
I thought you said he was dead.
Oi!
Dad!
- All right, son?
- Martin Moran?
I'm just picking the kids up.
There's no law against it.
- Do you recognise this passport, sir?
- I ain't got a passport. I've never been abroad.
Have you been burgled recently?
Someone broke into the car in Eltham the other
week. You know what it's like. What's this about?
They came round here, asking all these
questions. They told us you were dead.
- What?
- You nearly gave us a heart attack.
A case of mistaken identity. We found a passport
in your name on a murder victim.
We really didn't mean to cause any distress.
Distress? You can't go around upsetting people
like this without checking your facts.
- I understand how you feel.
- This is out of order.
- You ought to complain.
- I'll get the family-liaison officer.
We're really very sorry. We didn't...
It's just a terrible misunderstanding.
Look what you've done to my wife.
That's emotional trauma.
I should sue you lot for damages.
It's an easy mistake to make.
We should have double-checked first.
It was a good forgery.
Now it's landed us up the proverbial creek
without a paddle.
The Immigration And Naturalisation Department
specialise in forged passports.
Not the IND. You know what a nightmare
they are to work with.
Sometimes, you've got to learn to ask
for a little bit of help.
Don't tell me you were taken in by this?
Feel the intaglio.
Check the laser mark.
Don't they train you to look for these things?
This is your speciality.
That's why we've come to you.
Yes. Everything lands on my plate.
Er... we need an ID on our victim urgently.
And I'd like England to win the World Cup.
IN D keep a database of all foreign nationals
entering the country.
- If they come in legally.
- You do have facial-recognition software?
The system has just gone on-stream.
Look around. I'm understaffed.
Inspector Brennan, I would appreciate it if you
gave this top priority. It is a murder investigation.
We've got major investigations, too.
The Home Office has just made
people trafficking top priority.
It's been given the same rating as drugs.
- I'm very happy for you.
- Um... we might be able to work together on this.
Erm... our victim was found in a container
that came into Harwich.
Go on.
There might be a people-trafficking connection.
Now, if you could help us with our investigation,
we might be able to help you with yours.
I'll see what I can do.
But it could take a while.
With every hour that passes, the trail gets colder.
I feel your pain.
I feel it, too, in the neck.
Don't let him get to you.
What did I say about working on
multi-agency cases?
Yeah, well, we haven't much choice.
It's the only lead we've got.
Not quite.
Let's not forget our manuscript.
No cameras or eyewitnesses at the lay-by,
I'm afraid,
but the Harwich police had a similar case,
about two years ago.
Five Thai woman suffocated in a truck...
Sir?
"Each hour that passes, the trail gets colder."
I remember the case.
The container wasn't refrigerated,
it was just badly ventilated,
it was manslaughter, not murder,
and those girls were smuggled in
for use in the sex trade -
none of which apply to us.
Well, maybe we should liaise with
Special Branch, the counter-terrorism desk.
Why?
Well... this could be a threat
or some kind of message.
Oh. So, "Arab" equals "terrorist"? Isn't that
what they call "institutional prejudice"?
It's covering all the angles.
Inspector Lynley?
Professor Blackwell. A pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for seeing us at such short notice.
This is Detective Sergeant Havers.
Erm... we wondered
if you could translate this for us.
What are these smudges?
Oh, erm... the manuscript was dusted
for fingerprints.
Unfortunately, we found it on the body of a man
in a refrigerated container.
Er...
"If anyone... killed someone,
unless it be for murder
or spreading mischief in the land,
it would be as if he killed everyone."
Perhaps it is some kind of message.
Oh, it is.
It's a message from God.
Please.
Right.
Sorry. A bit of a maze in here, I'm afraid.
- What did Prince Charles compare it to?
- An academy for secret police.
You know London is the world centre
for stolen antiquities?
Yeah. A rather dubious distinction.
They say an crime is like a barometer
for all other crimes.
Sad, but true. It's an underworld currency.
Old books are used for collateral in their
drug deals, gun running, people trafficking.
Take this, for example.
This was found in an abandoned get-away car
underneath the M40.
Police found traces of Semtex,
blood and cocaine.
That is ironic, isn't it? Something so beautiful
being mixed up with such ugliness.
Beauty brings out the worst in people.
Now... seraph five, I think.
Er...
Verse 32. Yeah.
And it goes on.
"If anyone saved a life, it would be as if
he saved the life of the whole people."
That's a verse from the Koran.
Not just any Koran. Look at this.
Early Kufic script.
I'd have to do some dating tests,
but, looking at the vellum, I'd say...
seventh century,
around the time of Third Caliph Osman.
Didn't he compile the very first official Koran?
Very good, Inspector.
If this is genuine, it's about as close
to the word of God as we can get.
So, that would make this very valuable.
To a historian or a scholar, priceless,
but to a collector, well...
more precious, ounce for ounce, than...
moon dust.
And, if it's genuine, ample motive for murder.
Why do you say that?
We er... strongly suspect that the man
who was holding the page was murdered.
Oh.
Like I said, beauty brings out the worst in people.
Where could our victim have got it from?
Well, there were reports
of one of these Koran's being kept
by a member of the Kuwaiti royal family.
Then it was stolen by the Republican Guard
when Iraq invaded in 1991.
Then, during the chaos of the second Iraqi War,
with museums and libraries being looted
and burned, you can imagine what happened.
It could easily have been lost, found again,
smuggled out or...
Excuse me.
Havers.
How soon can you get this verified?
- We're very busy, Inspector.
- Don't tell me you've got a backlog, too?
I'm sure if I lean on
the Conservation Department,
we can have it authenticated within 24 hours.
