Page 156 of Murder in the Family

(frowning)

Fabio as in the film editor?

NICK VINCENT (Producer)

Exactly.

Tarek opens his laptop. The screen on the far wall pings into life.

TAREK OSMAN

OK, so, a while back Guy gave us some old family cine films to use for fillers. We digitized them all but to be honest we didn’t think they’d tell us much – useful background footage, obviously, but it was more a production job than a research one, hence it being Fabio who found it rather than me.

He taps the keyboard, and as he does so Nick comes forward and stands to the right of the screen.

The FOOTAGE starts to play. It’s of Caroline and Andrew Howard’s wedding. Slightly jumpy, the colour faded, and there’s no sound. They’re pictured on the steps of Chelsea Old Town Hall, then sitting together at the reception, drinking a toast and cutting the cake. They look self-conscious and it feels a little staged.

Then the scene shifts to the honeymoon. White sand and palm trees. The camera pans across, a little unsteadily, to show couples on the beach and in the sea, andthen Caroline, sitting on a towel, applying sun lotion. She’s wearing large mirrored sunglasses and a rather old-fashioned-looking one-piece swimsuit.

GUY HOWARD (off)

(laughing)

As usual Mum’s the only one not in a bikini. She hated the things – the girls bought one for her birthday once but she refused to wear it.

TAREK OSMAN

(pushing his glasses up his nose)

Actually, I think we may be about to find out why.

The screen now shows Caroline in a hotel bedroom. The mood is very different – more intimate, more playful. She’s sitting on the bed with her back to us, drying her hair, dressed only in her underwear, but she’s holding a mirror and we can see Andrew’s reflection as he films her. After a moment or two she turns laughing and puts her hand out and pushes the camera away; the lens dips, turns upside down and then the screen goes blank. The whole sequence takes only a few seconds. Tarek presses Pause, then looks round the table.

MITCHELL CLARKE

Is there supposed to be something there, because I can’t see it.

Tarek rewinds and plays the last scene again, freezing it a few frames before the end, then zooming in on Caroline.

LAILA FURNESS

(starting)

Oh my God – is that what I think it is?

JJ NORTON

(nodding slowly)

It most certainly is.

MITCHELL CLARKE

Care to share? Because I’m still blanking.

JJ NORTON

(getting up and going over to the screen)