The year is 2004. Greg Flora has to hang his shingle as a Private Investigator while caring for his mother's last days. The Red Sox are breaking an historic drought, stem cells are the hottest property in medicine, and Mom says he needs a wife and a haircut.
But in what order?
Why is he being followed, burgled, and investigated by the Bureau?
Does the Yellow Brick Road lead through murky water?
Or is being on the 'back foot' the best place for a pivot?
Flora Investigations was doing just fine, thank You very much, until a new case arrived. Who's the client? Who's the victim? Who's in charge? And who else cares?
Greg's To-Do List has to add subjects like fracturing technollogy, Monetary Theory, Applied Organic Chemistry, Federal Restructuring, and the difference between a butterfly and a moth.
Can Greg see his way clear this time? A lot of folks are itching to find out.
Carter Bond is dead, and his mother wants Greg Flora to retrieve his good name. But the police want Greg out of the picture. The CIA wants him to stay in the picture. The Board of Directors want editorial control of the picture.
And his brand-new operative wants to go dancing.
Was Bond too true to be good? Should Greg's dog give up golf and stick to tennis? How does someone hide a Greyhound bus? And what's a fair price for a broken switchblade? The path to the answers is anything but straight.
Private Investigator Greg Flora thought he'd seen everything: corporate conspiracies, murder b machine, even a client hiding behind a stolen life. But ten months after the death of his youngest child, the weight of loss has nearly broken him.
Then the Bureau calls. Two car bombs are being swept under the rug to prevent a panic. Finding the people who planted them demands skills only Flora can bring.
Down back alleys and rural warehouses, Greg finds terrorists -- and addresses his crushing grief.