Enjoying life as a private citizen after a thirty-year police career, Bob Skinner is on the way to answer a friend's plea for help when a freak accident gives him an unwelcome glimpse of the dark side. As his former colleagues investigate the mystery of a dead child in the boot of a stolen car, the ex-Chief Constable undertakes an unusual challenge of his own, tracing a missing multi-million pound yacht that has vanished from its moorings. The two events seem unconnected, yet as the casualty count rises, is there a link that no one has seen? The whodunnit is clear. The mystery is: why.