Mistakes and Opportunities

When Homicide Detective Julie Bradley is summoned to Caradan Elementary School to investigate multiple shootings she is freaked. Her mother, Mimi Bradley, is a teacher at the school. When Julie arrives on the campus her worst fear is realized. The school Counselor is dead, her Mom critically wounded and the teacher's Second Graders have been shot, some fatally. At first glance, the case appears to be open and shut: a spree killing by a lunatic with a gun, but when Mimi dies and the killer begins eliminating those close to her, Julie concludes the school killings were not a random act at all and the deaths somehow revolve around her Mom. Why? Why Mimi? Her Mother was a compassionate person with a loving Husband and Daughter...a job she adored...a leader and mentor on her school campus...a former Teacher of the Year and a pillar of the community. Who would want her dead? When a determined Julie inserts herself into the investigation and a wounded student mentions that the perpetrator used Mimi's favorite mantra, "A Mistake is Just an Opportunity to Learn," the Detective deduces the murderer is someone close to her Mom. Julie begins searching Mimi's past and the clues quickly lead the young woman to individuals who had suffered traumatic childhoods and forged a special bond with her Mother. Sexually abused Tori, Dyslexic Carrie, and physically and mentally abused Carter. Former students who Mimi had loved, trusted, and nurtured and whom Julie had grown up with...her friends. The fourth student, a neglected boy named Steven, had actually found shelter with the Bradleys until he maliciously injured the family pet and the boy was sent away to a facility and had not been heard from again. When Julie closes in on the demented predator's identity and motive, she discovers that not only has her partner Devlin Ames found his way into her heart, but he has also been keeping a secret from her and Steven has returned to Caradan. When the Detective becomes the killer's next target she may not survive, because just as her Mother learned...devotion, friendship, and even love will not be enough to satisfy a sick mind.