A school principal in plunged into the crosshairs

On the first day of the school year, Carlisle High School principal Abbie Chambers is elated. After two years of distance- and hybrid-learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she’s over the moon about a return to normalcy. But when driving home at the end of the day, she learns that sophomore Claudia Barrington has been reported missing and was last seen at her home two days earlier. Abbie is again blindsided by the reminder that high school is a cross-section of society that includes not only the good but also the bad. Past assaults have included terminal illnesses, vehicle accidents, drug overdoses, suicides, and now this. Unless Claudia is found, the new school year will be a profoundly tragic one.

Despite the best efforts of detective Robert Henderson to uncover evidence and establish leads, weeks and months pass with no sign of Claudia. And then gunshots ring out on the Carlisle High School campus.