Thirty-One Seconds

Daniel Blaine and his sister Eveline, each orphaned at a very young age but subsequently raised by a loving family, have spent their adult lives alienated from each other. The occasional phone call, even an email on occasion has vanished from their lives. Daniel, seven years younger, works at a financial institution in Chicago, not very far from where he was born. Eveline has moved around, but has never stopped seeking recompense for the airline accident that killed her parents when she was seven.

Then one autumn afternoon when Daniel is home from work, he learns that his sister is dead. He learns it almost by accident, and realizes again how far apart they had grown. The funeral has already been held, but Eveline has not finished her work. As she approached the end she gathered and sent out stacks of material accumulated over the decades–information about the crash and the principals involved. This obsession of hers, as Daniel saw it, was one of the sticking points in their relationship, but now that she’s dead, he feels he owes her memory some respect and tries to follow up on what she began.

He flies to Connecticut, where Eveline had spent her final years; but in following her paper trail, he becomes embroiled in a situation that far exceeds any personal vendetta–one which jeopardizes the lives of hundreds and maybe more.