Chase, 1969, opens with an unset­tling atmos­phere, set­ting the tone for a chap­ter that blends youth­ful curios­i­ty with the harsh real­i­ty of an untime­ly death. Two young boys, Ben­ji Mason and Steve Long, begin their day full of excite­ment as they ven­ture up the fire tow­er, an activ­i­ty that fills them with ener­gy and adven­ture. How­ev­er, their jour­ney takes a hor­ri­fy­ing turn when they spot some­thing out of place—what they ini­tial­ly assume is just a fig­ure in the dis­tance, turns out to be the body of Chase Andrews, a well-known fig­ure in their small town. This stark dis­cov­ery of a life­less body lying face-up in the mud, with his blue clothes soaked, takes them from inno­cent explo­ration into a world of fear and con­fu­sion. The twist­ed posi­tion­ing of Chase’s leg and the unnat­ur­al man­ner of his fall leave the boys in a state of dis­be­lief. What should have been a rou­tine adven­ture quick­ly morphs into a trau­mat­ic expe­ri­ence that marks a turn­ing point for them.

As they get clos­er, the real­i­ty of what they have stum­bled upon sets in—this is no ordi­nary dis­cov­ery. Chase, a per­son many in the town knew, is now lying dead with his eyes wide open, star­ing into noth­ing­ness. His body is eeri­ly still, adding to the hor­ror of the sit­u­a­tion. The caw­ing of dis­tant crows over­head com­pounds the dis­turb­ing scene, ampli­fy­ing the feel­ing of dread that quick­ly engulfs the boys. With no signs of oth­er peo­ple or dis­tur­bances around the area, the boys are left grap­pling with a fright­en­ing realization—they are alone with the body, far from town, and unsure of what to do. Despite their grow­ing fear, they know they can­not stay and allow the crows to descend upon the body, so they make the deci­sion to rush back to the town to find help. The boys’ bond and shared sense of pan­ic push them to act, but nei­ther one wants to remain behind to face the grim task of keep­ing the birds away.

As they race toward the sheriff’s office, the ter­ror of their dis­cov­ery weighs heav­i­ly on them. Their anx­ious ped­al­ing across the sand tracks is filled with the anx­i­ety of what they have just wit­nessed, and each moment that pass­es only inten­si­fies their fear. Upon reach­ing the sheriff’s office, they burst in, inter­rupt­ing Sher­iff Ed Jackson’s qui­et day, caught off guard by the boys’ fran­tic arrival. The sher­if­f’s calm, col­lect­ed demeanor con­trasts with the boys’ pan­icked ener­gy, yet the grav­i­ty of their words hits him imme­di­ate­ly. The urgency of their message—the dis­cov­ery of Chase’s body—leaves no room for doubt. The sher­iff, though shak­en, quick­ly shifts into pro­fes­sion­al mode, set­ting the wheels of an inves­ti­ga­tion into motion. This marks the begin­ning of an intri­cate and del­i­cate inves­ti­ga­tion into the trag­ic death of Chase Andrews, a town fig­ure whose life was seem­ing­ly end­ed by some unknown force. The mix of child­hood inno­cence and the bur­den of a grown-up mys­tery sets a com­plex back­drop for the unfold­ing dra­ma.

As the inves­ti­ga­tion begins, the chap­ter mas­ter­ful­ly weaves togeth­er the stark con­trast between the boys’ inno­cence and the chill­ing cir­cum­stances of Chase’s death. What should have been an excit­ing, care­free adven­ture is over­shad­owed by the real­iza­tion that the world they once knew is now tinged with tragedy and sus­pi­cion. The weight of the dis­cov­ery is not lost on the boys, who now must face the daunt­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty of inform­ing the adults and wit­ness­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion unfold in their once idyl­lic town. With their ini­tial inno­cent curios­i­ty replaced by a sense of urgency and fear, the nar­ra­tive delves into the com­pli­cat­ed world of small-town secrets and hid­den truths. The unfold­ing inves­ti­ga­tion promis­es to unrav­el not just the mys­tery behind Chase’s death, but also the dark­er under­cur­rents of a seem­ing­ly peace­ful com­mu­ni­ty. As the chap­ter ends, the boys’ lives have been irrev­o­ca­bly changed, and the town of Barkley Cove is thrust into a new, uncer­tain real­i­ty. This shift in the atmos­phere sig­nals the begin­ning of a deep­er explo­ration of the town’s secrets, and the inves­ti­ga­tion that will reveal much more than any­one ini­tial­ly antic­i­pat­ed. The inves­ti­ga­tion’s impact on the com­mu­ni­ty and its inhab­i­tants promis­es to be both pro­found and far-reach­ing.