Chapters 7 through 10 Summary

In chapter seven, Trey waits for days and Lee doesn't show up. During this time, Trey is completely cut off from news but knows the situation is probably deteriorating. He thinks about his life with his parents. His mother had spent most of her evenings "glaring resentfully" at Trey while he studied. When Trey's father died of a heart attack, he'd hoped his mother would take an interest in him, perhaps even taking over his education and "loving him like mothers did in books." Instead, his mother had decided to "get rid of him."

On the third day of waiting, the electricity in the neighborhood goes off. That evening, Trey watches out a back window and sees a woman and a little boy at the back door of the only house behind the Talbot's house. Trey thinks he knows the little...