♪ Gabriel Book: I'm Book, and I run a bookshop.

You must be here about the job.

Jack Blunt: You know where I've come from, don't you?

I have a little hobby on the side, and I find it's taking me away from the shop more and more.

Well, you must stay with us, mustn't you, now that you've got the job.

What exactly is it you do?

Book: I sell books.

Jack: Yeah, but that's not all, is it?

Yesterday, out there, at a bombsite.

So, you don't think they died in an air raid?

Inkerman Street was already empty, wasn't it, Mr Baseheart?

Scheduled for demolition.

It's a chaotic world, Jack.

I have a system.

[Camera flash popping] Inspector Bliss: Do you think it was suicide?

Book: Why would a chemist kill himself with something as horrible as prussic acid?

It's murder.

Book: There's a daughter, isn't there?

A right money-grabbing little cow.

And then she has the gall to run off with 'him'.

Well, Dad was convinced that Mickey was thieving.

Got the chemist's will through, sir.

Daughter doesn't get a bean.

This is a sacred charge, you understand that?

I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't think you were ready.

More than that, that you were the one creature on this earth to whom I could entrust this.

This message must go to Trottie and to no one else.

Is that clear?

♪ Is that clear?

[Dog panting] ♪ Good boy.

Off you go.

♪ [Door opening] Mickey Hal: Morning.

Morning.

Uh, Dog, stay.

[Door closes] Can I help you?

Oh, yes.

With wallpaper, that is.

It's a little early for that.

For what?

Never mind.

I'm looking for a Mrs Book.

You found her.

Well, that's a crying shame.

What is?

You're married, that is.

Can I help you?

Yeah, yeah.

Your, uh... got a message from your husband.

Said you were having problems with your alternator.

My...?

In the car.

It's what I do, you see, cars.

I see.

And Mr Book sent for you, did he?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, no idea why he didn't go with someone more local, but I'll not say no.

Got to go where the work is, right?

Quite.

[Dog whining] Oh, got a light?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hang on.

Uh, it's somewhere here.

One minute.

Um... uh... Now where have they gone?

I had them in here somewhere.

...the last pocket you looked, innit?

Um... Um... Ah.

Here we are.

♪ Ta.

So, you are a mechanic, Mr...?

Mickey.

Mickey Hall.

And, uh, yeah, yeah, I've got a garage.

Mile End.

All yours?

Well, no.

Me and the, um... Oh, yeah... Yeah, all mine.

I see.

Um... If you excuse me a moment, I need to lay my hands on a... Well, find my car.

[Dog whining] Right-o, yeah.

Well, I ain't going anywhere, so, um... ♪ [Bell jangling] [Traffic sounds, chatter] The very man!

Ah, good morning, Mrs Book.

Ah, morning, Eric.

I wonder if you'd be an absolute darling for me, Eric.

Anything for a lady.

As I recall, Sheila's a proud owner of a rather splendid Daimler.

Yeah, she's got a car.

Yeah, is she in?

Can I pop in to ask to borrow the car?

No need for that.

I'm sure she wouldn't mind.

It's just parked round the back.

I'll get the keys for you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

♪ TV announcer: ...machines prepare to roar around this legendary track.

Hello?

Hello?

Muriel: What's up?

Ah, puncture, I think.

As bald as Daddy.

I told him these wheels won't get me to Cambridge.

I don't suppose you could help me out?

It's not really my department.

I'm just looking after the place.

I'd be most awfully grateful.

Oh, yeah, alright.

I'll see what Mickey's got.

Oh, thanks ever so.

And there must be a repair kit back here somewhere.

Nora: I really appreciate this.

Mickey puts things in the most random places.

♪ [Groaning] ♪ Muriel: What size do you need?

[Metal clanging] ♪ ♪ [Loud clanging] ♪ ♪ ♪ Huh.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [Car engine revving] [Horn honking, tyres screeching] [Tyres screeching] Slow down.

Yeah, nothing wrong with that.

The alternator, I mean.

Your husband had trouble starting it?

He didn't mention it.

[Bicycle bell ringing] [Tyres screeching] Cyclist: Watch it, you....!

