Summary

In Chapter 22, the police officers who responded to Tom’s call seemed to doubt his claim that someone had tried to abduct Jake. One of the officers suggested Jake was sleepwalking and asked if perhaps Jake had been talking to himself. Jake refused to talk to either officer. When the female officer asked, Tom told her that Jake’s mother was dead. Tom sensed he had answered the officer’s question too bluntly, and that his response angered Jake. Jake stood up from the couch and said in a voice that sounded raspy and adult-like “I want to scare you” (120).

In Chapter 23, the next morning, Pete woke to discover that he had allowed himself to break the seal on the bottle of vodka but had not drunk any of it. He was relieved that he had won.

In Chapter 24, in the morning, Tom...