Wycliffe (1994–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Tangled Web - full transcript

[eerie music]

[wind whistling]

[somber music]

[indistinct chatter]

[wind whistling]

MAN: O most worthy judge eternal,

suffer us not [inaudible].

For as much as it has pleased almighty God,

from his great mercy, to call unto himself

the soul of our dear sister Eleanor here departed.

We therefore commit her body to the ground.



Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Sure and certain hope of the resurrection to life eternal.

[somber music]

[wind chime singing]

[ominous music]

[knocking on door]

WOMAN: Agnes?

[suspenseful music]

Agnes?

[ominous music]

I come to see Agnes, Clifford.

Do you know where she is?

She's wandered off.

Has she.



You don't know where she is, do you?

I shall have to ring the police.

No police.

I just want to be sure she's come to no harm.

She's through there.

[eerie music]

[phone ringing]

WYCLIFFE: Wycliffe here.

WOMAN: Cancel the weekend.

They need us. WYCLIFFE: Where?

WOMAN: Back of beyond, on a farm near Porthellis.

We're booked into the local apartment.

Don't ask me the name.

[gentle music]

[ominous music]

[police chatter over radio]

Doctor.

Where is everybody?

MAN: Down there, sir.

[eerie music]

[gentle music]

Sir, Doug.

He'll have to use the air dryers or something,

I should think. - She was in the freezer.

The old lady who found her, Mrs. Lilly Armitage,

is in the house with Lucy, sir.

Whose house is it, and where are they?

A Mrs. Jane Rule and her son, Clifford.

No sign of either.

Boy's got previous, apparently.

MAN: Morning.

So, Mrs. Armitage, when was the last time you saw her?

Six weeks ago.

But you've tried to see her since then?

I was told she was too ill.

By Mrs. Rule, the woman who lives here.

That's Agnes's sister, no?

WOMAN: Yeah, by her.

They're stealing from her.

Stealing!

Did Agnes tell you that?

She wouldn't know.

When Agnes didn't turn up for her sister Eleanor's funeral,

I knew it was all wrong.

And then when I asked Clifford where she was,

he just showed me.

Clifford's previous ABH two years ago.

Incident outside a girls' school in Trigavissi.

[engine idling]

[car door slamming]

This is my house.

Mrs. Jane Rule?

Detective Superintendent Wycliffe.

This is your house, your property,

including all the outbuildings, the dairy

and all of the contents?

You have sole use?

Yes.

How do explain the contents of your freezer, Mrs. Rule?

Where's Clifford?

I only wish we knew.

[eerie music]

I want her back home at tea time, young man.

[vroom]

You got that?

Tea time, Hilda, on the button.

[music playing]

Hey.

You.

MAN: So how long before she thaws out, then?

It takes about three days for the internal organs,

so the post-mortem should be on Wednesday with any luck.

I've got a microwave you can borrow if you like.

[chuckles]

[man on radio]

MAN: What was Agnes like?

Can you tell me?

I can tell you what she used to be like.

She was senile.

So Mrs. Rule found that difficult, did she?

What's she saying?

Not very much.

We're still trying to talk to her.

Wednesday.

Most of the time Agnes couldn't remember who

Jane was, who she was herself.

She had a bed, hot meal every day,

about as much as you can say.

And you're sure about this--

about this stealing?

Oh, yes.

Not just furniture.

There was a picture.

What sort of a picture?

Painting.

Valuable one.

It was on the bedroom wall.

None of us thought anything of it

until Hilda started visiting.

Now wait a minute. Hilda--

Clemo.

Her niece.

You ask her about the picture.

And about Agnes.

Hilda will tell you what this is all about.

I took a test.

You can't be.

Don't look at me like that.

It's not my fault. Dad wants to talk to me at teatime.

So be there.

I'm not going through this on my own.

And before you say anything else,

I'm not getting rid of it.

I couldn't.

Tickets, please.

