To ex-cop Walter Blunt, Lucy Burrowes was just a name in the newspaper, a girl gone missing. Abducted? Murdered? Nobody knew. A total mystery. 

How was he supposed to find her when the city's police force had spent months searching … drawing blanks? Only complete desperation could have brought her parents to his door – a private investigator with no experience in missing persons and the smallest ad in the classifieds. Rates low, reputation lower. 

Lucy was a pretty woman with a bright future and no enemies, so everybody said. Everyone supposed an attack by some maniac. Everybody feared. Somewhere out there was a killer who might be getting ready to strike again…