Everyone Here Is Lying: A Novel

Al and Ryan come home from the search party. Al says that they think the husband did it and looks at Nora meaningfully. Nora wonders if he knows about her and William’s affair.

Erin waits at home, thinking about the police questioning William. She wonders if it is possible that he hurt their daughter. She remembers a time when she took Avery to a birthday party. When Erin tried to take Avery home from the party, Avery hit her in front of everyone. Erin apologized to the group and got Avery in the car. When they drove around the corner, Erin burst into tears of humiliation. Erin wonders if William felt similar frustration and accidentally snapped Avery’s neck in anger.

Gully decides to talk to Jenna Seton, Avery’s friend who lives across the street. Gully sits and talks with Jenna and her mom, Alice, asking Jenna if Avery has any secrets. Jenna tells Gully that Avery has a boyfriend older than them. She says that Avery said her boyfriend has touched her inappropriately before.

Michael listens to his parents fighting as William admits that he was home with Avery the day she disappeared. William tells Erin that he was having an affair but will not tell her whom he was sleeping with. Erin kicks William out of the house. At the station, Gully tells Bledsoe what Jenna said. Although they know that Avery has a history of lying, Gully reminds Bledsoe that Avery was lonely and therefore would have been vulnerable to a predator.

Alice tells her husband, Pete, about the detective coming to their house. Alice tells her husband that she has always had a bad feeling about some of the boys on their street.

Al sits watching the news in silence with Nora. He knows Nora is having an affair with William. In church, Al stares at her, wondering how she could sit and listen to the sermon when she committed sin during the week. He feels bad that Avery is missing, but he feels that it is retribution for what William and Nora did.

Officer Weeks tells Gully that he received an anonymous tip saying that someone saw Avery getting into Ryan Blanchard’s car in front of her house at 4:30 the day she went missing.

Gully and Bledsoe knock on the Blanchards’ door in the middle of the night. The detectives ask Ryan about his whereabouts on Tuesday, the day Avery went missing. Ryan looks surprised and tells them he was home and then he went out in his car around 4:30. The detectives ask if he spoke to anyone, which he denies. They ask him to come with them to the station for further questioning.

Ryan nervously waits in the interview room at the police station. Bledsoe and Gully tell him that a witness saw Avery get into his car at 4:30 on Tuesday afternoon. Before long, Ryan’s attorney, Oliver Fuller, shows up. Oliver points out that they have no reason to detain Ryan because of their lack of evidence and leaves with him.

An officer tells Gully that Alice Seton is there to speak to her. She takes Alice into an interview room. Alice tells her about a boy down the street named Adam Winter, whom she describes as being “weird.” She says that Adam has autism and that she saw Avery and Adam talking together one time. Afterward, Bledsoe tells Gully that the forensic investigation on William’s car turned up nothing, as if he had vacuumed it. Bledsoe tells Gully to search the car washes in the area and see if he got it professionally cleaned.

Gully speaks with Gwen Winter. When Gully asks about Adam, Gwen gets defensive because everyone in the town always suspects Adam just because he has autism. Gwen tells her that she and Adam were home on Tuesday, and Adam flew his drone all afternoon. Gully asks if she can see Adam’s footage on the drone and Gwen agrees to bring Adam and his drone to the police station later. Gully decides to talk to Michael in case he knows more about Avery’s boyfriend. Gully tells Erin that they think that an older boy may have been taking advantage of Avery.

Michael tells them that he did not know about Avery’s boyfriend. Michael says that he saw Avery in the tree house in the woods with Derek, Jenna’s older brother.

William calls Nora’s burner phone and assures her that he never told the police her name. Nora tells him that an anonymous witness said they saw Avery getting into Ryan’s car on Tuesday afternoon. William tells her the truth about hitting Avery, and Nora hangs up the phone.

Gully and Bledsoe learn that William had his car cleaned and detailed the Sunday before Avery went missing. William calls Erin and tells her that someone claims to have seen Avery getting into Ryan Blanchard’s car on Tuesday afternoon. Erin wonders if Ryan is Avery’s boyfriend. She worries that since Avery did not have a lot of friends, she may have been vulnerable to a predator.

Gully investigates the tree house in the woods. She enters the tree house by its rope ladder. She thinks about how Michael told them that Avery and Derek dropped the ladder for Michael to come up, meaning that Avery and Derek had privacy before Michael saw them. Bledsoe calls Gully, and he tells her that the anonymous witness has agreed to come into the station. At the station, they wait for the witness, but she never shows up. Weeks tells them that the woman gave a description of Avery that matches what she wore that day. Gwen and Adam arrive with Adam’s footage, and Gully goes through it with them.

Erin tells Michael that she is going to see his father, but he sees her walk down the street with reporters following her. At the station, Adam’s footage does not turn up any new information.

Nora sees Erin walking up her driveway followed by the press. She feels frantic because she thinks Erin has come to confront her about her affair with William. Ryan comes downstairs to investigate when Erin opens the unlocked door and comes inside. Erin frantically asks Ryan what he did to Avery. Erin pushes him as he denies everything, and he falls down the stairs. Ryan is unhurt, but Erin falls on the ground crying.