The freshly murdered corpse was that of a dead man. That's usual, but in this case the victim was presumed to have died two years ago. Bad luck for him if he hadn't. On the other hand, he didn't have to hang around and try to make sense of a baffling situation complicated by family skeletons and money—and female allure. What did Dorla Balfour hope to get in return when she begged Mason to accept a thousand-dollar retainer to handle a case that had already been tried and decided?