Here is the recap:
Cast:
Bradley Walsh - DS Ronnie Brooks
Paul Nicholls - DS Sam Casey
Paterson Joseph - DI Wes Leyton
Dominic Rowan - Jacob Thorne
Georgia Taylor - Kate Barker
Peter Davison - Henry Sharpe
Guest stars:
Sandra Voe – Harriet
Alexander Perkins – SOCO Pete
Adjoa Andoh – Lilly
Jessica Gunning – Angela
Jan Francis – Caroline Moran
Natasha O’Keefe – Connie Moran
Ony Uhiara - Vanessa Andoula
Osi Okerafor – Olivier Dando
Ann Akin – Cecile Bakama
Daniel Casey – Gordon Urquhart
Nick Brimble – Dr. Hastings
Charles Daish – Jonathan Norton
Lewis Reeves – Darren Portman
Ramon Tikaram –Vijay Prasad
Paul Darrow – Justice Prentice
Grainne Keenan – Administrator
Anniwaa Buachie - Clerk
An elderly woman, trying to catch her cat who has run off in the building, enters her elderly friend Jenny Moran’s flat to find it ransacked and Jenny dead on the floor next to her bed.
Later, DS Ronnie Brooks is on the scene, along with the forensics team, to find Jenny is heavily bruised from either a beating or a fall. Ronnie speaks with the neighbor, Harriet Pelham who explains her cat Ignatius who went into Jenny’s flat. She didn’t see anyone but realizes someone took Jenny’s silver carriage clock that used to be on the mantle next to the Virgin Mary. Ronnie goes into the other room and look at the mantle with no clock, and wonders if all this was for a clock. He picks up the statue of the Virgin Mary and says it’s Mater Dolorosa – Our Lady of Sorrows.
At the morgue, Ronnie and DS Sam Casey speak with Lilly who explains there were no signs of trauma on Jenny’s body, and no evidence of violence at all. She adds that Jenny’s not eating did not help, and she had hypertension, diminished organs, kidney failure, dehydration and loss of adipose tissue, plus low levels of insulin and her glycogen was through the roof – she knows how she ended up, just not how.
At M.I.U., Ronnie and Sam speak with DI Wes Leyton, explaining they don’t know how Jenny died. Sam says she died about 12 hours before she was found. The only thing missing so far is the silver carriage clock. The neighbor’s cat seems to be the only witness. Wes speculates it was a robbery and she interrupted them, and Ronnie explains her poor physical condition. Angela enters and explains that the next of kin are in the family room and Wes suggests Ronnie handle it and that Sam should check with the usual suspects – pawn shops and fences – for the clock.
Ronnie speaks with Jenny’s daughter in law Caroline and granddaughter Connie. Connie had the most contact with Jenny, and Jenny did not want to leave her home to move elsewhere. Connie explains that Cecile Bakama lived with the grandmother for the last 6 months as a caregiver. Ronnie explains there was no sign of anyone living there, and Connie explains when she was there Tuesday Cecile was there playing Boggle with Jenny. Ronnie asks where she got Cecile from.
Later, Ronnie tells Wes that he spoke to the agency and Cecile arrived in England from the Congo 3 years ago and she had a good record. Ronnie adds the agency said Cecile went back to the Congo 2 months ago as her visa expired. Wes suspects that Cecile told the agency she was going home but instead stayed with Jenny and asks Ronnie if he suspects things went wrong with Cecile. Ronnie adds that the agency said another Congolese girl joined the agency around the same time as Cecile and she may know where Cecile lives.
On Smithson Street who speak with Cecile’s friend who explains Jenny was always sick but it never stopped her from going to mass and Cecile is the same. She doesn’t know the name of the church but says Cecile is the one who needs forgiveness as she is a thief. She explains that Cecile stole her boyfriend, Olivier Dando, and they can find her in his flat and there aren’t enough Hail Marys in the world for what she’s done.
At the home of Olivier Dando, Ronnie and Sam attempt to see Cecile but Olivier feigns not being able to speak English. When Ronnie speaks to Olivier in French, Cecile, standing in the room, tells Olivier it is okay. They tell her Jenny is dead and when Sam asks if they can come in, Olivier asks in English if they have a warrant and when Ronnie and Sam try to talk they way in, Olivier says no warrant, no looking, and tries to shut the door on them. Sam stops him and ask Cecile why she wasn’t at Jenny’s the day she died. Cecile explains she was fired by Connie. Olivier says that is enough and slams the door.
