When San Francisco detective John Marshall Tanner is hired to do a background check on a prospective surrogate mother, the job seems simple enough. There are only two stipulations - the surrogate must not know the identity of the contracting parents, and the investigation must be completed in three days. With some misgivings, Tanner checks out Greta Hammond and gives her the all clear. Two days later, the embryo of Millicent and Stuart Colbert is implanted in her womb. Two months later Greta Hammond disappears. The Colberts think she has taken the fetus to barter in an extortion attempt. But days pass and no ransom request is made, no barter suggested. It soon seems clear that Greta learned the identity of the child's parents and immediately fled. But why? The answer takes Tanner deep into the secrets of the Colbert family, whose history includes both murder and incest and a bitter struggle for control of an immense fashion empire.