Page 56 of Murder in the Family

(turning to him)

You question people on the stand, right?

HUGO FRASER

(laughs)

Well, yes, but to Mitch’s point, I find the letters ‘KC’ tend to turn the man in the street into a rabbit in the headlights.

(glancing at Laila)

Or woman in the street, in this case. Obviously.

BILL SERAFINI

(grinning)

No one was suggesting you show up in one of those crazy lawyer wigs, Hugo.

MITCHELL CLARKE

Well, I seem to spend most of my life interviewing people, one way or another – happy to tag along?

BILL SERAFINI

Great – Mitch and Laila it is.

Furness and Clarke – sounds like a cop show.

(Mitch smiles, Laila doesn’t.)

CUT TO: The pavement outside the Franks’s house in Belgravia. Four storeys, white stucco, with a large and very old wisteria covering the two lower floors. Sunlight and birdsong. Mitch and Laila stop at the wrought-iron gate.

LAILA FURNESS

Well, Phyllis Franks is hardly ‘the woman in the street’, is she? Whichever way you look at it.

MITCHELL CLARKE

They weren’t living here in 2003, though.

LAILA FURNESS

(smiling dryly)

So this is the ‘downsized’ version. All right for some.

CAMERA FOLLOWS as they go up the path; the door is opened by an Asian woman in a dark grey dress. She shows them through to a front sitting room overlooking the square. Pale teal walls, heavy brocade curtains, a huge rococo mirror, Aubusson rugs. Phyllis Franks gets to her feet to welcome them. She’s very petite and appears quite frail, but her manner is crisp and animated.

PHYLLIS FRANKS

(shaking their hands)

Dr Furness, Mr Clarke. Please, do sit down.

LAILA FURNESS

Thank you for agreeing to see us, Mrs Franks.

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