Superintendent Kincaid is torn away from a bitter family custody to an arson secene at a vacant warehouse in Southwark, Inside, the police discover a corpse burned beyond recognition. Meanwhile Kincaid's lover and former partner, DI Gemma James, is trying to cope with private concerns of her own, while concentrating on the disappearance of a young, beautiful hospital administrator who has vanished without a trace. Across the city, inside an old, dark, rambling house, a nameless woman is holding ten-year-old Harriet hostage. Fearful of her rigidly controlling captor and desperately worried about her feuding mother and father back at home, Harriet tries to escape... White the clock ticks, Kincaid and Gemma must call upon every resource as they work together on their most menacing case