# Chapter 15: Into the Dark Woods — Where Is Jordie?
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review Chapter 15 of *A Woman Betrayed* — a chapter that tightens the nerves, breaks our hearts, and sends Amanda straight into the ominous embrace of the forest. If you’ve been following along, you know that Quinn’s suicide has cast a long shadow over Woodley. But now the terror becomes personal: Quinn’s friend, young Jordie Cotter, has vanished from school, and Amanda’s instincts are screaming that something is deeply, dangerously wrong.
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The morning had begun with Amanda slipping her briefcase strap onto her shoulder and walking out the door. Graham had plenty of time to stop her, to beg her to stay, to promise her forever. But he didn’t. And so Amanda buried herself in the chaos of parent phone calls — worried mothers, anxious fathers, endless questions about grades and acting out and divorce and the lingering specter of suicide. She was the consummate professional, holding it all together — until Allison Lange appeared at her doorway, shy and trembling with an invisible weight.
Allison looked like one of those students who sought comfort in Amanda’s office. But this time, something in her eyes — a guilty, fearful flicker — made Amanda’s pulse quicken. The girl had come to talk about Jordie. Not about homework, not about college. About *Jordie*. And when she spoke, the words landed like stones.
“He wouldn’t say much of anything. He snaps at me when I ask what’s wrong. He walks around like he doesn’t want anyone coming near him.” Then, quieter still: “Except he isn’t here today.”
Amanda’s heart stalled. Jordie hadn’t answered her emails. He had gotten off the bus with the other kids, had been seen inside the school — but no one had laid eyes on him since first period. Allison had checked. No one had seen him. Not his friends. Not his teachers. Not a soul.
Amanda wrote Allison a pass for study hall, then went to work. The nurse hadn’t seen Jordie. He wasn’t home — or wasn’t answering. With Maggie Dodd’s help, Amanda quietly searched every corner of the school: the locker rooms, the auditorium, even the library’s carrels. Nothing. She left frantic messages on Karen’s car phone and Lee’s work number. And with visions of a bloodbath swirling in her mind, she drove straight to the cul-de-sac.
The Cotter house was quiet, too quiet. Graham wasn’t there, but Russ was home — or supposed to be. And when Amanda went across the street to ring Gretchen’s bell, who should appear behind Gretchen but Russ himself, looking only slightly disheveled in his usual T-shirt and shorts. Amanda noted it briefly — a flicker of suspicion — but for now, there was only one priority: finding Jordie.
Russ went with her into the Cotter house. They used the hidden key Julie had once shown Amanda. They called Jordie’s name. They searched every room, every closet, the attic, the basement. Nothing. And then Karen pulled into the driveway.
Karen Cotter looked pale, her hand resting tentatively on the car door. “What’s wrong?” she asked, a faint edge of dread in her voice. Amanda explained as calmly as she could: Jordie was missing, the school had been thoroughly checked, they thought maybe he had come home. But Karen’s reaction was not the terror Amanda expected. It was *numbness* at first — and then something close to anger.
“Why do you assume Quinn’s death would hit him harder than anyone else? Why do you assume the worst? Why did you leave school and drive all the way here?” She snapped, darting glances at Russ and Gretchen as though they were intruders. “Jordie’s fine. I talked with him about it. He’s doing fine.” Her voice rose with stubborn denial. “If Jordie isn’t at school, he’s with his father.”
But he wasn’t with Lee. It took Karen another hour and four cigarettes to finally reach Lee. And when she did, the truth burned through: Jordie was truly missing. Even then, Karen refused to consider the worst. She insisted he must be with friends, skipping school in some town far away, turning it into an adolescent rebellion. And when Amanda gently suggested calling the police, Karen turned bitter. She accused Amanda of being haunted by Quinn, of being gun-shy, of making something out of nothing. “Jordie has never done that,” she said. “He wouldn’t do that. Not Jordie.”
Amanda couldn’t let it go. She knew in her bones that this was different. So she did what she always did in times of doubt — she called Graham. And for the first time that day, she felt a flicker of relief. Graham did not dismiss her. He listened. He said, “No. You know Jordie. So do I. If Karen and Lee aren’t worried, they should be. I sure would be if he was my kid.”
