Everybody was in love with Laura: the Mexican fisherman who admired her through her kitchen window in the predawn darkness, the boyfriend who refused to take no for an answer, the detective who instructed her in martial arts, and the creepy boss who harassed her. Then one day Laura disappears. When the fisherman finds a woman's severed arm on the beach, he is convinced it belonged to Laura. And her self-defense teacher, LAPD Detective Sergeant Reggie Brooks, also begins to wonder if Laura is alive or dead. With no evidence of foul play, he unofficially looks for the preternaturally beautiful woman who haunts his dreams. But as he travels the lonely coastal highway in an obsessive search for answers, Brooks will soon find himself in a dark, terrifying place of unthinkable acts, irrational behavior, and premeditated murder...