Cold cases are the bane of police departments because they focus on failure. No matter how diligent the investigation, if the file winds up in storage without closure it means someone got away with the crime. Child kidnapping destroys families and if the case is never solved than the parents inevitably spend their lives hoping and looking for their child.

Twenty five years is a long time to keep hope alive and the files of Ann Montgomery's kidnapping are being archived which means no one will ever look into it again. There is the matter of a trust fund that her father has kept as a reward but at this point even Hugh Montgomery is waffling on whether or not to close it and finally admit defeat. Life has not been kind to Hugh. His finances are going south and has unwittingly left him vulnerable to blackmail. The trust fund money would help but then he would have to finally accept the loss of his daughter.

RJ Bannon has stumbled onto this case and is immediately intrigued with information that was overlooked. Since he is on official leave after sustaining an injury he finds himself hanging around the precinct and digging into the vast amount of paperwork that unfortunately led police nowhere. In the ten years they had somewhat actively searched, no one had found any trace of Ann and there was absolutely no evidence or motive considering that no ransom had been demanded. RJ feels strongly that they should give it one more try and, with the reward running out in one year, he decides to remind the public about this missing child. Little did he realize that he was about to open a can worms ripe with peril.

A chance meeting with Erin Randall has RJ dividing his time between building a relationship with this lovely artist and his quest to solve Ann's case. The more time he spends with Erin the more he senses a rather strange connection between the two. There are no physical similarities and yet it seems like Erin's life story is filled with empty spaces. RJ just can't ignore his cop instincts and decides to delve deeper into his search. What he never expected was the peril his investigation would put Erin in. He finds himself torn between keeping Erin safe and finding the truth. But as things start spiraling out of control there is only one certainty. Someone has targeted Erin and the list of suspects includes some well respected townspeople. RJ knows he unwittingly put Erin in danger but they are going to have to go through him first.

Book Summary