Dr. Cordell treats a man with an iron rod in his chest in the ER. She tells a nurse to get Dr. Falco to assist. Cordell is grateful for his calm, experienced presence. Together, they use a Foley catheter to stop the bleeding long enough for them to sew up the laceration and stabilize the patient. When they finish, Dr. Falco asks Cordell out to dinner for her birthday that night. She agrees.

Cordell goes home and gets ready for the date. She has not been out with a man since she was assaulted by Capra. Before she leaves, she gets an email with “lab reports” from a sender called SavvyDoc. She opens the attachment and she is shocked by the sight of the body of a woman, bleeding. She calls Detective Moore and he comes over. Cordell tells Falco to leave. She explains to Moore that she never told Falco about her assault. She does not recognize the woman in the photo or the user. Rizzoli calls Moore and tells him that the email came from Cordell’s office computer.

Cordell and Moore meet Rizzoli at the hospital. They do not know how the killer got into the office. Cordell’s stethoscope is hanging from the overhead light. Cordell explains that she has noticed her things being moved around in her office the past few days. Cordell panics when she notices that the spare keys she keeps in her desk are missing.

Later, Rizzoli and Moore talk about the developments in the case. Rizzoli asks Moore if he has feelings for Cordell. He denies it. Rizzoli says she thinks Cordell might be implicated in the crimes because “she’s at the center of this case” and may be lying (131) and she worries Moore is losing his objectivity.

Rizzoli and Moore go the police station where “the BPD’s techno-wiz” (133) has analyzed the photo. He shows them that the time on the clock in the photo reads 2:20 am and that the woman is wearing Ortiz’s charm bracelet. He also identifies a library book on the shelf behind her. They use the library book to track down the victim Nina Peyton’s name and address. She is weak but still alive.

Dr. Cordell is staying at the hospital as her locks at her apartment have not yet been changed. She gets a page that they need her to treat an incoming trauma patient. Cordell realizes that the patient is the newest victim of the serial killer; the victim’s uterus has been removed and her throat cut. Cordell works quickly to save Nina Peyton.

Moore and Rizzoli investigate Nina Peyton’s apartment. Moore finds an appointment book that shows two months ago Peyton stopped going out. He wonders why. They wonder if the killer got sloppy or was scared off, preventing him from killing the victim. Moore suspects that Cordell is his next intended victim. Rizzoli calls Sex Crimes and learns that Peyton was raped two months ago and a rape kit collected. Peyton was not treated at the ER, but rather at the Forest Hills Women’s Clinic.

Moore and Rizzoli go to the Women’s Clinic. The attendant on duty tells them that two months prior Peyton’s drink was drugged at the Gramercy Pub and she awoke to find she’d been sexually assaulted. The attendant says the blood tests they took to test for AIDS and other STDs were sent to Interpath Labs for processing.

The killer describes how in the 10th century the Vikings would sacrifice “harlots” as part of their funerary rites. He recounts how multiple men would rape a slave girl and then stab her in the chest multiple times, “spilling blood the way a grunting man spills seed” (157).

Cordell tells Detective Crowe that Peyton is stable but she is still unconscious. Cordell does not know when she will regain consciousness. She feels a “mounting dislike” for Crowe who does not seem concerned for Peyton beyond her utility as a witness. She refuses to let Crowe use Peyton as bait to lure out the killer.

Moore calls Cordell. He asks how she is doing and says she will help her get a locksmith to change the locks. Cordell is grateful for his attention. While she is on the phone, a nurse comes in to show Cordell a picture she took of Peyton’s leg. The killer has written “Happy birthday. Do you like my gift?” (161)

Moore comes to the hospital to talk to Cordell about the message they found. He is struck by how nervous and exhausted Cordell seems. Moore drives her home. He feels guilty about his feelings that Cordell is “the most beautiful” and “most courageous woman” he has ever known (166), because it feels like a betrayal of his late wife, Mary. Moore drives to his mother-in-law’s house. He tells her that he wishes he had had more than 20 years with his wife. He wonders if his mother-in-law will feel betrayed if he starts seeing another woman.

Rizzoli’s mother calls her to tell her that her brother Mike will be home Friday and Rizzoli is expected for dinner. Rizzoli feels angry that her mother is so accommodating and proud of her sons, but not of Rizzoli. Rizzoli studies the map of the movements of the three Boston victims and Cordell. She thinks that Cordell is “the common factor” in the victims’ lives (175).

Rizzoli goes to Gramercy Pub where Nina Peyton was drugged and sexually assaulted. She confronts the bartender about his indifference about what happened to a woman at his bar. She reflects that the bar is “a watering hole where predator and prey came together” (179). Rizzoli gets a car from Detective Frost. He tells her that he has Diana Sterling’s medical record showing that Sterling had also been raped prior to her murder.

The next day, the detectives meet at the police station. Frost reports that Sterling had blood tests for HIV and other STDs but she refused a rape kit. Zucker says it is possible that the man who raped these women is the murderer. Moore reports that they have ruled out that the other victims besides Cordell and Ortiz were in the chat room for women who have been victims of sexual assault. Rizzoli says that the killer intentionally left Peyton alive as “a gift” to scare Cordell. Rizzoli says that Dr. Falco, Cordell’s partner, has not been ruled out as a suspect. She suspects him because he keeps asking Cordell out and Cordell keeps turning him down. Moore suspects the other victims are “surrogates” for the “primary victim,” Cordell.

Moore meets with Cordell at the hospital. He asks her why the killer is so focused on reenacting Capra’s crimes and targeting Cordell. She says she does not know. Moore says that her statement about how she killed Capra is inconsistent with the crime scene because Cordell was on the floor when she fired at him but the second shot was at close range into his left eye. Falco overhears Cordell getting upset and intervenes. After Falco leaves, Cordell begins to cry and Moore embraces her to comfort her. She asks how his wife would feel about the gesture, and he explains that his wife died.

Suddenly, Cordell gets a message on the intercom informing them that Peyton has regained consciousness.

Peyton is frantic because she has a tube in her throat and her wrists are restrained. Cordell understands that the restraints remind Peyton of the assault she has just endured. She extubates Peyton and removes the restraints. Detectives Moore and Frost interview Peyton. She says she left the window open because it was hot and she did not hear the murderer come in because she had been taking sleeping pills since she was assaulted. When she awoke, she was restrained. The killer said “he was going to cut out the part that was tainted and make [her] pure again” (200). She says he was wearing a surgical mask. All she can tell them is that he is an average white male with pale blue or gray eyes. She does not recognize him as any of the photographs of sex offenders they show her. Rizzoli concludes the killer wore a mask because he intended to leave Peyton alive.

Dr. Falco asks Cordell about what is going on and why she is talking to the police. He says he is concerned about her. She is defensive and refuses to open up to him. She does not want to tell him, because she feels that “to be raped was to be forever tainted, forever a victim” (207) and she does not want his pity.