Ordinary Grace

Gus and Nathan go with Doyle to the sheriff’s office. Ruth is in shock from the trauma of Ariel missing, and almost burns herself with her own cigarette when she forgets that she’s smoking. Karl and Emil Brandt arrive to the Drum house. Frank relates the news of Doyle finding Ariel’s necklace in Warren Redstone’s possession.

Karl leaves but Emil stays. Frank and Jake speculate on why Redstone had Ariel’s necklace. Frank and Jake then walk to Redstone’s lean-to, to look for clues, though Frank admits he’s unsure exactly what they’re looking for. Frank discovers that Redstone’s tin can is gone, then turns to find Jake “terrified and mute in the grip of Warren Redstone” himself (167).

Redstone asks where his can is and Frank says the boys don’t have it. Frank goes on to say that the police have the can, and they know that Redstone had been in possession of Ariel’s necklace. Frank demands that Redstone let Jake go and asks Redstone where Ariel is. Redstone says he hasn’t seen Ariel and that he found the necklace and locket that Ariel had on. Rain begins to fall and sirens approach in the distance. Franks hears car doors close and alerts the drivers of where he is. Redstone says, “‘You’ve just killed me, white boy,’” and takes off running (168). 

The group of men—Nathan, Gus, Doyle, Karl Brandt, the sheriff and his deputies—burst into the clearing and subsequently chase after Redstone. Nathan Drum tells his sons to wait at the car; Jake asks Frank whether or not Frank thinks it’s true that Redstone hurt Ariel, to which Frank replies he’s unsure. Frank then decides to follow the group of men as they track Redstone. They reach the spat of riverbank below the train trestle, where Frank’s “history with Warren Redstone had begun” (170), looks up, and sees Redstone lying flat against the railroad tracks, in an attempt to hide from the men chasing him (the group has since moved past this spot). Frank describes Redstone in this moment: “He didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He simply lay flat on the trestle and looked at me with eyes as brown and old and worn down as two stones that had tumbled along the glacial river over ten thousand years ago…” (171). Redstone stands and starts running away, looking back at Frank once “as if gauging [Frank’s] intent”; Frank watches him cross “the trestle and [slip] behind the veil of the heavy rain” (171). 

Redstone gets away and Frank doesn’t tell anyone that he saw Redstone on the trestle: “How could I possibly explain my silence, my complicity in his escape, things I didn’t really understand myself? My heart had simply directed me in a way that my head couldn’t wrap its thinking around and the deed once done was impossible to undo” (172).

Judy Kleinschmidt confirms Engdahl’s alibi for the night of Ariel’s disappearance. The town has become aware of Ariel’s disappearance, and neighbors and friends arrive to the Drum house with condolences and offerings of food. Frank discusses his relationship with prayer and God: “In all that terrible waiting I didn’t feel the presence of God, not one bit. I prayed but unlike my father who seemed to believe that he was being heard, I felt as if I was talking to the air. Nothing came to me in return” (174).

Danny O’Keefe and his family, who have been housing Redstone, get harassing phone calls and stop answering their phone. Nathan is on his way to apologize to the O’Keefes, an act that both Ruth and Ruth’s father scoff at. Ruth’s father calls Nathan a fool; Emil Brandt, also at the Drum household, adds, “[b]ut a great one” (175).

For two days, the sheriffs conduct interviews but glean nothing. Frank and Jake go to Danny’s house to say sorry that he’s having a difficult time; Danny’s mother says that she’s sent Danny to nearby Granite Falls, to stay with family. Frank and Jake leave and head to the river, walking near to marshland. The boys “race boats,” each throwing a large piece of driftwood into the river current and following the items as they move downriver, reaching the same trestle where Frank saw Redstone days before. Jake says that he’s been dreaming about Ariel in heaven, where she is happy, and notices something in the water below. Frank looks: “I peered down among the branches and debris where the brown cider water rushed through and obscured everything beneath the surface. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. And when I did the breath went out of me” (180).

Frank sends Jake to get their father then goes on to describe Ariel’s corpse: “Strength deserted every muscle of my body and I collapsed and stared down between the crossties at the rippling swatch of red which I’d realized was the fabric of a dress ruffling in the current. And beside it from the obscured depth of the river a little stream of a deeper color roiled up and fluttered along the surface and I knew this was Ariel’s long auburn hair” (180).