Luther Page #9

Season #1 Episode #1

---

Reed releases the catches - then quickly dismantles the little

gun and lays the pieces on Luther’s desk.

LUTHER:

Polymer. Plastic.

REED:

Yeah. It’s light. Easy to carry.

LUTHER:

And it melts.

Reed knows Luther’s thought process well. He step backs. Luther

is distracted. Mind elsewhere.

LUTHER:

Plastic melts. Why am I thinking that?

Staring at the photos. Mother. Father. Dog.

LUTHER:

You want to make something disappear,

you what - you hide it? No. You know

it’ll be found. You can’t take it with

you - you know you’ll be searched.

He picks up the largest piece of gun. The barrel. Very small.

LUTHER:

Plastic melts.

BACK TO LUTHER. He snatches up the pieces of gun. Exits

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 47.

74 INT. SCU, BULLPEN - DAY 4 - CONTINUOUS 74

- strides to the evidence room. Emerges carrying a BLOWTORCH

75 INT. SCU, TELLER’S OFFICE - DAY 4 - CONTINUOUS 75

-and hares into Teller’s office.

TELLER:

“Knock knock”?

LUTHER:

Sorry?

TELLER:

Never mind. What’s this?

Luther picks up a METAL WASTE BASKET, upends it over the floor.

Places it upside down on her desk. Teller watches in disbelief.

LUTHER:

So. Her parents get one bullet to the

head each. The dog gets four! Two

thirds of the available rounds are

spent killing a dog. Why?

TELLER:

It’s a dog. They bite intruders.

LUTHER:

But why the overkill?

TELLER:

Perversity. I don’t know.

LUTHER:

Four bullets to maximise the mess. To

make cause of death unambiguous.

Throws down the photo of the DEAD RETRIEVER.

LUTHER:

Because she needed to blast its head

apart - if she was going to access its

digestive tract.

He DUMPS THE PIECES OF GUN on the upended waste bin

LUTHER:

She disassembles the gun, shoves the

pieces, the shell casings, gloves -

down the dog’s gullet. Right to its

stomach. And then

(turns on the blow-torch)

-they cremate the dog.

TELLER:

All right! All right, stop!

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 48.

LUTHER:

(pulling back slightly)

It’ll melt.

TELLER:

I have absolutely no doubt.

Luther kills the flame. Waits for Teller’s answer.

TELLER:

It’s not enough.

LUTHER:

Come on! The gun was in the dog!

TELLER:

Section 8, Police and Criminal

Evidence Act. A Magistrate “may issue

a warrant authorizing the search of a

premises provided there are reasonable

grounds for believing the location

contains material with substantial

evidentiary value”. It’s my assessment

that saying “the gun was in the dog”

will not be judged by the issuing

Magistrate to have met those criteria.

LUTHER:

It’s in there. On her mantelpiece!

TELLER:

Even if that were true, there’d be no

evidence that Alice Morgan touched it,

let alone fired it. We need more.

Trace the gun, put it in her hands.

LUTHER:

It won’t be traceable. She doesn’t

leave evidence - just an evidence-

shaped absence.

TELLER:

And everything else aside, that just

infuriates you, doesn’t it.

LUTHER:

She kills her mum and dad, she walks.

She threatens Zoe’s life, we can’t

touch her. This is Zoe we’re talking

about - who sat at home with your kids

the night your dad died.

TELLER:

So take the chilly b*tch down. But

slow down, calm down, find another

angle.

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 49.

LUTHER:

THERE IS NO OTHER ANGLE! SHE LEFT US

NOTHING!

He turns - to storm out.

TELLER:

What do you need to prove more; thatAlice Morgan’s guilty - or that you’reright?

A moment. Then Luther exits -

76 SCENE 76 OMITTED 76

77 SCENE 77 OMITTED 77

78 SCENE 78 OMITTED 78

79 SCENE 79 OMITTED 79

80 EXT. ALICE’S PLACE, MAIN ENTRANCE - DAY 4 - 12.18

Luther is looking down onto Alice’s main entrance.

