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Paper Towns Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • The next morning, there's a guest for breakfast at Quentin's house: Detective Otis Warren.
  • He's wondering where Margo Roth Spiegelman is. Her parents have reported her missing, and she's been gone three days.
  • Quentin says he saw her Wednesday night but hasn't seen her since.
  • The Roth Spiegelmans seem kind of glad their daughter is gone—they say they're going to change the locks. Quentin can't believe they don't want their manic pixie dream girl of a daughter back home.
  • Quentin tells the detective everything he knows, and the detective assures him that Margo will probably return. She's run away before, and this time shouldn't be any different.
  • Quentin suggests to his parents that Margo move in with them (and maybe he can be Quentin Roth Spiegelman) and they're like, yeah, okay, she can stay here for a bit but not, like, forever.
  • Radar comes over later to play video games with Quentin and Ben, and Quentin notices something in Margo's window: a poster of Woody Guthrie.
  • Quentin knows there must be a connection between Woody Guthrie and Margo, and they decide to go over to Margo's bedroom and investigate.