Night Ritual

During a violent power struggle between political factions and a drug cartel in a small West Virginia town, Nick Strong is almost killed while engaged in a drug sting operation. His partners killed, he is wounded but manages to see the face of the drug lord as he sits in his Cadillac. He is unable to distinguish the true identity of the man because his face is blotted in Nick's memory. After months of painful therapy he resigns from the police force and starts his own detective agency. Appalled because he cannot recall the identity of the drug lord, he becomes depressed. His wife, Gloria divorces him. He turns to alcohol and almost loses his business. Kelly Lance, a new addition to his staff manages to rescue him from his dilemma. A few months later, his sister is killed in a bizarre multiple murder.
Before he can recover from the loss of his sister, he receives a call from a friend asking him to come to his restaurant and bar. Olen Snow is worried that something is going to happen. Nick is surprised when he finds Kelly there, especially when he discovers that she has received a call from a stranger telling her about a murder that will occur there that night. They find two men dead in the dining room and three employees in the storage locker. All have their throats cut leading the detectives to believe that they are confronted with a cult of some kind.
With the arrival of Lt. Vernon Crowe of the Charleston Police Department, they discover that most of the people killed were Nick's friends. They also become aware that several employees left early. Knowing these employees might be able to tell them who was in the bar, they attempt to track them down before the killers realize they may be a threat to them. Carla Bannister, one of the bar's employees tells them that Mayor Horace Kendall held a meeting at the restaurant. She names most of the people that were there before a killer walks into her kitchen and shoots her.
When Crowe confronts Kendall, the mayor tells him that all of the men were alive when he left the restaurant. According to Carla Bannister, two of the men worked for Mark Sorenson a wealthy real estate developer. He is involved in building a mall outside of town. Knowing the mayor's dubious reputationand his habit of dabbling where money can be madethey begin investigating Mark Sorenson, the real estate developer. On the way to Sorenson's house, Nick remembers the face of the man he saw in the car that night. It is Sorenson. At his eloquent house, Mark Sorenson makes a couple of mistakes indicating he knows more about the murders than he is revealing. As they leave, the butler (Joe Lawrence) warns them to be careful and discloses that he is the informer.

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