Campus cop Peggy ONeill is making her nightly rounds when she runs into Steadman George, the aging piano man who lives and works aboard the universitys Showboat Theater, docked on the Mississippi. Tonight he has a tale to tell.

Twenty years ago Steadman helped an unmarried teen sell her baby to a show-biz couple, and hes kept the shady deal to himself--until now. The biological mother is back, looking for her daughter, and Steadman wonders if he should help her, or help himself to a different deal.

But the day after Peggy hears Steadmans nostalgic story, shes finishing his body out of the river. Despite opinions to the contrary, Peggys sure this was no accident, and its time to investigate. Because a dirty little secret from the past is about to explode in tomorrows tabloid scandal--stunning the innocent, rocking the righteous, and driving someone to desperation. . .and murder.