Lighthouse hostage crisis and Dan Padgett’s arrest

The Lighthouse hostage crisis and Dan Padgett’s arrest turn the discovery of evidence into an immediate struggle over Millie Tranter’s life. When Padgett escapes the house and takes Millie onto the narrow outer ledge of Combe Island lighthouse, Kate Miskin and Francis Benton-Smith have to pursue him without knowing whether they can reach her in time. Miskin’s painful entry through a barred window and Benton-Smith’s eventual approach across the gallery end the standoff with Millie rescued and Padgett under arrest.

From the search to the pursuit

Miskin and Benton-Smith have just finished securing the search’s finds: a phial, hair, and a butter tub, photographed and sealed together in an exhibit bag. The handwritten name and date on the label promise clear identification, even though the paper that would have detailed the tests was not there. Their satisfaction at the result is brief. A fleeting face at the kitchen window catches their attention: two terrified eyes beneath a shorn head, gone before either officer can be sure what alerted them.

They rush to the door, but Padgett has blocked it from outside with his own key. Miskin loses three seconds finding the right key on her bunch; the delay is enough to force another way out. The first window will not move. Benton-Smith tries a second, then smashes its frame with a chair. Miskin sends him after Padgett, judging him the faster pursuer, while she stays to protect the exhibits and camera. He has already gone through the broken window when she follows with the murder case and camera.

Padgett is running towards the sea, with Benton-Smith closing behind him. The delay gives him a lead, and he might have disappeared from sight had Jago Tamlyn not come round the corner of the house and collided with him. Both men fall; Padgett gets up first and resumes his flight. He and Benton-Smith race towards the lighthouse. Miskin sees Millie Tranter coming round its edge, standing still in astonishment as the two men approach. Padgett scoops her up, carries her through the lighthouse door, and bolts it before the pursuers arrive.

The threat on the gallery

The hostage-taking changes the chase into a public emergency. Padgett brings Millie up to the gallery and holds her outside its rail, on a ledge only six inches wide. She clutches the rail and screams while he grips her arm and edges her towards the seaward curve. The group below can see her precarious position but cannot hear what Padgett is shouting over the breeze. Benton-Smith reports that the evidence is secure in the safe and that Tamlyn is fetching ladders; one of the longer ladders will need two people to handle it.

The first attempt to find an opening shows how little the lighthouse’s structure will yield. The upper windows are narrow slits, while the lower one nearest the door is about twelve feet from the ground, roughly three feet high and eighteen inches wide. Its iron bars are embedded too deeply in the stone to be broken free. Miskin decides to squeeze through a segment of the window instead. She strips down to her underwear, bra, socks, and shoes, and smears Vaseline over her body to make the passage possible. Benton-Smith helps her, while Guy Staveley watches in silence.

Miskin has to enter feet-first, using the lower bars for a hold. Her hips and torso pass, but her shoulders become stuck. Benton-Smith pushes when she orders him to, and the pressure dislocates her shoulder. She continues directing him to push until she gets through. Inside, she catches a bar with her good arm, drops to the floor, and makes her way down the steps to unbolt the door. Her left arm is useless and the pain is severe, but opening the way allows Benton-Smith and Staveley to enter.

Rescue and arrest

After reaching the gallery, Miskin pauses, dazzled by the daylight and the view of sea, sky, and island. There is no sound to tell her whether Millie is alive. She proceeds with Benton-Smith, who is beside her as they move around the gallery. Padgett is holding Millie with one hand and the top rail with the other. Miskin reads fear and hatred in his face, alongside a determination that makes each word and movement consequential.

Miskin addresses Padgett calmly and asks him to listen, telling him that killing Millie will not help him and that he will regret it. Millie moans and cries while Padgett answers with a stream of obscenities. Benton-Smith offers to try speaking to him instead. He moves closer along the rail, reaches Millie’s arm, and talks to Padgett at close range. Miskin cannot hear his words. Padgett does not interrupt. After the exchange, Benton-Smith lifts Millie back over the rail with both arms, and Miskin catches her with her one good arm as the girl sobs.

Padgett remains on the gallery. Miskin stands and formally arrests him. The immediate danger has passed, but the rescue does not erase its cost: she has forced herself through a barred window at the expense of a dislocated shoulder, while Millie has been held on a ledge above the island. Benton-Smith’s conversation, by contrast, reaches Padgett without another physical confrontation and makes it possible to bring Millie safely across the rail.

Custody during the quarantine

Padgett is placed in Benton-Smith’s apartment under Benton-Smith’s guard, manacled and sitting on an upright chair with his hands between his knees. He stares into space, showing emotion only when Miskin enters, when he directs contempt and disgust at her. Miskin contacts London and the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary to arrange his transfer. The island’s SARS quarantine complicates that decision: officials must weigh the risks and legal procedures, although Miskin considers the risk of removing Padgett small because neither she nor Benton-Smith is showing symptoms. The authorities agree that he cannot remain on the island; the crisis therefore ends with his arrest but with transfer still being arranged.