Smithy is assigned to puppywalk two new PSCOs assigned to the station – Colin Fairfax and Laura Bryant, with Kent partnering Bryant again after their criminal antics on the Cole Lane estate a year ago. The group investigate when a group of local youths vandalize lifts in a local tower block, and then attack the property of a local resident. However, an illegal search conducted by Bryant proves to be an issue in securing a conviction. Meanwhile, Carver is assigned as SIO on the case of Karen Burnett, who has disappeared without trace on her way home from work. Harman is delighted to get her first role as Family Liaison Officer, and speaks to the victim's husband, Scott, who is concerned for her welfare. Elsewhere, Nixon's horror that daughter Abi is pregnant with abductor Hugh Wallis' baby, and that they intend to marry, leads her to play Hugh at his own game