When local history teacher Lou Cameron disappears, Farrell County sheriff Frank Decker is puzzled by accusations of embezzlement, even if they do come from wealthy and influential Nathaniel Wetherston, whose family has onwed half of Farrell County for a century. Was Cameron--who moonlighted as an insurance salesman--stealing money from Wetherston's company?

Decker doesn't think so, especially when Cameron's car si found submerged with the body of a stranger inside. But two questions trouble Decker: who is the dead man and where is Caermon? The answers lead Decker on a strange and twisted trail back into the Wetherston family history, where a century-old murder holds the key to the scandalous secrets lurking in Decker's backyard--as well as a face-off with a killer that proves family ties can bind in sinister and shocking ways.