One year ago, Alex Towne's body was found. One month ago, his mother saw him on the street. One week ago, David Raker agreed to look for him. He'll wish he hadn't. Mary Towne's son, Alex, had been missing for six years before he finally turned up-as a corpse in a car wreck. But now she's convinced he's still alive. Missing persons investigator David Raker doesn't want the work: it's clearly a sad but hopeless case of mistaken identity brought to him by a woman unable to let go of her son. But haunted by a loss of his own, he reluctantly agrees. As Raker digs deeper, he discovers that Alex's life was not the innocent one his mother believed. Buried in his past are secrets that were never meant to be found-and a sinister organization willing to protect them, whatever the cost.