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Chapters 1-2

• Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino are investigating the home of Beryl Madison, who was murdered there.

• Beryl had just returned to her home in exclusive Windsor Farms from Florida.

• Kay wonders why she let someone into her home.

• The living room is a shambles, and there is blood everywhere. Beryl's .380 automatic is on the kitchen counter, loaded, with the safety on.

• The paneled and tile-floored garage houses her black Honda with her name gouged into the passenger door.

• There is an unfinished manuscript of Beryl's in the bedroom.
• Mark James, an old lover of Kay's in law school 15 years ago, visits.

• A contract dispute between Beryl and Cary Harper is being handled by his law firm. Beryl, he says, is attractive, well-dressed, witty, and a drinker. She says she is receiving threatening phone calls.

• FBI profiler Benton Wesley meets with Kay and Pete to go over...

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