Please.
If it is authentic, who'd be in the market
for such a manuscript?
Well... Where to begin?
Unscrupulous collectors...
corrupt officials...
terrorists...
drug barons trying to bypass
the banking system.
Not to mention fundamentalist Wahhabi sects
or Mossad,
or anyone else with some political interest.
We live in dark times, Inspector.
- If you get any results, will you give me a call?
- Of course.
Keep your eye out for any other pages.
If we could recover the whole Koran...
We'll do our best.
That was Brennan. He thinks he's got an ID.
- Thank you very much, Professor.
- Inspector.
Do you want the good or the bad news?
Can we just have the name of our victim,
please?
Latif Ansari -
a Jordanian national.
He came through Heathrow
eight months ago on a six-month visa,
accompanied by his wife Narima
and his brother Ahmed.
Registered address?
That's the bad news - B&B, left six weeks ago.
No forwarding address.
- Credit-card or cash-machine transactions?
- I wasn't born yesterday. Checked. Nothing.
Circulate a full description of these two.
They have to be considered our prime suspects.
- I might have a suspect for you.
- When did you become a murder detective?
Every forger has his own style.
Some things they do well, others not.
We think we know who faked this one up.
The man who made this
is a major people trafficker.
About a couple of years ago,
five Thai girls were found suffocated in a truck.
- We heard about that, but that wasn't murder.
- But this might be.
- Give me means and motive.
- Plenty.
A moody passport like this
costs up to four grand.
Maybe your victim couldn't pay
or was about to shoot his mouth off.
Name and address?
We've been running surveillance on him
for six months. He's slippery.
I'm not going to let you run in there
and blow the operation.
With suspicion of murder,
I can get a warrant overnight.
We can hit him hard in the morning.
If we work together, share intelligence...
...we could both get what we want.
OK.
But I want to talk to him within 24 hours.
It's a deal.
Why do I get the feeling
this case is slipping through my fingers?
You're just tired. You haven't had
a good night's sleep in a week.
I get the message.
At least we've still got the body.
Better check Lafferty hasn't disposed of it
or donated it to science.
Double-check the IDs. There must be
another way of tracking his wife and brother.
What you doing? You calling police?
You know what they do to us if they find out.
Come with me.
Forget about human-rights issues, then. Let's
just look at immigration on economic grounds.
I was. Yours.
I was thinking of all those fat fees you get
for defending asylum seekers.
Oh, yeah. Millions.
Adam Smith,
philosopher of the free-market system.
Yeah. I know who he was.
He argued that capital needed to flow freely
to make competition work.
He also argued for the free movement of labour.
Free trade can only work if people
travel internationally to where the jobs are.
There's a right-wing argument
for economic migrants.
Hold on a minute. Just because I'm a policeman,
it doesn't mean I'm a...
dyed-in-the-wool Conservative.
And just because I'm a lawyer,
it doesn't make me a Bollinger Bolshevik.
Maybe not.
But, you know,
I see the human cost of all this freedom.
Murders involving homeless people,
abandoned children, migrants.
So many displaced people,
uprooted from their families.
Nobody really has a home.
That sounded heartfelt.
No, no, no. no.
Oh, come on. You've got to relax, sometimes,
let yourself loose.
I can see how persuasive you must be in court.
I buy food.
- I don't want to eat.
- Now, Narima, you must eat.
You can't tell me what to do.
I'd do anything for you.
I put my hand in fire for you, huh, Narima?
- Stop it!
- I am your husband now.
It's none of my business.
Typical nosey lawyer.
Go on.
I heard you were separated from your wife.
We are... living apart.
For a trial period.
I've recently been through the break-up
of a long relationship.
I know what it's like. It's a very...
...unsettling time.
We don't know whether we're going to try and...
make it work again...
...or split up for good.
That's the...
That's the worst thing, isn't it?
The uncertainty.
On the other hand...
...when nothing is certain...
everything is possible.
Hi.
I need to confirm a few things.
I'm all yours.
You said that Latif underwent
some kind of surgery.
He had a kidney removed, at some point,
followed by dialysis, over the last few months.
How do you know?
Come here.
A neat scar here
and he had an AV shunt in this arm
to give easier assess for the dialysis.
It looks fairly recent, too.
We'll know a bit more
when he's warmed up for the Y-incision.
So the dialysis could have happened
during his time in London?
Possibly.
OK. I'll er... check the dialysis clinics.
Thanks for a lovely dinner.
Can I give you a lift home?
I'm just five minutes round the corner.
- Oh, well, I'll walk you, then.
- You don't have to.
It'll be my pleasure.
OK. No luck in the dialysis units.
Cheer up.
I think I've got a cause of death for you.
See? The broken hyoid bone
and the thyroid cartilage.
- The Adam's apple.
- Fractured.
So he was strangled
before he was put in the container?
Yeah, but not manually.
See? There's no finger bruises.
It must have been some kind of soft ligature.
Could a woman have done it?
It takes three... four minutes to kill a man like that.
He could have been very ill,
too weak to put up a fight.
- Erm... I'd better go home.
- Someone special?
Late-night TV.
I'll be here all night.
Go on, then.
Abandon me to this cold, harsh world.
OK.
Enjoy your night on the tiles.
Look, I'd ask you up for a nightcap, but...
...it sounds so loaded.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Oh, but what the hell? Life's too short
Do you want to come up?
OK. I get the message.
No, no, no. Er...
Don't get that message.
I mean, er...
don't take it the wrong way.
Well, how am I supposed to take it?
I just...
I need to be sure that I'm ready.
Mm-hm? You deserve that.
