The skeletal remains lie undisturbed in an abandoned house, a grim secret finally unearthed not by detectives but schoolboys seeking adventure. Beside the body, a peculiar detail catches DCI Isaac Cook's trained eye—an expensive wine bottle, two glasses bearing fingerprints. Whoever killed Marcus Matthews shared a final drink with him before ending his life.

For six years, Marcus had been just another missing person case, presumed to have fled his responsibilities—his marriage to Samantha McIntyre, daughter of one of London's most feared gangland figures, and their two young children. Now, the discovery transforms a disappearance into a murder investigation that's already gone cold.

The questions haunt Cook as he reopens the dusty file at Challis Street Homicide. Why did Marcus willingly drink with his killer? Was this a meeting between friends that turned deadly, or a carefully orchestrated trap? And most perplexing of all—why would a man married into one of London's most dangerous criminal families be left undiscovered for so long, when Hamish McIntyre's reputation for both violence and family loyalty is legendary?

As Cook's team meticulously reconstructs Marcus's final days, they uncover a complex web of secrets. Marcus, a man who had achieved little in life beyond marrying into criminal royalty, had been planning something—something that might explain why he entered that room willingly, why he shared that wine, and why someone made sure he never left.

Meanwhile, Hamish McIntyre, the notorious gangster whose grandchildren have grown up without a father, has his questions about his son-in-law's fate—and his reasons for wanting answers. As past and present collide, Cook finds himself navigating dangerous waters where family loyalty and criminal codes of silence threaten to obstruct justice at every turn.

In this gripping British detective thriller, the truth has been buried for six years—but some secrets refuse to stay hidden forever.