Page 198 of Murder in the Family

Right. To spice things up. Add some drama to proceedings.

(looking round the table)

And it worked, didn’t it? I mean, look where we are now.

LAILA FURNESS

It’s underhand, and you know it.

HUGO FRASER

I agree. You should have been completely open with us, right from the start.

NICK VINCENT (Producer)

(raising an eyebrow)

Oh really? ‘Completely open’? Just like the rest of you have been?

HUGO FRASER

Precisely.

NICK VINCENT (Producer)

Oh, I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that, is it, Hugo?

You see, while I’m sure you expected us to check out your professional credentials, I doubt yourealizedquitehow much research we were going to do on you—

LAILA FURNESS

(realizing what he’s saying)

You dug about in ourpersonallives? Without asking, or even telling us? That’s completely unethical.

JJ NORTON

This is starting to sound way too Big Brotherish for my liking.

NICK VINCENT (Producer)

(spreading his hands)

We only found what was out there tobefound.

GUY HOWARD

Hang on a minute – are you actually saying thatallthe people you slated for this team turned out to have a link to this case? That’s aninsanecoincidence—

NICK VINCENT (Producer)

(shaking his head)

No, it wasn’t like that. It was only after both Bill and Alan came forward that we thought, hang on a minute, maybe we should look at this in a different way?

Maybe,instead of choosing a team on the basis of their expertise, we flip it the other way round: do our own research on the case and see if we come across anyone who might have a possible connection to either Luke Ryder or the Howards—

GUY HOWARD

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