Holly

Barbara arrives at Olivia’s home, where Olivia confesses that she submitted several of her poems for the Penley Prize for Younger Poets, a prestigious award which carries a $25,000 incentive. Barbara has been longlisted as a finalist. Olivia apologizes for violating her privacy, but Barbara is thrilled and resolves to work to earn the prize.

Barbara tells Olivia that she is reading one of Jorge’s novels, The Forgotten City. Olivia recalls how she used to always see Jorge running to Deerfield Park at night. She tells Barbara that his partner, Freddy, looked for Jorge for six months before giving up and leaving town.

Holly visits the Jet Mart to speak to the clerk Bonnie was seen speaking to, Emilio Herrera. Herrera has little to offer her but doesn’t strike Holly as suspicious. She passes him her number in case he remembers anything later.

At home, Holly checks Twitter. She has one response from a Franklin Craslow, which reads: “Ellen killed her baby and will burn in hell. Leave us alone” (230). She calls Penny, finally telling her that Bonnie was likely abducted. Holly expects Penny to cry, but instead she grows angry, imploring Holly to catch the perpetrator and make him pay no matter what it takes.

At the Harris house, Emily, who monitors the social media profiles of her victims’ loved ones, has found Holly’s tweets asking for information. Despite Holly’s use of an alias, she has connected the profile to Holly’s real identity. Rodney is distressed. Lately, he has been noticing lapses in his memory, but staunchly denies that it could be the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Emily reassures him that they can always stage Holly’s suicide if needed. She serves him a cup of frozen gray matter, which makes him feel sharper.

Waking from a dream about her childhood home, Holly goes to her bureau and opens the bottom drawer, where she keeps mementos associated with her father, Howard Gibney. Before his premature death from a heart attack, Howard worked as a traveling salesman, spending months at a time on the road. Some of the postcards she recalls saving are missing, and she wonders if Charlotte stole them.

Olivia’s aide Marie calls Barbara to request her presence at the Oncology ward of Kiner Memorial Hospital, where Olivia is going a routine examination to assess the progress of her rectal cancer. Barbara is upset that Olivia didn’t tell her sooner, but Olivia brushes her off. She presents Barbara with a letter from the Penley Committee: Barbara has been shortlisted as one of 15 finalists for the prize.

Emilio the clerk calls Holly. He’s remembered something: A regular customer of his named “Cory” or “Cameron” who stopped showing up around the time of Trump’s election. Emilio recalls him as a stoner who worked at the Strike Em Out bowling alley and rode a moped covered in irreverent stickers.

Holly calls Imani McGuire’s husband Yardley, who works at a local junkyard. Yardley confirms that the moped was brought to the yard in 2015 after being found by a groundskeeper in an overgrown area of Deerfield Park.

Holly visits the Strike Em Out alley, where she speaks to the manager, Althea Haverty. Althea is a vocal COVID-19 denier, which irritates Holly. Althea names the missing employee as Cary Dressler and confirms that he stopped showing up in early September. She shows Holly a photo of Cary posing with seven elderly men who comprise the “Golden Oldies” league. She names the surviving members of the league, including Rodney Harris and a man named Hugh Clippard. Althea gives Holly Clippard’s address.

Holly begins to suspect a serial killer, whom she dubs the Red Bank Avenue Predator. She believes that this abductor is collecting information on his victims, targeting people who are alone or have strained relationships with their families. She wonders if the woman with sciatica who picked up Ellen’s belongings could be the wife of one of the Golden Oldies.

Barbara, Marie, and Olivia meet to discuss the Penley Prize. The list of finalists will be narrowed down over the following months, until the winner is announced in August. If Barbara is selected for the final five, she’ll need to write an essay about her relationship to poetry.

Barbara mentions that she is reading Jorge Castro’s second novel, Catalepsy. Olivia tells Barbara that even 10 years ago, most people in the department didn’t take issue with Jorge’s sexuality. The only exception was Emily Harris. Olivia speculates that Emily had little tolerance for ethnic or sexual minorities. She recalls how, when Jorge defended the Poetry Workshop, Emily looked “like she wanted to kill him” (261).

With distaste, Olivia tells Barbara about the Zoom Christmas party held by the Harrises, including the “elves” they hired to deliver food to attendees.

From the bowling alley, Holly sends Barbara a photo of Cary Dressler and the Golden Oldies. Barbara used to bowl at the Strike Em Out as a young girl and may remember Cary. From there, Holly heads to Hugh Clippard’s house. Clippard is a fit and well-kept man in his 70s, with a wife 20 years his junior.

Clippard remembers Cary fondly and can’t recall him ever mentioning plans to leave town. He tells Holly about the surviving members of the league: Rodney Harris, Avram Welch, Ernie Coggins, and Vic Anderson. Coggins’ wife is wheelchair-bound due to a degenerative disease. Vic has lost his speech to a stroke and now lives at Rolling Hills Elder Care, the same facility where Holly’s uncle Henry is boarded. Holly senses that Hugh is uncomfortable with the topic of aging and death. She notes that he looks worn despite the clear effort he puts into his physical health.

Having been selected as one of the five Penley prize finalists, Barbara sequesters herself in her room and shuts off all notifications, missing the message from Holly. She struggles to come up with a statement of purpose that doesn’t sound cliched. Eventually, she writes three short lines, declaring that her poetry speaks for itself. Barbara knows that at the end of the day, only her work matters. She mails the letter to the prize committee.