As young children, Josh Browning and his sister, Dilys, stumbled across a dead body while playing on the outskirts of their Cotswold village.

Terrified by what they'd seen, neither of them told a soul. Now, twenty years later, Josh finds the dead woman's charm bracelet among his sister's possessions. Who better to tell than his trusted friend, the man he gardens for, retired Superintendent Alan Markby? As Markby listens to Josh's confession, alarm bells start to ring.

The dates and details tie in with a missing person case that was never solved. Joining forces with Superintendent Ian Carter, who also investigated the original case, and Inspector Jess Campbell, from the region where the missing girl was last seen, Markby delves into the unsolved mystery. Together, they are determined to catch a clever killer who almost got away with murder...