Michael Sweet, 47.
Been running a roaring trade
in false documents for years.
- Previous convictions?
- Just look in the file.
Sweet's trucking company brought in
those poor Thai girls.
We've got surveillance connecting him
to the Turks, the Albanians, even the Chinese.
The boys in black are here.
They'll be going in round the back.
Do you think we really need
the heavy artillery on this?
He's given us the slip twice before. We need to
catch him red-handed, make our charges stick.
Just remember, this is first and foremost
a murder investigation.
You're like a stuck record.
I'm only holding back to help with your operation.
Almost ready.
Have visual on target.
Where have you been?
I was with Lafferty last night.
Doing what? Admiring his motorbike?
Our victim had a kidney removed
and was probably on dialysis.
So I thought we might track down the wife
and brother through his medical records.
- And?
- No go.
Thousands of clinics could have done
the procedure, but I did have a better idea.
Roger. OK. Strike force good to go.
Are you ready?
- Also, Professor Blackwell called.
- What did he want?
Go, go, go!
- Armed police!
- Armed police!
Drop the weapon!
Armed police! Drop the weapon!
Come on, Michael. We've got a passport,
an embossing machine,
a card skimmer, ultraviolet ink.
Even some official stamps.
I've never seen them before in my life.
You can do better than that.
I can't be held responsible
for what my employees get up to.
Your prints on anything and that story falls apart.
Come on. What does a full strike team cost you?
Four grand a day plus?
You've got to have more than this on me.
How about suspicion of murder?
What's going on?
I thought we agreed I'd get first crack at him.
You have. You blew it.
I haven't really got started.
You've had your chance.
I'm taking over this interview.
I'm DI Lynley. This is DS Havers.
We're investigating a murder.
- So I hear.
- Recognise this man?
The body of a Jordanian, Latif Ansari, was found
in a meat truck that came into Harwich.
Frozen to death?
Mind you, there are worse ways to go.
He wasn't frozen. He was strangled.
We found this passport on his body.
Where were you between
one and two am on Monday night?
Out on the town, knowing me.
Probably ended up at some nightclub.
- Yeah. I think it was cabaret, that night.
- Probably?
Well, you know what it's like
when you go on a bender.
Do you have any witnesses
to corroborate this story?
Yeah. Yeah, there were a couple of girls.
One was called Jade, I think.
The other was called Rosa or something.
Not their real names. They were Moldovan -
the hot new thing, at the moment.
- Better than Albanians.
- Stick to the point, Sweet.
I've saved their numbers somewhere.
Oh.
No.
Sorry. Easy come, easy go.
So you don't have an alibi
for the night of the murder?
Talk to the bouncers. They'll remember me.
Maybe I'm famous. Maybe I'm on CCTV.
Now you've become a prime suspect
in a murder investigation.
- Take me down the station. Charge me.
- It'd be our pleasure.
You may think you know the law, Michael,
but we do this for a living.
We know how you think, how you lie.
We know the mistakes you make.
We convict criminals like you every week.
Well, if you're so sure of yourself, prove it.
Right.
I thought you said your intelligence was good.
24 hours in the interview room,
he'll soon trip himself up.
The only evidence you've got is circumstantial
and hearsay. It wouldn't stand up in court
Have you got anything better?
You've brought nothing to this investigation.
We should have spoken to Sweet by ourselves.
I'm going to check out the alibi at the nightclub.
You see what news Blackwell has.
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."
Your page is genuine.
The ink and vellum are sixth or seventh century
and the Kufic script is characteristic
of the Osman era, virtually impossible to fake.
Where's the original?
Under lock and key in the Conservation
Department. I've done some more research.
A similar Koran was stolen from the Topkapi
Library in Istanbul, a couple of years ago.
A couple of the pages turned up at auction.
You see the reserve price?
£120,000 a page?
How many pages in a full Koran?
Up to a thousand. You can work out
how much a complete copy could fetch.
A lot.
It turns out the Turkish pages
were passed by a middle man
through Cyprus and Switzerland
to a dealer in London.
The dealer has a shop on Bond Street.
Dmitri Zavos is one of the leading experts in
Islamic art and involved with the Topkapi pages.
How did he get away with selling
the stolen pages from Turkey?
Dmitri has offices in Switzerland,
which he uses to cleanse stolen items.
Their property laws are notoriously lax.
You know him well?
Hardly.
The Islamic antiquities world in London
is very, very small.
So you think he could be involved in
the buying and selling of this Golden Koran?
With that much money involved,
I'd be surprised if he could resist.
What about murder?
Would he be capable of that?
I can read seven different scripts,
speak Hebrew, speak four Arabic dialects,
but the secrets of the human heart
remain a closed book to me, I'm afraid.
Indecipherable.
OK.
Leave this to me.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye-bye.
From the golden age of Allah Andaluz.
Spain under the Moors.
It's 14th century.
While we were still living in mud huts
and burning witches,
the Spanish Moors were building the Alhambra,
leading the world in navigation,
astronomy, philosophy and mathematics.
I don't need a lesson in ancient history,
Mr Zavos.
What is it, this time?
Have you been interviewed by the police before?
I deal in Islamic art. In the eyes of the authorities,
that makes me a sponsor of terrorism.
But you were involved in selling pages
from a stolen Koran from Turkey.
I was a fool.
I dealt with the client on good faith.
I lost a lot of money,
not to mention my good name.
Oh, well, we won't mention it, then.
Have you had anyone dealing in this?
No.
It's a Golden Koran from the Osman era.
It probably came on the market from Iraq.
That tragic country. The Americans guarded
the oil ministry when they invaded.
