Book excerpt: Barbara Philips took her eyes off her eight-year-old son Michael for mere moments before he vanished without a trace. Newly assigned to Michael’s case, Detective Inspector Richard Johnson and Sergeant Jackie Trott soon tackle a second disappearance: a missing nineteen-year-old boy. As evidence intertwines the fate of both missing youths, police attentions turn towards Mereford Primary School where dark secrets lurk beneath the surface. Tensions mount as the investigation inches closer to exposing buried wrongdoings. Will police connect all dots before tragedy strikes again? Or have dangerous games already bred irrevocable harm? Johnson and Trott race the clock to unmask the threat hiding in plain sight, capture the perpetrator, and hopefully recover Michael still alive. Yet someone covertly thwarts their progress, willing to do whatever it takes to keep concealed these school grounds’ sinister secrets, lies, and escalating body count.