Karen Bastable is a woman longing for more excitement in her life, and illicit group meetings in a local forest have added plenty of spark and pleasure recently. That is until one night she meets a man in search of a more sinister kind of gratification. When her abandoned car is discovered days later, the case becomes a race against time and it is up to DCI Michael Thackeray to find her alive, that is, if he isn't too late. Meanwhile, Thackeray's girlfriend, Laura Ackroyd is struggling with the burden of keeping her unexpected pregnancy a secret from him. As she barely copes with her demanding workload as a journalist, Laura is then dealt the troublesome task of profiling Sir David Murgatroyd, a wealthy venture capitalist with plans to take over a local school. Yet while his tragic family history is widely acknowledged, he alternatively remains a mystery. So what has he to hide?