Given you something to think about, hasn't it?

Don't touch me.

Maybe you shouldn't have touched me.

Did you ever think about that, Ralph?

Concealing a death is a criminal offense.

So is disposing of a person's property without their consent.

Who says I've done that?

Well Mrs. Armitage mentioned a painting, a valuable one.

Can you help us on that at all?

Lily Armitage said?

I wouldn't set any store by what she thinks.

She's as bad as Agnes--

as Agnes was.

What about Clifford?

You must have some idea where he's gone.

Must I?

I expect he was scared.

Not very fond of people like you.

Not surprised with a record like his.

What was it?

Actual bodily harm?

Hanging around outside a girls' school.

He was assaulted by a policeman.

Our records say he had a go at one of the girls.

She was hysterical.

So was her mother.

Clifford's a-- he's harmless.

[music playing]

[clanking]

[baby crying]

[clanking]

[clatter]

Where is she?

Gone to Ralph's.

I rang him.

Said he left her at Porthellis.

To get the bus home.

[car pulling in]

Must have gotten a taxi from somewhere.

- Dad. - Let me go.

Frighten the girl half to death the mood you're in.

Relax.

[dinging]

Mr. Clemo?

No, I'm his son-in-law.

Who wants him?

Detective inspector Kersey.

This is DC Potter.

We'd like a word with his daughter, Hilda, if we may.

[seagulls]

Where is she?

I told you, Porthellis.

She's still not home, so you and me

are going to look for her.

Now.

Died in the house, did she?

Yes.

How?

When?

What business is it of yours how she died?

You didn't give a damn how she lived,

and neither did anyone else apart from me and Clifford.

Why didn't you obtain a certificate

stating the cause of death?

Did you register the death?

Did you realize that you're under a legal obligation

to do both these things?

Now you're the tenant of Mr. Clemo.

That's right, isn't it?

Now his daughter used to visit the old lady.

Were they close, Agnes and the daughter?

Hilda, I think her name is.

You'll get no more from me.

That's it.

[music playing]

Yes. Sorry.

Sorry I missed that.

Uh, well, not until the weekend I shouldn't think, if that.

Listen, um-- are the kids in yet?

Uh-huh.

[music playing]

MAN: Hilda!

Hilda!

Hilda!

Oh, this is bloody daft.

Hilda, stop fucking about.

WOMAN: What in God's name did Dad say to her?

MAN: I don't know.

Perhaps there's some other reason she's run off.

WOMAN: Oh yeah, like what?

Or should I say, who?

This place always did give me the creeps.

[music playing]

Alice!

Over here.

[music playing]

[man on radio]

[camera clicking]

So you tied the boat up in Porthellis at one o'clock,

and Hilda goes to get the bus back home.

Said she was.

You take the boat back to Trigavissi an hour later?

Yes, like always.

The passengers say you and Hilda had an argument.

Not an argument, no.

Lovers' tiff?

Something to do with what we found at the farm?

No.

I don't know nothing about that.

But you and Hilda are lovers, aren't you?

Sort of.

What kind of sort of?

Look, this is really embarrassing.

It's a bit more than that, isn't it?

What about the shoe?

You saw the photograph.

There will now be a short break.

DI Lane leaving the room.

Tape will be turned off, but not removed from the machine.

Time now is 11:41.

Excuse me.

MAN: There may not be very much on it.

Oh, that's marvelous.

That's fine.

Doug?

Yeah?

Can you talk to him?

Why?

Think he might be a little boys' talk.

I need some air.

Listen.

He followed her up there.

We've got a witness.

Good.

Ralph, I've just taken a statement

from someone who says he saw you and Hilda on the field path

yesterday at 2:30 still arguing.

Now that's 200 yards from the farm, isn't it?

Uh yeah, yeah, I suppose that'd be about right.

So for starters, your statement

that you separated in Porthellis isn't true, is it?

No.

No.

Don't waste my time, boy.

