The Diplomat

by DoctorH

A five-act Murdoch Mysteries teleplay, just like watching an episode on TV. Two Toronto families have a past history of violence, but they have been at peace for over a year and a half. Then a member of one family is shot, and a member of the other family is the prime suspect. Can Murdoch solve the case without jeopardizing the peace? The solution to the mystery is included.

4. ACT 4

ACT IV

(FADE IN. EXTERIOR STATION HOUSE NO. 4. CUT TO: BRACKENREID'S OFFICE. MURDOCH and CRABTREE are standing, BRACKENREID is in his chair.)

BRACKENREID
I just spoke to Freddy. He said he's put in a hell of a lot of effort into trying to keep things cool between the Camerons and the Strouds.

MURDOCH
He has. If I may say, in our discussions with members of the families, he has acted less like a policeman and more like a diplomat.

BRACKENREID
And Freddy says that he thinks things will be quiet for a while. But unless you can close this case without re-igniting the family war, he is not sure how long he'll be able to keep the peace.

MURDOCH
George has discovered something that complicates the situation.

CRABTREE
Sir: there was a dispute between Eliot Stroud and Eric Cameron about a particular parcel of land. Mr. Cameron earnestly wanted to buy the land, and Mr. Stroud did not want to sell. Now, this situation may create a motive for murder, but—

BRACKENREID
How? Stroud owns the land, doesn't want to sell it, so he kills a man who wants to buy it? Doesn't make sense.

CRABTREE
It creates a motive NOT for Mr. Stroud to kill Mr. Cameron, but for Mr. Cameron to kill Mr. Stroud.

BRACKENREID
Eh?

CRABTREE
If Mr. Stroud dies, the property would go into his estate, and since Mr. Stroud has a number of debts, the executor of the estate would likely have to sell the property to pay those debts. And then Mr. Cameron could buy it.

BRACKENREID
Cameron would murder Stroud to own a piece of land?

(CRABTREE is hesitant to answer.)

BRACKENREID
Tell us, Crabtree! How do you know this?

CRABTREE (hesitantly)
Sir, I have a friend who is a banker, and who knows both men. He does not want to get involved in any dispute between them. This information was given to me in confidence.

BRACKENREID
We'll be discreet, Crabtree.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir. Anyway, my friend says that Mr. Cameron wanted that land more than anything else in the world, although his reasons for wanting it were, well, unusual.

MURDOCH
Mr. Cameron was under the impression that there is pirate treasure buried on the land.

(BRACKENREID rolls his eyes, and mouths the words, "Pirate treasure.")

CRABTREE
Whether Mr. Cameron's belief was valid or not, it was apparently sincere. Mr. Cameron has offered up to four times the fair market value for the land. According to my friend, well, there would be no legitimate, objective reason to offer such an amount.

MURDOCH
It would be senseless.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir.

MURDOCH
It would suggest that Mr. Cameron may have lost some of his ability for thinking rationally.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir. Although my friend thought that Mr. Stroud was equally irrational, in not accepting such a generous offer.

MURDOCH
George, we need to speak to Eliot Stroud again.

CRABTREE
Shall I bring him in, sir?

MURDOCH
No. I'll telephone Inspector Winthorpe, and ask him to have Mr. Stroud brought to Station House Number Two.

BRACKENREID
It's not their case, Murdoch. It's ours.

MURDOCH
Yes, sir. But this may be the best way to get to the bottom of this.

(CUT TO: EXTERIOR STATION HOUSE NO. 2: a sign identifies the location. CUT TO: INTERROGATION ROOM in Station House No. 2, which is similar to the interrogation room in Station House No. 4, but not the same in terms of furniture, lighting, etc. ELIOT sits in a chair and MURDOCH and CRABTREE sit opposite him. CRABTREE has a container on the table in front of him. WINTHORPE sits in the rear. Shadowy figures can be seen watching through the grate in the door.)

MURDOCH
Thank you for speaking with us once again, Mr. Stroud.

ELIOT
Ask your questions.

MURDOCH
We know that you and Eric Cameron know each other.

ELIOT
I've never denied that.

MURDOCH
We know that you and Eric Cameron were negotiating about the sale of a tract of land.

ELIOT
Negotiating? No. Eric wanted to buy it, I didn't want to sell it. That's all there is to that.

