Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
Contents
8. Negative Data
Overview
Ed Jackson and Joe Purdue escort Chase Andrews’s family to identify his body, underscoring community grief. Four days later, lab reports reveal no fingerprints or footprints and fix time of death at midnight–2 A.M., confirming homicide. They plan a return search for tire tracks. At the diner, rampant gossip points fingers, including at a marsh woman, escalating tension.
Summary
In 1969, Sheriff Ed Jackson and Deputy Joe Purdue bring Chase Andrews’s widow, Pearl, and his parents, Patti Love and Sam, to view Chase’s body at the clinic morgue. The cold room overwhelms Pearl and Patti Love, who must be helped out. Back at the damp, salt-stained office, Ed and Joe share bourbon as evening falls, the grief and pressure settling in.
Four days later, Joe arrives with lab reports. They confirm time of death between midnight and two A.M., October 29–30. More striking is the “negative data”: no fresh fingerprints on railings or grates, not even Chase’s, and earlier there were no footprints. Ed concludes this was no accident; either someone meticulously cleaned the scene or Chase was killed elsewhere and moved.
Reasoning that a body transport should leave tire tracks, they decide to re-examine the fire tower area for tread marks beyond their own and the ambulance’s. Hungry but cautious, they head to the Barkley Cove Diner, intending to listen for useful talk without getting drawn in.
Inside the crowded diner, Ed and Joe overhear Mr. Lane suggesting Lamar Sands had motive, and later Miss Pansy Price speculating about the marsh woman’s involvement with Chase. With rumors flaring and the investigation fragile, Ed opts for take-out po’boys and a quick exit, planning to pursue tangible leads back at the scene.
Who Appears
- Ed JacksonSheriff; reviews lab findings, concludes homicide, plans tire-track search, avoids being drawn into diner gossip.
- Joe PurdueDeputy; brings lab reports, discusses lack of prints and footprints, accompanies Ed to the diner.
- Pearl (Chase’s widow)Views Chase’s body and is overcome with grief, led from the morgue.
- Patti LoveChase’s mother; devastated at the morgue and helped from the room.
- SamChase’s father; silent and stricken during the body identification.
- Jim Bo SweenyBarkley Cove Diner owner-cook; serves a packed house as investigators overhear gossip.
- Mr. LaneSing Oil employee; speculates loudly that Lamar Sands had a motive.
- Miss Pansy PriceFive-and-dime clerk; spreads rumor implicating the marsh woman in Chase’s death.
- Chase AndrewsDeceased; victim identified by family; lab sets time of death.