George Young, a world-weary insurance lawyer in New York City, has taken
his fair share of knocks and bruises in the business of credit,
bankruptcy, and fraud cases. One Friday he receives an unusual request
from the elderly and ailing widow of Wilson Corbett, the founder of the
firm George has worked for all his life. At first it seems one more
unwanted call on his time, but loyalty to his former boss won't let him
ignore it, for the elderly Mrs Corbett has recently lost her son and she
wants the truth about his fatal accident.

A former
high-flier, Roger Corbett's career - and marriage - had fallen apart in
the credit crunch, costing him millions. But what was written on the
piece of paper which distracted him seconds before he was run down by a
garbage truck outside a New York bar? Roger's new girlfriend, a
mysterious Czech model with dubious Russian connections, knows more
about his last moments than she's letting on, everyone is warning him
off, while Mrs Corbett's reasons for choosing George for this last
personal favour remain frustratingly unclear...