Sabrine Perera: How a casual comment gave Dept. Q their biggest lead in the Merritt Lingard investigation
- Cherish
- Jun 29
- 3 min read
This post on Netflix’s Dept. Q contains SPOILERS for all nine episodes. Please make sure you have already seen in full this wonderful series before reading on.
The Dept. Q crew – DCI Carl Morck, DI James Hardy, DC Rose Dickson, civilian Akram Salim – all believed in dogged police work, in the value of sifting through tons of data, in looking for anomalies in a victim’s day, in finding that one seemingly unrelated thing that happened in the city that could be a missing piece in the investigative puzzle. It was one of the things that made Dept. Q such a brilliant watch, this slow reveal, episode by episode, on why this small thing that happened, this casual comment, the camera lingering on something, actually mattered in the investigation. Watching Dept. Q was like watching a beautiful puzzle unfold. Watch carefully, and be rewarded.
But, the biggest clues were not always extracted from having a reservoir of patience. Sometimes, it was about hearing that single thing that pops in a casual conversation, and deciding to investigate further.
This was what happened when the Q squad decided to bring in Merritt’s former PA, Sabrine Perera, to ask her questions about her long missing boss, primarily, the identity of ‘S’, who sent Merritt flowers with a note that alluded to a sexual relationship. Sabrine denied being ‘S’; she and Merritt did not play for the same team. She also did not think ‘S’ was a man from the office; they all wanted Merritt, but Merritt was not interested.
Except for one. Morck asked if Merritt was friendly with anyone at the office, and Sabrine mentioned Liam Taylor. She described their relationship as more cordial than friendly, and only because they worked together at the Graham Finch trial. Merritt thought he was a good prosecutor, and saw him as a ‘challenge’. Sabrine did not think Merritt would go for him, since he was happily married; if she had a lover, it would be someone outside the office.
A challenge. Sabrine may have known Merritt well, but not that well. Morck, on the other hand, read Merritt’s personality correctly, and guessed that she acted on what she found to be a challenge – Liam. Morck’s history with Liam allowed him to see through him and break him quickly. And so the age old tale came out, the married man facing middle age who fell passionately in lust with his sensual colleague, only for her to break things off once she was done with him.
It was from Liam that Morck got the name of Merritt’s preferred hotel for her trysts, Prince’s Garden, and the credit card she used under her mother’s maiden name, Lila Graham. It was this information that led the Q squad to the name Sam Haig, and ultimately, Lyle Jennings, and the very much alive Merritt Lingard who held on long enough to be found by the humble squad that could.
One word was all it took, and a detective who had the sharpness and the experience to follow through it. Sabrine had one other interesting comment; she said Morck sounded like Merritt. What would happen when a Merritt in prosecutor mode was in the same room as Morck being Morck? Can we please get a season two and find out?