The morning after Jonathan Parrish's fortieth birthday party, the guest
of honor is found lying dead in a pool of his own blood. Police arrive
at the scene to find his older brother, Ralph, covered in red and
clutching the murder weapon.
From behind bars, Ralph insists he didn't do it. He claims he heard a
scream from the other room, saw a man dressed in black running away, and
rushed to pull the fatal blade from Jonathan's chest. But his
explanations don't sway the Florida police, especially when several
witnesses saw the brothers arguing about Jonathan's homosexual lifestyle
the night before.
But attorney Matthew Hope believes Ralph--call it instinct, call it a
hunch, Matt's law partner, Frank Summerville, calls it Matt's "code."
But with Frank too distraught over his crumbling marriage to pitch in
this time, Matthew enlists private eye Warren Chambers to help prove
Ralph's innocence. And with few clues to go by, the duo will have to dig
through a world of closet cases, secret trysts, and a community on edge
to capture the real killer.