53 pages 1 hour read

Blake Crouch

Pines

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

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Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary

Theresa Burke, her son Ben, and their friends drive to a peak outside Seattle to remember Ethan. Theresa tells the story of how Ethan proposed to her there, 13 years ago. Because they don’t have ashes, having never found a body, she buries the plastic ring he proposed to her with. That night, she and her friends celebrate Ethan’s life. Later, she and a friend talk about whether Ethan’s life insurance will pay, since a body was never recovered. Although Ethan had his flaws, they reconciled before his death. Theresa can’t believe he has been gone for 15 months.

By the time Hassler, the man who was Ethan’s supervisor, arrives, Theresa is drunk, and her friends have passed out or left. Hassler offers to use his influence with the life insurance company. Theresa asks if he thinks Ethan is dead. Hassler believes he must be; otherwise, Ethan would’ve contacted someone. He reluctantly tells Theresa what he knows about Ethan’s disappearance.

Ethan and Stallings drove to Wayward Pines to investigate the disappearance of Agents Bill Evans and Kate Hewson; at Kate’s name, Theresa feels a pang. On their way, Ethan called Theresa from a gas station; that was the last time anyone heard from him.