Famous ornithological artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes was largely unknown when he was commissioned to paint a large mural for the 1892 Columbian Exposition. After the exposition, the nine panels that made up the mural were lost for a century. Now they were being reassembled for a major exhibit in New York. The final panel, the Center Piece, that hung in the biological sciences library at Virginia Western University, was scheduled to be reunited with the others. That is, until it vanished again, stolen in a brazen heist that leaves university police chief Desdemona White with neither clues nor suspects. Enter New York art expert Remy Tremblay, who sets her on the right trail and upends her personal life. White's colleague and friend, Professor Elena Bertoni, once again risks her life to secure essential evidence. Evidence not just of theft but also of massive fraud, greed, revenge-and murder.