NARRATOR: 'The small Scottish community of Fraserkirk 'says goodbye to a great man.

'For two decades, Randall Goedler has ridden 'the roller coaster of Wall Street 'and played the financial centres of Europe 'as if they were his private casino.

'He leaves to his widow, Belle, 'a fortune most men can only dream of.

'It's been said that the lives of rich and powerful men 'send ripples throughout the world.

'Their actions touch the course of many lives.

'That is why the world's press has descended on Fraserkirk 'to mark the passing of Mr Randall Goedler 'into history.'

MUSIC: 'Guilty' by Al Bowlly ♪ Is it a sin?

♪ SADIE SINGS ALONG ♪ Is it a crime?

♪ ♪ Loving you, dear, like I do?

♪ ♪ If it's a crime Then I'm guilty ♪ ♪ Guilty of loving you ♪ ♪ Maybe I'm wrong... ♪ Move it, Mother.

Breakfast is getting cold.

SADIE STOPS SINGING ♪ If it's a crime Then I'm guilty ♪ ♪ Guilty of dreaming of you ♪ ♪ Maybe I'm right ♪ ♪ Maybe I'm wrong ♪ ♪ Loving you, dear, like I do ♪ ♪ If it's a crime Then I'm guilty ♪ ♪ Guilty of loving you ♪ BICYCLE BELL RINGS - Morning, Johnnie.

- Morning, Johnnie.

- Morning.

- Anything for me?

- Just the one today.

- Oh, thank you.

Mrs Dyas is selling a Sheraton sideboard.

Second-hand motor mower for sale.

Well, who is going to be able to afford the petrol for one of those?

SHE SUCKS HER TEETH Can you not suck your teeth, Mother?

It's not attractive.

Well, look at this lovely detail.

Who's having to sell the furniture, who's receiving a bequest, little cryptic notes between lovers.

And the correspondence page is full of all the petty feuds and squabbles of village life.

We quite obviously haven't finished, Mrs Finch.

Go back into your room.

You've got to be more polite, Edmund.

If Mrs Finch takes a dislike to me, she simply won't come.

Sorry, Mrs Swettenham.

HE GRUNTS ANGRILY I wouldn't read that this morning, Tarquin.

They don't know the first thing about India.

Probably never been there.

Right...

HE CLEARS THROAT Do we need a new sideboard?

Huh?

No.

And we don't want a motor mower, either.

Hinch... Hinch!

Henhouse.

- Hinch!

Where are you?

- Henhouse!

Listen to this... Tarquin... Tarquin.

Listen to this... "A murder is announced.

"A murder is announced and will take place..." "A murder is announced "and will take place on Friday, September 25th..." "A marriage is announced "and will take place on Friday, September 25th "at Little Paddocks at 7:30pm."

- A what?

- A marriage.

ROOSTER CROWING - "A murder."

- A murder!

And it's today.

This is even more exciting.

"Friends, please accept this the only intimation."

What do you think it means?

It means going around to Letitia Blacklock's and having bad sherry, that's what it means.

And then having to pretend to murder one of the neighbours.

And will the lights suddenly go out?

- Well, that's usually the form.

- And will there be screaming?

Well, if you've got anything to do with it, yes, I expect so.

Now, will you please go inside?

You've got your bedroom slippers on.

Seems a strange thing for Miss Blacklock to do, don't you think?

Strange way to invite everyone.

She's normally so proper, and kind.

Not at all frivolous.

Patrick, is this your idea?

No, indeed, Aunt Letty.

Why should I know anything about it?

I thought it might be your idea of a joke.

Nothing of the kind.

Like, when you put a hedgehog in Mitzi's bed.

I was only trying to cheer her up.

Like, this morning, you try to cheer me up when you tell me I can't boil an egg.

You do good work, Mitzi.

MITZI: In my own country, I was at university.

I was to be lawyer.

- Julia.

- Of course not, Aunt Letty.

Do you think Mrs Haymes...?

I don't think Phillipa would try and be funny.

She hasn't smiled since Goebbels poisoned his children.

I suppose it's some sort of silly hoax.

But why?

What's the point of it?

It seems a very stupid sort of joke, and in very bad taste.

Don't work yourself up over it, Bunny.

You'll get one of your migraines.

It's just somebody's idea of humour.

It says today.

Today at 7:30.

What do you think is going to happen?

- Death.

Delicious death.

- Do be quiet, Patrick.

I'm talking about the special cake Mitzi made.

We always call it "Delicious Death."

Letty?

Well, I know one thing that's going to happen and that's at 7:30, we'll have half the village up here, agog with curiosity.

Especially, the old fogies.

They love a good murder.

INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER - Good morning.

- Madam.

Excuse me.

Yes, madam.

May I change my last water treatment tomorrow morning from ten o'clock to 8:30?

As I am hoping to catch the ten o'clock train.

I'm sure that won't be a problem.

Yeah.

Have you enjoyed your stay here on the Cotswolds?

I have.

Yes.

Do you feel, erm... remunerated?

Not in the slightest.

But I do feel rejuvenated.

Yes, of course.

Is there anything else I can do for you?

Order tea for the lounge, cash a cheque, find you a newspaper?

May I have a pot of tea sent up to my room, please?

- Right away.

- Thank you.

BELL RINGS BOTTLE CLANGS You're worried, aren't you, Lotty?

Dora, don't.

- I'm sorry.

- I've told you.

But even if the notice was a joke, it seems to me there's... there's spite in this joke.

It's not very nice kind of joke.

Maybe it is me they want to kill.

The Nazis.

Or perhaps this time, the Bolsheviks.

They find out I'm here.

These people have come onto my house before.

My dear child, if anyone wanted to murder you, they'd hardly advertise the fact in the paper now, would they?

Perhaps it is you they mean to murder, Ms Blacklock.

Nonsense.

Now, help me carry these things through, please.

After that, clean the silver in the dining room.

That will keep you out of the way if any FUN should happen.

You've had the central heating lit.

Yes, it's been so clammy and damp lately.

I got Evans to light it before he left.

The precious, precious coke.

Well, otherwise it would be even more precious coal.

I suppose there was once HEAPS of coke and coal for everybody.

Yes, and cheap, too.

Now, Julia, can you and your brother move the table and the sherry tray round the corner into the other room?

After all, I'm not giving a party.

I haven't invited anyone.

Is there a party?

No-one told me.

Of course, Phillipa doesn't know.

The only woman in Chipping Cleghorn who doesn't.

Where's the paper?

Has anybody seen it?

Are you sitting on it?

- No.

I must go and shut up the ducks.

They should be in by now.

I'll do it, Aunt Letty.

No, you won't.

Tell Phillipa about the thing.

The last time someone offered to do it, they didn't latch the door properly.

DORA: Where is it?

PATRICK: On the other page.

DORA: Oh, yes.

Look.

Here.

Evidently, there's going to be a murder.

Here... MISS MARPLE: Thank you.

Excuse me.

May I see the manager, please?

DOORBELL JANGLES Colonel Easterbrook.

- Good evening.

- Good evening.

- Good evening.

- Good evening.

I was just passing, and I saw you had your central heating on.

- Well spotted, Colonel.

LETITIA: Yes, it is.

And lovely, lovely chrysanthemums, and fresh violets.

- Thank you.

DOORBELL JANGLES DOOR CLOSES SADIE: Thank you, Mitzi.

