Line of Duty Page #2

Gill looks to Hastings.

He hesitates.

GILL (CONT’D)

Ted.

HASTINGS:

(Through gritted teeth)

As the senior investigating

officer, I acknowledge your

feelings regarding your conviction.

LINDSAY:

Wrongful conviction. And you

haven’t actually said sorry.

Hastings looks like he needs to go somewhere and

puke.

Lindsay turns her gaze full on Steve.

LINDSAY (CONT’D)

Maybe you’ll do better, DS Arnott.

Lindsay’s continued glare at Steve doesn’t

result in an apology from him. After a long

beat.

LINDSAY (CONT’D)

You require me to sign off that I

accept your apology. I won’t unless

it comes from the officers who

wronged me.

KATE:

You’re out. What more do you want?

LINDSAY:

An. Apology.

KATE:

Jesus Christ.

LINDSAY:

(To Gill)

This isn’t going very well at all

is it?

Excruciatingly tense beats.

GILL:

Ted.

HASTINGS:

As Senior Investigating Officer, I

apologise for your conviction.

LINDSAY:

You omitted “wrongful”.

Kate gazes at her with disgust.

LINDSAY (CONT’D)

But thank you, that’s very

gracious.

Lindsay turns her gaze from Hastings to Steve.

LINDSAY (CONT’D)

DS Arnott. We’re all waiting.

STEVE:

Your allegation that I planted

incriminating evidence against you

is false.

LINDSAY:

Point of information. I’ve made two

allegations --one, you engaged in

inappropriate sexual relations

whilst on an undercover operation

and, two, you planted fifty

thousand pounds to simulate a

bribe.

STEVE:

And it’s all crap.

HASTINGS:

(Calming.)

Steve.

LINDSAY:

Really? Do tell.

STEVE:

(To Gill)

Lindsay Denton knows our procedures

inside out. She exploited doubts

and grey areas to tie our

investigation in knots.

LINDSAY:

Oh, you did that all by yourself.

First DC Fleming’s failed

undercover operation and then

yours.

KATE:

I didn’t do too badly. You ended up

in prison.

STEVE:

We didn’t fail. We got you

convicted. But you know sexual

misconduct by undercover officers

is a hot topic so you invented this

story about us going to bed

together so the jury sees you as a

wronged woman. They obviously felt

I must’ve shagged you into

conspiring to murder a protected

witness.

HASTINGS:

(Less calming, more admonishing.)

Steven.

LINDSAY:

(Doesn’t bat an eye.)

Thank you, DS Arnott. I couldn’t

agree more, that the question of

your sexual integrity quite rightly

made the jury sceptical.

Lindsay reaches into her jacket and lays a phone

on the table.

Everyone immediately gets very tense.

Music

10:
06:16

DUR:
1’29”.

Specially

composed by

Carly

Paradis.

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LINDSAY (CONT’D)

But I've got a recording that will

be of interest to you all.

Hasting’s leans in.

HASTINGS:

All right then. This just isn’t the

time or the place.

LINDSAY:

Now is exactly the time and exactly

the place. Not in court, in a room

full of rubberneckers and

reporters, my pathetic private life

laid out for everyone to laugh at,

to pity. I couldn’t bear that. But

to show you all what kind of

officer got me locked up for 585

miserable days, of that --that I

can live with.

(To Steve)

I’ve had my whole life put on trial

and now it’s your turn.

The others are spectators, not knowing what’s

going on between Lindsay and Steve but being

forced to watch.

STEVE:

You’ve been charged and tried but

the one person that refuses to

examine what you’re accused of is

you.

LINDSAY:

I’m innocent. The question is, Are

you? This phone was next to the bed

the entire time. Although I can

believe that you were too

preoccupied to notice. Would you

like me to play it for everyone?

(Off Steve’s defiant silence.)

DS Arnott?

STEVE:

(Beats)

No.

KATE:

Christ sake, Steve.

Exit Kate, thoroughly disappointed in him. Steve

looks ashamed.

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X:

Music Ends

10:
07:45

Lindsay takes back her phone.

LINDSAY:

(To Gill)

Well. I feel this meeting’s been

remarkably successful, and I’d be

very happy to record in writing

that it’s been a healing process

for all parties. I’d also prefer it

if you consider closed the matter

of DS Arnott’s sexual impropriety -

I don’t intend to make a

statement of evidence.

Lindsay gets up to go. Embarrassed, Gill follows

her. But then Lindsay pauses at the door.

LINDSAY (CONT’D)

The people that actually did the

crime that I was imprisoned for -they’re

still out there.

(To Hastings.)

Superintendent, you uphold the

integrity of the police service. If

you held one iota of doubt about my

conviction, no officer would be

more troubled by that than you; no

officer would do more to right that

wrong.

Lindsay has struck right at the heart of

Hastings’ integrity, and it plants a little

doubt.

LINDSAY (CONT’D)

(To Steve)

I plan to move on with my life. You

won’t move on, Steve, until you

stop chasing me, and you start

chasing your real enemies.

Exit Lindsay, followed by Gill. Steve fumes,

full of shame at having been played into a

corner once again by Lindsay. Hastings gets up

and prowls the room like a caged animal.

HASTINGS:

For Christ sake, son. What was in

that phone?

STEVE:

We’ve got to take that crap from

her, sir?

HASTINGS:

You lied in court, you lied to your

partner and you lied to me!

10:
09:32

STEVE:

I didn’t lie to you, sir; I just

don’t think it’s appropriate to

discuss an officer’s private life.

I don’t quiz you on yours.

HASTINGS:

(Nerve touched)

What do you mean by that? I’m a

married man.

STEVE:

(Confused by his reaction)

I know, sir, I just...

HASTINGS:

Anyway. It isn’t “private” when

it’s bandied about in a court of

law!

STEVE:

What matters, sir, is whether I

planted evidence. Are there any

forensic anomalies in respect of

the money found at Denton’s

address? No. It matches the other

bribe money. Are the Exhibits

Officer’s records inaccurate or

incomplete? No, they’re not -

HASTINGS:

That is not the issue!

STEVE:

It’s completely the issue. I did

not plant evidence. If --if I had

sex with Lindsay Denton, which I

didn’t, does that stop her being

guilty?

Hastings has had enough of Steve’s defiance. He

exits abruptly, leaving Steve to wallow in his

situation.

CUT TO:

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

Gill is waiting for Hastings in his office.

GILL:

Lindsay Denton has Left The

Building.

Hastings shuts the door grimly.

10:
10:17

GILL (CONT’D)

Steve Arnott should do the same.

Beat. Off Hastings’ silence.

GILL (CONT’D)

Discreditable Conduct.

HASTINGS:

Steve Arnott did not plant

evidence.

GILL:

But it’s okay to have a

relationship with a suspect?

Hastings has no comeback, finds the whole matter

distasteful in the extreme.

GILL (CONT’D)

I can see how you feel about this,

Ted. Why defend the indefensible?

HASTINGS:

Look. He can be an irritating wee

gobshite when he wants to be, I’ll

give you that.

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