George Gideon, almost as much of an institution as the Yard, presides over the prison escape of an insatiable rapist-murderer; a food poisoning (eels) due to a traffic in stolen refrigerated trucks; and the death of a mother in childbirth which sends the bereft father amok. Gideon was Creasey's most comforting, comfortable presence--he will be missed as he drives off in that heavenly chariot.