The primary suspect in a brutal double murder is arrested two days later in southern Nevada, his girlfriend at his side. He is behind bars in Multnomah County jail when Portland detectives, Brenda Tower and James Collins begin their investigation. Oregonian crime-beat writers clamor for news about the case. Nothing about the suspect's MO resembles anything Brenda or her partner have ever witnessed. Their Investigation of the victim's home reveals a stash of pornographic photographs, a hidden photography room in the attic, a hidden photography lab, and more in the victims' home. Detectives are eager to identify the owner of a bloody five-pound machinist's hammer dropped at the scene. When a Washington man shoots a decorated army veteran, the nephew of a prominent state senator, Brenda joins other lawmen in the search for him. He is discovered unconscious on his cabin floor near the foot of Mt. Adams. The police rush him to the ICU at Hood River Memorial. Two nights later, he eludes his police guard in the hospital, and is on the run . . . again. Is he heading for the Yakama Indian Reservation where his Native American mother once lived? The case of a commercial fisherman's death is dropped in the detectives' laps. A clubfooted homeless man is the sole witness to a Lincoln Town Car being abandoned in the predawn hour. A man is sprawled across the backseat, two slugs in his chest. At the scene, Collins' foot accidently kicks against a metal cigarette lighter in the dirt. There is an etched outline of Germany on the back. The witness describes a big man leaving the abandoned car. He speaks to the driver of a second car in a heavy German-like accent. Brenda interviews in Walla Walla, Washington, for a new detective sergeant position. If selected, she will be 30 minutes from Dayton, where the love of her life lives. She feels pressure to solve the Lincoln murder case before the double murder goes cold. As much as she wants to be closer to Stone, she will not resign while two killers are at large.
