The Empty Seat

Detective Claire Mercer has built her life around arriving when someone else's has already fallen apart.

A frightened waitress. A violent suspect. A trunk filled with photographs, missing identities, and the first real lead in a case Claire has refused to let die.

For eighteen months, she has promised Helen Bennett that she will bring her daughter home.

Now she finally can.

But while Claire follows the trail left by a man who destroyed families, her own is quietly learning how to live without her. Her husband has stopped asking when she will be home. Her daughter has stopped believing her promises. And her younger sister, Lauren, is calling from the ruins of a marriage Claire cannot understand.

Claire has always believed the people who love her know why she has to leave.

She never considered what they see when they look toward the audience-and find her seat empty.