Maybe I should put my specs on.

Maybe.

[Engine revving] [Rattling] [Tyres screeching] [Sighs] [Engine idling] [Sighs] Thank you very much, Mr Hall.

That was, uh, that was... quite a ride.

Yeah, not at all, love.

And, uh, anytime you want to go a bit further... Sunday, maybe?

Hmm.

Desperately tempting though that is, I find I'm washing my hair that evening.

Besides... Besides?

I think perhaps your dance card may soon be a little full.

[Sighs] Quick word, Mr Hall.

[Typewriter clacking, phone ringing] ♪ [Rattling] Well, isn't this nice?

Who are you?

We thought, Mr Hall, that it was high time we had a little chat.

Listen, I know my rights.

[Bell dings] Oof.

Straight out of the blocks.

Disappointing.

Dear me, Mr Hall.

One point deducted already.

Point?

What are you talking about?

Listen, you can't stick anything on me.

[Ding] There you go again.

Hey?

Textbook.

Quotidian.

Banal.

What?

Well, you see, the Inspector and I have been through this routine a hundred times.

A thousand.

You have no idea how tedious it is having to listen to the same old stock responses from gnarly old lags like something from the musical.

♪ Hold your hand out, you naughty boy ♪ ♪ Hold your hand... ♪ That's probably enough of that.

So, here's the question that you would ask, were it not for your fear of me dinging you.

'Why would I want to kill poor Mr Harkup?'

Well, why would I?

I wouldn't hurt a fly.

[Ding] I never did it!

[Ding] But you admit to going to the shop.

Yeah.

Yes.

Alright.

I went there to talk things through, to reason with him.

Now me and Merula have got a little one on the way.

Or did you go with the express intention of filching the jade elephant and replacing it?

That's a dirty lie.

[Ding] Oh, bravo.

Haven't heard that one in a while.

Should have put 'copper' at the end, though.

What?

'That's a dirty lie, copper.'

It's much more effective.

But you ain't a copper, is you?

Oh, fair point.

No, I ain't.

Isn't.

Aren't.

But I do have a special letter from Churchill.

So?

Anyway, you can't prove that I did that.

No, but it's very probable, you'll admit.

What happened then?

I waited outside the shop.

I knew he'd be in.

He never goes anywhere except Mondays and Thursdays, to play dominoes, down The Bull.

I waited till well after seven, but there was no sign of him.

Book: So, you went into the flat?

No sign of him.

But first she come out.

Who?

The char.

Mrs Dredge.

Coming out the chemist acting all shifty.

Yeah, well, you know all about that.

She had something in her coat.

Trying her best to keep it hidden.

Didn't let her see me, obviously.

Bliss: When was this?

About six.

Now, go on.

Then someone else come.

It's like Picadilly Circus on your lane, Book.

Couldn't see him properly, what with me eyes and that.

Oh, yes, we've heard all about it.

But it was a him?

I do know the difference, mister.

Your reputation precedes you.

He was all bundled up.

Scarf, overcoat.

After he left, I went to the flat.

The door was shut, but I know my way around a lock.

So, in I went, and that's when I found him.

♪ Merula's dad, that is.

Stone dead.

So, naturally, you thought you should call the police.

Well, that wouldn't have been a very wise thing to do, would it?

I almost just legged it.

And then I remembered about the ornaments.

The jade figures.

Months ago, he told me about how precious they was.

I thought, 'No one's gonna miss one of them, are they?'

Alas for you, that wasn't quite the case.

Had my little chess set with me.

♪ So, I swapped one.

Then I took off, straight home, I swear.

I never killed Harkup!

I... I never even touched him.

He was dead when I got there.

Alright, son, maybe you're telling the truth.

Maybe you're not.

But let me assure you, if you are lying, if you think you can take Scotland Yard for a ride, I'll come down on you so hard you won't be able to see straight till Christmas.

I'll throw the bloody book at you.

[Ding] Inspector.

Do we believe him?

Bent as Dog's hind leg.

Yeah, but is he a murderer, though?

I need to think.

Do you have time to queue?

I'm planning a casserole.

♪ This should stop him moaning, love.

