It's one of the most disturbing cases DI Fawley has ever worked.The Christmas holidays, and two children have just been pulled from the wreckage of their burning home in North Oxford. The toddler is dead, and his brother is soon fighting for his life.Why were they left in the house alone? Where is their mother, and why is their father not answering his phone?Then new evidence is discovered, and DI Fawley's worst nightmare comes true.Because this fire wasn't an accident. It was murder.

A woman and child are found locked in a basement room, barely alive.No one knows who they are - the woman can't speak, and there are no missing persons reports that match their profile. The elderly man who owns the house claims he has never seen them before.The inhabitants of the quiet Oxford street are in shock. How could this happen right under their noses? But DI Adam Fawley knows that nothing is impossible.

A distressed teenage girl is found on the outskirts of Oxford. The story she tells is terrifying: grabbed off the street, a plastic bag forced over her head, then driven somewhere remote and subjected to an assault.DI Adam Fawley is doing the best he can to investigate, but the teenager refuses to press charges. All he can do is try to ignore the sickening feeling he's seen something like this before...But when another girl goes missing, Fawley knows his time is running out.Because if he ignores the past any longer, this girl may not be coming back.