Book excerpt: A brutal murder in Savannah, two more in Charleston, another three in Charlotte, all have two things in common, body organs missing and a mystic symbol over the young girls neatly sutured wounds. Charlotte, NC police department drags forensic psychologist, Nick Riley from his lecture circuit to assist in finding the killer. Haunted by his failure to find the killer years earlier when the first victim surfaced in Savanna, now has five more failures to torment him. It becomes even more personal when one of the victims is the wife of his best friend. Smelling a major story, newspaper reporter Lane McBride, bull noses her way into the investigation. The stronger the scent, the more reckless she becomes in her search for a scoop. What she finds is more than she bargained for.