Virgil Wander

Virgil begins to worry about Bjorn, too, as he’s become distant and thin. Bjorn goes missing one night after working at the Empress. Virgil takes the bike out into the worsening weather to search for him. Bjorn isn’t home, and Nadine is worried, too, so they take her car to search throughout the town. They find Bjorn behind the Shipwreck tavern with two of Alec’s neon signs. He’s staring out at the ocean, smoking. Bjorn’s thin, forlorn frame reminds Virgil of Galen, who he’s also worried about. Suddenly, Virgil feels overcome with emotion and a clear sense purpose for his life. He resolves to spend more time with Bjorn and find tasks for him at the Empress that keep him busy and give him purpose.

Bjorn wants to show the movies from the vault and restart the after-parties. At first, it’s just the previous regular attendees, but the parties soon grow. Greenstone experiences a very wet season, and Virgil compares the Empress to an ark where people find refuge and comfort from the bad weather and their problems. One of the new attendees is Ellen Tripp, a 15-year-old girl who has just returned home after getting pregnant and having an abortion. Having lost everything, Ellen is “working things through” (210) and becomes close with Nadine and Bjorn. Lily and Galen come, and Galen tells Virgil he’s seen the sturgeon. Jerry stops by to tell Virgil that Adam bought the Hoshaver building across the street and hired Jerry to renovate it. Virgil invites him in, but he needs to borrow more of Virgil’s tools. 

Fergus Flint, a lawyer and friend of Orry’s, calls Virgil to offer his services to help him unload the illegal film reels. Fergus has experience working with people in the film industry, and he assures Virgil that he won’t go to jail for keeping the films. Virgil tells him the complete story of how he came to own the theater, and Fergus plans to research the theater’s history. Virgil avoids going to work so he doesn’t have to face Lydia and her festival plans. Ann somehow convinced Adam Leer to be the keynote speaker. Virgil goes to the Hoshaver building where Jerry is working. Jerry and Ann have separated, and he is now living in the building while he works on it. Jerry is visibly downtrodden, and Virgil invites him over for dinner. Jerry declines, and Virgil offers to lend him an air purifier because the building is infested with rats.

Lydia leaves a note asking Virgil to rescind their invitation to have Adam be the speaker. Lydia dislikes superstition but admits, “It feels like we’re in another bad stretch” (223), citing Shad’s death and strange occurrences involving animals. Despite all the good Adam is doing, like helping Jerry and reportedly planning to convert the taconite plant into a timber factory to make wood products, Lydia feels like something is off with Adam. When it rained frogs, she saw him standing outside with an umbrella, smiling as they fell from the sky. Virgil agrees to deliver the message.

Virgil rides his bike to meet Galen, where he’s waiting for the sturgeon. It’s snowing and cold, but Galen doesn’t mind. He’s baited his hook with deer liver and uses a BB gun to chase away the smaller fish. They pace the bank, trying to stay warm, and Galen tells Virgil he misses Shad because there are things about raising a boy that Lily doesn’t understand. For example, she won’t let him have Shad’s gun. Suddenly, the sturgeon appears, and Virgil can’t believe its size. The fish taunts them, swimming around the bait with no intention of biting. Galen says he thinks the fish took his father and is now after him.

Beeman gives Rune cassette tapes with notes on Alec’s case, but Virgil doesn’t have a cassette player, so he goes to Marcus Jetty’s salvage store, where Marcus gives him a cassette player he donated to him years ago. On his way to Adam’s house, Virgil rides his bike to Rune’s camper van, where Lucy reads while Rune tries out a new kite. Virgil explains that he is nervous to speak to Adam, and Lucy agrees that her cousin is “not normal or regular” (233) and that she chose not to stay at his guest house. Richard was the favorite brother, and Adam seemed to have been born hating him. Lucy warns Virgil to manage his business swiftly.

