The Water Keeper

Summer and Murph drive back to the hospital. They find Clay there looking much healthier than he was before, and he is laughing along with Ellie. Murph tells them that he needs to visit the house alone. Summer insists that she wants to go with him, while Ellie remains committed to Clay. Exhausted, he relents. He first gets a hotel room to rest.

Murph falls asleep immediately. He wakes up hours later when Summer gets into his bed and wraps her arm around him. She begins talking about her past. She tells Murph that she hurt her ankle and then developed a dependency on pain pills. A man she was giving dance lessons to offered to get medication for her from his pharmacy. He allowed her to buy the medication on credit, and she racked up thousands in debt. Then, when he left the pharmacy, he continued to get her drugs from a dealer. After several months, she owed around $40,000 between the pharmacy and the dealer.

At the same time, Angel began hanging around with the man who was getting Summer the pain pills. Summer initially thought it was nice, as the man wasn’t that much older than her and Summer often joined them at parties. However, Angel started to grow distant. One day, she told her mother that she was going with the man on a yacht for the entire summer.

A few weeks before the trip, Summer started to question it. She and Angel fought several times. One day, the man told Summer that all her debt had been taken care of. He told her that the people with the yacht didn’t want the parents to “worry” while their children went on the trip.

Summer tells Murph that she realizes now that she “sold” her daughter. She tells Murph that she is a bad person. Murph asks her how she hurt her ankle, and she tells him that it got slammed in the car door when a shopping cart hit it. Murph points out that the men had likely been watching Summer for weeks, caused her injury, and then intentionally introduced her to the pills. They had been desperate to get Angel and did whatever they could to trap Summer.

Some of Summer’s guilt is replaced by anger. She asks how they’re going to get Angel back, and Murph admits that it will be incredibly hard to take her. They can also find a way to pay a higher price for her than anyone else would.

A few hours later, Murph’s satellite phone rings. It is Angel. She sounds drugged as she tells him how amazing everything is. Summer wakes up next to him, and Murph has her send Angel’s phone number to Bones, who does a search to find its location.

Murph keeps Angel talking. She tells him that they are no longer on the boat but instead moved to a cabin. She slowly falls asleep as the line stays open. Murph can hear sounds in the background for several minutes before it goes dead.

Bones sends him the location, which is a few hours from where they are. He warns them that it will be difficult and dangerous to get to.

Murph takes Summer to his secure storage unit. Inside, he has clothes, supplies, gear, and more. He explains that he does a lot of his work in Florida since it is at the center of human trafficking. He takes his motorcycle, and they drive to the GPS point.

Murph sees the lights of the cabin in the distance. He stops about a half mile out so that they can walk in.

As Murph and Summer make their way to the cabin, they hear a man nearby. Murph waits in the tall grass until he gets close and then subdues him. He takes the man’s earpiece and continues toward the cabin.

When they get close, they see several girls around a fire pit, with Angel dancing nearby. A helicopter lands, then another, and the girls are loaded onto them. They take off, leaving Murph angry that they were too late again.

As Murph searches the campground, finding nothing but the remnants of a party, he sees a light in a tree. He leaves and then tells Summer that it was likely a phone connected to a live video call, sending out a video of them.

Murph returns to the cabin alone and finds that the phone’s light is now off. He takes it from the tree and sees a picture of Angel with the message “Now accepting bids” (179). He realizes that the phone call from Angel was a setup to see who was following them.

Murph decides that the men have likely found a new yacht and are continuing to travel to Key West. He knows that it’s possible they fled for international waters or even the Bahamas, but if they did, they would lose a lot of money. The fact that the camera showed the traffickers just two individuals—and not some kind of police agency—likely gave them encouragement to keep going.

When Murph and Summer return to the hospital, it is nearly morning. Ellie is awake and waiting. She asks Murph to drop her off at the bank the next morning, and then she promises to leave him alone if he helps her open the box. Murph agrees.

Murph, Summer, and Ellie go to the bank. They open the box using Ellie’s key, and inside is a manilla envelope. Ellie takes it out but decides not to open it yet. Murph can see the mixed emotions on her face since she is close to finally discovering who she is.

Murph captains the boat further down the coast. They get to Palm Beach and then park at the residence he got from the hard drives’ geolocation. As they get off, they see dozens of cameras watching their movement outside a massive mansion.

The entire cottage, inside and out, is destroyed. There are empty beer and liquor bottles everywhere, with a motorcycle at the bottom of a pool, toppled statues, and entire ceiling columns missing that have left holes in the roof and walls.

They continue upstairs, finding remnants of a paintball fight, with mattresses stacked throughout the hall. On the top floor, they find a small, private bedroom. Looking out the window, Murph sees a helipad and guesses that the men left from there with the girls to head to the cabin.

