The suspect in a 12-year-old murder case is finally caught and tried, but the witnesses are a bit hard to track down...

Dishwasher 'Bill Jackson' thwarts a robbery; resulting publicity fingers him as the 12-years-missing Richard Kinkaid, wanted for murder. Kinkaid half-convinces public defender Paul Bennett of his innocence; but Paul knows he'll never convince a jury without the 7 witnesses who've had 12 years to vanish. It develops that these prosperous young folks have gone down in the world. Paul and his father, a one-armed ex-cop, have a week to find them.—Rod Crawford <[email protected]>

Loner Bill Jackson's latest short term job is as a dishwasher at a bar, although Sally Clark, his colleague at the bar who would like to get to know him better, can see that there is much more to him than such menial work. While Bill and Sally are alone at the bar after hours closing up, Bill prevents an armed robbery, the resulting notoriety which is exactly what he didn't want in his loner status as he was convicted twelve years earlier under his true identity of Richard Kincaid of murdering Dan Brian, he escaping custody before sentencing and being on the run ever since. With the resulting media of Richard's heroics preventing the robbery, the police are able to reapprehend him. Standing trial all over again for Dan's murder, Richard is assigned a public defender, Paul Bennett, who, after hearing Richard's story, is largely convinced that Richard is innocent as he professes. If Richard is innocent, the murderer is most-likely one of the other seven people he met for the first time the evening of the murder (Dan the eighth), all friends, and who all testified at the first trial, they all couples: Dan's wife Joan Brian, jealous Dan who had long believed that Joan was having an affair, he assuming Richard the other man; married Kerry and Alice McGuire, who Richard classifies as the born gregarious salesman and demure housewife, respectively; serious minded small business owner Walter Long and his quiet girlfriend Rolene Wood, who seemed to live in their own private world; and former varsity football player and then rising junior executive Brick Appleby and his beautiful "campus queen" girlfriend Pat Sheldon, who also happened to be Rolene's roommate. With no indication of what has happened to the seven in the intervening time, Paul enlists the reluctant help of his retired police officer father, Wallace Bennett, to locate them in knowing only new evidence most-likely only coming from within those seven will clear Richard. Pop's reluctance in helping is due to having seen too many criminals professing their innocence over the course of his career. With Sally standing steadfastly by Richard's side, Paul becomes more and more certain as to Richard's innocence when it is obvious that someone or some people are going to extreme lengths, including kill, to ensure that the seven are not found, and if they are that they can't talk.—Huggo