The Appeal

by Janice Hallett

  Issy could not have guessed her email would lead Claudia to attack Sam on 4 July. We believe Claudia probably reproached Sam during the attack for telling Michael when she had begged her not to, for the sake of their children. This could be the moment Sam realises Issy is behind it all. We know Sam has harsh words with Issy after the dress rehearsal, leaving even Sarah-Jane feeling sorry for her. But what does she say? Perhaps that she knows Issy sent the email to Michael. Or that she has never liked her and was only pretending to be her friend. Whatever it is may be devastating, but is it enough to turn Issy’s toxic ‘love’ for Sam into hate and ultimately murder? By the next morning Issy’s loyalties are firmly with the community, whose attitude to her is at best indifferent.

  What were Sam’s intentions?

  We believe that at the point she discovers Kel is having an affair with Claudia, Sam decides to return to the Central African Republic. Only she is unable to do so because Arnie stole their money after Kel gave him their PIN number on 25 June. Does frustration over this, the end of her marriage, her attack at the hands of Claudia and her constant management of Isabel’s obsession lead to Sam’s outburst? We are certain her outburst leads to her downfall.

  Femi

  I’m worried about the time this is taking. We’re not even halfway through. Are we getting wrapped up in the minutiae and missing the bigger picture?

  Charlotte

  I don’t think so. I like it so far. It’s just a bit wordy. We need to show we’ve discussed all the possibilities.

  Femi

  We need to answer the fucking questions. Go back to Tanner’s letter. He asks five questions, then some random shit.

  Charlotte

  If we just A the Qs, we barely touch the surface of the underlying relationships.

  Femi

  Here goes. Who killed Samantha Greenwood? Kevin MacDonald. Sam tells three people three things: the drama group about the appeal, Issy that she knows she told Michael about Claudia, and Kel that she’s returning to Africa. Sarah-Jane knew it was going to happen. Emma knew about it before the body was discovered. Kel is imprisoned because it’s always the nearest and dearest in the frame.

  Charlotte

  The message from Andy telling Sam something she can’t un-know? It’s left while she’s at the dress rehearsal on the evening of 4 July.

  Femi

  Red herring. Kevin wants Sam gone because he’s involved so many masonic contacts in the appeal. He confronts her in the flat, they fight, Sam dies. SJ flees to Emma’s for an alibi but, phew, Kel is charged.

  Charlotte

  Would SJ cover for murder the way she lied for the Haywards?

  Femi

  Yes. So, three are not who they say they are: Handler is really Sam, Drake is Glen and Kel is Sean. Three masquerade as others: Sam as Issy, Issy as Sam, Arnie as Kel. One does not exist: don’t know. Handler and Drake both.

  Charlotte

  Glen is Drake? Conning his father-in-law and defrauding his own daughter’s appeal or are they all in it together?

  Femi

  He was prepared to have Woof put down on 26 June and then lie to his wife about it. Harsh.

  Charlotte

  You are so fucking good at this. I feel like a spare part.

  Femi

  Not at all. Ok, new angle for the doc. Prime suspects, plus reasoning behind each.

  Charlotte

  Hope we’re right about the Topps Tiles thing. Otherwise it looks like we’re making things up to fit the facts. Why would Issy bother to tell Michael, when Sam knows already that Claudia has betrayed her and is unlikely ever to be friends with her again?

  Femi

  To turn Claudia against Sam. It works, too. Initially better than Issy ever thought it would – it leads Claudia to attack her. But then it turns Sam against Issy. That’s what I believe informs their final convo in the car park after the dress rehearsal.

  Comment [Femi1]:

  Charl, here it is with your amends. Prime suspects, followed by outside suspects.

  Who killed Samantha Greenwood?

  We have four prime suspects. They are presented in no particular order.

