Plot

A container washes ashore and is found to contain a dead man. Davey thinks an accident is to blame but Jane suspects something darker is the cause.

Ian Igby's corpse is found in a container washed up from a shipwreck and, given Ian's criminal past, Davey believes he was trying to steal from it - as does the ship's owner Grantham Nasby, whose daughter Abby was engaged to Ian. Store-keeper Keegan Brubaker also has no love for Ian, who once robbed his shop. However, whilst the locals gleefully loot the ship's contents from the beach Jane and Davey discover that, far from breaking the law, Ian was trying to do a noble deed for which he paid with his life.—don @ minifie-1

In a house by the harbor, a young man, Ian, sits on a bed on his phone. A girl, Abby, is sleeping. He gets a text and she asks about it. He has to leave for an early shift at work. She is dubious, but he says to check his phone, and she relents. He kisses her goodbye.

Beth and Judith watch TV about a freighter that capsized, with containers of goods scattered on the beach. People are scavenging the goods while police try to stop them. Judith argues salvage rights have been around for ages. Mick comes to take Judith "shopping" at the containers.

In one of those containers, the young man from earlier is lying dead. Jane heads to the beach, where containers are scattered along its length, with people picking from them. One has police tape and crime scene investigators. Davey is there.

Davey believes the man, Ian, was looting the container, but a box slipped and knocked him out, and he then drowned from the incoming tide. He has no ID and his phone is soaked. He had an engagement ring on him.

Jane is talking to Ian's girlfriend, Abby. She can't believe that Ian is dead. He was supposed to be at work in Plymouth. Her father argues it shows he was a liar, and also brings up his crime record, but the girl insists he'd reformed. She doesn't believe Ian would have been looting, and wants to know the truth of what happened. Jane says she will look into it.

Jane asks Davey to look for witnesses who saw Ian before he died. Clint calls Ian's supposed workplace, but they've never heard of him.

Jane visits Ian's probation officer, Andrea. She is shocked to hear of his death, as she just saw him recently. Jane asks where Ian worked; he had a job as a shipping clerk. Andrea says Ian was really trying to reform.

Davey sees Judith and Mick looting the containers. He chides them saying they should take it back. A doddering older man, Brubaker, wanders past and argues that the locals have had salvage rights since the 16th century.

Davey goes to Brubaker's shop. He sees items in the shop that were clearly from the lost containers. Brubaker says he got them from Mick, and Davey tells him to put them away. It's one thing to salvage for oneself, it's another thing to then resell for profit. He asks Brubaker if saw or heard anything the night before, as his shop is on the way to the container Ian was found at. Brubaker says he was in bed, and he's too old to jump at any young man yelling. Davey points out he never said the person was young.

At Mick's pub, people are poring over appliances obviously taken from the containers. More are inside the pub, which Mick is reselling. Davey chides him, but Mick produces a thick law book, and cites the Merchant Shipping Act of 1995, which says anyone who takes things from a wreck is entitled to give notice and hold it, and the owner has 30 days to collect or else it's forfeited. Davey tells him to stick to the letter of the law.

Jane is at the freight yard where Ian actually worked. Abby's father, Mr. Naesby, is the owner there. His ship is the one that capsized, and the loss may ruin the firm. Jane tells him Ian lied to Abby about where he worked. Naesby hired Ian for the sake of his daughter, and hoped it could teach him life skills. It was Ian who asked Naesby not to tell his daughter, out of pride. Naesby is upset that Ian would repay that kindness by looting his cargo.

Davey calls Jane. Ian had been getting calls from someone named Brent Hess. He also texted him the number of a container that came from the capsized ship. Jane peeks at an employee chart and finds Hess listed there.

Jane goes and finds Hess, but he runs. Jane and Clint catch up with him, and he complains he's busy. Jane wants to know why he was calling Ian the night before. He says its none of her business, Hess was friends with Ian, and they spent time in prison. He won't say more.

