Failures of Communication

by DoctorH

A Murdoch Mysteries teleplay, like an actual episode. Murdoch has to find out who hired a hit man, when even the killer himself doesn't know. Meanwhile, Ogden tries to avoid being humiliated and having her reputation publicly ruined by a doctor from the United States. As always, solutions and resolutions are included in the story... along with a few fun twists.

1. Act I

ACT I

(FADE IN. EXT. OF THE NOLAN HOME, early evening after sundown. Although there is little light to see the home clearly, the home is obviously large and luxurious. Most of the lights of the house are off or dim, but one window is brightly lit. The camera slowly zooms to that window. DISSOLVE TO: A STUDY in the Nolan home. The room is well-lit. There is a desk, along with at least one chair, several bookcases, several lamps, and several cabinets. The door to the study is open, leading to a dark hallway. Thaddeus NOLAN, a man of about sixty years, sits on the chair next to the desk. There are papers on the desk in front of him. NOLAN is active, taking papers from his desk and putting them in particular places, such as near a corner of the desk or a neat pile on the floor or in a cabinet, as if putting them in some sort of order. NOLAN hums to himself. NOLAN is so engrossed in what he is doing that he does not notice Leo DOWD entering the study stealthily. DOWD, who is quite tall and muscular, carries a length of metal pipe. DOWD raises the pipe to strike. NOLAN is still engrossed in sorting papers. DOWD strikes, and there are the sounds (SFX) of a person being hit, the chair falling, things hitting the floor, and NOLAN's body falling to the floor. DOWD strikes multiple times. When he is satisfied that NOLAN is dead, DOWD calmly turns and leaves. As DOWD leaves, his foot leaves a partial bloody footprint on the floor, which he does not notice. CUT TO: EXT. NOLAN HOUSE, night. The study lights are still on. The shadow of DOWD, still carrying the pipe murder weapon, walks away from the house. As the shadow passes some bushes, the pipe gets tossed into the bushes. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. NOLAN HOUSE, next morning. MURDOCH arrives at the house and walks up to the front door. A FIRST CONSTABLE by the front door admits MURDOCH. HIGGINS and a SECOND CONSTABLE are searching the grounds, but not the bushes. CUT TO: INT. NOLAN HOUSE. MURDOCH climbs the stairs to the second floor. Standing in the hallway outside the study are CRABTREE and Mrs. LEARY, a woman perhaps in her early forties, dressed as a cleaner.)

CRABTREE
(seeing MURDOCH) Ah, sir! (to LEARY) This is Detective William Murdoch, one of the finest detectives in all of Toronto.

MURDOCH
What have you, Constable?

CRABTREE
The owner of this house is Mr. Thaddeus Samuel Nolan. (indicating LEARY) Mrs. Leary here is his cleaning woman. She arrived at the house at about nine o'clock this morning to begin her work, and discovered the body as you see it. She believes it to be the body of Mr. Nolan. She has touched nothing, but notified the Constabulary, after recovering from the initial shock of the discovery, sir. (to LEARY) Is that right, ma'am?

LEARY
Yes.

(MURDOCH nods, then peeks into the study. He sees the partial footprint first, then he sees the body, face down in a bloody pool, the back of the head bloody, blood spattered around, the chair and desk and papers in disarray. MURDOCH crosses himself, the turns to LEARY.)

MURDOCH
Mrs. Leary, you did the right thing, not touching anything in the room and notifying the Constabulary. May I ask why you believe the victim to be Mr. Nolan? You didn't enter the room and turn him to look at his face, did you?

LEARY
No, sir. I never even went in the study. I know it's Mr. Nolan because this is his house, and he's always here to greet me when I arrive. And those clothes are Mr. Nolan's clothes. And, well, even though I can't see his face, it looks like Mr. Nolan.

(MURDOCH smiles understandingly.)

MURDOCH
Thank you, Mrs. Leary. (to CRABTREE) George, please make certain Mrs. Leary gives a complete statement.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir.

MURDOCH
(to CRABTREE quietly) And put everyone on alert to be on the lookout for, and arrest, Leo Dowd and Philip Baxendale.

