Line of Duty Page #9

KATE:

This is a lie, Steve.

STEVE:

Maybe there are people out there

who always tell the truth and ones

who always lie. The rest of us

choose our moments. This is one of

them.

CUT TO:

341 EXT./INT. CITY STREETS/POLICE LIMOUSINE. LATER THAT NIGHT.

The limo glides through the city.

Dryden sits in the back, chatting into his mobile phone.

DRYDEN:

(Into phone.)

We’re not making any announcement

about the body. No. Not until we

know how it fits in with the

overall investigation.

(Listens. Into phone.)

Sorry, Andrew, I’ve got another

call in-coming.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

342A

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CONTINUED:

DRYDEN (CONT'D)

We’ll catch up in the morning. Love

to Liz and the kids.

(Drops call, picks up

incoming call.)

Mike Dryden.

(Listens.)

New Jo -- hi.

Dryden listens. Fairly quickly, his expression turns very

dark and troubled.

CUT TO:

EXT. OUTSKIRTS. LAY-BY. LATER THAT NIGHT.

From his parked car, Dryden gets out and strolls into the

bushes to take a leak. Nearby, in the shadows, is Nick

Ronson.

DRYDEN:

The allegation about me and my wife

has resurfaced.

RONSON:

If you’ve thrown back a denial,

often there’s a delay while they

get corroboration.

DRYDEN:

It’s going to run in the morning.

Dryden finishes his piss and zips up.

DRYDEN:

The person charged in connection

with the ambush, the 36-year-old

woman. She’s a police officer.

Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton

from the Missing Persons Unit at

4th Street Station. She led the

police convoy into the ambush and

conspired in the Witness’s murder

in hospital.

Leaving that bomb with Ronson, Dryden returns to his car and

it drives away.

CUT TO:

INT. POLICE HQ. PRESS BRIEFING ROOM. NEXT DAY.

Cameras flash. Dryden sits behind a table with New Jo, facing

banks of press and TV news, including Ronson who sits tight

to begin with and lets it all happen.

(CONTINUED)

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342A CONTINUED:

REPORTER 1

Does the Deputy Chief Constable

have a statement to make regarding

the allegation about his speeding

offence in this morning’s Herald?

NEW JO:

The subject of this briefing is the

ongoing investigation into the

ambush in which three police

officers lost their lives.

REPORTER 1

Are you still the best man for the

job?

DRYDEN:

I will give a brief statement. My

wife and I strenuously deny the

allegation. The fact that in the

midst of what is obviously a

complex and controversial

investigation, the Herald chooses

to trot out this inaccurate slur -

REPORTER 1

Will you resign? If the allegation

is proven, will you resign?

Dryden looks momentarily flustered. Ronson raises his hand.

NEW JO:

Nick?

RONSON:

My newspaper has information that

the suspect charged in connection

with the ambush is a police officer

-- Detective Inspector Lindsay

Denton.

Suddenly all the other reporters sit up and take notice. Some

head out, keying their mobiles. Reporter 1 tries to stay on

track but Ronson gets in first.

RONSON:

Can you comment?

DRYDEN:

All I’m willing to confirm is that

a suspect has been remanded in

custody on a charge of conspiracy

to murder. I’m delighted that

significant progress is being made.

The net is closing in.

(CONTINUED)

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342A CONTINUED:
(2)

Dryden has fired back brilliantly. He faces down his

questioners and doesn’t blink in the camera flashes.

CUT TO:

343 INT. AC-12. OPEN-PLAN OFFICE. LATER THAT DAY.

Snippets of Dryden’s press conference gets repeated on

rolling news.

REPORTER 1 (O.S.)

If she’s a police officer, that

means it was an inside job?

DRYDEN (ON TV)

I’m not going to be drawn into

elaborating on her motives.

HASTINGS:

God help me, when I find the leak,

I’ll bury the bastard.

Hastings storms into his office.

Steve, Kate and Cottan study it in grim silence, with other

members of staff gathering round for a look.

KATE:

How’d they get this?

Cottan makes the classic “cash” gesture of rubbing his

rubbing his thumb against his fingertips.

CUT TO:

344 OMITTED

345 INT. PRISON. VPU. LINDSAY’S CELL. LATER THAT DAY.

Lindsay paces her cell, bumping against the cramped fixtures.

Banging starts on one of her neighbouring walls, an insidious

thump-thump-thump.

NEIGHBOURING INMATE (O.S.)

Bent. B*tch. Bent. B*tch. Bent.

B*tch.

Lindsay puts up with it for a few seconds and then it stops.

A few seconds later, the other neighbouring starts being

thumped in the same way.

(CONTINUED)

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345 CONTINUED:

SECOND NEIGHBOURING INMATE (O.S.)

Bent. B*tch. Bent. B*tch. Bent.

B*tch.

CUT TO:

346 INT. PRISON. VPU. LATER THAT DAY.

Merchant and Leland escort Lindsay from her cell. They walk

along a corridor, silently ignoring her.

CUT TO:

347 INT. PRISON. EXERCISE SUITE. MOMENTS LATER.

Merchant and Leland escort Lindsay into a state-of-the-art

gym. An obese female inmate (50s) with long straggly grey

hair cycles fairly slowly on an exercise bike, with her back

to them all and not even reacting to their entrance.

LELAND:

Have you understood the safety

briefing?

LINDSAY:

Yes.

MERCHANT:

You must complete two sessions per

week of no less than fifteen

minutes each and no more than

thirty minutes each. Answering

“Yes” or “No” only, do you

understand?

LINDSAY:

Which machines can I use?

They ignore the question, as usual.

LINDSAY:

Yes.

Exit Merchant and Leland.

Lindsay surveys the small choice of machines. She glances to

the other inmate. She ignores her.

Lindsay climbs onto an exercise bike and begins to cycle.

A few moments later, another inmate enters, another fairly

burly female. The inmate gazes at her glassily. Lindsay looks

at the floor and keeps cycling.

(CONTINUED)

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347 CONTINUED:

A few beats later, Lindsay sneaks a glimpse. The second

inmate starts working out on a gym machine.

Lindsay looks up at the CCTV camera. It’s pointing right at

them all. She relaxes.

Lindsay keeps cycling with her eyes down. She sneaks looks at

the other two, but they seem in their own space, and once

again Lindsay glances at the CCTV camera.

Suddenly the first inmate leaps off the exercise bike and

bear-hugs Lindsay. Lindsay struggles and calls out for help.

The first inmate is big and strong and Lindsay is unable to

break free. She waves up at the CCTV camera and keeps

shouting.

Suddenly the second inmate joins in.

The two of them drag Lindsay towards a weights machine.

A series of counterweights are stacked together and moved by

pulleys. The second inmate heaves on the pulley, a chunk of

stacked weights move up, leaving a gap between them and the

stationary weights.

The two of them struggle to force Lindsay’s hand into the

gap. Lindsay resists but they’re too strong. With the hand

held in the gap, they release the pulley. The weights drop

hard and heavy but Lindsay manages to snatch her hand free.

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