A broker for an assassin with a mysterious past quickly grows restive in his role of managing the business side of murder for his conscienceless partner. Repulsed by the torture his personal millstone inflicts, Castillo absently doodles on an altar cloth at the scene of one of their crimes to avoid watching the carnage unfold.
When he realizes that the police took note of the unusual drawing, Castillo decides to playfully sign all of his partner's crime scenes, and invents his own urban legend online. The story of the Night Lotus resonates with amateur sleuths and sickly, admirers of serial killers. Castillo is hooked, but his partner is becoming more and more unhinged.
He realizes it's time they part ways, but also fears for his life. Still, knowing his partner O'Banion could never function without him, Castillo hatches a plan, and commits his first murder in the ruse to be rid of O'Banion for good. He finds it is even more addictive to be the killer than to take credit for what someone else has done.
A foolish mistake, hanging around to watch what happens after his plan is implemented, puts him face-to-face with a detective - Jay Raver - an ambitious, young cop who refuses to ignore the truth he discovers in Internet lore, and recognizes legitimate elements of crimes the police have never released.
Castillo's attempt to eliminate witnesses who would recognize the stranger in a small town the night of a prominent citizen's murder, and his failure to succeed in killing Detective Raver sets the stage for a game of cat and mouse, where Castillo fancies himself a predatory mouse, and law enforcement with their vast resources, his prey the cat. A trail of bodies follows in the wake of his game, and his compulsion to take credit for his work fuels the resolve of law enforcement to end Castillo's killing spree.
