Beyond The Red Lantern

A fisherman finds a human skull within his catch that is tied to a four-year old murder case. Eric Bacon, on his first day as detective with the Cross Mills police, looks through the old case file and sees subtle differences to signatures on two separate medical examiner's reports, though of the same person. New to the force and trusting no one, he goes to his former police chief for help. He learns one signature is a forgery and the autopsy photos were altered as well. 

The medical examiner working the old case mysteriously left the pathology lab four years ago, his whereabouts unknown. Sensing a cover-up and acting alone, Eric starts a relentless search for the man. He eventually finds him and is told a trumped up drug charge was brought against him because he knew what actually happened four years ago. The convicted killer, Kevin Avery was not the sole assailant, and the stab wound he inflicted to the victim may not have even killed him. He asks the medical examiner to help him bring those responsible in the cover-up to justice, but he is turned down. The medical examiner's response: If they had drugs planted in my desk, I fear what could happen to me next. 

Then an unexpected turn in the case takes Eric to Wayne, Alaska, and to the winner of the Iditarod. He has more evidence of a cover-up, and now has the support of the medical examiner, but the man is found dead and it is ruled a suicide. Eric knows the man did not kill himself, and his investigation into the old case moves to a homicide.