The body of a young woman has been discovered on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's rugby field. The victim is oddly draped in ivory linen and posed in a way that is too deliberate to be the killer's first strike. A preliminary examination also reveals a bizarre residue that fluoresces blood red, emerald green and sapphire blue. Physical evidence links the case to a series of uniquely weird homicides in Washington, D.C., where Scarpetta's FBI husband has been deployed.