On the same evening that a body is found in Picketsville’s urgent care clinic, a mysterious break-in occurs at the house of one of Callend University’s faculty. Both seem to be connected to an icon, The Virgin of Tenderness, in the faculty member’s possession. The fact that the body is that of the faculty member’s ex-wife’s lover who, more interestingly seems to have entered the country under an assumed name only complicates things for Sherriff Ike Schwartz. In the search for killers and thieves, what appears to be outdated spycraft, a microdot, is found on the icon. In an era of sophisticated cyber-encrypted information transfer, the presence of this bit of CIA nostalgia brings in Charlie Garland and the forces from Langley.
