A calculating killer coerces a detective to pay for his previous mistakes.

A series of deaths is occurring in New York. Some bodies are found gruesomely mutilated; others have the equation "wÎ"z = Cov (w,z) = ÃYwzVz" carved onto their skin. As the police investigate, they discover that each victim was forced to choose between sacrificing his/her own life or that of a loved one. Before long it becomes clear that this perpetrator has suffered a similar fate--so now is coping by seeking a way of solving this philosophical enigma. Can Captain Maclean and his officers (Eddie Argo and his new partner Helen Westcott) stop this killer? Because he/she won't--at least not until he/she gets to the end of the equation.—suspicious