The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
Contents
Chapter 6
Overview
After Bunny is pushed from the ravine, Henry tightly manages alibis and behavior while snow delays discovery, forcing the group to live inside their act for days. Henry steers suspicion toward Cloke’s drug world and a manufactured kidnapping narrative, drawing police, media, and eventually the FBI into noisy but misdirected investigations. As rain finally melts the snow, Bunny’s body is found by a student’s dog, and the case pivots from “missing” to death.
Summary
Richard opens with a detached confession: the group killed Bunny by pushing him from a ravine, and the speed and finality of the fall haunt him more as memory repeats than as immediate emotion. Afterward they return to town and begin constructing alibis, with Henry dictating a specific movie-theater story for the others and an awkward, patchwork timeline for Richard. They agree to go home, act normal, and avoid contacting one another.
Alone, Richard panics and seeks numbness. Judy Poovey gives him a pill he later learns is Demerol; he drifts through a party, goes home with Mona Beale, and wakes in terror to realize he has wandered out of Bunny’s dorm. Francis visits Richard the next morning, equally unnerved; in a drugged, exhausted moment Francis kisses Richard and starts to push the encounter further until Charles arrives with Greek work, sent by Henry to maintain appearances.
As snow and cold delay discovery, the group continues classes and tries to look unconcerned while Bunny’s absence becomes noticeable. Henry engineers a “missing person” escalation by pushing Marion Barnbridge, Cloke Rayburn, and campus authorities toward involving police. Cloke, stoned and anxious, suggests Bunny may have tried to involve himself in Cloke’s New York cocaine source; Henry uses this as a convenient alternative narrative and has Charles and Cloke break into Bunny’s room, prompting official involvement. Charles steals and Henry burns a newspaper photocopy about the earlier farmer’s murder, evidence that Bunny had been collecting.
The disappearance becomes public: search parties, media coverage, a $50,000 reward, and eventually FBI involvement. A mechanic, William Hundy, falsely claims Bunny was seen with “abductors,” feeding a kidnapping story that distracts attention. Henry intensifies the drug angle by letting federal agents hear about Cloke’s dealings, drawing scrutiny onto Cloke; agents fingerprint Charles and search Bunny’s room, while reporters swarm Henry and the group is pressured to perform grief. Meanwhile Richard suffers mounting anxiety, is threatened and beaten by Mona’s boyfriend, and witnesses how quickly the campus turns into spectacle.
As rain melts the snow, Richard becomes certain the body will be found. A freshman, Holly Goldsmith, takes her dog Milo to the ravine; the dog digs up Bunny’s body. The ambulance arrives at Commons, the press descends, and FBI agents Davenport and Sciola confirm Bunny was found at the bottom of a drop-off with a broken neck and signs he tried to claw for purchase. The agents leave to inform the Corcorans, while Henry and the others confront the abrupt end of the search and the beginning of the aftermath.
Who Appears
- Richard PapenNarrator; participates in Bunny’s murder, panics afterward, uses Demerol, and endures the investigation’s fallout.
- Henry WinterStrategist; pushes Bunny, constructs alibis, manages the missing-person response, and steers investigators toward drug/kidnapping theories.
- Francis AbernathyCo-conspirator; nerves fray, kisses Richard, fields Corcoran contact, and is dragged through searches and scrutiny.
- Charles MacaulayCo-conspirator; helps stage discovery via Bunny’s room, is questioned and fingerprinted by FBI, drinks heavily.
- Camilla MacaulayCo-conspirator; stays controlled publicly, worries privately, talks with Richard about the bacchanal, breaks down when body is found.
- Edmund "Bunny" CorcoranVictim; pushed from the ravine, missing during searches, then discovered dead with a broken neck.
- Cloke RayburnBunny’s friend and campus dealer; breaks into Bunny’s room, floats drug-dealer theory, becomes a convenient suspect target.
- Marion BarnbridgeBunny’s girlfriend; reports him missing, spreads the bank sighting rumor, and connects police to Bunny’s inner circle.
- Julian MorrowGreek professor; reacts theatrically to Bunny’s absence, later questioned by federal agents, joins the search.
- Judy PooveyRichard’s dorm neighbor; supplies Demerol, gossips about Mona and the drug panic, offers emotional support.
- Mona BealeParty acquaintance from Bunny’s dorm; sleeps with Richard, triggering jealousy and later retaliation from her boyfriend.
- Mona Beale’s boyfriendUnidentified attacker; punches and threatens Richard to stay away from Mona.
- William HundyLocal mechanic; publicly claims a false abduction sighting, feeding a kidnapping story that misdirects the investigation.
- Agent Harvey DavenportFBI agent; interviews students, fingerprints Charles, and later confirms Bunny’s death and probable accidental fall narrative.
- Agent SciolaFBI agent; calm interrogator; discusses evidence, comforts Camilla, and supports a non-suicide interpretation.
- Dr. RolandFaculty supervisor; distracts Richard early; later seen amid administrative chaos when Bunny’s family is contacted.
- Mr. CorcoranBunny’s father; calls repeatedly, organizes family presence and support, and fuels the larger search effort.
- Mrs. CorcoranBunny’s mother; performs poise on camera, rejects drug allegations, and becomes part of the media narrative.
- Holly GoldsmithFreshman; walks her dog near the ravine, unintentionally leading to Bunny’s body being found.
- MiloHolly Goldsmith’s dog; digs up Bunny’s remains at the ravine, triggering the discovery.