A telepathic child, a skeptical detective, and a father whose life hangs in the balance

When Tim Cross, a successful hairstylist on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, drops his four-year-old daughter, Claudia, off at a birthday party with a hug and a promise to return at 5:00 p.m., it’s a promise he will be unable to keep. Unbeknownst to Tim, his ex-wife has just escaped from a psychiatric institute for the criminally insane and is seeking to settle scores. At the birthday party, the five o’clock hour comes and goes, and the children have been picked up…all except Claudia. Cheri Andrews reassures Claudia that her dad will be there soon, but the hours pass with no sign of Tim.

Charlie Jorgenson, a NYC homicide detective with a fondness for booze, knocks on Cheri’s door much later that evening, but the news is not what she expected. Someone has been shot—and it is not Tim Cross. Jorgenson is now investigating both a murder and a missing person. Thus begins a disorienting journey that will challenge his understanding of good and evil. Guiding the journey is Claudia, Tim’s telepathic daughter, and a pair of seven-year-old twins in Fortune, Ontario, with a “telepathic” ability of their own. The clock, however, is ticking. Will the extraordinary ability of these young children be enough to guide the authorities to Tim Cross in time?

Kate Randolph has found that life is about stories–and we all have one. A career in international health and development has allowed her to travel extensively in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, but the stories and characters that resonate in her imagination can be found where she lives and works: New York City.