Scott Murdoch describes an unforgettable day. While living in New York City, he arrives at a crime scene in a rundown motel. The corpse cannot be identified because her face and hands have been dissolved in acid solution. The unnamed victim died during sex, and Murdoch finds evidence of drug paraphernalia. He imagines the scene in lurid detail and says that the hotel is “home to […] anybody else with twenty bucks a night” (5). Based on the scene, Murdoch thinks the killer is familiar with his book on forensics and crime.

Murdoch is greeted by his colleague, homicide detective Ben Bradley, and tells him that the killer was almost certainly a woman. The other detectives report that she almost always wears elaborate disguises, changing them daily. Bradley shows Murdoch that the killer removed all of the victim’s teeth to prevent any identification.

The forensics team finds a blockage in the hotel’s plumbing system, recovering some papers the killer hoped to conceal. Murdoch guesses that the numbers on one may be a foreign phone number and confirms the area code for a Turkish town called Bodrum—a place he thinks of with dread. Bradley informs him that the killer checked out Murdoch’s book and says sardonically, “I just want to say thanks—now I’ve got to chase you-by-proxy.