You and Hilda had a fight, didn't you?

Now what about?

Look.

You don't know what she's like.

You going to tell me?

Look.

I like her.

That's all.

I like her.

We've only ever--

We've only ever mucked about.

We never-- well, only once.

You know?

So what did you fight about, then?

She said she's pregnant.

She said she's pregnant and she don't want to get rid of it.

That's what the argument was all about.

Has nothing to do with the farm?

Nothing to do with Agnes?

No.

She never mentioned either yesterday at all, did she?

No.

She ever mention anything about paintings?

What paintings?

Who else knows about her being pregnant, Ralph?

Her dad.

Everyone.

Look.

I never touched her.

Got any kids yourself?

Two.

One of each.

Boy 16, girl 14.

Good luck.

Did all this used to be farmland?

Hate the things, don't you?

When did Hilda tell you she was pregnant?

Yesterday.

At the time it didn't seem like anyone else's business.

Sorry.

With all your people all over the place--

Hilda hasn't talked about the farm, and that daft lad who

lives up there, and a painting?

Never.

And your son-in-law, Francis Harvey--

Hilda has nothing to do with him.

No.

Now, I was going to ask you how he fits in here.

Oh.

I see.

I enjoy him.

Site manager.

That's his office.

Francis is OK.

Never climbed every mountain, so to speak,

but he knows how to make himself useful.

Doesn't just work here, does he?

Oh he sleeps here some nights too.

Alice and him-- some kind of a marital thingy at the moment.

You'll have to ask them if you want the details.

But it's got nothing to do with--

with Hilda.

I'm sure of that.

What about Ralph?

You don't like him much either, do you?

Ralph's just a kid.

It's Clifford I keep thinking about.

Why?

Hilda used to go up there.

Clifford had a bit of a thing for her.

I told her to stay away.

You've heard what he's like.

Let me know when you find him, won't you?

[music playing]

MAN: Porthellis.

It's just south.

Now she sets off home, which is due east of here,

to [inaudible] with him.

There.

Now Ralph secures a boat and comes after her.

Now he says that he catches her up around here somewhere.

Whose land is this?

Do you have a list?

Most of it's owned by James Clemo

and rented out to the Rules and one other family, the Inneses.

Where do they live?

Trugellis Cottage.

They've rented it for five years.

He's a teacher, and she's an artist or something.

The house and out building and garden

was searched last night with permission of the Mrs.

Mr. not in?

No.

Mrs. Say she knows the girl, though?

MAN: How well do you know Hilda Clemo?

Well, she's a sort of pupil of mine and Polly's--

my wife's.

Hilda's-- well, she'll get into Oxford if there's any justice.

I just hope nothing terrible's happened to her.

You don't have any news, do you?

No.

I'll get that coffee.

Oh, not for me, ta.

I gather you ran into Hilda yesterday.

Yes.

About three, I think.

It was down by the quarry.

I was on my way to Penzance to see friends.

Polly ran me there this morning.

So Hilda comes here for--

Well, sort of lessons I suppose.

Um she's like a sponge.

You know, young people are so hungry

for culture, aren't they?

My wife has an interest, of course,

in frames, that sort of thing.

More craft than art.

Or [inaudible].

Uh.

Milk?

Thank you.

How often do you see her?

Uh, my wife.

Good morning.

You were saying.

How often?

Oh, well, every week.

She didn't happen to tell you she was pregnant, did she?

- Sugar? - No.

Thank you. - No.

No, no, she didn't.

I knew she was seeing young Ralph, but--

You didn't talk yesterday when you saw by the quarry?

Hello, see you next week.

She seemed fine.

What do you know about her and the Rule family?

Nothing.

Is there anything to know?

She's never talked to you about the Rules

at all, about Clifford?

No, why should she?

She isn't interested in people like that anymore than we are.

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to be so blunt.

I--

You all right?

Fine, really.

Headache.

What else can you tell us about Hilda?

