49 pages • 1-hour read
Riley Thorn and the Dead Guy Next Door
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Chapters 13-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, addiction, and sexual content.
Chapter 13 Summary
After the shooting, Nick tries to make sense of his feelings for Riley. They go to the police station and meet with Sergeant Mabel Jones and Detective Weber, Nick’s former colleagues. The cops are suspicious of Riley, convinced that she had something to do with Dickie’s murder because she preemptively reported the crime. Nick defends her, insisting that she get to a hospital because she was injured during the scuffle at the house. The cops force her to stay at the station until she gives a statement.
Chapter 14 Summary
Riley gives her statement. To convince the detectives of her innocence, she informs them that she’s psychic, proving it by reading their minds and telling them facts about themselves. Finally, they let her go to the hospital.
Chapter 15 Summary
Nick accompanies Riley to the hospital. He lies and tells the nurses he and Riley are engaged so that he can stay by her side. They joke about their fake engagement and the case.
After Riley is discharged, she and Nick run into Griffin outside the hospital. He tries interviewing her about the murder for Channel 50. Nick protectively demands that Griffin leave Riley alone.
Chapter 16 Summary
Riley updates Mrs. Penny, Lily, and her other neighbors on what happened when she returns home. They decide that if they hear an intruder, they’ll use a code word to alert each other. Later, while Blossom and Jasmine are visiting Riley, Detective Weber stops in to see her. Jasmine and Blossom defend Riley, insisting that she’s psychic, not a murderer. Riley bursts out laughing at the absurdity of everything.
Chapter 17 Summary
Later that afternoon, Riley wakes up from a nap to find a “very muscled Black man” standing at the foot of her bed (119). He introduces himself as Gabe, explaining that he’s her new spiritual guide; Riley realizes that Elanora must have sent him. He insists that he’ll teach her to become aware of and control her psychic powers. Riley doesn’t want him there, and she’s sick of her powers, so she wonders if she should even listen to him.
Chapter 18 Summary
Nick tries to ignore his constant thoughts of Riley, wishing he weren’t so attracted to her. Then he sees a news story about alleged gang activity in Harrisburg and the neighboring City Island. A visit from his former PE teacher, Mrs. Zimmerman, interrupts him. She wants to hire him to investigate her nephew’s murder. Nick is shocked to learn that Dickie is her nephew. He takes the job, if only to see more of Riley.
Chapter 19 Summary
Nick stops by SHART to see Riley, bearing flowers. He reveals Dickie’s aunt’s request and asks if they can continue their fake relationship and work on the case together. Feeling conflicted, Riley agrees to meet him at his office later to discuss an arrangement. Afterward, Gabe stops by and invites Riley to lunch. Over food, they discuss Riley’s visions and Dickie’s murder. Riley realizes that she might need Gabe’s help more than she thought.
Chapter 20 Summary
That evening, Riley heads out to see Nick at Santiago Investigations. On the way, she realizes that Weber is trailing her and lets him know she’s aware of his presence. Then she meets Nick, and they agree to work on the case and “to continue [their] temporary engagement” (146). They decide to start by getting dinner and searching Dickie’s apartment.
Chapter 21 Summary
Riley and Nick head out to a diner in Riley’s car. On the way, they discuss Riley’s visions, Gabe, the case, and Nick’s former police work. They flirt, too. Eventually, they arrive at the diner.
Chapter 22 Summary
Nick goes to Nature Girls to investigate Dickie’s business. The place is dirty and seedy. He orders a beer and asks some questions about Dickie and the business, but doesn’t get much information. A bald man (whose nickname is Baldy) looks suspicious, but Nick is unable to get his license plate number before leaving the lot.
Chapter 23 Summary
After work, Riley meets Jasmine for yoga class at Wander’s studio. Jasmine teases her about Nick, insisting that they should sleep together. After class, Riley hangs out with Blossom, Gabe, and Jasmine. Gabe gives Riley instructions for channeling her powers. Riley tries to take his advice, but she has an embarrassingly vivid vision of her and Nick having sex. Blossom divines what’s happening and exclaims at the good news; Riley demands that Blossom mind her own business.