  Sean ‘Kel’ Greenwood

  Most women who are murdered are killed by their husband or partner. Kel was forced to return from his dream job as a medical aid worker and has found it difficult to readjust to life in England. His relationship with Claudia has been dragged into the open. His confidant, Arnie, betrayed him by stealing all his money, embarrassed him in front of his new social circle and revealed to his wife, in the cruellest way possible, that he is having an affair with her friend. Yet he can see Arnie is unwell and feels responsible for him. Added to this: Kel is ill himself with Hepatitis C, which he keeps secret from his employer. We know Sam and Kel have been arguing in their flat at night, from a note sent by their neighbours on 2 July. Kel did not want Sam to say anything at the dress rehearsal and threatened her with consequences if she did – that she would never see him again.

  Kel and Claudia are seen entering a local motel together after 2 a.m. on 5 July by Nick Walford, looking ‘like someone had died’. The next day Kel is off-radar, only replying to an email from Sarah-Jane. He arrives for the first night of the play limping. His performance is described as ‘nervous’.

  Interestingly, Kel’s email to Sarah-Jane suggests he agrees with what Sam says at the dress rehearsal, but felt she should not have said anything. Is he mindful of how speaking out has destroyed their lives once already? He doesn’t want it to happen again.

  After the dress rehearsal Kel and Sam return, argue, fight and – whether premeditated or not – Sam falls from their balcony to her death. Kel flees, meets Claudia, herself reeling from Michael’s shock discovery of the affair, and the couple hole up at the Travellers’ Inn. Despite everything that’s happened, Kel honours his commitment to the play. Is he a man of his word, or simply mindful that fleeing completely would draw attention to him as a suspect in his wife’s murder?

  Tish Bhatoa via an associate

  Bad blood between Sam Greenwood and Tish Bhatoa runs through their interconnected stories like a polluted river. Tish won the day in Bangui and, while she harbours resentment towards Sam for what she ‘tried to do’, there would be scant motivation for her to have Sam killed at this stage. Sam is openly antagonistic towards Tish – writing to her under her own name, questioning what Tish has told the Haywards, as if letting Tish know she is close and watching her. Nonetheless, Tish seems confident that truth is on her side and that Sam is not a threat.

  However, the death of Dan Bhatoa in South Sudan changes that. Suddenly there is a reason for Tish to want deadly revenge. In Bangui, she supported her brother’s defence against Sam’s accusations of impropriety, and saw those charges dismissed, potentially having paid to make them go away. But as a result of the case, he was forced to move to less stable areas, where he perished. Dan and Tish won the battle, but lost the war. It is not without foundation that Tish blames Sam for his death.

  But this is not all. From very early on in the Haywards’ appeal, Sam suspects Tish is not being honest with them. If the experimental drugs exist, and if Tish were intending to import them for Poppy, why would she not be open about where they came from? Tish has oppressive financial responsibilities. She pays for her parents’ expensive care home. Her businesses have cash-flow problems and she helps support Dan’s clinic. We believe that if Sam is right about Tish lying to the Haywards, then the threat of this being exposed, plus revenge for Dan’s death, could have led Tish to hire a mercenary to kill Sam while she is safely out of the country. This hitman climbed up the outside of the block and was waiting in the flat, or on the balcony, for Sam to return. Kel dropped her off and left to meet Claudia, without entering the flat. When Sam arrived home, she was confronted by the intruder and thrown off the balcony in a bid to make the death appear accidental or a suicide.

  As for the identity of the intruder, we suggest Nick Walford, who is in the area the night
of the murder, and the next day has very firm instructions for his mother regarding what to do with his bag.

  Kevin MacDonald

  Kevin and Sarah-Jane MacDonald have ploughed their time, energy and professionalism into Poppy’s appeal. If Sam is right, then they have been conned by their oldest friends, and have been instrumental in further conning their families and everyone in their professional and friendship circles. That they fell for such a scam would be an appalling admission to make to everyone whose opinions matter. The shame is almost unimaginable.

  It is after she tries, and fails, to confide in Sarah-Jane that Sam decides to spell out the situation to the entire Fairway Players. We believe this failure to engage Sarah-Jane is a direct result of Sam having posed as Clive Handler, a deception that counts against her from the moment the MacDonalds discover it.

