“Quiet.”
Former classmate / unsigned recollection
PEOPLE / FRAGMENTS
Who is Alice?
The Alice described by Seabrook depends entirely on who is speaking.
No settled surname, age, address or last-seen date is adopted here. The descriptions below are fragments in circulation, not a biographical record.
“Not quiet at all.”
Another classmate / unsigned recollection
“Always wanted to leave.”
Unnamed local / second-hand account
“She loved it here.”
Family acquaintance / second-hand account
Statements that do not line up.
Reading copies below preserve uncertainty. These are not signed police statements or verbatim recordings.
The counter
One recollection places Alice alone at the counter. Another remembers a girl beside her. Neither gives a date. Tom says he knew her from school; the manager calls him away before the conversation develops.
The cleaner
Towels to seventeen, around quarter past four. Then uncertainty about the day. The clerk says nobody stayed there Tuesday. A memory of a delivery and a denial of a booking need not describe the same event.
Beyond the flags
An older woman says Alice walked out that way. Someone beside her interrupts. A contrary recollection says she disliked the marsh path. We do not know whether they mean the same stretch of coast.
The boy by the pier
He changes his story when another person comes near. That could be fear, embarrassment, correction or something else. The listener does not know which.