When the Stars Go Dark

On the drive back, Anna tells Will she has a feeling (perhaps based on her own childhood experiences) that Cameron’s past in foster care might be important and suggests they unseal her adoption records. Anna also proposes the town organize a public event to generate media attention for Cameron.

When they return to Mendocino, Anna decides after a long day in the car to take a walk along the coast. As she approaches a bluff overlooking the Pacific, she realizes this was where her dream about a girl being hunted occurred. She tries to climb down to the beach, but when she gets to the bottom, she realizes she will not be able to climb back without help. A man passing by happens to see her in distress, tosses down a rope, and helps her up.

The man is none other than Clay LaForge, the man Anna met when she first arrived when she came to town for supplies. He and his wife had been looking after the Belgian Malinois. As the two chat about pets, Anna mentions that when she was growing up her family had, of all things, a pet raven, a rescue animal with a bent wing whom they named Lenore, from the Poe poem.

Anna relates the story of the raven Lenore. Eden, her adoptive mother, was fighting endometrial cancer. Anna remembers strolling the beach with Eden weeks before she died and spotting six humpback whales: “Six is the number for spirit” (168), Eden said. Anna had hoped Eden was going to rally. When Eden died, Anna, trying to understand the loss, retreated to the woods. When she returned home, she lashed out in her grief at the pet raven, grabbed it violently, and tried to strangle it: “She churned against my chest horribly, thrashing and fighting, trying to get free while I pressed her tighter” (170). Anna threw the terrified bird outside. Immediately regretting her actions, she went outside, but the raven was gone: “Sorry was probably the loneliest feeling of all” (171).

When the dog catches up with Clay, he comments that the dog seems drawn to Anna. Against her better judgment, Anna agrees to take the stray dog. She does not even name the dog. When she stops at the market for supplies, she runs into Caleb. She offers to buy him a drink, but he declines. Anna returns to her cabin and pages through Cameron’s copy of Jane Eyre, certain there had to be clues in there somewhere.

While back in town Will conducts the polygraph with Lydia and Drew, Anna heads to the woods near the Curtis home with her new dog in hopes of finding something, anything, the police and the search teams had missed. She finds nothing.

Anna then drives to the farm of Tally Hollander, the psychic. She finds Tally amiable and upfront and anything but mystical and eccentric. Tally assures Anna that Shannan is dead and died wearing a rabbit-fur jacket and that Cameron is still alive but in danger. Anna puts great stock in Tally’s visions. Tally then tells Anna that trauma changes a person’s “energy” (181) and that she knows that Anna is exactly the right person for locating Cameron, that the universe “doesn’t do random” (180). She tells Anna, “The things you’ve lost have drawn you to help these children and young women” (182). Tally encourages Anna to look into Shannan’s disappearance to learn about Cameron. Before Anna departs, Tally even suggests a name for Anna’s new dog: Cricket because of the soft wheezing breaths they can hear as it sleeps at Anna’s feet.

Will tells Anna the polygraphs turned up nothing, and that vineyard workers confirmed Drew’s alibi. Will has arranged for the community center to host a public information meeting about Cameron. Will tells her that Polly Klaas’s father received a phone call, apparently from Polly, telling him she was being kept in a hotel by the man who took her at knifepoint. Anna is frustrated—it has been two weeks since Cameron disappeared. She fears the case might go cold. Thinking about Jenny, she is all too aware of the mental anguish unsolved cases bring.

Anna visits Gray and, knowing his interest in art, asks him to make a collage about Cameron for the public meeting. Anna stops at the Curtises’ place and tells Emily about the plans. She urges her, though Emily finds such public events distasteful, to make an appearance because her star power would help galvanize the search efforts. Emily is still reluctant. The search for her daughter is taking its toll on her emotionally. Emily asks Anna whether she has kids.

Anna knows the answer is not easy. Her husband, Brendan, had always been enthusiastic about a family. After working with missing kids for years, however, Anna has never been sure if she is cut out to be a mother. Too many times she has seen the results of reckless parenting and the trauma caused by bad luck. Anna’s foster homes before Hap and Eden were nightmares. She is aware of how she couldn’t take care of her younger siblings after their mother overdosed, how she could not prevent them from being placed in the foster care system. Her biological father, Red, was no role model. He had been shot after getting out of prison in a dispute with a lover.

When Gray completes the collage, Anna drives to the Curtises’ house to get Emily’s approval. She loves the rainbows and the Strawberry Shortcake stickers and the My Little Pony drawings. Moved, Emily shares her backstory and how her family back in Ohio never gave in to such public displays of emotions. Anna hazards a guess that maybe growing up in such a straight-laced family might have encouraged Emily to pursue acting where she could pretend to be someone she’s not.

Warrant in hand, Anna heads to Sacramento to the Catholic Family Charities to look into Cameron’s adoption file. The file reveals Cameron’s birth name and that she was born in Ukiah, south of Mendocino.

Although she knows she should bring Will into the loop, Anna, working on her intuition, heads to Ukiah to meet Cameron’s birth parents. Anna knows Ukiah; two of her foster homes had been in the town, and the detail is yet another thing she shares with the missing girl. She arrives at the address she has, a home long fallen into disrepair. A surly older man greets Anna, but he denies knowing anything about Cameron, saying, “I don’t know shit about no missing girl” (210). As Anna prepares to depart, however, a young man emerges from the house.

The young man identifies himself as Hector. He is Cameron’s biological brother, and the surly man is Cameron’s uncle. Hector tells Anna that their mother skipped town years earlier, and their father ended up in San Quentin. Hector and Cameron had been placed in foster homes. Hector only returned to Ukiah when he turned 18. Hector remembers his little sister as bright and happy and always singing. He promises to notify Anna if he thinks about anything that might be useful.

Anna returns to Mendocino. Will is not happy that Anna investigated Cameron’s birth family without notifying him and further that she had returned with no evidence that might help their investigation. He is unimpressed when she explains she had a strong feeling. Will points out his department does not investigate based on feelings. Anna had not even asked where they were the day Cameron disappeared or investigated their criminal backgrounds because she was too busy with her intuition. He reminds her that “[w]e have to cover our bases” (219).

The disappearance of Polly Klaas has become a national media event, aided in part by A-List Hollywood stars getting involved and raising money and by resourceful computer technicians in Silicon Valley using the global reach of the internet to help the search. Anna and Will decide the next move is to investigate the other missing girl, Shannan Russo.