A psychiatric patient, Reginald Aitken, who has been hospitalised for the last 18 years manages to escape from hospital. The same night a 17 year old girl, Sadie Carr (Commander Blake's god daughter), goes missing from a night club. Reginald is discovered holding the girl's body and covered in his blood. Reginald is thought to be the killer as his fingerprints were found on the murder weapon, however, the body of an earlier victim is uncovered, and it is proven that she was killed when he was locked up in the hospital. DCI Bridges gets the unsolicited help from a rather rude DI from Amsterdam, Van Hauten, who had similar cases in Amsterdam.