55 pages • 1 hour read
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Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, child illness and death, child sexual abuse, death, graphic violence, sexual violence and harassment, and substance use.
At 3:40 am, Keller is called back to work after the van is found torched on the side of Highway 17. Cynthia pressures Peters to take Keller off search-party duty and put her back at the center of the investigation. Keller and Chief McCray meet Ken and Amy Akana at the Starbucks where their tires were slashed, having finally gotten access to the store’s security camera footage. Ken doesn’t recognize the man in the video, but Amy does.
The tire slasher is Bruce Lockwood, a police officer Amy had an affair with after meeting him at the hospital during Timmy’s illness. When she tried to break things off, Bruce became possessive and started following her. Amy admits she texted him after finding the tires slashed. He confessed and begged her to take him back. Keller finds a GPS tracker under the wheel well of the one tire he left intact.
Keller and McCray review the leads that haven’t panned out—including three sets of parents experiencing the consequences of infidelity, among other things—while they drive to East Palo Alto to see Mark’s father. At the halfway house, they’re told Andrew Wong is out for his morning walk. They find him at a bus stop near a middle school, watching a group of young girls.