I don't own Midsomer Murders.
This one-shot is set in The Stitcher's Society, I felt that Barnaby could have been harsher with the solicitor Harry Marx, played by Keith Allen who was usually stoned out of his mind and reviled because he botched up a court case where everyone thought a man was guilty of murder, a man accused by Marx. But Barnaby had his own reasons to despise the idiot since he nearly ran over Paddy, his dog.
Enjoy.
The Worst Case of Mistaken Identity.
DCI John Barnaby watched as the two constables pushed Mimi Dagmar into the car where she'd be taken to the police station to be charged and interviewed properly. A sadistic part of him was looking forward to the moment when the news broke out and the rest of Tamworth Springs heard that the man that had been subjected to a witch hunt complete with dogs had been innocent the entire time. Ever since he had discovered how much of a pothead Harry Marx was, Barnaby wondered why none of the detectives assigned to the investigation of the death of Viola Deepdale had not discovered how much of a liability the solicitor was.
Okay, some might say he was bound to be prejudiced towards the solicitor, and Barnaby was tempted to check if the man was dodgier than his clientele expected, but Marx had nearly run over Paddy when they'd been on the road. He had driven that motorbike way too fast. It was a miracle he and Sarah had gotten their dog out of the way when they did. But the man was regularly stoned with drugs, likely more than just weed, surely it had occurred to someone before the idiots' credibility in court was shredded to properly check out the story?
Barnaby had never really seen Toby Wagner as a murderer, regardless of what people like Harry, Georgie before Reuben changed her mind although Barnaby wondered if Reuben had thought it a bit too good to be true that the so-called private investigator Mick McInally brought out evidence that said Toby was innocent when he had nothing but had decided to see the whole thing as a good place to set up a con. McInally had set up a CCTV camera and was planning on using it to commit blackmail. He had no evidence, more than likely he didn't even care one little bit about the murder of Viola, he had just seen the whole case as something to make money with.
Barnaby took a moment to reflect on the two cases that he had just solved. 5 years ago, Viola Deepdale had been the business partner of Mimi Dagmar, once married to Toby Wagner. Mimi bludgeoned her with a heavy object lying around. Easy and simple. Barnaby had a few ideas about the motives behind the murder, but he wouldn't know until he interviewed Mimi later. He merely hoped when he did, Mimi would cooperate, and the details would be easy to come. There were still several things he wanted to clear up before he wrote his reports and updated the original case. But he doubted she'd stall and cause problems. Mimi had never struck him as stupid and besides after he and Jamie had seen her survey and photograph Georgie's house in the second case and Georgie had only been dead for a few hours. Hopefully, she would be smart enough to see there wasn't any point in holding back.
Anyway following the murder, Mimi had gotten away…only for Harry Marx to see somebody leave. He was sure it was Toby, being too stoned to properly see, and it made Barnaby wonder if there was a grudge between the two men which had further clouded Harry's recollection of events.
Toby was quickly ostracised, Georgie who ran the local paper ran a number of articles calling him a murderer. The police took over, investigated and saw things the villagers' way, but the court case was thrown out because Harry's credibility was called into question.
Okay, Toby was nearly run out of the village and attacked by his former friends and his ex-wife, he was threatened by dogs and yelled at to confess. Reuben, likely out of affection for Toby's brother Julia, showed mercy and gave him a chance to escape. Toby took his sister's car, escaped. Reuben spoke to Julia, who now wanted nothing to do with her lover whom she'd been having a fling with for some time. But they got over it over time, while her husband Cooper knew of the affair as did Reuben's wife, Alberta who supported him when Reuben suffered from a heart attack and underwent bypass surgery.
5 years later, Reuben had set up the Stitcher's Society, a health club set up to help people recuperate from heart attacks and bypass surgeries. Among the membership were the people who'd driven Toby away; Harry, Georgie, Alberta, and Mimi while they were supported by Cooper, who likewise believed that his brother in law was a murderer.
Reuben hired McInally to find proof of Toby's innocence, somehow realising that something wasn't quite right; maybe he had become curious about Harry's statement, or he had begun doubting it during the trial period, either way, he had wanted closure. But when he'd invited Toby back he didn't say a word to the others. In some ways, Barnaby could understand why that was since everyone hated him. At the same time, he didn't realise McInally was a con artist who would give him 'proof' in exchange for cash and wouldn't realise the con until it was too late.
When Toby returned, Mimi had become worried when Rueben made it clear there was evidence that could exonerate him, so she killed Reuben. Georgie, who'd been persuaded, was then later killed. Mimi had hoped Toby would be arrested, but she had to kill McInally when she realised he was a fake. The Stitcher's society members had zipper scars, a hideous scar showing off their souvenirs from bypass surgeries. Of all the murders, McInally's death was the most brutal; he'd had most of his face blown off since she'd blocked one of the barrels of a shotgun when he had been with the others in the group clay pigeon shooting, there was nowhere else for the shell to go.
But it was all for nothing.
Mimi had murdered 3 people for fake evidence, but her ex-husband was now exonerated.
Barnaby was taken out of his thoughts when the PMTs brought Harry out of the cottage Georgie had left Toby in her will - he absently wondered what would happen to the place, if Toby would sell it or not, but that was Toby's problem- and he walked over.
"Wait a moment," he told them and looked down at the still solicitor who looked like his entire world was shaken up. "I will be asking for a statement of what you were doing with Toby, Mr Marx, and I'll hope it's going to be an accurate one compared to the one you made 5 years ago."
"I honestly thought it was him. It looked like him."
"Did you have some issues with Toby before Viola's murder?" Barnaby asked pointedly.
Marx's face went still which gave Barnaby his answer. "I thought so. I think you were angry with Toby about something completely unrelated, and it clouded your judgement when you saw Mimi leave after the murder. I hope when you are feeling up to it, your memory won't be clouded. I saw the Kendo sword in there, and I have a good idea what you planned to do with it."
With that Barnaby walked away. He didn't know if he would put Harry on a charge or not. It was tempting, really, anything to make the delusional idiot who drove his motorcycle too fast for comfort and refused to take responsibility for his actions, but Harry Marx's unpopularity in this Midsomer village which had started when he lost the court case against Toby in the first place was unlikely to be improved. In fact, it was more likely going to plummet further down.
Barnaby only hoped nobody set dogs on the spaced-out fool.