Sussex County U-Store-It storage facility

Sussex County U-Store-It storage facility becomes a hiding place in Nash’s effort to make Reba Cordova disappear. He brings her body to the facility on Route 15, uses the enclosed storage space to conceal it, and intends to keep it there at least temporarily; the location is central to his plan to prevent the police from finding a body that could connect Reba’s case to Marianne’s.

Setting and Use

Nash drives to the facility after Reba’s death and backs a truck into the loading dock of his garagelike storage unit. Darkness has fallen, and no one is around or watching. The dock and unit offer a private, enclosed setting for moving and hiding the body, rather than leaving it somewhere it might be found.

Nash has placed Reba’s body in a trash can in case anyone sees it. He and Pietra then put it in a mixture of wood chips and manure, which Nash expects will preserve it for a while. The storage facility is therefore not merely a destination: its unit allows him to retain control of the remains while keeping them concealed.

Part of Nash’s Plan

The choice of the facility follows Nash’s deliberate decision to change his method. He had left Marianne’s body where it could be discovered, but Reba’s disappearance has a different purpose: her husband may report her missing, making an identifiable corpse especially dangerous to Nash. He reasons that without a body the police may treat Reba as a runaway, investigate the hotel where he left her car, and fail to connect her disappearance with Marianne’s case.

Nash recalls reading about an abducted victim who died by accidental suffocation in a storage unit. He also thinks of other missing people held captive in places like these. That recollection sharpens the menace of the facility: the same kind of ordinary storage space that can hide belongings can also conceal a person. Nash plans to keep Reba there for a while, but the account does not establish what ultimately happens to her body at this location.

Concealment and Significance

The facility forms one part of a broader effort to redirect attention. Nash does not risk stealing another license plate; instead, he alters one character on the plate with black electrical tape. He also considers disguises for the van, including signs for Tremesis Paints and Cambridge Institute, before choosing a religious bumper sticker. He expects people to notice the sticker rather than the plate. The hidden body and the conspicuous vehicle detail work together as parts of his attempt to control what observers see.

The storage unit’s significance lies in the contrast between its mundane purpose and Nash’s criminal use of it. A place associated with keeping possessions becomes a concealed holding place for Reba’s remains, and the plan to hide her there makes absence itself a tactic: unlike Marianne’s discoverable body, Reba is meant to leave no immediate physical evidence linking the cases.