When legendary Washington Post reporter Mary Keegan is found murdered,
homicide detectives Frank Kearney and Jose Phelps pull up the file on
another open case. There as here, the victim was a female who had been
hacked to death in a public park. And there is one other link: each was
missing a little finger, a grisly souvenir - perhaps the calling card of
a serial killer. When, a week later, a third woman is found in similar
circumstances, they're sure of it.
Kearney and Phelps are certain the killer will strike again and know
they're working against time. Using the best evidence modern forensics
and computer science can supply and the good guesswork twenty-five years
of homicide investigations have sharpened, they begin to see some
patterns, but not enough to connect up the dots. Then the finger of one
of the victims is found sealed inside a plastic baggie in a raided crack
house. Cutting corners, pulling in favors, they track the evidence back
to what they believe will be the killer, only to find he is one step
ahead of them. In a climactic nightmare chase, Kearney races to save the
person dearest to him as he faces off against a cunning homicidal
maniac.