Mrs Swettenham and her son, whose name I have completely forgotten.

Edmund.

- Good evening, Miss Blacklock.

- Good evening.

You've got your central heating on.

Yes, they have.

Have you started yours yet?

- No.

- Neither have I.

- Sherry?

- Not yet.

DOORBELL JANGLES Oh, that'll be somebody else.

Do you think they'll have something to say about the central heating?

Sorry.

Anyone dead yet?

THEY LAUGH We were so worried we were going to miss it.

HE CHUCKLES This is so exciting.

Thank you.

None of you will know this, but before the war, there used to be lots of this sort of thing going on in the village.

One winter, my mother got murdered five times!

I've never been so thrilled.

SHE CHUCKLES I need a drink.

- Are you all right, Bunny?

- Hmm.

AMY: When's it going to start?

LETITIA: If it's going to happen, it'll be soon.

What do you mean, "if"?

Well, I'm as much in the dark as you are.

CLOCK CHIMING LIGHTS CRACKLE AMY: Ooh, it's beginning!

COLONEL: Good, it is.

- Edmund, where are you?

- Here, Mother.

MAN: Stick 'em up.

Stick 'em up, I tell you.

COMMOTION GUNSHOTS, ALL SCREAM COLONEL: The lights!

EDMUND: Who's near the switch?

DORA: That was a real gun.

COLONEL: The lights!

Oh, my God.

Letty!

DORA: Oh, my goodness.

Oh!

Get a doctor or something.

Blood everywhere.

JULIA: Oh, Letty.

DORA: It's only a flesh wound.

- Sit down.

Sit down.

- I'm fine.

COLONEL: Would somebody get the lights on!

AMY: It must be the main fuse.

COLONEL: There's somebody out here.

Idiot.

People like that... Get up.

Get up, I say.

PATRICK: Colonel!

Tell him to get to his feet.

The fool!

EDMUND: He can't.

He's dead.

What?

He's been shot.

EDMUND: Who is he?

Inspector Craddock, Middleshire police.

May I see the manager, please?

STAFF: Certainly, sir.

HE GRUNTS MISS MARPLE: My dear boy!

Are you all right?

- Yes, I'm fine.

Thank you.

All in the line of duty.

- Have you hurt your leg?

No.

Thank you.

Poor thing.

Walk up and down.

Try and walk it off.

No.

Have you come to investigate the death of Rudi Scherz?

I'm here on police business.

I spoke to him only yesterday.

Swiss.

I think.

Don't forget to interview his young lady.

She's a waitress in the grill.

If you'd like to come this way, Inspector.

INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION ROWLANDSON: He'd been with us a little over three months.

Quite good credentials.

References from good hotels in Switzerland.

All the right permits, etc.

What exactly did he do?

Well, as an idea it wasn't without originality.

He got a lot of locals curious, got them in a room at the same time, and then tried to relieve them of their valuables.

Was it suicide, or accidental?

Don't know.

Nothing to indicate either.

The gun went off as he fell.

Did you find his work here satisfactory?

Well, yes.

I did, yes.

But there's someone I'd like you to meet who has something to say that might be of interest in this matter, Inspector.

One moment.

Take a seat.

Inspector Craddock, this is Miss Jane Marple, who's been staying with us for two weeks.

And it's been a treat.

It really has.

My nephew, Raymond, paid for it, Inspector.

My birthday is in July... - What is it?

It is a cheque.

Rudi Scherz altered it.

- Please sit down, Miss Marple.

- I have it here.

It came yesterday, with my others from the bank receipts.

It was for seven pounds, and he altered it to seventeen.

Mm.

Very nicely done.

Certain amount of practice, I should say.

How can you be sure it's not your mistake?

It's the same ink.

It's the same ink because I wrote it at the desk.

And Inspector, a busy young mother, or a girl who's having a love affair is the type who writes cheques for all sorts of different kinds, not an old lady who has formed habits.

For personal expenditure, I cash seven.

It used to be five, but everything has gone up so.

I'm afraid I was quite the wrong person to pick.

Mr Scherz wouldn't have gone very far in crime.

Which brings me to a thought... - Thank you, Miss Marple.

Thank you.

I have little time and a great many people I need to see before I leave.

- Like his young lady?

- Hmm.

Good.

Because he may have told her who it was.

- Who what was?

- Oh, I express myself so badly.

Who it was who put him up to it.

You think someone put him up to it?

MISS MARPLE: Well, he's a personable young man who filches a bit here and there, on sorts of petty thefts, so he can dress well and take a girl about and then suddenly... he goes off, with a revolver, holds up a room full of people and shoots at someone.

Well...

He'd never have done a thing like that.

It doesn't make sense.

He wasn't that kind of person.

Well, perhaps we don't need to interview the waitress.

Perhaps you'll just tell us exactly what happened.

How could I do that?

There was an account in the paper, but it says so little.

One can make conjecture, but... SHE SIGHS ..one has no accurate information.

I'll let you get on.

Gentlemen.

CRADDOCK: Well, at least that's her out of the way.

To the station, madam?

- No.

Chipping Cleghorn, please.

- Right-o.

AMY: Aunt Jane!

- Hello, dear.

- How lovely to see you again!

I do apologise, it's at such short notice.

AMY: No, as I said on the telephone, it's delightful to hear from you.

All these promises on Christmas cards, at last, one of us has managed to visit.

You look like your mother.

Let me help you.

We've had a terrible tragedy in the village, Aunt Jane.

Yesterday, a man shot himself dead, while trying to hold half the village up.

Oh, well, the last thing you need at a time like this is a visitor.

I can easily go.

Nonsense.

It's lovely to see you.

It'll be lovely to have an old friend around.

FLETCHER: It was just the one circuit that went.

Drawing room and hall.

He couldn't have tampered with the fuse box because that's out by the scullery and the maid would have seen him.

Unless she's in it with him, of course, which is very possible.

- Why is it very possible?

- Well, they're both foreign.

Who fixed it afterwards?

Er... Patrick Simmons.

He lives here.

Some sort of relative.

Have we found out how Scherz got in?

Front door, I think.

It's not locked till late.

Now, he appears to have gotten here about seven o'clock on the bus from Meddenham.

That would tally with what his girlfriend said.

But she's hardly his girlfriend.

She barely knew him.

Well, this lot knew him.

It wasn't the first time he'd been here.

So, where had you met him before?

LETITIA: Well, Sergeant, about three weeks ago, Dora Bunner, who helps me around the house, and I, were having lunch at Meddenham Wells.

Miss Blacklock, I know you from Switzerland.

- I...

I don't think I'm... - Yes, yes, it's definitely you.

I'm the son of the proprietor of the Hotel Des Alpes at Montreux.

I remember you and your sister very well.

Charlotte and I had spent a year at that hotel during the war.

It was there that my sister died.

Did you remember Mr Scherz?

I had no recollection of seeing him before.

These boys behind reception desks all look the same, but I was civil to him.

I entered into conversation with him...

Which was your mistake.

You see, his father had been very obliging when my sister became ill.

But ten days ago, he turned up here.

He wanted money.

He said Letty was the only person he knew in England and that he needed to return home as his mother was very poorly.

But you didn't give him any, did you, Letty?

In case you think I'm hard-hearted, Inspector, I was secretary for many years to a big financier, and one becomes wary of appeals for money.

I know all the hard luck stories there are.

What surprised me, though, was that he gave in so easily, as though he never expected to get the money.

