Northumberland detective Peter Porteous is called to Cranwell Lake, where a diving instructor has made a gruesome discovery. In the water lies a corpse – the body of a teenager who has clearly been dead for many years.
After trawling through the missing persons files, Porteous comes to the conclusion that the corpse is Michael Grey, an enigmatic and secretive young man who was reported missing by his foster parents in 1972.
The news report leaves prison officer Hannah Morton in shock. Michael had been her boyfriend, and she had been with him the night he disappeared. And now the discovery is bringing back dreaded, long-buried memories from her past . . .