Chapter 7 Summary, Analysis, and Key Themes

⚠️ 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

The chapter opens at just past seven in the morning. Alexis wakes to her phone alarm and, in her grogginess, momentarily forgets that Austin is gone. She reaches for him in the large four-poster bed, only to find his side empty. The memory of his disappearance returns, and she knows she only slept because she took a second Xanax. She checks her phone for a text or missed call from Austin or his parents, but there is nothing.

Standing in a sundress printed with lilacs, she considers calling her mother in New Jersey, where it is 8:30 at night. She knows her mother is demanding and relentless, and that calling now would invite criticism for both waiting too long and for calling when she has little time to talk. Fearing the guilt and anger that would follow, she decides to postpone the call until after her meeting with the FBI.

Before seven thirty, two vehicles arrive: a white police car and a black SUV with embassy plates. Toril Bjornstad, the FBI attaché, emerges first—a tall woman with reddish-brown hair, wearing navy slacks and a white blouse. She is accompanied by a Vietnamese driver and two police officers in black uniforms: an older captain with white hair and a younger officer who resembles him. Scott and Giang welcome them into the villa, and everyone introduces themselves. Alexis forgets all the names except Toril's, though she is relieved that both officers speak English.

In the library, Toril introduces Captain Nguyen and Officer Vu of the Canh Sat Co Dong (CSCD), the mobile police unit that handles terrorism, organized crime, and kidnapping. The word