Sam continues her investigation into Mark James' murder. When another of Sebatian Bird's one-time friends is killed the police are ever more convinced of his guilt and grow increasingly frustrated at Sam's inability to provide them the evidence that they are sure is there. The solution lies in an old case and someone's desperate need for revenge.

The team is called in to identify the corpse of a woman whose face was surgically removed after death. Janet Mander, a Home Office anthropologist, cannot link it to similar murders but, after Nikki has reconstructed the face, Holly, a medical student on work experience with Harry,recognizes the woman as Fran Price, an investigative journalist. Pargeter, her agent, is evasive and Supt. Barker, the investigating police officer, does not help as he is obsessed with the idea that Leonid Polyak, a Russian criminal Fran helped to put behind bars, has ordered a hit on her from his prison cell. Whilst Leo gets closer to Janet, Harry is concerned when he sees Barker entering Holly's flat and later she is found murdered in her bed.

Everyone is affected by Holly Farr's murder. The pathologists find that she was tortured and beaten but died from having her throat slit. The police believe that her death is related to that of Fran Price and the recent leaks of forensic evidence to the press may have led the killer to her. Supt. Barker decides to put armed policeman to guard each of the three pathologists but Harry Cunningham, who saw Barker go into Holly's house, is suspicious of his true motives. When a prominent Russian, Oleg Kolik, seeks asylum in the UK saying he is the true target of the Russian assassins, Harry thinks that Fran Price may have been targeting him in her new book. When Leonid Polyak is murdered while being transferred between prisons, he decides it's time to put his job on the line in the pursuit of justice.