Peter Griffiths was an eager-beaver law student working for the MP of his constituency. One morning, seven years ago, he left the MP’s office in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill, carrying a file folder with sensitive material, which was to be delivered to an office upstairs. After an hour had passed and he had not shown up at his destination, Security was called. A thorough search of the three Parliament buildings, and the grounds of the Hill was made, but there was no trace of him.
Baker Somerset is called in by the Canada Mutual Insurance Company. Griffith’s sister is about to request that her brother be declared legally dead in order to obtain the multi-million dollar insurance policy that Griffiths carried. Canada Mutual wants Somerset to find out if there is any reason to believe that they shouldn’t have to pay out on the policy.
It seems to Somerset that the case should be a short and straight-forward investigation. Instead, a killer kidnaps one of her closest friends, leaving her for dead, in an effort to half the investigation. Fighting to save her friend, she uncovers a scheme of blackmail and murder that touches the highest levels of government and Ottawa society.