The Orphanage by the Lake

On their way to the location, Hazel tells Kenny she is investigating the Dionysus Theater, which she suspects is connected to Mia and the other girls’ disappearances. Kenny agrees to help, but he says he has a meeting with his knife-collecting club in an hour. On the subway, Hazel sees a bald man with a scar, who she thinks she recognizes.

At the address, they find a painting on the wall of the same symbol of Dionysus that Hazel found on the back of Mia’s photo. Hazel decides to pick the building’s lock and go in to investigate. Kenny doesn’t approve of breaking and entering, and he leaves. Hazel breaks into the building. It seems to be an abandoned theater, but there is evidence that people were there recently. Hazel finds a few drops of dried blood on the floor of an upstairs office in the building. While she investigates upstairs, she hears two men enter downstairs. She overhears their conversation and realizes it is a real estate broker and his client. As she sneaks out behind their backs, she finds a business card with the Dionysus symbol and a URL on it near the bar. The phrase “wine and children speak the truth” (162) is printed on the card.

Hazel walks back to her apartment. On her phone, she checks the card’s URL and finds out the website is password protected. Near her apartment, she catches sight of two men following her, the bald man with a scar from the subway and a man with a flattop haircut and blue-gray eyes. She tries to outrun them, but they grab her. The man with a scar holds a knife to her throat and warns her to stop investigating the Dionysus Theater. Then, they walk away.

Hazel is in shock. She feels tempted to give up on the investigation, but she resolves to continue for Mia’s sake. Then, Andrew DuPont calls. He invites her over for dinner at his apartment on the Upper East Side. She agrees.

Hazel goes to Andrew’s apartment. Andrew notices she is upset and asks what happened, but Hazel does not tell him. Andrew seems understanding. He serves her badly-made stir fry and some wine. Over dinner, Andrew tells Hazel that his mom died by suicide when he was young, that he is close with his father, and that he doesn’t have a job. Hazel tells Andrew that she has made some progress in her investigation. Andrew offers to put pressure on Dr. Mackenzie via his father, who is on the board of Saint Agnes. Hazel says that won’t be necessary, but she appreciates the gesture. Hazel and Andrew make out on the couch and fall asleep.

The next morning, Andrew asks Hazel to get dinner again that week. Hazel agrees and leaves. Hazel meets Madeline at her office. She tells Madeline what she has learned about the Dionysus Theater. Madeline is frustrated with Hazel’s progress so far and they argue. Hazel presses Madeline about why she is so concerned about Mia’s disappearance.

Madeline confesses that Mia is her daughter, not her goddaughter. Madeline got pregnant when she was in college and her traditionally Catholic parents pressured her not to get an abortion. When Madeline’s racist mother found out that the father was Black, she forced Madeline to give up the child to Saint Agnes. Thomas Mackenzie agreed to help cover up Mia’s true parentage. Hazel tells Madeline she is going to go to Lake George the next day to confront Dr. Mackenzie about everything he knows.

Hazel drives to Lake George. While she is driving, Bobby Riether calls. He asks to meet. They go for a walk. He tells her that he is getting repeatedly stonewalled in his investigation and it makes him think that “everything about this case tells [him she] might be in danger” (190). He also suspects Dr. Mackenzie might be involved in “sweep[ing]” the disappearances under the rug.

Hazel tells Bobby that Madeline Hemsley is actually Mia’s mother. He tells her that Madeline might be a suspect because the Hemsley family set up a trust fund for Mia that Madeline could inherit if Mia died. Hazel wonders if Madeline contacted her because Madeline couldn’t get the inheritance until it was proven Mia was dead, and no one had yet found where Madeline put Mia’s body.

Bobby agrees to give Hazel a copy of what he found about the Hemsley family. They go back to the police station. While Hazel waits, she sees portraits of the two men who attacked her on the wall: They are police officers. She panics and leaves.

Hazel goes to Dr. Mackenzie’s house. As she walks up to the front door, it begins to storm. Dr. Mackenzie lets her in. Hazel reveals she knows Madeline is Mia’s mother. Dr. Mackenzie denies he covered up Mia’s parentage for money; he insists he took Mia in because it is the mission of Saint Agnes to care for unwanted or abandoned girls.

Hazel tells Dr. Mackenzie she was assaulted by two local police officers and that she suspects Dr. Mackenzie is behind the police’s lack of investigation into the many missing girls from Saint Agnes. He opens a door to the basement and tells Hazel that the people he is protecting are down there.

Hazel uneasily follows Dr. Mackenzie into the basement. On the walls he has pictures of every girl who has attended Saint Agnes while he has been headmaster. He tells Hazel that the institution is his “life.” He doesn’t want Hazel “tearing down everything [they]’ve built” (207). He tells her that he wants to find out what happened to Mia and that he has done everything he can to keep the girls safe, but that he is impeding the investigation into the disappearances because he doesn’t want his legacy to be tarnished.

Hazel tells him that if he lets her investigate, his legacy will be one of finding missing girls. Hazel asks Dr. Mackenzie about the Dionysus Theater, but he doesn’t recognize the name. He tells Hazel that Mr. Goolsbee gave him the painting of Dionysus that hangs in his office “as a twentieth anniversary present of the two of us working together” (210). Hazel realizes the disappearances began when Mr. Goolsbee began working at Saint Agnes.

Hazel drives to the gates of Saint Agnes. She tells Neil Palmer, the security guard, that she wants to speak with Mr. Goolsbee. Neil tells her that Mr. Goolsbee died of suicide that day. Mr. Goolsbee slit his wrists and did not leave a note; his body has just been found. Hazel is shocked. She tells Neil she is going to go back to the city. Neil offers to open the gates to let Hazel turn around more easily, but she feels uneasy and backs out quickly instead.

On her way back to Manhattan, Hazel thinks about Bobby and decides he can be trusted. She calls him and tells him that two officers from the sheriff’s department assaulted her and warned her off investigating the Dionysus Theater. He is shocked. He tells her their names are DeGrom and Hanley. He says they aren’t very bright and would have had to have help from someone inside Saint Agnes. Hazel tells Bobby about Mr. Goolsbee’s death and he agrees to share what he learns about it.

Hazel hangs up and realizes she is being followed by a police department SUV. She manages to lose them with some clever driving.

Hazel returns to her apartment exhausted. She sees Kenny looking at a picture of Mia on his laptop. He tells her that he has been investigating the case on his own. She tells him she doesn’t need his help, and he says she underestimates his abilities.

After Hazel apologizes, Kenny tells Hazel he suspects Preston DuPont, Andrew’s father, might be involved in the girls’ disappearances, because the DuPonts’ donations to Saint Agnes increased around the time the disappearances began. Hazel dismisses the evidence as “circumstantial.”

Kenny gives her a switchblade for protection. Hazel is alarmed by the size of Kenny’s knife collection. She goes to her bedroom feeling as if she is “surrounded by psychos” (224). She listens to the recording of Mia singing “Time After Time” before falling asleep.