Sadie

West thinks he is looking for Darren, whom Sadie believes is her father. To find Darren, West searches for Claire’s other boyfriends. West cannot find any record of Keith, the boyfriend who lived with the girls the longest. May Beth says that Keith tried to look after the girls and was sober, so he was her favorite. He treated May Beth with respect and was religious.

West interviews Paul Good, who is reluctant to talk about his time with Claire when Mattie was nine and Sadie was 15. He fell in love with Claire and became an addict. Claire eventually got tired of him, and Paul felt relief after he left. Claire never mentioned Darren to Paul.

West tells May Beth that he has no new leads. May Beth pauses and says she may know something but doesn’t want to get Sadie in trouble. West reminds her that she doesn’t want “another dead girl.”

Sadie pulls her car over and remembers the night before Claire left. She pretended to be asleep while Claire caressed her hair and face in a way she never had before, then whispered “I made you” in her ear. Claire was gone in the morning, and Mattie “almost did not survive it” (153).