When Emma Lawson, the youngest lead government-ethics investigator in California's capital, takes a day off to help her best friend, Kate, prepare for the opening of her new preschool, the morning takes a shocking turn.

The school's most high-profile enrollee—Vivian Lange, the governor's granddaughter—is kidnapped at the same time Kate's teenage son, Luke, goes missing. Emma is quickly drawn to a web of clues that point toward sordid secrets and a cold-case murder in a shadow world of bigotry and hate.

Over a desperate and harrowing forty-eight hours, Emma races against the clock to solve the most important investigation of her life. But will she be in time to bring the child to safety and to stop a calculating killer whose plan threatens all that Emma holds dear?