Line of Duty Page #3

Despite her having her back to him, Steve realises Georgia’s

mum is wiping tears from her cheeks. He moves into the

kitchen and wordlessly takes over loading the dishwasher.

HASTINGS (O.S.)

If there’s anything I can do, I

want you to know you can call on me

any time.

STEVE:

(Thrown-away, unheroic.)

I promise you, I will find the

people who did it.

Bittersweet beat -- the comment helps Steve as much as it

helps Georgia’s mum.

CUT TO:

INT. PUB. THAT EVENING.

Hastings sits at a small table in a cosy little place. He’s

pensive, haunted.

(CONTINUED)

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212 CONTINUED:

Enter Roisin. She sees him and approaches. He stands to

embrace her.

ROISIN:

Enough now.

Rejected, he sits. She sits opposite.

ROISIN:

So. I’m here.

HASTINGS:

Thank you.

ROISIN:

Well? Why the mystery?

HASTINGS:

(Beats.)

We lost Georgia.

ROISIN:

The girl we had dinner with? Oh, my

God. Ted, I’m sorry. I feel like

such a --I’m sorry.

She reaches across the table and grips his hands.

HASTINGS:

I didn’t know who to ... I’m

sorry.

ROISIN:

How’d it happen?

HASTINGS:

I can’t discuss the circumstances.

ROISIN:

Is there anything I can do?

He looks at her in a pathetically needy way. Horrible

uncomfortable beats.

ROISIN:

Don’t. Don’t use the poor girl’s

death to diminish what you did.

HASTINGS:

I’m not -

ROISIN:

No? A life lost -- any decent

person would see that’s worse. But

I’ve lost a life, in a way.

Tense awful beats again.

(CONTINUED)

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212 CONTINUED:
(2)

ROISIN:

If you’re sending flowers, make

them from me too.

Exit Roisin.

Hastings is left alone with his situation.

CUT TO:

213 EXT. CLAIRE TINDALL’S HOUSE. NEXT DAY.

Steve pulls up in his car and shows ID to a PC guarding the

front door. The PC rings the door bell for him. There’s no

answer at first. The PC rings again.

Claire answers the door, looking frazzled. She hangs back in

the hallway, won’t come out into the open.

STEVE:

Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott.

You should’ve been informed I was

coming.

CLAIRE:

Okay.

She can’t wait to get back deeper into the house. Steve goes

in.

CUT TO:

214 INT. CLAIRE TINDALL’S HOUSE. MOMENTS LATER.

Steve sits at the kitchen table with his notebook out. Claire

attempts to deal with her hyperactive 2-year-old son. She’s

frazzled and anxious.

STEVE:

Moving you to a new address is

miles safer than trying to protect

you here.

CLAIRE:

I can’t, not with Nathan.

Steve takes in how frazzled she is and decides to drop it.

STEVE:

I know you had a very long

interview with my colleagues on the

Major Violent Crime Unit, so I’ll

keep this as brief as possible.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

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214 CONTINUED:

STEVE (CONT'D)

I want to start with the two

firearms officers who were assigned

to protect the Witness. Why weren’t

they at their post?

CLAIRE:

Because of Joe -- sorry, that’s the

only name I’ve got.

STEVE:

How?

CLAIRE:

He was dressed in scrubs and told

them he thought he’d seen someone

out on the fire escape with a gun.

It was disused so there shouldn’t

be anyone out there. As soon as

they stepped out to check, he

locked the door.

STEVE:

How’d he get onto the intensive

care unit and pass himself off as a

nurse?

CLAIRE:

(Beat. Anxious.)

I gave him access.

STEVE:

How did you know Joe?

CLAIRE:

A couple of days earlier, he bumped

into my car in the hospital car

park. He was very apologetic and

offered to pay for the repairs at

his mate’s garage so I wouldn’t

have to wait for the insurance.

STEVE:

You weren’t suspicious that he was

avoiding insurance to withhold his

full name and address?

CLAIRE:

He had a nice car, nice clothes,

seemed like he was trying to do me

a favour.

STEVE:

How’d you describe him?

(CONTINUED)

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214 CONTINUED:
(2)

CLAIRE:

Twenties, white. I’ve done the

computer photo-fit for the other

police officers.

STEVE:

Good. So tell me how Joe involved

you?

CLAIRE:

We dropped my car at his mate’s

garage, and then he gave me a lift

home. The next morning, he called

round so we could drop Nathan at

nursery. But instead of going to

collect my car, Joe said we were

going to the hospital. He said he

knew people who’d kill Nathan

unless I did what they needed me to

do.

(Sniffs back tears.)

I should’ve told someone so they

could stop him, but I was too

scared. Joe said they’d already

killed police so not even they

could protect me.

STEVE:

Around the time of the killing,

there was a call to the hospital.

Do you know or have you ever had

any contact with a police officer

named Detective Inspector Lindsay

Denton?

CLAIRE:

No.

STEVE:

You’re sure? Detective Inspector

Lindsay Denton?

CLAIRE:

Definite.

Steve keeps writing, completing his notes.

CLAIRE:

Was she the one?

STEVE:

The one?

CLAIRE:

That got killed?

(CONTINUED)

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214 CONTINUED:
(3)

STEVE:

No.

Steve keeps writing, avoiding her eyes.

CUT TO:

215 EXT. URBAN ALLEYWAY. THAT NIGHT.

This is a deserted but noisy place, neighbouring a fly-

over/underpass. From the shadows, Steve observes the traffic

rushing past. Every time he sees a motorcyclist -- clad in

the archetypal thick dark jacket and helmet -- he tracks him

with a hard gaze.

Kate approaches quickly and joins him in the shadows.

KATE:

You okay?

STEVE:

Fine.

He flips out his notebook. She takes the cue to do the same.

STEVE:

What were Denton’s movements while

we were at the hospital?

KATE:

She made the call then visited her

mum’s nursing home. I checked it

out and she stayed with her mum for

exactly half an hour.

STEVE:

(Makes note.)

The exact time of the killing.

KATE:

(With emphasis on how

suspicious this behaviour

is.)

Perfect alibi. Plus using the phone

box.

They both take in how suspicious this all sounds.

STEVE:

I checked out the trace. The call

from the phone box went to the

hospital switchboard. The timing

matches exactly with an outside

call that was connected to the

reception desk on the intensive

care unit.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

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215 CONTINUED:

STEVE (CONT'D)

A nurse told me the caller wanted

to speak urgently with Staff Nurse

Tindall, wouldn’t give her name but

insisted it was urgent. Female

voice; same time.

KATE:

(Writing notes.)

Had to be Denton.

STEVE:

The caller insisted they page the

nurse but they wouldn’t because she

wouldn’t give a name. She hung up.

By the time they reported it, the

Witness was already dead.

They both ponder.

KATE:

(Beat.)

I didn’t know Georgia. She seemed

nice.

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