Nothing is explained, nor do we see her again. He settles as a tenant with an odd pair of Lynchian landlords. The underlying premise hints that everyone in Anytown, USA is hiding a private melancholy in spite of their polished exteriors. Take the reluctant high-school football star. Or the crazy woman who paints portraits of Mexican boys putting guns to their heads.
Novels have the luxury of leaving questions unanswered.
That's what we wanted to know. Vann doesn't provide much intrigue. He tries so hard to be boring, he actually succeeds. I'm not surprised this country has so much violence. So we're stuck with a talky killer in an eyeblink town of soulless losers.