A Sea of Unspoken Things

The novel flashes back to the night of Griffin’s death 20 years prior. James, Micah, and Johnny have plans to spend a night camping in Trentham Gorge, but Griffin invites himself. He’s been trying to insert himself in their group ever since James shared her acceptance to Byron with him. She can tell that he likes her, and she is irritated. 

At the gorge, Griffin begins drinking heavily and makes a pass at James. She fends it off, and he begins drinking even more heavily. His behavior becomes erratic, and James can tell that both Johnny and Micah are annoyed with him. Then, Griffin surprises them by getting his rifle and shooting at birds in the trees above. They all tell him to stop, but he refuses. He ends up pointing his gun at James and drunkenly asking her when she plans to tell everyone that she’s leaving Six Rivers. When he lowers the gun, Johnny rushes him. James can read Johnny’s thoughts, and she knows what comes next is intentional: Johnny pushes Griffin over the edge of the gorge. They all can hear his skull crack as he lands below. Micah assumes that it was a mistake, and James does not contradict him.

James tells Micah that Johnny’s poaching imperiled the entire project because it meant that his data was skewed. She then asks Micah how he knew that Johnny realized they were together back in high school. He says that Johnny threatened him and told him to break things off so that he wouldn’t destroy James’s chances for a better future outside of Six Rivers. James recalls the way that Micah pulled away from her and how much it hurt her. After the night at the gorge, Micah stopped talking to her. At the time, she thought it was because she didn’t share the news about her acceptance to Byron, but now she knows that Johnny had a hand in it. Micah adds that Johnny wanted her to have opportunities that Six Rivers couldn’t provide, but he also knew that he possessed an inner darkness that he wanted to get James away from.

James listens to Johnny’s voicemails again, finding one from Micah that acknowledges that the two were not on speaking terms right before his death. She’s puzzled: This doesn’t seem to align with Micah saying that though they had disagreements, they were still essentially friends. 

She then tries repeatedly to get a hold of Autumn without success. She decides to ask Ben if he knows how to get in touch with her. She approaches him at the diner, but just as he is telling her that his mother will “freak” if she hears him talking about Autumn, Sadie herself interrupts. Coldly, she explains that Ben tried to hurt himself after Autumn left him and that she is still a “sore subject.” James returns to Autumn’s Instagram page and finds the name of Autumn’s roommate and reaches out. The girl claims that Autumn never showed up for school and that she assumed Autumn decided not to leave her “psycho” boyfriend. James wonders where Autumn is if she isn’t at school.

James returns home and frantically searches the cabin for any evidence that might help her to understand these events. She finds that Autumn’s note to Johnny in one of his notebooks is gone. She wonders if that was what Ben was after in the cabin that day. Suddenly, Smoke begins barking loudly at the closet. James opens the door, looking for something she might have missed before. She can feel Johnny’s presence urging her on. She notices a panel missing from the wall, creating a kind of cubby. Inside it is Autumn’s backpack, containing her wallet, keys, and phone. James realizes now that Johnny gave her only one version of the events of his life, and that it’s entirely possible that it was inaccurate.

James rushes over to Micah’s. She shows him Autumn’s backpack and tells him that she needs the “whole story.” When he hesitates, she plays him the message in which he admits that he and Johnny weren’t speaking. Micah sighs and tells her that rumors swirled about Johnny and Autumn. When Micah confronted Johnny, he became enraged and stopped speaking to Micah. 

James is furious that Micah didn’t tell her this earlier, but Micah gets angry with James. He accuses her of being overprotective and not realizing that Johnny was volatile and selfish. James then fires back that Micah, too, didn’t have a realistic understanding of Johnny. She tells him that she could feel Johnny’s intentions on the night Griffin died—he intentionally pushed Griffin to his death. James admits she left Six Rivers to escape Johnny’s darkness. She adds that she is worried that Johnny killed Autumn. Micah sets his jaw and calls Amelia: If Johnny did kill Autumn, she deserves justice. They do not need to protect Johnny anymore.

James and Micah meet with Amelia. James explains that she initially thought that Autumn might have been out with Johnny on the day that he died, but then she found out that Autumn never showed up for school in August. No one has heard from her since. She wonders now if Johnny found Autumn’s backpack on November 10 and that is why he returned to Six Rivers early from his work trip into the gorge. He called Autumn that day, and James assumes that he was worried. Autumn’s backpack shows signs of having been outside in the elements: It is weather-beaten and the money in her wallet has molded. 

James adds that it’s likely that Johnny’s death and Autumn’s disappearance are related. She shares that Autumn’s roommate characterized Ben as “psycho” and that Sadie informed her that Ben hurt himself after Autumn left. Amelia seems to grow colder and asks if James is insinuating that Ben had something to do with Autumn’s disappearance. James replies that she does not know, but it’s worth looking into. Amelia tells them that she’ll look into all of this. She adds that she’s spent a great deal of time poring over the town’s records, and she knows that her predecessor didn’t fully investigate Griffin Walker’s death. She says she intends to get to the bottom of all of the town’s mysteries.

Amelia has sent a team of officers to search through Johnny’s belongings. Autumn has officially been declared missing, and the state police are now involved. Amelia asks James to come down to the ranger station to talk. When they arrive in town, a crowd has gathered around the diner. Sadie is screaming, and Ben is being led into a car. Amelia tries to intervene, explaining that because Ben was at the party where Autumn was last seen, he has to make a statement. Sadie screams that Ben is a good kid; then, she notices James. She accuses her of being responsible for all of this and slaps her. Amelia gets Sadie under control and leads her away. 

Someone hands James a handkerchief: It is Rhett Walker. He tells her that no one is at their best when they are trying to protect their child, and James wonders if this is an oblique apology for his behavior after Griffin died. He tells her that he saw Johnny on the night Autumn disappeared: She was at his cabin, and Rhett heard them arguing. Then, she left with Ben. James finds Amelia to share this information: Ben was the last person to see Autumn alive. If James found her backpack and only then realized Autumn was missing, Ben might have had cause to silence him.

Amelia puts together a timeline of the night of the party that exonerates Ben: He dropped Autumn off at her house, went back to the rest of the kids, and continued drinking. Amelia is sure now that Johnny’s death was a tragic accident. Sadie is visibly relieved. James asks if she can talk to Ben, and he fills in some details. He and Autumn were at Johnny’s house the night of the party. Johnny wanted to talk to Ben, again, about the possibility that he was Ben’s father. Ben was nervous and brought Autumn with him for moral support. His mother had stopped denying that Johnny was his father but had also told him that Johnny wasn’t the kind of father anyone would want to have. They argued with Johnny and then left. Ben admits to having stolen the note from Autumn in the cabin. He explains that he started the rumors about Johnny and Autumn being involved and that they were unfounded. He did so out of jealousy and regrets it. He hid the note so that no one could misinterpret it. James is relieved because it does not seem like Ben killed Johnny or like Johnny killed Autumn.