Virgil arrives at the Leer home and immediately notices Jerry’s hard work refurbishing the place. Adam serves them coffee and is relieved at the rescinded offer, since he didn’t want to speak at the festival in the first place. Virgil asks why he changed his mind, and he says Ann was insistent. Adam insists that surely Virgil can understand the idea of a man changing. Adam gloats over his help transforming Jerry, but Virgil insists Jerry is sadder. Adam suggests that Virgil meant to drive off the road into the water and that his newfound fame has benefitted him, especially in gaining Nadine’s attention. Adam’s words upset Virgil, who claims Adam doesn’t know him at all. Virgil runs to the bathroom and vomits before leaving. He glances at a window and sees Ann watching him.

Riding home from Adam’s, Virgil realizes that it’s December and he has missed Thanksgiving. He avoids looking at the lake, worried about seeing the mystery man. At the Empress, he catches Bjorn just as the nightly movie ends. Bjorn tells Virgil that Nadine wants him to call her. Though it’s late, Virgil calls, and Nadine tells him about the neon sign she’s creating for a local bookstore. Though Nadine hasn’t always enjoyed continuing Alec’s work, she took great joy in perfecting the design. Hearing Nadine share something so simple yet intimate thrills Virgil, and he longs for more, having spent many years alone without the company of a partner. Virgil thinks, “I wanted to hear about many small things, the smaller the better. I wanted to tell her small things in return” (241). Virgil invites Nadine and Bjorn to Christmas dinner at the Empress, and she accepts.

Rune begins listening to the tapes, but it’s hard for him to hear all the details of the unsuccessful search for Alec. Beeman interviewed many townsfolk on the recordings, including Virgil, but the most notable interview is with Shad Pea. Shad took Alec’s disappearance hard because he was the last to see him alive. The night Alec went missing, Shad was camping on Burnt River near the Wise Old because he and his wife had argued. He saw Alec’s plane take off, but not before he saw Adam Leer swimming naked in the water.

Lily Pea visits Virgil at City Hall and brings him chocolate croissants. She’s happy Virgil saw the sturgeon, as she now knows it’s real. She worries about Galen spending so much time alone near the water and asks Virgil to help keep an eye on him. Lydia is still frustrated that everyone likes Ann’s idea for the festival, which she finds demeaning. Ann arrives, and Lydia leaves after an awkward exchange. Virgil doesn’t judge Ann for being at Adam’s house, but he tells her about his worry for Jerry. Ann reveals that she and Jerry have been separated for a year. He moved out and has been staying at his brother’s fish camp. Moreover, she still supports Jerry financially and has dinner with him every Sunday.

Virgil goes to Nadine’s house, and she shows him the workshop and her current project, a sign shaped like a book. Virgil thinks of Nadine as a true artist and struggles to find words to describe the sign’s beauty. Virgil tells Nadine that he’s selling the Empress, and when she says, “You’re getting ready” (252), Virgil jokes about moving to the Bahamas. Then he tells her that she is his destination and that she’s all he’s thought of for many years, even before Alec vanished. Nadine laments that he’s waited this long, but he says he is worried about dishonoring Alec’s memory. Virgil apologizes for taking her hand in the post office that day, but Nadine corrects him and says it was her that took his hand. Nadine kisses Virgil passionately, confirming that she shares his feelings. A call from Bjorn interrupts their romantic moment. He asks Virgil if he can have a few nights off from the Empress. Adam Leer came to the movie and offered him a job painting at his house. Nadine overhears and rushes to grab her coat. She leaves immediately for Adam’s house, and Virgil follows.

Adam Leer was one of the men who tried to court Nadine after Alec’s disappearance. Though he was charming, something about Adam turned her off. She described him to one of her friends as Byronic in his appearance and mannerisms. Moreover, whenever Adam was around, she began having terrible nightmares in which Bjorn died. When Adam moved away, the dreams stopped. Adam returned after a few years away, and so did the dreams. She asked him not to return to their home and never speak to Bjorn again. In the present, Virgil goes with Nadine to Adam’s house, where she demands that he stay away from Bjorn.