Who killed Arnold Gibbs is no great mystery. Or is it? Dallas homicide detective Reese Barrett strives to solve a riddle, which involved a suspect that has an alibi at the assumed time of death. But more puzzling is why the dying man was kidnapped from a coma ward in a major hospital when doctors projected he had only weeks to live. And who is the victim now occupying his bed, forced into an irreversible coma and bearing Arnold Gibbs's identification? After his partner is hospitalized, Barrett finds he's alone in search of a solution to the puzzling conspiracy of murder, which has a lot more questions than answers. His first solo case is complicated further by the reappearance of a ghost from his past, an attractive young woman whose search for justice for her murdered husband was blocked by Reese's incompetence as a rookie. Reese follows the threads of what is almost certainly a conspiracy, well aware that the eyes of a woman he is growing to love had witnessed his failure three years earlier. This time, he does not have the aid of his senior partner and will be totally responsible for the outcome.