Wire in the Blood

When a young prostitute is found dead, clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill sees an immediate parallel with the crimes committed by a serial killer incarcerated in a high-security psychiatric unit, Derek Tyler. There can be no doubt that Tyler is innocent of the most recent crime but the similarities - the women were all blond, young, bound to the bed and cut until they bled to death - cannot be ignored. Tyler was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic but Tony soon realizes that he wasn't hearing voices telling him to commit the murders but rather was taking instructions from someone. Suspecting a link to an ongoing Vice operation, Fielding teams up with squad detectives Shields and Mulligan. The case becomes very personal for the entire squad when DC Paula McIntyre, working in a sting operation to get the killer, is kidnapped by the man and may be his next victim.

When an 11-year old Janita is seen being dragged into a car kicking and screaming from a housing estate, the police issue an Amber alert. As the minutes and hours pass by, they know their chances of rescuing the girl diminish. As Tony Hill reviews the evidence however, he becomes less and less convinced that this is an abduction by a stranger, and believes that the girl must have known her attacker. The missing girl's mother is overwrought and her stepfather has a conviction for assault. A sudden twist however changes the entire nature of the investigation, leading Tony and DI Alex Fielding to realize that they'd made a fundamental error at the outset.

Another victim disappears and a severed finger is sent to constable Chris Collins in an envelope, suggesting that the killer is into playing cat and mouse games with him. Chris, a new young constable whose attitude Alex dislikes, then disappears and is abducted by the murderer who strips him and strings him up. Tony realizes that the killer is the sort of person that anybody would trust - such as a doctor - as he races to save Chris's life.