But he stole the meat.

That was the day Mitzi had the good lamb stolen from the cold shelf.

It was he who took it.

He didn't go to the kitchen.

How could he have stolen the meat?

Do you think coming here was a pretext to spy out the land?

LETITIA: Yes, in retrospect.

DORA: Let me take those dead violets.

I'm sorry.

But you should have been here last night.

Tables went flying, people barging about in the dark.

And someone put a cigarette down and burnt one of the best bits of furniture.

FLETCHER: Well, it all seems clear, sir.

The front door was open.

He'd already seen places in the hall where he could hide, cupboards and so on... DORA: No, no.

It's not clear at all.

Why should anyone go to all that trouble to burgle this house?

The most you could get out of us was costume jewellery and a couple of pounds.

He wanted to kill you, Letty, for not giving him that money.

Dora dear, don't get so upset.

The lights went out with a sort of crackling sound.

He found you with his torch and tried to shoot you, and when he missed, he shot himself.

I'm certain that's the way it was.

I'm certain of it.

He shouted, "Stick 'em up, please."

He did not say, "Please."

Do you think the shots were fired blindly, or aimed carefully at one particular person?

- Blindly.

- No, no, no.

They were aimed at Letty.

Oh, Aunt Jane, it was so exciting.

But then it went quiet and the door closed by itself.

It does, you know, with a whining noise, quite uncanny.

And there was blood dripping from Letitia's ear... That's quite enough, Amy.

I'm sure Miss Marple doesn't want all the gory details, otherwise she'll never be able to sleep again.

- Sorry.

- It's all right.

Oh, erm, Colonel Easterbrook has asked us over for lunch.

I do hope you'll come.

I think he really wants to pick over the carcass of last night.

HINCH: Imagery, Amy!

- Sorry!

There's a spare towel in the airing cupboard.

Thank you, dear.

WHISPERS: Who is she?

She's an old friend of my mother's.

They drove ambulances together in the first war, and always wrote.

- I don't like her being here.

AMY: It's going to be fine.

JULIA: We call her Aunt Letty.

She's a distant cousin, really.

Our mother is Letty's second cousin.

My brother was in the Navy during the war, and I was at one of the ministries based near Llandudno.

When the war was over, my mother wrote and asked if we could come and stay as paying guests.

It suits us both very well.

I'm at the university in Middlehurst, and Julia's training as a dispenser at the hospital, it's only fifty minutes away.

Can you tell me about last night, Ms Simmons?

Why are you wasting our time with this?

It was hardly a suspicious death, was it?

It was obviously an accident.

Can you tell me where you were standing when the lights went out, just so I can get a picture?

SHE SIGHS Well, I was on my guard.

Next to Miss Hinchcliffe, 'who'd taken up a manly stance by the fireplace.

'Most of us were watching the clock as it chimed.'

CLOCK CHIMES CRADDOCK: Mr Simmons?

PATRICK: I was in the back getting the sherry.

I think Colonel Easterbrook had followed.

I don't know.

And... Aunt Letty was getting the cigarettes.

Did Miss Blacklock have to go to hospital?

No.

It just caught her ear.

But, oh, there was so much blood.

And a pound of sausages, please.

- There always is with ears.

- Mm.

Yes.

I can remember when I was a child, fainting at the hairdresser's.

The man had just snipped my ear, but erm, all at once there was this basin of blood.

MISS MARPLE: Mm.

All right, dear?

Well, I can't give you the usual horse meat, can I?

I thought we'd have a little treat.

Oh, lovely.

BUTCHER: There you are.

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION Vegetable marrows.

- Congratulations.

- Thank you.

And... Well, it's always been my intention that you should have some of them.

They're not quite ready, but I'm sure they'll taste all right.

- No, let me trade.

- No, no, no.

No, I was always planning to give you some.

They're a present.

Thank you.

Thank you.

BEES BUZZING Mrs Haymes?

There is an old gardener living in the cottage here.

So Mrs Lucas asked me if I would billet at Little Paddocks.

When was this?

Uh, start of the school year.

I have an eight-year-old son boarding at Meddenham Wells, Inspector.

- Is there a Mr Haymes?

- He's dead.

He, uh... he was killed at Monte Cassino.

I'm sorry.

Can you tell me in your own words, Mrs Haymes, exactly what happened after you arrived home yesterday evening?

- Here we are.

- Very nice.

Give him a knock.

SHE KNOCKS Well, he said he'd be in, so...

Colonel!

Colonel!

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION EDMUND: You will stop this now.

Do you understand?

Or I'll call the police.

It stops here!

Hello.

Shut up.

Come.

Ms Murgatroyd.

- Everything all right?

- Yes.

Yes.

We were just meeting to go over the events of last night.

Edmund?

See if we could find something to help the police with this suicide.

Sorry, I don't know your name.

Oh, Jane Marple, this is Colonel Easterbrook and Edmund Swettenham.

- Pleased to meet you.

- How do you do?

How do you do?

Are you sure it was suicide, Colonel?

Yes.

Where would he get a Luger like that?

MISS MARPLE: Half the soldiers who came back from Europe seem to have a German gun in their knapsack.

Mr Swettenham, guns like that are often impossible to trace.

It definitely wasn't suicide.

It was an accident.

No, no, no.

HE CLEARS THROAT You've got to know your criminal.

You've got to use psychology.

Now, why does this fellow put an advert in the newspaper?

Mm?

He wants to advertise himself.

- Why?

What's he selling?

- Himself.

He feels despised, as a foreigner, at the hotel, passed over by this English woman, who wouldn't give him money.

What is the idol of the cinema nowadays?

Hmm?

The gangster!

The tough guy.

Thought it was Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

So, he dresses himself up, shoots his gun, to frighten Letitia in front of her friends, maybe with the intention of robbery, but then... Then he sees he's shot her.

Perhaps killed her.

- I see.

- Yes.

It's all up with him, and in a blind panic, he turns the pistol on himself.

You see?

Psychology.

HINCH: Come on, girls.

PIGS GRUNT Has Dora Bunner always lived with Miss Blacklock?

Oh, no.

She's an old school friend of Letitia's.

- Hey, when was it, Hinch?

- Six months ago.

Yes, six months ago she wrote her a letter.

Her health had given away and she was living in one room, trying to subsist on her pension and Letty being Letty swoops down and gives her a place to live.

Did you know that pigs are the closest animals to men?

Did you know that, Miss Marple?

- No.

We've named all of ours after generals in the British Army.

Yes.

There's Wellington.

Hague.

There's Monty.

And there's Inspector Craddock.

You're the lady from the hotel.

Nice to meet you again, Inspector.

What are you doing in Chipping Cleghorn?

Oh, Miss Marple's an old friend of our family.

She's staying with us for a few days.

And when did she arrange this little trip?

Well, this morning.

Sergeant, would you accompany Miss Hinchcliffe and Miss Murgatroyd inside, please?

Give me a minute.

Come along, please.

CRADDOCK: May I have a word?

- Of course.

I must emphasise, in the strongest terms, that I hope your visit here is a genuine one and you are not concerning yourself with police matters.

Of course, Inspector.

I'm glad that's clear.

But I must admit, it's been fascinating listening to what people saw or thought they saw last night.

Haven't you found that?

- Not... No.

Because in reality, they couldn't actually have seen anything, could they?

Go on.