Jane tells Davey that Ian and Hess knew each other in prison and both worked at the docks. Davey suggests they were smuggling. Brent has a long record of assault and battery crimes. If he's the muscle, Ian's the brains. Davey says that basically settles that Ian was looting, but Jane says it isn't proof. Davey shows Jane a police report of Ian convicted of robbery against Mr. Brubaker's shop.

Mick is down by the shore. He finds a container by the rocks that hasn't been opened. He breaks it open, but is stunned at what he finds.

Jane goes to talk to Brubaker. Davey thinks he's not telling the whole truth about not having seen or heard Ian going to the containers. She asks about the robbery. He discovered the boys going through his register, they knocked him down and laughed and ran out. Brubaker is paralyzed in one arm, so he couldn't get up, and was on the floor all night, in the dark, alone. He has no love lost for Ian. Jane tries to appeal to Brubaker by telling him Ian had drowned in the container, slowly, in the dark, also alone. She leaves. Brubaker reaches under his counter, and pulls out a wallet. It is Ian's.

Hess comes to see Brubaker, asking about Ian. He threatens Brubaker with a cricket bat. Brubaker says he was asleep and heard nothing. Hess says Ian was looking for something important that he needs to find. He menaces Brubaker, and Brubaker tells him to ask at Mick's pub.

Naesby is at the police station. He's caught people, including Judith, stealing from his containers. He's upset the police aren't protecting his property. Judith calls him a fat cat keeping the working man down. Davey yells Judith's name, and it starts a crowd chanting in support of her, to his chagrin.

Brubaker arrives at Jane's office. He tells her someone was at his shop threatening him. He gives her Ian's wallet. He admits he saw Ian the morning he died, arguing with some woman in a bright jacket with a bird logo. They were arguing and fought. Ian's wallet fell and he ran off, with the woman chasing him. Brubaker took the wallet out of spite.

Jane talks to Davey and tells him about the wallet. She wonders who Ian was arguing with and what about. Davey gives Jane the ring found on Ian, to use to get information out of Abby.

Davey gets a call about a disturbance at Mick's pub. Hess is there, harassing Mick about the container matching the number. Mick resists him. Hess starts to assault Mick, and Davey grabs him. He tosses Davey onto a table. Judith taps him on the shoulder, and when he turns, she knees him in the groin. Davey arrests Hess.

Jane is with Abby and shows her the ring. She knew he was going to propose. Jane asks if Abby followed him and went down to the beach. Abby denies she was the woman he was arguing with. Abby concludes that Ian lied about everything, from his job, to the looting, to their relationship, as he must have been cheating on her with this other woman. Jane says they don't know that. Abby feels stupid, and throws the ring away, wanting nothing more to do with Ian's memory. Jane recovers the ring.

Mick tries to sneak by Judith with a plate of hamburgers and drinks. Judith wants to know what is going on, but he is evasive.

Davey goes to interrogate Hess at the police station. Hess tells Davey to lock him up or let him go, but Davey threatens to call Hess' probation officer and send him back to prison. Davey has him for assaulting Mick, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, etcetera. Hess says he never meant to hurt anyone. He says he's looking for one of the containers, the one he texted Ian. They need to find it before it's too late, but Davey asks too late for what. Hess is evasive, but Davey gets ready to make a call. Hess gives in -- the container has refugees in it. There's people trapped in the container. Hess wants to find them.

Davey puts together a large coordinated search team for the container with the refugees. Jane goes to Mick's to see if he can help find the missing people. Judith says Mick has something to tell them.

Mick takes Davey and Jane around the back of the pub to a hidden storage unit. He opens the door, and calls inside and says "don't panic." Inside are the refugees, whom he found in the container that he opened earlier. He's holed the dozen of them in the unit under his pub; that's who the plate of food was for. He doesn't want to report them in fear they get sent back. Mick instead has called a charity for refugee asylum. Davey insists he must report them to border patrol, but Mick says they're under his roof, and their community has always been a safe harbor for the lost at sea. Davey relents.

