She could be anybody’s daughter, sister, friend. But no one knew the secrets her fatal injuries reveal. . . . An unidentified teenage girl is struck down and left to die along a stretch of Charlotte, North Carolina, highway. In the lab, the bruise patterns tell Tempe that this hit-and-run was no accident. Meanwhile, Tempe is called on to analyze a bizarre shipment confiscated by U.S. Customs—mummified Peruvian dogs, antiquities that may have been smuggled in by a Desert Storm vet. Two disparate cases, too many mysteries, and turmoil in her personal life push Tempe to the brink. Then a chilling link emerges between the South American artifacts, the death of a prominent Charlotte businessman whose name turned up in the dead girl’s purse, and the nightmare reality of human trafficking . . . and Tempe must race to protect her community, her family, and herself.