The glass, a two-way mirror -
Light from behind the glass -
Behind the glass, the stage set -
Three chairs and a table -
The players -
Alderman and Prentice -
Today’s special guest:
Peter David Williams of Heaton, Bradford -
34-year-old, married, lorry driver -
Black beard and curly hair, a blue jumper with a white v-neck band -
Behind the glass -
Prentice saying: ‘What about Wednesday 10 December?’
Williams: ‘I was at home with the wife.’ Alderman: ‘Every time you’ve been seen, you always have same story – at home with the wife.’
‘But it’s right.’
‘I think it’s strange.’
‘Why?’
‘How can you be so sure that’s where you were?’
‘I’m always at home every night when I’m not on an overnight stay’
Prentice: ‘So how come you were in Sheffield on Sunday?’
‘I picked up a couple hitchhikers and they paid us a tenner to take them to Sheffield.’
‘Where’d you pick them up, Peter?’
‘Bradford.’
‘So they paid you a tenner to take them to Sheffield?’
He nods: ‘Yes.’
Alderman: ‘Bollocks.’
‘It’s right.’
‘Is it fuck; you went to Sheffield to pick up a prostitute.’
‘That’s not true.’
Prentice: ‘So how come your car’s been clocked in all these daft bloody places?’
‘Daft places?’
‘Manchester, for one. Moss Side.’
‘Manchester?’
Alderman: ‘Been there, have you Pete? Moss Side?’
‘No, never.’
‘Never?’
‘Never.’
‘But I got it here:
‘I don’t know how.’
‘I don’t know how either; but I tell you this – it’s bad bloody news, I know that.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, car’s there but you’re not. No-one’s going to swallow that in a month of bloody Sundays, are they?’
‘But I remember now. I left it outside Bradford Central Library one night after it broke down and then I went back and picked it up next day. Someone must have taken it for a ride over that way and then put it back.’
Alderman, laughing: ‘Fuck off.’
‘It’s true.’
‘Someone nicks your motor and – hang on, first someone fixes your motor and then they nick it and drive round red-light areas and then put it right back on same spot where you left it night before?’
‘Yes.’
Alderman: ‘Fuck off, Pete.’
Silence -
Silence until -
Until Prentice says softly: ‘You put the false plates on because you knew you were going to Sheffield, knew you were going to red-light district, and you knew we’d be watching.’
‘That’s not true.’
‘I think it is. I think you know it is.’
‘To be honest with you, I’ve been so depressed that I put plates on because I was thinking of committing a crime with the car.’
Silence -
Silence until -
Until Prentice says: ‘When you were arrested Pete, why did you leave your car and go down the side of that house?’
‘To urinate.’
Alderman: ‘To what?’
‘To piss.’
Prentice: ‘I think you went for another purpose. Do you understand what I’m saying?’
Williams nods.
Alderman picks up a brown sports bag from under the table and he opens it and takes out four plastic bags and he places them on the table:
Two hammers, a screwdriver, and a knife.
Prentice: ‘I think you’re in serious trouble.’
Peter Williams: ‘I think you’ve been leading up to it.’
‘Leading up to what?’
Silence -
Silence until -
Until Peter D. Williams says: ‘The Yorkshire Ripper.’
Silence -
More silence until -
Until Prentice leans forward and says: ‘What about the Yorkshire Ripper?’
Silence -
One last silence until -
Until Peter David Williams says: ‘Well, it’s me.’
And Prentice stands up and then sits down again, Alderman in his chair with a glance back at the glass -
Back at the glass -
The other side of the glass -
Nine hearts pounding -
Pounding, pumping -
Pumping, the adrenaline pumping -
Pumping and turning and smiling and nodding and then there -
There behind me -
Oldman -
George Oldman -
Assistant Chief Constable George Oldman -
And he’s smiling and nodding, leaving us -
Going next door -
Noble: ‘George, no!’
Leaving us with our hands to the glass, the two-way mirror -
Hands to the glass, the two-way mirror -
