DCI Banks 5x3 - A Little Bit of Heart (1)

Xun Li, a hard-working and devoted husband, makes a speech ata rally for Lanternlight – a charity supporting Chinesenationals like himself who fled persecution only to findthemselves at risk from ruthless protection gangs in the UK.After the rally he finishes some work at his property rentalbusiness, calling wife Rachel as he walks to his car to headhome – but he never makes it as a masked figure pepper-sprayshim, bundles him into a car and speeds off. Xun's worriedwife Rachel tells them Xun is an asthmatic who left without hismedication and all signs point towards a kidnapping - if Banksis right he doesn't want to provoke the perpetrators into doinganything rash. Digging into Xun's past reveals a son from hisfirst marriage – Bo and a brother, Chang, who also fledpersecution in China. Banks and Annie visit Christine, Xun'shead of finance who can't think why he has been targeted andclaims to have no knowledge of Xun being under any kind offinancial pressure. Meanwhile, Helen and Ken visit Xun'sbrother Chang and niece Wei at the restaurant Xun helped themset up. They explain they came over from China after the deathof Chang's wife, An, who died in prison. Helen hears howChang owes his life to his brother for saving him and Wei.Banks and Annie locate Xun's car and all signs indicate Xunwas taken by force. The kidnappers finally break cover,texting Rachel their demands: £250,000 in cash if she wantsto see him alive. The next morning Annie opens the post atRachel's house to find a specific Bag For Life. Thinking on herfeet, Annie gets an identical bag and sends the original offfor testing. Rachel is instructed to put the money in the bag.Then, via a text message, she is told where they want her todrive. Taken on a roundabout journey including swappingcars, Rachel arrives at a busy shopping centre. Here she'stold to look in the boot, where she finds a dozen Bags ForLife, identical to the one with the money in. Banks instructsAnnie to stay with Rachel's car in case the kidnappers returnafter the drop to make a getaway while the rest of the teamwatch, concerned, as Rachel moves around the busy shoppingcentre, depositing the Bags For Life in different places.Without enough people to observe every bag, the team have noway of knowing which one has the ransom money inside. Tracingthe car used in the drop draws another frustrating blank –the previous owner has no useful info that could lead to theperpetrators. Recovering in hospital from mild hypothermia,Xun reveals he has no idea who the kidnappers were, but doubtsit was the protection gangs because he's still alive. Banksconcurs – while in captivity they left him water and food –but more importantly, an inhaler: clearly whoever took himknew about his health problems, which would suggest someonecloser to home. As Ken looks into Xun's tenants he finds therewas a case of carbon monoxide poisoning brought to court byMark Rundle, the husband of the victim, but the court foundin Xun's favour – something that would certainly give Markmotive for revenge. Ken and Helen are tasked with checking itout while Vince reports back on the protection gangs. It seemsa local woman, Wendy Xiao, who looks for all intents andpurposes like she runs a legitimate dry cleaning business,actually uses it as a front for making money through fear andintimidation. Vince cites a case where Wendy's boyfriend wassuspected of suffocating and burning someone before dumpingthem in a skip. Banks decides to check her out with Vince. Asthey depart, Annie gets a call: a police station in Thirsk hasarrested Tamsin Richards for drink driving and she's requestedto see DS Cabbot. The visit to Mark Rundle's is a soberingaffair as Mark introduces Ken and Helen to his wife, Jenny –the victim of carbon monoxide poisoning and now confined to alife of 24/7 care by Mark and their daughter Lilly followingbrain damage. Mark insists he knows nothing about the vandalismor the kidnap and ransom – his alibi? He was home alonelooking after Jenny... Arriving at Thirsk police station,Annie is greeted not by Tamsin but by her protective husbandSteve Richards. Cowed, Tamsin apologises for wasting hertime, saying it was a mistake and that everything is fine –but Annie's instincts are quite the opposite, sensing Steve isgagging her. Annie leaves wondering what Tamsin really wanted– and how Steve knew she was there when the custody recordshows Tamsin didn't make any phone calls. Meanwhile Banks andVince visit the acerbic Wendy Xiao, who plays the innocentbusinesswoman and pleads ignorance to knowing Xun Li.Frustrated, Banks remonstrates with Annie for yet againdefying his wishes and going to visit Tamsin. But the argumentwill have to wait as Banks gets an urgent call from Helen –he needs to get to Xun's house, now.