Ha!

Chance would be a fine thing.

[Laughs] Ah.

Eric: Come on, Enid, sharp now.

It's not gonna wrap itself.

Here you are.

She's new.

Out the way, you, we'll be here all bleeding day.

Right, are you watching?

Over, over, under, under.

There we go, lovely.

Thank you.

Bye.

[Eric chuckles] Eric: Alright, come on in, let's be having ya!

[Church bell ringing] Book: It's enough to turn you vegetarian.

Our cat brought home a pigeon the other night.

And?

Well, Mrs Bliss was sorely tempted.

We had plenty of pigeons in the war.

Nothing wrong with a bit of pigeon.

Yeah.

Yeah, I know, but now it's all over.

We want to aim a bit higher, don't we?

We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the starlings.

[Chuckles] Right, bugger this.

Alright.

Excuse me.

Police business.

Coming through.

Police business.

Police business.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry, madam.

Police business.

Thank you very much.

Oi!

Wait your bloody turn like the rest of us!

I'm so sorry, ma'am.

It's urgent police business.

One minute.

Oh, madam, sorry, if I could just ask you to take a... a few steps outside?

It's, uh, it's urgent police business.

[Bell jangling] Afternoon, Eric.

Eric: Afternoon, sir.

Now, stewing steak.

I've kept it aside, sir.

You are a prince amongst men.

Oh.

You've got something just there.

Hmm?

Oh, excuse me.

Powdered egg.

Bit of a rushed breakfast.

How's Sheila?

Well, sir.

Well.

She's driven up to Sheffield.

Book: How nice.

Family.

Yes.

Terrible about George Harkup.

Certainly is.

Mind you, uh, I'll wager old Baseheart won't shed any tears.

Oh?

They never got on.

Many a run-in during the Blitz.

Harkup was a stickler for the rules.

Always on at Mr Baseheart for being too slack.

Blackout curtain showing light, that sort of thing.

Won't be a tick.

Right, then.

Where are we up to with the murders?

Murder.

There's only one, as far as I know.

Oh, yes.

Well, Mrs Dredge says she saw the chemist at approximately 6 PM.

We have only her word for that.

Yes.

Eric: Enid?

But Mickey Hall did say he saw her leaving the shop around that time with something in her coat she wanted to keep hidden.

And she has a strong motive, now we know she inherits the lot.

Uh-huh.

So, Harkup appears to have died somewhere between 6 and 10, according to Dr Calder.

An awful lot could have happened in those four hours.

Indeed.

Now, we're presuming the killer called round.

No... no sign of forced entry.

So, Harkup knew them?

Probably.

I've told you this before.

Hear me out, Mr Harkup, please.

It's about Merula.

I suppose you'd better come through.

Bliss: So, he let them in.

There was some talk, chat.

[Thud] Uh!

[Thud] The killer proceeds to pour prussic acid down his throat.

♪ [Gurgling] Bliss: Harkup croaks.

Literally, I should imagine.

Bliss: But why did he take just the one piece?

Why not... why not grab the lot?

Then it would look like burglary, whereas he wanted to make it look like suicide.

Eric: There we are, sir.

Oh, bless you, Eric.

Oh, um, anything for Dog?

[Chuckles] I spoil you.

You do.

Would you like it wrapped?

No, no, no, he won't mind.

Thank you.

Toodle-pip.

Enjoy your day, gentlemen.

Book: Cheerio.

[Bell jangles] [Whistling] [Dog barking] Oh-oh, Beryl.

Hello.

Mrs Dredge has motive and opportunity.

Mickey Hall, motive and opportunity.

What about Merula?

Mickey says the bundled-up stranger was a man.

Yeah, but then he would... Book: If they were in it together.

Did they know that Harkup was going to disinherit them?

[Bell jangling] Hello, Jack.

Sir.

Ah, ah, ah.

Not for you.

[Chuckles] [Door closes] ♪ What have you done?

I tidied up.

Tidied up?

Oh, dear.

Well, you said you wanted things cataloguing, so I needed to put it in proper order.

You've only done these shelves so far?

Jack: Yeah, sorry.

It takes time, you know.

