The Perfect Child

Beneath the manicured lawns and whispered ambitions of Ashwood Creek, a chilling secret lies buried.  Margaret Johnson, a successful lawyer, has crafted a perfect life: a devoted husband, two thriving children, and a picture-perfect home. But the excavation for a new pool unearths more than just dirt; it unearths a skeleton, a stark reminder of a past Margaret desperately tried to bury.
The bones belong to Daniel, a ghost from Margaret's reckless youth, a time she’d rather forget.  She convinced herself his death was self-defense, a buried truth she believed would stay hidden.  But now, Detective Kristy Vasquez, haunted by her own unsolved case, arrives in Ashwood Creek, her sharp eyes missing nothing. She sees the cracks in Margaret's facade, the subtle inconsistencies that unravel her carefully crafted lies.
The whispers begin. The stares. The chill in her husband’s eyes.  The idyllic community turns on Margaret, its judgment as swift and merciless as a summer storm.  Then, a phone call. A voice from the past, sweet as honeyed poison: “Remember the cabin?” Cynthia Porter, a seemingly innocuous PTA mom, emerges from the shadows, a specter of Margaret's past, wielding a shared secret like a weapon.  Their twisted game of psychological chess begins, and Margaret is losing.
As Margaret's carefully constructed world crumbles, her teenage daughter seeks solace in an unlikely friendship, her husband grapples with mounting suspicion, and a powerful politician, Daniel's father, vows revenge.  Margaret must make an impossible choice: confess and risk destroying her family, or remain silent and allow Cynthia’s insidious game to continue, a game with stakes she can no longer afford: her family, her freedom, her sanity.
Driven to the edge, Margaret confronts her past, unearthing a truth even more devastating than the one she buried. The night at the cabin, a remote hideaway nestled deep in the woods, reveals a shocking betrayal, a web of lies that ensnared them all.  Margaret wasn't alone with Daniel that night.  Cynthia was there too, a silent witness, a master manipulator.
Armed with this knowledge, Margaret faces a final, desperate gamble.  She will expose the truth, no matter the cost, shattering the pristine facade of Ashwood Creek and revealing the darkness that lurks beneath the surface of perfection.