Max Freeman has been working more or less officially as a private investigator in South Florida when he gets a call from Detective Sherry Richards, who was once his lover. Three female bartenders have gone missing and Sherry thinks that there may be a serial killer out there working the bars, targeting potential victims. A former cop buddy of Max's called O'Shea has become the prime suspect and Sherry asks Max to check him out. Colin O' Shea has a history of violence, rule-breaking and alcoholism. The man has a reckless side to his character, an angry and unpredictable nature kept just under control. Colin and Max grew up together on the streets of Philadelphia. Both third generation cops, in O' Shea, Max sees a younger, edgier version of himself. Max wants to believe in his innocence, but when it emerges that O' Shea previously dated two of the missing women, he's not so sure. Torn between the evidence and his gut instinct, Max decides to back O' Shea. Could he be taking the side of a killer? As Max delves into O'Shea's past, he finds himself pulled back into some history of his own. Back to Philadelphia, to a rookie cop with a boiling temper and his fingers round the handle of a gun. Who exactly is Max trying to save? Meanwhile, the killer's victims are somewhere out there, waiting at the dark edge of the glades...