False Alibi

Then an anonymous package lands on Mara’s desk: a decade-old crime scene photo posed like a gallery piece, marked with a single word—CONNECT. As whispers about a serial killer called “the Conservator” grow louder, clues begin threading past and present—rare fibers, curated scenes, victims who once crossed paths with Gabriel. Each revelation tightens the noose…and tangles Mara deeper in a bond she can’t explain or escape.

Detective Lina Park, who has hunted the Conservator for years, offers one warning: “He collects people first.” But every time Mara pushes Gabriel, he meets her with tenderness and a detail that patches the doubt. Until a fresh killing leaves behind a mistake—a humming, a camera lens, a private nickname—that feels like a hand closing around her throat.

With her reputation on trial and her heart on the stand, Mara crafts a defense that is also a trap. If it works, she’ll save her client. If it fails, she’ll expose a monster—one who might already know where she sleeps.

Verdicts end in court. Obsessions don’t. And love, in the wrong hands, is the deadliest alibi of all.