  While most members refuse to believe Sam’s accusations and take the Haywards’ side without question, once they are out in the open, Sarah-Jane does take them seriously. However, she focuses on what we believe to be the least likely or relevant of the accusations: that Helen lied about having a child before James, who died of meningitis. When Emma corroborates Helen’s claim, Sarah-Jane and Kevin cling to this as evidence that everything Sam says is a lie. This is not necessarily the case . . .

  Kevin, aware that Sam could be accurate in her interpretation of the appeal, and having involved so many of his Lodge associates, went to Sam’s flat on the night of the dress rehearsal and killed her. This is while Sarah-Jane is at Emma’s. She believes he is home in bed. We also believe he tells her afterwards. The MacDonalds have almost as much to lose as the Haywards if Sam’s accusations go further than their immediate circle of friends.

  Arnie Ballancore

  Arnie is a lost soul long before he arrives in Lockwood. He has given up his nursing career, drifted around the world, become addicted to heroin and estranged from his family. However, the Greenwoods do not receive his mother’s warning email. By the time they realise the extent of his problems, he has already stolen £6,000 – apparently most of the money they possess. As Kel gave him their PIN number on 25 June, it seems likely they would not be able to recover those funds from the bank. This prevents Sam fleeing back to Africa as soon as she discovers Kel’s affair.

  From his emails, Arnie comes across as a languid drifter, lost and lazy perhaps, but not a danger to anyone. However, we believe there is another side to him – the side that leads his mother to warn the Greenwoods how much he has changed since they knew him in Africa. We see how he attempts to swindle Joyce at the tea counter during the Yogathon on 30 June, and riled Barry and Martin with uncontrolled verbal aggression. Yet the most telling observation on the character of Arnie comes on 4 July from Robert Green, the burglary victim who describes his ‘savagery’ and says he was ‘easily the most aggressive’ of his three attackers.

  On 3 July Sam informs the police that Arnie was in possession of an African Healing Doll of the type stolen in the burglary, and also informs them he has taken their money. On the night of the murder, Arnie is released from police custody and makes his way back to the Greenwoods’ flat. We believe he lets himself in, confronts Sam over informing on him or is confronted by her for stealing their money. In the midst of this confrontation we believe Arnie is unable to control his aggression, and the result is Sam’s tragic death. He is seen leaving the next morning, with his rucksack, at 5 a.m.

  These may be our prime suspects, but we have identified others – all with possible motives to kill Sam. Again, they are in no particular order.

  Isabel Beck

  As soon as they arrive in Lockwood, Isabel targets Sam and Kel as potential new friends. It is easy to use emotive language to describe her strategy: she ‘sinks her claws’ into them or ‘latches on’. Yet much of her ensuing correspondence does denote obsession rather than true friendship. Isabel is socially isolated, lonely and lives for The Fairway Players. Much of her self-respect comes from her work, and we can see she’s a dedicated nurse who likes to help and reassure others, even when that help and reassurance are not requested or valued. She proves herself to be very perceptive when she immediately identifies that Arnie is trouble. Of all the emails the Haywards receive following Poppy’s diagnosis on 21 April, we feel Isabel’s is the most appropriate.

  Isabel has lost her friend Lauren – both emotionally, after Lauren’s betrayal over the IV mistake, and literally, when Lauren left St Ann’s and moved away with Josh. We believe Isabel sought to replace Lauren with Sam. Once she realises how much better her life is with Sam in it, she goes into overdrive, as if terrified she will lose her new friend, too. The arrival of Claudia makes Isabel take up her Blue Book again on 10 June and express negative and aggressive emotions that do not find their way out through her other, copious correspondence.