Alice steps out and walks away.

He watches her leave. Approaches the building door, takes aWALLET of THIEF’S TOOLS from his pocket.

81 SCENE 81 OMITTED

80

81

82 EXT. WALKWAY - DAY 4 - 12.20 82

Alice walks. Turns left.

83 INT. ALICE’S PLACE, HALLWAY - DAY 4 - 12.21

Luther lets himself in. Shuts the door. Moves through to 84

INT. ALICE’S PLACE, LIVING ROOM - DAY 4 - CONTINUOUS

85 - the living room. There’s the urn. He lifts it - uncaps it -

peeks inside. Ash.

He sets it down. From his pocket takes a FOLDED-UP NEWSPAPER

PAGE. Lays it on the floor, a double spread.

Then something grabs his attention.

Slowly, he approaches the DESK. Sees A NEAT PILE of LASERPRINTED

A4. It’s a quarter-inch thick. He lifts it. Sees his

OWN FACE. Printed from the Internet.

83

84

85

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1

Page 50.

With growing unease, he flicks through - sees BIRTH

CERTIFICATES for HIM and ZOE, their PARENTS - FAMILY TREES -

NEWSPAPER REPORTS featuring LUTHER’S NAME - ZOE’S DETAILS from

the Ford and Vargas website - NEWS REPORTS featuring the

SERIOUS CRIME UNIT - early reports about the GUNNYSACK MAN -

“CHILD LEAVES HORROR MESSAGE” - “GUNNYSACK FEARS GROW FOR MIA” -

articles on MADSEN’S ARREST - pictures of MADSEN IN HOSPITAL,

hooked up to a ventilator Page

after page. His incredulity gives way to fear - then

anger.

He flings down the pages. Strides to the urn -

85 EXT. WALKWAY - DAY 4 - 12.22 85

Alice turns left again - fighting hard to control a smile 86

INT. ALICE’S PLACE, LIVING ROOM - DAY 4 - 12.22 86

Luther kneels, pours some ASH from the urn onto the newspaperhe laid out, begins searching through it. Soon he’s filthy.

There’s nothing. He picks up a bone fragment, snaps it. Justbone 87

EXT. WALKWAY/ALICE’S PLACE - DAY 4 - 12.23 87

Alice turns left one more time. And she’s back where she

started. She allows herself to grin and enjoy the moment. Gets

her keys. Unlocks the door. Steps inside.

88

INT. ALICE’S PLACE, LIVING ROOM - DAY 4 - 12.23 88

Luther sifts the ash. NOTHING! There’s NOTHING IN HERE!

89

INT. ALICE’S PLACE, COMMUNAL HALLWAY - DAY 4 - 12.24 89

Alice comes out of the lift and onto the landing - she puts the

key in the lock.

90

INT. ALICE’S PLACE, LIVING ROOM - DAY 4 - 12.24 90

Luther hears it! No! No! No!

Hears the door open. Footsteps in the hall.

And now - at last! - he FINDS SOMETHING. Something SOLID in the

ash!

He grabs it, hurries to polish it clean BETWEEN THUMB AND

FOREFINGER. It’s His

WEDDING RING!

He’s looking at it, stupefied, when Alice enters. She doesn’t

even pretend to be surprised.

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 51.

ALICE:

You can’t stand it, can you - not

being the cleverest person in the

room?

LUTHER:

See, what you’re doing there, it’s

called projection - ascribing your own

weaknesses to someone else.

ALICE:

I’ll tell you. If you want.

LUTHER:

Tell me what?

ALICE:

Where it is - what I did with it. And

how. All you have to do is ask.

(Beat)

Of course if I do that, the knowledge

will be useless to you, having been

come by so - feloniously. But I can

feel that need to know, eating away at

you. So I will tell you. All you have

to do - is ask.

He’s tempted beyond endurance to do just that. And she’s

tempted beyond endurance to tell.

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes