Jeanine Cummins is the author of the story. As a member of the Cummins family, she is also a major figure in the narrative. She is 16 years old for the majority of the narrative and is known by her nickname Tink. While she stresses in the Afterword that she does not want to represent her entire family, structurally, her character is often the focus when the narrative shifts to examine how the murders affect the family. Tink is a creative, artistic girl who admires Julie for her poetry, activism, and soccer skills. In many ways, she is like a young Julie herself. As the writer of the book, Cummins is thorough and fact-driven, although she openly admits to being naturally biased in her perspective of the events.

Throughout the narrative, Tink is forced to mature to cope with the murder of her cousins and to take care of her younger sister Kathy and her nine-year-old cousin Jamie. While coping with such horrible news, and frequently vomiting in response, she also takes more responsibility to care for Kathy and Jamie as the family experiences injustice after injustice. As such, she grows from teenager to adult throughout the story, forced into a rapid maturation like all the children and teenagers in the family.