The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. AlexDelaware remembers a little girl. It is elevenyears since seven-years-old Melissa Dickinson dialeda hospital help line for comfort--and found it intherapy with Alex Delaware. Now the lovely youngheiress is desperately calling for psychologist'shelp once more. Only this time it looks likeMelissa's deepest childhood nightmare is reallycoming true ...Twenty years ago, Gina Dickinson, Melissa'smother, suffered a grisly assault that left the buddingactress irreparably scarred and emotionallycrippled. Now her acid-wielding assailant is out ofprison and back in L.A.--and Melissa is terrifiedthat the monster has returned to hurt Gina again.But before Alex Delawarecan even begin to soothe his former patient'sfears, Gina, a recluse for twenty, disappears. Andnow, unless Delaware turns crack detective touncover the truth, Gina Dickinson will be just onemore victim of a cold fury that has already spawnedmadness--and murder.