Into the Water

Jules Abbott returns to Beckford following the death of her sister, Nel. She admits feeling no sadness over Nel’s death, only anger at having to return to “sort out your bloody mess” (6). 

Josh Whittaker wakes in the middle of the night to find his mother, Louise, missing from the house. He notes that this is “what Katie did herself: she got up in the middle of the night and went to the river and didn’t come back” (8). When Louise returns, she tells her husband and Josh that Nel Abbott is dead. 

Jules recalls driving to Beckford with her family as a girl and acknowledges that she sometimes has an impulse to kill herself. She has short-term memory issues but no difficulty remembering events long in the past. During her recollections, Jules thinks of the death of Sean Townsend’s mother, Lauren (though their names are not revealed until later in the story). Jules arrives at Nel’s house—once their childhood home—and walks through, lost in memories of their mother, and, “everywhere, the evidence of [Nel’s] obsessions [with drowning]” (14). 

Nickie Sage, who is either a psychic or a lunatic depending on who describes her, believes that Nel was murdered. She contemplates talking to Sean, who is now a police officer, because she “had a bit of a soft spot” (17) for him, but she ultimately decides on keeping to herself. Nickie feels bad about Nel’s death, but not guilt for it, despite her having given Nel information that may have led to her death.  

Jules continues exploring Nel’s house and revisiting her memories. Jules questions her own memory further regarding the death of Sean’s mother, noting, “I don’t even know whether there really was a boy who saw his mother die, or whether you made the whole thing up” (21). As Jules cleans up Nel’s old room—which now belongs to Nel’s 15-year-old daughter, Lena—Lena arrives. 

At first Jules believes Nel is alive, but she realizes that Lena “looks almost exactly like you did when you were a teenager” (23). Lena tells Jules that the police are downstairs. Jules meets Detective Inspector (DI) Sean Townsend and Detective Sergeant (DS) Erin Morgan, who tell her that there is an investigation into Nel’s death. Erin tells Jules that Nel likely fell from the cliff; Lena doesn’t believe that and suggests that Jules shouldn’t either. 

Backtracking slightly in time, this chapter’s introduction to Lena depicts her finding Jules and dealing with the police from her own perspective. Lena does not trust Jules. She knows more about her mother’s death than she will share with those she considers outsiders. After being rude to Jules and Erin, Lena escapes to her room, “locked the door and cried there instead” (28). Lena admits that she feels guilty over Nel’s death.  

Mark Henderson, teacher of Lena and her recently deceased best friend, Katie, feels relief over Nel’s death. (It is later revealed that Mark had an affair with Katie that led to her death). Mark recalls being questioned about Nel’s death, as he conversed with Nel shortly beforehand: “some of it was true, some of it was a lie” (30). As Mark swims, he thinks about moving away in order to start his life over. He “dreamed of a clean slate, a blank sheet, an unblemished history” (31). Mark hears a sound and sees Louise Whittaker, Katie’s mother, coming towards him. 

Louise observes that everyone acts embarrassed around her due to the “inconvenience” people feel around others’ grief. She and Mark discuss her feelings about Nel’s death; she can’t “pretend she was unhappy that Nel Abbott met her end” (33). Louise heads home, thinking about “signs she must have missed, red flags she must have breezed blithely past” (35) regarding Katie’s mental state before her death. She replays everything she can remember. Louise comes upon a group of teenage girls that includes Lena. Lena asks to speak with her, but Louise pushes Lena away. 

This second excerpt of Nel’s book contains the prologue to The Drowning Pool, in which Nel explains that she “saved my sister from drowning” (38) and that she is obsessed with the Drowning Pool. Nel admits that she doesn’t understand what drew Jules to the water when they were children. She wants to write down all the stories of women who drowned in the water, starting with Libby Seeton and the witch trials.