Later that night, one of them, Sylvia Kaye, is found murdered and apparently raped in the car park of the Black Prince pub in Woodstock.

The body is reported found by John Sanders, a young man who, it later transpires, is addicted to pornography and sometimes paid Sylvia for sex.

Inspector Morse discovers the lift was offered in a red car and guesses various bits of information about the owner.

[2] There were several amendments to the plot in the television adaptation: e.g. the red car was identified through the observations of another woman waiting for the bus and her smart deductions; Crowther did not die of the heart attack, and his wife did not commit suicide; Crowther and Sylvia didn't have sex after he picked her up at the bus stop; the "murder" turned out to be more of an accident—Widdowson confronted Sylvia in the car park, knocked her to the ground, and Crowther unwittingly reversed over her in the car and drove off not knowing; and there was no sexual attack on the corpse by Sanders, only theft.

The cast included John Thaw as Morse, Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, Peter Woodthorpe as Max, Ingrid Lacey as Mary Widdowson, Jill Baker as Jennifer Coleby, Anthony Bate as Bernard Crowther, Terrence Hardiman as Clive Palmer, Shirley Dixon as Margaret Crowther, Fabia Drake as Mrs Jarman, Paul Geoffrey as Peter Newlove, Ian Sears as John Sanders, Holly Aird as Angie Hartman Shirley Stelfox as Mrs. Kane and Jenny Jay as Sylvia Kane.

[4] The radio play featured Andrew Burt as Inspector Morse and Christopher Douglas as Sergeant Lewis.