He asked where she would go if she were Jordie. Amanda looked at the woods. Jordie loved the forest, the darkness, the mystery, the peace. She knew where she needed to search. Graham told her he would turn around and meet her at home.
When Amanda returned to the cul-de-sac, Karen was on the phone, Lee had slammed out to go driving aimlessly in search of their son, and Gretchen’s presence seemed to hang over everything. Russ came over to explain his strange appearance at Gretchen’s house. Amanda asked one direct question: “Did you father that baby?” And when he answered a firm, “No,” she let it drop. Maybe she was still shell-shocked from that awful morning with Graham, or maybe she simply had no room left for other people’s secrets. What mattered was that the clock was ticking.
Karen, still in denial, said she was making shepherd’s pie — Jordie’s favorite. Amanda felt sick. She knew that a hungry boy would eventually come home — but what if he never felt hungry again? What if he had already slipped into a place so dark that no comfort meal could reach him?
Amanda announced she was going into the woods. Karen didn’t want to come. She was too afraid of embarrassing Jordie. So Amanda went alone, changed into jeans and a jacket, just as the clouds darkened and rain threatened to spill from the sky. And then Graham’s truck pulled up.
He got out without a word. He knew exactly where she needed to go. They crossed through the yards and stepped onto the narrow path into the forest, entering the deep, still, breathing green.
The woods were unnaturally quiet. No chattering squirrels, no hissing warnings, no playful scampering. Even the birds seemed to be holding their breath. The air was thick, heavy, stained with the promise of rain. Amanda followed Graham, her hand resting on the waistband of his jeans for stability, feeling the certainty of his stride. He headed, she knew, toward the old fire tower — the place Jordie always talked about, the place that was off-limits, the place that would heighten any boy’s forbidden attraction.
The shadows lengthened. The silence pressed in. Amanda thought of all the ways a child can disappear — a running away, an accident, or something far more terrible. Her heart beat against the fear. She knew that time was running out, that darkness was settling over the world, and that somewhere in these trees, a boy was waiting — or perhaps not waiting at all.
Graham stopped abruptly. Amanda, following too close, bumped into his back and instinctively gripped the waistband of his jeans. He stood absolutely still, staring ahead. His silence was louder than any scream.
What had he seen? Was Jordie huddled beneath an old oak? Or was the tower still as empty as her wildest nightmare? The moment hung there, suspended in the humid air, both of them frozen on the edge of the unknown. And there, the chapter leaves us — holding our breath, desperate for the answer that only the next page can provide.
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## Reader’s Impressions & Star Rating
What a gut-wrenching chapter. I felt every ounce of Amanda’s growing panic, and my frustration with Karen Cotter was vast — I wanted to shake her, to scream, “Why aren’t you terrified? Why aren’t you calling everyone you know?” The psychological depth here is exquisite: Karen’s tragic denial, Amanda’s guilt-driven alertness, and Graham’s unspoken solidarity. The author does a brilliant job of making us feel the weight of every unspoken word between Amanda and Graham, even as they work together seamlessly to find a boy who might be in danger.
The atmosphere of the forest is deliciously ominous. The calm before the storm, the quiet trees, the vanishing light — it all builds to a tension so taut it may snap. I loved every sentence. For raising my heart rate to dangerous levels and making me whisper, “Please be okay, Jordie,” I rate this chapter **4.9 out of 5 stars** — and would have given it a 5 if Karen hadn’t frustrated me so deeply (though, admittedly, that was the point). ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
## Next Chapter Prediction
I’m nearly certain that Graham and Amanda will find Jordie — alive, but in a state that will break them all. Jordie may be reclined against the base of the tower, despondent, perhaps holding something sharp or simply staring into nothing. The real storm, though, may not be outside but within that household: when the full secret of Lee and Gretchen’s entanglement finally surfaces, or when Karen’s denial shatters like glass and she has to confront what she’s been refusing to see. I also predict that Amanda and Graham’s unresolved conflict will boil over after the crisis passes — because when you survive something terrifying together, sometimes the truth becomes even harder to hide. Whatever happens, someone is about to be betrayed by someone they love.
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