If I understand correctly, there wasn't any light in the hall at Miss Blacklock's and not on the landing, either.

That's right.

So, if a man stood in the doorway and flashed a powerful torch... ..nobody could see anything but the torch, could they?

So, everything they saw they are really recapitulating from what they saw afterwards when the lights came on.

And this all fits in well, I think, with the assumption that Rudi Scherz was the, erm...

Isn't "fall guy" the expression Dashiell Hammett uses?

Are you suggesting he was persuaded by someone to go out and take pot shots at a room full of people?

Oh, I think he was told it was a joke.

He was paid for doing it, of course.

Paid for...

I presume it was he who put the advert in the paper?

Paid for going up and spying on the house and paid for throwing open the door, shining a torch and shouting.

RUDI: Stick 'em up!

But...

He never had a gun.

But everyone says...

They didn't see it, did they?

They just heard.

If he was holding a lamp in one hand and a door which swung itself shut with the other, he had no hands left to hold a gun.

I think... somebody came up behind him in the darkness, fired those two shots over his shoulder.

GUNSHOTS 'It terrified him to death.

'He swung round and as he did so, 'that other person shot him...' GUNSHOT '..and let the revolver drop beside him.'

But who would do that?

You'll have to find out from Miss Blacklock, who wanted to kill her?

And if you find that out... ..you'll find out who killed Rudi Scherz.

HE SIGHS GUNSHOT LETITIA SCREAMING Go.

Go back to bed.

LETITIA CONTINUES SCREAMS LETITIA GASPING DORA SHUSHES His face.

That poor... that poor man.

That poor...

The blood on his face.

I'm scared, Bunny.

- I know.

I'm scared.

But thank God, it wasn't you.

It wasn't you.

Now, shh, shh.

I'm going to go and make a cup of tea.

SHE SHUSHES CHURCH BELLS TOLLING SHE GASPS Oh... don't do that, you'll give me a heart attack.

Quinces.

We've had a harvest and we've got far too many.

I don't want anything in return.

Are you coming to church?

I mustn't be seen with you.

We talked about this and... No.

No.

I don't want to see you now.

Go.

What?

Ever?

What's he said to you?

- Please.

Please.

CHURCH BELL TOLLS - Good morning.

- Morning.

- Morning, Miss Marple.

- Good morning.

Do you know if, erm, Colonel Easterbrook is coming to church this morning?

Erm...

I believe he's ill, I'm afraid.

Oh.

I'm so sorry.

This...

This murder at Miss Blacklock's, it's preying on his mind.

Mm.

If you'll excuse me.

You'd have thought, having been a soldier, he'd be the last person to let it prey on his mind.

How long have the Swettenhams been in the village?

A year.

They arrived just before Archie Easterbrook.

Oh...

Inspector, I have some information for you.

CRADDOCK: Can I talk to you later, Miss Kosinski?

Yes.

Yes, of course.

I will know nothing, will I, Inspector?

I will not be able to tell you who I heard talking in the summerhouse with that dead boy, the same day he came begging for money.

- Who?

- Mrs Haymes.

You're sure it was Rudi Scherz that Phillipa Haymes was talking to?

I do not lie.

'I see him leave and cross.

'And when I go outside, 'I heard them talk.'

And I think, "So, this is how you behave, my fine lady."

But now I realise it was not love Phillipa Haymes planned with him.

It was to rob and murder Miss Blacklock, who has been kind to her.

But, of course, you think I lie.

No.

Yes.

You people.

CRADDOCK CLEARS THROAT You all think I lie.

Miss Blacklock will be down in a minute.

Oh!

Bunny, should we wait or should we walk on?

DORA: Oh, walk on.

Walk on.

PATRICK: Fine.

DORA: Walk on.

What's this door, Miss Bunner?

Oh, I try and open it three times a week!

SHE LAUGHS It's the dummy to the sitting room.

It was fastened when the two rooms were thrown into one.

Nailed up or just locked?

Oh, locked and bolted.

It hasn't been opened for years.

Has it, Letty?

- Even though you keep trying.

Did it used to have a table against it?

LETITIA: The hall table, yes.

- When was it moved?

Oh, recently.

About ten days or a fortnight ago.

Dora, dear, it's best you go.

We don't know how long the police will be.

Oh, yes.

I'm sorry.

SHE CHUCKLES I'll walk slowly.

Why was it moved?

I think Phillipa did a big vase of flowers and they were... Well, they were really beautiful.

Full of September colours.

But far too big for there so she moved them here.

CRADDOCK: Is there a key?

Yes.

Yes, there are keys in here.

It will be one of these, I shouldn't wonder.

Let's see.

Ah, yes.

It will be one of these.

Thank you very much.

The hinges have been oiled.

CRADDOCK: Mm.

LOCK RATTLES CRADDOCK: This door's not sealed.

It's been opened.

Recently.

But why?

Because I believe the person that tried to kill you... ..was inside the room when the lights went out.

And this is how they got out behind Rudi Scherz.

Not much longer.

Just these few days.

LETITIA: 'But I'm not worth murdering, Inspector.'

At least, not yet.

What do you mean?

Simply that one day I may be a very rich woman.

Possibly quite soon.

But until then, I exist on a small annuity and my lodgers.

What money I had went the way of all German and Italian securities during the war.

Then how will you come into money?

Do you remember Randall Goedler, the financier?

By name, yes.

Millionaire?

Several times over.

I was his secretary for over 20 years.

He died without children and left his fortune in trust to his wife and after her death to me.

The last ten years or so I've had an excellent motive for murdering Mrs Goedler.

But that doesn't help you, does it, Inspector?

Forgive me asking this, but did Mrs Goedler resent her husband leaving you his money?

I know what you're thinking, Inspector, but I was not Randall's mistress.

He was in love with Belle and remained so until he died.

No, I think it was...

It was gratitude on his part that prompted his will.

You see... in the early years, when Randall was still on an insecure footing, I... Well, I lent him a little money which saved him from financial disaster.

After that he treated me like his junior partner.

Oh, they were exciting days.

I only gave it up when my father died.

My sister was an invalid and I had to look after her.

I took her for treatment in Switzerland just before the war, where she eventually died.

I only arrived back in England eighteen months or so ago.

How soon might you become a rich woman?

Belle Goedler lives in Scotland.

She's a sweet woman.

I haven't seen her for years.

'But we write Christmas and birthdays.

'She's also very sick.

It may only be a few weeks.'

CRADDOCK: 'What happens to the money 'if you die before Mrs Goedler?'

LETITIA: 'Do you know, I never thought.'

I suppose it would go to the offspring of Randall's only sister Sonia.

Randall quarrelled with her after she married a man he considered a crook.

What was his name now?

He was very handsome but a drunk.

And predatory around young women.

Fabricant!

Alex Fabricant.

Randall Goedler cut his sister out of the will when she married?

- They never spoke again.

- But there were children?

I think so.

All I heard was that Sonia Fabricant, as she became, wrote once after she married, to say that she'd given birth to twins and was going to call them Pip and Emma.

How old would this brother and sister be?

Twenty-five?

Twenty-six?

I really don't know if Pip and Emma exist.

Might I have a word please, Mrs Haymes?

I was told you had a conversation with Rudi Scherz days before the hold-up.

- Who said that?

- You were overheard in the summerhouse of Little Paddocks.

- This is nonsense - Please remain in the car.

- Who on earth told you this?

- Just answer the question.

