Detangling a murder mystery can be a very strenuous job! Vera faces a similar strain in solving Scott Rhodes’ murder case the murder mystery of Scott Rhodes in Season 13, episode 3 of Vera. The miniseries consists of stand-alone murder mysteries in every episode, making it exciting for the audience to watch new cases with new turns. Scott, a co-owner of a chip shop, turns up dead in the freezer of his own shop. Now, some questions may be raised: Who has killed Scott? What are the motives of the people around Scott? And last but not the least, will Vera be able to catch the culprit?
Spoilers Ahead
What Was Rachel Up To?
Rachel Lim, a worker in Scott’s chip shop, was a worker at Helliwell before. Scott had managed to tempt her with a bigger salary offer at his workplace. He had done so to make sure that his rival Pat Helliwell’s business would go down. When Rachel finally started working at Scott’s shop, she was disappointed to find that all his promises were fake and he was paying her less than what he had promised. The shifts at the shop were also extremely arduous, which made her quite frustrated with her workplace. Rachel was so angry with Scott that she wanted to ruin his business, and hence she had gone back to the shop on a Sunday to keep the freezer open so that all the fish would be ruined. She had also written several anonymous reviews online about Scott’s business to defame him. Later, when Vera approached Pat to inquire about her and Scott’s rivalry, she told him that he used dirty tricks to destroy her business. He used her bins till they overflowed; he also stole her employees and customers. She told Vera that he had also gone to the extent of leaving a dead rat in her kitchen. It is possible that Rachel was regretting leaving her work at Helliwell’s and, hence, was venting her frustrations by trying to disrupt Scott’s business.
What Was Ross’ Motive?
It was Ross Simmons’ family business that Scott and Ross had been running. However, Ross was fed up with Scott’s way of handling his business and wanted to dissolve his partnership with him. He had sent Scott an email regarding that matter, and they had both agreed on splitting their paths. Later, Ross revealed to Vera that he would never open his shop again and had been wrong in trusting Scott and making him his business partner. He had left the shop in debt, which caused Ross to lose everything that his parents had built. He told the investigators that Scott had faked successful business endeavors in the past, making Ross fall for Scott’s trap.
What Was Ollie’s Motive?
Ollie Keeble, Tyler’s football coach, was in love with Carrie and had a strong motive to murder Scott. When Vera approached him, he denied having any feelings for Carrie and said that he was only concerned with Tyler’s football endeavors. He said that Tyler had a lot of potential in him, but his talents could be hampered due to his temper issues. However, his interest in Carrie was proven when he was caught lurking outside her house on CCTV footage. He had been stalking Carrie and had even gone to the extent of threatening Scott on the phone about his misbehavior with Carrie and Tyler.
How Did Scott Scam Heidi?
Scott was in a lot of debt and needed money to clear those and also provide expensive gifts to his pregnant girlfriend, Sophie. Investigations into the case highlighted the fact that regular payments came into Scott’s account from the account of Heidi Stokes. It was later revealed that Heidi was Carrie’s paternal grandmother. Vera and DI Ashworth further found that Carrie’s sister, Crystal, had died in a car crash years ago in Bristol. When they reached Heidi’s residence for further investigations, they found her to be lying in a helpless state, and paramedics were helping her out. She was lying in her house for several days in a dehydrated condition and hence had to be immediately hospitalized, and Carrie was arrested for elder neglect.
Meanwhile, Vera learned from the neighbors that Scott would often go to meet Heidi. When Heidi regained her senses, she told them that Scott was patient with her and took care of her. He had also helped her set up her internet banking. Little did she know that he was robbing her and taking away all her money to settle his debts. When Vera asked Carrie whether she went to meet Heidi along with Scott, she denied it, saying that she hadn’t seen her grandma since her parents’ deaths. She had introduced Scott to Heidi when she last had a stroke; since then, Scott had been going to meet her but often came back and said that Heidi hated her and did not want to stay in touch with her. Scott had been trying to keep Carrie away from her grandmother so that she would not know how he was robbing her of her inheritance.
Later, it was found that Crystal was alive and had come to meet her grandmother at the hospital. When Vera spotted her, she ran away and tried hiding from them. However, in the end, she was eventually caught and taken for an interrogation. Both the sisters are seen to be constantly refusing to comment on anything that the investigators accused them of, proving that they had made a plan to finish off Scott. It is possible that they found out how Scott had been scamming their grandmother and had planned his murder together.
Who Actually Killed Scott?
The autopsy report stated that a heavy metal object had cracked Scott’s skull open, and then someone had stabbed him, causing an abdominal injury. This proved that there were actually two killers involved. A man’s DNA had been found on the murder site, and the investigators realized that the only male employee in the shop was Antony. They matched his DNA with the DNA found at the site and realized that it was a match. Vera went up to him and questioned him about his reason for killing Scott. He said that Tyler would often come to the shop to meet with Scott, but he would misbehave with him. Antony would feel sad for him and often offered him food. One day, when Antony went back to the shop because he had forgotten some of his belongings, he saw that Scott was attacking Carrie. He took the blame for the murder on himself and said that he had done so to make sure that he could save Carrie.
Vera knew that he was trying to take all the blame on himself just to save a helpless woman. Vera told Antony that if he took all the blame on himself, he would face a sentence of 15 years. Later, when she asked Carrie about the real incident, she told her that after Antony had hit his head with a pan, she had stabbed him. Carrie was nicer to Antony than Scott ever was, and hence he had decided to take the fall. It is also possible that Antony had a soft spot for Carrie, making him want to safeguard her. There is a possibility that Carrie and Scott had an altercation about him conning her grandma, resulting in him trying to attack her, eventually leading to his death.
Final Words
The murder mystery has several loopholes, as answers to many questions have not been found in this episode. Why did Crystal hide for such a long time? Why did she pretend to be dead? There is a possibility that Crystal was involved in some illegal activities that helped her hide her real identity. It is highly possible that Crystal had gotten into an altercation with Scott over her grandmother’s fortune, causing him to attack her. Then Antony must have hit him in the head, and later Crystal must have stabbed him. Carrie probably had been trying to take her sister’s blame on herself to make sure that she was safe!
