That's Not My Name

When Drew wakes, his phone has run out of battery, and his alarm has not gone off. He plugs his phone in, hoping that he can get at least a little charge in it before leaving for school. He sees that he has missed messages from his dads asking why he is not yet at school. He replies that he is on his way there now. Max texts to say he will pick Drew up at lunchtime to take him to school. Drew listens to a few tip line calls while he gets ready. Most are clearly nonsense, but one stops him in his tracks: A woman named Meredith Hoyt says that she saw Lola in a town called Waybrooke, wearing a floral-sleeved denim jacket. Drew has seen Lola in this jacket hundreds of times, as it was designed by Autumn as a present for Lola. Hoyt describes the man that was with the young woman she saw in Waybrooke. Drew cannot understand what Lola might have been doing outside a diner in Waybrooke with some strange man; he is immediately worried that the man is holding her hostage. Drew runs to the sheriff’s office to tell Roane what he has learned; he knows he will be in trouble for stealing information, but his priority is to help Lola. Roane seems like he is interested and willing to follow up on the lead, until he realizes how Drew got the information. He tells Drew that as soon as he has a chance to review the station’s security tapes, he will arrest Drew. Drew realizes that he is not going to get any help from the sheriff.

Mary has a dream in which she is playing on her school’s softball team. The dark-haired woman in scrubs is in the stands, cheering her on. The dream shifts, and she is in the van with Wayne. His teeth are all fangs. The dream shifts again, and she is sitting with her best friend at a school assembly. They are sitting in the section for seniors. Again the dream changes, and she finds herself in a kitchen with the dark-haired woman. It is her 17th birthday, and the woman offers her cake and sings Happy Birthday. “Love you, Mom,” she tells the woman (170). The room darkens and the woman morphs into Wayne. Mary wakes, gasping. As she calms down, she realizes that her memories of the dark-haired woman have fully returned: The woman is her mother, and she is not dead. She knows for sure now that Wayne is lying to her. She thinks that she is likely a senior at a public high school and that she is an athlete. None of these things agree with what Wayne has told her, but given the evidence of the photos, birth certificate, and other documents, she thinks he must somehow still be her father, particularly since he has treated her with such kindness. She wonders if Wayne might be a noncustodial father who has kidnapped her and is deliberately isolating her at the remote cabin as a result. Still unsure of whether she can trust her own memories, she does not know what to think. Looking for reassurance, she glances at Officer Bowman’s card, thinking “I’m not alone” (174). She hears Wayne’s footsteps and pretends to be asleep. Wayne enters her room and sits on the foot of her bed, watching her sleep. She is confused and disturbed, but she continues to feign sleep until he finally gets up and leaves her alone again.

When Mary wakes again, it is late morning. Wayne is in the driveway, talking to Officer Bowman, who has come to ask whether they have seen a missing man. Wayne claims to have no knowledge of the man, and when he comes inside, he is clearly furious about the conversation, balling up the flier Bowman gave him and tossing it aside. When Mary comes out of her room, he covers his anger quickly. He lies to her about the conversation, claiming that the voices she heard were just him talking to “some minivan mom” who was trying to sell something for a school fundraiser (179). He tells her that the repairs on their McMinnville house have finished early and that they will be heading back there immediately. She is filled with panic, but feigns happiness. He tells her to pack up her things, and she is about to head for her room, but then she catches sight of the balled-up flier. She offers to do the dishes while he starts his own packing. As soon as Wayne is out of the room, she retrieves the paper. The missing man, she discovers, is their neighbor, Ben Hooper. She realizes that the man disappeared during the same walk that brought him by the cabin, on the day he introduced himself to them and said that she looked familiar. In her room, she sees that Officer Bowman’s card is now missing from her bedside table. She is more sure than ever that something is very wrong.

Furious at Roane, Drew decides that he, Max, and Autumn should follow up on the Waybrooke tip themselves. He hurries to the school, surprising Max, who was just about to leave to pick him up at home. He asks where Autumn is, explaining that he has new information. When they find her, they all slip into an empty classroom, and Drew plays the tip line call from Hoyt for them. He explains that he tried to get Roane interested in the tip, but that Roane refuses to follow it up. Autumn is disappointed in her father. Lola is her best friend and Roane has known her since she was a baby, and Autumn cannot believe he is not willing to do anything he can in order to find Lola. Drew tells them that they will have to go to Waybrooke themselves. Max is immediately supportive, but Autumn hesitates. Drew points out that worrying about school and getting into trouble is the same kind of hypocrisy her father is engaged in—if Autumn really cares about Lola, she should be willing to do anything to help find her. Autumn gives in, and they all head out of town in Max’s vehicle. On the way, Autumn takes charge of making a plan. She gets Hoyt’s contact information from the recording and calls, pretending to be Sheriff Roane’s secretary. She arranges a meeting, telling Hoyt that a deputy will meet her at the diner where she saw Lola, at about five that evening. After Autumn hangs up, Max tells her that she is amazing, and she blushes.

