The book begins with Holly's father driving up at about two in the morning. She starts to argue with him, asking where he has been, and that he missed one of mom's good meals. He tells Holly that he does not want to argue, and that he just got a new case. He then begins to ask about her boyfriend Cody. She answers questioningly. He then tells her about the murder of his parents.
Holly then gets into her mothers car and goes down to Cody's house, and finds his neighbor there. Holly's father arrives with some of his teammates. They ask Holly some questions like where Cody may be at, and then Cody arrives at the scene. They take them inside the house.
Holly stays for some of the questioning, but is asked to leave by her dad.
Outside Holly meets Glenda, she talks to her and calls her the "Amber Girl".
Cody
cody and wonton
Col. Cody & Prince of Monaco (LOC)Holly gives her a weird look and runs off to the car. She feels the barrette in her hair, it is hot and is glowing.
Later that evening Holly presses her dad to give the details to the case. He tells her that Cody is going to live with his uncle for now, and that there is a lot against him. Things such as the neighbor claims to scene some one jump his fence with the figure of Cody, and that there are no other witnesses, plus his story that he left the house once, and then went to sleep out outside when he left for the camping grounds, because he did not want to wake up his parents.
Holly then wants to find out some infromation to tell her father so that she can get more infromation out of him. She goes around the area where Cody's house was and asked around. She was about to go to one house and decide not to, but changed her mind once more. She knocked, the door opened right away. It was Glenda's house. She told her that she had the power of amber, a sort of physic power in which talk to people who have died recently and have unfinished business on the earth. She leaves the house at once and goes home, thinking how weird that woman is.
That night when talking to her father, he tells her that they found no footprints and that Cody's neighbor's story is being throw out. She then goes to Cody's house to talk to him. He tells her that he lied about some stuff and that he was going to tell the police the real story in the mooring. She leaves, and thinks how bad it will look sense he lied.
Holly goes to Glenda the next day and wants to do the physic thing, because she feels there is no other way. She does everything and gets everything set up in the house of the Garnett's. She always records the sessions. Ever thing begins to get blurry, and she hears footsteps, she runs out of the house in panic. Glenda goes to her in the lawn and ask if she saw anything, but she didn't.
Holly finds out that Cody had an argument that night and came back to the house a second time. This means he was around home at the time of the murder. Cody begins to get desperate.
He tells Holly to come quick, but by now her parents have grounded her from seeing him. She goes anyway for fear that he may take his life. He lives before the cops and Holly's dad gets there.
Holly's dad is mad for coming to she him, and ask where he was going. She tells him the lake side house. The cops search he house and find the wallet of Mr. Garnett. and some clothes and a bloody knife in the house. They then head for the lakeside house where Cody went on the night of the murder. Holly heads for the murder scene to try physic thing again. She hears footsteps and it is Cody, is Cody the murderer, no. This is the real Cody. He tells Holly he should not be here.
Then Cody's uncle walks in, with a gun. He tells them that he killed Cody's parents and that he will shoot them both. Holly now tries to contact Glenda that she might save her. Then the police show up. Cody's uncle tells the cops that he was holding them there. Holly and Cody protest.
Then Holly says she can prove it, and she pulls out the tape recorder. Then the uncle is taken to jail.
Holly Barton
Glenda Mitchell
Holly prepares to hit the Alabama Slam on Cody Rho...