Chapter 6

Chapter 6 (Present)

Silas is eating breakfast at his favorite restaurant and starts investigations afterwards
begins at Larry‘s shop, recalls returning for his mother’s funeral, driving past Larry’s shop, noticing Larry looking out the window at the street, not paying attention to him - and doing exactly the same thing when he (Silas) is on his way back home after clearing out his mother’s house
goes to Larry‘s house and collects more evidence: broken glass from a windshield as he assumes, some tracks from a four-wheel drive, and the butt end of a marijuana cigarette
feeds the chickens
goes through Larry’s old magazines, remembering seeing some of them when he and Larry were friends; goes through the attic and discovers several papers including contracts for the sale of parts of Larry’s land to the Rutherfords; bills for a cell phone; and a shoebox of photographs
phone bill is weird, only ever called one number
box of photos: Silas takes note of how time is moving backwards in the photos to when Larry was a baby - held on Alice’s lap

Past

Silas remembers his life at the age of 13: a relatively good life in an all-black community in Chicago, a good school, but a bad boyfriend for his mother, whose arrest led them to sell all their belongings and disappearance to Chabot
Silas is reluctant in going to the South
long bus ride to the South, afterwards Silas and his mother ride along with a bus driver who seems to want sexual favors from Alice and who helps Alice when Silas attempts to run away and when they are being robbed (including their coats)
Alice and Silas end up in Chabot, making their way to the house in the wood

Present

Silas’ reaction to the photo of his mother with Larry, noticing that her smile was the one "she used around white people, not the one he remembered when she was genuinely happy"
gets a call from Angie who wants to meet him for lunch, feels that Silas is different
Silas agrees
is "vaguely aware he was stealing evidence from a crime scene" but is not fazed by it since "the only ghosts here knew the secrets already"

Function

discovery of photograph as most significant element
several layers of truth are implied by the photograph: Alice having some kind of relationship with Ott family, relationship has an even more profound relevance to fatherless Silas
implication gains more weight through other element in that chapter: Silas not having a father the trip made by Alice and Silas back to Chabot where she knows people
in hindsight to previous incidents truth becomes even more apparent (the coats that Alice and Silas receive by Ina, Ina‘s reaction to them living in the cabin
$\rightarrow$ Carl is Silas‘ biological father
$\rightarrow$ Ina knew about that
$\rightarrow$ Alice and Silas were sent away to live in Chicago to keep truth from being revealed
themes: layer of truth, relationship between past and present, racism (birth of mixed-race child Silas), aftermath of sexual relationship between white man of status and privilege and female black servant hints to similar scenarios during days of slavery
photograph: manifestation of book‘s thematic interest in coming of age
$\rightarrow$ Silas‘ realizations (fuelled by discovery) play important role in helping him face significant truths about himself and his past
mystery plot elements: discovery of new evidence (glass, cigarette, tire tracks, cell phone bills)