The Silent Appeal
To: Isabel Beck
From: Charlotte Holroyd
Cc: Femi Hassan
Subject: Documents
Dear Ms. Beck,
You may remember us from when we worked on your appeal with Roderick Tanner, KC. We hope you are well.
We are currently working on a case and your name has come up in relation to it.
You may remember recently submitting your journal entries to officers investigating the murder of the Reverend Joshua Harries.
According to these, when you met Trina Neale you had an envelope Nicky-Rose Dearing wanted you to give her.
When the police came into possession of that envelope soon afterward, they found four sheets of blotting paper infused with LSD, and script pages from Agatha Christie’s play The Hollow.
You mention looking inside the envelope while you were in the toilets before Trina arrived. Can you confirm exactly what was in there? While this is not directly connected to the murder case, it could have a significant impact on many lives. We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Charlotte Holroyd
To: Charlotte Holroyd
Cc: Femi Hassan
From: Isabel Beck
Date: September 13, 2025
Subject: Re: Documents
Hiya Charlotte and Femi,
It’s lovely to hear from you again! How is Mr. Tanner? I’m very well thank you. Working at Specsavers and really hoping to be cast in the Fairway Players’ pantomime this year. Please both cross your fingers for me!
The murder is still a hot topic of conversation at rehearsals.
Did you know Joel is directing Celia in a new version of Shirley Valentine?
It’s on at the end of November. Because Nicky-Rose left they had to abandon plans for Noises Off, so instead adapted the Willy Russell script specially.
Celia hates doing accents, so Shirley is from Lockley Bois rather than Liverpool.
It’s a one-woman show normally, but Joel says we need a bigger cast to get “bums on seats” so they’ve written lots of parts for characters who are only mentioned in the original script.
I play a hotel guest who lurks in the background and doesn’t have any lines, which is much easier than having to speak.
There’s no swearing or sex, and in the end the character decides to leave Costas (who isn’t a Greek barman, but a surveyor from Scotland, because it’s the only accent John O’Dea can do), fly back, and find a man closer to home by joining the bell-ringing group Celia has just started.
They hand out flyers touting for new members at the end of each show.
Kevin says 2025 will go down in history as the year there were two murders in Lockwood: Father Josh and Shirley Valentine. Let me know if you’d like tickets.
Sorry to ramble, because, really, I’ve got a confession to make (a real one this time). When I looked inside the envelope, I found a whole lot of things. I already had my suspicions that what Nicky-Rose wanted me to do was illegal, so wanted to check what was in there.
The documents I found made her look really bad, boo. I didn’t want Trina doing anything horrible with them, so I tore out pages of the script that didn’t have my lines on them, and stuffed the documents into my jeans. It was lucky I’d lost some weight by then and there was room! Yay!
I still have the things I took out. Would you like them?
Love Issy xxxx
Message exchange between Charlotte Holroyd and Isabel Beck on September 13, 2025:
Charlotte Holroyd
Issy, when will you be home? Can I collect the documents? They are very important.
Issy
Gasp! Yes! Of course! I’m at work right now, but I’ll be back home by six.
Issy
Make it six-thirty and I’ll stop off at Lidl. They have nice German biscuits and cake. Would you like to watch a film? I’ve got Freeview on my TV.
Charlotte Holroyd
Actually, I’ll send a courier to collect them. 6:30 p.m.
Charlotte
It’s all here. Names, dates, everything. I’ll contact Inspector Lascelles.
Femi
Do the documents implicate Trina?
Charlotte
You bet they do.
Femi
As he’ll receive the evidence from us and not her, any plea bargain she may hope to make will be meaningless. She’ll be looking at a custodial for sure.