Eve Dallas is one tough cop. She s got problem dealing with a holiday reveler in a red suit who plunges thirty-seven stories and gives new meaning to the term sidewalk Santa. But when she gets back to the station and Trudy Lombard shows up, it s all Eve can do to hold it together. Instantly, she s plunged back into the past, to the days when she was a vulnerable, traumatized girl - trapped in foster care with the twisted woman who w sits in front of her, smiling. Trudy claims she just wanted to see how Eve was doing. But Eve s husband, Roarke, suspects otherwise - and his suspicions prove correct when Trudy arrives at his office demanding money in exchange for keeping the ugly details of his wife s childhood a secret. Barely restraining himself, Roarke shows her the door - and makes it clear that she d be wise to get out of New York and never bother him or his wife again. But just a few days later, Trudy s found on the floor of her hotel room, a mess of bruises and blood. A cop to the core, Eve is determined to solve the case, if only for the sake of Trudy s bereaved son. Unfortunately, Eve is t the only one to have suffered at this woman s hands, and she and Roarke will follow a circuitous, dangerous path to find out who turned this victimizer into a victim.