Int. Interview room in a Police Station
A uniformed policeman, PC Burns, is sat at a desk. DI Whyte comes storming into the room and sits down opposite PC Burns.
DI Whyte: So, at last we meet. Jack Duggan is finally in the clutches of DI Tom Whyte.
PC Burns: Uh hang on…
DI Whyte: Ha! You’ve got very little left to hang on to and, believe me, if I had my way it would be the gallows!
PC Burns: No, I think you’re confused…..
DI Whyte: Confused?! Not likely! You are Jack Duggan. A man who has struck fear into the hearts of women across this region for 3 years. You’ve left 15 young women dead and God knows how many more there could have been.
PC Burns: But I’m PC BURNS!
DI Whyte pulls some glasses out of his pocket and puts them on.
DI Whyte: Good heavens! Hmmm, well, you better go and get that rat Jack Duggan down from the cells. I’m going to give him the grilling of his life.
PC Burns: Right...Ok...I’ll be back in a minute.
PC Burns departs and then, a few seconds later, CI Timpkins enters. DI Whyte leaps to his feet.
DI Whyte: PC Timpkins! Why the hell have you left the front desk unattended? Get back there this instant.
CI Timpkins: It’s Chief Inspector Timpkins these days.
DI Whyte: These days?
CI Timpkins: Yes, these days.
DI Whyte: Look, I haven’t got time for your childish practical jokes. Just go and get Jack Duggan from his cell.
CI Timpkins sits down opposite DI Whyte.
CI Timpkins: Look, Tom, he’s not here.
DI Whyte: NOT HERE?! But I just booked him in!
CI Timpkins: He’s in Belmarsh these days.
DI Whyte: These days?
CI Timpkins: Yes, these days. The past 15 years in fact.
DI Whyte: 15 years?! What the hell are you talking about, man!
CI Timpkins: Tom....
DI Whyte: Stop calling me Tom! I am your superior and you will address me accordingly!
CI Timpkins: You were committed...
DI Whyte: NO! I think you’ll find that I AM committed. Committed to banging up that slimeball Jack Duggan.
CI Timpkins: For christ’s sake Tom! You were committed to the East Anglian Mental Institute 15 years ago.
DI Whyte: YOU WHAT?!
CI Timpkins: They rang earlier to inform us that you’d escaped.
DI Whyte: (Laughing) Oh you wait till the wife hears about this one! Me? In a mental institute?!
CI Timpkins: Tom, listen please! You won’t be telling your wife anything. That’s the whole reason you got committed.
DI Whyte: What on earth are you getting at?!
CI Timpkins: Your wife!
DI Whyte: What has she got to do with it?!
CI Timpkins: She was victim number 15!
DI Whyte: Wh-what?
CI Timpkins: You caught Jack Duggan eating her liver and then you had a mental breakdown on the spot.
DI Whyte looks confused, then collapses into a heap on the desk and sobs his eyes out.
CI Timpkins: You can’t blame yourself, Tom. And, at the very least, some good did come out of it.
DI Whyte looks up.
DI Whyte: I know, I know. The streets were made safe.
CI Timpkins: What? Oh yes.
CI Timpkins gives a wry smile.
CI Timpkins: (Continues) Well, that and due to your little ‘nutjob’ I got QUITE the promotion!
PC Burns re-enters with a straightjacket.
PC Burns: Sir.
CI Timpkins: Ah excellent!
© Ben Ricketts 2007.
