When B.J. Vinson agrees to investigate the murder of young Mateo Zapata, he knows it will be a tough case. Not only is the victim's uncle Zancon the mob underboss BJ took down six years earlier, but Matt seems to be the third victim of a depraved serial killer who debauches his victims before strangling them. BJ and his team-including his lover, journalist Paul Barton-start down a long and tangled road while the killer strikes again and again with seeming impunity. His sterile semen offers no DNA for identification, nor is it clear how he finds his victims. Park House, a new near-downtown apartment high-rise, could be the key to the mystery, but BJ can't find the lock it fits. However, his search stirs up old resentments and new dangers. At any moment Zancon, impatiently waiting in the New Mexico State Penitentiary to exact his revenge, could decide to take matters into his own hands. And poking around in the case has excited the killer's lust for Paul, whose eagerness to help stop the killings puts him in the path of certain death-unless BJ can reach him in time....