The Water Keeper

Murph follows Tabby to a nearby sports complex. Tabby goes into the stands and starts licking the face of a man lying in the bleachers. The man is unresponsive. Murph goes across the street to the fire station for help, and then two paramedics put the man on a gurney and give him an IV.

After a few minutes, Tabby jumps up and starts licking the man’s face again. He finally wakes up, and Murph notices that he has a hospital bracelet on his wrist. The paramedics ask him several questions, which the man answers. He insists that he is fine. After his IV finishes, the paramedics leave him.

The man introduces himself to Murph as Barclay “Clay” T. Pettybone. He is 78 years old and dying of cancer. He was in the hospital but left, wanting to return to Key West before he died, and used to work on a boat serving drinks in Jacksonville. He says that Tabby’s real name is Gunner. He left him when he went into the hospital, hoping that someone else would care for him. He also explains that he spent the last 60 years in prison for killing a white man who had his wife locked in his bedroom. Murph notes that the man is “dark skinned” and “[m]ore Cuban or Brazilian” (95).

Summer tells Murph that they can’t leave Clay. Clay insists that they don’t need to help him, as long as they take Gunner with them. After considering, Murph decides that he likes the man and his honesty. He agrees to take him in their boat further south.

Murph, Summer, and Clay return to Gone Fiction. Murph decides to show Clay the picture of Angel, and Clay explains that he knows her from serving drinks on Sea Tenderly. He tells Murph about the owners of the boat: They’re two European men, possibly Russian. He describes what they look like and several identifying tattoos that they have. He also explains that Angel was in “trouble,” as the men really liked her and paid close attention to her, giving her a myriad of drugs. He also heard them say that they were getting on a new yacht called Fire and Rain.

Murph asks the manager of the marina to see his CCTV footage of Fire and Rain leaving. He initially says no, but then Murph explains that it is a “flesh” boat and that he needs to find a girl on board. The man relents, showing Murph the video of a large, black yacht with tinted windows leaving around midnight. It is followed by a tender boat, and Murph catches the name Gone Girl on its side.

Murph calls the same man whom he called before for help. He asks if he has any new information about flesh boats in the area, but the man doesn’t have anything yet. Murph gives him the names of the new boats, as well as the descriptions of the men who own it. He also asks him to look into Clay’s story.

Murph steers the boat away from the marina. Summer stands by him and puts her arm through his, thanking him again for everything. As they go back out to the ocean, she asks him if Murphy is his real name. Initially, he doesn’t answer. Instead, he looks to the south at over a dozen sailboats wrecked in the ocean. He turns back to Summer, a “tear roll[ing] down [his] face” (109), and tells her no.

The three continue to travel down the Florida coast for most of the day. They stop at the Haulover Canal. Murph feels as if they are in the “eye” of a storm that it is about to hit them as they work to catch the yacht.

Murph and Summer go into the town and get food and drinks. Murph then decides that he has to teach Summer how to swim. She initially resists, but then he points out that it could help her save her life or Angel’s. They get into the water, and Murph swims out into the deeper part. Summer hesitantly joins him, and then Murph holds onto her hips as she keeps herself afloat and pulls herself along.

Afterward, while standing on the boat, Summer tells Murph that it reminded her of when she used to dance. Murph thinks of how it was “the first time” that he had “touched a woman with tenderness in a long time” (115).

Murph continues down the coast for the rest of the day, desperate to make it to Stuart before nightfall. He manages to do so but notes how their speed makes Clay cough often and seem sicker.

As Murph approaches a sandbar that he knows appears at low tide, he idles the boat and then calls Summer to the front of it. He then pushes her overboard. She frantically flails in the water, but Murph simply tells her to “swim.” Murph steers the boat onto the sandbar where it sticks and then jumps in the water after her.

Murph again tells Summer to swim as she bobs up and down. Eventually, she manages to tread water. Murph gestures for her to swim to him as he slowly moves backward. She manages to do so but looks angry as she tells Murph that she “doesn’t like” him. In response, he tells her to put her feet down. She does so tentatively and realizes that she is in shallow water. She again insists that she dislikes Murph, but this time, she is laughing when she does so.

Murph, Summer, and Clay go out for dinner. Summer and Clay choose a restaurant that has live music. Murph notes that Clay is quiet and distant but does not ask him what’s wrong.

After dinner, Summer asks Clay to dance. When they finish, the gathered diners clap for them. Summer then forces Murph to dance. He insists that he has only danced once, on his wedding day, but she tells him that she has only ever swam once, too.

As Summer instructs Murph in how to dance, she asks about his wife. He tells her that he was only married for “like an hour” (124). She asks if something “terrible” happened, and he says yes but does not elaborate.

After they finish, Clay prepares to go to bed. He calls Murph over and tells him that there is someone else on Gone Fiction. Murph is confused, but Clay points to the locked head door in the middle of the boat.

When Murph opens the head door, he finds a small girl inside who he estimates is not yet a teenager. Summer asks her name, and she tells them that people call her “Ellie,” but she doesn’t know her real name. She has been at several different boarding schools and foster homes since birth.

