While Lucy Farinelli goes undercover in Miami to bring down a notorious criminaI cartel．Dr Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino discover a body in a cargo ship recently arrived from Belgium at Virginia's Deep Water TerminaI in Richmond．Initially it seems as though it may be the decomposed remains of a stowaway,but Scarpetta’S post mortem reveals neither a cause of death nor an identification．So the victim’s personal effects and an odd tattoo take Scarpetta on a hunt for information that eventually leads her and Marino to Interpol’S headquarters in Lyon．At first the highly confidential information they receive seems incredible。a bizarre trail of conspiracy and deceit，but inexorably the facts reveal a web of privileged and criminal arrogance which puts Dr Kay Scarpetta directly in harm's way,and places her and those she holds most dear at mortaI risk．

The 1ate morning blazed with blue skies and the colors of fall．but none of it was for me．Sunlight and beauty were for other people now,my 1ife stark and without song．I stared out the window at a neighbor raking leaves and feIt helpless．broken and gone．Benton’S words resurrected every awful image I had repressed．I saw beams of light picking out heat—shattered bones in soggy trash and water．Shock rocked me again when confusing shapes turned into a scorched head with no features and clumps of sooty silver hair．