Blood is always thicker than water. Joe Pickett has good reason to dislike Dallas Cates.His eighteen-year-old foster daughter, April, has just run off with him.Then comes even worse news: April has been found barely alive in a ditch along the highway, and the doctors don't know if she'll recover.Of course, Cates denies having anything to do with it but Joe knows in his gut who's responsible.The problem is there's no proof. Joe's going to find out the truth, if it kills him. And, as he confronts the ruthless Cates clan, it just might.