Wilfred announces that he will transfer the Grange to the Ridgewell Trust and hold a vote on whether he will carry on as spiritual adviser and, despite Eric and Helen's plot to usurp Wilfred, the majority of the Grange vote for him to stay, ensuring the Lourdes trips will continue. Grace's post mortem deems her death to be non-suspicious and Dalgliesh struggles to gather enough evidence to charge Wilfred.

In May 1975, eight-year-old Darren and churchwarden Miss Wharton find two dead bodies in the vestry of St Matthew's Church, Paddington, their throats slashed. One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently resigned Tory MP, the other a homeless man called Harry Mack. Dalgliesh is called in to investigate, accompanied by cocky DS Masterson and his new DS Kate Miskin.