She asks Murph if he can tell her who she is. She shows him a map of Murph’s island as well as a photo of Murph taken 16 years ago. Under it is a headline about a “Mystery Man” saving a senator’s daughter.

Ellie asks if he is the person from the photo and the headline. Murph admits that he is but does not give her any more information. Ellie also shows him a key to a bank box in Miami. She tells him that—regardless of whether Murph wants to help or not—she is going to go to Miami to try to find out who she is. Exhausted and realizing that their journey is now even more difficult, he agrees to take her to the bank.

Murph’s phone rings. The man tells him that he researched Clay and that his story is true. He can be treated, but it is expensive and he’s not sure if Clay wants the treatment. The man then tells him that a body was found that matches the description of Angel. Murph tells him to have the body ready in Jupiter for Murph to see, as well as a doctor to look at Clay.

The four of them arrive at the Jupiter Medical Center. At the front desk, Murph gives them Clay’s name, and they bring out a wheelchair. Before he leaves, Clay makes Murph promise not to leave him, dead or alive.

When Murph and Summer arrive at the morgue, the man in charge stops them. He tells them that they can’t go in until Murph shows him his “credentials” in his wallet; Murph does so.

When the man pulls back the blanket on one of the bodies, Summer begins to cry. It is not Angel. They then make their way back to the elevator, but Summer passes out in Murph’s arms. A while later, she regains consciousness. She starts talking nonsensically, apologizing for anything she ever did wrong. She starts sobbing as Murph holds her.

After over an hour, Summer recovers. Murph gets a call from the same man, who tells him that Fire and Rain is docked in West Palm.

Murph asks Ellie what she is going to do. She tells him that she wants to stay there, so Murph asks her to watch over Clay. He insists that he will come back for her and then gives her his Rolex—which belonged to Fingers—and tells her that he will be back for it. Ellie is still hesitant, so Murph forces her to hold up her index finger. He then touches his own to hers and then opens his palm and pushes it flat against hers.

On the boat, Summer asks Murph about his credentials, which show that he was a priest. He admits that he was a priest before but isn’t anymore. She asks him for more information, but he doesn’t share. She then asks about the hand gesture. He tells her that it means “the needs of one […] outweigh the needs of the many” (145).

Summer makes the same hand gesture against his chest as she leans against him. She then kisses him—first on the cheek and then on the edge of his mouth. He thinks of how awful it will be for her if they don’t find Angel alive.

When they get to Key West, Murph and Summer find Fire and Rain. They park their boat on the dock of an expensive home and then hop a fence and walk their way into the harbor. They discover that the yacht is empty, so they board it.

Murph sees cameras everywhere, which he assumes are livestreaming. The yacht is cleaner than the last, which Murph assumes means that they were entertaining higher-end clientele. He searches the boat until he finds a TV with digital recordings on it. He tells Summer that she might not want to watch, but she insists that she needs to.

Murph spends several minutes fast-forwarding through videos. Most are of young girls in one of the rooms with different men. Murph thinks of how usually on boats like this, they bring wealthy men aboard who then pay thousands of dollars for time with the young girls. They don’t find Angel in any of the videos. However, they do see her on the deck a few times, looking even thinner and sicklier than she did when Murph first saw her.

When they finish with the videos, they move further into the yacht. Murph finds a locked door and considers breaking in. He realizes that they have likely already been seen on the cameras, so he uses an axe to break it down. Inside, he finds high-tech electronics inside. He removes two hard drives and places them in a bag. He then hears voices on the deck.

Murph tells Summer to follow him. He exits onto the deck and finds four men. He makes a comment about fixing their equipment and then hands the bag to Summer and tells her to leave. However, one of the men stops her. Murph then asks another if he is going to be paid for his work. The man pulls a gun, but Murph swiftly breaks his arm and sends him overboard. He manages to subdue the other two men before the last pulls a knife on him. He fights briefly with the man, eventually shattering his kneecap and disarming him.

Murph and Summer flee off the boat. The man he sent overboard fell onto a smaller boat, and they can hear sirens in the distance. They make their way back to Gone Fiction and exit the harbor, with Murph noting that someone likely saw their boat leaving.

Murph and Summer get a motel room so that she can clean his cuts. Standing in the shower, he takes off his shirt, and Summer is shocked by what she sees. She begins to cry, but Murph insists that he needs her help to stop the bleeding.

Summer first asks about the scars on his back. He tells her that they are bullet holes from exiting his body. She then asks about his tattoo, which is a list of names in paragraph form covering his entire back. At the top is the Greek word Apollumi. He tells her that there are 212 names, “Daughters. Friends. Moms. Broken children” (155).

Summer asks him about different names on his back. With each, he knows the number, how old they were when they were taken, and where they are now. Some died before they could be saved, others died a few years after being rescued, and some went on to live happy lives. Murph tells her that “these are the names [he] carr[ies]” (157).