Kristina Bonner was the girl every girl in her high school wanted to be. Tall, slim, auburn-haired, a straight-A student, and the daughter of a wealthy and powerful man, Kristina drove her father's rare and classic Continental Mark II to her senior prom, and then disappeared. Twenty-six years later-after he'd spent and wasted a fortune on private investigations-John Bonner turns to a writer and espresso-shop owner for help. Sandeen is an investigator without a badge or a gun, but a great track record. He will rely, instead, on the powers of the First Amendment to give him both freedom and access to the truth of Kristina's disappearance. Sandeen makes the journey to the epicenter of the mystery, the small town of Catalpa, Kansas. There, he begins to uncover secrets buried for a quarter-century-secrets fiercely and violently protected by those who perpetrated a horrible crime and then hid the evidence in an unmarked grave.