[laughs]

Do you know, I have known Hilda for a year now,

and I don't think I know a single thing about her.

Not for certain.

She likes to let you know she's involved in certain things,

but she'll never quite let on what they are.

Not being much help, am I?

[music playing]

Neil Innes, Hilda Clemo, I think they're an item.

[music playing]

Agnes used to keep house for our brother.

When he died, Jane took her in, and they put all our brother's

stuff in the airy.

It's all junk, really.

It's not worth much.

So why didn't they sell it?

It's hardly five star accommodation up there, is it?

There was a big dispute about who it belonged to.

Oh yeah?

Who was involved in that, then?

Just about everyone.

Agnes' sister mostly, Eleanor.

She was the oldest, you see.

But it was just the usual squabble over nothing

very much.

So you're the site manager around here, are you?

We've got over 600 people here in high season.

So what do you do out of season?

I recover.

There were four of them, OK?

Two sisters, Agnes and Eleanor, two brothers, Gordon and Henry.

Henry dealt in antiques.

Gordon married Jane.

They were first cousins.

That's how we get to Clifford.

The men are dead long ago, of course.

It's the women that lived, the two sisters.

Agnes and Eleanor.

Eleanor marries into the Clemo family.

But after that she doesn't want to know the Rules anymore.

She doesn't care about Agnes.

Agnes is left to rot with Jane and Clifford.

But she still wants her brother's furniture.

It was all lawyers, and affidavits,

and just crap, crap.

I know some of the furniture is missing now.

No.

A valuable painting.

Don't think so.

This uh-- this other sister, Eleanor, she lived here?

Yes?

And she passed away?

Last week.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

We just buried her.

[laughing]

Go upstairs if you can't cope.

Is it really that funny?

I'll see if Peter's awake yet.

[baby crying]

How is this going to help?

I'm sorry.

We don't enjoy this any more than you.

How often does your husband sleep in the caravan?

Now and then if Peter has a bad night.

[baby crying]

WOMAN: Sir.

[baby crying]

We've found something in Hilda's bedroom.

And she wrote to the National Gallery last year.

Now she send you a sketch of a painting

she believed was by Camille Pissarro.

No, no, no, no, I've got your reply here in front of me.

From the assistant curator.

Yeah.

Well, yeah.

Can I speak to him now, please?

Bugger's got an alibi.

Neil Innes stayed in Penzance last night

with a doctor friend of his.

They all want to come in here and swear to it on the Bible.

Hello?

Yes, yes.

That's right.

Now you say in this letter that you-- you--

you can't identify the painting from a sketch,

and that you'd like to see it for yourself?

Yes, thanks.

Well, what about Agnes?

When can we have cause of death?

I want it faxed here first thing

tomorrow morning, tell him.

Did you get that?

No.

Tell him, not me.

Thank you.

Tomorrow afternoon, maybe.

OK.

So who gets the furniture?

What did you find out?

It starts with Henry Rule.

Now that's Eleanor and Agnes' brother.

Now he's doing house clearances after the war, OK?

Big houses, bomb damage, all sorts of nice pieces.

But when he dies, all that's left is stuck up at the farm

along with Agnes.

Now according to Henry Rules's will,

all the contents, including the painting,

go to the surviving sister.

So if Agnes dies first, it all goes to the Clemos.

But if Eleanor dies first, or looks as if she has--

Then Jane Rule and her family get it.

Well, so it seems to me, sir, that Agnes

died first, and they, uh--

Well, let's wait for the forensic report.

But Jane Rule isn't the only one who's involved, sir.

Hilda is, too.

She's the one who found the painting,

and she's the one who's missing.

Let's have another talk with Francis Harvey.

Tonight?

OK.

I'm told you're quite an expert

when it comes to antiques.

I used to be in the trade, but not an undiscovered Pissarro's.

More the flea market type, me.

The letter we found in Hilda's bedroom

mentions a friend who put her on to it.

