In the bell tower, the bells won't ring. Liam goes upstairs to investigate and finds the clappers have been tied. Then he is shot. Barnaby runs up to the church tower and finds Liam. Meanwhile, Maisie confronts Peter and Frances with a gun. Maisie says, "If you wish to say a brief prayer, Frances, you have time..." "But I've done nothing to you, Maisie ," says Frances. "You're a bell ringer. You have an outstanding debt to pay. All of you. From 1860. It's only five generations. A blink of history since the Reverend Jonathan Ebbrell was murdered in this church. I have very close links. Blood links. To the man you killed. Jonathan Ebbrell was my great, great, great grandfather. He died at the hands of bell ringers. His widow was reduced to poverty and five generations of Ebbrells have been dogged by disaster and despair, depression and suicide." "Maisie that is tragic, but not of our doing," says Frances. Maisie continues, "The bell ringers of Midsomer Wellow killed him. They escaped the law of the land. You are the bell ringers of Midsomer Wellow. You cannot escape the laws of justice and retribution. There's no release other than expiation. We're all bound by history, you see. History and blood. My nephew's wife is having a baby, you know. For the sake of that unborn baby, for the peace and happiness of other Ebbrells yet to come, the debt must now be paid." Upstairs Barnaby manages to get one of the bells to ring, startling Maisie down below and Troy manages to tackle her. He gets hit in the face with a swinging rope.
