Two years after the death of Tim Hess, her partner and the father of her child, Merci Rayborn is working hard at her job, taking care of her son and holding it all together. She and Time, Jr. are living with her father, and she is dating Mike McNally, a respected fellow officer. Merci and Mike are the gold couple on the force -- both kids of cops -- and though Merci doesn't passionately love Mike, it's at least a comfortable relationship.

But it explodes when a mysterious young prostitute, Aubrey Whittaker, is found murdered and Mike McNally emerges as the primary suspect. Merci, lead homicide detective on the case, must do the unthinkable: expose and arrest her lover.

Sitting through the clues and evidence with a growing sense of guilt over sealing Mike's fate, and of outrage at what he has apparently done, Merci has to balance where the truth leads her against where her heart is telling her to go.

T. Jefferson Parker is a New York Times bestselling author and three-time Edgar Award Winner.