Detective Inspector Jo Carter’s latest assignment takes her to the birthplace of her husband, Seb, in Bury, Greater Manchester. She is to lend her expertise in investigating the wave of drug trafficking taking place there, but shortly after joining the team, and two days before Christmas, a local 19-year-old woman, Phoebe Wright, goes missing. She was last seen at night, heading out across the deserted and desolate Holcombe Moor. With no evidence of a crime, but no reason why she should abscond, Jo’s team begin to unravel a complex life behind Phoebe’s apparently normal existence.

As the investigation unfolds, Jo receives a series of mysterious texts, each a single numerical digit. But where are these messages coming from? Are they linked to the missing person? And is there a connection to a local legend from a quarter of a millennium ago?

When developments take a fatal turn, Jo finds herself in a struggle for control with her hostile second-in-command, Detective Sergeant Andy Mills, whilst wrestling with doubts about the stability of her relationship with Seb. And events will eventually lead her to a terrible truth, and into personal danger.