It was Mitzi, wasn't it?

It sounds like Mitzi, who is a liar.

And if you haven't worked that out by now, Inspector, you really ought to be considering another profession!

DOOR OPENS DOOR SLAMS SHUT Sorry.

And you should obviously NOT be considering another profession.

But Mitzi does make things up, if it's not about a leg of lamb being stolen, then it's something like this.

Right.

SHE SIGHS Right.

Goodbye.

SHE SIGHS I'll find out for you, when you're in Scotland.

What?

If people are who they say they are.

Because that's what's worrying you, isn't it?

And that's really the particular way in which this world has changed since the war.

In a place like this, everyone knew who each other was and if somebody new came, they brought letters of introduction.

Now the country is like the town, and all you know about your neighbour is what they say of themselves.

Anybody who took the trouble could have a suitable identity card.

The only people who could oil that door would be those who lived with Miss Blacklock.

Not necessarily.

Haven't you noticed how no-one locks their door here?

And the little market of illegal bartering going on gives any neighbour an excuse to drop by.

All they would need to know is Mitzi's afternoon off and the times Miss Blacklock and Miss Bunner go out.

It would be as easy as... ..stealing Mitzi's leg of lamb from the larder.

The lamb's not important, is it?

We don't know yet.

All we know is that if Miss Blacklock dies there are at least two people in this world who would come into a large fortune.

But Pip and Emma may not exist, or they may even be respectable citizens living somewhere in Europe.

Or... one or both of them may be in Chipping Cleghorn.

Maybe even with one or other of their parents.

But if Sonia or Alex Fabricant were in the village, then, well, surely Miss Blacklock would have recognised them.

People can change their appearance, Inspector, and she would have known the Fabricants a long time ago.

Try and get a photograph of them from Mrs Goedler.

And get your sergeant to trace everyone through the official records.

I will do what I can here.

If there's going to be another murder attempt, it's gonna happen quickly before Mrs Goedler dies.

Then hurry back.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS MISS MARPLE: 'I was so interested to hear' that you were at school with the Miss Blacklocks.

Mm, yes.

Both of them.

Yours is indeed an old friendship.

Oh, yes, indeed.

Very few people would be as loyal to their old friends as Lotty.

Those days seem so long ago.

Such a pretty girl, enjoyed life so much.

Oh, thank you.

Yes, it all seemed so sad.

What was sad?

"Sad affliction, bravely borne."

I always think of that verse.

Such courage and patience and it ought to be rewarded, that's what I say.

Mm.

Money can do a lot to ease one's path in life.

Money!

Oh, no, Miss Marple, money is not the answer.

People will... People take advantage of her, that's what they do.

Some people...

I won't name names but... Well, some people, like Patrick Simmons, they take advantage.

Twice, to my knowledge, he's got money out of Lotty and twice he's run up a debt.

No, she is too trusting at times.

You and I know the world, Miss Marple.

We would not be as trusting, and if you ask me, that Patrick, he knew that Swiss boy.

That's what I think.

- What makes you think that?

- Money.

And I think he fiddled with that lamp in the dining room, to make the lights go out, because I distinctly remember it was the shepherdess, not the shepherd.

And the next day... Good morning, Miss Marple.

Getting cold outside, isn't it?

Good morning.

I haven't ordered for you but I can order again.

Have you been shopping?

Someone's birthday.

Excuse me.

May I have...

Excuse me I think we should get Mitzi to bake a cake.

Miss Marple, you must come back with us.

Phillipa has done the most wonderful flower arrangement for me.

You must see it.

- I had planned to meet Amy.

Amy can come, too.

Oh, everyone must see it, it's just marvellous!

Hello, is that the War Office?

This is Middleshire Police.

I'd like to check the service record of a number of people, please.

Thank you.

DORA: She said she used soothing colours to try and bring some calm after all the trouble.

Oh, of course.

She's so clever.

It must have been a terrible shock, Miss Blacklock.

Do the police know how Mr Scherz broke in?

He walked in.

Or was assisted.

They've realised that the second door, the one that leads to the back of the room, well, that door...

I don't think Inspector Craddock wants that talked about.

Oh, no, Lotty.

I'm sorry.

Well, we won't breathe a word.

Is, erm, that where you were standing?

Yes, she was.

Yes, she had the vase of violets in her hand when the lights went out.

- No, the cigarette box.

I was about to offer my guests cigarettes.

Oh, yes, you were.

Well, if you'll excuse me, we seem to have run out of milk.

MISS MARPLE: So that must be the Dresden shepherd lamp.

And what a beautiful table.

Well, it was but it's been ruined with a cigarette burn.

I mean, I know it was very frightening when he burst in, but, well, people should take more care with their cigarettes.

AMY: Where did Phillipa find such late roses?

Was it Dyas Hall?

No, no, in the garden.

I'll show you.

Oh, yes.

Excuse us.

- Mm.

DOOR CREAKS OPEN A SINGLE KNOCK ON DOOR MISS MARPLE: Oh, I'm sorry.

I came in search of the second Dresden lamp.

Dora said it was in here.

Dora said it's wonderful.

Yes, it must be here somewhere.

A shepherdess, erm...

I'm disturbing you.

No, I was...

I was just thinking about Mitzi and what she must have gone through in Poland.

I wonder what's worse, thinking you might die at any time in the war, or thinking you might die at any time now... ..because of a deliberate act?

Well, this lamp must be here somewhere.

Let's try the hall.

I've had those lamps for years.

Yes, and when you've had possessions a long time they get so full of memories.

Don't you think?

They are almost better than photographs.

Which is another thing people don't do nowadays, they put very few photographs around.

We'll have to ask Dora.

I have a lovely one of Amy aged three, holding a cat and squinting.

SHE CHUCKLES I expect you have many of your cousins and other relations.

Not Julia and Patrick, no.

In truth, I'd forgotten what my cousin's children were called actually.

Or how many she had, until she wrote and asked me if they could stay.

MISS MARPLE CHUCKLES I'd hoped the flowers would cheer you up.

At least persuade you to put your wig on.

We don't need that man, Mother, not you and me.

What else would he bring but unhappiness?

You don't know him at all.

SHE SNIFFLES I know enough to know that.

OK, you can cook another cosy Sunday roast for him, go for walks, play happy families.

But he's a drinker, and he'll always drink.

You know he'll always drink.

PATRICK WHISTLES HAPPY BIRTHDAY TUNE Oh, no, we're not getting dressed up for Bunny's party, are we?

Well, I just thought we should make an effort.

HE SIGHS Edmund Swettenham left a jar of honey for me in the hall this afternoon along with a card.

I don't know how he knew it was my birthday.

SHE SIGHS People are so kind.

Oh, no!

- They'll look gorgeous.

- Oh... You must look nice for your party tonight.

Everyone wants to make a fuss of you.

Oh!

DORA CHUCKLES Oh, thank you.

EDMUND: You're not royalty or anything else dubious, are you, Miss Marple?

No.

It's just that with Amy inviting half the village around for dinner, it's as if you're on a state visit.

MISS MARPLE CHUCKLES No.

I live in a village much like this.

Lucky you.

I don't know why people live in places like this.

Unless they're like Easterbrook.

There's too many ghosts in London from India.

At least that's what he's told my mother.

Evidently, he has a daughter there but she gave up on him some time ago.

Is that why he doesn't keep any mementos of India around the house?

- Probably.

Too much past.

