Phoebe is 13 years old. She lives with her parents and older sister, Prudence, next door to Margaret Cadaver in Euclid, Ohio. Phoebe has a round face, curly blonde hair, and large, sky-blue eyes. She is quiet and keeps to herself most of the time. Phoebe’s family is a lot like the Pickfords, Sal’s mother’s family. They are polite and formal with each other. They rarely laugh and play together. Phoebe loves her father and thinks he is perfect. Even though Phoebe complains about her family, she defends them to anyone who dares to make a critical comment.
When Phoebe’s mother disappears, Phoebe is in denial about her mother’s abandonment. She refuses to believe her mother would just leave her. She has a “powerful imagination” and comes to the conclusion that the “lunatic” who has been leaving notes at their door must have kidnapped her mother. Phoebe is also a “champion worrier.” She thinks someone is watching the house, she hears noises, and she is suspicious of everyone. People are not ordinary to Phoebe; “they are either perfect (like her father) . . . or they are lunatics. . . .”
Phoebe befriends Sal and, together, they investigate the “kidnapping” of Phoebe’s mother. Because Phoebe is quite dramatic, she collects hair samples from her house and takes them to the police station, insisting they investigate the kidnapping of her mother.
Underneath Phoebe’s annoying comments (she sometimes sounds like a grown-up) and ornery disposition, she is frightened that her mother is not going to come home. When her mother finally comes back, with her illegitimate son, Phoebe expresses her anger toward her mother. She is confused because her life will never be the same.
