Gates, knocked unconscious by the attackers, tampers with evidence, hiding a whiskey glass before police arrive to find Jackie has vanished. He claims he has just got there himself. Hastings and Arnott quiz him on his relationship with Jackie and he admits she was an old flame but denies knowledge of her money laundering. Arnott goes over the top in confronting him with evidence to suggest he was at Jackie's house when she was killed but makes himself look desperate. Gates is taken off the case and later, whilst investigating Wes's murder, is grabbed by masked men and an evil child who threaten to frame him for Jackie's murder unless he takes over her money laundering racket.

Whilst the money laundering investigation is passed to Fraud Squad, Gates is still hounded by his blackmailers. Kate wants to connect him to Jackie's murder and sets out to gain his trust to find further proof though Gates' loyal colleague Morton rumbles her. Hastings and Arnott interview Gates' team and learn from D.S. Cottan that he diverted them from attending the drug dealers' murders, leading them to believe that Gates knew that the dead pair were working with Jackie though Gates persuades his gullible superior that the couple were in fact terrorists building a bomb. Arnott is lured to a warehouse by a telephone call purporting to lead to more information but finds himself captured by the gangsters who, as Gates walks away, tie him up and torture him for his knowledge.