Sequel to The Colours of Corruption. Three people on a crowded train, brought there by the same crime. Archie Price, painter and police artist, blessed with a photographic memory, is travelling to Chelmsford to testify in a murder trial. The accused, Freddie Porter, is under police escort in the guard's van. Freddie's sister, Polly, is desperately trying to escape her brother's gang before they realise what she's done, unaware he's on the same train. When the locomotive is derailed, Archie and Polly are injured, and put up by the same local family while they recover. Where is Freddie? Polly is so terrified she is driven to desperate measures and Archie finds himself being drawn into her nightmare...