A lady enters the room taking off her shoes and putting the shoes on. She screams as she puts her foot on the spider and collapses obviously bitten. We see a close up of the ladies pale dead face with the spider crawling across.
Credits roll
Inside Miss Fishers home Dot is chatting with Mr Butler and Burt about being excited about having a tennis champion come to stay. Whilst looking at a newspaper article about the tennis champ.
Hugh knocks on the door having returned from his fishing trip. Dot scolds him for not writing and he said he sent postcards about fish. He apologizes for leaving like he did and said he was confused. Dot makes him promise that if they are to get married he will never go off again. He said of course they are getting married and Dot asks about his mother. Hugh said he told his mother he could either marry a virtuous catholic girl or a protestant girl with loose morals. Dot asks what girl and he said there isn't one but don't tell his mother. Hugh says his mother wont argue with a senior constable and Dot hugs him proud of his promotion
At Aunt Prudence house Phryne is watching a man and a woman playing tennis. The man says it is good of Aunt Prudence to let them use the tennis court and asks if she will be back for the tournament. Phryne says no Aunt P does not like ball sports. The man Stanley says he thought Aunt P was just miffed about missing his wedding. Phryne tells him she is the one that's miffed as he is one of her dearest friends and she had no idea. Stanley tells Phryne he and Constance eloped. Phryne asks Constance about cutting their honeymoon short and she says she could not miss the Sydney cup.
Stanley and Constance finish up their game and go to have tea. They say they hope the tournament is a success and Phryne says with Constance playing its bound to be. Dot arrives and asks Constance to sign the newspaper article. Constance says it was windy at the Sydney cup and she looks practically naked in the photo. Phryne asks who took the shots and she says Mr Fredrick Burns. Phryne says its always a dance with the press and Constance says its got nothing to do with that hideous man or his pictures.
Outside Jack give it to Hugh to take to the car along with Bel's belongings. He teases Phryne on finding her Achilles heel and tickles her should causing her to shriek and lunge into his arms as a photographer, Fredrick Burns appears from behind a tree and snaps a shot.
At the car Hugh commends Dot on not being scared of spiders and is wiping leaves off her coat as Fredrick Burns snaps another shot.
In the lab Dr Mac identifies the spider as a Sydney Funnelweb and estimates the time of death as 6pm. Jack says the spider must have crawled inside Constance bag when she was in Sydney for the cup. Dr Mac says it seems unlikely that the spider would have been on a tennis court. Phryne speculates the spider was deliberately placed in Constance shoe.
At Phryne's house Phryne tells Constance that there has been a murder attempt on her. Stanley is outraged. She asks if Constance can think of anyone who would want to hurt her and she and Stanley both say Angela Lombard as she never misses an opportunity to put Constance off her game.
At the boat the SY Ena Phryne tells Jack Angela has been world champion for several years but Constance is nipping at her heals. She says Angela is a keen sailor so she has arranged for her to stay aboard whilst shes playing in Phryne's tennis tournament which is a charity event for women's rights as the Australian Tennis Organization pays for men to play all over the world but women have to pay their own way. Phryne tells Jack Angela is in the midst of an ugly divorce from her wealthy husband leaving her with financial troubles and a waning career which makes her a suspect.
At the police station Jack asks what time he left the court yesterday and he said 2pm. Jack asks if Angela would want to hurt Constance and he says "Connie?" Jack asked if he was sweet on her and he said she was not interested in men only tennis.
Back at home Constance says she and Terrance never socialized off the court. Dot brings in tea and complements Constance on her dress. She says she has not worn it in a while and its a little snug. She seems flushed and Phryne asks if she is ok. She says she is trying to keep a cold at bay which is why she bought her own tea brew with her. Stanley comes in and says Mr Burn is lurking outside. Phryne chases him off and says if he does not leave she will have him arrested for trespass. Stanley remembers that Constance made an official complaint against Mr Burn and the police told them he was already facing other charges.
At Phryne's house Phryne tells Jack about Fredrick Burns impending criminal charges and Jack has her sign a document making her a special constable. He gives her a sheriff badge he had been saving since he was 10.
In the kitchen Dot is repairing Constance purse when she finds a photo.
Jack and Phryne go to visit Mr Burns. Phryne accuses him of harassment. They ask where he was on Tuesday and he says wherever Constance was he would not try to kill her as photos of her are his meal ticket. Phryne finds some more salacious snaps of nudes and Mr Burns runs. Phryne and Jack give chase and Phryne takes him down with a thrown bin lid.