They left the museums to be looted
and manuscripts to be burned.
I don't need a lesson in modern history, either.
Have you seen any of these pages?
No.
I wouldn't get involved.
I had my fingers burned already.
What about these faces?
Ring any bells?
No.
But if I should see them, I'll be certain to give you
a call immediately. Do you have a card?
Oh.
If you do come across the Golden Koran,
I'd be careful. You could be in danger.
- How did it go last night?
- Would have been better if you'd stayed around.
Why?
I could have done with a colleague
to vouch for me.
My wife.
Another late night, working.
She's starting to think I might be up to no good.
I didn't know you were married.
Yeah, well, it can happen to the best of us.
So, what have we got?
I must sit down and make my art
"from the foul rag and bone shop of the heart".
Frost again?
No.
That was Yeats.
My report.
The PM confirms that the right kidney
was removed some time ago,
while the remaining one was badly diseased.
Consequently, he was suffering
from acute renal failure for months.
He must have been receiving
advanced medical treatment from somewhere.
Can we track down the people who treated him,
get an address?
Tried that, I'm afraid.
I might have something. I've just been
speaking to the UK Transplant Authority.
They keep a database of all donors
and potential recipients.
I gave them the victim's tissue type
and blood group.
It matches a patient on the waiting list
at a Harley Street clinic.
Now that is poetry to my ears.
- Ms Deakin-Jones?
- You're the main renal surgeon at this clinic?
We need to find out some more
information about a patient of yours.
I'm about to go into theatre.
Why don't you speak to my secretary?
Well, unfortunately, we've tried. She refuses
to discuss cases without your permission.
Patient confidentiality.
What exactly do you want?
We're trying to trace the relatives of this man,
Latif Ansari, who died a couple of days ago.
I understand he had treatment at this clinic.
Yes. Mr Ansari.
He was on dialysis, but in a critical condition.
We put him on the emergency transplant list.
We were just waiting for a new donor.
Sue, get an invoice of Mr Ansari.
How did he die? Renal failure?
No.
Strangulation.
We just need a billing address or something.
When did you last see him?
I don't know. I'll have to check with the registrar.
Thank you.
OK. His billing address
and emergency contact numbers.
Would this be up-to-date?
I assume so.
He was picked up, everyday, by ambulance.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Glad to have been of assistance.
Excuse me. Is this right?
£4,000 for a month's treatment?
Dialysis is a very expensive procedure.
How much would it cost for a kidney transplant?
It varies. Anything between
£15,000 and £20,000.
How was he paying?
I just do the best I can to try and save the
patients' lives, which is what I've got to do now.
Excuse me.
That's her. The victim's wife.
Narima Ansari.
- No sign of the brother?
- Mm-mm.
She's very beautiful.
You know what Blackwell said.
Beauty brings out the worst in people.
What about Sweet's alibi?
Well, the cameras didn't cover all the exits,
but they've got pictures of him
going into the club, late evening,
and leaving in the early hours of the morning.
Still gives him time to leave by another exit,
murder Latif and load him onto the truck.
He'd have to know the body would be found.
Yeah, well, maybe he just panicked.
Or maybe we've got better suspects.
Neither the brother nor the wife
reported Latif missing.
Yeah, well, there could be
all kinds of reasons for that.
Including a Golden Koran worth millions.
Marriages have broken up over a lot less.
And I thought love conquers all.
Because you've never been married.
- Looks like it isn't working.
- Time to get your climbing boots on.
Welcome to London, eh?
Where the streets are paved with gold.
Since Mr Ansari is now deceased,
can you bring up all his medical records?
And then delete him from the system.
Well, we'll never kick this down in a hurry.
No.
Usually, I'd ask you to go round the back,
but, today,
you stay at the front.
Excuse me. Inspector Lynley.
I need access to your balcony.
Mrs Ansari?
This is Detective Sergeant Havers.
Can you open the door, please?
Police! Open up!
Mrs Ansari?
When is your brother-in-law due back?
Silence won't help you, Narima.
We'll just draw our own conclusions.
- When is your brother-in-law due back?
- Sir, look at this.
- Feel the intaglio. Look at the laser marks.
- Where did you get these?
Ever met a man named Marcus Sweet?
You have already broken immigration law.
Now we find two false passports.
We needed to stay in the country.
Latif was so ill.
Why should I believe you? Your husband
is dead and you don't seem surprised.
I knew he was dying.
When he didn't come back the other night,
I knew in my heart...
...he'd gone.
Is this your husband?
He loved London.
I never understood.
He called it "the place where East meets West".
Zero degrees, or something?
Zero degrees longitude. The meridian.
He thought we could make
a new beginning here.
Stan' again.
And how were you going to pay for
this new start?
Dialysis costs thousands of pounds a month,
a new kidney, up to 20.
There is no soul here.
All the people care about is money.
I knew this would not be a new beginning.
Only the end.
Is this how your husband planned to pay?
We found the original on his body.
It's a page from a seventh-century
Golden Koran.
Each page would be worth over £100,000,
a whole book, millions.
What has this got to do with Latif's illness?
Your husband didn't die of kidney failure,
Narima. He was strangled.
But... who?
Why would someone hurt Latif?
This is what we're trying to find out.
This is why I need your full cooperation.
All right? Did anything unusual happen
on the night that he disappeared?
I heard them arguing.
A lot of shouting.
Who?
Latif and his brother, Ahmed.
Sir! I think that's him.
Stay out of sight.
Arrest him when he comes in.
Armed police!
Harris, with me.
- Police!
- Stop! Police!
What's going on? I was poised to make an arrest
until you turn up, like some bad TV cop show.
