Opening
Secrets stop simmering and boil over. The investigation narrows to a single suspect as a mother’s grief turns public and violent, forcing two suburban families into open conflict and exposing an affair that reshapes every motive on the board.
What Happens
Chapter 21: Privilege and Panic
The chapter opens from the perspective of Ryan Blanchard, grinding through court-ordered community service at a homeless shelter. He resents the smells, the stares, and his own fall from grace, even as he can’t stop thinking about the police investigation into Avery Wooler. He replays his lawyer’s warning about an anonymous witness and the interrogation that left him shaken. He knows his parents, Al Blanchard and Nora Blanchard, don’t trust him—not after his OxyContin bust, the worst-kept secret of his “good kid” life.
Detectives Gully and Bledsoe learn that William Wooler had his car professionally detailed two days before Avery vanished, conveniently reducing any forensic trace. Gully also gets a tip from Michael Wooler about a possible boyfriend, Derek Seton, and a hidden meeting spot: a tree house. She decides to see it herself.
Back at home, Erin Wooler unravels. William calls from a new phone to relay the bombshell: an anonymous witness claims Avery climbed into Ryan Blanchard’s car. Nausea and dread swamp Erin. Haunted by Avery’s confession of loneliness, she blames herself—then decides she won’t sit and wait. She will act.
Chapter 22: A Glimmer of Hope
Gully treks into the woods to inspect the tree house. It’s secluded and intimate—perfect for a teenage secret—but the initial search turns up no signs of a struggle or violence. Then Bledsoe calls: the anonymous witness has agreed to come in. It feels like the first real break.
The witness never shows. Still, the officer who took the call offers a new, unpublicized detail: Avery wears a T-shirt and jeans, her hair braided in a single plait down her back. Gully phones Erin, who confirms she braided Avery’s hair exactly that way that morning. The specificity convinces Bledsoe to seek a warrant for Ryan’s car and home.
Just then, Gwen Winter arrives with her son, Adam, and his drone. Adam, frank and focused, queues up footage from the day Avery disappears. The video timeline doesn’t help—the drone is flying far from Connaught Street during the alleged abduction—but Gully orders a review of all Adam’s other recordings, hoping something else proves useful.
Chapter 23: The Confrontation
Disheveled and shaking with rage, Erin tells her son Michael she’s going to William’s hotel. She steps outside, stares down the pack of reporters, then walks past her car and heads toward the Blanchards’ house. Cameras trail her like a parade. From a window, Michael watches in horror as his mother turns into the Blanchards’ driveway.
Inside, Nora sees Erin approaching with the media in tow. Panicked, she assumes her secret affair has been exposed and freezes. Erin barrels through the unlocked door and confronts Ryan. “Where is my daughter?” she demands, shoving him hard.
Ryan denies everything. Erin’s control snaps. She throws her fists until he stumbles and falls. Nora rushes to her son as cameras flash through the windows. As Erin collapses in sobs, the police step into the chaos.
Chapter 24: The Fallout
Gully and Bledsoe arrive to execute the search warrant and walk into a maelstrom—reporters at the windows, Erin in pieces, Nora furious. To defuse the scene, Gully offers Erin a ride home, rightly assuming Nora won’t press charges and amplify the spectacle. Bledsoe serves the warrant, and the color drains from Nora’s and Ryan’s faces.
At the Woolers’ house, Erin lashes out at Gully for keeping the witness from her. When asked how she knows, she admits William told her. The truth hits: William’s source can only be his lover, and the lover must be Nora Blanchard. The private sin becomes the public fuse.
Meanwhile, Al Blanchard races home after a frantic call from Nora. His trust in Ryan is already fractured by the drug scandal, and the media crush outside his house ratchets up the fear. Detectives request Al, Nora, and Ryan come to the station. From his hotel room, William watches the news of Erin’s attack on Ryan and the search in progress. The idea that his lover’s son might be involved in his daughter’s disappearance stuns him.
Chapter 25: The Confession
At the station, the Blanchards are separated. Gully and Bledsoe start with Nora, who repeats her and Ryan’s alibis until they press about her own movements that afternoon. Then comes the discovery: a pay-as-you-go phone hidden in an air vent in her bedroom.
Nora breaks. The burner is hers; the affair is real. She confesses to seeing William. When Bledsoe suggests Ryan might have known and lashed out in revenge, Nora reels but insists he didn’t. She does admit that Al likely suspected.
The perspective shifts to Faith Blanchard. A friend’s mother ferries her from soccer to keep her away from the flashing lights and police tape. Faith remembers the shame of Ryan’s drug scandal and feels the same storm gathering—only now it’s “a million times worse.”
Character Development
Across these chapters, grief and fear strip away façades, forcing characters to reveal their worst impulses and most guarded truths.
- Erin Wooler: Moves from paralyzed grief to action, crossing a line into violence that makes her pain public and irreversible. Her intuition about the affair is sharp—and devastating.
- Nora Blanchard: Loses her carefully curated suburban image. The burner phone makes her secrets undeniable, and she faces the possibility her choices jeopardized her son.
- Ryan Blanchard: Reads as more than a delinquent. His fear, resentment, and self-loathing surface as he becomes the prime suspect and collateral damage in his mother’s deception.
- William Wooler: Becomes a catalyst without control. By telling Erin about the witness, he sets off the confrontation that detonates both families.
- Detective Gully: Balances diligence and compassion—pursuing leads methodically while defusing Erin’s breakdown and keeping the case from spiraling further.
Themes & Symbols
Appearance vs. Reality drives every beat. Ryan’s “good kid” exterior masks addiction and panic; the Blanchards’ respectable home transforms into a spectacle; a grieving mother turns into an assailant before the cameras. What looks safe and stable proves hollow once the truth steps through an unlocked door.
Guilt and Blame fuels Erin’s spiral. Convinced she failed Avery, she redirects that pain toward Ryan, turning private torment into public violence. That same energy also warps the investigation—every new clue becomes a fulcrum for suspicion.
With the burner phone and the affair exposed, Deceit and Lies become the case’s engine. Personal betrayals bleed into procedural decisions, muddying motives and expanding the pool of people with something to hide. The result is a portrait of Family Dysfunction on both sides: marriages fray, parents suspect children, and children brace for a familiar storm of shame. The press mob functions as a symbol of invasive judgment, transforming private tragedy into public consumption and ensuring no one can go back to who they pretended to be.
Key Quotes
“Where is my daughter?”
Erin’s demand distills the entire case to its raw core: a mother’s need to know. The line reclaims agency after helpless days, but it also marks the moment grief becomes aggression, setting off consequences that entangle both families and the investigation.
“A million times worse.”
Faith’s internal verdict reframes the scandal through a child’s eyes. The escalation from private embarrassment to existential family crisis shows how the case metastasizes beyond criminal suspicion into generational trauma and fear.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters pivot the novel from simmering suspicion to explosive confrontation. The investigation focuses on Ryan as the plausible suspect; Erin’s assault binds the Woolers and Blanchards in public conflict; and Nora’s confession detonates the illusion of suburban stability. With leads multiplying and trust collapsing, the case evolves from a missing-person search into a tangle of betrayal, motive, and damage that no arrest can fully repair.