Tracy hopes to force a retrial of House, because that will bring the mistakes and overlooked details from the original trial into public record. If House's conviction is overturned, that may be enough to reopen the investigation into Sarah's death, which is the only path by which Tracy can hope that the truth is uncovered. But there is a lot of pressure on Tracy to let the past go, including from the police department of Cedar Grove. But some of Tracy's doubts about the case involve the actions and testimony of Calloway, the Sheriff of Cedar Grove, where Sarah disappeared.

At the beginning of the book, hunters roaming through the woods are led to a shallow grave by their dogs. A police investigation confirms that the body of Sarah has been found at last. She had been stuffed in a plastic trash bag and shoved into a shallow hole - and then a dam was built nearby that flooded the entire area. Twenty years later, the dam was taken down, and when the water drained away, the hunters discovered Sarah's remains in the restored landscape. But Sarah disappeared in August, and the dam wasn't constructed until October of that year - searchers had combed the area during that time and never spotted her body. It is clear that animals did not disturb her corpse, though they could have easily dug up such a shallow pit. The implication is that Sarah was interred there until just before the dam was built. So where was she?