Quotes
-
Chief Superintendent Bright : [walking through the scene of the crime with DI Thursday] No wallet you say? Robbery then.
DI Fred Thursday : Possibly, sir.
Chief Superintendent Bright : In any event, I think it best Sergeant Jakes assume management of the incident room for the duration.
DI Fred Thursday : DC Morse is my bagman, sir.
Chief Superintendent Bright : Morse may remain as your driver and aide de camp, but a case such as this requires an office of experience or senior rank to coordinate the inquiry.
[sees Morse examining a bicycle next to wall]
Chief Superintendent Bright : You're giving primary consideration to this bicycle, I take it? Quite right.
DI Fred Thursday : Sir.
Chief Superintendent Bright : I recall a not dissimilar case in Freetown. The usual mammy-palaver. But the killer left his bicycle at the scene. You should be able to trace its owner from the frame number.
DC Endeavour Morse : Really? In Oxford?
[Bright looks at Morse and Thursday quickly speaks up]
DI Fred Thursday : What Morse means to say, sir, is that there's probably more cycles hereabouts than anywhere in the country. Bikes get lost, borrowed... stolen. Right?
DC Endeavour Morse : Yes, sir. But if the registered owner isn't left-handed, then he's probably not our man.
Chief Superintendent Bright : Left-handed?
DI Fred Thursday : As you'd have noticed, given the opportunity to examine it yourself, the front and rear brakes cables have been swapped over.
DC Endeavour Morse : He'll also be an older man, and of limited means, possibly.
DS Peter Jakes : [almost jokingly] How did you get to that, then?
DC Endeavour Morse : Well, the bike's ancient. But well maintained. Which points to the thrift, I'd have thought. Taken together with evidence of absentmindedness...
Chief Superintendent Bright : What evidence?
DC Endeavour Morse : He sometimes forgets to wear his bicycle clip, sir. There are scraps of material torn from his trousers in the gears. One a cavalry twill, the other's a linen. Both black. He wears a subfusc as a matter of habit.
Chief Superintendent Bright : [impatient] A don, then? Hm?
DC Endeavour Morse : Perhaps, sir. But I think, given the limited means, we are looking for a man of the cloth.
DS Peter Jakes : [almost laughing] A vicar shooting somebody in a lav?
Chief Superintendent Bright : I hope you'll eliminate known criminals from your inquiries first, Thursday, before troubling any clergymen, what. Really Constable Morse, you should be on the halls.
-
Chief Superintendent Bright : [not convinced] What are you going to do? Produce some eye witness from thin air?
DC Endeavour Morse : As a matter of fact, sir, we do have a witness. The Reverend Monkford.
DS Peter Jakes : [almost jokingly] Shall I send back to the station for a Ouiji board?
DI Fred Thursday : [knowing Jakes' intention] All right Jakes.
DC Endeavour Morse : He's left us a message. It's been staring us in the face all along.
Chief Superintendent Bright : What message?
[Morse points at the Hymn board, which has the numbers 74, 17, 18 and 19 on it]
Chief Superintendent Bright : Hymn numbers?
DC Endeavour Morse : Actually, sir, that's the last thing they are. The first time I saw it, I thought it odd to have 17, 18 and 19 following on like that. The last time I saw Monkford, he hinted to leave a message. Something that might speak for him. Even if he wrote down what he knew and hid it somewhere, it might be found. And someone did search the vicarage the night he was killed looking for exactly that. Fearful for his life and afraid the truth would die with him, Monkford concealed the killer's identity in the hymn numbers.
Chief Superintendent Bright : Concealed?
DC Endeavour Morse : I've since found out that Monkford worked on ciphers during the war.
DI Fred Thursday : You're saying these hymn numbers are some sort of code?
DC Endeavour Morse : Exactly, sir. Only, I couldn't find the key until now. Actually, it was Strange who hit upon the answer.
[Strange looks surprised but says nothing]
DC Endeavour Morse : Before taking the cloth, the Reverend Monkford read Chemistry at Beaufort College. You'll find a copy of the Periodic Table hanging in his home.
DI Fred Thursday : Isn't that a list of the elements, Hydrogen, Carbon, Helium?
Chief Superintendent Bright : Yes, yes of course.
-
DS Peter Jakes : [Pamela is about to be arrested] No alibi, Morse. For Cartwright, or the night Monkford died. The old man's sweating her now.
DC Endeavour Morse : Well, make sure he looks at her wrists, then. Unless I'm much mistaken, she's already tried to kill herself. I imagine she took the gun intending to try again.
[Jakes is unsettled by this information]
DC Endeavour Morse : It's called "reasonable doubt".
-
Chief Superintendent Bright : [with a slight lisp] My name is Bright. Chief Superintendent Bright. Firstly, I would just like to express my gratitude to Detective Inspector Thursday for holding the fort so admirably pending my arrival. Secondly...
[Morse hurries in]
Chief Superintendent Bright : Secondly, you should be aware that I am putting this station on notice. I do not propose to speak ill of my predecessor, but where there are breaches of procedure of Spanish practices, you will find me a horse of a very different colour. That said, I want you to regard my appointment as a tabula rasa. A clean slate. You play fair by me, then I will play fair by you. Carry on.
[the officers chatter]
DS Peter Jakes : Around and around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
[Morse gives Jakes a serious glance]
DS Peter Jakes : What?
DC Endeavour Morse : [seriously] Well, that's a bit cheap isn't it?
DS Peter Jakes : [jokingly] He'd be right up your street, I suppose. Tabula wasa. My Aunt Flo.
DI Fred Thursday : [standing behind Jakes] If you've no work, Jakes, some will be found for you.
DS Peter Jakes : [respectfully] Sir.
