The dog days of August are making the 87th Precinct feel like the inside of an oven. But things can always get hotter. With nearly half the squadroom on vacation, Detectives Carella and Hawes look into what appears to be an ordinary warehouse fire--but Carella and Hawes rarely see anything ordinary, and this is no different. The trail from the warehouse leads uptown to the murders of a junkie and a suspected prostitute. They soon discover a shady ghetto redevelopment deal may have gruesome ties that run deep into the city's underbelly.