Plot

Vera investigates the murder of a 56-year-old woman discovered by a young girl on the wild and desolate Northumberland moors.

When Anne-Marie Richards is found dead on the moors, shoe-less, Vera deduces that she was killed at home and the body dumped. Although her daughters and doctor claim that she had no love interest pathologist Marcus notes that there had been recent sexual activity, leading Vera to Chinese restaurateur Huang, though he was only interested in buying Anne-Marie's house. Vera discovers that the victim was a frequent visitor to a seaside guest house where she entertained gentleman friends met whilst working as a barmaid, as well as acting as a drug dealer for one of her daughters. An examination of the family provides Vera with the identity of the killer though the investigation is marked by an attack on one of Vera's team.—don @ minifie-1

A young girl runs into a bar having found a body. Vera arrives on the scene with Bethany to find that searchers have trampled the scene. The body is a woman in her 50's wearing no shoes. Vera finds Alchemilla Molis, a rare plant, on the body and instigates a search for a matching plant on the moor. The medical examiner, Marcus, places the death at about one week ago.

When the girl, Ciara, is interviewed, she identifies the victim as the mother of Mrs. McKitrick, a local schoolteacher. Vera and Bethany determine that her name is Anne Marie Richards, and search her house, finding disarray and a broken glass on the floor. They interview a delivery man who is unhelpful, then go to see Nicole McKitrick, with her husband Simon and infant daughter. During the interview Nicole mentions a sister, Christine. Nicole had received a text from her mother but had not bothered to respond. They take Nicole to visit Christine, but neither sister is willing to identify the body. They also explain that Anne Marie had no boyfriend.

Anne Marie's MD comes in and identifies the body, but also mentions that she did have a partner. Marcus identifies that she had been strangled bringing on a heart attack, and that she had been sexually active in the last few days.

She had texted Nicole "Running late. Don't worry". The investigators find that she had run off with another man when the girls were about two, and had only recently returned. Aiden reveals he's getting married and Bethany feels she is in the doghouse after applying for a job in the Major Crimes unit. Vera goes to interview Mr. Kipford, the next-door neighbor, alone. He is in a wheelchair and they had waited until his carer, Pamela, had arrived before interviewing him. He had heard a car door slam that night, and both he and Pamela remember a deliveryman being a significant presence in her life. The detectives return to the deliveryman, Huang. He admits that they had had a relationship but says she broke it off when she found out he was married with children. He had given her several thousand dollars in cash as a down payment on buying her house. He says it was more of a favor than an actual business transaction. Vera gambles that a thumbprint on the broken glass would be his and he admits to breaking the glass in frustration.

The cash was about 8000 pounds, a reasonable down payment on the value of the house. Running background checks, they find that Christine had been put in a drug treatment program years ago, but has been clean since. Anne Marie had called a cab to take her to a guest house on the coast with a two-day reservation. They theorize she had been killed in her house and the body had been dumped afterwards. Examining her phone records, they find she had sent "Be there soon. Love you." to an unidentified number and had made several calls to the cab company. Huang's alibi checks out and it is not his DNA on the body.

Bethany asks Nicole if Anne Marie had been trying to move away, but she says not, and asks Bethany not to say that to Christine. Nicole had planned for Anne Marie to spend the night with her while her husband was away. She hadn't received the "Running late" text until the next day.

Forensics turns up a match for the plant found on the body, and at the scene they find two sets of prints. Marcus calls Vera to explain that bruise marks on her body were the result of being kicked post-mortem, rather than being dragged. Vera realizes that she had been alive at the scene, had kicked off her shoes and run for her life.

They interview a pub owner where Vera had been working. She had the impression that Anne Marie had been disliked, partly due to poison pen reviews on the pub website. The pub owner suspects Bob Tate, a local farmer, of sending the messages. They find that Anne Marie had sent an anonymous call concerning animal abuse on Tate's farm, and his horses had been put down. Bethany confronts Vera about her application to Major Crimes, and Vera admits that she had told them she didn't think Bethany was ready.

When they visit Tate they realize that Ciara was his granddaughter. He denies sending the poison pen reviews but admitted that he had a grudge against Anne Marie due to the horses. He says Simon, a vet, had cooperated with her to have the horses put down.

Interviewing Simon, he admits that he hadn't cared for her due to the way she had reappeared in their lives. He denies that he had worked with her to have the horses put down, instead she had forced his hand by going to the council about them. His alibi, training for a pentathlon thirty miles away, checks out.

Anne Marie's house has been burgled but they can't identify anything missing. They find the online troll came from Mr. Kipford's house and accuse him. He says Anne Marie helped him around the house and Vera realizes that Pamela was the online troll. She says she thought Anne Marie was a gold digger but Vera remains suspicious. They find her son Dash was a cab driver and Anne Marie had been phoning him several times a day.

They bring Dash in. He claims to be in love with Anne Marie but had been reluctant to say anything since her daughters would not have approved. His prints were on the door of Anne Marie's house and he claims to have broken in trying to recover a bracelet he gave her. He didn't know she was selling the house, however, and doesn't recognize the "Be there soon, love you" text. If Anne Marie had been seeing someone else Dash would have a motive. It is his DNA on the body.

Bethany asks Simon about an argument that been overheard, and he says it was about Anne Marie coming back. He also tells Bethany that Nicole had been covering for Christine. Vera and Aiden find that Anne Marie had had filled prescriptions for powerful painkillers at a far-away pharmacy. Re-interviewing the MD, she admits giving her the pills for chronic pain, saying she had broken her back in a horse-riding accident. Marcus can disprove this from the autopsy though - and there were also no painkillers in the body. Concluding that the medications were for Christine, they return to her flat, but no one answers the door.

Christine has been waiting outside Nicole and Simon's house for Simon to leave. When he takes their daughter to the park, she goes in the house and finds Nicole in the throes of an overdose. Bethany returns to Simon after a pep talk from Vera about her transfer.

Anne Marie's credit card was used to buy nappies, and Vera realizes that Christine was the one covering for Nicole. Bethany sends Edwards to find child care and drives Simon and his daughter back home. Vera interviews Nicole at the hospital and sneaks a peek at her hospital records, realizing that Nicole has been the victim of domestic abuse. She'd refused to admit it since she taught small children. She says that Simon has a gun and would have killed them if they'd tried to leave.

They send forces out to the house, realizing that Simon is alone with Bethany. Bethany also realizes after Simon slips, that he was the killer. They manage to call Bethany and tell her not to return to the house where the weapon is, and send units to her location. Bethany and Simon struggle but Simon is actually carrying his gun, and he shoots Bethany. Before he can drive off the units arrive, but Bethany passes away.

Vera interviews Simon. It turns out he had biked home from his training session since his wife wasn't answering his texts. Anne Marie had arranged to get Nicole away over the weekend but Simon had caught on to their plan. He drove up to Anne Marie's house and strangled her. Bethany had mistaken firearm checks for DBS checks, which is why no one had known that Simon possessed a gun. Ciara finds Dash's bracelet out on the moor and returns it to the police.