It wasn't bad enough that a ten-year-old kid had beaten him at basketball in the morning. Next Albert Samson was being badgered by a humourless prospective client. Was he, in fact, the cheapest private detective in Indianapolis? Did his daily rate include expenses or did he try to claim those on top?

Expenses were indeed extra, but Samson was still a bargain and he got the case. The client's son-in-law had been charged with murder. But she didn't want him exonerated - he had certainly pulled the trigger. What she wanted was evidence she could use to make her daughter see what a dead loss her Vietnam vet husband was. Sure, he'd been a hero over there, but this was Indianapolis, and real life, and now.

Real life is simple, right? Not this time, not when Samson discovers that his questions do not lead to satisfactory, or safe, answers.