Opening
Suspicion ricochets across the neighborhood as the investigation into Avery Wooler’s disappearance widens. An anonymous tip targets a new suspect, families fracture under pressure, and the detectives’ focus shifts from car trunks to drones to secret boyfriends—revealing a community built on secrets and shaky trust.
What Happens
Chapter 16: Ryan Blanchard
Late at night, Detective Gully receives an anonymous tip: a caller claims she saw Avery Wooler get into Ryan Blanchard’s car around 4:30 p.m. the day Avery vanished. Gully and Detective Bledsoe head to the Blanchard house after midnight, startling Nora Blanchard, who assumes they’ve uncovered her affair with William Wooler. Instead, the detectives ask for Ryan.
Ryan comes downstairs, joined by his father, Al Blanchard. Under tense questioning, Ryan explains his work shift was canceled; after hanging around the house, he went for a solo drive around 4:30 “killing time” on rural roads. He has no alibi. His vague timeline and the caller’s description prompt the detectives to bring him to the station for further questioning, leaving his parents shocked and reeling. The moment underscores Deceit and Lies: Nora’s private deception collides with fresh suspicion falling on her son.
Chapter 17: I Want a Lawyer
At the station, Ryan is separated from his mother and read his rights. When told a witness saw Avery get into his car, he panics—and immediately asks for a lawyer. The interrogation stops on the spot.
Their attorney, Oliver Fuller, arrives quickly, confers with Ryan, and challenges the detectives: an anonymous witness is unreliable, and there’s no cause to hold his client. Ryan walks free. Back home, Al wrestles with the idea that someone would maliciously frame his son yet remembers past lies. He points the finger at William Wooler, igniting a fierce, defensive response from Nora as their younger daughter, Faith, appears at the stairs, sensing disaster. The night lays bare the family’s Family Dysfunction.
Chapter 18: A Series of Mishaps
Exiled to the Excelsior Hotel, William sits in disgrace. Having been kicked out by his wife, Erin Wooler, he obsesses over Nora, determined to protect her and prove his innocence. He plans to call from a pay phone to reassure her he hasn’t exposed their affair to the police.
At home, Erin drifts through rooms cataloging a chain of “if onlys”: Avery’s behavior, Michael sending her home, William’s affair, his unexpected return. She spreads responsibility for the catastrophe across small, compounding choices, a portrait of Guilt and Blame. Michael quietly blames himself too. The family’s polished image—doctor, perfect house, well-behaved children—has shattered, exposing the hollowness beneath Appearance vs. Reality.
Chapter 19: The Boyfriend
Two days in, the case stalls. Forensics come back: the trunk of William’s car is spotless, recently vacuumed. Frustrated, the detectives pivot when neighbor Alice Seton shows up to suggest Avery had a “boyfriend”—Adam Winter, a local teen on the spectrum whom she labels “weird.” Her bias is obvious.
Gully visits Adam’s mother, Gwen Winter, who is used to defending her son against snap judgments. Gully learns Adam’s drone has a camera and asks Gwen to bring Adam and his laptop to the station. Then Gully heads to the Wooler home, where Erin is barely holding together. Carefully, Gully floats a painful new possibility: an older boyfriend, maybe even molestation. Erin breaks down—“What else was going on right under my nose?”
Chapter 20: Derek
Gully interviews Michael Wooler, who doesn’t want to add to his mother’s suffering. After initially denying knowledge of any boyfriend, he admits he saw Avery at the tree house with Derek Seton—Alice’s son Jenna’s brother—a few weeks earlier. They “weren’t doing anything,” he says, but the revelation nudges suspicion yet again, toward another neighborhood boy.
Meanwhile, William reaches Nora on her burner phone from a pay booth. He pleads his innocence and swears he’s kept her out of it. When Nora reveals the police received a tip implicating Ryan, her tone suggests she suspects William of engineering it. The fragile alliance collapses as Revenge and Obsession creep into Nora’s thoughts. She presses him on the one question he can’t convincingly answer—why he lied to the police in the first place. His panicked, self-justifying explanation rings hollow. She hangs up.
Character Development
These chapters deepen fault lines and recast loyalties, turning bystanders into key players.
- Ryan Blanchard: Terrified yet tactical, he asserts his rights immediately, signaling shrewdness and a history that makes him wary of authority.
- Nora Blanchard: Her guilt morphs into fiercely protective motherhood. Doubt about William takes root, threatening to sever their bond.
- William Wooler: Isolated and desperate, he tries to manage perception from the shadows. His self-pity and evasions alienate the few allies he has left.
- Erin Wooler: Devastated but decisive, she ejects William and confronts the implosion of her family and the possibility of dangers she missed.
- Michael Wooler: Quiet guilt gives way to usefulness; his reluctant disclosure about Derek redirects the investigation.
Themes & Symbols
Anonymous communication becomes a lever of power. The tipster who names Ryan and William’s pay-phone call both steer outcomes without accountability, exemplifying Manipulation and Control. Secrets are weaponized, and the person who controls the narrative controls the town’s fear.
The idea of a shadowy “boyfriend” symbolizes the gulf between what adults think they know and what teens actually do. As focus jumps from Adam Winter to Derek Seton, the neighborhood’s reflexive judgments—especially toward difference—surface. Across homes, Deceit and Lies corrode trust, while Family Dysfunction shows different forms: the Woolers implode, the Blanchards circle the wagons but crack, and the Winters brace against prejudice. Together, these threads reinforce Appearance vs. Reality and the community’s longing to pin blame rather than face uncomfortable truths. Erin’s spiraling “if onlys” crystallize Guilt and Blame as both coping mechanism and self-punishment.
Key Quotes
“I want a lawyer.”
Ryan’s instant invocation of counsel halts the interrogation and reframes him: not merely a scared teen, but someone who understands the stakes. It also undercuts the detectives’ momentum, buying his family time and sowing doubt about the anonymous tip.
He was just “killing time.”
Ryan’s vague alibi at the crucial hour makes him look evasive and feeds police suspicion. The emptiness of the phrase underscores how quickly a lack of structure can become damning in a high-stakes investigation.
“What else was going on right under my nose?”
Erin’s anguish captures the parental terror of missed signs. The line widens the novel’s focus from one bad actor to a culture of secrecy where adults and teens move past each other in separate realities.
They “weren’t doing anything.”
Michael’s phrasing is both shield and clue—an attempt to protect his mother and himself while admitting knowledge that shifts the case. It highlights how language softens or obscures uncomfortable truths.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
Chapters 16–20 expand the suspect pool and complicate the mystery, moving beyond William to include Ryan Blanchard, Adam Winter, and Derek Seton. The clean car trunk, the drone lead, and Michael’s tree-house memory create a carousel of red herrings that keep readers—and detectives—off balance. An unseen manipulator emerges through the anonymous tip, suggesting the investigation itself is being gamed. Most crucially, the pay-phone call between William and Nora severs their fragile trust, isolating William and pushing Nora toward suspicion. The case no longer belongs to one family; it belongs to a neighborhood where secrets are currency and truth is always one step out of reach.