9.21am
Lou: The garden is such a mess. I can’t believe the grass
hasn’t grown back.
Ben: We’ve had a really wet summer. I imagine the grass is
waterlogged most days.
Lou: It gives me an excuse to do some gardening. I was
thinking about digging the garden up. I’d quite like a pond over
there. And maybe some decking nearby.
Ben: Digging up the garden? But… you can’t.
Lou: Why ever not?
Ben: Because…
Lou: Come on. Out with it.
Ben: This isn’t the type of conversation we should be
having first thing in the morning and whilst we’re standing up.
Lou: What? This is serious?
Ben: Yeah.
Lou: How serious?
Ben: Serious enough that you should sitting down to hear
this?
Lou: What? (Laughs). Is there a body hidden the garden or
something?
(Silence)
Lou: You have got to be kidding me!
Kate: Everything planned for the wedding?
Lexi: Yep. Everything. All we have to do is the hen and
stag night. There’s nothing I haven’t covered.
Kate: Wedding invitations?
Lexi: In the post this morning.
Kate: Catering?
Lexi: Phyllis and Seth have that covered.
Kate: Music?
Lexi: Rik’s hired a string band.
Kate: What happens if something goes wrong with your
wedding dress before the big day?
Lexi: The wedding dress shop in town have kept one back
just in case.
Kate: Kerry…
Lexi: You don’t think she’ll turn up do you?
Kate: No. I mean, over there?
Lexi: What?
Kate: Oh never mind. I thought I saw Kerry walking down the
street. It’s not her. It can’t be.
Lexi: No. The last thing she’ll be doing is strutting
around Riverside. I’m surprised she hasn’t been caught yet.
Henry: Paula, my dear.
Paula: Henry.
Henry: How are you feeling?
Paula: I’m okay.
Henry: I was thinking. I know it’s been a while since we
were last at the hospital but the doctor still wants you, I mean
us, to attend a few meetings with a psychiatrist. How does that
sound?
Paula: Okay.
Henry: Paula, I need more of an opinion than okay. That’s
all you say now.
Paula: Yes.
Henry: I just think a few meetings with some doctors might
help you come to terms with what’s happened over the past year.
I’m just going to set up a date with the hospital. Does any day
not suit you.
Paula: Wednesday.
Henry: This Wednesday or any Wednesday.
Paula: All Wednesdays.
Henry: Why?
Paula: Because Steven died on a Wednesday.
Henry: Friday it is then.
Kate: I can't believe there's a dead body buried right over
there. Do you think we should go to the police?
Lou: There’s a body in my garden! I can’t believe it!
Ben: We can’t go to the police. We’d all be arrested.
Lou: Did you do it? Did you kill somebody?
Ben: No, no, I swear. Honest.
Kate: Haven’t you asked him who it is yet?
Ben: ‘Him’ has a name you know.
Lou: And he’s standing next to you. Ask him yourself.
Kate: Until he’s proven himself innocent to us then no.
(Silence)
Ben: The body’s my brothers.
Lou: How do know?
Ben: My brother, Rob, went missing in December 2005. My
mother somehow traced his body here. Took her nearly two years but
she was quicker than the police – they’re still looking. Was damn
hard to find him though.
Lou: So the digging up of the garden – that was you?
Ben: No – my mother.
Lou: And the body, she put it back?
Ben: Yes, she had nowhere to hide it.
Kate: What I want to know is why not got to the police?
Ben: My mother has a passionate hatred for official
authorities. Plus she told me she’d deal with it.
Kate: You really a mummy’s boy aren’t you. Following her
every command.
Lou: It’s not what Ben wants though. His mother holds
something against him.
Kate: What?
Lou: Ben killed his father.
Kate: What? He killed his own father and now his brothers
body turns up on your doorstep? You do know what you’re getting
yourself into?
Ben: My fathers death was an accident. Car crash. Back to
my brother.
Lou: There’ so much more to find out though. Like who
killed him?
Ben: I know. I promise I’ll tell you later.
