Fifteen years ago, high school senior Chris Whitman went to jail for murdering his girlfriend. Propelled by a misguided sense of chivalry, he confessed, determined to save another classmate, Terry McLaughlin, from having to testify at his trial. When the truth came out, Chris was released from prison, married Terry and changed his last name to Donatti. He also became a professional killer.

Peter Decker was the detective on the case, and over the years, he and Terry kept in touch. Now his friend is asking for a favor. Though Decker knows that getting involved will bring Terry’s socio-pathic husband back into his life, the LAPD lieutenant agrees. The favor soon becomes complicated when Terry goes missing and Donatti disappears, leaving their son, Gabe, with no one to turn to except Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus. But Peter’s search for Terry must share center stage with a gruesome murder. Adrianna Blanc, a neonatal nurse, had signed off her night shift at eight a.m. Six hours later, a foreman supervising the construction of a house nearby discovered her body swinging from the rafters, a cable wire around her neck.

As if juggling two investigations weren’t enough for the lieutenant, things are becoming even more dangerous with his precarious home life. Because if there’s one thing he knows for sure, with a sociopath like Donatti on the loose, no one is ever really safe.