The most controversial thing a cop can do is voluntarily work for the defense, but when the public defender calls on private investigator Audrey Lake, she can't say no.

A police officer's duty is to collect the evidence and apprehend the criminal. The rest is up to the lawyers. But Audrey isn't a cop anymore; she's a private eye with bills to pay, and she can't afford to turn down a legitimate job. Especially when she's still trying to come to grips with the intrusive voice in her head and an elusive 'psychic' ability. So when the public defenders' office wants to hire her, she figures it'll be a welcome injection of cash for a few days of routine investigation, looking for holes in the evidence and mistakes in procedure.

She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

An itinerant deck hand is in custody for the murder of professional crab fisherman Jack Reynolds. The defense just wants a reasonable doubt, someone else to pin the crime on. But Audrey refuses to implicate another person, not without knowing for sure.

The investigation leads Audrey through the rain-slick streets of Astoria, Oregon, among the mossy piers and boardwalks of the Skipanon Harbor, and the stormy fishing grounds of the Pacific. It's gotten complicated, but she's still trying to answer a simple question: who killed Jack Reynolds?

She didn't know she'd have to risk her own life to find out.