- It's unusual.

Most former officers fill their homes with trophies and photographs and guns.

All of which have interminable stories behind them.

BOTH CHUCKLE Does London hold too much past for your mother as well, my dear?

Why?

What have people said, Miss Marple?

Nothing, I was just wondering from what you just said.

HINCH: Good evening, Colonel.

How are you?

COLONEL: Very well.

I'm sorry, it's just that, erm... gossip's like acid in a place like this.

It's so corrosive.

- Hmm.

ALL: ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday, dear Bunny ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ - Hip-hip... - Hooray!

- Hip-hip... - Hooray!

- Hip-hip... - Hooray!

Delicious death!

ALL LAUGH JULIA: Come on, Bunny.

- ALL: One, two... - Hang on, hang on.

Patrick!

ALL: Three!

PATRICK: Well done!

JULIA: Many Happy returns of the day.

SISTER: Mrs Goedler's strongest times are in the morning and after supper.

Then she will talk, and enjoy talking, but quite suddenly her energy will go and she will drop.

She is, you see, kept almost entirely under the influence of morphia.

Have you any old photographs, Mrs Goedler, especially of Sonia Fabricant and her family?

I believe she had at least two children.

No, I'm afraid there's nothing like that.

All our... personal papers and things were stored... ..with the furniture from the London house at the beginning of the war... ..and then the storage depository was blitzed.

Did you ever meet Sonia Fabricant's children?

No.

Alex Fabricant was a crook.

A real crook.

He had a criminal record.

Randall would have nothing to do with him.

Nevertheless, he left his estate to Sonia's children if Miss Blacklock predeceased you.

That was me.

Randall wouldn't countenance that man getting his paws on the money, so he agreed to Pip and Emma.

But who knows where they are?

They may be dead.

Or maybe not.

Here's a brother and sister brought up somewhere in Europe.

Their father's a criminal.

Whatever happened to them during the war, maybe they have turned up in England.

Looked up their uncle's will to see what money was left in the family, and if they... - Don't let them hurt Blackie!

No.

Blackie's good.

Really good.

You mustn't let them hurt her.

All right, all right.

SHE SHUSHES Calm yourself.

The police say the dummy door's been oiled?

Yes.

Then they must think the scheme was...

HE SNAPS FINGER ..lights out.

Yes.

SLURS: The thing, the... the hinges, the wood.

- The door?

The door opens with a flourish.

The Swiss fellow comes in with his torch.

HINCH: Yes?

And then one of us sneaks out behind and while the rest of us are ogling the light, this one of us... ..has the gun.

That's impossible.

HINCH: So... ..one of us shoots Letitia Blacklock?

Yes.

That's what the police must be thinking.

COLONEL: Well, let's, er... Let's find out, huh?

Let's find out now.

Let's re-enact it!

I think we should all call it a night, Colonel... Get off me!

We could be finding out.

All of us.

Do you think this is a... a good idea?

Well, I'm game, as long as he stops shouting.

Right, come on, we'll do it in front of the window.

Can I be Professor Plum?

Just stand where you were standing when the lights went out!

PHILLIPA: I feel sick after that cake.

I haven't had anything that rich in years.

Are you on the sauce, Bunny?

JULIA CHUCKLES We've run out of aspirin, Lotty.

PHILLIPA: Have you got a migraine?

Yes.

I think I might retire early, if that's all right.

- There's some more by my bed.

- Thank you.

- It's the excitement.

- Mm.

Then I was definitely here.

No, you weren't.

Where exactly were you then, Colonel?

I was here, by Letitia.

This must be very boring for you.

I'm sorry, Aunt Jane.

Well, she can play the Swiss boy!

Yes, yes!

Look, why don't you come bursting through the door like... like a lunatic and then hurl yourself into a heap on the floor?

Those sort of days are behind me, Colonel.

HINCH LAUGHS HINCH: Colonel Easterbrook... SHE LAUGHS ..you really should drink more often!

EDMUND: Where were you, Miss Murgatroyd?

I was over here by the door.

- Yes, yes, you were!

You were!

- Thank you.

And if you were there... ..you would have been behind the light.

You wouldn't have been blinded by the torch!

- Yes?

- Archie.

Please, please, be quiet!

She could see us all as the torch lit up the room!

She could see who WASN'T there!

- Is that true?

- Amy, who wasn't there?

I don't...

I can't remember.

SHE CHUCKLES Oh, come on, Amy, the door crashes open... RUDI: Stick 'em up!

No.

You watched the light as it scanned across the room.

RUDI: Stick 'em up!

No, I had my eyes closed.

Surely you peeked, you silly, sybaritic thing!

Oh, don't be so pathetic!

- You must have seen something!

No!

I can't remember things.

No.

Would anyone like a cup of tea?

Yes.

Yes, I'll make it.

Phillipa, may I have a word?

Yes, of course.

I, er...

I know you get anxious about your boy's education, that you worry about the future and that's why I want to tell you something.

Things haven't been very settled lately, and I thought I would like to make a new will, in view of certain eventualities.

Apart from Bunny's legacy, what little there is, is going to you.

But I don't want it, really I don't.

Why me?

I'm thinking of your child.

I want to do this.

You're a dark horse.

PHILLIPA: Did you hear that?

I think I was rather meant to, don't you?

But remember, if she's knocked off now, you're the number one suspect.

No.

No, because the woman in Scotland is still alive...

So you know about Belle Goedler!

You know all about that.

Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?

Quite sure.

Then I'm going for a quick drink.

COLONEL RETCHES Archie?

Archie!

It was my gun.

It was my gun used to kill that boy.

What, the one in your desk?

Someone's taken it.

I don't know what to do.

It IS someone we know.

Do you know who it is?

Why haven't you been to the police?

Because I have no licence... ..and I don't...

I don't want the police digging over the trouble.

Oh, my love, it's all right.

No!

No!

HE SOBS Come home to mine, hmm?

Come on!

Hup!

- Sadie... Come on.

WINDOW BLINDS RATTLE Did you get some sleep on the train?

Well, this will wake you up.

Now, Patrick and Julia Simmons are who they say they are.

His naval record is genuine and I spoke to their mother who confirmed that they're staying with Letitia Blacklock.

- So they're not Pip and Emma.

- No.

- Mrs Haymes?

- Oh, there's a lot about her.

It's all in there, but even more exciting is Colonel Easterbrook.

Now, he was in India, all right.

But he got drummed out of his regiment for drinking.

The final straw being when he took a shot at a fellow officer during a drunken brawl.

And he's the right age for Alex Fabricant.

- Does he have a family?

- I was tracing them, and his record before the war, when we had a visitor.

He says he has proof that Easterbrook killed Rudi Scherz.

Who is that for, Mitzi?

Miss Bunner hasn't come down this morning.

I'll take it.

KNOCKING AT DOOR LETITIA: Dora.

Dora?

Oh, Bunny!

JULIA: I need you to go through with it.

Just don't abandon me now!

- But she's dead!

- Patrick!

Miss Blacklock... ..we are all so very sorry to hear about Dora's death.

Miss Hinchcliffe asked if I would leave these flowers.

I'm... ..only a stranger, I know, but... ..Miss Bunner seemed to me the nicest... She was... She was the only link with the past.

- I know.

- The only one who remembered.

And now... ..and now she's gone.

DOOR CLICKS OPEN CRADDOCK: Is it yours, Colonel?

