Summit Lake

On the night of February 17, 2012, Becca Eckersley leaves a coffeehouse feeling a sense of relief after confiding a secret. As she walks home, an unseen person watches her. She arrives at her family’s stilt house by the lake and sets the security alarm. While she’s in the shower, she doesn’t hear someone trying the handle of the mudroom door.

After her shower, Becca studies at the kitchen island. She hears a noise at the door and, seeing a familiar man, disables the alarm and opens it. The man forces his way inside and, to her surprise, attacks her. He drags her into the family room, where she hits her head. After strangling and sexually assaulting her, he flees through a sliding glass door. Gravely injured, Becca lies dying, her gaze fixed on a distant lighthouse. She can hear sirens approaching, but knows help won’t arrive in time.

Two weeks later, on March 1, 2012, investigative reporter Kelsey Castle returns to the Miami office of Events Magazine from a leave of absence. Her editor, Penn Courtney, assigns her the story of Becca’s murder. Kelsey resists, suspecting that it’s a low-stress case meant to protect her after a recent trauma.