Too many people see Rutherford, Minnesota, as a safe haven, an escape from the woes of the big cities, like St. Paul or Minneapolis. For Jake Hines - recently promoted to Chief of detectives in Rutherford - however, the picture is different. He's too aware of the deterioration of the old downtown section, and too involved in dealing with the kids who've turned to drugs, not only as a habit but as a way to get rich quick. And he knows that many of those kids - users and dealers alike - aren't local. It's because of those dealers that he's now facing a Critical Incident debriefing. As Jake puts it: "Dodging an occasional bullet is an inconvenience I can live with, but spilling my guts in public is not." He's saved from the ordeal when word comes of a robbery at a bar in the center of the city. It's a place he knows: He worked there once, and, like most of the men and boys back then, he really liked the owner, a woman named Babe. Rescuing her from the chair she's been duct-taped to is easy, but it's only the beginning; it releases a trail of robbery and murder that leads Jake to places he never expected to have to go in Rutherford, no matter how much it may have changed.

Genre: Mystery