Into the Water

Mark returns from out of town to find his windows smashed and “wished, too, that he had been colder, harder, that he had strung his fiancée along” (245). He assures himself that he’s safe, since “Nel Abbott was ash, and her daughter’s word worth just about as much” (247). Lena attacks Mark in the dark of his house, and he hits her.

Jules realizes, after the police have left from questioning her about Lena’s disappearance, that Lena is Robbie’s daughter. 

Jules figures out that Robbie must have Lena; she looks him up online and goes to confront him. On the way, she finds that “Some old part of me, some furious, fearless relic, had surfaced” (251). Once she arrives at Robbie’s workplace, Jules’s fearlessness deserts her. Jules asks for Robbie to meet her outside, which he does. Through questioning, Jules realizes that Robbie doesn’t have Lena: “He didn’t know where Lena was. He didn’t know who she was” (253). Robbie finally recognizes Jules and tries to be friendly, saying he “popped her cherry,” to which Jules responds: “You raped me” (254). Robbie, refusing to believe Jules’s accusation, turns on her, calling her names and denigrating her. Jules learns that Nel never knew she and Robbie had had sex.