The main character is a middle-aged woman, who just got divorced from her husband, and their two boys just moved out with the husband, they left her with their dog, so now she is only living with her German shepherd Ollie. She works as a cashier at a BI-LO. I think she is pretty lonely, after her family left her; she has nothing special to do. .
She hears about a missing girl in the television and in the newspaper. She is so interested in the case, which she talks too much about with her colleges and costumers that her boss begins to be annoyed at her. She begins to search for more information on the Internet and find out that a man called "James Wade confessed that he'd buried the girl" (P. 1, ll. 6 - 7) and she finds out where he says he has buried the missing girl, he says he has buried her somewhere west of Kingsville. She decides to go out to Kingsville, where she will looks for the missing girl. She packs her car, "she stocked the trunk of her car with a shovel, a spade, a dry-cell flashlight and a pair of work gloves" (p. 1 ll. 11 - 13). She does not tell anyone that she is looking for the missing girl, not because she fells stupid, but she is embarrassed and fells foolish. She goes out there a couple of times to look for the missing girl. I think she is searching for the missing girl, because she feels lonely, needs a project/hobby, so she can do something instead of just sitting home alone. She does all what she can to find the missing girl. At night when she cannot sleep, she searches for information on the missing girl. .
She is really obsessed, about finding this young missing girl, she is so obsessed that "she rearranged her shifts, working nights so she could take advantage of the daylight" (p. 1. ll. 26 – 27) so she could go out their in the day, instead of going out their at the afternoon when it is dark. But why is she obsessed about finding someone else's daughter? – I think she wants the feeling of someone needs her.