Lexi: Are you still keeping in touch with the police,
Phyllis?
Phyllis: Yes. Why do you ask?
Lexi: Just wondering. You still covering the case of
runaway Kerry?
Phyllis: No, they threw my off the case after the new year.
Said I was too personally involved to handle it. And to think I
helped expose her. The police just used me.
Lexi: Yeah, okay.
Phyllis: You must have a reason for wondering though?
Lexi: Oh I just wanted to know where the last sighting of
her was?
Phyllis: Berlin, Germany. In a nightclub.
Lexi: But I thought you were off the case?
Phyllis: Doesn’t stop me from knowing though.
Lexi: How long ago was the sighting?
Phyllis: A few months, give or take.
Lexi: Well I have an update.
Phyllis: And what is that?
Lexi: I think Kerry’s in Riverside.
Phyllis: What? Don’t be silly!
Lexi: Kate and I were over town today. It did look awfully
like her.
Phyllis: It was probably just somebody looking like her.
Lexi: Yeah, maybe. I just thought you might like to know.
Lou: Start from the beginning.
Ben: Okay, well Rob, my brother, was living in Riverside.
He was having an affair with somebody – Lisa.
Lou: Oooh. I always thought Lisa and Paul were a tight
couple.
Ben: They are. The affair was one sided. Rob loved her but
Lisa only loved the sex. It came to a point where Rob threatened
Lisa by trying to tell Paul about the affair. I knew because Rob
told me he was going to do it eventually. They argued I guess and
obviously fought. Rob ended up dead anyway. My mother managed to
track his body down to here in Sim Street. She had all of Rob’s
belongings and found letters from a woman whose name began with L.
The letters were secretive, no full names mentioned. An address
was mentioned though and this was it. My mother had an address and
an occupant whose name began with L.
Lou: Mine.
Ben: Yep. For a start my mother thought you had killed Rob.
Then she found out you moved in after Rob’s death. She then
tracked it down to Lisa across the road.
Lou: Is that why your mother was against you and I dating?
She thought I killed your brother?
Ben: Yes.
Lou: And what’s stopping you going to the police? You
haven’t got anything to be arrested for?
Ben: No. I always followed my mother’s orders – you know
what she has against me.
Lou: I do. But you could stop all that.
Ben: But that means my mother would go to jail. And because
of me.
Lou: It’s a tough choice.
Ben: It is. I just hope my mother’s mess of a life hasn’t
intervened between us?
Lou: No, I don’t think it has.
Ben: We could be happy together.
Lou: We are happy together.
Ben: And that’s the way it’s staying.
Lisa: You haven’t said anything all day. Y’know, about
Rob’s death.
Paul: I don’t know if it’s time for you to know or not.
Lisa: You can trust me.
Paul: The thing is, I don’t think I can.
Lisa: Why?
Paul: You’d understand if you knew. It’s complicated. I’ll
tell you eventually but now’s not the time.
Lisa: How long have you known about my affair with Rob?
Paul: It wasn’t hard to guess. After all, that’s how you
and I started out – an affair.
Lisa: And one other thing – how did you know I pushed Rob
from the balcony?
Paul: He told me himself. I found his body later that day.
Gave me quite a shock – his face was just barely visible through
the snow. He was just able to mutter a few things about being
pushed.
Lisa: What? You found him? Were you the one that killed
him?
Paul: No, I swear. I didn’t.
Lisa: Paul!
Paul: Lisa, trust me.
Lisa: Not until you can trust me enough to tell me what
really happened.
Paul: Lisa, but…
Lisa: No buts Paul. Tell me or…
Paul: Or what? You’ll go to the police? What will you tell
them? “Help, police! I tried to kill my secret lover by pushing
him from a balcony but I only managed to break his back!” I’m sure
that will get you in far.
Lisa: You have a week to tell me the truth, Paul. If you
can’t trust me by next week then our relationship is over.
Paul: Goodnight.
Lisa: Yeah, whatever.
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