Jack asks Mr Burns about the photos and he says he is not selling them they are art.Phryne takes his hip flask and he tells them it is his lumberjack whisky and they cant take it. Phryne says Lumberjack is only available in Canada or America where it is snuck over the border to cheat prohibition. Jack asks where he got it.
Dot arrives at the police station and tells Hugh she is bringing him some evidence. She notices him reading the paper and looking at photos of the female tennis players. He tells her he was just checking something and turns the page where the picture of him whipping leaves off the back of Dots coat is printed. Hugh confronts Mr Burns as he leaves the station and Dot worries what her and Hugh's mothers will say. She shows Phryne the photo she found which is Constance and Terrance together it is signed forever yours Terry.
They confront Terrance for lying to them and he tells them Constance dumped him for Stanley and it stung a bit but he had plenty of takers. Phryne says she does not doubt it but it is obvious his heart still belongs to Constance. Jack asks what went wrong he said what hasn't gone wrong this year he injured his shoulder and missed out on the finals then just after Easter Connie dumped him and married Stanley.
They confront Constance about lying and she says she kept it a secret because they were intimate and if the press found out they would drag it down. Constance says she does not want Stanley to find out and get the wrong impression. Stanley arrives and tells him he did know. She said she ended it because she could only think of Stanley. She looks into her bad and screams snake but on closer inspection Jack realizes it is an eel. Angela runs over laughing and Constance tells her she will not put her off her game that easily.
Jack goes to confront Angela she complements him for the photo in the paper and pours them a drink which Jack notices is Lumberjack whiskey. He asks why only a glass when he gave Fredrick Burns a whole flask of her good whisky and asks whats between them. Angela confesses she has been paying him to throw Constance off her game. She attempts to seduce Jack and asks him to come for a swim with her but he declines but she gets him to undo her dress.
At her house Phryne tells Dot not to worry about the photo of her and Hugh but she tells Phryne their mothers have already been casting aspersions. She worries her priest may see it. Phryne invites Dot to her cocktail party. As Phryne gets ready at her dressing table a funnelweb crawls across and onto her sleeve she brushes it off trapping it under her cap and screams for Dot. Jack speculates about Stanley but Phryne says it is unlikely and says someone came through the window. She finds a scrap of fabric stuck to her window frame. Jack tells her when he spoke to Angela she was reading an important document and left the envelope behind from Blue spruce shoe company. He says he may need to conduct a search at Phrynes party but Phryne tells him she will do the search. Hugh catches the spider.
Dot sees Stanley talking to Constance saying he is worries she will sneak off with Terrance. Constance tells Stanley Terrance means nothing to her. Stanley says he wants to believe her but it took so long for them to be intimate her feels she is doing it under sufferance. Constance gets irate and tells him she will ravish him right there and now but Stanley shushes her. Dot goes to tell Phryne what she heard but Phryne tells her they have a new suspect on their hands.
At the police station Terrance asks Jack why he would want to kill Miss Fisher. Phryne says because she was getting to close to the truth. Terrance tells her he loved Connie and would never hurt her. Jack asks him to explain the torn shirt. He says he has been set up.
In his office Jack tells Phryne the spider put in her bedroom would not have killed her as it was a trapdoor spider and is not venomous. He says he thinks it was a practical joke. Phryne asks him to get rid of the spider and he tells her it is important evidence. Phryne says so is this and flashes the contract tucked in her garter and tells him he will not see it until the spider is gone. Jack puts the spider in a drawer and Phryne shows him the contract between Angela and a Mormon shoe company which will give her a lucrative deal if she wins all her matches. Jack says she did not mention it when he interviewed her earlier and Phryne asks before or after he helped her out of her dress. She says to be careful Fredrick Burn doesn't catch him at it.
Phryne arrives home and Stanley asks if Terrance was charged and she tell him no as its all circumstantial but they will be watching him. Stanley takes a tray of tea up to Constance. Phryne hopes Constance is not toying with Stanley and snoops for more evidence of Terrance. Phryne searches Constance coat but knocks Stanley's bag down a photo falls out and Phryne says oh no.
