- [talking about deathbed confessions]
- Chief Inspector Morse: The church loves a repentant sinner. Good for business.
- Chief Inspector Morse: There's nothing trivial about fornication. It's a great pity, but there we are.
- Chief Inspector Morse: It's murder, Lewis.
- Detective Sergeant Lewis: Why do you say that?
- Chief Inspector Morse: Scratches on the face, coded messages. It's right up my street.
- Chief Inspector Morse: [Last lines] Lewis, if anyone offered you a free holiday in the sun, what would you do?
- Detective Sergeant Lewis: Take it.
- Chief Inspector Morse: Sensible fellow. Let's get out of here. I hate the smell of hospitals. "All this to love and rapture's due. Must we not pay a debt to pleasure, too?"
- Detective Sergeant Lewis: What?
- Chief Inspector Morse: Rochester, Lewis
- Detective Sergeant Lewis: I think maybe it's time I bought you a drink.
- Chief Inspector Morse: Long overdue, Lewis.
- Chief Inspector Morse: It was money in the envelope, I'm sure of it. Sylvia was still light fingered, it seems.
- Detective Sergeant Lewis: The money was meant for Jennifer Colby.
- Chief Inspector Morse: And it's still missing.
- [pause]
- Chief Inspector Morse: Now, why would someone want to pay off Miss Colby?
- [pause]
- Chief Inspector Morse: Struck dumb, are you, Lewis? A coded letter, money, violence. Too much for you?
- Detective Sergeant Lewis: Haven't you forgotten something, Sir? Sex.
- Chief Inspector Morse: Quite right, Lewis. Well done.
- Sylvia Kane: [First lines] Excuse me, when's the next bus to Woodstock?
- Mrs. Jarman: It's supposed to be here soon. It's generally late.
- Sylvia Kane: Why don't we try and hitch?
- [Car stops and Sylvia gets in]
- Sylvia Kane: Aren't you coming? I'll see you in the morning, then.
- Chief Inspector Morse: Why do you say it's a puzzle, Max?
- Max: Well, Morse, my dear, she's been run over, I should say.
- Chief Inspector Morse: By a car that scratched her face?
- Max: Precisely. I'll tell you more after the autopsy.
- Chief Inspector Morse: [Bends down to look at an envelope next to the body] Miss Jennifer Colby, St. Aldgate's Assurance Company.
- [motioning toward the deceased]
- Chief Inspector Morse: We know her name?
- Max: Sylvia Kane, according to the lad who found her.
- Chief Inspector Morse: I think you're right.
- Max: What?
- Chief Inspector Morse: There is a puzzle here.