Big Lies in a Small Town: A Novel

As Morgan continues to clean the mural, she stumbles upon another curiosity: a reflection in a mirror of a small, red-haired man. After work, she goes to the library to find more information on Anna. She finds a news clipping with a photograph of Anna standing next to the unpainted canvas. A boy and a Black man are also in the shot. After taking a photograph from the old news clipping, she attends an AA meeting, the topic of which is making amends. She fears that she will never be able to face Emily Maxwell for the irreparable damage she has caused.

As Anna prepares her warehouse workspace, she finds her final model: the lumber delivery man. With all of her models lined up, she begins to assemble the “stretcher” for the canvas. That afternoon, she greets her student helpers arrive, Peter and Theresa, and they help Anna to assemble a 12-by-six-foot sheet of “cartoon” paper on which she will sketch out the full mural. When their two hours of service are finished, the students leave, and Anna is left alone in the warehouse, with the setting sun casting shadows over the large, cavernous space. Anna feels increasingly nervous, so she packs her supplies and is almost ready to leave when a car pulls up. A Black woman, who is an art teacher at the high school that is segregated for Black students, asks if one of her students can help with the mural, and Anna agrees. The boy is Jesse Williams.

As Morgan’s painstaking work continues—and she and Oliver engage in casual flirtation—she discovers more blood in the mural. The more bizarre the details of the mural, the more fixated Morgan becomes on Anna, wondering how such a confident and talented artist could disappear without leaving any legacy. Morgan is determined to find out more.

Martin stops by the warehouse and offers his help once again. Reluctant at first, Anna eventually accepts, and together, they divide the cartoon paper into a grid. They chat about their own concepts for the mural when Jesse arrives early. An inebriated Martin pulls Anna aside, refusing to leave her alone with the 17-year-old Jesse, insisting that it’s not safe. Anna insists that Martin’s concern is unwarranted and asks him to leave. After he leaves, Anna looks at Jesse’s sketches and is stunned by his natural talent. She sees only one path for him: art school. When Peter and Theresa arrive, the three students begin building the stretcher. In the light of day, with the warehouse full of activity and people, the space feels less ominous.

Morgan visits Mama Nelle, hoping to probe her memory for information about Anna. As before, Nelle insists that they must keep discussions of Anna quiet or else “[t]he po-lice might come” (172). When Morgan pulls out the old news clipping of Anna, Nelle points to a Black man in the photo and identifies him as Jesse. Then, looking at a photograph of the mural, she notes that the axe is really a hammer. When Morgan wonders whether Anna killed herself, Nelle claims that she would never do such a thing.

Anna’s models pose for the sketch. Later, the students show up, but Theresa’s father refuses to allow her to work side-by-side with a Black boy. Anna won’t send Jesse away, so Theresa quits. While Anna never divulges the reason for Theresa’s departure, she believes that Jesse knows.

Anna learns from Pauline that Theresa’s father is the president of the bank, a “real bigwig in town” (177). Pauline suggests that keeping Jesse around may not be worth the trouble, and that despite his talent, he may simply be fated to work his family farm. Together, Pauline and Anna pick up the canvas and other supplies and bring them to the warehouse. Anna is grateful for Pauline’s friendship, but she feels that the mural is the more important priority.

With the cleaning complete, other anomalies reveal themselves. A Black woman clutches a knife in her teeth, another woman holds a hammer dripping with blood, and skulls peer out of the windows of the Mill Village houses. The next step is the “inpainting,” the process of touching up the faded or damaged parts of the mural.

While Morgan gets lunch with Oliver’s 12-year-old son, Nathan, he notices her alcohol monitor. Rather than lie about it, she admits that she had a “problem with drinking” (183). He takes the admission in stride and then confesses that he may not be able to go fishing with his father, an annual tradition. Nathan wants to go to Disney World with his stepfather instead. She fears that Oliver will be heartbroken, but she stays out of it. After lunch, she begins the inpainting. By the end of the day, she is discouraged by how long it has taken to complete one square inch, and she fears that she will never be able to meet the deadline.