Detective Constable Sharon Mayfield is on routine surveillance when she spots a dead man in a car outside a house. The locks have been sealed with Super Glue and Claude Huddart's face has been mutilated. As with most murders, there's a jigsaw puzzle to be solved. But here the pieces don't fit. Why is an informant, Jeremy Dince, being so helpful? And there's something that doesn't feel right about the grieving Alice Huddart. The pubs and clubs remain the best potential source of information and it is here where an aged Ronald Blenny attempts to pick Sharon up on the pretext of sharing some information about the killing. There's also the younger, and more sinister Philip Otton, acquaintance of the bereaved Alice, and known to both Blenny and Dince. Sharon cannot fathom why she is being warned off and cannot work out the connection between the protagonists. The climax is swift, shocking and unexpected.