Line of Duty Page #5

A couple of the firearms unit stand guard.

Kate and Cottan peer through a glass partition.

COTTAN:

Let’s hope he lives.

KATE:

It’s not whether he’ll live, it’s

whether he’ll talk.

COTTAN:

You think he will?

KATE:

Got to. Chances are, this

arsehole’s the Caddy.

She looks determined. He looks edgy. He scans the room --

armed guards and a CCTV camera. He looks cornered.

But then, when Kate glances round at him, he’s his old self

again.

CUT TO:

521A

INT. AC-12. HASTINGS’ OFFICE/OPEN-PLAN OFFICE/INTERVIEW ROOM.

LATER THAT DAY.

Kate works at her desk.

Cottan continues to ruminate on the situation, at his desk,

in his own world.

He comes out of his reverie when he senses a commotion in the

department. He looks round towards the lifts.

Hastings, in his office, sees people getting up from their

desks to get a look at something.

He steps out of his office to investigate.

Steve is escorting Lindsay from the lifts. Steve and Lindsay

try to ignore the stares. He leads her into the interview

room.

Hastings marches out of his office.

(CONTINUED)

LINE OF DUTY #2.5 Tan Revisions 19/7/13 27.

521A CONTINUED:

HASTINGS:

Dot, Kate, with me. The rest of

you, back to work.

Hastings leads Cottan and Kate towards the interview room but

he ensures they do not enter. He speaks through the open

door.

HASTINGS:

No one present at the High Point

crime scene will enter this room to

prevent forensic cross-

contamination. Now -- she under

arrest and cautioned?

LINDSAY:

For?

HASTINGS:

Escape from Lawful Custody.

LINDSAY:

I was kidnapped.

HASTINGS:

That remains for a court to

determine.

STEVE:

They weren’t springing her, sir.

They were going to kill her.

HASTINGS:

Kate, do it anyway.

KATE:

Sir.

HASTINGS:

(To Lindsay, softer.)

We’ll also need your clothes for

forensics. Nothing personal.

Procedure. We’ll get you seen by a

doctor. In the meantime, we’ll take

care of you.

COTTAN:

Kate, get another female officer to

recover her clothing.

KATE:

Sir.

With a toss of his head, Hastings indicates for Cottan to

follow him. Steve moves.

(CONTINUED)

LINE OF DUTY #2.5 Tan Revisions 19/7/13 28.

521A CONTINUED:
(2)

HASTINGS:

(To Steve.)

Not you. We’ll need your clothes

too.

Steve stays put resentfully.

STEVE:

There’s an audio file, sir. You’ll

hear she’s innocent.

HASTINGS:

I’ll listen to it. When you’re done

in here, put her in protective

custody at a random station under a

false ID.

Hastings exits into his office.

KATE:

Lindsay Denton, you’re to be

charged with Escape from Lawful

Custody. Do you require legal

representation at this time?

Lindsay shakes her head glumly. She gazes at Steve.

Steve watches Hastings go to his office, and wears an uneasy

look.

CUT TO:

521B INT. AC-12. HASTINGS’ OFFICE. MOMENTS LATER.

Shut away, door closed, Hastings uses his computer to listen

via earphones to the audio file recorded by Lindsay.

PRASAD (O.S.)

(Out of earphones.)

In the hopeless expectation of

death, I record my Dying

Declaration. I carried out the

ambush with DC Jeremy Cole. Under

orders from Deputy Chief Constable

Dryden.

HASTINGS:

(Under his breath.)

Mother of God.

Hastings looks deeply concerned.

Cottan and Kate tap on his door. He closes the file and

beckons them in. Enter Cottan and Kate.

(CONTINUED)

LINE OF DUTY #2.5 Tan Revisions 19/7/13 29.

521B CONTINUED:

COTTAN:

Sorry, gaffer, didn’t think this

could wait any longer.

Kate lays some photocopied files in front of Hastings.

Topmost are screen-grabs of Dryden’s CCTV scene with Prasad,

then a transcript of their conversation made by a lip-reader,

and then both their police personnel records.

KATE:

You’ve seen these images from CCTV

of a reception at City Hall

attended by DCC Dryden early

evening 16th August. You’ve seen

he’s pictured with Prasad.

COTTAN:

The lip-reader’s analysed the tape,

sir. Nothing incriminating, just

banter. But Dryden and Prasad

appeared to be on friendly terms.

KATE:

Looking at their personnel records,

Dryden was a Department Head in

Vice when Prasad joined as a DC.

COTTAN:

They knew each other well, sir.

From the CCTV you’d go as far as to

call ‘em mates.

While Hastings absorbs this, Kate lays another screen-grab on

his desk -- Carly as a waitress.

KATE:

This is a 15-year-old misper named

Carly Kirk. We’ve made contact with

the catering company but they’ve

got no record of her being one of

their employees that night. She was

known to Prasad. We believe this is

the last time she was seen alive.

HASTINGS:

(Murmurs, very pensive.)

Thank you. Good work.

Hastings looks like the weight of the world is on his

shoulders.

CUT TO:

522 OMITTED

LINE OF DUTY #2.5 Tan Revisions 19/7/13 30.

522A INT. POLICE HQ. OUTSIDE DRYDEN’S OFFICE. LATER THAT DAY.

Hastings enters, greeted by Dryden’s PA, who immediately gets

up from her desk and moves towards the door.

DRYDEN’S PA

He said to go straight in.

Hastings takes a breath, that weight not lifting, if anything

getting greater.

Hastings goes through the door and the PA shuts it behind

him.

CUT TO:

523 INT. POLICE HQ. DRYDEN’S OFFICE. CONTINUOUS.

Hastings enters to be confronted by Dryden (in shirt sleeves

and tie), with Hargreaves brooding jealously. Hastings is

wary in the extreme.

DRYDEN:

Gone to ground, Ted? My office has

been asking all day for you to

report.

HASTINGS:

If you’ll forgive me, sir, I was

making sure of all the facts.

DRYDEN:

Let’s have them.

HASTINGS:

We’ve got the gunmen, sir, one

recorded confessing to the ambush,

naming his accomplice.

DRYDEN:

Fantastic work, Ted.

HARGREAVES:

I want to hear that recording.

HASTINGS:

All in good time, sir.

HARGREAVES:

It’s a joint operation -

HASTINGS:

(To Dryden.)

I’m not disclosing any leads to

Detective Chief Superintendent

Hargreaves and that’s final.

(CONTINUED)

LINE OF DUTY #2.5 Tan Revisions 19/7/13 31.

523 CONTINUED:

DRYDEN:

(Off Hargreaves’

reaction.)

Give us a minute, Les.

(Off Hargreaves’

hesitation.)

Les.

Exit Hargreaves with deep resentment. Hastings continues to

be wary, not continuing as Dryden might expect.

DRYDEN:

Do I have to drag it out of you,

Ted?

HASTINGS:

Sir, the gunmen are or were both

serving detectives assigned to

Vice.

DRYDEN:

(Beats. Tense.)

That’s a matter of great

sensitivity. It’s the right call to

keep a lid on it.

(Beat. Uneasy.)

Who are they?

HASTINGS:

I’d rather not say, sir, till we’ve

got more information. There’s these

two plus Akers.

DRYDEN:

And Denton, of course.

HASTINGS:

But it’s still possible others were

involved in the conspiracy, others

that remain to be identified.

Tense beat. Hastings is probing and Dryden is looking a bit

edgy. Dryden changes the mood completely.

DRYDEN:

Well. Very good. Being indiscreet

for a moment, I’d say you were

looking at a promotion here, Ted,

assuming you want it.

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