Verlie and Olive

What do you do with a girl who, when she's mad, can make people disappear? Verlie Sue Martin, an attractive fifteen-year-old girl, is exceptional. She has a gift for making animals-or people-disappear, an ability that manifested after she was baptized in the local Pentecostal Church. Verlie lives in an insular town, her life cycling between school, the family hog farm, and the Church. Troy Cundliff, a handsome local boy several years older than Verlie, has a proclivity for young girls. When he attempts to compromise Verlie, she does what she does best: makes him disappear.

This action sets off an investigation conducted by sheriff's detective Sam Mank. Olive Crowley, Verlie's best friend, plain in every way that Verlie is brilliant, finds herself attracted to Mank, who is kind to her in opposition to her abusive, alcoholic father. Olive could be the key to catching Verlie out.

But Verlie doesn't take well to threats, and she'll take extreme steps to protect her secret.