His heart began to thud, his throat to close. He tried to pull his body from the pool. 'I'll help you', his killer said. He felt no pain.

A young teacher sips a hot chocolate, blissfully unaware that his first taste condemns him to an agonising death. The community around him is devastated and suspiciously protective of their own.

No one is better equipped to see through the lies than homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas, but she is distracted by the arrival of her husband Roarke's ex-lover, an impossibly glamorous vixen, determined to steal Roarke back.

But Eve's personal life must wait when a second murder victim is found, and everyone's eyes turn to the perfect school at the heart of it all. Its secret will soon be out . . .