CRABTREE
(to MURDOCH) I know exactly who you mean, sir. (to LEARY) If you will come with me, ma'am?

(CRABTREE and LEARY leave as HIGGINS approaches. MURDOCH surveys the crime scene.)

HIGGINS
Pardon me, Detective Murdoch?

MURDOCH
Yes, Constable?

HIGGINS
We may have found a weapon.

MURDOCH
A length of metal pipe?

HIGGINS
Yes.

MURDOCH
(to himself) Leo Dowd.

(A PHOTOGRAPHER arrives and MURDOCH steps out of his way. CUT TO: EXT. STATION HOUSE NUMBER FOUR, same morning. CUT TO: INT. STATION HOUSE NUMBER FOUR, Brackenreid's office. BRACKENREID sits, MURDOCH stands. BRACKENREID is smoldering with anger.)

BRACKENREID
There's little doubt as to who swung that pipe.

BRACKENREID and MURDOCH
(in unison) Leo Dowd.

BRACKENREID
Right! The back of a defenseless man's head bashed in, in his own home! A two-foot-long piece of bloody metal pipe found outside the house in the bushes! (disgusted) It's almost like Dowd's signature!

MURDOCH
I agree. I have put out the word that Leo Dowd must be arrested, and I have supplied the constables with a description of the man. I have also asked constables to bring in his associate, Philip Baxendale.

(MURDOCH has more to say, but BRACKENREID interrupts.)

BRACKENREID
I thought we were rid of Dowd! Didn't we get confirmation that he'd fled Canada and was living in the United States?

MURDOCH
We thought we did. After the murder of the two bankers a few years ago, Leo Dowd escaped before we could find him and arrest him. There were said to be sightings of him in Chicago.

BRACKENREID
Wherever he was, someone convinced him to come back to Canada. Baxendale, you think?

MURDOCH
Very likely. Before Mr. Dowd fled Canada, Mr. Baxendale was the intermediary agent for Mr. Dowd: according to some witnesses, anyone that wanted to hire Mr. Dowd had to go through Mr. Baxendale.

BRACKENREID
We know that when Dowd left Canada, Baxendale remained in Toronto; but there wasn't enough evidence to charge Baxendale as an aider and abetter of the banker murders. (harrumphing) So what happened here? Someone in Toronto was looking to hire a killer, someone to murder Thaddeus Nolan. Whoever wanted Nolan to be dead got in contact with Baxendale, and Baxendale got in contact with Dowd. Dowd came here, and bashed Nolan's head in.

MURDOCH
That is certainly a reasonable possibility. There must have been some sort of arrangements for payment. If I can trace any money paid to Mr. Dowd, I might be able to determine who hired him.

BRACKENREID
And whoever hired Dowd is just as criminally culpable!

(There is a hubbub as three CONSTABLES, including HIGGINS, muscle a struggling DOWD into the Station House. DOWD is manacled and bloody.)

HIGGINS
We caught Dowd, sir! I spotted him hiding in the back of a delivery wagon on its way to Windsor! I summoned some help, and the three of us made the arrest!

BRACKENREID
Nice work, lads. Lock him up, then get the word out that we've caught our man.

MURDOCH
It appears some force was needed to bring him in.

HIGGINS
He resisted arrest and tried to escape, which accounts for the state he is in, sir.

BRACKENREID
(with no sympathy) Too bad for him. Be sure to get his finger marks! And don't forget to get his shoes!

(The CONSTABLES take DOWD away.)

BRACKENREID
So: a murder is committed in Toronto in the manner favoured by one Leo Dowd. The same Leo Dowd, who was thought to be outside Canada, is captured hours later in Toronto, in the vicinity of that murder. He is captured while hiding, trying to stow away in a delivery wagon. If one of his shoes matches the footprint at the scene, and if his finger marks match those on the weapon, I'd say, Murdoch, there is an excellent chance that we've caught our killer!

MURDOCH
I agree, sir. We then would have to determine who hired him.

(FADE OUT.)