her quest to avenge the girl in the long grass

Anjali Vilekar - 'Anjie' to her friends - is a detective in the Homicide Division of the Kansas City police department. John Roman is the senior detective and Anjie's partner.

Vilekar is woken up in the middle of one night after the body of a young girl is discovered in a deserted park in the city. It has been called in by a young couple who were enjoying a tryst under the moonlight before coming upon the grisly scene.

Vilekar and John Roman, her senior partner, scour the scene in the early morning hours. All indications are that the crime has been committed elsewhere and the body then dumped in the park, the killer not anticipating anyone coming across it until after the sun came up.

The victim, Tina Adams, is a young woman, about the same age as Vilekar. This hits home as Vilekar ponders what it was that make someone cut a life off so abruptly, a life that otherwise seemed to have a long future ahead.

It doesn't take long to find out that Tina Adams was part owner of one of the largest businesses in the region. Her father's recent passing has left Tina as part owner of the company along with her brother, Jacob.

She was also a law student at one of the city's prestigious law colleges and an intern at a well-known law firm. There, she was working on mergers and acquisitions.

Vilekar talks to the director of the drama club at Tina's school. She learns that Tina was working on a script for a new play, a play that contained themes of unsavory dealings in the world of mergers and acquisitions. The student who was playing the protagonist in the play has disappeared. She is later found to be living in Atlanta under an assumed name.

Alongside, we hear the story of a former drug addict, Samuel, who Tina had befriended. Even though we don't get too much detail of the nature of their relationship, it can be inferred that Samuel and Tina were fairly close. Samuel, however, is still plagued by his past dealings with drug dealers. On one occasion, a drug dealer confronts Samuel about an unpaid debt and threatens him. This occasion occurs at the same time as Tina and Samuel have planned to meet. Tina walks in on the meeting between Samuel and the person threatening him.

Meanwhile, a forensic examination of Tina's phone reveals that she was being sent disturbing messages on social media. The messages are of the type one would associate with a stalker. Even though most of the messages have been deleted, the forensics team is able to retrieve a substantial number from the cloud storage that Tina had been using.

Vilekar, along with her senior partner, Roman and her colleague, Det. Jordan Burns, tries to sift through the evidence and possible leads to narrow down the investigation.

While Tina's murder is being investigated, Vilekar is handed a gang-related homicide. This has the potential to start a turf war in the city. To nip this possibility in the bud, the Homicide detectives take the help of the Vice division to get word out to stymie any such plans.

At home, her brother is going through a crisis at school. Vilekar devotes her time and attention to help him out.

An incident unlocks a clue that has stymied her all along.

Vilekar tries to bring about a conclusion but finds that events lead her in an unexpected direction.