"They say dead men don't talk, but if you listen, they do."

As a lieutenant in the LAPD, homicide detective Peter Decker doesn't get many calls at 3 a.m. unless a case is nasty, sensational - or both. Someone has broken into the exclusive Coyote Ranch compound of billionaire developer Guy Kaffey and viciously gunned him down, along with his wife and four employees. A well-known figure on both the business and society pages, Kaffey, with his sons and his younger brother, Mace, built most of the shopping malls in Southern California and earned a reputation for philanthropy, donating millions to worthy causes. It doesn't take long for Peter, his trusted detectives Scott Oliver and Marge Dunn, and the rest of his homicide team to figure out that the gruesome killings must be an inside job. Things become even more entangled when they discover that Kaffey's largesse had included organizations that extended second chances to delinquents, many of whom Kaffey had hired for his personal security. But was the job pure murder/robbery or something even more twisted?

A developer of Kaffey's magnitude doesn't make billions without making more enemies with blood grudges. With leads taking the team across L.A., up and down the Golden State, and into Mexico, Decker is plenty busy - and plenty thankful not to have to worry about his wife, Rina Lazarus, getting caught up in this deadly case. Rina is out of harm's way, serving on a jury at the courthouse. But then a chance encounter with a court translator who needs her help leads Rina into the terrifying heart of her husband's murder investigations - and straight into the path of a gang of ruthless killers. To protect Rina, Decker must find his prey before death unites his two worlds.