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Spoilers ahead!
England, May 1940
On the cliff top near the village of Fenton on the Hastings coast, Thomas Kramer, a man in his sixties, is picnicking with his wife Elsie. While he is taking photographs of her with the sea as a backdrop, an
ARP warden, cycling past, sees him and also notes a ship far out in the bay. Later that day in a little cottage on the coast, Kramer, a music professor, gives a boy a piano lesson while Elsie hangs out washing in the garden.
That night, the Kramers are awakened from sleep by police officers, who have come to intern them as
enemy aliens under the Defence Regulations and Aliens Order Act of 1920. They are taken to a police station and questioned separately. It is established that the couple came to England in 1938, have relatives in Germany and a nephew, Mark Andrews, in the British Army, stationed at Aldershot. Kramer was sponsored by the
Society for the Protection of Science and Learning. In England the couple have been given a "B" registration which restricts movement and forbids the possession and use of a camera. The interrogators believe that Kramer was photographing the ship and has been sending information to America under the pretence of coded chess moves. They also believe that his wife was making a signal when in her garden, clothes on a washing line being the first sighting made by enemy aircraft approaching from the south. The Kramers are taken with many others to a dank factory building roughly converted for use as a military prison. As the internees are herded into cells resembling chicken pens Kramer's distraught wife collapses with a heart attack and dies.
* * *
Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle alights from a taxi outside
Police HQ in London. He enters the building and proceeds to the office of Assistant Commissioner R F Summers.The AC is not pleased with Foyle, who sits in gloomy mood while his superior flatly rejects his fourth request for transfer. Foyle feels that he could be doing something more relevant to the war effort and argues that he's not needed for pen-pushing, blackouts, traffic patrols, and the like, but is firmly told that as a first-class police officer he is needed where he is. Foyle points out that the crime rate has nearly halved. The AC says that may be so in Hastings, but per head of the population it is rising - various offences, including murder. "Has it crossed your mind that we're training half the country how to kill? Eh? What's the effect of that going to be?"
Foyle points out that he does not have the men to cover a murder investigation as most of them had enlisted; his sergeant was somewhere in the North Sea. Summers is exasperated and says it is the same for everyone, last month alone three Chief Constables enlisted.
Foyle says, flatly, "I'm wasting my time on the south coast, I want to be transferred."
Summers responds adamantly. "Request refused!"
Foyle is not surprised by the response. He says dully, "Thank you for seeing me." He rises from his chair and walks across the room. Summers allows him to get as far as the door before saying, brusquely, "Sit down, Foyle! I haven't finished yet."
The DCS pauses, chews his lip for a second and then wearily obeys the order. Summers tells him that he will find him a new sergeant. "Oh, and I understand that you don't drive? I've never heard of a Chief Superintendent who can't drive, but still..." Foyle looks as though he has heard the comment before. "…I've managed to arrange a personal driver for you, name of Stewart, pulled out of the MTC. It's a bit unorthodox, I know, but it's the best we could do." He dismisses Foyle, telling him not to submit any more requests for transfer.As Foyle goes to the door, Summers fires after him, "You know, Foyle, if you weren't so damned obstinate, you'd see that I'm actually on your side. You do a good job. No telling where you might be once the war is over."
Pausing before he exits, Foyle says thoughtfully, "It'll depend on who wins I suppose."
* * *
Mark Andrews, in soldier's uniform, calls at the manor which is home to Henry Beaumont, the local magistrate and his one-time employer, to ask him to use his influence to help his uncle. He explains that Kramer had to leave Germany because he spoke out against what was going on. When Beaumont says that he can do nothing Andrews protests that Beaumont's wife is German but has not been interned. The magistrate sternly rebukes him for impertinence and sends him away. On his way out, Andrews passes Greta Beaumont in the hall and gives her a long, sour look. Outside, he notes Beaumont's daughter waiting as a car driven by her fiancé pulls to a stop in front of the manor.Indoors, Greta asks her husband what the angry-looking young soldier wanted, but he brushes the query aside. She then tells him that Michael Turner has arrived; she does not look pleased with the fact.
