During a pre-dawn bank robbery, one of the robbers stumbles upon a skeleton unearthed from its resting place of twenty-six years by a major winter storm. Determining who's interned under the building foundation and what the skeleton took to its grave is the responsibility of Clay Wrens, the premier homicide detective in central California. Constrained by budgetary concerns and a supervisor who sees him as a threat, Wrens follows a trail to the seat of this country's power and revisits Washington's most famous burglary case. Standing in the shadows and watching his every move is a ruthless adversary with substantial financial resources who will strike with a viciousness when cornered and a Washington agency that sees Wrens' inquiry as a threat to national security