Long Bright River

Shortly after Thanksgiving, a snowstorm arrives, and the babysitter begs off. Mickey needs to leave Thomas with Mrs. Mahon for the day. He is excited about his upcoming birthday party at McDonald's. Mickey thinks, “[E]ven acknowledging my gratefulness for Thomas too frequently in my thoughts—seems to me to be a kind of jinx, an invitation, an open window through which some creature might come in the night and spirit him away” (217).

At work, Mickey tells Ahearn about Paula’s tip that a bad cop in Kensington is demanding sexual services from hookers and may be involved in the strangulations. Her supervisor says he will alert the detectives, though he takes the tip lightly because the accuser is a prostitute.

Meanwhile, Truman follows Dock to his house and pretends to be a junkie in need of a fix. Dock, also a pimp, shows Truman some photos of girls, one of whom is Kacey. Later, Truman describes Dock’s house to Mickey and speculates that Kacey might be inside.

When Mickey gets home from work, her neighbor Mrs. Mahon says that a man, presumably Simon, came by, but she told him that Mickey had moved away. Mickey changes out of uniform and sneaks inside Dock’s house to look for Kacey. Dock catches her when he arrives later, having been beaten by her cousin Bobby. Dock warns Mickey to mind her own business and warns her to take care of her son, whom he knows by name. Truman urges Mickey to report Kacey’s disappearance to the police. She resists, thinking, “There it is, at last. The reason I haven’t told my colleagues about my sister’s disappearance: I am not certain, anymore, that I can trust them” (255).

At Thomas’s birthday party at McDonald's, Simon accidentally walks in with his wife and baby. An awkward scene ensues when he refuses to acknowledge Thomas. After Mickey angrily confronts him about stalking her, he denies ever having come by the apartment.

Back at work, Internal Affairs summons Mickey, informing her that she is under investigation for being out of uniform, using the department database for personal reasons, and conducting her own private investigations during her shift. Mickey knows that Ahearn reported her. She also knows that someone is watching her and keeping tabs on her activities. The IA officer doesn’t listen to her side of the story and suspends Mickey pending an investigation.

Now that she can’t work, Mickey goes to Truman’s house. When she arrives, she discovers his mother has Alzheimer’s disease and that he is taking care of her. Mickey tells Truman about her talk with IA. He suggests that Simon is behind it and admits that he’s known about Mickey’s affair for a long time. His admission affects Mickey: “I sense the crumbling, all around me, of some large and unwieldy pretense, a defensive wall I erected years ago and counted on, along with Truman’s sense of discretion and respect, to protect me from any direct questions” (276). Truman goes so far as to suggest that Simon might be the Kensington serial killer. They agree to split up and tail Dock and Simon the next day.

When Mickey follows Simon to Kensington the following morning, she loses him. His presence there is highly suspicious since he doesn’t work in that district. Mickey finds herself in the same neighborhood where Kacey overdosed for the first time. Out of curiosity, Mickey goes to the drug house where it happened, only to find that the owner now runs a shelter to rehabilitate drug addicts. When Mickey tries to get some information about her sister, they kick her out.

Meanwhile, Truman goes back to Dock’s house. He pretends he is looking for the red-headed hooker whose picture Dock showed him earlier. Dock says she is out of commission but doesn’t explain what that means. When Truman and Mickey compare notes later, Truman says Mickey needs to talk to detective Mike DiPaolo because he is trustworthy. At the same time, Truman announces that he is retiring from the force: “I can’t sleep, he says. You know what I mean? People dying. Not just the women. Innocent people. Unarmed people. I can’t sleep” (293).

Later that night, the two cops meet DiPaolo at a bar. He discourages the idea that Simon might be the serial killer. Instead, he tells them that a man named Mulvey was arrested that afternoon. When Mickey sees the suspect’s picture, she remembers that he was lurking around the first murder scene and that she also arrested him on a domestic abuse charge. In despair at having her accusations discounted, Mickey gets drunk and makes a pass at Truman, who deflects it.

The next day, Mickey drives around aimlessly, needing some time to think and regain her perspective. When she returns home, Thomas and his babysitter are missing. Mickey immediately suspects that Dock or somebody else might have kidnapped them. She calls 911. The cops are skeptical of her kidnapping theory. A short while later, the police bring the babysitter and her boyfriend back from the mall. They took Thomas with them to go shopping without notifying anybody. Mickey fires the babysitter on the spot.

Mrs. Mahon stops by in the evening with lemonade for Mickey and a chess set for Thomas. Mickey invites her to stay for dinner as a way of thanking her for looking out for Thomas. She thinks, “My shoulders sink and suddenly I realize that I’ve been carrying them up by my ears for months. I feel the specific relaxation of knowing one’s child is being well cared for by someone else” (320). After dinner, Mrs. Mahon reveals that she is an ex-nun who left the convent to get married. For her part, Mickey tells Mrs. Mahon the whole story of her life. Having unburdened herself, she feels relief at someone understanding her.

A few days later, Mickey takes Thomas to visit Gee on Christmas. While there, Mickey notices a broken window in the back door. Gee says it was an accident, but she’s obviously lying. Mickey later finds the alley door was also kicked in. Gee admits that she and Kacey fought two months earlier. Gee assumes that Kacey broke into her house to search for money. On a hunch, Mickey searches the bedroom the girls used to share. They kept notes to one another under a loose floorboard. Inside the secret compartment, Mickey finds letters, cards, and money from their father, who Gee said was dead. When Mickey confronts Gee with these facts, Gee said she did it to protect the girls. She also discloses that Kacey has gone into hiding because she is expecting a baby.