When fifteen-year-old Shannon Hoffman goes missing, Detective Winston Radhauser conducts a frantic search of Ashland and its surrounding areas. He knows kidnapping victims rarely survive beyond the first forty-eight hours, and the clock is ticking.

None of her friends have seen her since cheerleading practice. Local volunteers post flyers, search parks, wooded areas and canvas door-to-door along the route Shannon would have taken home. Videos from school and neighborhood security cameras show nothing. They notify airline terminals, train and bus stations, but no one saw a girl matching her description leave Ashland.

During his investigation, Radhauser's learns Shannon's neighbor and lifelong friend, a boy named Rich Gasser, died less than two weeks before her disappearance. Rich had stood in front of a moving freight train. His death shocked the small community and devastated Shannon. Could she have run away? Was she depressed enough to join Rich? The medical examiner determined the boy's death a suicide, but Rich's parents know there is more to it. They believe Carson Summers, an older high school student, bullied their son to death.

According to her girlfriends, Shannon and Carson were an item until she discovered how cruel his bullying of Rich had become. Witnesses to their altercation claim Carson took the breakup badly and threatened to get even with Shannon. He is convinced there is a link between Rich's alleged suicide and Shannon's disappearance.

Will Detective Radhauser find that link before it's too late to save Shannon?

The deeper Radhauser digs, the more secrets he uncovers.