Past Imperfect

When Heidi Sternberg, a military contracting clerk during Erica Jensen's deployment, is found dead the day the two were supposed to meet for lunch, this gives Erica reason enough to find Heidi's death suspicious. While the police conclude the death was by suicide or OD, Heidi's widow questions the ruling. With few leads forthcoming from the top-level military contractor, Erica's search for the truth is thwarted by national security issues and lack of access to highly-sensitive intel.

Meanwhile, Erica's father nearly begs Erica to find out who's blackmailing him. Despite the blackmailer's cryptic message and given the five-day deadline to pay $10,000, Erica's attention is forced away from the on-going efforts to discover the truth about Heidi's death. But her attempts to gather intel from her father's old contacts produce memories made vague decades later, often providing a less than complete picture of the situation. And, unfortunately, the further she digs, the uglier the truth gets. In both cases, Erica confronts a reality that's often far from glamorous and increasingly perilous.