Town on Trial Page #5

People are getting jittery, Doctor.

- What are you doing here, Nurse?

- I, er... I was looking for the Matron.

- You won't find her here.

- No, she's probably in one of the wards.

- Night, Nurse!

- Good night, Nicky.

Hello.

Hello. Care for a lift?

Well, thanks.

What's the matter?

Something on your mind?

No.

Worried about your uncle?

The hospital secretary called me.

I could have saved you the trouble.

His records are locked up

in my office desk.

- Why are you checking up on him?

- Why are you?

Something I wanted to find out.

About what happened in Toronto?

A patient died.

Unfortunately, the doctor

made a wrong diagnosis.

There was an inquiry, he was cleared.

If people around here

got to know about this, it would...

These people? It would give them

something to talk about, wouldn't it?

- Unless they were being paid to...

- Paid to keep quiet?

Well, come on, let's have it.

He's being blackmailed

because of this.

Who by?

The doctor had a visitor this

afternoon, a Mr Mark Roper.

Any connection?

Well, is there?

Yes.

Mrs Gerrard, I'm well aware that the

girl's funeral takes place tomorrow,

but that's no reason

to cancel the dance, is it?

It's a matter of taste, Mr Roper.

Most of the women members

of the club...

Most of the women members of this club

would have cheerfully strangled Molly Stevens

themselves, given half the chance.

I'd like to talk to you, Mr Roper.

Yes, of course. Anything to help.

Will you excuse me, ladies?

- Well, what is it now?

- Mr Roper,

I'm the last person in the world

to condemn a man

simply because he has

a bad character.

But it's my experience that men

who go through life lying and cheating,

often wind up...

- Who are you calling a liar and a cheat?

- You, Mr Roper.

I could sue you for that.

And I could throw a string of charges at you

that would knock you sideways,

including blackmail

and false pretences!

Wing Commander Roper!

To start at the beginning, you were

a Sergeant Fitter in the Air Force.

You were discharged in 1943 for

helping yourself to the mess funds.

If you've ever been in a plane,

it was probably a ten-bob trip over Margate!

You've an overdraft of

250 at the bank,

longstanding debts with

practically every store in town,

and to get yourself out of that mess,

you've been putting the black on Dr Fenner.

And just to finish the picture off,

you had an affair with Molly Stevens,

and now she's dead!

Are you saying I killed her?

No, I'm not.

Did you?

Are there any

real people in this town, I wonder?

Do you know the population of Oakley Park?

It's over fifty thousand.

And how many people have you

met so far? A dozen?

Sure, there's some real people here.

Up to the moment,

I've only met one.

What's your grudge, Mr Halloran?

The name's Mike.

Don't they pay you enough in your job?

That's the first thing that comes into

your mind, isn't it? Money, huh?

Is that how they rate a man

around here, by how much he makes?

Mike, I like you.

The way you're going on,

you're going to wind up by yourself.

But at least I try to be what I am.

How long have you been

in the force, Mike?

Oh, a long time.

Are you married?

I was. Had a daughter.

Just gone seven.

They were killed in an air-raid.

Where were you? In the Army?

No, at that particular moment, I was arresting

a man for being drunk and disorderly.

After it happened, I, er... tried to

join up, but they wouldn't let me go.

So I wasn't in the Army at all.

But at least I don't go around

saying I was a Major General.

Maybe that's your grudge.

You wanted to hit back

at someone and couldn't.

Well, er...

it's after twelve. Don't you think

you'd better go in?

Why?

It's late, I'd better go.

- When will I see you?

- Tomorrow night, at the dance.

- Shall I call for you?

- No, I'll see you there. Goodbye.

Bye.

- Morning, sir.

- Morning.

- Here we are!

- Oh no, not more of them!

You wait till tomorrow, it'll be

like Election Day around here.

- Trouble, I think.

- What do you mean?

- The AC's here.

- Who, Beckett?

- Roll out the carpet.

- Hello, Mike. How's it going?

- Hello, sir.

- Can we, um... talk somewhere?

Sure, in here.

Well, what's on your mind, sir?

I hear you're having

a little trouble down here.

Oh, no more than usual.

Mike, the Commissioner isn't at all happy

about the way you've been running things.

There've been a lot of complaints.

- Well, that's nothing new, is it?

- That's just it.

Who, for instance?

You seem to have rubbed a chap

called Dixon up the wrong way.

Bad choice, Mike.

He has strings, and he pulled them.

Who else?

We've had a lot of letters and phone calls

about this questionnaire of yours.

Mike, you should know

better than this.

You can't ask a town full of decent citizens

to turn stool pigeon overnight.

They're bound to resent it.

Is that all?

It's enough to have sent the Commissioner's

blood pressure up a couple of points.

All right.

Now, let me say something.

This killer's going to strike again. I know

the pattern. I've seen it a dozen times.

If we handle this town

with kid gloves on,

there's going to be another funeral

within a week!

Maybe, but this questionnaire...

It was a questionnaire like that that

pulled in the man who did the Harwich job.

But that was three weeks after the murder!

By that time, we were in

dead trouble, we hadn't got a clue.

Remember the Shrewsbury case?

It wasn't until two more kids had been

done in, that I persuaded them

to let me fingerprint the whole town.

Within six hours, we had our man.

One tiny fingerprint would have saved

the lives of two children, but oh no!

We didn't want to upset the town.

It was a threat to the

freedom of the individual.

And it was!

The trouble with you, Mike, is

you don't like to play by the rules.

Well, I'm here to tell you to take

another look at the book.

You want me off the case?

Mike, you're a darned good cop. You must

be, or you wouldn't have got this far.

Why jeopardise your whole career

because of a grudge?

Who said anything about a grudge?

Just watch it.

That's all, Mike.

One, two, three, four...

Oh, what an awful noise!

Mr Goodhead,

have you seen Mr Roper?

Roper? I don't think we'll be

seeing him here tonight somehow.

They've just phoned.

They want me to resign from the club.

Mark, surely you're not going

to the dance tonight?

What does it look as if I'm doing?

Going to bed?

Oh, blast this tie!

- Everybody in the town's talking about us, Mark.

- That's exactly why we're going!

If anybody's got anything to say,

they can say it to my face!

- Mark...

- Shut up, and get dressed.

- Listen to me, Mark.

- Shut up, will you?

- Listen, I've had enough. I'm not going to stand...

- Will you shut up!

Mark! Mark! Mark!

Get dressed.

- Not going to the dance, Elizabeth?

- No.

Why not?

What really happened in Toronto?

Didn't Halloran tell you?

Good night.

Miss Fiona...

Have a good time.

- Agnes?

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