In a city where enemies are as easy to come by as friends
and where paranoia is the norm, private investigator Rachel
Alexander is surprised to see someone waiting for her at New
York City's Washington Square Park dog run, where she takes
her pit bull, Dashiell, for his daily R&R. When the
distraught man asks her to find his missing wife, Rachel
accepts the case reluctantly. After all, the chances of
finding a woman who disappeared without a trace -- and
without a word -- five years earlier are slim. But Rachel is
touched by the missing woman's daughter, a troubled young
girl who has been mute since her mother disappeared and who
is now suspected of the brutal stabbing murder of her doctor.
Although the girl can't, or won't, speak for herself, Rachel
believes she is innocent and is determined to find a way to
communicate with her in order to discover the truth and
clear her name. Against a backdrop of infidelity, neglect,
and a city at times as lonely and frightening as a child's
worst nightmares, Rachel's involvement in the case uncovers
issues more complex, and more tragic, than she's ever seen,
eventually exposing problems that someone is willing to die,
or even kill, for.