- You couldn't even catch the guy!
- I'm not the loose cannon here. We had a deal.
Why didn't you tell me where the illegals lived?
So much for sharing intelligence.
I didn't know you had any to share.
- I want to interview her now.
- You hold on.
I've got the power
under the Naturalisation And Immigration Act
to send her for immediate deportation.
I thought you were more interested in people like
Sweet. People traffickers. Concentrate on them.
She could be a key witness.
I am this close, all right?
Just give me a little bit more time.
- You've got till morning. Then I want her back.
- Come on.
Move.
Come on!
We don't have much time, Narima.
I need you to tell me everything.
I am.
You said that Ahmed and Latif were arguing
on the night he disappeared.
It was something to do with business.
Exactly what business were they in?
They sold books, mainly schoolbooks,
and journals and magazines.
Would that include ancient manuscripts?
I don't know.
They didn't tell me everything.
Did you ever meet
any of their business associates?
What about...
...this man?
I'm trying to help you, Narima.
I'm trying to see that justice is done for Latif.
About a week ago...
I'd been shopping.
I went to meet Latif and Ahmed
at a café in Edgware Road.
Latif and Ahmed were talking to this man
and another man.
This second man, would you be able
to identify him again, if you saw him?
I think so. Yes.
He was short,
not a lot of hair.
He wore a lot of rings.
Mrs Ansari. Hello.
This way, please.
Well, the second man -
her description matches the dealer I spoke to.
I think she's telling the truth. What do you think?
Yeah, but I don't think
she's telling us everything.
Beloved.
I never got the chance to tell you.
You're going to be a father.
We're going to have a child.
From what I saw of that dealer, Zavos,
I think he'd be very keen to get hold of
a complete Golden Koran.
Sir?
She's pregnant.
Narima.
Sorry.
You should have told us you were pregnant.
Maybe we should go and get a checkup, eh?
It doesn't get any easier, does it?
I've been thinking about this.
The left kidney was necrotic, badly diseased,
while the right kidney had been
surgically removed, some time ago.
- Maybe it was diseased, too.
- Maybe. But...
It's never a 100% thing.
You wouldn't remove a kidney,
even if it was down to 10% functioning,
if the other kidney was also diseased.
What does that mean?
Well...
Nothing. Maybe.
Or...
perhaps the surgeon removed the good kidney...
accidentally.
It's happened before.
Is that the man you saw
with Ahmed and your husband?
I think so.
Yes.
Do you want to interview him this time?
We need a short cut. Get hold of Blackwell.
Tell him to bring the manuscript with him.
Inspector.
Oh, Professor. Thank you.
Havers tells me you authenticate manuscripts
for this Zavos chap.
- Only legally imported artefacts.
- I'm sure.
I need you to introduce me to him.
I'm going to be Tom Cranwell,
an ex-pat collector, living in South Africa.
What if something happens,
if I blurt something out?
You'll be fine. We need to make sure
that he's in the market for a Golden Koran.
- Now, how shall I best come across?
- I don't know.
Be offhand, er... arrogant.
- Treat everyone like they're a slave.
- I can do that.
I think it's one of the great tragedies of our time,
that such a diverse culture
can be taken over by fundamentalists.
I couldn't agree with you more.
Imagine if the whole Christian tradition,
from Russian icons to Chartres,
Rafael, Tintoretto, even,
was hijacked by a few Bible-belt
American evangelicals.
- Couldn't have put it better.
- Nice doors. Where do they come from?
Baluchistan. I have the provenance,
if you'd like to see it.
No. Don't worry about that.
Professor, could you give us a moment?
Much easier to haggle by oneself.
Of course.
Of course, the price is always cheaper
if you can pay cash.
Let's forget about the doors, shall we?
I'm looking for ancient Koran's.
In Kufic script.
I'm not sure if I can help you.
I've done my research, Dmitri.
I know you're the best in the business.
I also know there is a Golden Koran
doing the rounds at this minute.
Hm?
If anyone can get hold of it, you can.
Be assured, I pay top dollar.
I can outbid any rival
and I don't ask too many questions.
Such an object would command
a very high price, indeed.
Mm.
Try me.
I don't understand.
What has this got to do with Latif?
It could be the reason he was murdered.
If he was trying to sell the Golden Koran...
No.
Latif would never do that.
You said you saw him talking to Zavos.
But Latif was devout.
He read Koran every day.
He believed it was the word of God
and belonged to everyone.
He would not out it to pieces
and sell it on the street.
He was dying.
Maybe he changed his mind.
No.
Because he was dying,
it was even more important
for him to keep his true faith.
What about Ahmed?
I can't answer for Ahmed.
Where's the rest of the book, Narima?
I don't know.
Can I ask you something else?
Your husband had a kidney removed,
a couple of years ago.
Why was that?
We think he had the surgery here in London.
What is it you're not telling me, Narima?
Thank you. You played your pan perfectly.
My hunch is he knows something.
It was fun. Quite exhilarating.
I suppose that's Ketman.
- What's that?
- Deception. Lying.
A key concept in Islamic philosophy.
Also approved of in the Koran and the Hadith.
How does it go?
"He who is in possession of the truth
must not expose himself
to the blindness and folly
of those whom it has pleased God
to place and maintain in error."
I must try and remember that one.
- Is that...
- The victim's wife? Yes.
Poor woman.
Thanks very much, Professor. I'll call you soon.
You were right. Zavos is a player.
I think he's taken the bait.
I need to talk to you about Narima.
She can't stay at the flat. It's not safe. Call
the local station, see if they can organise a bed.
I was right, when I said
she wasn't telling us everything.