Thank God.

Put it all back.

Hey?

Put it all back just as it was.

I told you, I have a system.

Jack: But you said that... 'Catalogue it', I said, not desecrate it.

Christ.

Book.

♪ I'm sorry.

Least said, soonest mended, eh?

[Book sighing] Well, I think I might have done something right.

You found something?

Yeah, I have.

It's been cleaned, recently.

The residue, you can see.

That's remains of silver polish.

Meaning?

Meaning that it got into the ground recently.

Probably dropped.

Or something far more sinister.

♪ Bliss: What are you getting at?

1665, year of the Plague.

Book: Yeah.

Very specifically the year of the Plague.

Not a year or two before.

Capital.

♪ Too convenient.

Horribly.

Where better to hide a tree than in the forest?

11 skeletons in the Plague pit from the 17th century, and the 12th from 1946.

Oh, bloody hell.

You said earlier 'murders'.

Plural.

Book: Yes.

Linked?

Oh, I should think so.

Top of the class, Jack.

Really, I should give you the afternoon off to go to the pub.

So, I will.

More specifically, The Bull, where the late Mr Harkup used to play dominoes.

Take Nora.

Nora?

I believe you've met.

She's good at this sort of thing.

You could learn a lot.

♪ Book: Ah.

Trottie: Something?

Very much something.

What's this?

A list of addresses and a very particular question.

I'd be ever so grateful if you'd go on a little field trip for me.

Alright.

If you cook tonight.

I am.

Casserole.

[Gasps] Oh, casserole.

[Kiss] [Door opening, bell jangling] [Door closing] ♪ ♪ [Sighs] ♪ [Traffic sounds] ♪ ♪ Publican: Very irregular, this.

Kiddies on the premises.

I'm not a kid.

Well, you look like one.

Appearances can be very deceptive.

I'll have a drink, if that's what you're worried about.

That would make it worse.

She'll have a lemonade.

Oh, what?

And I'll have a bottle of Mild, please.

Alright.

Thanks.

You'll have to get these.

What?

I haven't got any money.

What?

I know.

Nora: Ask Mr Book.

He'll advance you your wages.

[Sighs] There you are.

Thanks.

Keep the change.

You were saying?

Mr Harkup?

That's right, son.

In here every Monday and Thursday.

He'd sit just over there.

Yeah, Mr Wellbeloved, the butcher, Mr Baseheart, the ARP warden.

Mrs Acres from the junk shop.

Mr Quillian the tailor.

It's like Happy Families.

Mr Toovey from the cobblers.

Mr Harkup?

Oh, God rest his soul.

Yeah.

Are you with the coppers, then?

In a manner of speaking.

I mean, I don't mind.

You know, I was in the force myself back in the day.

Ah, poor old Harkup.

Didn't seem the type, you know, to do himself in.

But then, do they ever?

I know.

We had a teacher, life and soul, drowned herself in a weir over a man.

How was he, when you last saw him?

Well, that's the thing, you see.

I saw Mr Harkup just the day before.

Oh?

Yeah.

Very out of character, it was.

Yeah, he marched in here in the middle of the day.

He was a man of very regular habits.

So, it did seem a bit queer.

Yeah, seemed like he had a lot on his mind.

Said he was sitting on a secret.

Obviously eating him up a bit.

Did you get it out of him?

The secret?

Ah, not at first, no.

'More than my life's worth', he said.

He said that?

His very words, son.

And the next day... Dead.

♪ Did he, um... elaborate?

Yes, son.

Eventually, he did.

Now, Mr Harkup was a very upright citizen.

You see, he suspected one of his pals was cheating at spotties.

Spotties?

Spotties.

Dominoes?

Oh.

♪ Jack: Well, that was smashing.

Trottie: Book has his uses.

Better than what you're used to?

Oh, yeah.

So, uh, you were saying?

Er, scarlet fever?

Well, that's what brought us together, yes.

We met on the scarlet fever ward when we were, what, both... 12?

And so, what?

You fell for each other right from the off?

Uh, it wasn't quite like that, no.

Oh.

Profitable day?

I'm not sure.

I put my foot right in it.

