A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all‚ her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr‚ who has vanished and is presumed dead. Soon Scarpetta's finds herself em…