The Night She Disappeared

One day, Tallulah rides up to Dark Place. She is amazed by the grand house. Scarlett opens the door and asks Tallulah in for tea. They discuss school: Tallulah tells Scarlett that she wants to go into social services to help people. But Scarlett tells Tallulah that she wants to be dead. Abruptly changing the subject, Scarlett takes Tallulah to an older area of the house where a spiral staircase goes to a turret room. Scarlett pulls one of the stones away from the wall using a strange tool. The opening reveals a tunnel that runs beneath the house. Tallulah is scared to go in, suddenly realizing no one knows where she is. But when Scarlett pressures her, Tallulah decides to follow her into the tunnel.

The police get a warrant to search the Dark Place, but find nothing. Shortly afterward, the Jacqueses leave for their other mansion in the Channel Islands. No one hears from them again.

Kim is running out of hope. She tells her ex-husband Jim him that Megs thinks the Tallulah and Zach eloped, but Jim reminds Kim that neither of their bank accounts have been touched since their disappearance. Jim stays the night. In September, Kim falls into a deeper despair as this is when Tallulah would go back to college. She can’t stop thinking of Zach gripping Tallulah’s wrists. On the anniversary of Tallulah’s disappearance, Kim leads a candlelight procession.

Kim gets a job at the pub and enrolls two-year-old Noel at nursery school. One day, a woman that Kim doesn’t know—Sophie—brings her some evidence. Kim immediately calls Detective McCoy and tells him about Sophie’s findings.

When Detective McCoy comes by, Sophie confesses to Shaun about her investigation and the ring she found. McCoy believes Zach was going to propose to Tallulah the night of their disappearance and that something went wrong. Sophie is excited that the ring is a real piece of evidence. She takes McCoy to the site where she found the ring, but when they get there, the sign is gone.

When Tallulah comes back from Scarlett’s, Zach is angry and suspicious. He accuses her of leaving Noah alone, even though Kim is watching him. Tallulah thinks about Scarlett’s beautiful house, the scary tunnel, and Scarlett’s smile.

To Tallulah’s surprise, Scarlett is at the bus stop on Monday morning. Scarlett is not going back to school—she just misses Tallulah. Scarlett asks whether Tallulah has feelings for her, which makes Tallulah blush. On the bus, Scarlett sits very close to Tallulah, crying about a recent breakup. Tallulah knows this is the time to tell Scarlett about her son, but she doesn’t do it. Instead, she tells Scarlett how much she regrets getting back together with Zach. Scarlett tells her she should get out of the relationship: “Controlling men. They’re the worst” (169).

After school, Zach demands to know who the girl is—he knows it’s the girl from the selfie. Tallulah does her best to soften the conversation and tries to walk away, but he grabs her arm. The conversation grows heated as Zach asks her if she wants to break up. When she says she doesn’t know, he yanks her painfully: “She feels her ribcage bend under the pressure, her lungs contract, her breath stop halfway up her throat” (171).

The police have cordoned off the woods again and the search is reinvigorated by the found engagement ring. McCoy believes whoever posted the “Dig Here” sign is trying to bring them back into the case, which means someone knows what happened, “And for whatever the reason, they’ve grown bored of the silence” (173).

Kim uses her computer to research Scarlett and her mother Joss, but finds only some defunct Instagram accounts. Kim thinks about Liam: He knows a lot of things about the Maypole Campus and could have planted the ring. Kim wonders if Liam killed Tallulah and Zach, but immediately changes her mind. Still, she and McCoy agree that McCoy should interview Liam again.

As the police conduct another search in the woods, Shaun asks Sophie about all the drama. Sophie, feeling a bit cowed, asks if Shaun hates her. He doesn’t, of course, but he wonders why she didn’t tell him about the ring: He’s at a new job, and now there might be dead bodies in the woods. Shaun’s mood improves slightly when he considers that it would be good if the missing kids were found.

Sophie meets Liam, who tells her about the police inquiry: They think he had something to do with the buried ring. Liam believes the Jacqueses had something to do with Zach and Tallulah’s disappearance—he can’t think of anyone else it could be. But neither Sophie nor Liam has any idea why they would hurt the couple.

Shaun and Sophie talk about Shaun’s twins’ upcoming visit. Sophie happily agrees to get the extra bedroom ready for them. At the pub, they discuss the case. Shaun asks Sophie what her characters, Tiger and Susie, would do. She knows that they would talk to the previous head of the school—Jacinta Croft—who was there when the tragedy took place.

Scarlett texts Tallulah to come over after college on Friday—maybe Tallulah can sleep over. Zach, who is constantly watching Tallulah, hears the texts and demands to know who Tallulah is talking to. She lies that it’s Chloe. On Friday, Tallulah makes up the story that Chloe is having a hard time and needs a friend. Tallulah leaves before Zach gets home. She feels terribly guilty for lying to her mom.

At Scarlett’s, Tallulah realizes she is flirting with Scarlett. Zach keeps texting Tallulah. In response, she texts him that she’s going to stay until Chloe feels better and may even spend the night. After Tallulah turns off her ringer, she and Scarlett drink rum. In the morning, Tallulah remembers how they touched and kissed. With a terrible hangover, Tallulah texts her mom she will be home shortly. Then she checks the many angry, accusatory texts from Zach. He’s also left voice mail messages of him and Noah crying. It’s torture for Tallulah.

