ONCE HE WAS A WELL-LIKED, WELL-PAID YOUNG PARTNER IN A THRIVING MISSISSIPPI LAW FIRM. THEN PATRICK LANIGAN STOLE NINETY MILLION DOLLARS FROM HIS OWN FIRM—AND RAN FOR HIS LIFE. FOR FOUR YEARS, HE EVADED MEN WHO WERE RICH AND POWERFUL, AND WHO WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO FIND HIM. THEN, INEVITABLY, ON THE EDGE OF THE BRAZILIAN JUNGLE, THEY FINALLY TRACKED HIM DOWN. NOW PATRICK IS COMING HOME. AND IN THE MISSISSIPPI CITY WHERE IT ALL BEGAN, AN EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. AS PROSECUTORS CIRCLE LIKE SHARKS, AS PATRICK’S LAWYER PREPARES HIS DEFENSE, AS PATRICK’S LOVER PRAYS FOR HIS DELIVERANCE AND HIS FORMER PARTNERS WAIT FOR THEIR REVENGE, ANOTHER STORY IS ABOUT TO EMERGE. BECAUSE PATRICK LANIGAN, THE MOST REVILED WHITE-COLLAR CRIMINAL OF HIS TIME, KNOWS SOMETHING THAT NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD KNOWS. HE KNOWS THE TRUTH.
चार वर्षांपूर्वी त्याचं नाव होतं पॅट्रिक एस. लॅनिगन.
फेब्रुवारी, १९९२मध्ये एका कार अपघातात त्याचा मृत्यू झाला आणि त्यानंतर मिसिसिपी इथल्या बिलॉक्सी इथे त्याची कबरही बांधण्यात आली.
तो एका लॉ फर्ममध्ये म्हणजे कायदेविषयक काम करणार्या कंपनीत ‘पार्टनर’ होता. त्याच्या बाबतीत सगळं काही चांगलं होतं – सुंदर पत्नी, गोड मुलगी आणि उज्ज्वल भविष्यकाळ! त्याच्या मृत्यूनंतर, सहा आठवड्यांनी एकाएकी त्या कंपनीतून ९० दशलक्ष डॉलर्स एवढी प्रचंड मोठी रक्कम गायब होते! आणि मग त्याच्या इतर पार्टनर्सना लक्षात येतं –
हो, अजूनही तो जिवंत आहे!