This story begins at the end of a young woman's life. Her murderer lifts her unconscious body from the bottom of an aluminum boat and carries her to the edge of Lake Pontchartrain. He lays her in the reeds, wipes tears from his eyes, sings her a lullaby, and slits both of her wrists. Across town, Officer Reese Hawking is on patrol, working crowd control in the New Orleans French Quarter where a woman has been found stabbed to death in an alley. Reese avoids the scene, keeps the onlookers at bay and falls into bed after her shift. She awakes to a frantic call from her best friend's mother. Janae didn't come home from work. A short time later, Reese finds herself in the office of homicide Detective Alan Brenner, the man who convinced Reese to join the force and the only man she trusts. By the time the sun goes down, Janae hasn't surfaced. As soon as her phone rings with a middle of the night call from Brenner, Reese knows it's bad. She meets Brenner at the edge of the lake where Janae's body is found floating in a tiny aluminum boat. The cuts to her wrists suggest suicide. Reese knows better. She begins a journey across the country to catch Janae's killer, no matter what it costs - even if it's her own life.