Bill Preece is a runaway from a childcare facility who finds work in a local factory. He has no place to stay so the foreman, Stuart Grady, offers him his sofa for a night. A dispute with the landlady leads to her being killed and Bill soon drags his new friend into a spiral of crime. He especially wants to exact revenge against those he feels treated him badly as a foster child. Fitz soon realizes that two people are committing the murders, though he believes the perpetrators to be a man and a woman. With the new baby at home, Judith decides that it’s time to put herself first. The police are still recovering from the death of one of their own and Jane Penhaligon in particular is still having difficulty coping.