Evelyn Murtaugh has traveled to Morganton, North Carolina from Chicago, Illinois to see Mrs. Heidi Traub on a very important matter. Evelyn's adoptive father passed away unexpectedly, and in his will left instructions that Evelyn was to receive a package. In the package, which Evelyn was told was twenty years old, there was a sealed envelope containing a cardboard puzzle piece. The game piece looked like half of a heart pendant. There was also a note inside, from Evelyn's biological father. In the note, he instructs "Evie" to seek out and return the missing piece of the heart.