Reconciled with Red Eric is murdered in a busy market , witnessed by Susan, who cannot identify the killer. Some days later Russ Collier and his sister Jenny are both killed, each with a cheese wire in their hand. They were suspects in the murder of loan shark John Hardy two years earlier but DCI Charlie MacIntyre released them and instead Davor Pasovic was convicted, protesting his innocence. Davor's brother Alexi is brought in but smooth lawyer Daniel Jameson ensures that no case is made against him and Red has cause to ask Charlie if he framed Davor purely to secure a conviction. Philip Stansfield is electrocuted by a railway line, the same location where Felicity Oldroyd was murdered. DI David Wilby arrested her married lover Des Braithwaite, who again claimed his innocence but Red finds out that Stansfield was also seeing her and lied about knowing her. Red believes that the victims were the true killers in the old cases being rubbed out by an avenger. However when Charlie's daughter Mandy is garrotted with a cheese wire Red believes that the killer is also out to punish police officers who made fatally wrong arrests and warns all his staff that their nearest and dearest are in danger.