Oh?

I tried to tidy Mr Book's bookshelves.

[Gasps] [Laughs] Oh.

I mean, I don't think I did too much damage, but... And then I was out and about with Nora, detecting.

Well, it certainly put some colour in your cheeks.

So, go on then.

Well, if you didn't fall for each other straight away, when did you know?

You'll forgive me, my dear, but we'll have to know each other rather better before such confidences are exchanged.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I didn't mean to overstep, but... No, no.

Not at all.

You haven't.

I do hope we'll become fast friends, Jack.

It's complicated.

That's all.

♪ [Sighs] Book and I were inseparable for years.

And then... life got in the way.

♪ Love is where it falls, isn't that what they say?

♪ [Dog barking] I couldn't trouble you for a light, could I?

Sorry, I... ♪ I don't smoke.

[Distant siren] Sure?

♪ [Train passing over tracks] ♪ ♪ Bliss: And were things more than formal between you and your employer?

Mrs Dredge: I resent that question, Inspector!

Bliss: Nevertheless.

Mrs Dredge: Well, I... I won't deny there was a degree of affection between George... between Mr Harkup and myself.

If you've been doing for someone all those years... Well, that's my point, Mrs Dredge.

Is that all you were doing?

Book: What my friend is trying to suggest... Yes, I know full well what he's trying to suggest.

What he's trying to elucidate, then, is whether this affection took any more tangible form.

Well, what's it got to do with you?!

Book: Well, the fact is, Mrs Dredge, certain new facts have come to light.

Mr Harkup gave the lot to you, love.

♪ The shop, the goodwill, his whole estate, it's all yours.

Never!

Oh!

I didn't see that coming.

[Laughs] Everything?

Bliss: Everything.

[Gasps] Is your son at home, Mrs Dredge?

Oh, he's, er, upstairs in bed.

Bliss: A late riser?

A war hero.

His Wellington came down over Holland, 44.

Oh, um, I'm sorry.

Nothing to be sorry for.

He survived, didn't he?

Given that we don't believe Mr Harkup took his own life, you can see why that leaves you in a rather difficult position.

You'd never think I topped him?

The fact remains, you're in a rather sticky position, Mrs Dredge.

The new will was properly signed and witnessed.

Oh, well, I don't know anything about that!

But you could have done.

You could have found a draft when you were cleaning and decided to, you know, speed things up a bit.

What, by knocking off Mr H?

Yes.

Barmy.

No, it's her you should be talking to.

Merula.

And him.

Mickey Hall.

Have you nabbed him?

He is assisting us with our enquiries.

Oh, well, good.

That's something, then.

In fact, Mr Hall's been most helpful.

He has?

Yes.

Yeah, most helpful.

In fact, he told us that he saw you leaving the chemist shop the night of the murder.

Yeah, but here's no mystery there.

I told you I saw him.

Leaving and trying your very best to conceal something.

Bandages.

I told you, for Alf.

I wasn't trying to... hide... He lost a leg, didn't he, your son?

H-h-how...?

One of them worn and creased, the other almost completely smooth.

His prosthesis must need constant attention.

And painful, I should imagine.

Very, very painful.

Of course.

Book: Painful enough for morphine.

[Mrs Dredge sighs] Why didn't you just ask Mr Harkup to help?

I... I couldn't.

Alf needs more than he's ever given by the doctor.

So, I... I nicked some extra.

Oh, I didn't think Mr Harkup would notice, but he did.

And he assumed Mickey Hall must have done it.

I couldn't tell him it was me.

He was such a stickler, you see, for the rules.

Well... well, how could I tell him I'd had away with drugs from his own shop?

You've no idea what it's like, the pain.

My poor Alf.

So, you dropped in on the pretext of getting bandages and instead stole more morphine.

Right.

And Mr Harkup was alive when you left him?

I swear on my son's life.

Alf: Mum?

[Pounding] Muuuum!

If you'll excuse me.

Yes, of course.

Oh and, uh... ♪ when do I get it then?

Beg pardon?

The money.

♪ Bliss: Not her then.

Book: No, life is hard on Mrs Dredge, but not a killer, no.

