When police informant Lisette Dorrien is killed, her husband Hugh is the logical suspect. Detective Mike Ceretzke knows he needs more than logic to convict this respected public figure, whose ties to a notorious crime figure are well hidden. Police agencies across the country are watching, not with the aim of helping him, but to ensure his case against Hugh Dorrien doesn't upset their investigation of his boss and to position themselves to take advantage of Hugh's downfall.

Mike begins his investigation hoping to prove Hugh's guilt with hard evidence and preferably an eyewitness. Unfortunately, that hope soon evaporates when Beth McKinney, the woman who discovered Lisette and heard her dying words, can't, or won't, identify the person she saw leaving the crime scene. When a news report says otherwise and Beth's life is threatened, Mike awakens to the knowledge that he personally wants to keep her safe. He failed to keep his promise to watch over Lisette and that guilt plagues him, but this obligation is different.

Inevitably, those hunting the evidence that Lisette died obtaining, begin targeting Lisette's friends. Mike realizes that he must use Beth as bait in his final bid to capture Hugh.