At home, Beth and Judith are arguing over a jacket that they looted from the containers. Jane shames them and compares their petty argument with the dozen refugees who traveled in a small box with nothing for days. She looks at the jacket; it has a logo of a bird on the back. She has a realization and leaves.

Jane goes to see Andrea, Ian's probation officer. She tells her that the woman Ian was arguing with wore a jacket matching hers. Andrea denies it, but Jane pushes. Andrea says she can't talk about it. Andrea and Ian were having an affair. But Andrea found out about Ian and Hess' human trafficking, and went to try to talk sense into Ian. She didn't report it, because dating the criminals is against her job rules. Andrea says Ian might have been trapped by the traffickers who might hurt him if he didn't satisfy them, but Jane says he should have thought of that before getting involved with them.

Jane goes to the police station and wants to talk to Hess, but Naesby is there with a team of lawyers keeping Hess protected. Davey, Jane and Naesby spar over what this implies about Naesby being involved with human trafficking, which he glibly denies as slander. He is working to get Hess released on bail as soon as possible.

Jane goes to the mortuary and talks aloud in front of Ian's body, reading the post-mortem report. She wonders if Ian was on the beach to cheat on Abby, or to steal something for her, or to find the container with the refugees. She goes through his wallet. She finds a slip of paper, and leaves.

At Mick's pub, the refugees are out of the storage unit and are sitting eating in the pub. Jane tells Davey she wants to talk to Hess. She says he seemed concerned about the refugees. She thinks she can convince Hess to talk.

At the police station, Hess goes to use the bathroom, leaving an attending lawyer outside. As he washes up, Jane appears from one of the stalls. She tells him the refugees have been found. Hess is thankful. Hess says Ian was truly trying to reform and staying legit. It was Hess that messed things up for him. Hess can't say more, or Naesby will send him back to prison, but Jane pushes him saying she can rehabilitate Ian's memory.

Hess is let out of the police station, He goes to a phonebooth and is calling someone. He tells them he has the cargo and he's kept quiet. He says they need to act fast.

Hess sits by a parking lot, and a car drives in and parks. The driver gets out, it is Andrea. Another car is slowly approaching them. He tells her the people are at the pub, and she's upset, because they can't get to them. If they can't resolve this, they're both dead by the hands of the traffickers. The slow car pulls up, and it's the police. Davey comes down the stairs from the pub, and arrests Andrea.

Jane and Davey interrogate Andrea. Andrea says she didn't mean to kill Ian. She wasn't having affair with him. The traffickers work with her to get access to ex-cons to manipulate to use in their schemes. Hess was wrapped up in it. Hess called Andrea about the capsized boat and that they need to save the refugees. She tried to stop him so they don't all get in trouble. Ian wasn't involved, but Hess had called him asking for help. When Ian went towards the beach, he ran into Andrea trying to stop him. The traffickers are better off if the lost refugees never turn up, as if they are found by the public, the scheme is exposed, and they will kill whoever botched it up. At the container, Ian ignored Andrea's pleas, and started to call someone. Andrea panicked and grabbed a hard metal box and hit Ian over the head, knocking him out. She made it look like an accident and ran off, leaving him there to drown in the incoming tide. Jane points out no one would care about Ian as an ex-con, and also that the authorities would pin the trafficking on him as a result, making him a convenient patsy for Andrea.

Davey arrives at Judith's with a Marine Authority officer, who will collect all salvaged items, and any items not reported reported will be treated as theft and prosecuted. With a wink and nod, he assures the officer that Judith would never do that and was only keeping the items safe. Judith glumly accedes.

Jane is talking to Abby, telling her what happened and that Ian really was good. She gives Abby Ian's ring, and shows her the slip of paper, a paid receipt for the ring. Abby cries for Ian.

Jane heads into Coroners Court. Her verdict for the death of Ian Igby: Unlawful Killing.