Harry Cunningham investigates the death of a young Orthodox Jew. He accedes to the family's request that he not use invasive procedures in his examination and finds that the young man was savagely kicked and beaten to death. DI McKenzie has a suspect in custody but from what medical and forensic evidence Harry is able to find, with Nikki Alexander's assistance, it's obvious that the family is lying about the young man's whereabouts the night he was killed. Leo Dalton meanwhile investigates the death of a young student who died from a drug overdose. Leo is ...

The half-naked corpse of a twelve-year-old boy is found in his school grounds and Liam, the child in whose company he was last seen, has disappeared. Nikki is particularly involved because the school's head teacher,Noel Hopkins, is the teacher who, years earlier, encouraged her interest in science.