Hayley Makk. She's the kind of girl who talks tough, bleeds ink, and can handle the discovery of a dead body with sang froid--even if she is only seventeen. But she's pulled off her first big scoop (which involves an isolated shack spattered in human blood) by her dad, who sends her instead on a research trip with her former biology teacher, Ms. Cameron, to locate and study a rare sea turtle and earn the final credit for her high school diploma. Hayley reluctantly embarks on the science assignment, accompanied by a socially clueless fellow-student, Ernest, who turns out to be a tree-hugger of the first degree. They spot the turtle, but can't tag the elusive creature. The voyage takes a sinister twist when a fishing boat appears, apparently intent on capturing the turtle at any cost. When shots are fired, Ms. Cameron halts the expedition and returns to Halifax. Back on the story of the blood-streaked shack, Hayley learns from nineteen-year-old RCMP Constable Alex Turpin that the cops believe a local teen was murdered there in a botched drug deal. Hayley uncovers a connection between the murder and the rare sea turtle, and discovers that there are other kinds of things that can be trafficked illegally besides drugs.