When a young boy’s remains are found in a shallow grave on land belonging to PI Evan Buckley’s avowed enemy, the monster Carl Hendricks, the police are desperate for Evan's help in solving a case that's been dead in the water for the past thirteen years. Hendricks is dying, and Evan is the only person he’ll share his deathbed confession with. Except Evan knows Hendricks of old. Did he really kill the boy? And if so, why does he want to confess to Evan? As he revisits the original cold case, Evan's honesty and motives are questioned by the lead detective who failed to solve it. Worse, he soon finds himself at the center of some very unwelcome attention, the shadow of a killer's crosshairs hanging over him. Nor is he the only one to awaken a dormant killer as Hendricks finds out the hard way that he’s set events in motion that he can’t control. The deeper Evan gets drawn into the case, the worse the betrayal at its core becomes, until once more he's forced to take up the reluctant mantle of hanging judge, his fate to decide who should pay and who will walk free.