A young boy, Ashley Palmer, goes missing, and DC Rod Skase is positive Ashley has been abducted by his mother's boyfriend, Peter Gough. Investigating with PC Nick Klein, Skase questions Ashley's friend Jason Toomey, who says he saw Ashley get into a car the previous night. Although out of Klein's earshot, Toomey tells Skase the car has Peter Gough's registration number. They search the car and arrest Gough on drugs charges, and when blood is found in the car, it looks like Skase was right. When Ashley's father says it was his car that the boy got into, Skase's case starts to fall apart. Confined to his desk by a furious DCI Meadows, Skase works out that Ashley's friend Danny Gough knows he's on a boat, the "Josie-May". He races to the dock and is horrified to find that Ashley has died after fighting with Danny. DCI Meadows vows to charge Skase with perverting the course of justice - whether he does or not, Rod Skase's career in the police is over.