Black lotus : [an Infamous novella]
(Book)

Subtitle from cover.

Detective James Wolf earned the nickname Lone Wolf from his inability to work with a partner. He's a hard cop who doesn't mind bending the rules to the point of breaking them to make a case, which is why Internal Affairs is digging in his backyard, looking for buried bones. People are starting to wonder: Which side of the law is the Lone Wolf really hunting for? His career hanging on by a thread, he needs a major show of good faith to keep employed and out of prison. That's when he gets the call. From the moment he arrives at the crime scene, Detective Wolf knows that he's in over his head. He's a narcotics detective, called in to consult on a homicide, but this is no ordinary homicide. A priest was butchered and left for dead inside his own church, with the promise of more bodies to follow. The only lead is the killer's calling card: a black lotus flower left at the crime scene. Detective Wolf now has the opportunity to quietly track and stop the Black Lotus before the next victim is claimed, in exchange for wiping his service record clean. Accepting this case started as Detective Wolf's attempt to get Internal Affairs off his back. But when his hunt for the Black Lotus leads him to a cold case from his past, it becomes personal.