What Kind of Paradise

Esme heads to Kaboom, Nicholas Redkin’s company. They do something called “peer to peer e-commerce” that she doesn’t quite understand (232). Upon arrival, she walks right past the receptionist, hoping that the company is hiring too fast for him to keep track of new employees. She is right. She finds Nicholas, shows him the picture she showed Ross, and asks if he can identify the woman who took it.

Stunned, he peers closely at it, clearly reminiscing. He tells her that the photographer was Tess, formerly Tess Nowak, now Tess Trevante. Her husband and daughter died, and she remarried a few years later. Esme realizes that the last name “Trevante” was the one given by her mother’s former neighbor. The Trevantes still owned the lot. Esme is sure that her mother kept the property, hoping that her daughter was not actually dead and would return someday.

After a few questions, Nicholas looks up and tells Esme that she looks familiar. He asks her who she is, and she tells him “no one.” She adds that the people in this photograph seem to be getting killed and that perhaps he should watch his back.