A woman in a Spanish costume is brutally murdered after leaving a kind of Spanish festival. She has a flower stuffed in her mouth. Few have much regret because she was abhorred by many in the town. There are two things at play here. One seems to be the dissension among the ranks of this club. Next to the murdered woman, the head of the group is despised by the other, with good reason. The secondary plot (which is ultimately important) is a tense reunion among Cully Barnaby and three of her old classmates. They seem to have lost that sense of sisterhood. Finally, we are introduced to the new Sergeant. He is one of those people who is angry about the situation in which he finds himself. He is ambitious, looking to use his time with Barnaby to climb the ladder. He is also smart and charming and has the ability to get the resistant to talk.