A businessman is beaten to death on his morning jog. The man was newly arrived from Brisbane, coming down to oversee a corporate takeover of a marine salvage company. The small business is short on employees but long on people with motives: a secretary with claims of sexually harassment, an owner worried for his job, and someone responsible for embezzling thousands of dollars from the company.

A frantic early morning visit by an old friend of Harriet's may be an omen of an investigation not yet begun when he later comes forward to police to report having been in the company of a woman the night she was killed. The detectives are torn between two suspects. Joe believes Harriet's friend being unable to recall events of the night in question makes him an obvious suspect while Harriet looks at the woman's fiancé as the more likely suspect.

The Kingsway detectives are drawn into the medical world when an anaesthetist is found dead in a hospital car park. Was it a random attack or could malpractice have had something to do with it? Investigations soon reveal that the murder victim had many skeletons in her closet. But so too, it seems, do several of the other doctors and patients at the hospital where she worked. Meanwhile, having sworn Harriet to secrecy about being stabbed with a needle by a junkie, Theo is furious when she breaks his confidence.