Murph hears a sound from the bathroom and follows it. Inside, the bathroom is filled with steam shooting from dozens of nozzles on the wall. Hearing the sound again, he feels his way through the steam. In a bathtub, he feels a body and then finds a faint pulse. He carries the body back through the steam, feeling relief when he can finally see that it’s not Angel. Instead, it is a woman in her twenties.

Murph calls 911. He tells them about the young woman and insists that they send a medical helicopter. He sends Summer to his boat, and she comes back with a medical kit. He injects the woman with an opioid inhibitor and then performs CPR until the helicopter arrives. He helps the woman onboard just as they hear the police arrive at the front door. He, Summer, and Ellie sneak out the back and then board the boat, as Murph does not want to give a statement to the police.

Back on the boat, Murph calls Bones. He tells him to call the local sheriff and let them know that Murph will make a statement at the hospital when they need one. He also wants all the information that Bones can get on the young woman.

When Murph hangs up, he turns toward Summer and Ellie, who are holding hands and shaking. He sees Angel’s crucifix necklace in Summer’s hand—which Angel was wearing when Murph met her in the church. Summer tells him that she found it in the woman’s hand in the bathroom.

Ellie then asks Murph to open her envelope for her. On it is a date from 13 years ago. Inside is a single piece of paper. It is a letter written to “Florence,” telling her that she is being “offered provisional acceptance in the Sisters’ initiate” (198). The letter is signed by Sister Margaret. Murph then shakes the envelope, and a ring falls out. He is shocked when he recognizes it.

Ellie starts to throw the ring into the water, but Murph stops her. He insists that she should go to the convent, as it might give her information about her mother. However, Ellie argues that she is sick of the “riddles” and doesn’t want to pursue it anymore.

Murph tells her that he was in love once. He tells her the story of his childhood with Marie. One night, there was a large party at a beach house. Murph went fishing that night instead of going. He heard helicopters and saw boats, so he asked what they were doing, and the patrol told him that they were looking for a girl who got lost in the ocean.

Murph instinctively knew that it was Marie. They were friends, but he always considered himself too “nerdy” to be with her, despite how much he loved her. Murph took his boat several miles offshore, knowing that Marie would’ve been pulled farther out than the patrols were looking. He let the current pull his boat, turning off the engine to listen. Finally, he heard Marie in the water, pulled her aboard, and then took her back to the shore.

As they sat on the shore together for the rest of the night, they did their hand gesture with the one finger and palm for the first time, with Murph telling her that he finally understood what it meant for the needs of one person to outweigh the needs of many.

Ellie asks Murph what happened to Marie, and he admits that she died. His phone then rings, interrupting their conversation. Bones tells him that the young woman has recovered and is in the hospital. She wants to speak with Murph. Then, Murph asks Bones if he knows something about him that he isn’t sharing, wondering if he knows about Ellie. However, Bones insists that “what [he] hear[s] in [his] confessional stays there” (205).

When Murph hangs up, he asks Ellie to hold onto the ring and stay with him for a few more days. He promises to go with her to the convent.

Ellie, Murph, and Summer return to the hospital. Murph talks with Clay, who looks significantly better. Murph promises to check him out soon.

Murph and Summer then go to the recovering woman’s hospital room. She tells them that her name is Casey. After weeks of bringing men on the yacht to sexually assault her, they then injected her with drugs and left her to die. Angel saved her by putting her into a bathtub of ice in the steam room.

Casey then begins to sob, asking who could “love” her after what she went through. However, Murph insists that she is going to survive and be happy. He tells her that he is going to send her to a place in Colorado where she will meet others like her and recover.

In the hall, Murph calls Bones. He tells him that Casey is ready to be moved, and Bones assures him that their private plane will be there soon. Murph then asks him to look up information about Sisters of Mercy.

In the elevator, Murph is shaken by Casey’s despair. Summer grabs his hand, assuring him that she isn’t afraid. However, Murph realizes that he is.

Murph thinks of his safe town in Colorado. He and Bones built it, initially referring to it as just “The Town.” It is secluded in the mountains, with few people knowing of its existence. Over the years, it grew, with more and more women ending up there after surviving abuse.

One woman, in particular, sticks out in Murph’s mind. She was sexually trafficked for over two years before Murph was able to find her. She then spent years healing, insisting that she was somehow “broken” and “unlovable.” She eventually went to college, became a nurse, and then came back to The Town to work and help other women. When she brought her fiancé to meet Murph and Bones, he remembers her talking about how The Town and the love she felt was what finally made her feel “free.” Since then, they’ve referred to their sanctuary as Freetown.

