The Night She Disappeared

Kim picks up Noah from Megs. Kim is surprised at how nonchalant Megs seems about her missing son. She can’t understand how “a mother and a grandmother could have so little engagement” (70).

Kim calls the police. Tallulah and Zach have been missing 24 hours. Detective Inspector Dominick McCoy arrives to interview Kim. When McCoy suggests that Tallulah and Zach just took off on purpose, Kim explains to him that they are parents: Her daughter would never leave Noah. Kim tells McCoy that Zach is a good partner who dotes on Tallulah. At that moment, Kim realizes that this kind of attention is sometimes unwelcome. Women give so much of themselves all day long—at the end of the day, the last thing they want is “a grown man wanting you to give him things too” (73).

Sophie is intrigued by the story of the two missing young parents. As a mystery writer, she loves to solve crimes. She wanders around the small town and sees a wooden plaque that Kim put up. It reads “Tallulah Rose, until we meet again” (75).

Sophie learns that Tallulah and Zach had gone out to the local pub on the night that Zach was going to propose to Tallulah. Sophie goes there; she meets the bartender—a thin woman with a tattoo of the baby feet on her arm. Sophie realizes that this is Kim Knox, Tallulah’s mother. Unlike her nosy characters, Sophie doesn’t want to ask Kim questions—it would be rude.

Sophie bikes up to Dark Place. When she arrives, she sees the amazingly beautiful mansion, now crumbling. She finds a letter addressed to Martin Jacques—Scarlett’s father. After finding a rusty trowel, and decides to go back to the strange “Dig Here” sign she saw earlier. When she digs, she unearths a box with an engagement ring inside. Sophie assumes this is the ring Zach bought for Tallulah.

When college begins after winter break, Tallulah is relieved. Christmas wasn’t much fun. On New Year’s Eve, Zach came over. While watching TV, Tallulah thought about their relationship and him leaving her when she got pregnant. That night, Zach apologizes to Tallulah and tells her he loves her. He pressures her to give the relationship one more try. When he leans over to kiss her, Tallulah capitulates: “Something inside her gave way at that moment, a kind of sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, paired with a swoon in her groin” (84-85). They make love, and afterward, Zach tells her he loves her. Caught up in the moment, Tallulah says she loves him back.

Detective McCoy gives Kim a report on their search—no results so far. After he leaves, Scarlett’s friend’s Mimi calls Kim. Mimi has little information. Mimi tells Kim much the same story as Lexie—except she adds one detail: Zach was very angry, holding Tallulah’s wrists and not letting her go. Mimi adds that it was odd that Tallulah and Zach were at the party: “To be honest, I wasn’t really sure why they were there. I didn’t feel like they even wanted to be” (87).

Kim goes to the Swan & Ducks pub to ask Nick, the bartender, if he saw Tallulah and Zach there that night. He did, but saw nothing out of the ordinary: A lot of drinking and at one point Scarlett disappearing and returning as if maybe buying some drugs.

Kim goes to Chloe’s house to ask about a crisis that Tallulah helped Chloe through. However, Chloe denies that this ever happened. When Kim insists that Tallulah told her she had to rush over to Chloe’s house, Chloe replies, “It sounds like she might have been lying to you” (90).

On the night of the registration dinner at Maypole House, Sophie wants to look beautiful. She dresses up and Shaun does a double take. During the celebration, Sophie sees the obvious wealth of the students and their families. Former student Scarlett’s family had houses all over the world: They visited the Alps in winter, and her life included horses, cars, manicured lawns, and preposterous riches.

Later, at the party, Sophie notices a young man who looks like a film star standing alone—Liam, a classroom assistant at the school. Sophie asks him about his life’s ambition and he laughs: He was once a student at Maypole, but now he is “twenty-one going on fifteen. Failure to launch” (95). Not only was he around the summer Zach and Tallulah disappeared, but he was at the house when they vanished. He quickly adds, “I didn’t see anything, obviously. I don’t know anything” (95) and changes the subject.

