The Reappearance of Rachel Price
by Holly Jackson
Contents
Chapter Forty-seven
Overview
In the aftermath of Charlie and Jeff’s fall, Carter reveals that DNA results have already proven Rachel is Carter’s mother and Bel’s full sister. Rachel decides the truth cannot come out because Carter, Bel, and Rachel would all be implicated, so the three commit to hiding the deaths and erasing every trace of Rachel’s captivity, revenge, and Carter’s parentage. The chapter turns the family’s reunion into a shared conspiracy, binding Rachel, Bel, and Carter together under the promise of protecting one another first.
Summary
After Charlie and Jeff fall from Point Lookout, Carter collapses screaming while Rachel and Bel rush to her. Rachel shines Charlie’s dropped flashlight over the edge and concludes that neither man could have survived. Carter believes she killed them, but Rachel tells Carter that Carter saved Rachel’s life.
Carter reveals that Carter already knew Rachel was Carter’s mother. Carter had suspected the truth from Rachel’s behavior, Carter’s own similarities to Rachel, and Sherry’s avoidance of blood tests. Carter secretly ordered DNA kits, swabbed both Carter and Bel, and received results showing that Carter and Bel are full sisters with the same parents.
Carter explains that Carter followed after seeing Rachel’s note at Patrick’s house and watching Jeff and Charlie chase Rachel and Bel. Rachel insists Carter did not kill Jeff because Charlie pulled Jeff over the edge, and Bel adds that Jeff chose to free Charlie. Rachel then shifts to survival mode: because the deaths would implicate Carter, Bel, and Rachel, Rachel decides no one can know the truth about Pat, Charlie, Carter’s parentage, or what happened at the lookout.
Rachel plans to erase the evidence before anyone knows Jeff is missing. Rachel will climb down, retrieve the note from Jeff’s pocket along with Jeff’s keys and phone, move the bodies into the mine, and return Charlie’s wedding ring. Bel and Carter must break the chain trapping Rachel’s car, take Bel’s bike, go to Patrick’s house, and erase Rachel’s hidden pencil messages from the books while avoiding Yordan.
Bel realizes there is another loose end: Ash has been helping Bel investigate Rachel and has footage of several discoveries, including Rachel’s messages and the sight of Charlie chained in the red truck. Though destroying the footage means undoing Bel’s work with Ash, Bel decides to do it to protect Rachel and Carter, while Carter handles the books alone. Rachel, Bel, and Carter turn off their phones so they cannot be traced, and Rachel sends her daughters away with the promise that they will meet again at their shared home.
Who Appears
- CarterSaves Rachel, grieves Jeff, and reveals DNA proof that Rachel is her mother.
- BelSupports Carter, accepts Rachel’s plan, and volunteers to destroy Ash’s incriminating footage.
- RachelSurvives Charlie’s attack and directs the cover-up to protect both daughters.
- JeffFalls to his death after Charlie drags him over the lookout edge.
- CharlieDies after Carter pushes him away from Rachel and he falls with Jeff.
- AshAbsent but dangerous as the holder of footage documenting Bel’s investigation.