Private detective and former medical examiner Kiernan O'Shaughnessy has been betrayed, framed for a death she is investigating. The true cause of death, a deadly and highly contagious case of Lassa fever, could have dire consequences for the public if it is unleashed. But the trail of clues she is following from her base in San Diego to the Nevada desert is agonizingly complex.

Meanwhile, her houseman Brad Tchernak takes on a case of his own, investigating a hotshot geologist who has just returned from a potentially multimillion-dollar oil find in Central America. But his passion for this case may land him into mortal danger.

As the seemingly disparate cases intertwine, Kiernan and Tchernak realize they had better find what they're looking for fast, before they, too, become "bodies of evidence."