Tallulah tells Scarlett this is the first time she’s been with a girl, and that she isn’t gay. This isn’t Scarlett’s first time, but Scarlett doesn’t like labels. When Tallulah gets scary texts from Zach—pictures of him pressing his face to Noah—she tells Scarlett she has to go. Scarlett says that if Tallulah goes, that means Zach has won. Tallulah feels something strong and powerful inside her of bubble up. She walks with confidence over to Scarlett, straddles her, and kisses her.

Recently, Shaun seems different to Sophie, which worries her: “His jawline is harder. His hugs are briefer” (196). She tells him they will have a lovely weekend with the twins. He isn’t so sure.

Sophie heads to London for the day. There, she goes to Jacinta Croft’s new school. Jacinta is a small, professional woman who walks with purpose. Sophie introduces herself as Susie Beets, one of her characters, and asks Jacinta about the missing couple. Jacinta darkens and tells Sophie it was a horrible situation. When Sophie mentions the ring found in the woods, Jacinta blunders—she thought Sophie was going to say something else, though she doesn’t volunteer what.

At lunch with her friend Molly, Sophie confesses that she misses London a lot—the first time she has admitted this. After lunch, Sophie calls Jacinta. To her surprise, Jacinta tells her she was expecting her call.

Kim gets a surprise call from Megs. As they discuss Tallulah and Zach, Kim tells Megs that neither Tallulah nor Zach would choose to abandon Noah—both loved the boy. Megs, who still thinks Tallulah and Zach eloped, asks Kim if Zach is really Noah’s father. Megs has a theory about what happened that night: Maybe Zach learned that he wasn’t the father and left; maybe Tallulah couldn’t face the shame of it either. Kim can’t hang up the phone fast enough.

Kim is appalled. She realizes that Megs thinks Zach and Tallulah didn’t disappear together, but in two separate events. Kim remembers the love that used suffuse the house. Now there are only ghosts. Even Noah only sits in front of the television and acts out. Kim wants her old life back.

When Tallulah sees Scarlett the next day at college, it’s awkward. Tallulah hasn’t answered any of Scarlett’s calls or texts since they spent the night together. When she tells Scarlett that Zach is always watching her, Scarlett tells Tallulah to forget about “Zach the ballsack” (207), which makes Tallulah laugh.

Tallulah and Scarlett soon figure out a routine. When Zach works late, they go to an out-of-the-way tea house. On Sundays, Tallulah stays with Scarlett all day. Tallulah feels all her stress and anxiety melt away. The two of them are falling in love. Scarlett gets Tallulah’s initials tattooed on her foot. But sadly, for Tallulah, Zach is still in her life. Zach is saving for a down payment on a house in a new housing development, though Tallulah doesn’t want to live there.

Tallulah decides to tell Scarlett everything about her life, including her son. She doesn’t want Scarlett to be her secret girlfriend, so she is going to tell her mom and break up with Zach. But when she gets to Scarlett’s, she sees Liam and a hickey on Scarlett’s neck. Liam leaves and Scarlett and Tallulah have a fight. But when Tallulah tells Scarlett that she is falling in love with her, Scarlett admits that she can’t commit to monogamy. Tallulah “realizes that she has never been more than an experience for Scarlett, just as Liam had been” (216).

By the time she and Sophie meet again, Jacinta Croft has figured out who Sophie is. Jacinta tells Sophie that Scarlett’s family are narcissists, and that Scarlett was sweet, but damaged and manipulative. Jacinta also discusses the rumored tunnel in Dark Place; she told the police about the tunnel, but it was never found.

Sophie is surprised that the police haven’t followed up on the fact that Scarlett and Tallulah had a sexual relationship—something many people apparently knew about. Jacinta also believes that Liam knows a lot more than he’s letting on: “I always thought that maybe he was protecting Scarlett” (219).

When Sophie arrives back home, Shaun asks her, “Are you regretting it, coming out here with me?” (221). Sophie assures him she doesn’t and he sighs with relief. But secretly she wonders if she rushed into the decision and glamorized the move. Shaun gets an emergency text from Matron Kerryanne: There’s a new “Dig Here” sign nailed to a tree in the woods. Kerryanne’s daughter, Lexie, spotted it.

Kim has just put Noah to sleep when she gets a call from Detective McCoy: There’s been a development. McCoy tells her about the new sign—when they dug, they found a mysterious tool, “a lumpy object” (225) she can’t identify. McCoy promises to get to the bottom of it. They’ve become close, and Kim would like to invite him for a drink. She craves the company of another human being.

In the summer, Tallulah is still aching with love for Scarlett, but Scarlett doesn’t feel the same. On campus, they avoid each other. One day, Scarlett sees Tallulah walking Noah in his stroller and Tallulah admits that the baby is her son. Scarlett can’t understand why Tallulah never told her, but understands “this is why you’re stuck with that loser” (230).

Tallulah and Scarlett have a deep conversation. Scarlett tells Tallulah she loves babies, and is sweet with Noah. Something shifts, and Scarlett admits she made a mistake breaking up with Tallulah: “From minute one, that day on the bus, I saw you and I knew, I knew everything that was going to happen, that you and I were destined to be together” (231). Scarlett is ready to tell everyone about their love, but Tallulah can’t imagine telling Zach. He would kill her. Shocked, Scarlett demands to know whether Zach has ever hit Tallulah. He hasn’t, he’s hurt her in other ways. Scarlett urges Tallulah to get rid of him: “You can’t live your life being scared” (231). But Tallulah has no idea how.