Is she OK?
Latif's kidney wasn't removed
because it was diseased.
He needed money to buy a new place to live.
He came to London to sell a healthy kidney.
Organs for cash.
Who did the surgery?
- Couldn't you have called in advance?
- I'm afraid not.
Well, I'm off to the country for the weekend.
My daughter's playing polo.
We need to see all of Latif Ansari's
medical records.
Well, I'm afraid that won't be possible, Inspector.
If need be, we can get a court order.
You told me he was dead.
My secretary sent all the records back to Jordan.
You could try his doctor there.
Latif Ansari had a kidney surgically removed,
a couple of years ago. Did you notice that?
Well, of course.
I assumed he'd had it removed in Jordan.
We have reason to believe he sold it.
For cash, here, in London.
Yes, I've heard of such things going on,
but, naturally, no self-respecting surgeon I know
would be involved in it.
You told me this morning
that a new kidney costs upwards of £115,000.
We get our kidneys
through registered organ donation.
But demand exceeds supply, it seems.
What are you suggesting?
We've a witness ready to testify, on oath,
that Latif Ansari sold his kidney to this clinic.
Allegations like this are made all the time.
You'd need an audit trail,
tissue type and DNA to make it stick.
We'll get a court order and do just that.
Do you think that's a wise idea?
I'm about to be elected Vice President
of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Do you think that the word of an illegal immigrant
desperate to stay in the country,
angry at the loss of a relative,
would stand up against mine?
That sounds like a good reason to cover this up.
I think this conversation has gone far enough.
Next time, it'll be on caution...
for suspicion of murder.
You're not seriously suggesting that I could have
anything to do with this man's death?
Why not? You've the motive.
If you were involved in the surgery,
you'd be struck off the medical register.
Tens of thousands of pounds
lost from consultancy fees.
Not to mention the post
at the Royal College of Surgeons.
It would be humiliating, wouldn't it? Devastating.
Inspector, you're clearly a successful
and experienced policeman.
I'm sure your superior officers like to hear
only the best reports about you.
Is that meant to be some kind of a threat?
Simply an observation.
I can't imagine you've got this far,
if defamation of character
and wild accusations are your stock-in-trade.
I'm trying to put this down
to a temporary aberration.
If we say no more about it,
then I won't be making a formal complaint.
£15,000 an operation.
You wouldn't have to do too many of them in
a week to pay for your daughter's polo for a year.
Can I quote you on that?
I don't think it will be me making a statement.
We'll see.
Well, that could have gone better.
I'm finding it hard to bite my tongue, these days.
So I noticed.
What if Ahmed and Latif were trying
to blackmail the clinic?
They'd kill a patient just to shut him up?
It's Zavos.
Dmitri.
I might have someone who can provide
what you're looking for.
Excellent. When can I meet the supplier?
People in this kind of market
often prefer to remain anonymous.
I'm not stupid, Dmitri. I need to see a sample
before I go ahead with the deal.
I should have a page for you tonight.
Shall I meet you at the shop?
No.
I have a lockup, a secure unit in Camden.
24, Griffiths Road NW1.
I'll be there.
Zavos swallowed it?
Hook, line and sinker.
He says he'll have a page for us by tonight.
We'd better get back in touch with Blackwell,
make sure we're not being sold a fake.
Sir...
All this Koran stuff, as fascinating as it is,
it could be a bit of a sideshow.
Maybe, but, for the moment,
it's the only show in town.
Let's run through this just one more time.
These girls were found dead in a container.
We have audit trails
linking that consignment with you.
You've got nothing
and you're running out of time.
We have evidence of your involvement
in counterfeit passports,
one of which was found on a murder victim.
It won't take long for us to paint the right picture.
Painting pictures, now, are you?
Is that, like, a new hobby of yours?
If you cooperate with us, it'll look better in court.
OK.
Let's just say, for a moment,
that I know about this counterfeit document...
...which I don't.
Why would I smuggle girls from Thailand,
when I could just bring them in
using moody passports?
Paint that picture for me.
I think we're done here, don't you?
You're early.
Hi, Christine.
- Oh, don't tell me you're still working.
- I'm afraid so. No rest for the wicked.
So, you won't make that nightcap, then, will you?
- Not this time.
- It'd be late.
Very late.
I don't mind.
So long as you're sure.
All right. I'll be there.
I've got to go. Bye.
Sorry. I don't quite understand.
Why do you need me at this meeting?
- To authenticate anything we find.
- Zavos knows I work at the British Library.
- He could suspect a trap.
- Don't worry. We've got Havers here for backup.
Mr Zavos?
Mr Zavos!
Stay here.
Mr Zavos?
Mr Zavos?
Lynley!
Havers!
- What is it?
- In there.
I'm sorry you had to go through all this.
Wait here. They're going to need some samples
to exclude us from the scene.
There are prints on it.
- I bet they're Ahmed's.
- How can you be sure?
I can't, but I saw the silhouette
and it was definitely his profile.
Same MO.
Ligature to neck. Look at the bruising.
Oh, and there's this.
Both thumbs broken.
Torture?
Doesn't make sense.
- Why would Ahmed want to trash the place?
- He must have been looking for something.
One thing is for sure, anyone capable of this
would be capable of killing his brother.
Nothing is "for sure", Havers.
Are you OK, sir?
I set up this meeting.
I precipitated this man's death.
- You don't know that.
- That's the point. I don't know.
- I'm just stumbling around in the dark.
- Why don't you take a break, sir?
I'll get a full description of Ahmed circulated.
Better check up on Michael Sweet's movements.
They could be connected.
