Meanwhile, Siobhan discovers even more treachery within the ranks of the prosecutor, which she discovers with some surprising help from Rebus’s ghost from the past, who has been on Rebus’s S-Hit List for years for a perceived treachery.

It all comes together at the end for Rebus, naturally, but getting there is the enjoyment and most often a surprise. Watching Rebus winning the race he often has with fate, usually in an unorthodox manner, or sometimes the lucky catch of a “Hail, Mary” pass, is one of the many aspects of this series that keep a viewer’s attention riveted.

"The Naming of the Dead"

If Rebus didn’t carry a badge, he’d be wearing a badge of honor in the form of a leather jacket with “Hell’s Angels” on the back of it. He’s a rebel from jump. He pisses off and defies his superiors, and he tramples on everybody’s toes more than once, but he saves his bacon by always getting his man, even when it’s a woman, and even when she gets away.

To add insult in this particular case, her final phone call to him is more of a taunt - except she was calling to say goodbye, because she and Rebus had a little thing going. His superiors can’t live with him, but they’d be lost without him.

The episode begins with the first sip of a well-earned beer, and an important game on the television. Rebus’s phone rings, and the chase for a murderer is on. Another death a short time later, suicide or homicide yet to be determined, of a government minister of trade who was staying in a hotel room paid for by Pennen Industries roils the waters.

The city’s situation is equally stressed by the World Trade Organization’s conference and the attendant riots and demonstrations, and a small matter of interference in the investigation of the minister’s death by Scotland Yard’s Special Branch. SB has sealed off the minister’s hotel room and refuses access to Rebus, but he manages to chat up the receptionist, who tells him who paid for the room. Subsequent checking by Siobhan manages only to discover that Pennen was once part of the Ministry of Defense, but has since been sold off.

Rebus meets the minister’s sister at the morgue, who is naturally distraught and quite bitter. Meanwhile, Rebus’s investigation is being stifled by the interfering SB, who also complain to Rebus’s bosses about the questioning of Pennen’s owner. Then several unidentified men kidnap Rebus off the street and put him in jail, where he spends the night. Templar gets him released in the morning.