A chilling scene. A gruesome murder. Multiple stab wounds and blood drenched everywhere. It's only a painting. Ginny Appleby doesn't create works of art with beauty and happiness. She paints brutality, death, and the pain hidden inside. Detective Alex Brands will never understand that. He'll never understand her and why she does what she does. Her life has always been filled with terror. And if he sticks around, he'll die. ...