The cryptic message was clearly meant for Father O'Malley. The unemotional voice on the answering machine, speaking of revenge against old enemies, wanted O'Malley to visit the site of the Bates Battle. In 1874, Shoshone warriors led Captain Alfred Bates's cavalry to Arapaho tribal grounds, and nearly everyone living there was massacred. As a nation, the Arapaho were finished, but their people survived. Now, someone has left three dead Shoshones on the old battlefield, positioned to mimic the bodies of those Arapaho killed in the historic slaughter.

Vicky Holden's latest client, Frankie Montana, has become the number one suspect in their deaths. Despite his less than sterling background, Vicky doesn't believe he's capable of murder. Someone is trying to stir up a war between the Arapaho and Shoshone people--and tear open the painful wounds of the past once more...