LUKE MAXWELL BOOK #2 During construction of Ridgeview County’s controversial highway expansion, a safe is unearthed at the former location of Jill’s Café. A curious Department of Transportation (DOT) worker hauls the heavy safe to a roadside repair depot to force it open. The skeletal remains of a man, thinly shrouded by decayed clothing, are found inside. A body is not all the DOT worker finds. He secretly pockets three loose diamonds discovered at the feet of the corpse. The coroner determines the victim had been shot, but it’s unclear how long ago the murder occurred, or how the safe ended up buried behind the café. Jill Stevenson, owner of the café, seeks the counsel of attorney Luke Maxwell after she is summoned for questioning by Sheriff John Harper. She denies all knowledge of the safe and body even though they were uncovered less than twenty-five yards from her former café and home. Luke Maxwell has his hands full defending a woman he knows is innocent as evidence pointing to her guilt mounts. But when the DOT worker who discovered the body is found murdered, the case explodes, sending Luke down a dark and deadly path.