Young Teddie Crawford is dead from multiple stab wounds in a restaurant kitchen awash with blood. LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield is relentless in her pursuit of his killer. But bringing that killer to justice presents a whole new set of obstacles. The suspect claims self-defense--that Teddie Crawford made a homosexual advance and backed it up with a knife. Yet everything Kate learns about Teddie Crawford tells her that his attacker killed with deliberate intent. Kate finds herself increasingly isolated as she tries to shield her young lover from the brutal realities of this case. And to develop proof of first degree murder, she must find clear answers to mystifying questions for the prosecuting attorney--a woman who has never prosecuted a homicide case. Kate faces even greater pressure. No one, especially Kate's partner, Ed Taylor, is anxious to aggressively pursue a case involving a dead gay man and his gay associates. She herself has a personal stake in the trial: the defense attorney is a man from her past. A man with the power to expose the private life she has kept so separate from her life as a police officer