He was a small child in Yugoslavia in the 1990's when the country split along ethnic lines. He and his father and grandfather were rounded up with the other men and boys from the village and herded into a deep trench where they were slaughtered. He was saved by his father and grandfather throwing themselves on top of him. He still remembers the smell of blood and the weight of them as he lay for hours, until he gathered the courage to scramble out and run to safety. He ultimately made his way to the Red Cross who connected him with his aunt and uncle in Endicott, New York.
The Captain who ordered the massacre is seared on his memory: he had a prominent scar on his cheek, and as he directed the soldiers to fire, Ahmed saw he was missing a baby finger. Although years have passed and Ahmed is now grown, the guy he sees innocently standing in the supermarket checkout line, older, greyer and a little stooped, is the same man.
Ahmed doesn't look for revenge: he wants justice. He hires the Endwell Investigations team to verify the guy's identity. But a chance encounter in the parking lot at Binghamton University precipitates a knife fight and a death. Does Ahmed get justice one way or the other?
This fourth book in the Endwell Investigations series brings an international crime to a small town in upstate New York.