Chapter 24 Summary
Nick gets a haircut and packs a bag to spend the night at Riley’s apartment, working on the case. On the way, he repeatedly tells himself that he isn’t nervous and doesn’t have feelings for her. However, he gets upset when he finds Gabe at the Front Street house. Riley invites the men to join her and her neighbors for their Friday martini night. They all chat about recent events and the case. They now know Dickie was involved in gambling and owed people money.
Chapter 25 Summary
Nick and Riley retreat to her apartment. They eat dinner and wait for the house to settle down before sneaking into Dickie’s apartment. Antsy and bored, they take a drive in Riley’s Jeep. They stop at a bridge, where they admire the view, chat, and kiss. Riley is overcome by emotion, wondering if it’s okay to break the rules sometimes.
Chapters 13-25 Analysis
In these chapters, Riley and Nick’s involvement in the Dickie Frick Case thematically reiterates Romantic Tension as a Form of Professional and Personal Motivation. Their agreement to work on the case together compels them to communicate more regularly. Their forced proximity intensifies the sexual tension between them and heightens their investment in solving the case. For example, Nick isn’t authentically interested in Dickie, his death, or even in helping his former PE teacher, Mrs. Zimmerman (Dickie’s aunt), solve her nephew’s murder. However, he takes Mrs. Zimmerman on as a new client because it means “definitely seeing Riley Thorn again and not avoiding her like he’d planned” (132). The Dickie Frick case allows Nick to give in to his feelings for Riley, while also motivating him professionally. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her and has “even gone so far as to write up a list of reasons why he should stay far, far away from her” (128). Taking on the Dickie Frick case gives him an excuse to defy his instincts about cutting Riley out and grants him vocational permission to spend more time in her company, while keeping his business afloat. Similarly, Riley feels numbed by “the low hum of boredom” at her job, and thus accepts Nick’s offer to work on the case together (133). Neither Riley nor Nick is ready to overtly confess their feelings for each other, but they use their new investigative job to be in each other’s company and experience new things.
Riley and Nick’s collaborative sleuthing arrangement is a twist on the workplace romance trope. The characters aren’t traditional colleagues, but their agreement to work together forces them to think outside the box about their jobs, their relationships, and the world around them. From this subversive investigative work emerges another theme: The Importance of Learning to Problem-Solve and Think Creatively. Riley and Nick come from different personal and professional backgrounds, but both are interested in investigating and reporting, and both are drawn to excitement and adventure. Working together on Dickie Frick’s case requires that they engage their independent skills and learn to work together. When Nick first approaches Riley about the job, Riley knows he’s “exactly the kind of man she [does] not need to get involved with” (135): He wants “to track down someone who willingly put two bullets in a human being’s head” (135). Despite the overt danger associated with the investigation, Riley agrees. She doesn’t feel challenged at her day job and is trying to learn more about her true capabilities. Via Nick and the Dickie Frick case, she has the opportunity to engage her mind in new ways. She isn’t just growing closer to Nick or procrastinating in her work, but she’s acquiring skills and discovering herself anew.
Riley’s involvement with her new archetypal guide, Gabe, highlights the theme of Developing Self-Acceptance Via Personal Challenges. Riley’s relationship with her psychic and clairvoyant powers remains fraught, but Gabe’s appearance in her life offers her a fresh outlook. He not only promises to protect and shepherd her, but also gives her hope that she might learn to channel and control her powers, showing her how these powers are akin to human emotions. Like intense emotions or profound empathy toward and attunement to others, psychic powers can feel like burdens on the human heart, but by learning to manage these psychological dynamics, one can find spiritual strength. With Gabe’s help, Riley gradually begins to come to terms with her authentic identity and how it might be a source of guidance rather than an inhibition.
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