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One night in 1990, a teenaged girl drives on a highway, stalked by a motorist. After stopping at an abandoned gas station, she catches the attention of a passing truck driver and escapes her pursuer.

Some time later in Bakersfield, Kern County Sheriff's Office Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon is sent to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to collect evidence pertaining to a recent murder. A former LASD detective, he accompanies recently appointed lead detective Jimmy Baxter to the scene of a new murder in L.A. Deacon notices similarities between the M.O. of the killing and the M.O. of an old serial murder case he was unable to solve.

That night, a woman named Ronda Rathbun is followed by a car while jogging and is reported missing the following morning. Baxter learns from Captain Farris that Deacon had gotten divorced and suffered a heart attack due to his obsession with the unsolved case. So, he is advised not to involve him any further but Deacon takes vacation leave from his station to assist in solving Baxter's case.

The next night, the police discover the body of another victim washed up beneath a bridge. Baxter learns the M.O. is consistent with the earlier murder and others: the victims were all sex workers who were stabbed to death. Deacon begins investigating Albert Sparma, a suspect working at a repair store in proximity to the murders. He tails him but is thwarted, so he takes him in for questioning. While under interrogation, Sparma taunts the detectives and is released after provoking Deacon into an angry outburst. The young woman pursued in the desert is interviewed but has seen Sparma in handcuffs at the police station which compromises her eligibility as an objective witness to identify him as a suspect.

The FBI will take charge of the investigation within the week, giving Deacon and Baxter less time to resolve it. Farris informs Baxter that eight years prior, Sparma confessed to a murder which he couldn't possibly have committed and is thus an unlikely suspect. Sparma's fingerprint is similar to the killer's but not a definitive match.

Baxter and Deacon go to Sparma's apartment and conduct an illegal search but find nothing incriminating. As Deacon searches the apartment, his portable police scanner goes off and he narrowly escapes from Sparma's home after Sparma calls in an "officer down" report at that address. Police arrive and Deacon escapes while Baxter sees Sparma watching the ordeal.