Ravaged by guilt, Detective Kay Delaney is reeling from an attack that resulted in her partner's death. Her only consolation is that serial killer Bernard Eales, who shot her partner, sits in Maryland's State Penitentiary awaiting what's expected to be a sure conviction. But when the prosecution's star witness turns up dead -- and the body bears the same gruesome marks found on Eales's victims -- Kay wonders whether the right man is about to stand trial.