Chapters (97)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Eighty-Eight
- Eighty-Nine
- Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
- Excerpt
At a truck stop near Las Vegas, fourteen-year-old Riley Jarrett vanishes from her family’s RV, turning their cross-country dream of starting over into a nightmare.
Investigators have their work cut out for them. The massive, bustling truck plaza in the desert is the perfect place for someone to disappear—or be taken.
Detectives pursue every chilling lead as all eyes fall to the newly blended family with a tragic past. With the clock ticking down on the likelihood that Riley’s alive, suspicions run deep. Everyone—from Riley’s mom to her stepdad to her stepbrother and her ex-boyfriend—has something to hide. And their secrets could prove deadly.
Keep reading for a sneak peek…
DAY 1
ONE
California / Nevada
Watching flat, desert scrub and distant mountains drifting by her window, Grace Jarrett reflected on her life.
You think you’re in control, but you’re not.
You never know what’s coming.
It was strange, she thought, you meet the perfect man, get married and have a daughter. You’re living your dream, believing it will last forever then you blink and you’re a widowed, single parent and your world goes dark.
Then you meet an understanding man, who, with his teenage son, has also experienced a painful loss. You fall in love, get married, come together as a blended family and you see light again.
Grace turned to her husband, John Marshall, behind the wheel of their RV as they traveled north on Interstate 15, a few hours south of Las Vegas.
* * *
He’s a good guy.
We may not be a perfect family, if such a thing exists, but we’re doing our best.
Now, after two years of marriage, Grace and John, along with her daughter and his son, were facing a new challenge together: moving across the country to Pennsylvania.
It wasn’t easy, especially for Riley, her fourteen-year-old daughter, who had just broken up with her boyfriend at Grace’s insistence.
Ever since they left San Diego that morning at dawn, Riley had sobbed softly, her face welded to her phone as she exchanged messages nonstop with her friends. With each mile Grace still grappled with whether their move from California, where she and Riley had always lived, was the right one.
But that decision was behind them.
After discussing it with Grace, John had accepted a new job as communications director with a Fortune 500 retail company in Pittsburgh. It meant more money than what he was earning as public relations manager at the clothing chain in San Diego, where things had not been going well for him. Grace would leave her job at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, transfer her RN license and, because of her qualifications, stood a good chance at getting a position at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“This will be a new start for us,” John had said.