Silent Witness season 28 episode 9 sees Nikki (Emilia Fox) get a potential job offer, Jack struggling to find a best man and five dead in a restaurant. Ex-EastEnders star Joe Absolom guests.
The episode opens at a Syrian and Pizza restaurant. We hear multiple shots being fired and a body falls close to the door. A man says don't shoot but then we hear further shots and the window smashes. And then we get the title music.
Nikki is looking at a wedding dress in a shop window. At the Lyell, Jack tells Nikki he has no friends! Nikki has been at the Home Office but she tells Harriet she's not sure what they wanted. "Why are we counting friends?" asks Harriet. Jack replies he needs a best man. Nikki seems to be lacking friends as well. "We know more dead bodies than we know people," complains Jack. "What are you going to do about bridesmaids?" he asks Nikki.
Meet DI Ivor Strong
Nikki and Jack head to the restaurant which is a bloodbath. Bodies all over the place. 9mm pistol says Jack about the gun used. DI Ivor Strong (Karl Collins) says the shooter isn't among the deceased and they need to find them.
A radio news report says five people were killed in the shooting. We see armed police patrolling the streets of London.
At the Lyell, Nikki performs a post-mortem on one of the victims. Kit checks the camera footage from the restaurant, but she just has a black screen. She says all they have is audio, Ivor isn't happy. He doesn’t seem to think Kit knows what she’s doing. "It's good for bugger all," he moans. Harriet introduces herself and tells him not to take out his frustration on Kit. She tells him to apologize to Kit. He grumpily says sorry.
Kit says she has a credit card transaction that went through just before the shooting. Someone called Doug Nicholson. She says you can hear the bell on the door go as someone enters but there's no bell following that suggesting Doug must have left by a different exit unless he's a victim. The detective is now impressed! We see a delivery driver, we later learn is called Calvin (Joe Absolom), delivering packages. We see him meet some friends at the pub. His 10-year-old daughter has been having some trouble at school.
Kit directs Jack and the detective to Doug’s phone. They end up at an industrial site. Our delivery driver Cal and his friends are doing some shopping. They spot some shoplifters. The shoplifters start manhandling the owner. Cal warns them to pay for what they’ve got. One of the shoplifters pulls a knife and they walk out. Cal is disturbed that he couldn’t stop them.
At the Lyell, Nikki pulls a bullet out of a body. Jack asks Nikki about the Home Office, but she doesn't want to talk about it. Harriet catches them doing some heavy flirting. After Jack leaves, Harriet tells Nikki how much she's enjoyed working with her. And adds, pointedly, Nikki’s not the only one who speaks to the Home Office.
The delivery driver and the lads are having a drink by a river. Meanwhile, the cops are searching the industrial site. Nikki returns home and gives Jack a big kiss. And, well…
The police are still searching. Meanwhile, in bed, Nikki tells Jack the Home Office was sounding her out about setting up a new forensic center of excellence. Jack asks if he's part of this plan and Nikki says they want him to. The new center is in Birmingham.
Jack continues his search for a best man but his latest prospect Chalkie, whom Jack knows from his fighting days, turns out to be having problems with his memory. We see our delivery driver Calvin outside a school. Cal knocks on a door and the woman says he's not meant to come there. He says he's worried about Dawn and she didn't go to school. The woman, Peggy (Amy Nuttall), says she wanted to stay at home. It's very awkward. He asks if she has someone in there. She says she hasn't. He says he loves her and leaves. His friend starts dropping poison in his ear about sorting the situation out.
The police find something at last. Nikki and Jack are soon at the scene. There's a body and the gun, it looks like, used in the attack. Back at the Lyell, they confirm the body is Douglas Nicholson, who was in the restaurant. He appears to have taken his own life. He died on the same day as the shooting it appears. Ivor is distressed by how matter-of-fact they’re being. "Are you ok?" demands Harriet. He's very upset by the murders and he demands to know why they happened.
Kit and Jack have a chat about the gun. "Where would you get a gun like this?" wonders Kit. A news report announces that following the discovery of a body the police aren’t looking for any other suspects in the restaurant killings. Calvin picks up his daughter Dawn. They leave and Dawn’s mother arrives and fumes when she finds out her dad has collected her. Cal and Dawn are by the river, fishing. Nicholson turns out to be ex army and he served in Syria. The restaurant was Syrian. Is that the link?
At the river, Dawn says a friend of Cal's called the previous week asking for help. "I helped him," says Cal. Dawn says she stayed at home not because of being bullied but to keep her mum company. She says she lost her job due to Akram, her boss. Cal returns her home. There’s a police car out the front. Her mum emotionally welcomes Dawn home. Cal's rubbish mates keep dropping more poison in his ear.
Nikki makes a surprise discovery
We see Akram going to his car.
Nikki is inspecting Nicholson’s body. She's discovered something. Nikki says he could have fired the gun in the restaurant but he didn’t shoot himself. She says if he shot himself there would have been blood splatter on his hand. So who shot him? Akram snorts drugs in his car and suddenly he starts being strangled. And eventually, he dies… but who killed him?
