As the edge of winter slices through Washington, D.C., Josie Bates testifies before Congress about the Albanian blood feud that sent Hannah Sheraton and Billy Zuni fleeing for their lives while Archer reluctantly abandons a trail that has gone cold in his search for the teenagers. Determined to stay one step ahead of the authorities who want Billy back and a blood feud that will only be satisfied when he is dead, Hannah and Billy head north. There they will hunker down in the darkest corner of earth they can find and wait for the danger to pass. Though the journey is treacherous, they finally find themselves isolated, safe, and as far from Hermosa Beach as they can get. But their relief is short lived. When the perpetual winter dark turns to inky black, they realize they have taken refuge in hell. Now the fight in front of Hannah and Billy is not only for their lives, but their very souls.
Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Eastern European crime, Josie Bates testifies passionately about the brutal Albanian blood feud that has sent Hannah into hiding with Billy Zuni, and Archer on a quest to find them. While Senator Patriota, the man sure to be the next president of the United States, promises his patronage, Josie isn't convinced he was even listening-but someone was.
Charging through the crush of bodies, evading security, a frantic man launches himself at Josie. Toppling her to the ground, he pushes something into her hands, puts his lips against her ear, and whispers five words that will send her from the icy winter of Washington, D.C., to the tropical warmth of Hawaii in search of Hannah. What Josie finds is a horrific, long buried truth that will change her life forever-if she stays alive long enough to live it.
In the dead of night, Josie Bates is ripped from sleep by the sounds of an epic storm raging over Hermosa Beach and a man beating on her door begging her to help Billy Zuni who is drowning in the raging sea. She arrives at the shore just in time to see the teenager pulled from the water, battered and near death. Ready to kill Billy's selfish, neglectful mother, Josie rushes to the Zuni house only to find someone has beaten her to it. Two men lie dead downstairs and Billy's mother clings to life on the floor above. Spurred on by Hannah's fear that Billy will be framed for the murders, Josie takes up his defense. But Billy is evasive, physical evidence points to his guilt, and the county counsel wants him committed to the state. With the clock ticking, Archer and Josie set out to find the mysterious man who can vouch for Billy's whereabouts at the time of the murders. What they find instead is a web of intrigue and deceit that stretches halfway around the world and an eyewitness who is blinded by a justice Josie cannot understand.
It's two in the morning when Hannah Sheraton slips into Archer's Hermosa Beach apartment to see if Josie Bates sleeps in his bed. But Josie isn't there. In fact, Josie isn't anywhere. When her Jeep is found abandoned in a parking lot near the Redondo pier, the only clue to her whereabouts leads Archer to Daniel Young, an expert witness for the prosecution in the case that made Josie's reputation as a defense attorney ten years earlier. Fighting to keep Hannah from being taken into custody by child protective services, racing against a clock ticking off the minutes of Josie's life, Archer reluctantly partners with Daniel Young and a rogue Hermosa Beach detective, Liz Driscoll, to race down a winding road of intrigue.
From the Hollywood Hills to the glitzy evangelical enclave of Orange County; the seedy side of Los Angeles to the pristine and remote California mountains, Archer bores into the past. What he finds is that the woman he loves was once a ruthless and hated defense attorney, that the system he believes in has released a double murderer, and that there is more than one person who would be happy if Josie Bates was never seen again.
Grace McCreary swears she tried to stop her sister-in-law from jumping from her penthouse balcony but the police have a different take on the situation. They arrest Grace for murder which puts her brother, Senatorial candidate Matthew McCreary, in a spotlight he doesn't relish. Nor is he thrilled when Grace seeks out his former lover, Josie Baylor-Bates, to act as her defense attorney. Josie, who has sworn off rich clients, agrees to defend Grace but even she isn't sure why. She swears she believes in the woman innocence but in her heart she wants to prove that Matthew made a mistake letting her go.
Stepping back into the world of privilege and power, forced to face her feelings for a man she once loved, Josie is determined to win this case-even if she looses everything she holds dear.
Josie Baylor-Bates has a full plate caring for a troubled teen, but it's about to get fuller when her ex-cop lover, Archer, is accused of murdering his disabled stepson-a son Josie never knew he had. When Timothy Wren died at California's oldest amusement park it appeared to be a tragic accident. But now Timothy's biological father and the district attorney are out for blood. Is this a criminal action with merit, a vendetta or is there a big cash settlement in the offing?
For Josie the stakes are higher-it's personal. Racing against time to prove someone is framing Archer, her faith in him is tested by his honesty regarding his feelings about his stepson. Finally, she finds the truth lies with not in Archer's words but with a long-forgotten silent witness.
When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice of the California Supreme court, her distraught mother turns to her old college roommate, Josie Baylor-Bates, for help. Josie, once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small practice in Hermosa Beach, California. But Hannah Sheraton intrigues her and, when the girl is charged as an adult, Josie cannot turn her back. But the deeper she digs the more Josie realizes that politics, the law and family relationships create a combustible and dangerous situation. When the horrible truth is uncovered it can save Hannah Sheraton or destroy them both.
