A missing girl, a frozen lake, and a detective who can't let go.
Who drives the story
A county detective with one closed case she can't stop reopening, who wants the truth more than she wants her badge, and loses both before she gets it.
Lily's mother, who asks the only honest question at the vigil and then accepts the town's kindness because the alternative is unbearable.
The eleven-year-old who watched and mapped what she saw, and whose precise notebook pages outlast her.
The man who wrote the accident story before the search began, and whose resignation arrives the same noon the truth does.
How they are connected
Lily's mother, who asks the only honest question at the vigil and then accepts the town's kindness because the alternative is unbearable.
Go deeper
The convenience of accident · The record against the story · Complicity of the decent · The cost of knowing
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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