Blood Money

A boxing promoter is found strangled with bank notes stuffed in his mouth, which is the kind of message that reads itself. Ross has the unhappy job of breaking the news to the widow, Elaine, while Burke and Reid talk to the fighters from the night before. The winner, Andy Corbett, turns out to be more than good friends with the widow. The ringside doctor, Dr Heron, has been trying to destroy the boxers' medical records, which never looks good in an inquiry. The fight game runs on rumour, and the team has to sort the ring gossip from the evidence before the gyms close ranks.

It's the kind of case where every interview adds a new lie to the pile. An old friend of the promoter is brought in and starts providing the pieces that make the picture snap into focus, and the motive that emerges has nothing to do with a grudge and everything to do with money: fight fixing. The clock starts running, and the team are chasing to stop another death before the night is out. Somewhere in the gyms and dressing rooms, somebody has decided the money is worth the blood.

Glenn Chandler and Martin McCardie wrote it, Brian Kelly directed. Alex Norton is DCI Matt Burke, Blythe Duff is DS Jackie Reid, John Michie is DI Robbie Ross, Colin McCredie is DC Stuart Fraser, and Tamara Kennedy plays Sheila Crombie. Tom Cotcher is Sammy Cassidy, Stephen Duffy plays Jimmy Sullivan, Paul McCole is Andy Corbett and Michelle Gallacher plays Donna Ford.

The boxing world gives the show a welcome change of scenery, all sweat and bravado. But the real subject is money, and how quickly the secrets kept inside a sport turn into something people are willing to kill for. A dead man with his mouth full of cash is a hard image to shake, and the episode knows it.