MURDOCH
We know that Eric Cameron was, shall we say, somewhat unreasonably interested in buying.

ELIOT (laughs)
Somewhat unreasonably interested. I guess you could say that.

MURDOCH
We know that Eric Cameron offered you more money than the land was worth.

ELIOT
So what? He offered it; doesn't mean he was able to pay it.

MURDOCH
We know that you and Eric Cameron met last at the library last Tuesday night.

ELIOT
I—

MURDOCH
Yes, I know; you don't remember.

ELIOT
That's right.

(MURDOCH looks over at CRABTREE and gives him a signal. CRABTREE reaches into the container and extracts a revolver.)

ELIOT
That's not mine.

MURDOCH
We know it isn't yours. It belonged to Eric Cameron.

(ELIOT nods almost imperceptibly. MURDOCH opens the revolver to show ELIOT, and everyone else, that the chambers are all empty.)

MURDOCH
This weapon is safe to handle, as you can see.

(MURDOCH closes the revolver again, and with his right hand puts it in his jacket. MURDOCH looks over at CRABTREE and gives him another signal. CRABTREE opens the container and extracts a black wig. MURDOCH tosses the wig in front of ELIOT. ELIOT laughs.)

MURDOCH
I see you are amused. You know, I thought you MIGHT remember meeting Eric that afternoon, especially since Eric was wearing this wig.

(ELIOT's smile fades, but he says nothing.)

MURDOCH
Have you ever seen Eric Cameron wear a wig?

ELIOT
I don't remember.

MURDOCH (calmly)
If you saw Eric, and he WAS wearing a wig like this, you WOULD recognize him, though, wouldn't you?

ELIOT (hesitantly)
Probably.

MURDOCH (calmly)
I wonder, Mr. Stroud, whether you could assist me with a totally hypothetical scenario.

ELIOT
I don't understand.

MURDOCH (calmly)
Let us suppose that you and I are in negotiations. Let's say that I am, oh, interested in whether you would be willing to sell your parcel of land to me, if the price were right. I invite you to meet at a neutral site to discuss further negotiations; you agree. We talk for a while. We discuss. Everything is calm. We negotiate. We banter back and forth. We keep talking. I offer to pay you many times what the property is worth. You start to get to thinking that, if I'm willing to pay this much, there must be something pretty valuable on the property, and you are not inclined to sell until you can find out for sure whether or not there is anything valuable there. And so we talk some more, and I can see you are not giving my offer the consideration that I think is due. In fact, the negotiations are distinctly not to my liking and so (abruptly not-so-calm) I decide to do THIS—

(In a swift movement, MURDOCH pulls the revolver from his jacket, right-handed, and points it at ELIOT's chest. ELIOT, startled, jumps up and reflexively grabs the revolver with his left hand by the barrel and snatches it away, and moments later is pointing the weapon at MURDOCH with his right hand.)

MURDOCH
An action such as you've just demonstrated would cause the finger marks of your left hand to be on the barrel of the gun, and the finger marks of your right hand to be on the handle.

(WINTHORPE subtly smiles and nods. ELIOT throws the revolver on the table, and sits. He says nothing, unsure of what to make of all of this.)

MURDOCH
In this totally fanciful, completely hypothetical situation, you acted in self-defence.

(ELIOT stares at MURDOCH. It almost looks like ELIOT wants to say something, but he does not. MURDOCH picks up the wig.)

MURDOCH
How strange it would be if I were to show up for the meeting, to which I had invited you, while wearing a disguise. It would almost be as though I planned to commit some act of mischief, and I wouldn't want anyone to recognize me when I fled the scene.

(ELIOT still says nothing, but his meekness shows he doesn't disagree with anything MURDOCH said.)

MURDOCH
Too bad you don't remember what happened, though.

WINTHORPE
And it would be too bad that whoever may have been involved in this whole unfortunate— but totally hypothetical— business didn't trust the local constabulary to be able to sort it all out. (to MURDOCH) Detective Murdoch, I think we may have to write this case down as "unsolved." (to ELIOT) Eliot, you're free to go. Please give my regards to your family.

(ELIOT nods, blankly. MURDOCH steals a glance at the door. The shadowy figures who were there are gone. MURDOCH smiles subtly. FADE OUT.)