It's been only a few months since archaeologist Ruth Galloway found
herself entangled in a missing persons case, barely escaping with her
life. But when construction workers demolishing a large old house in
Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway--minus its
skull--Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era
ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand?
Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson would like to find out--and fast. When
they realize the house was once a children's home, they track down the
Catholic priest who served as its operator. Father Hennessey reports
that two children did go missing from the home forty years before--a boy
and a girl. They were never found. When carbon dating proves that the
child's bones predate the home and relate to a time when the house was
privately owned, Ruth is drawn ever more deeply into the case. But as
spring turns into summer it becomes clear that someone is trying very
hard to put her off the trail by frightening her, and her unborn child,
half to death.