Silent son

Why would anyone kill Henry and Addie Bowers? The savage, senseless shooting of the elderly store owners shocks neighbors and police, yet no one is more distraught than county prosecutor Gardner Lawson - for the state's sole witness is Gardner's only son. Worse yet, whoever killed the Bowers left the eight-year-old unconscious, with the imprint of a gun barrel on his forhead. So traumatized is the boy that he cannot remember anything. No one can get through to him, not even his father. Spotted near the scene of the crime, a town bully has been pegged as the key suspect. He responds evasively to questioning, and Gardner is positive the state has found its man. But his close friend, police sergeant Joseph Brown, isn't so sure. He digs deeper, and starts unearthing a tangled trail of lies leading to a secret as horrifying as the crime itself. And waiting in the wings for Gardner and his allies is his adversary, Kent King, a clever, antagonistic defense attorney, all too willing to take advantage of Gardner's escalating emotional stake in the case. In the courtroom and out, pressure mounts as he tries to help the boy face the nightmarish truth. Now Gardner is torn between his thirst for justice and the primal, parental drive to protect his child. As the killer roams free, Gardner must ask himself: Will the ultimate cost of a conviction be the life of his son?