Then who did it?

'Them'.

Two murders, remember?

'Them' then.

I suppose it'd be too straightforward for you to just, you know, just tell me.

It would be my... well, no, not my pleasure.

You're going to need backup, Inspector.

[Thunder clap] What... what...?

[Bell jangling] [Thunder claps] [General chatter] Eric: Oh, no, no, sorry, uh, we're just... Oh, good evening, sir.

Eric.

Oh, we're just closing, I'm afraid.

That's alright.

How's Sheila?

[Thunder clap] Well, you asked me that, Mr Book.

Oh, yes, she's in Sheffield.

What day did she drive up there?

Oh, it was, um, Thursday.

Yes, Thursday.

I see.

Well, if there's anything special I can help you with, sir, you know, I've got a lot on.

But she couldn't have done that, could she, Eric, when Trottie borrowed her car on Friday?

[Thunder clap] ♪ Eric: Aaargh!

Uh!

Come on!

Come on you.

Come on!

You... come on!

Come on!

♪ [Thunder clap] ♪ [Eric breathing heavily] [Clang] ♪ [Eric sobbing] ♪ Bliss: Now, then, Mr Wellbeloved.

I didn't mean to do her in.

Go... go on.

Things hadn't been right for some time.

Always rowing, we were, and then... [Typewriter clacking] ...I met her.

Enid.

Oh, an old fool and a young beauty.

It's... it's a very old tale.

When did you know, Mr Book, if you don't mind me asking?

I suspected right away that something was off.

And that was confirmed when I discovered that some of the bones in the Plague pit were newer, though you'd made an effort to age them.

Gravy browning.

Sheila uses it on her legs... I couldn't afford to get her nylons.

Plus, the knife marks on them are very distinctive.

I checked your handiwork.

That bone you gave me for Dog.

[Bliss clears throat] So, uh, for the sake of a future with Miss Enid Clegg, you sent your wife to meet her maker.

♪ Book: You then found yourself confronting the murderer's oldest dilemma... [Thud] ...getting rid of the corpse.

♪ Should have been simple for you, not being a stranger to the notion of chopping things up.

Unfortunately, Inspector, people can tell the difference between the bones of hogs and Homo sapiens.

So, I think that after removing the flesh from your unfortunate wife, flensing her, you still needed to dispose of her skeleton.

Which is where the caustic soda comes in.

Precisely.

Freely available at any chemist.

Getting rid of a body, are you?

[Thud] ♪ Oh... [Chuckles] Drains.

Oh.

It's for the drains, George.

Terrible pong.

♪ Book: Alkaline hydrolysis.

Is that what you were going for?

♪ I'd read about it, see.

Funny the things you pick up in this trade.

Caustic soda.

It dissolves flesh.

Uh, I'd used it before to get rid of carcasses, you know, but it... it didn't work properly.

You know, lots of... lots of bones left.

I didn't know what to do, and then... And then Baseheart mentioned the skeletons that he'd found.

Strange to think that if it wasn't for the Luftwaffe, we'd never have known those poor devils were under our feet all these years.

Have you told the coppers?

Not just yet.

Well, no rush, I suppose, after 300 years.

[Laughs] Oh, I've put a tarp over the crater.

Yeah?

Well, you know what kids are like.

They'd probably run off with the bones and give 'em to a dog.

[Laughs] Yeah.

Anyway, cheerio.

Yeah, afternoon.

♪ ♪ [Dog barking] ♪ Book: As I said, where better to hide a tree than in a forest?

Who would notice?

Well, you.

Then there was this, of course.

Eric here, though exhibiting a lively skill at improvisation, is not an imaginative man.

No offence.

No call for it in my game.

Meat is meat.

You rather overdid it by planting the coin in the Plague pit.

That rang an alarm bell straight away.

So, armed with a description of our suspect, my wife made a short but instructive tour of the local curio shops.

Oh, how'd you know he hadn't gone further afield to get the coin?

Unimaginative, remember?

Anyone conceiving so clumsy a clue would never stray far from their own neighbourhood.

Eric was very much in the frame when I noticed the clincher... in the queue at the butcher's.

Noticed what?

