In the rain-soaked city of Portland, a meticulously planned dinner party becomes a stage for betrayal and murder. Megan Peterson’s elegant brownstone, meant to showcase her new lover, Andrew, transforms into a pressure cooker of secrets and lies. As Andrew unveils the hidden vulnerabilities of Portland’s elite guests, the evening spirals into a nightmarish game of revelation and retribution. But before his final, devastating exposé, Andrew collapses, a crimson stain blooming on the pristine white tablecloth.
Suddenly, Megan is the prime suspect. Detective Davies, a jaded veteran of Portland’s shadowy underbelly, sees more than a simple murder; he senses a conspiracy of silence protected by wealth and influence. Desperate to clear her name, Megan plunges into her own investigation, unearthing a web of interconnected lives and hidden agendas. She discovers Andrew wasn’t just exposing secrets; he was meticulously documenting them, compiling a dossier that could unravel the city's carefully constructed social fabric.
This dossier becomes the ultimate prize, sought by those desperate to protect their reputations and those eager to exploit the vulnerabilities of others. Megan, joined by the enigmatic art conservator Robin Heath, navigates a treacherous landscape of suspicion and deceit, racing against a shadowy cabal of powerful figures to uncover the truth. From the opulent galleries of the Pearl District to the dimly lit jazz clubs of Old Town Chinatown, Megan’s pursuit leads her through Portland’s hidden heart, where every bridge crossed and every corner turned reveals another layer of Andrew’s double life and the city’s dark secrets.
As the rain continues to fall, washing away the veneer of respectability, Megan must confront not only the cabal but also her own buried past, a past Andrew threatened to expose. In a climactic showdown in the heart of Forest Park, the masks of civility shatter, and the city’s elite are forced to reckon with the consequences of their silence. But even as the truth is revealed, Megan knows some secrets, once unearthed, can never be buried again, leaving Portland forever marked by the echoes of the dinner that never ended.
