Inspector John Marlott discovers the body of a dead child washed up on the shore, but a further examination of the corpse reveals a grotesque state of mutilation.

Inspector Marlott visits the house of artist and printmaker William Blake, who is on his deathbed but receives Marlott as a prophet of things to come.

Flora throws herself on Inspector Marlott's mercy after escaping from the clutches of Billy Oates. Believing her to be a key witness to Alice's disappearance, he brings her to his lodgings for safety.

Marlott takes a terrified Pritty on their assignation to meet the men who kill for money. They find themselves in the tunnels under Smithfield market, which run from the Fortunes of War pub to St Bart's Hospital.

Boz publishes a newspaper article about the murders which causes a public outcry and infuriates Peel on the eve of the Anatomy Act.

Marlott finally pieces together the movement of bodies at St Bart's Hospital, and a number of suspects continue to plague his mind.