Powdered egg.

Oh, you've, uh, you've got something just there.

Hey?

'Scuse me.

Powdered egg.

Bit of a rushed breakfast.

Book: Such an intimate thing to do, with absolutely no acknowledgement from Mr Wellbeloved.

'Uh-huh', I thought.

Uh-huh.

How's Sheila?

Well, sir.

Well.

She's driven up to Sheffield.

How nice.

Family.

I enquired with Sheila's family in Yorkshire.

They'd seen neither hide nor hair of her, of course.

So, it all looked rosy.

And then?

I got the note.

Book: I suspected something of the kind.

Some sort of vague threat.

'Urgent that we talk'.

♪ 'I don't want to have to take this to the authorities'.

♪ 'I hope we can sort this matter between ourselves'.

♪ 'George Harkup'.

Book: And you assumed it was about the murder.

Well, of course.

What, and it wasn't?

No.

Well... then what was it about?

Dominoes.

What?

Mr Harkup was a stickler for the rules, as we know.

He suspected you of cheating at his favourite pastime.

That's all it was.

No, no, no, no, no.

No, it had to be a threat.

About Sheila.

What else could it be?

So?

What... what happened next?

I had an idea I could buy him off.

With cash.

With beef.

With beef.

♪ So, you went round.

I was scared.

[Door clanging] You know, scared of what he might say.

What if he wouldn't listen to reason?

And there was poison everywhere, all round.

And so, I... I kept him talking.

I just need you to tell the truth.

Yeah, but, but... George, just take... Tell the truth, Eric.

Eric: And then I took my chance.

I... I got hold of him.

And... and then I poured the poison down his throat.

Book: Right.

You poisoned him, did you?

Eric: Oh, yes.

Oh, it was horrible.

Book: Nothing else?

Hey?

You see, that's very interesting, Eric.

Because before he was poisoned, George Harkup was struck over the head.

And the weapon left a bloody residue in his hair.

You remember there was blood, but no wound, Inspector?

Yes.

Dr Calder analysed it for me.

Cow's blood.

Bliss: Ah.

And you would have known that, Eric, if you'd been the one who'd hit him with a joint of beef.

No... yes, no, no, no, no, I remember now, no, I did hit him.

I don't think so.

So, who did?

♪ Enid... obviously neglected to mention the part where she clobbered Mr Harkup.

Was it her idea from the start?

No!

She was... [Cries] ♪ Enid found me after I'd strangled... ♪ After Sheila died.

So, she just took charge.

I didn't know what to do.

Enid was so... calm.

Methodical.

And we... we reckoned we was gonna be okay until... ♪ What the hell can we do now?

♪ Leave this to me.

♪ Ah.

♪ [Knocking] ♪ [Door closing] ♪ Enid: Hurgh!

[Thud] Book: And then to finish the job and make it look like suicide... ♪ ...she poured prussic acid down poor Mr Harkup's gullet.

[Gurgling] ♪ Can't we just say that I did it?

Please.

I... I mean, I'll swing, won't I?

But Enid... The law must take its course.

I'm sorry, Eric.

I truly am.

But I'm even more sorry for George Harkup.

And poor Sheila.

Oh.

[Muffled] Oh.

Right, formal charge done.

Sign out.

You'll be taken to a holding cell.

Very good of you.

Thank Mrs Book.

She said you might be a while.

Quite a tale.

Wish I could have sat in on it.

I'm pushing my luck as it is.

Officer: Miss Enid Clegg is being brought in for questioning now.

What exactly did you do in the war?

It must have been pretty big for you to get that letter from Churchill.

And for the Inspector to let you have run of the shop like this.

Now, now Jack, don't be nosy.

Where would the fun be if everyone knew everything, eh?

Besides, I hardly have the run of the place.

Not with laughing boy there hovering the whole time.

He's just waiting for his chance to collar me.

Slightest malfeasance.

Surely you're a model of respectability, Mr Book.

You'd be surprised.

They got Ivor Novello for his petrol coupons.

♪ Officer: Alright, we're here.

Out you get.

♪ Eric?

Eric!

Enid!

Hey!

No, no... No contact.