We know it's yours because you showed Edmund Swettenham in your desk drawer two weeks ago.

'He said you tried to impress him 'with some fanciful story about how you captured it.'

It's mine.

But I did not try and kill Letitia Blacklock.

I didn't know it was missing until I saw it lying there next to the Swiss boy.

CRADDOCK: If you had nothing to hide, why didn't you come forward at first and tell us the gun was yours?

No licence.

Is this your daughter?

Yes.

Miss Laura Easterbrook.

Where is she now?

She lives in London, I think.

We are not in contact.

We are NOT in contact.

Her mother divorced me because of the drink.

I have not seen Laura for ten years.

That is the truth.

Dora Bunner was found murdered this morning, having taken poison that had been meant for Miss Blacklock.

It was definitely poison.

SHE GASPS She died within seconds.

This Easterbrook, he leaves it by Miss Blacklock's bed hoping she will take it but, like the shooting, it is an innocent who gets killed, like it's always the innocent.

Amy, it wasn't Archie, was it?

What's this?

She was behind the door when the man burst in, she's the only one not blinded by the torch.

You saw Archie in the room the whole time, didn't you?

Tell me you saw him in the room!

I don't know!

Excuse me.

It's Edmund who's put the police onto him.

Why has he done that?

Because he's jealous and possessive.

Edmund's illegitimate.

There's never been a Mr Swettenham.

There's only just been the two of us, and he resents me building a life for myself away from him.

He's...

He's jealous of me getting a... a proper, respectable married name.

Why is that too much to ask, hmm?

Archie and I haven't committed any crime!

Well... except for one.

Mitzi, I feel very guilty about this.

It was me who stole your meat that day.

The lamb?

I wanted to treat Archie, I wanted to impress him.

It was your afternoon off and I knew Miss Blacklock and Bunny would be at the shops.

That was the day the Swiss boy came begging?

No.

No, it was your afternoon off.

'I-I stole the meat from the safe 'and then I crept out into the front.

'I nearly got caught red-handed because Letty came back early.'

I-I only wanted to treat Archie.

COLONEL: If I had admitted to having the gun, I would have been a suspect, and you would have found out all this about me.

And I...

I didn't want the village to know...

I'd been thrown out of the army.

Well, I didn't want HER to know.

Who?

Sadie.

I'd come here to escape all this... ..and... and Sadie... Well, she is the best thing that ever could have happened.

She is.

But if she ever finds out about my past, she would... Everyone in that room knew I had that gun!

Everyone!

And any one of them could have taken it!

Surely, somewhere there's got to be a photograph of Sonia and Fabricant.

We've got to find out what this family looks like.

Well, do you think he's Alex?

TELEPHONE RINGING Well... what shall I do with him?

Well, let him go.

Trace his daughter though.

Find out where she is.

CRADDOCK: "Bunny and us".

LETITIA: Yes, that's Dora, bless her.

This looks about the right year.

Europe.

Here we go.

You'd have been working for the Goedlers by then?

This isn't the way it was the other day when we rearranged the book shelf, was it?

- No.

- No.

All the photographs of Sonia have been removed.

And they were definitely here, because we were teasing you about the clothes you were wearing.

Do you remember?

C-L-B.

Is this your sister?

Sorry.

"Dearest Charlotte, "I wish you'd make up your mind to see people.

"Your disfigurement is not nearly as bad as you think."

"Dear Charlotte, "Yesterday, Belle and Sonia went for a picnic.

"Randall also took the day off.

The Aasvogel flotation..." May I take these?

- What good can they do you?

Well, there might be something.

Some description of Sonia's character, some incident would help build up a picture.

Take them.

Take them and then burn them.

They don't mean anything to anyone except me and Charlotte.

That's all gone now.

It's touching, really.

She pours out everything in the hopes of sustaining her sister's interest in life.

Even suggesting new iodine treatments for her disfigurement.

And there's a clear picture of an old father in the background.

Dr Blacklock.

A real pig-headed old bully, absolutely set in his ways.

What impression do you get of Sonia?

Well... she's determined to get her own way, definitely.

Strong.

And she had her own money, which is probably why this man married her.

"Sonia asks to be remembered to you.

"She has just come in "and is closing and unclosing her hands "like an angry cat sharpening its claws.

"I suspect she and Randall have had another row."

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION You told us your husband had been killed in Italy.

Yes.

Wouldn't it be better to have told the truth?

That he was a deserter.

Do you have to rake everything up?

What are you gonna do, tell everyone?

Do you think that's really necessary, Inspector?

Or kind?

We expect people to tell the truth about themselves.

Edward doesn't know and I don't want him to know.

We meant nothing to his father and it's best kept that way.

To us, he went to war and he never came back.

So, when was the last time you saw him?

Oh, not for years.

Are you sure?

It never seemed to me likely that you met Rudi Scherz in the summerhouse.

I suggest the man you actually met that afternoon, was your husband.

Deserters are often desperate men, Mrs Haymes, and commit many robberies.

He turned up.

I hadn't seen him for years and he turned up wanting money.

And you supplied it.

SHE SCOFFS What money do I have?

No.

And now that he's realised that, I don't think I'll be seeing that man again.

LIGHT CRACKLES AMY: What's happened to the lights?

HINCH: The fuse must have gone.

I'll fix it.

Heaven knows why you put those sheets out?

It's going to rain.

Well, we might get away with it.

Well, I see your snoopy, old friend is not up then?

AMY: No.

Oh, surely she's scheduled some furtive little chat with the police this morning.

Are you sure she's not spying on us?

- Course not.

- Well, I think she is.

I think she's spying on all of us, that one.

SHE SIGHS Will she be staying much longer?

No, I don't think so.

Good.

THUNDERCLAPS She wasn't there.

SHE wasn't there.

She wasn't there!

Hinch!

Hinch!

She wasn't there!

She wasn't there!

Hinch, she... Hinch, she... SHE CHOKES SHE GRUNTS THUNDERCLAP MISS MARPLE: Oh, Amy!

SHE SOBS MISS MARPLE CONTINUES SOBBING Amy!

Amy!

Amy!

No!

No!

Amy!

No, no!

HINCH: I was in the pig run.

I heard her come out of the house.

But it was raining... ..and she speaks such nonsense, really.

I didn't even look up.

MISS MARPLE: What was she saying?

HINCH SIGHS Erm... Something about "She wasn't there" or... Who wasn't there?

Had you been talking of the night of the shooting?

No.

Did she say, "She wasn't THERE" or "SHE wasn't there"?

I don't know.

I just wanted to finish the feeding before the worst of the rain.

Does it matter?

I think so.

I think she'd finally remembered who wasn't in the room.

RAPID KNOCKING ON DOOR DOORBELL RINGING Why do you bang so?

Am I deaf?

Would you go through to the sitting room, please?

Am I deaf?

Inspector, am I deaf?

No, of course, you're not deaf.

Is Miss Blacklock in?

Ah, Inspector, I'm so pleased.

I was just coming to see you.

I hope you don't mind, Miss Blacklock, I've invited your neighbours around to see me here.

MITZI: Don't you walk in here with your muddy shoes!

- They're not muddy.

What is it, Inspector?

Then what's that, then?

And that?

Amy Murgatroyd has been murdered this morning.

Can I see you in the sitting room, please?

CLOCK CHIMES CRADDOCK: Before she died, we believe Amy Murgatroyd revealed the identity of a woman who was absent from this room during the shooting.