At lunch Turner says that he is over from London for a couple of days and when Greta asks if he is staying at The Bell, answers yes. In the resulting exchange her tone is critical, prompting Sarah to speak to her sharply about her attitude. Beaumont rebukes his daughter and she responds by remarking that if Greta has something against Michael, she should come out and say it. She looks pointedly at Greta. "Or is it about the money again?" Beaumont objects, demanding civilised behaviour. "When this is your house, you can do as you like, but until then…"* * *
DCS Foyle is typing at his desk in the police station when there is a knock at his office door. Without looking up, he responds with a "Come in" whereupon the door opens and a woman enters, and inquires, "Chief Superintendent Foyle?"
Foyle glances up and then back to his typewriter, but does a double take when he realises that his caller is in her early twenties and wearing khaki uniform. Questioningly, he replies, "Yes?"
The young woman marches up to the desk, salutes and announces brightly, "I've been assigned to you as your new driver."
"Ah." Foyle is disconcerted and takes a moment to digest the information. "Er, S... Stewart?"
"Samantha Stewart, sir."
Foyle's puzzled expression requests clarification. The young woman cheerfully responds with "You can call me Sam!" While she appears to be happy with her posting, Foyle appears to be anything but.
The DCS, gas-mask over one shoulder and trilby in hand, leaves the office with his new driver and as they walk down the corridor to the front desk, Sam fills Foyle's ears with rapid, chirpy chatter. She tells him things he really does not want to know, such as the facts that she was born in Lyminster and her father is still the local vicar there. Foyle tries to appear interested.
As they approach the front desk opposite the station entrance Sam keeps talking. "Anyway, it's not much fun being a vicar's daughter, on your best behaviour all the time. Personally, I couldn't wait for the war to come along. Chance to get out." She grins at the police sergeant behind the desk.
As Foyle signs out, he comments dryly, "It's em, very unusual for, em, a ranking officer to be assigned a driver outside the Force.""Yes, that's what I said when they told me, but they said they couldn't get anyone else, so here I am."
Foyle is glum. He says resignedly, "Right" and leads the way out of the station.
As they set off in the police Wolesley, Sam asks what her boss is investigating, adding with relish, "I hope it's something juicy - a spy ring or a nice, grizzly murder."
Foyle is taken aback and responds sternly, "I think we should get something straight right from the very beginning. You don't ask me what I'm doing. You don't ask me what I'm investigating. You simply take me to where I want to go. Is that understood?"
Sam smiles brightly. "Whatever you say."
As she brings the car to a halt at a shingled beach, Foyle instructs her to wait, opens the door and begins to climb out. Sam immediately asks how long he is going to be and with a look of exasperation he drops back into his seat. He opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get a word out Sam inquires if he is meeting someone. Pained, Foyle turns to her. "Excuse me, did you not understand what I've just been, er…?"
Sam looks bemused and asks innocently, "What?"
Foyle gives up. "Never mind. Just wait here, will you?" He steps out of the car and closes the door before his new driver has a chance to annoy him further.
Foyle searches amongst rows of fishermen's huts until he finds a man whom he has arranged to meet about having call-up papers "mislaid" for a bribe of £150. The man comments that Foyle is a bit old to worry about being called up, but Foyle explains that it is for his 23-year-old son whom he does not want to go. After establishing that the man's name is Keegan and he is a civil servant in the Brighton office, Foyle identifies himself as a policeman and proceeds to arrest him. He is stopped short and doubles up as Keegan punches him in the midriff before running off in blind panic. Recovering, Foyle gives pursuit through the rows of huts and fishing boats, but the other man is well ahead of him. Rounding a hut, he comes to a halt and stands wide-eyed in astonishment. Keegan is flat out on the ground, unconscious, and Sam is standing over him with a dustbin lid in her hand.Foyle looks in wonder. "Sam?"
She replies, "Yes, sir?" a little surprised herself at what she has done.
Foyle fingers the knot in his tie as he thoughtfully surveys his new driver's handiwork. Deciding not to complain about her disobeying instructions to stay in the car, he says appreciatively, "Thank you!"
As Foyle walks back to the Wolesley, a little grin tugs at the corner of Sam's mouth.
Continue on...