The Guilt Beneath

Homicide detective Lucan Kade’s wife disappeared. Never recovered, she became the last-known victim of a serial killer dubbed The Cipher. The killer carved various religious symbology onto the skin of young women, afterward burying these victims alive, leaving behind a severed thumb and cryptic clues to their locations.

Detective Kade located and rescued Donna, the victim preceding his wife. 

Now—twenty-five years later—Donna goes missing, her abduction mirrors the old pattern. Has The Cipher returned after all these years of inactivity, or is this a copycat as former cop Kade, now turned private investigator, maintains? Will Kade ever move on from guilt in his failure to save his wife and unlawful interference in the case all those years ago? After such a long passage of time, Will Kade close the case and locate his wife’s body to ultimately attain some closure? 

Aided by his son and daughter-in-law partners, Kade hacks a bloody swath through a shady lawyer and a violent biker gang who threaten him to abandon the case. 

Also tossed into the mix is Kade’s on-off relationship with his wife’s sister, Audrey. Will their bond, at last, evolve past the specter of this erstwhile case?