ISBN-13: 9781491200513 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 342 str.
A crazed killer is loose on the streets of Buffalo, NY. In three short weeks he has brutally slain five women, including the three principal officers of a lesbian support organization. A terrified citizenry, thrown into a state of near panic, demands an intensified effort to find the killer. The beleaguered police force turns to Bobby Costa, a brilliant, but troubled, homicide detective to end this reign of terror. The investigation quickly takes a bizarre and frightening turn when eye witnesses come forward to place Costa at the scene of two of the murders. Mayor Manzetti, an early critic of the flamboyant detective, orders Homicide Chief Riker to remove Costa from the case, and to begin an investigation of his involvement in the crimes. Riker, a staunch supporter of his lead investigator, refuses at first to comply with the order. However, when another incriminating clue comes to light, he begins to falter in his belief in his protege. Under increasing pressure, he still provides one last opportunity, two days, for Costa to make an arrest and prove his own innocence. Costa, besieged by romantic and other personal problems, is plunged into a desperate race against time to arrest the killer before Riker has to act. He decides, based on his usually reliable and perceptive instincts, to abandon the homosexual angle of the case to pursue a completely unrelated theory of the crime. He persuades his partner, Wally Manning, to assist him in what Manning believes is a fool's errand. An interview with the beautiful employer of one of the murdered women results in a revelatory piece of information which leads the detectives to a legitimate suspect. Through intense questioning they uncover sufficient evidence to make an arrest. However, the suspect is shot and killed by Manning when he attacks the detectives in an attempt to flee. Costa quizzes the dying man in an effort to uncover his motivation for the crimes, but the man is able to utter only the word "to' before he expires. Chief Riker is not happy that they were unable to interrogate the killer, but he is extremely delighted to be able to close the case. Costa is not satisfied with not understanding the motivation for the extremely violent torture murders, nor the trigger that sent the killer on his rampage. Riker declines Costa's request to keep the case open, but that's not the end of it, is it