Summary

Part One is titled Caterpillar. Chapter 1 opens with a 12-year-old girl named Celia walking through a run-down area known as skid row in search of bottles she can return for cash. She notices an old house, which is not unusual because there are a lot of abandoned houses in this area. This one is different because she briefly meets the look of someone inside. Celia backs away, but can feel the eyes following her with either anger or hope.

In Chapter 2, an investigator named Naomi wakes. She and her husband Jerome are staying with a friend, Diane, who lives in the city. Naomi often thinks about her sister, who is 25 and has been missing for about 20 years. (Naomi's sister's name is Sarah, but Naomi does not learn this fact until much later in the novel.) Diane says Sarah and Jerome can...