Seeking guidance, Sophie turns to her former mentor Harry Turner, once a leading expert on child murder, and later draws on the experience of her elderly grandfather, who spent years working with vulnerable children. As the investigation develops, the detectives uncover a tangled web of family secrets, deception, abuse, jealousy, and long-suppressed guilt.
The case eventually leads Sophie to Dorothy Kitson, whose confession reveals a devastating truth about the children and the events that preceded their deaths. But another mystery remains: what really happened to John Wethergill and Li Hua? With buried secrets finally coming to light, Sophie must separate guilt from innocence and uncover the full truth.