The next day Phryne and Jack confront Stanley and he tells them that Bel and he had an arrangement but it only happened once. Phryne doubts it as she says she knows his marital relations aren't what he hoped. They asked if he loved Bel and he says no and asks them not to tell Constance. Jack tells Stanley they will tell Constance everything if they find out he tried to kill her. Jack tells Stanley he can go and Phryne says she finds it hard to believe Stanley would want Constance dead unless Bel was the victim all along. Jack says perhaps he killed Bel to cover his shame. Phryne says maybe Constance found out and killed her.Phryne says Fredrick obviously knew Belinda quite well as he took the nude photo Stanley had. Jack says it must be time for another chat with him but Phryne says he is too slippery and she has a better idea.
Phryne does a photoshoot with Fredrick agreeing to remove one item of clothing per satisfactory answer. Fredrick tells her Bel was posing for him for about a year and he was paying her to take sneaky pics of other players especially Constance. Phryne says she thought Angela was paying him for that. He says Angela was paying him to rattle Constance but Bel could get a lot closer than he could so he gave her a cut. He says it was a good arrangement until Bel called it off. Phryne asks why and Mr Burns tells her Bel said she was being paid better money to do special favours for someone else. Phryne asks who and Fredrick tells her he does not know but last time he saw Bel she had to leave early as she had a meeting with Constance. Phryne gets all her answers and confiscates the film as a special constable of Victoria police.
Back at home Phryne ask Constance about the meeting with Bel and asks if it was about Stanley. Constance says yes but she was not angry as the truth is she asked Bel to seduce Stanley as she needed to concentrate on her tennis. Phryne asked if that's the case why marry Stanley and Constance says because he is a good man and a good coach. Phryne asks about Terrance and Constance says he was just a fling and he is not wealthy enough to support her career. Phryne says and Stanley is. She says at least Constance could afford to pay Bel for her special favours but Constance tells her she did not pay her.
The day of the tennis tournament Dot takes her tennis dress to Constance but finds her ill with a temperature. Dot tells her she is not well enough to play. Dot tells Phryne Constance is ill and the tea is making it worse. Phryne sniffs it and says it smells like sage. Prhyne wonders if she is being poisoned and asks Dr Mac to test the tea.
At the police station Phryne speculates if someone is poisoning Constance perhaps she is the target all along. Jack asks about the payments and Phryne tells him Constance was not paying Bel but Jack tells her someone was paying her as money had been deposited in her account. Jack asks Phryne to remove herself from his desk but she says she is comfortable so he waves the spider at her. Phryne takes a chair.
Jack and Phryne are searching Bels bag and finds it has a false bottom. Meanwhile Dr Mac calls and says the tea is not poisoned. Phryne finds photos of Terrance and Angela in Bels bags number 1-10 the envelope says 11 - $50, 12 - $100 so she has been paid for the photos. Jack says they were the exact amounts paid into Bels account.
At the tennis comp Jack and Phryne confront Angela who says she did not kill Bel she just paid her off for the photos so she didn't lose her shoe contract. Jack asks to see the photos and Angela shows them one. Phryne asks where the other one is but Angela doesn't know anything about it. At this point the tennis comentator tells Phryne they are about to start.
The match goes ahead in the stands Stanley tells Phryne he can't believe Terrance is still free after what he tried to do to her. Jack wonders who would have paid Bel for the 12th photo. They look closely at photo 11 and see Constance in the background looking shocked. Phryne has a realization and they return to the tennis court where they tell Constance to forfeit her match due to injury. Constance says its only a cold but Phryne says it is not a cold and she lied to them about paying Bel as she paid her a great deal for the photo. Jack tells her to forfeit or they will arrest her for Bels murder in front of everyone. Constance fakes an ankle injury and forfeits.
Stanley tells Phryne that shes made a mistake as Terrance is to blame but Phryne notices a spider bite on his arm and says it was Stanley that tried to scare her off and frame Terrance. He says he was trying to protect Constance. Phryne asks when he realized Constance had killed Bel and he said he was jealous so went through her things and found the spider jar. Phryne arrests Constance and says she realized the stain on her dress was not champagne and she was drinking sage tea to combat mastitis so she must have given birth recently. Stanley is shocked and Terrance asks if the baby was his. Constance says yes and the baby is in a good home. Jack says Bel had a picture of her with the baby and Constance says she paid Bel good money for it and she promised it was the end of it but Constance got scared so she sabotaged Belinda's shoes and planted the spider. Terrance asks why she would give up the baby and not tell him and she says because he would want her to get married settle down and give up tennis and tennis is everything. Jack tells Stanley he will need to talk to him in regard to with holding information.
No comments:
Post a Comment