A lot of people knew that gorgeous Lisanne Hart was all alone in that big new house. One of them killed her. Lieutenant Mark Brannen, with Sergeant Angela Martin's help, will do his best to find the monster responsible because he's a good cop and that's his job. And not least because of Kathleen.Falling in love is the furthest thing from Mark's mind when Kathleen Hart walks into the Lilburn police station with her parents to report her sister missing. He's been carrying some heavy baggage and serious scars ever since his first wife, Annie, was murdered. The intervening years have not lessened the pain or brought him any closer to finding someone new. As for Kathleen, she swore off relationships all together after too many disasters over too many years. Her small apartment, the job she loves, an occasional visit with her parents and her beloved younger sister, the little white dog that goes with her everywhere, these are the perimeters of her world. But now, in the midst of the tragedy that is Lisanne Hart's murder and the effort to find her killer, Mark and Kathleen risk a leap of faith and hope, reaching out for an unexpected chance at happiness.The investigation is a series of dead ends. No evidence, no new leads. Just as the possibility has to be faced that the killer may never be found, he appears to reveal himself and the case can finally be closed. Now perhaps healing can begin for Kathleen and her parents, and the lovers can start a new life, together.But healing may not be possible for this shattered family whose veneer had begun to crack long ago. And love may not be enough to see Mark and Kathleen through to happiness. Because a terrible stone was cast into this pond, its ripples spreading wide and deep, and Lisanne's brutal murder is only the beginning.The characters leap from the page in a powerful and shocking story that will hold you in its grip long after you've closed the book and turned out the light.