Zoned for Murder

Ex-cop turned current dog walker Catherine Swope is struggling to find a career path and the sense of belonging she lost when she left law enforcement after a justified shooting in the line of duty. The heavy-handed actions of Summer Hill, Florida’s, Zoning Commissioner, Gavin Allison created a near riot at the monthly commission meeting create a golden opportunity. Catherine is the first on the scene to help protect the commissioners from the enraged residents. Flush with the success of her actions, Catherine allows herself to celebrate, believing she is ready to handle both her liquor, and return to the force. Her drinking results in an unfortunate phone call to Gavin to collect a debt. The next morning a news story breaks revealing the Zoning commissioner’s affair with a teenage girl when he was a partner in a prominent Miami law firm. Catherine, on a mission to apologize for her drunken call, discovers his body hanging in his garage and morphs into cop mode. She reports the death and then secures the scene expecting kudos for her actions. Unfortunately, when the police play the victim's answering machine, her drunken message promising to ‘see him in the morning’ sounds like more threat than appointment, and she becomes the lead suspect. Catherine turns to her by-the-book boyfriend, Mike Reardon, a Summer Hill police lieutenant to assist her in clearing her name. But Mike’s boss pulls him off the investigation citing conflict. The medical examiner issues a death certificate that does not indicate a manner of death. This dovetails conveniently with very public revelations of the victim’s past indiscretions, money problems and a sizeable balloon mortgage payment coming due. The police are content to close the investigation based on no finding of foul play, but Catherine’s investigator’s gut makes her sure the manner is murder and she intends to prove it. The deeper Catherine digs into the zoning commissioner’s life, the more dirt she finds. Torrid affairs with local women, blackmail payments and poor financial decisions highlight his life. As the suspect pool widens, violence against Catherine also escalates. When it spills over onto Mike, the police finally find evidence of the commissioner’s murder. Unfortunately, it points to Catherine.