Murph loves being in Freetown, as he sees how happy the women become after they begin to heal. He thinks about how most of the women read his David Bishop books—though they don’t know he wrote them.

Murph takes the group to Elliott Key. He notes how the water is getting rougher, meaning that a storm is coming, so he hopes that the new yacht will have stopped somewhere near shore to avoid it. As they enter the Key, he sees a large, black boat with tinted windows. He sees no one aboard but hears music coming from inside.

Murph takes the boat up to Key Largo. He gets rooms at a resort for the other passengers and then tells them that he will be gone for most of the night. Summer protests, but Murph tells her to stay at the resort and listen for anything to do with Angel.

Murph drives back to Elliott Key. He cuts his lights and engine and then floats offshore for several hours, watching the yacht. When it begins to move, Murph follows it along the coast. He notes how much bigger and stronger the yacht is as the waves pick up and the storm begins.

Near a house up the shore, Murph sees the yacht stop. Though he is far from it, he can see several people jump overboard and down onto another boat. One of the last few misses, falling instead into the rough water. The last person on the boat turns toward Murph, and Murph sees the muzzle of a gun flash. He quickly accelerates and takes off, avoiding the bullets.

Murph makes several passes nearby, looking for the girl who likely got pushed toward him in the current. He eventually sees her on a floating dock. He rides a wave onto the dock and manages to grab her arm on the second attempt, pulling her into the boat. However, when he reenters the water, the boat takes on excessive amounts of water, and Gunner is pushed overboard.

Murph returns with the girl. Summer meets him on the shore and helps him bring her in. Murph asks the girl questions about the yacht, and she tells him that she was only on it for a few days. The men offered her and nine other girls a modeling job, promising them money. Murph shows her a picture of Angel, but she is adamant that she has never seen her.

Murph turns to go back to his boat, but Summer stops him and kisses him. She hesitates and then kisses him again. He wipes the tears from her cheeks and promises her that he’ll be back.

Murph spends several hours looking for the yacht in the water but finds nothing. He decides that they have to be headed to Key West, either to pick up even more girls or to depart to a drop-off location to get rid of them.

When he returns to Summer and the others, he tells Clay about Gunner. The only solace he finds is that, thanks to Gunner, he was able to find the girl in the water. Summer tells him that the girl’s family was wealthy, leading to an increased presence of officers looking for information. The thought troubles Murph, as that means that the people on the yacht will get spooked.

Murph decides that they have to set out for Key West. He is exhausted and knows that he should sleep, but he also realizes they have too little time for it. When they start off in the boat, Murph is shocked to find Gunner paddling in the water. They pull him aboard, and he licks each of them excitedly.

Murph calls Bones. He updates him on their progress and asks him to get them a room in Key West. Bones then tells Murph that the convent is no longer operating. There are a few nuns who live there, but they are old, and their property is set to be given away when they pass.

With renewed spirits after finding Gunner, the group makes it to Key West. They spend a few days there, with Murph constantly taking the boat out and looking for any signs of the yacht.

Murph decides to use Summer as bait. She agrees to walk up and down the shore, drinking a beer and looking sad. She rejects whoever tries to talk to her. However, just after sunset, Murph watches as a man comes up and talks to her. He writes something on her hand and, after talking for several minutes, walks away.

Murph follows the man, deciding whether to send Summer to meet him, as he hates the feeling of using her as bait. Summer, however, wants to accept his invitation for a ride on his boat the next night.

Murph follows the man to his efficiency apartment where he is staying. When Murph gets back to his room that night, Clay pulls him aside. He took a good picture of the man through his motel window. He is certain that the man is from the boat—someone who brought young women aboard it.

The next morning, Murph goes back to the apartment. He gets the man’s license plate number as he leaves in his car. He then contacts Bones. He gives him the plate number and the photo. Bones tells him that he will look into the picture. At the end of the conversation, Bones suggests that he should “check out” the convent but says nothing more.

Murph goes back to the apartment and cuts the power to it. He then searches it, finding three guns. He removes the firing pins from all three and then reassembles them. He notices a grocery list, handwritten, hanging on the fridge. Next to “Angel food cake,” there are 27 check marks, with checkmarks by the others as well. He realizes that it is a list of the kidnapped girls written in code, most likely tracking the number of bids or value they have online.

Murph returns to the hotel to find that Ellie is gone. She left him a note, thanking him for trying, as well as his Rolex. He goes with Summer to the airport and finds Ellie looking at the board of departures. She complains that the convent is closed, showing her anger. Murph promises to show her something that will help if she returns with him to the hotel. In exchange, he will fly her wherever she wants to go in his jet.