Make sure Professor Blackwell gets home.
Leave it to me.
I don't know how you cope with all this.
Who says we cope?
Hello.
Christine.
Tommy. I didn't think you'd make it.
Erm...
Is it...
Is it too late for that nightcap?
No. Never too late.
Wait a moment and I'll buzz you in.
What's wrong?
Everything.
I'm sorry it's such a tip.
No, please.
It's better than my place.
Everything is so tidy there.
Empty-
Can I get you anything?
A nightcap?
Yeah.
Oh. I checked on Michael Sweet.
He was bailed this morning.
- Here.
- Thank you.
I got a letter from Helen yesterday.
She's going on holiday
and would like to talk when she gets back.
She's going to ask me for a divorce.
You don't know that.
I feel so powerless.
I was just over at Christine's place just now.
She asked me over tonight.
I got as far as the door bell.
And I couldn't do it.
What's wrong with me?
How about you're still married?
I saw the way you looked at Narima
when you heard she was pregnant.
It must be almost a year now
since Helen lost the baby.
These things take time to get over.
I think you're still grieving.
Not just for the baby.
For my marriage.
For the life I had.
Then why don't you tell Helen that?
Go back and fight for her.
What for?
I don't even know if I love her any more.
I don't know if I ever did love her.
I loved the idea of her.
I loved the idea of being married to her.
I love it that my mother was delighted by her.
She's my best friend.
But did I love her?
Like Narima loved her husband?
I don't know what I feel.
Isn't that terrible?
No. It's human.
I can't go back to my house tonight.
You can stay here.
You can kip on the sofa.
I'm sure this will look better in the morning.
How do you do it? Living alone?
You get used to it.
I've never been married. Erm...
I've never had anything
that you could call a relationship.
So you get to a point
where you just have to accept what you are,
what you have.
And then you find something else and that gives
you the reason to get up in the morning.
And I have that, don't I?
We both do.
Good night.
Sir?
Havers.
- Er... sugar?
- Yes, please.
You're right about a good night's sleep.
I was thinking about what you said last night.
It does all come down to passion in the end,
doesn't it?
Oh. You're talking about your marriage.
What?
No, no, no. About the murders.
We've been thinking that it's a financial motive.
But what if the only thing that can explain
Ahmed's actions is passion?
Passion not for wealth, but for Narima.
Or the Golden Koran.
Yeah.
We've been assuming that Ahmed
has the Koran and has been trying to sell it.
But what if he doesn't have it? I'll bet that's
what he was looking for at the lockup.
So our best chance of catching Ahmed
is to get to the Koran before he does.
And if he doesn't already have it,
where the hell is it?
- What is happening?
- There's been another murder.
- We think Ahmed is responsible.
- Narima, you have to tell us everything.
What is going on between you two?
Nothing.
Does Ahmed want more from you, in some way?
Is he in love with you?
I can't speak for Ahmed.
- It's Brennan.
- You're supposed to be handing her over today.
I'll stall him.
What?
Get her round the back. Get in my car.
Where's Mrs Ansari?
Inside.
I still need her.
Have you charged her with anything?
Then it's my turn to speak to her.
You've had your chance.
I would like to use her for a decoy operation.
Tough.
You'll have to wait.
You tell me off for breaking the rules.
- What did you tell him?
- I was using her as a decoy.
You're going to push him too far.
- I was thinking on my feet.
- It certainly wasn't with your head.
Latif may not have wanted to sell the Koran,
but he wouldn't have destroyed it, either.
I think he wanted to keep it somewhere safe,
with someone he trusts.
Narima. Now, where would you hide something
you only wanted your wife to find?
Go back to the flat. Do another search.
...they're so up against it,
they just need to see something really quickly.
Do you know what I mean? If it's too
long-winded, they're just going to switch right off.
- So I think...
- Christine?
- Excuse me.
- I'll catch up with you.
Bye-bye.
I'm sorry about last night.
Yes, well...
It was a work crisis. I'll explain...
Actually, I'm rather busy, myself.
I know that and this is a professional visit.
I need your advice.
Talk to my clerk. He'll make you an appointment.
You don't understand.
This is a little bit more urgent than that.
Erm...
Remember the overstayer I talked to you about?
Narima Ansari. Christine Miller.
How do you do?
"Where East meets West."
- Yes? Inspector Lynley.
- Sir.
Erm... I think I've found something.
It's some kind of message.
What does it say?
I don't know. It's in Arabic.
Call Blackwell. I'll be over as soon as I can.
OK. Bye.
This isn't really my field.
I thought you spoke five Arabic dialects.
Well, I do, but this is Persian.
My Persian's a bit rusty.
Has this got anything to do with
the missing Koran?
Yeah. Latif might have been trying to hide it
from his brother, but wanted his wife to find it.
This isn't going to be much help, I'm afraid.
It says, literally,
"On this side of life,
there is you and I,
but behind...
but behind the veil,
there is no more you and I, only us."
I don't get it.
It's the last two lines of a love poem
by Omar Khayyam.
So, it's just a tribute to his wife?
I suppose so. Yeah.
Do you think there's any chance
of us recovering the book?
I don't know.
Looks like we're going
to have to take the stairs again.
Ahmed.
Stay here.
Sir, Ahmed is here.
He's running down the stairs.
Right.
Ahmed!
No!
We know you were at the lockup
when Zavos was murdered.
We found your prints all over the place.
And I saw you.
You might as well say something.
We have all we need to charge you with murder.
Then why I speak?
To put your case.
To admit or deny your guilt.
Of course. I'm guilty.
Why did you kill your brother?
I no kill him.
Allah is almighty. He take Latif back.
