In the hot bath, Gillian drags a wire-bristled brush over her skin, chanting “clean, clean, clean” (251), drowning out Havers and Jonah’s pleas. Havers warns that Roberta will spend life in an institution if Gillian does not speak. The words only drive Gillian deeper into her frenzy. Jonah forces the door open and hauls Gillian from the scalding, pink water. He wraps her, refuses an ambulance, and kicks Havers out of the flat. Shaking, Gillian whispers to her husband that “Nell’s dead” (254).

On the phone, Havers can barely explain what happened to Lynley. Exhausted and furious, he orders her to go home, say nothing to the Yard, and return to Yorkshire in the morning. Haver accepts, worried that she has ruined her career. Alone, Lynley hunts the line from Shakespeare then decides that the answer must be found with Gillian, not the book.

In Acton, Havers trudges through her parents’ house and sits before Tony’s photo. Her mother totters in, chattering about Switzerland and brochures from Empress Tours. She is pleased with the imaginary tour that she and her husband took of Greece. Havers shepherds her back to bed as she talks about how Havers’s father is a “new man” (259) whenever he goes out in the afternoon.

Back in Islington, Jonah tends to Gillian’s cuts. He will not let her confess, because he wants to protect her from the past. He met Gillian at Testament House and loved her for a decade. Now he’s afraid: Three weeks ago, while he was in Exeter, she could have gone north to Keldale. Just then, a woman in black arrives, introducing herself as Helen Clyde.

At St. Catherine’s church, Lynley finds Father Hart murmuring scripture in the dark. Lynley asks how well Hart knows the plot of the Shakespeare play. Hart fumbles the details, but Lynley is convinced that the story is the key to Keldale’s grave and its epitaph. He crosses the bridge, hears the sounds of the village and instinctively heads to Stepha’s rooms. He knocks and waits, then opens the door to find Stepha in bed with Richard Gibson.

Lynley, Havers, and Lady Helen bring Gillian to see Roberta in the hospital. Dr. Samuels, the psychiatrist, ushers them into a small observation room with a two-way mirror and explains that he will supervise Gillian’s meeting with Roberta in the adjoining space.

Roberta enters withdrawn, heavy-limbed, and sits rocking in her chair. She doesn’t respond when Gillian talks about her life. At Samuels’s prompting, Gillian explains how, after their mother’s departure, their father pressed her into replacing her mother’s role, telling her to “be like Mummy” (283). She describes how prayer and Bible readings became the cover for ongoing sexual abuse, how leaving at 16 was an act of survival. She begs Roberta to reveal the truth. Still, Roberta remains silent. Upset that she couldn’t help, Gillian stands to leave. Then, at last, Roberta asks a single question about a “parade” (286).

In broken phrases, Roberta describes years of coerced sexual abuse by their father, disguised by loud music and justified with scripture. Gillian had once left Roberta a key to protect herself; Roberta used it at night but, not understanding, left it in the door by day, and their father eventually locked it away with other keys. A teacher once heard a disclosure but did not grasp what Roberta was trying to say.

Roberta became pregnant and delivered the child alone in the barn. Their father found her and took the baby to the abbey, where it died of exposure. Afterward, he stopped abusing her, but Roberta wanted to protect his next target: Bridie. Roberta watched for signs he was turning toward her. When she feared Bridie was at risk, she staged a crisis in the barn, drugging and killing the family dog to draw her father there. Then, she ended his life with an axe. In the session, she acknowledges what she did and explains that she acted to protect a child.

Overwhelmed, Havers flees to the restroom where she vomits into the toilet. Lynley finds her and listens while she speaks, for the first time, of her younger brother’s death and the anger she has carried at her parents’ absence from the hospital as Tony lay dying. She erected the shrine in the house to shame them for their absence, but now believes that she “destroyed them” (294) and, in doing so, destroyed herself.

Dr. Samuels later explains that Gillian survived by dissociating and escaping while Roberta turned her pain inward. He believes Roberta will recover enough to stand trial and that, once the full context is known, a conviction is unlikely. Later, Lynley confronts Father Hart in the confessional about knowing more than he admitted about finding the infant’s body. Hart admits that he is devastated by his failure to act. 

A message from London confirms Russell Mowrey was identified as a victim of the serial killer at King’s Cross, unrelated to Keldale’s case. Seeking something redemptive, Lynley and Havers drive Gillian to York. The novel ends with Tessa running out to meet her daughter.