At 5:42 pm, Drew, Max, and Autumn are still waiting in the diner for Meredith Hoyt to arrive. Finally, a woman about the right age enters, and Drew goes to greet her. He apologizes for Autumn’s ruse that a deputy would be meeting her and explains their situation. She agrees to talk with them for five minutes. Hoyt explains that she saw the young woman they believe is Lola outside the diner, getting into a gray van. The young woman was clearly having an allergic reaction, and her distress was what drew Hoyt’s attention. It was not until the van pulled away that Hoyt realized that the young woman bore a strong resemblance to the pictures of Lola she had seen on the news. She tells them that the van turned north, but this is all she knows. After she reflects for a moment, she remembers that they also had a bag from the Nana’s Favorites thrift store. After Hoyt leaves, the three friends try to figure out how to get more proof that Lola was in Waybrooke. They ask the waitress if they can look at the diner’s security footage, but she refuses. Max slips into the closet housing the security system and takes photos of the relevant footage on his phone. When they reconvene at his vehicle, they look through the grainy photos of a young woman they are sure is Lola, sitting with a middle-aged man they do not recognize. They are excited, but before they turn this evidence over to Roane, they decide to visit the thrift store.

Wayne rushes Mary through her packing and hustles her out to his van. She is frightened and confused, but she cannot think of any options besides going with him. Wayne goes back inside the cabin to get more boxes. As she leans into the van to catch a duffle bag that has begun to slide off the pile of Wayne’s belongings, she has a sudden memory of being held captive in the back of this van. Wayne comes back out and tells her to wait in the van. Mustering as much calm as she can, she asks whether she can go wait by the river, instead. He agrees, and she goes to sit on the swing by the water. As she thinks through everything that has happened, the pieces finally come together: Wayne is not her father, and she is not Mary Boone—Wayne likely had a daughter that looked very much like her, and he is using her as a substitute. A coyote, mouth red with blood, stops nearby, and she cautiously moves to grab a rock. The coyote runs off, dropping something from its mouth as it goes. She can see where the coyote has been digging near the woodpile. Dreading what she will find, she goes over to investigate. Inside the hole is Ben Hooper’s lifeless body.

Drew, Max, and Autumn pull up outside Nana’s Favorites just as the owner is locking the door for the evening. Drew explains their mission, and the woman, Eloise, tells them about Wayne and Mary coming in to shop. She remembers the floral jacket clearly, and is distressed to hear that Wayne may actually have kidnapped the young woman he was with. Drew asks her to call the information into the tip line, and she agrees that she will. Autumn gives Eloise her father’s cell phone number and asks that she also call the sheriff directly. Drew is moved by how eager Eloise is to help and wishes someone like her was in charge of the investigation. Just as Drew and his friends are about to leave, Eloise remembers an important piece of information: She remembers the young woman saying something about the drive back to Alton. After Eloise goes back inside the thrift store to call Roane, Drew and his friends discuss what to do next. They know they should go home, but it feels wrong to turn around when they are so close to finding Lola, especially when they are not sure that Roane will follow up on Eloise’s tip. They decide to drive to Alton and try to talk to the police there. When they look online and discover that the Alton station has already closed for the night, they decide to find a motel in Alton and go to the police in the morning. Autumn’s phone rings. It is her father, and he is furious, shouting at her about leaving school and driving to Waybrooke with Max and Drew. She tells Roane that she is “busy doing [his] job” and then hangs up (224). They realize that they will all face serious consequences at home for the choice to keep pursuing their investigation, but it does not deter them. Drew texts his fathers to apologize and let them know he is safe, then shuts his own phone off.

Looking at Hooper’s body and realizing that Wayne is almost certainly his killer, Mary retches. She berates herself for having been so gullible. Her fear gives way to intense anger. Suddenly, Wayne is behind her. “Oh, Mary,” he says, “You always ruin everything” (227). She raises the rock she still has in her hand and smashes it into his head. When he falls to his knees, she runs. Unsure whether he is already up and following her, she desperately runs through the forest, terrified to look behind her. She heads for where Ben Hooper said he lived, hoping that Hooper’s wife will be at home. She sees chimney smoke and feels a surge of hope. She crosses a clearing; just as she is about to regain the cover of the trees, Wayne enters the clearing. Suddenly, she remembers running through the forest days before, trying to escape him. She remembers, too, the moment he grabbed her and kidnapped her, when she was checking the mailbox near her home. She remembers escaping from his van when they first arrived at the cabin and Wayne chasing her, angrily calling out to her that she would not escape. Just as she reaches the neighbor’s cabin, Hooper’s wife comes out onto the porch. She takes a deep breath, preparing to scream for help, but Wayne catches her and clamps his hands over her throat and mouth. He drags her back into the forest. He chokes her, and as she loses consciousness, she hears him tell her that she will pay for trying to escape.