Years later, Lauren's mother is pleading for help once again. Lauren has vanished - and she thinks Alex can find her. He reluctantly agrees to try, but as he starts  to investigate Lauren's troubled past he is drawn into the shadowy worlds of fringe psychological experimentation and LA's seedy sex industry. Sensing that  Lauren's dark family secrets may hold the key to her disappearance, Alex disregards the advice of his trusted friend, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, not to get involved. And as his quest for the truth becomes an obsession, he is  prepared to risk his relationship with long-time lover Robin Castagna, and even puts his own life at risk…

Psychologist Alex Delaware hasn"t been in private practice for a long time, but when the mother of a former patient calls and asks for his help, he can"t turn her down. He couldn"t help Lauren Teague when she was alive, but something about his failure with the beautiful, sullen teenager who grew up to be a high-priced call girl won"t let him walk away after her bullet-ridden body turns up in an L.A. dumpster. When she wasn"t turning tricks, she was a straight-A student; despite his detective pal Milo"s demurral, Alex is convinced there"s a connection between Lauren"s death and another beautiful UCLA psych major who disappeared a year earlier. With his customary skill and compassion, Jonathan Kellerman draws us deep into Lauren"s complicated life, from a university campus to a Malibu estate owned by a wealthy publisher of soft-core porn (who bears a distinct resemblance to the pajama-clad mogul who made a small white bunny famous).

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41