Chapter 4 Summary: Batteries Not Included

⚠️ 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

Chapter 4 opens with Jade Daniels confronting Sheriff Banner outside the school. She has just been pulled out of class, and she's furious. She pushes him to the ground, steps on his cowboy hat, and flips off a parent in the hug-n-go lane who's recording the whole scene on his phone. Banner tries to calm her down, but Jade is already on the defensive, insisting she's done with being the town's Cassandra—the one who predicts slasher-style violence and is never believed.

Banner steers her into a hedge-lined smoking spot and delivers the news he came to share: former sheriff Rex Allen and deputy Francie have been found dead, their bodies discovered in the wrecked Bronco that's been missing for years. Jade is unmoved. She tells Banner she already knows—she saw Lemmy's drone footage, which showed not just Rex Allen and Francie, but also Hettie, Paul, and Waynebo, all dead in the woods. Banner is skeptical, treating the three younger victims as runaways rather than corpses. Jade presses him: the bodies are gone now, along with Paul's motorcycle and Waynebo's horse, and she suspects Banner's own investigation may have destroyed the evidence.

Banner pivots to another crisis. Game warden Seth Mullins—whose wife Francie died with Rex Allen—has been living in a fire tower, swimming in the lake daily, and grieving hard. He set the tower on fire while on the radio with Banner and is now missing in the woods. Jade immediately recognizes the pattern: a grieving, isolated man in the wilderness is a perfect red herring in a slasher story. She compares him to Leonard Murch from Prom Night and Harry Warden from My Bloody Valentine.

Then Banner drops the real reason he's there. He needs Jade to babysit his daughter Adie. Letha is in Salt Lake City after complications with her prosthetic jaw, and Banner needs his deputies Bub and Jo Ellen focused on the Mullins situation. Jade's protective vow to Adie is absolute—she agrees without hesitation, even as she jokes about the babysitter trope in horror movies.

Before they can finish, chaos erupts in the pickup lane. A truck rear-ends a gold Honda, and the driver is decapitated. Jade watches in horror as the headless man's hands grasp at his throat. In her peripheral vision, she spots a small figure scuttling under the fence—a figure with a full head of hair. She first thinks it's Chucky, the killer doll, because that's something she can process. But then she remembers: Stacey Graves. The lake's drowned killer. And she realizes with dread that Stacey may be able to come ashore.

The chapter closes with an official police report detailing Jade's repeated vandalism of the Deacon Point sign. The report catalogs her methods—a hacksaw, nocturnal visits, a possible paddleboard—and notes her bare feet in one photograph, suggesting she didn't swim. It's a chilling reminder that Jade is under surveillance, and that the town's official record of her is one of criminality, not heroism.

Key Events

Jade physically confronts Banner outside the school, pushing him down and stepping on his hat.
Banner reveals that Rex Allen and Francie's bodies have been found in the Bronco.
Jade insists Hettie, Paul, and Waynebo are also dead, based on Lemmy's drone footage.
Banner tells Jade that Seth Mullins set fire to a fire tower and is missing.
Banner asks Jade to babysit Adie while Letha is away for jaw surgery.
A truck rear-ends a car in the pickup lane, decapitating the driver.
Jade spots a small figure she initially thinks is Chucky, then realizes it might be Stacey Graves.
The chapter ends with an official report documenting Jade's vandalism of the Deacon Point sign.

Character Development

Jade Daniels is caught between two identities in this chapter. She's trying to be a teacher now—someone who walks away from the violence that has defined her life. She tells Banner flat out: