Page 46 of Murder in the Family

BILL SERAFINI

But it could have been Clarke calling from that payphone at King’s Cross?

PETER LASCELLES

Precisely. He was unable to prove where he was at the time that call was made.

ALAN CANNING

So that’s why he only got a caution for being ‘found on enclosed premises’?

PETER LASCELLES

Exactly. We never had enough evidence for anything else.

(looks from one to the other and picks up his tea)

But maybe you’ll have more luck.

FREEZE FRAME, then the CAMERA PANS back and we see that the whole team has been watching this footage. They’re now in a studio environment with the pinboard, whiteboard, and screen set up in a high-ceilinged room with big windows and exposed brickwork painted white. It looks like a Victorian school building.

BILL SERAFINI

(turns to Mitchell)

So what do you say to what we just heard?

MITCHELL CLARKE

(shrugs)

I stand by what I said before. Every word of it. I didn’t know Ryder, I never called him from that payphone or at any other time, and I wasn’t in the street an hour before he died. I just went there looking for a story. And I wasn’t – for the record – dealing drugs.

The reason the police found no proof of anything else was because therewasnothing else. Period. And that’s the God’s honest truth.

JJ NORTON

You got your own back, though, didn’t you? I mean, you put the Met through the absolute wringer on that case.

CUT TO: MONTAGE of articles written by Mitchell, some locals, some nationals.

JJ NORTON

(raising an eyebrow)

Best served cold, eh, Mitch?

MITCHELL CLARKE

(shrugs)

Someone has to hold the police to account.

LAILA FURNESS

So what do you think now, Mitch? After writing about this case for so long, you must have a theory about what happened.

MITCHELL CLARKE

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