On New Year’s, Zach spends the night and never goes back home. Tallulah’s mom is pleased. At college, Tallulah sees a dramatic and modern self portrait of Scarlett featuring a gun, a cake with a piece missing, and a bloody knife. Very macabre, but Tallulah is impressed. Mimi comes up, raves about the painting, and tells Tallulah that Scarlett isn’t coming back to school.

After that, anytime Tallulah goes out, she looks for Scarlett. One day she sees Scarlett in the co-op with messy hair, wearing pajamas. When Tallulah asks an acquaintance about her, she learns that Scarlett lives at Dark Place in Upley Fold. On her way home, Scarlett looks up Dark Place and reads stories about the history of the house. She wonders how such a house could be owned by just one family. Tallulah sends a text to Scarlett asking Scarlett if she’s okay.

Detective McCoy still hasn’t found anything. Kim asks why no one has searched the forest, explaining that party guests said Tallulah and Zach called a cab, but there are no records of cabs coming to Dark Place that night. Maybe Tallulah and Zach walked through the woods and something terrible happened to them. Kim also tells McCoy about the engagement ring, about a possible fight. Maybe Zach did something to Tallulah and is hiding somewhere—“It’s always the husband” (108). The detective now has enough suspicion for a thorough search of the woods.

Megs complains to Kim about the police asking her questions about Zach, “almost like they think he’s done something wrong” (109)—she is annoyed because she is still convinced the kids just left. Kim wonders if Megs is hiding something, suspicious that Zach is behind her daughter’s disappearance.

After Shaun leaves to deliver his first day of school speech at Maypole, Sophie has writer’s block. She studies the ring she found and discovers that the jeweler is only a few miles away. After some light conversation, the sweet jeweler tells her that he sold it to a boy names Zach Allister.

Sophie decides to bring the ring to Kim. It’s a slightly awkward meeting at first, but when Sophie tells Kim about the “Dig Here” sign, the ring, and the jeweler, Kim is filled with new hope.

Tallulah is sad that she hasn’t heard back from Scarlett, but the real “weight on her shoulders is Zach” (123). He’s a great dad to Noah, but she isn’t in love with him. Still, she can’t bring herself to tell Kim—Tallulah doesn’t want to disappoint her mom, who likes Zach and wants them to be together.

Zach follows Tallulah on campus, looking around “as if he’s expecting her to be with someone else” (127). He asks her about the girl in the Christmas dance selfie. When some of the kids from the science school say hello to Tallulah, Zach wants to know who they are. As they walk to the bus stop, Zach grabs Tallulah hard by the wrist. He wants it to be her and him and Noah—no one else. Tallulah rubs her arm, “still smarting from Zach’s grip” (129).

Sunday, Tallulah pretends to be going to Chloe’s, but actually bikes to Dark Place.

The police have found nothing in the woods. Kim feels a knot in her stomach when Megs demands they “all just, you know, get on with our days” (131). Kim has been trying to keep her mouth shut to keep the relationship with Megs from going bad for Noah’s sake, but now she tells Megs that she is shocked at Megs doesn’t care that her son has been gone for three days. Kim screams at Megs for doing nothing for Noah. After she leaves, Kim says her daughter’s name repeatedly, and sobs with fear, sadness, and disappointment.

On the Maypole House campus, Sophie runs into Liam. They talk about Sophie’s book series, Little Hither Green Detective Agency. Sophie also tells Liam that she wants to ask him about something odd she found near the head teacher’s cottage. A shadow crosses Liam’s face and he arranges to meet her later that afternoon.

Sophie researches Dark Place. It has been renovated in different architectural styles over 300 years. It is also rumored to have a secret underground tunnel.

When Liam arrives, Sophie shows him the “Dig Here” sign and a photo of the ring she found. When she tells him it belonged to Zach, Liam asks her how much time she has. He has a lot to tell her about the night Tallulah and Zach disappeared.