Author(s): Richard North Patterson

Crime

A man has been found dead, a gun still wedged in his mouth. It looks like Ricardo Arias killed himself...but the physical evidence tells a different story. The police investigation turns up all sorts of troubling data--a bitter estrangement between Ricardo and his wife, Terri; an ugly custody battle over their six-year-old daughter, Elena; charges of child molestation. And before long there's a murder suspect: San Francisco defense attorney and political hopeful Christopher Paget.

But where's the motive? It could be that Paget is Terri's new lover. Or that Paget's own teenage son is the one who's accused of abusing Elena. But a series of long-hidden secrets--on both sides of the case--are slowly rising to the surface...and threaten to explode in the courtroom, where the final verdict will be delivered. Where the truth about what really happened to Ricardo Arias will either be revealed--or buried for good...