Scat

The Truman School is an exclusive private academy founded by the wealthy Trapwick family so their privileged children wouldn’t have to go to school with the unwashed masses; the name was changed from Trapwick to Truman when the dissipated scions of the founder’s family caused a lot of negative PR for the school. When Mrs. Starch still hasn’t returned a few days later, and preliminary searches have turned up no traces of her, detectives arrive at the school to conduct investigative interviews. Rumors about Mrs. Starch’s draconian methods and Duane Jr.’s troubled past spread throughout the school; when Nick is called for questioning, the detectives appear to be seeking evidence for the idea that Duane Jr. set the fire to get revenge on Mrs. Starch. Nick resists this line of questioning, though: “‘I thought you wanted me to stick to what I saw and what I know […] I didn’t think you were interested in rumors’” (61). Nick feels compelled to defend Duane Jr. from this poisonous gossip, though he isn’t sure why. 

Dr. Dressler sets out in search of Mrs. Starch, who still hasn’t returned. She lives beyond the edge of town, further into the wilderness than Dr. Dressler is really comfortable venturing (and further than his GPS can give directions for), at 777 West Buzzard Boulevard, “a scraggly, untamed place, far from the comforting clatter and clang of civilization” (66). He finds nobody home besides a scarily lifelike taxidermy rat, but a letter in the mailbox, addressed to him and signed by Mrs. Starch, makes vague excuses about a “family emergency” for her absence from school. 

At Nick’s house, there is still no word from Nick’s dad, an increasingly worrisome absence that parallels Mrs. Starch’s disappearance. Nick shows Marta the “Bigfoot” panther video, and they argue about whether you can see a person wearing an Old-West-style ammunition belt. Nick walks Marta home, happy for a distraction from the anxiety about his dad. When he returns home, he finds his mother in tears, saying, “‘He’s coming home. That’s all that matters’” (75). 

Millicent Winship is Duane Jr.’s rich grandmother. Her daughter Whitney (Duane Jr.’s mother) abandoned the family a few years earlier. Mrs. Winship regrets how her daughter’s behavior has affected her family; she fails to see, though, that her privileged lifestyle and habit of throwing money at every problem contributed to her daughter’s thoughtless behavior. Duane Sr. admits to Mrs. Winship that he has no idea where Duane Jr. is, or if he set the fire that led to Mrs. Starch’s disappearance.

It’s now Thursday (the pencil-eating incident in Chapter 1 took place on Monday), and Nick and his mother have flown to Washington, DC to see Captain Greg Waters, Nick’s dad, who is recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He has lost his right arm in a grenade attack. Nick is overwhelmed with guilt at seeing his father, a former minor-league pitcher, without his right arm—his tuition at the Truman School was paid for with his father’s army enlistment bonus—but incredibly relieved at the same time to find his dad still alive.

Dr. Dressler confers with Detective Marshall about Mrs. Starch’s ongoing absence. He tells the detective about the “family emergency” letter found in her mailbox, and they learn that Mrs. Starch’s outgoing voicemail message has also been changed to include mention of a family issue. Dr. Dressler tries to point out that these messages are suspicious because Mrs. Starch has no living family, but Detective Marshall is inclined to think “she probably just needed a break, so she made up an excuse not to come to school” (88). He tells Dr. Dressler that while the fire at the Black Vine Swamp was definitely arson, they haven’t found any evidence to link Duane Jr. to the crime; the only item left at the scene was a pen from the Red Diamond Energy Corporation.