Disaster struck when twin sisters Jennifer and Melissa Salazar went hiking with their grandmother on their sixth birthday. Melissa got lost, fell off a cliff on the rock slide above Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe and died. Eight years later, fourteen-year-old Jennifer wants to hire Detective Owen McKenna to look into the death, which she believes was a murder. When Owen begins to investigate, another body is discovered. Owen's girlfriend Street Casey, a forensic entomologist, analyzes maggots found in the corpse. Her information helps Owen connect the body to the case. Owen uncovers information that takes him from Tahoe to San Francisco to a rich man's private island off the coast of Santa Barbara. The man directs McKenna to an asylum in the Nevada desert. Although the facility is surrounded by armed guards, Owen breaks in and learns of a long-buried secret that caused the murder of Jennifer's sister and several others in her family. Jennifer is the next intended victim. When Owen realizes who the murderer is, he races back to Lake Tahoe. Owen and his Great Dane Spot will need every second if they are to catch him. The killer has Jennifer and she has only minutes left to live...