The body of a twelve-year-old girl is discovered on the grounds of an exclusive school. The next day, a motorist is killed when his car skids off the road and lands in a rain-swollen stream. It is definitely the wrong weekend for Detective Sergeant Timothy Wallace to be left in charge of Loworth Police Station!Having decided that neither death involved foul play, Tim's boss considers it a waste of time and taxpayers' money to continue the investigations. But Tim suspects the headmistress is withholding information about the student's death. And he questions why a local resident would be involved in a car accident on a familiar road. A letter reveals the deceased motorist was guarding a dark secret, a secret that mirrors a tragedy that affects the family of Tim's best friend. Detective Sergeant Wallace also learns that fifteen years earlier, the school's teenage gardener vanished without a trace.When Tim tries to uncover a link between the gardener's disappearance and the construction of a greenhouse near where the dead girl was found, someone attempts to kill him. It is starting to look like the school's curriculum includes reading, writing, and murder.