LETITIA: Yes.

Yes, that's right.

A woman who was supposed to have been here.

In light of this, I need to ask the women present to tell me where they were between half-past seven and half-past eight this morning when Amy was murdered.

Then start with her, because she is Emma Fabricant.

Her.

- Is this true?

This is her passport.

It says Emma Masefield, but... but it says Emma.

She's not Julia Simmons.

She's not my cousin.

Bunny.

And now Amy.

And the boy.

Is money so important to you?

Why didn't you just kill me?

Why did you have to kill Bunny?

My father changed his name from Fabricant when he split up with my mother.

Pip and I were about three and they split us up as well.

I was his part of the deal.

Where's your father now?

I don't know.

He stopped contacting the last school I went to.

And then there was the war.

When I landed up in London...

..I looked up Randall Goedler's will, and with the old lady in Scotland gaga on morphine, I thought that Letty was my best bet.

I thought perhaps if I could get to know you, you might take pity on an abandoned child, and make her, perhaps, a SMALL allowance.

It's nothing sinister, Aunt Letty.

I know I oughtn't to have done, but... Well, you see, we met at a party after I was demobbed and we got talking and...

..I told her I was coming here and then... Well, Julia, the real Julia, she knows nothing about this.

She's happy for Mother to think she's here with me because she's living with a man she's not married to.

CRADDOCK: Your job in Middlehurst?

It doesn't exist.

But is this not sinister?

Is it not sinister that she's been weaving this tissue of lies to the police, after everything that's happened?

When Rudi Scherz was shot you felt trapped, didn't you, Emma?

You realised you had a motive for killing Miss Blacklock.

It would only be your word that you weren't involved.

You thought you would just sit tight and fade away when you could.

But they kept dying, didn't they?

She's been out walking this morning.

Ask her where she's been.

Ask her where she's been between seven and now.

I was just walking across the fields.

In which direction?

Towards Boulders!

Is Pip in this room, Emma?

When did you realise it was Pip?

Two days ago.

You all had her pegged as a boy.

I hadn't seen her since we were three.

I was going to come to the police this morning.

I haven't murdered anyone.

I came here, like Emma, hoping to meet Miss Blacklock.

Hoping that if we became friends she might help me.

CRADDOCK: Why didn't you tell us who you were?

PIP: It was too dangerous.

I knew what the police would think and it's exactly what you're thinking now.

- You murdered her.

- What?

I told you what I heard in the shop.

I told you, Miss Murgatroyd could have seen who wasn't there and you killed her!

You killed her!

COLONEL: Get her out of here!

It is always the innocent who die!

Always the innocent!

COLONEL: Get her out!

Come on, Miss!

MITZI: Murderer!

COLONEL: Are you all right?

SADIE: Can I get you a glass of water?

- Are you going to arrest her?

- Yes.

Well, arrest her now!

She's a maniac!

No, Colonel, she's not.

No more than Pip and Emma are the murderers.

Miss Marple...

Thank you, Inspector.

If you'll forgive me, Miss Blacklock, I want to ask you about your sister.

The one who died in Switzerland.

Who Rudi Scherz knew.

Tell me about Charlotte.

She was a pretty girl, wasn't she?

Yes.

But she developed a disfigurement.

An enlargement of the thyroid gland, a goitre, an ugly swelling of the neck.

It shattered her confidence.

- Yes.

- Made her a recluse.

Your tyrannical father was a doctor, who didn't approve of expensive operations.

He treated her himself with iodine and drugs and made her life a misery.

But after he died, you encouraged her to have the deformity removed.

That's why we went to Switzerland.

MISS MARPLE: Clinic of Dr Kuenzler, the world specialist on goitre.

His removal of which leaves just a scar, that can easily be hidden.

The Blacklock sisters enjoyed their war in Switzerland, didn't they?

Charlotte was free to embrace life at last, and, of course, Letty would soon be rich beyond their wildest dreams.

But then she became ill and died.

PATRICK: No, no.

- Charlotte died.

MISS MARPLE: No, no, no, no, no.

This is Charlotte.

The money was coming to the sisters, wasn't it?

They'd always regarded themselves as one.

Why shouldn't it be that Charlotte had died and Letitia's still alive?

How easy, just to settle in a sleepy village where nobody knows you, where everybody is reinventing themselves after the war and wait for Belle Goedler to die.

This is rubbish.

But you should never have shown kindness to Dora, and given her a place to live.

Dora had written to Letty and Charlotte.

Lotty responded and there was no way in which you could keep your true identity hidden from such an old friend.

You told her why you were Letitia and she understood completely why she had to go along with it.

But her constant mistakes put you on edge.

You're worried, aren't you, Lotty?

Dora, don't.

And then the nightmare happened.

Someone recognised you from Switzerland and knew which sister you were.

Miss Blacklock!

I remember you and your sister very well.

You see, it was such a vast sum of money and Randall Goedler, so well known, that your inheritance would have made the papers and you couldn't afford to risk anyone coming forward to reveal who you really were.

The money was an obsession, wasn't it?

Justice for all the suffering life had inflicted on you.

Life had owed you... and weak and kindly people are often the most treacherous.

Does anybody believe this?

Miss Blacklock, take off your pearls!

MISS MARPLE: How much easier to arrange a hold-up like that when it's in your own home.

No fire, for instance.

You've had the central heating lit.

MISS MARPLE: 'That would have meant light in the room.'

And how easy it must have been to have oiled the door.

To have known when the house was empty.

But you had no idea that this had been witnessed, due to Mrs Swettenham's little theft.

'She hadn't realised the significance 'of what she had seen.

'But there you were coming through a door 'that wasn't known to open.'

I think all that must have been fun.

Fun suggesting the move of the table with Phillipa's flowers.

Fun getting the revolver from the Colonel's study.

But on the day of the hold-up, Dora had said you were worried for then it was time for murder.

Dora had also told me what you were holding just before the lights went out.

She had a vase of violets in her hand when the lights went out.

Because previously, you had frayed the cord of the shepherdess lamp and as everyone was looking at the clock chiming you spilt water from the violets and fused the lights.

LIGHTS CRACKLE, CRIES OF SURPRISE I don't think Scherz realised for a minute that you were behind him.

You shot him.

Nicked your ear with nail, scissors or something 'and had blood pouring down your dress when the lights came on,' making it certain you'd been shot at.

But why kill Bunny?

Because Bunny, despite knowing nothing of your scheme, was in her muddle-headed way, revealing it all.

I distinctly remember it was the shepherdess, not the shepherd.

But Charlotte... ..did love Dora...

Didn't she?

She tried to give her a "Delicious Death", tried to make her last day happy.

Oh, thank you.

But... ..like Amy... ..she could reveal too much.

Take off your pearls.

PEARLS RATTLE CRADDOCK: Charlotte Blacklock, I'm arresting you for the murders of Rudi Scherz, Dora Bunner.

Take them off!

Take them off.

- Get her off me!

- Take them off!

SHE SOBS CHARLOTTE: I'm sorry, Bunny.

I'm so sorry.

PEARLS CLATTER I'm so sorry, Bunny.

I am so sorry.

FLETCHER: Sir!

CAR DOOR CLOSES PHILLIPA: Will she hang?

MISS MARPLE: Yes.

She deserves to hang.

Well, goodbye, Miss Marple.

Goodbye, dear.

Take care of your son.

And your sister.

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