Cover of The Reappearance of Rachel Price

The Reappearance of Rachel Price

by Holly Jackson


Genre
Mystery, Young Adult, Thriller
Year
2024
Pages
449
Contents

Chapter Six

Overview

The documentary’s reenactment forces Bel to physically occupy the place where Rachel vanished, intensifying Bel’s discomfort with being turned into material for a story she cannot remember. The staged car interview surfaces important case details: Julian Tripp found Bel unharmed, Rachel’s scent disappeared in the road, and Phillip Alves later stalked and briefly kidnapped Bel because of his obsession with the mystery.

Bel’s fragile cooperation breaks when Jenn, the actress playing Rachel, casually suggests Charlie killed Rachel. The moment confirms Bel’s fear that the crew may already have a preferred narrative, pushing Bel to abandon the shoot in anger.

Summary

The documentary crew stages a reenactment of Rachel Price’s disappearance on the same road where Bel was found, using fake snow and a matching blue Honda Accord. Ramsey presents the setup as accurate and asks Bel to say if it is too strange; Bel says it is, but filming continues. Ash, assigned to shoot behind-the-scenes footage, talks with Bel and shows her tattoos representing his mother, sisters, himself, and Ramsey, creating a brief, awkward connection.

A car arrives carrying Jenn, the actress playing Rachel. Because Jenn is dressed like Rachel on the day of the disappearance, Bel initially freezes and mistakes the image for Rachel herself. Ramsey admits he assumed Bel understood an actress would be present, and Bel resents the lack of warning. Jenn’s fascination with the case and casual manner immediately anger Bel.

Bel is then asked to sit in the backseat of the replica car while Jenn sits silently as Rachel. Ramsey explains that the sequence will intercut young Bel from the reenactment with present-day Bel describing what might have happened. Bel is uncomfortable but answers Ramsey’s questions, saying she remembers nothing from being two years old but knows Julian Tripp found her in the running car, warm and unharmed, with Rachel’s coat and purse left in the front.

Ramsey reviews the conditions of the disappearance: the freezing weather, Rachel’s missing coat, and the sniffer dogs that tracked Rachel’s scent about thirty yards before losing it in the road. Bel pushes back against theories that a caring abductor left the heat on for her, suggesting the car was already running, the doors were shut for practical reasons, or Rachel herself left Bel behind without intending Bel to die.

The interview shifts to public obsession with the case and Phillip Alves, a man who fixated on Rachel’s disappearance. Bel explains that Alves once impersonated a police officer to question Jeff and Sherry, then years later abducted eight-year-old Bel from school by pretending to be an officer. Alves demanded that Bel remember who took Rachel, but Bel knew nothing; Police Chief Dave Winter found her within minutes, and Alves was later convicted. When Ramsey says the crew is trying to contact Alves, Bel’s only message is, "Fuck you."

During lunch, Bel overhears Jenn and Louise gossiping about the case. Jenn says she thinks Charlie killed Rachel and pities Bel’s sad life. Enraged by the crew’s assumptions and by feeling like a prop in someone else’s story, Bel throws a chip packet at Jenn and storms into the trees. Ash follows and asks where she is going, but Bel snaps at him, and he backs off.

Who Appears

  • Bel Price
    Endures the reenactment, recounts case facts and Alves’s kidnapping, then storms off after hearing Charlie accused.
  • Ramsey
    Documentary director who stages the reenactment, interviews Bel, and pushes through her discomfort for usable footage.
  • Ash Maddox
    Crew member filming behind-the-scenes; bonds awkwardly with Bel, then follows her when she leaves.
  • Jenn
    Actress playing Rachel; shocks Bel by appearance and later angers Bel by blaming Charlie.
  • Phillip Alves
    Obsessive true-crime follower discussed in interview; impersonated police and kidnapped young Bel for answers.
  • Louise
    Crew member and mother of the child playing young Bel; gossips with Jenn during lunch.
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