Contents
Chapter Thirty-Two
Overview
Stuart probes Jessamine about a clown mask and learns of her missing brother Jasper and a fractured family history. After walking Daisy to school, Stuart snoops a photo album revealing bruised, exhausted teens, a domineering Allen, and Annie’s polish. A photo of Allen with a cat labeled “Bella” matches the dead cat, deepening suspicion about Annie and the household’s long-hidden distress.
Summary
Nine years earlier, Stuart asks Jessamine about a clown mask. She reveals it belonged to her brother, Jasper, who became obsessed with the circus, developed an alter ego, and later disappeared when Jessamine was nineteen. Jessamine shuts down joking and deflects questions about her father, signaling a fraught family past.
When Jessamine claims illness, she asks Stuart to take Daisy to school. On the walk, Daisy says her family never talks about Grandad Allen or Jasper. Daisy admits she feels her mother would carry on without her, which alarms Stuart and reinforces his sense of emotional neglect in the household.
Returning, Stuart tends to Jessamine, then searches the house for context. He discovers a family photo album: Allen appears stern; teen Jessamine and Jasper look drawn, with what seems like bruising on Jessamine; Jasper appears increasingly unstable over time. Annie, by contrast, looks polished and thriving beside a thinning, unkempt Jessamine.
Stuart finds a photo of Allen holding a gray cat labeled “Allen and Bella. 2001.” Recognizing the cat as the one he recently disposed of from the shed, Stuart questions how long the cat had been there and what Annie knew, concluding that the family has hidden distress and possible neglect for years.
Who Appears
- StuartNarrator nine years earlier; probes Jessamine, walks Daisy to school, and uncovers troubling family photos and the cat’s identity.
- JessamineReveals missing brother Jasper and avoids discussing her father; appears unwell and emotionally guarded.
- DaisyWalks to school with Stuart; expresses feeling peripheral to her mother and ignorance about Allen and Jasper.
- AnnieAbsent on a shopping trip; appears polished in photos; her awareness of the cat’s fate is questioned.
- AllenStern grandfather seen in photos, shown holding the gray cat labeled “Bella.”
- JasperJessamine’s brother; circus-obsessed, developed an alter ego, and disappeared when Jessamine was nineteen.