  Isabel is immature and socially awkward. She seems to experience difficulty talking to people, and others do not warm to her. She soon becomes emotionally dependent on Sam and attempts to isolate her from other potential friends, like Sarah-Jane and Helen. Therefore when Sam finally withdraws her friendship and support – in the car park after her outburst at the dress rehearsal – Isabel is distraught and incensed. Is this a case of ‘if I can’t have Sam, no one else will’? We believe Isabel follows Sam home that night and, Kel having left to meet Claudia at the Travellers’ Inn, enters the flat, where the pair fight and Sam is killed. Isabel’s correspondence in the twenty-four hours following Sam’s death is markedly different to all that’s gone before. To say nothing of her 999 call the following night, in which she seems to know precisely how long Sam has been lying under her balcony. Also telling is the swiftness with which Isabel seems to move on and look forward to life without Sam. She even offers to step into Sam’s role in All My Sons.

  The Haywards: Martin, James, Glen

  The men of the Hayward–Reswick dynasty are driven by three things: family, money and keeping their women in an infantile state of carefree bliss. If they are behind Sam’s murder, then we must assume that when she describes Poppy’s appeal as a ‘financial conspiracy’, Sam is right. If they are using the appeal money to support their failing businesses and maintain their lavish lifestyles, then their motivation for killing Sam would be to limit her accusations to their loyal social circle, where they are summarily dismissed.

  If we assume this trio has a motive for wanting Sam out of the way, we need to consider where they all are the night she dies. James is with Olivia as she gives birth in St Ann’s. Martin cuts short the ill-fated dress rehearsal. Later that night he exchanges emails with Sarah-Jane, after which he writes to Sam, setting out his position on what she said and her future with The Fairway Players. We cannot say whether or not Glen was at the dress rehearsal. However, Paige says ‘Glen woke me up at four to go through Act One’. So Glen is up at 4 a.m. and knows then that Paige needs to take over Sam’s role in the play. However, we cannot be sure this is because he knows she’s dead, or because he knows she is likely to be out of the play. Either way, he’s up at that key time.

  The burglars

  Sam informs on Arnie, who then gives the police the names of his criminal associates. Arnie may be an addict coerced into taking part in the crime to pay off a drugs debt, but the men behind it certainly appear to be bigger, more organised criminals. They plot to steal a painting, which means they have connections to the global criminal underworld, and this would place Sam in a dangerous position if they found out who went to the police. We are certain Arnie could be made to tell them who informed on him and where she lived. This may or may not have some co-relation to the fact that Arnie returns to the flat at some point during the night Sam is killed, and is seen leaving for good very early the next morning.

  Suicide/accident

  Like Kel and Arnie, Sam has struggled to settle since her return from Africa. She is ill with Hepatitis C, which she must keep secret from her employer. She is stuck in a failing ward with a poor atmosphere; her work colleague is needy, cling
y and obsessed; her husband is leaving her for someone she thought was a friend; and a man she tried to help has stolen her money, making her escape impossible. She has tried to fit into a community that turns on her the moment she attempts to stop them falling for a fraud. And there is one other major factor we discovered: the drug Sam is taking – Ribavirin – has a rare side-effect: ‘thoughts of suicide’. Did Sam return to her flat the night of the dress rehearsal, full of despair over her personal life, as well as her thwarted attempts to help others and put right what is wrong in the world? If so, then the influence of Ribavirin could have contributed to her final, fatal, impulsive decision.

  Meanwhile, any of the above suspects may have caused Sam’s death, but purely by accident. The night of the 4–5 July was warm and balmy. If the balcony doors were open, then it is quite possible any fight could have ended up there, with tragic consequences for Sam.

  Comment [Femi1]:

  Have we missed anything? Good call re Ribavirin btw.

  Charlotte

  Why are Martin/James/Glen only outside suspects? Should be near the top.

  Femi

  See Martin’s emails to SJ and Sam after her outburst. He sounds so open, honest, fair. Not running scared, or defensive because he’s just been found out.

  Charlotte

  You still think Bhatoa is behind the fraud behind the appeal?

  Femi

  Yes. But Nick Walford? Tenuous.

  Charlotte

  Sam is on to something. Her outburst is a catalyst, but to what?

  Femi