Chapter summaries A Flicker in the Dark Stacy Willingham

Chapter Twenty-Two Summary & Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Chloe remembers attending a school play where Lena Rhodes starred as Sandy in Grease. She recounts sitting next to Bert and Annabelle Rhodes and noticing tension between her mother and Bert—a clue she later understood as evidence of their affair. After her father’s arrest for Lena’s murder, Bert Rhodes became violently enraged, terrorizing Chloe’s family with rocks through windows and slashed tires. Twenty years later, while home early from a meeting with Aaron, Chloe searches for Bert online and discovers he runs a security company in Baton Rouge. Daniel returns early, catches her looking at Bert’s company website, and misinterprets it as a desire for home security. Chloe lets him believe that, choosing not to reveal her suspicion that Bert may be connected to the recent killings. Daniel announces a business trip to Lafayette, and Chloe agrees to stay home, planning to continue her research covertly.

Key Events

  • Chloe recalls the end-of-year play featuring Lena as Sandy and the awkward encounter with Bert and Annabelle Rhodes.
  • She realizes her mother had an affair with Bert Rhodes during the summer of the killings.
  • Bert’s violent reaction after the arrest: pacing their yard, screaming threats, and later vandalizing their house and car.
  • In the present, Chloe searches for Bert Rhodes online and finds his Baton Rouge security company.
  • Daniel arrives home unexpectedly, sees the website, and assumes Chloe wants security system installation for protection.
  • Chloe allows Daniel to continue under that assumption, hiding her true investigative motive.
  • Daniel tells Chloe he must leave for a business meeting in Lafayette, leaving her alone for the night.

Character Development

Chloe

Chloe’s introspection deepens; she reflects on her childhood misunderstanding of adult relationships and recognizes her own pattern of pushing partners away due to paranoia. Yet she continues to investigate the past, showing her determination to uncover the truth about the recent murders. Her decision to mislead Daniel reveals her inability to trust fully, even in a relationship she values.

Daniel

Daniel demonstrates care and protectiveness, but his physical grip on Chloe’s wrist when he takes the laptop hints at a controlling streak. His immediate assumption that Chloe fears the killer marks him as both sympathetic and potentially oblivious to the real danger Chloe is in—or to her suspicions about Bert.

Bert Rhodes

Though absent from the present scene, Bert emerges as a volatile figure. His past violence and grief over his daughter’s murder make him a plausible suspect; his current location in Baton Rouge and easy access to security systems (and thus to victims’ homes) raise suspicion.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Infidelity and Consequence

Chloe’s mother’s affair with Bert is portrayed as a catalyst for Bert’s rage and, in some theories, for her father’s first murder. The motif of hidden relationships and their destructive fallout runs through this chapter.

Memory and Perspective

Chloe revisits a childhood misunderstanding—her innocent interpretation of friendly hospitality—and rewrites it with adult knowledge. This motif of unreliable memory and the slow accretion of truth is central to the novel.

Security and Surveillance

The security company name, Alarm Security Systems, is ironic: Bert, who once terrorized Chloe’s family, now positions himself as a protector. The theme of surveillance is literal (cameras, alarms) and metaphorical (Chloe’s secret investigation, Daniel’s uncovering of her laptop search).

Guilt and Retribution

Bert’s violent acts after the arrest stem from his own guilt over the affair and his desire for revenge. The chapter suggests that guilt can transform into outward aggression, a pattern Chloe herself wrestles with.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter introduces a major new suspect—Bert Rhodes—whose motive (revenge) and opportunity (he installs security systems in Baton Rouge) align with the recent murders. It also deepens the mystery of Chloe’s past by confirming her mother’s infidelity and its role in her father’s crimes. The strained dynamic between Chloe and Daniel foreshadows future conflict: Chloe’s secrecy and Daniel’s apparent willingness to control the narrative risk their relationship. Finally, the parallel between Bert’s past violence and the current killer’s methods suggests that history may be repeating itself.

Study Questions & Answers

  1. Why does Chloe initially misinterpret Bert Rhodes’s discomfort at the school play?
    She was twelve and saw her parents as “perfectly happy people,” unable to grasp adult complexities. She believed Bert was simply rude, not that he was hiding an illicit relationship with her mother.

  2. How does Daniel’s reaction to finding the security website reveal his priorities?
    He immediately assumes Chloe fears the present-day killer and offers emotional reassurance and support. His misinterpretation shows he cares about her safety but also that he does not yet know the depth of her investigation—or his own potential involvement.

  3. What evidence in the chapter suggests Bert Rhodes could be the current killer?
    He lives in Baton Rouge, runs a security company (giving him access to homes), held a violent grudge against the Davis family for twenty years, and his daughter was the first victim—tying the old and new cases together.

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