Not me.

She didn't discuss this with you?

You didn't go to the farm to take a look?

You didn't help her with the letter,

or suggest she make a sketch?

No.

Is there someone else Hilda knows

who might have helped her?

What about Neil Innes?

Ask him.

You know Mr. Innes?

He's an acquaintance.

You introduced him to Hilda.

I went to some lectures he gave in St. Austel

at the library.

I took Hilda along, and that's how they met.

When?

Two years ago?

So Hilda sees what she thinks might

be a real Pissarro at Trugellis farm of all places.

And she maybe discusses it with him,

but she doesn't say a word about it to you?

I'm family, boring by definition.

That doesn't make much sense of your sleeping arrangements,

if you don't mind me saying so.

I do, as it happens.

Francis, did you fancy her?

Only a policeman could I ask a question like that.

What about Neil?

Did he fancy her?

Did Neil Innes ever use this place to meet someone?

Did Neil Innes ever use this place to meet someone?

Oh, please.

[music playing]

MAN: [inaudible] for 10 years.

He does know it's me.

[inaudible]

[inaudible]

Yeah, well tell the chief constable I called, will you?

I want the dad on TV.

I want pictures of Hilda in all the papers.

Clifford's picture, too.

And I need the helicopter up this morning.

And I want my uniform.

Yeah.

I need them.

Yeah.

Have you got that?

Well good.

And-- and-- and-- and-- and-- and tell him

that if I don't hear back within the hour,

I'll take that as a yes.

All right.

Goodbye.

Not another victory for the workers, is it?

[music playing]

[children playing]

I'll read this back to you, Clifford,

just to make sure we're all agreed, OK?

I ran away, because I was scared of the police.

I saw Hilda Clemo leaving home that morning,

but I didn't see her again.

I then went into town, which is where

I stayed until this morning.

Sign here, please.

Francis Harvey had a criminal record.

Did you know that?

Yes.

Receiving, disposing, you were a part of all that.

Were you using Harvey to sell off the old lady's

bits and bobs?

That what the charge will be?

Not much, is it?

Table or two.

Set of chairs.

It's a good deal more than that, I would have thought.

What about the painting?

What painting?

The painting that Hilda found in your house.

The one she identified as a Pissarro.

Oh.

Did you believe it was genuine?

Well this is from the pathologist.

Agnes died of a brain hemorrhage.

She was placed in the freezer almost

immediately after death by you.

That's right, isn't it?

Such a desperate thing to do, Jane.

Keeping a body on ice all that time.

Years, probably.

At least until Eleanor finally died.

And then, just think of it.

All the business of thawing her out.

All the lying you'd have to do, telling people

how she died the day before, and so on.

It's a nightmare, Jane.

So what were you so desperate to inherit?

Hmm?

A few antique chairs?

No.

When Hilda found that painting in your house

and told you it was genuine, you wanted it, didn't you?

She was a clever little thing.

I'll give her that.

She checked it all out, found out the value,

then she turned on the charm with Agnes

and prayed for Eleanor to die.

She wanted the painting?

Yes.

Wanted Agnes to give it to her and not you?

Something like that.

Did she find the body in the freezer?

Did he threaten you in some way?

No.

Did you kill her, Jane?

No.

And neither did Clifford.

[music playing]

We found this in Hilda's bedroom.

I don't understand. What is this?

It's a sketch.

It's a copy of a painting at Trugellis farm,

and a letter from the National Gallery.

Hilda was convinced she'd found a real Pissarro, apparently.

What do you think?

We hear you're something of an authority.

Well, how-- who told you that?

Francis Harvey.

Well this won't help.

Do you have the real picture?

Not yet.

But it is possible that a painting by Pissarro

might have been in the Plymouth area, in private hands

around, say, 1945.

Try the [inaudible].

I don't know.

Hilda thought so?

According to Mrs. Rule.

Look.

Um, I'd have thought you'd have found her by now.

