When 16-year-old Caitlin Reynolds fails to return home from school, Detective Inspector Sarah Quinn soon realizes this is no ordinary missing persons case.

How could a schoolgirl vanish in broad daylight with no witnesses? Why is Caitlin's mother so unhelpful and hostile to the police? Then the note arrives, referring to a crime committed more than fifty years earlier - and it becomes clear that someone is playing a childish - but all too deadly - game with the police.

To make matters worse, journalist Caroline King has got hold of the story - and Sarah Quinn's troubles are only just beginning.