Plot summary
Kinsey Millhone agrees to escort Reba, the daughter of Nord Lafferty, out of prison to the Lafferty mansion and watch over Reba until she is settled into her life out of prison. Reba was serving a sentence for embezzlement, though she had not embezzled funds; her boss had spent the funds on bribing municipal officials for the construction of a shopping mall with office space in the center of Santa Teresa. Lieutenant Cheney Phillips encounters Kinsey at the office of the probation officer for Reba Lafferty, as he is the local investigator in a multi-agency operation to arrest Reba's boss, Alan Beckwith. Several federal agencies are pursuing him for laundering funds for a Colombian drug dealer.
Reba pled guilty because she was in love with Beckwith, a married man. While Reba was in prison, Beckwith slept with her replacement in the office. Kinsey has known Cheney for a couple of years; now, she is smitten with him. For this arrest, he and the whole team of investigators want Reba to provide evidence of the money laundering, an inside witness for their case. They decide that Kinsey, now building rapport with Reba, should ask her to take this on. Unwillingly, Kinsey does so.
Kinsey's landlord, Henry, meets with Mattie Halstead, a woman he met on a cruise ship trip taken with his older brothers. His brothers interfere with each visit between the two, which is upsetting the normally calm Henry and upsetting Kinsey, who thinks she might be good company for Henry.
Reba goes to a support group meeting for alcoholism but, within days, is drinking again. She had stopped smoking in prison and takes up smoking again. Even with Kinsey's company, Reba cannot handle freedom. As she realizes that Beckwith has no intention of keeping the promises he made to her, Reba makes plans to get back at him. First she tells her former colleague and comptroller for Beckwith's company, Marty, about the federal investigation, recommending he leave the country. He acts slowly, not sure whether to believe her.
Touring the new offices in the development completed while Reba was in prison, Reba and Kinsey find the room where Beckwith bundles cash in small bills to carry out to Panama, where he owns a bank. He either flies on his own jet or sails his own ship to carry the heavy bundles without close examination by customs. Reba at first thinks the cash belongs to Beckwith and steals a packet worth $25,000. Beckwith learns of the theft when his Colombian dealer tells him the cash is short. Reba then understands from Kinsey that the cash was being laundered for the Colombian. Reba goes to Reno to meet her friend from prison, Misty Raine. Besides her profession as a stripper, Misty makes false passports and driver licenses; she makes a set for Marty. Reba has already seen that Beckwith had a set of false papers for his trip to leave the country, as he is aware of the pressure building from the federal investigation.
Kinsey has some pleasant evenings with Cheney. She buys more flattering clothes with Reba to look nicer for Cheney; and Cheney cuts her hair to be more stylish, a talent of his.
Kinsey pursues Misty in Reno when Reba disappears from her family home. Her hunch is good, and she finds Reba with Misty. Reba agrees to drive back to California with Kinsey, aware that she has broken the terms of her parole by leaving the state. The two meet Marty in a hotel in Beverly Hills. Abruptly, a couple of goons grab Marty in the hotel lobby where they talk and beat him up. Reba tells the hotel they need help and she flees, while Kinsey pursues Marty in hopes of helping him. Kinsey hits one goon hard with a chair, but she is then knocked unconscious. She revives in the presence of Beckwith and his goons, solving the question of who sent those men to beat up the comptroller. Reba lets Beckwith know that she has the computer and the data discs that he uses to back up his business affairs, including the money laundering. Beckwith threatens Kinsey so that Reba will bring the computer and the discs to him. She does so. In the office, Marty lies dead. Beckwith claims the man had a heart attack; the beating did not kill him. Presented with the computer and the discs, Beckwith carefully pours a strong acid over them so they cannot be read. Reba reveals that she switched the computers with Marty's aid. Behind Beckwith, the team of police, led by Cheney Phillips, arrives with guns out.
Reba feels she does better in prison, where she cannot do wrong, which is where her theft of the cash lands her. The federal case against Beckwith is strong, and he is convicted. Kinsey is optimistic about her and Cheney and remarks how sometimes, she feels she is an actor in someone else's story.
