When Sharon came to clean the offices of a small mid-west engineering firm, she didn't expect to find the dead body of Caroline Moore in its library. Detective Bernard Knowlton's job is to pull the curtains in the book-shrouded room where a beautiful engineer lies murdered, poke under the bloody Oriental rug whereupon she lies, and sweep out evidence. It ranges from a fatal accident on Florida's I-95, north to Washington D.C., and back to the small Wichita, Kansas consulting firm engaged in designing a controversial building. The two partners of the firm both have lives that might not bear too much scrutiny, and it appears to Knowlton that they are desperate that he not open too many closets. The disingenuous husband of the victim has the best of motives, perhaps, but his grief at her death appears genuine. The wife of the senior partner has a strong motive for the killing but has an unbreakable alibi. Other employees of the firm, past and present, have reasons to dislike the victim. Of particular interest are the secrets of Caroline's past that possibly have returned as her Nemesis. When a second murder occurs, Knowlton vows to prevent a desperate killer from striking once more.