I am Rizla and this is my story. It is the day before yesterday and I am dead. The day of my death was 14th February 1960, Valentine's Day, in Brighton. 'I'm floating 200 yards off the coastline in the icy waters of the English Channel. My final glimpse of life is through the top of the water. It is a pier. A beautiful woman is looking down. She's laughing at me. There's a man. He's also laughing. His arm is around her shoulder.
The first message sent to Tom Thorne's phone was just a picture - the blurred image of a man's face, but Thorne had seen enough dead bodies to know that the man was no longer alive. But who was he? Who sent the photograph? And why? While the technical experts attempt to trace the sender, Thorne searches the bulletins for a reported death that matches the photograph. Then another picture arrives.