The Whisper Man

Amanda tells Tom to slow down and explain what he’s found, and he tells her that it’s a picture of a corpse moth drawn by someone other than Jake—the details are too elaborate, and Tom thinks it must be a gift from the kidnapper. He tells her that it was drawn on the same paper they give the kids for drawing at school, so it must be someone connected to Rose Terrace Primary. That—and the fact that Jake mentioned “the boy in the floor” (311)—leads Tom to believe that someone must have told Jake about Tony Smith.

Amanda is upset that he didn’t tell her this earlier, but she knows that people behave irrationally during times of stress. When she gets a message from the liaison officer that was going to meet Tom that he isn’t at home, she asks Tom where he’s going, and he says he’s going to the school. She urges him to stay out of it, and he agrees, but on hanging up, she’s not sure if he will. She decides to investigate the school again to see if she missed a connection earlier.