At the home of Connie Moran, Connie says she didn’t fire Cecile, and then wonders if Cecile killed her grandmother. Connie said things did go missing from the flat but it wasn’t worth it to fire her because her grandmother was doubly incontinent and it wasn’t like they had caregivers lining up down the street. She didn’t mention this before because the person broke in and Cecile had keys.
Back at M.I.U., Wes comments that Connie has a point – unless Cecile was covering herself pretending it was a break in. Ronnie does not think Cecile is that clever, but Olivia has previous convictions for burglary and a robbery charge that was later dropped. Wes speculates Olivia got the keys and it was payback for Cecile’s firing, but Ronnie reminds him Connie says she did not fire her. He tells Ronnie to go back to Olivier’s and this time with a warrant, and Angela walks up and says they may not need to, the clock has been found.
Later, Ronnie has Cecile in interrogation with her brief, explaining that a pawn broker told them a couple had been in to pawn a silver carriage clock. He identified Olivier from a photo and gave a good description of Cecile. The brief says his client explained that Jenny gave it to her, and Ronnie comments that she pawned a present. Cecile tries to talk but the brief cuts her off. Ronnie continues to press the issue and Cecile says Olivier didn’t do anything, he only broke down the door. She explains that they knocked and there was no answer and she told him to kick in the door and they found Jenny on the floor. Ronnie asks about the flat being ransacked, and Cecile explains she was looking for her pills, but her pills weren’t where they should have been. But it didn’t matter, Jenny was already dead. She did not call 999 as she did not want to be send home, she needs to earn money to send home what she can, and this is why she pawned the clock. She claims she gave the keys to Connie when she was fired. She only went back because she was worried about Jenny – she was fired because Connie caught her giving extra food and water to Jenny. Connie told her not to, and at first, she tried to do what Connie asked but the amounts got smaller and smaller and Jenny was so thin. It broke her heart. The brief hands to Ronnie instructions from Connie which explains how much food and water to give to Jenny and when. Ronnie sees that on Monday it was a small glass of water and Monday a half of a potato. The brief calls Connie’s instructions a how-to on starving her grandmother to death.
Afterwards, Ronnie explains this to a stunned Wes. Wes asks if they can prove Connie wrote this, and Ronnie says Olivier’s MO is about waving crowbars about, not withholding carrots.
Later, Ronnie and Sam wait outside the church and meet up with Connie who is there trying to arrange Jenny’s funeral. They asks her about Jenny’s food intake, and that Jenny starved to death. Sam shows her the instructions they got from Cecile, and Connie admits that she had to write it out as Cecile did not get it. Jenny’s kidneys were a problem and her liquids had to be restricted and she was just doing what she was told. Sam asks by who?
Ronnie and Sam speak with Dr. Hastings who explains that Jenny was in chronic renal failure along with a host of other ailments. He did tell Connie to monitor Jenny’s water, salt, potassium intake and he has no idea if it helped. Jenny changed consultants 6 months ago. His office got a phone call saying she would not be coming in any more, and when Sam asks if Jenny made the call, Dr. Hastings explains that her granddaughter did.
Later, while Wes tends to his bonsai tree, Ronnie explains what the doctor said but that the feeding instructions were Connie’s work, it was the first he’d heard about them, Ronnie adds that Connie said she was going to change Jenny’s doctor but no one has requested Jenny’s medical records. Wes thinks there are easier ways to kill someone, but Ronnie counters that there are not crueler ones. Wes asks about Connie’s motive, and Ronnie replies she is the only next of kin. Wes wonders if maybe there is a will, and Ronnie adds that where there is a will – and Wes finishes there is a relative.
At the courtrooms, Ronnie and Sam speak with Jonathan Norton who has been Jenny’s solicitor for years. She had little money which she left to charity. She left a few items of jewelry to Connie, nothing of great value, but Connie did have Jenny’s flat.
Back at M.I.U., Angela informs Ronnie that according to the land registry, Jenny owned the flat outright but two months ago, Connie was made joint tenant. When Jenny died, Connie became sole owner and has just taken out a mortgage against it. Sam explains that 18 months ago, Connie was a witness to a car crash, and when she gave a statement she gave her occupation as a company director of Mogo Life Software. In the last two months they have been given three wind up orders. Ronnie comments that she is going bankrupt, but Sam counters not any more, all three creditors have just withdrawn their orders. Ronnie comments that someone has been paying the bills.