Why don't you concentrate on that?

We just did.

We found her body in the quarry.

We think it was dumped there last night.

We'll see ourselves out.

I want Harvey interviewed.

Put some pressure on him.

That smell is still there, sir.

Bleach?

Yeah.

Uh.

Such a waste.

Not in the water long.

Hard to be precise about when she died.

Not much doubt about the cause, though.

Yeah?

There's an injury to her skull.

Small, but deep.

A small hammer.

Pin hammer, or the like.

Circular.

Flat surface.

She was-- she was struck with force.

Yes, a great deal of force.

When can you type the embryo for me?

Well there wasn't one.

She wasn't pregnant.

Never has been.

[music playing]

No one home.

Why run around telling people she was pregnant

when she knew she wasn't?

Attention.

To see if anyone would come and rescue her, I expect.

[seagulls]

Why is it that looking for something

always makes me hungry?

I'll tell you why that is, Parr.

Oh, you know, do you?

Oh yeah.

But why is it then?

Because you are a pig.

[laughing]

And that's exactly the word for our man, Innes.

We recovered these photographs from your caravan, Francis.

Can you identify the people in them for us?

Neil Innes and Hilda Clemo.

Did you take these photographs?

Yes.

What was the occasion?

It was Hilda's birthday.

Which one?

Well, she was-- she must have been about um--

She was 15.

Can you confirm for us that they used your caravan

as a place to meet?

Yes.

And had been doing so for a period of about two years

up to the present time?

Yes.

What was in it for you?

An alibi, of course.

For what?

I've-- I've got a friend.

Anyone who wants to know where I'm going, I say to--

to this or that lecture.

The lectures Neil gives on fine art.

Anyone in any doubt, Neil backs it up,

and he gets to use the caravan.

Well, is that me finished with?

Is it?

Look.

She was under-age.

Is that it?

Look.

I didn't sleep with her.

Nobody made us sleep with Neil.

So they used my caravan.

Well that doesn't mean anything.

Not in law.

So I'm out.

I'm in the clear.

I don't think you even know what it is you want to ask me.

Like to know what it is you want to tell us, though.

What I what?

Well, something is eating you up, isn't it?

I saw Hilda on Sunday afternoon.

But I don't think it--

What time?

Half three?

But I don't think it can amount to anything.

Where?

Going into Neil's cottage.

The door was open.

She didn't even knock.

Was the two CV there?

Please try to remember.

We were in love.

She was beautiful.

She was a child.

Yeah?

So what happened?

I don't want to talk about it.

What difference does it make?

Why didn't you call us, or call someone?

What do you want me to say?

I dumped her body in the quarry.

I confess.

I came home here, and I found her in my own home.

And I stepped in her blood.

[tapping]

Mrs. Innes, I have to tell you that you're

not obliged to say anything.

I understand.

I've been watching.

Post-mortem on Hilda Clemo showed

that she wasn't pregnant.

She told me she was.

She was lying.

She told me.

What else did she tell you?

That he was going to leave me for her.

You see, if I could only just explain to you,

Neil thinks that uh--

what happened to me--

he was driving, you see.

He fell asleep at the wheel.

We wrote the car off.

A total wreck.

Years ago.

It's not a-- a complete marriage for him.

I can't-- I rely on him.

She lied to me?

Yes.

Mrs. Innes, did you kill Hilda Clemo?

Yes.

Yes.

I did.

[music playing]

What will you do now?

We can't stay.

Can't afford to.

Clemos will take anything of value,

and I shall be left with the rubbish.

What about the painting?

It doesn't look like much, does it?

Hilda said it was worth half a million.

Innes says it's a fake.

Does he now?

But he's in no position to tell the Clemos that.

Maybe we should let him examine

it, and give you the benefit of his expert opinion.

After all, the Clemos won't want it if it's just another bit

of old rubbish, will they?

[music playing]

[car starting]

[music playing]