Violette Smythe thought grief would be the hardest thing she ever faced. After her husband's death, she finds small clues, including a metal coil toy, that refuse to let her rest. Her tender attempt to preserve memory spirals into something far more dangerous when the Slinky evokes visions of jungle warfare and a massacre that left David the lone survivor.As Vi follows the breadcrumbed trail from attic trunks to dusty military files, her gentle coastal town reveals a darker architecture: veterans with secrets, a VFW post with conflicting loyalties, and a retired lieutenant with too much to lose. Every question she asks stirs up someone who would prefer the past stay dead—someone willing to sabotage her car, lock her into a vault, and plant a bomb in her living room.Now Vi must stifle her fear and trust a ragtag circle of veterans, a cop with a quiet persistence, and the odd Slinky that keeps walking out of her hands. To clear her husband's name—and save her own—she must confront the chain of command that hid a wartime betrayal. The truth may set a memory free, but it could also get her killed.

Violette Smythe thought grief would be the hardest thing she ever faced. After her husband's death, she finds small clues, including a metal coil toy, that refuse to let her rest. Her tender attempt to preserve memory spirals into something far more dangerous when the Slinky evokes visions of jungle warfare and a massacre that left David the lone survivor.As Vi follows the breadcrumbed trail from attic trunks to dusty military files, her gentle coastal town reveals a darker architecture: veterans with secrets, a VFW post with conflicting loyalties, and a retired lieutenant with too much to lose. Every question she asks stirs up someone who would prefer the past stay dead—someone willing to sabotage her car, lock her into a vault, and plant a bomb in her living room.Now Vi must stifle her fear and trust a ragtag circle of veterans, a cop with a quiet persistence, and the odd Slinky that keeps walking out of her hands. To clear her husband's name—and save her own—she must confront the chain of command that hid a wartime betrayal. The truth may set a memory free, but it could also get her killed.

Violette Smythe thought grief would be the hardest thing she ever faced. After her husband's death, she finds small clues, including a metal coil toy, that refuse to let her rest. Her tender attempt to preserve memory spirals into something far more dangerous when the Slinky evokes visions of jungle warfare and a massacre that left David the lone survivor.As Vi follows the breadcrumbed trail from attic trunks to dusty military files, her gentle coastal town reveals a darker architecture: veterans with secrets, a VFW post with conflicting loyalties, and a retired lieutenant with too much to lose. Every question she asks stirs up someone who would prefer the past stay dead—someone willing to sabotage her car, lock her into a vault, and plant a bomb in her living room.Now Vi must stifle her fear and trust a ragtag circle of veterans, a cop with a quiet persistence, and the odd Slinky that keeps walking out of her hands. To clear her husband's name—and save her own—she must confront the chain of command that hid a wartime betrayal. The truth may set a memory free, but it could also get her killed.