ATENED BY SECRETS AND MURDER. When Alain Darnay suddenly appears on Hilton Head, Bay Tanner believes she and her former lover can finally settle into a normal life. But her tenuous peace is shattered by an innocent-looking boy with cold blue eyes who will force her to relive the nightmare of her husband's murder . . . Cart Anderson, a recently orphaned teenager burning with resentment, wants to know how and why his father, Geoffrey, died, and he's convinced Bay has the answers. But shortly after their confrontation, the boy disappears. His empty car is found splattered with blood at an abandoned fort on nearby St. Helena Island, and suddenly Bay and her lover find themselves the chief suspects. But what does the ancient black woman, whose ramshackle cottage sits next to the old fort, know about the boy's disappearance? And why is the entire county so willing to believe Bay is guilty? Enlisting the aid of her former partner, Erik Whiteside, and an ambitious local reporter, Bay begins to unravel a plot so intricate, so devious, it could shatter not only her own life but that of everyone she holds dear . . .