God has nothing to do with this.
Latif didn't die because of kidney failure.
He was killed in just the way Zavos was.
He was strangled.
What was it, hm?
Did you want Narima to yourself?
You no talking of Narima here.
She have nothing to do with this.
That's why you killed your brother, isn't it?
To get his wife, your sister-in-law.
Or was it for the Golden Koran?
Which one? Money or lust?
How you understand!
Then explain it to us.
Under Sharia law, it is my duty.
If my brother wife become widow,
then she become my wife.
What about Zavos
and selling pages of a Golden Koran?
Is there anything in Sharia law about that?
I buy book from trader in Baghdad.
I thinking it was old Koran.
I didn't know until I am here how sacred it was.
Sacred?
You were flogging pages on the black market.
Only for paying my brother medicine.
Then something changed, didn't it?
You argued with Latif
on the night he disappeared.
Why was that?
Perhaps because you found out
how much the Koran was worth.
- And then we find his dead body...
- He was angry.
He said...
the word of God belongs to everyone.
He had the Koran
and then go to get pages back.
So, that's what you were doing with Zavos?
I give him one page as sample.
But when Latif disappeared,
I knew it was Harem.
We were all being punished by God.
So you confess to the murder of Dmitri Zavos?
Of course, I am guilty,
because I am Muslim, huh?
Ahmed, don't hide behind your religion.
God punished that man. I did not.
He was dead when I get there.
What about your brother?
Narima think I kill him?
Well, I expect so, unless, of course,
you can offer a better explanation.
I take one page to show the Greek man,
Latif have the other one.
But when he find out what it was,
he wanted to return the Koran to mosque,
give God's word back to the people.
What was Latif doing the night he disappeared?
We found the other page on his body.
He go to service station
to tell the other man he is not selling.
What other man?
Was it this man, Michael Sweet?
The man who solo you the passports?
No.
Well, then, who was it?
How I trust you, huh? You all working together.
What other man?
I see him with you, when the Greek man die.
And with you at the flat.
- That is why I run away.
- Blackwell?
He is the one who knew
how sacred the Koran was.
So, he's after the rest of the Koran.
Zavos is dead. Ahmed's in custody.
- Where does he go next?
- Narima?
- Where's she?
- I told her it was safe to go home.
- What?
- With Ahmed in custody.
Blackwell knows where she lives.
Hello, Narima.
I don't want to hurt you.
I don't really want to hurt anyone.
What do you want?
Narima.
Your husband loved you, you know.
Your name was the last word on his lips.
Narima.
You... killed him?
You killed Latif.
He refused to tell me where the book was.
What do you mean?
Why did you kill him?
Oh, come on, Narima. You know.
He showed me one of the pages, like that one.
- Where's the rest of it?
- I don't know.
Help!
Help!
They don't care.
They can't hear you.
You were the only one he could trust, eh?
What was all this "no more you or I"?
- What was that?
- This is just a poem.
No. It was a message. Latif was trying to tell you
where the book was hidden. Where is it?
- Where's it hidden? Tell me!
- Someone, help me!
- Tell me where it is. You know where it's hidden.
- Please!
- Tell me where it is!
- I don't know where it is.
- You're lying!
- No!
Please, I don't know.
Tell me! Where's the book? Tell me where it is.
No!
Blackwell!
- Where's the book?
- Blackwell.
Move back. I'll throw her over.
- You don't mean that.
- I do.
- She's got nothing to do with this.
- She knows where the book's hidden.
Think about it. You don't need any more
innocent blood on your hands. She's pregnant.
I don't care.
Humans breed all the time.
They're like vermin.
You see, all life is worthless,
but one page from that book,
it abides, it shines.
You mean this? You'd kill for this?
No.
No!
Sir!
Life is worthless, is it?
ls your life so worthless now?
- Sir!
- How did you do it?
- You'd kill for a piece of a paper?
- It's easy.
Sir!
- Do it. Push me.
- Sir!
Do it. Push me!
Sir!
Yeah, got him, Sarge. Be with you shortly.
I need Mrs Ansari handed over for deportation.
For what?
She's an overstayer,
travelling under false papers.
Then you'd better talk to her lawyer,
Christine Miller.
Apparently, she's got a good defence
under Article 31 of the UN Refugee Convention.
Asylum seekers shouldn't be removed
while there's an outstanding legal action,
and Mrs Narima Ansari
is a principal witness in a murder case.
She's got a good brief.
No big deal.
Plenty more where she came from.
I've been talking to people about you, Lynley.
You've really come off the rails, this time.
You're heading for a crash.
This could be a monumental waste of time,
Havers.
Latif wouldn't have hidden the Koran
without leaving a clue.
I think it's just a love poem to his wife.
Narima said he recited the verse
under that tree the day he proposed to her.
He said, "There's no more you and I, only us."
Inspector! We've found something.
Havers, you were right.
You're a genius!
It's beautiful.
The Golden Koran.
So much pain and suffering.
- For this?
- What will you do with it?
It should be given to a mosque.
That is what Latif would have wanted.
I'll try my best.
- Can you...?
- Sir.
We can't give it to a mosque, can we?
No.
No, it'll probably end up in a vault, somewhere,
with various governments
arguing over who owns it.
What's this?
Who are they?
- Inspector Lynley?
- Yeah?
Detective Chief Inspector Harris, CIB.
We need to speak to you.
About what?
There have been several official complaints
and an allegation of a serious assault.
Thomas Lynley, you are under arrest.
You do not have to say anything,
but it may harm your defence,
if you do not mention when questioned,
something you may later rely on in court
I'm sorry, Barbara.