Can you... Officer 1: Enough of that!

Urgh!

That's enough of that... Urgh!

Enid: Run for it, Eric!

Eric: Love yer!

Run!

Book: Eric, don't be a fool, man.

Eric!

Officer: After him!

Oh, hells bells.

Officer: Stop!

Book: Eric!

Eric!

[Dog barking, horn honking] Officer: This way!

He's gone down here!

♪ [Eric panting] Book: Eric!

Come out, man!

Don't be a fool!

[Police whistle blowing] [Eric grunts] Police officer: I think I see him!

Book: Eric!

[Dog barking] ♪ [Police whistles blowing] ♪ You two, that way!

Well, come on.

♪ [Panting] ♪ [Grunts] ♪ Ah... Oh!

♪ Bliss: Where did he go?

[Clang] Eric: Urgh.

There.

♪ [Gravel sliding] Jack: Oh!

The crater.

This is... Was.

Inkerman Street.

Which means... Mr Baseheart's fastidiousness has come good at last.

If the ruddy thing's still working.

♪ [Jack grunts] [Motor starting] ♪ Bliss: Alright, Wellbeloved.

Come quietly.

Jack: Can you see him?

There!

♪ Book: Eric!

Stop!

Don't lose him!

Bliss: I'm trying.

I'm going in.

Let me talk to him.

♪ [Bottle rattling] ♪ Book: Where are you going to run to, Eric?

Book: There's nothing to be done.

[Eric groans] Where will you go?

Book: Eric?

[Grunts] ♪ [Panting] Ah!

♪ You can give up today or tomorrow, Eric.

It's inevitable.

'The law must take its course'!

That's what you said!

You're not stringing me up!

♪ Eric, no!

No!

You shan't do that to me!

I've seen beasts go.

It's not always... kind.

Eric, stop.

What about Enid, hm?

You're going to leave her to face the rope alone?

♪ You're right.

She did all this for me.

Yes.

All for me.

♪ I can't leave her to face the music, can I?

If we're gonna go, we go together.

♪ Aargh!

No!

Aaaaargh!

Book: No!

[Screaming] [Loud thud] ♪ For him the hemlock shall distil.

♪ For him the axe be bared.

For him the gibbet shall be built.

For him the stake prepared.

♪ Jack: I see him up there with Mr Book.

And then... [Thud] Wallop.

He just fell.

Dropped like stone.

I mean, he must have broke his neck.

[Sighs] Sad business.

Mm.

Very sad.

Well, this is a treat.

Pineapple chunks.

Haven't had these since before the war.

Jack: So, what now?

What do you mean?

We just go back to selling books?

Well, that's the job, Jack Just Jack.

Yeah, but that was... Yeah?

Well, it was so bloody exciting.

[Book chuckles] Cannot be like this all the time, young man.

And anyway... who are you?

You haven't really said.

Uh... Jack Blunt.

I was brought up in an orphanage.

Like I told you.

Made acquaintances with the wrong sort.

I did time for it.

Oh?

Yeah, 'Oh'.

I was the driver for a smash-and-grab up Mayfair Way.

They got away with a load of mink coats.

I got away with two years.

I missed the war.

Some of it, anyway.

And then... I get a letter from the Prison Reform Society.

An address for a job.

This address.

Well, there we are then.

No need to mention it again.

Yeah, but why me?

Why'd you pick me?

Altruism.

What?

Giving a second chance to someone felt like the right thing to do.

Yeah, but you don't know me from Adam.

Book: Oh, he was hopeless, wasn't he, Trottie?

Always wandering around the shop in the altogether.

[Laughs] Getting his fig leaf trapped in the till.

I'm serious.

I mean, bloody hell, I am grateful and all that, but... It's nice here.

It's really nice, but... Book's is a raft on the great turbulency of life.

You mean books are a raft.

No, no, Book's, this place, my shop.

♪ Don't dwell on it, Jack.

Just accept it.

It's a second chance.

But why me?

Why not?

You only live once.

But if you do it right, once is enough.

♪ Shakespeare.

Mae West.

[Motor running] ♪ [Match lighting] ♪ ♪ ♪