Alexander is shocked and confused as to why his daughter is pointing a gun at him. She puts the gun down without telling him why. On the way home, Alexander continues to question her. Nellie does not reveal that she knows about his affair with Abigail, since she wants to use this information to gain power and punish him.

The bartender continues to gossip about Ethan/Charles. He explains that Ethan is a thief: He uses his custom furniture business as a front to gain access to the homes of wealthy clients and steals from them. This also explains why the family must frequently move locations.

The bartender hints that Ethan has the capacity to be violent, prompting Jackson to recall Ethan threatening him. Jackson resolves to stand up to Ethan.

Jane and Luke meet in an isolated area of the farm property. Luke tells Jane that they can leave for New York any time: He now has the money to finance their new life there. Jane is excited by the plan but confused when Luke explains that he got the money from Charleigh, who is paying him to take Nellie on a date. Jane agrees to the plan, knowing the date is simply a ruse.

Jane and Luke are kissing and caressing when Abigail finds them. She begins berating her daughter, and Jane accuses her mother of hypocrisy, revealing that she knows about the affair with Alexander. Abigail retaliates by revealing that Jane is not her daughter: She is the biological daughter of Ethan and another woman. Abigail won’t reveal anything about Jane’s mother, telling her to ask Ethan.

Kathleen calls Charliegh with an update from the hospital. Blair regained consciousness, and the police were contacted. They immediately came to question Blair, asking if she saw anything unusual before the accident and if she believes anyone did this to her. Blair is still unable to speak but nodded yes to both questions.

Charleigh continues to worry, especially since both Nellie and Alexander behaved strangely after coming home from the shooting range, although she doesn’t know about Nellie pointing the gun at her father. Charleigh is also frustrated because Jackson is not returning her calls.

Nellie, unaware of Charleigh’s bribe, is delighted when Luke asks her out. He drives her to an isolated area where they drink and talk in his car. Luke expresses seemingly sincere admiration for Nellie being honest and assertive, contrasting her with the other wealthy teen girls in the town.

Nellie kisses Luke, but he pulls away, reiterating that he is dating someone but insisting it is not Blair. He admits that he is in love with Jane, and explains that he likes Nellie as a friend, but is also physically attracted to her. Nellie feigns calm and thanks him for the date, while inwardly resolving to win him for herself: “I know Luke really likes me. I will find a way to fuck things up with him and Jane” (400).

While Luke is on his date with Nellie, Jane goes to the hospital to visit Blair. Blair is conscious but still not able to speak, and Jane watches as the police question her. They ask her if she can spell out the name of the person who caused the accident, but Blair can only pick the letter “J” before becoming exhausted. Jane feels panicked because she is the only one with a name starting with “J” who was at the swimming hole. She suggests that maybe Blair was confused and picked the letter because Jane was present in the room.

Charleigh is relieved when she gets through to Jackson, and he tells her he is returning soon. She hears from Kathleen that Blair chose the letter “J” and immediately decides that Jane was the one who caused the accident.

Charleigh is pleased when Nellie comes home from the date with Luke in a visibly good mood. She attempts to initiate sex with Alexander and is confused when he turns her down, but is distracted by her relief that Nellie will not be implicated in Blair’s accident.

The next morning, Charleigh happily shares the news about Blair choosing the letter “J.” Charleigh speculates that Jane could have caused the accident. Nellie is not as relieved, because Blair sometimes calls her “Nellie Jo” (referencing her middle name). She decides not to share this information with her mother.

After the date with Nellie, Jane tells Luke that she wants to leave for New York as soon as possible. She has not explained what Abigail told her. Luke agrees.

Knowing she is about to leave her family forever, Jane accepts the apology when Ethan expresses his regret about never telling her the truth about her mother. Ethan explains that while Abigail was pregnant with Julia, he had an affair with a woman named Marisa Smith. Ethan was in love with Marisa and wanted to run away with her. A few weeks after Jane was born, Abigail learned about the affair. Ethan alludes vaguely to some sort of “accident” that led to Marisa’s death, but breaks off without giving details.

Jane briefly feels regret about leaving for New York, but recent events make her believe it is necessary to do so. Jane reflects on her suspicions that it was her sister, Julia, who caused Blair’s accident. When the Swift family lived in another town, a local girl became enamored with Luke. The girl died in a car accident, and after the crash, it was found that her brake lines had been cut. Jane has always secretly suspected that Julia caused the crash, and it makes sense to her that, due to the flirtation between Luke and Blair, Julia would cause Blair’s accident. However, despite her suspicions, Jane doesn’t understand how her sister could have caused the accident: Julia wasn’t even at the swimming hole that day.

While doing chores on the farm, Jane finds a buried snorkel mask. She surmises that Julia secretly swam into the boathouse, which explains why no one saw her, and then opened the door and untied the canoe, engineering Blair’s accident.

Jackson is now back in Longview and meets Charleigh for drinks. Charleigh updates Jackson, explaining about Blair choosing the letter “J.” To Charleigh, this confirms that Nellie is innocent, and either Jane caused the accident, or it truly was a random occurrence.

Charleigh also reports her hopes for Luke and Nellie beginning a relationship, explaining that she has commissioned some furniture from Ethan, since this will be a reason for Luke to visit the house frequently. Jackson interjects, explaining that he uncovered troubling news about Ethan during his trip to Dallas.

Jane and Luke are hours away from leaving for New York. They first attend a vigil for Blair, joining most of the teens in town. Jane lets her guard down and touches Luke affectionately. She panics when she sees Julia arrive abruptly and realizes her sister has seen them together. Jane is grateful that she and Luke will be leaving before Julia can retaliate.

Jackson begins giving context to Charleigh, revealing that he and Ethan flirted and eventually had a physical relationship. Charleigh feels betrayed that Jackson never told her about this. As Jackson begins confiding how hurt he was by Ethan’s betrayal, he notices that Charleigh seems fixated on Jackson’s secrecy: “[F]irst, you sleep with the enemy, behind my back, and then you keep it all from me” (429). Jackson explains about Ethan using his furniture business as a ploy to steal, and then he impulsively reveals that he saw Alexander and Abigail having sex.

To Jackson’s shock, Charleigh turns on him, angry. She tells him that he was wrong to reveal this information to her and that he wanted to hurt her. Jackson is furious and storms off.

Nellie is also attending the vigil, and she sees Luke and Jane together. She seizes an opportunity to speak with Jane alone and taunts her. Nellie tells Jane that Luke is attracted to her and is only feigning affection for Jane.

Jane retorts that Luke only went out with her because Charleigh paid him to do so. Nellie is horrified, but suspects that this is true. She rushes off to confront her mother.

Nellie arrives at the country club and finds her mother there alone. She insists that Charleigh leave and walk with her into the woods on the lakeshore so that they can speak in private.

Charleigh admits to bribing Luke, and Nellie is furious, explaining that Charleigh’s meddling has ruined any hope of a relationship organically developing. Charleigh retorts that she always has to protect Nellie because of Nellie’s erratic behavior, and admits that she suspects Nellie had something to do with Blair’s accident.

Mother and daughter continue to argue and end up in a physical altercation. Charleigh taunts Nellie, and Nellie, enraged, strangles her mother.

Alone with her mother’s lifeless body, Nellie wonders what to do. No one is around, and no one saw them go into the woods. She drags Charleigh’s body into the lake and then returns to the shore. However, Nellie becomes alarmed when she sees that the body is drifting further out but not sinking.

She drives back to the location of Blair’s vigil and pulls Luke aside. She tells him she needs him to get into his car and follow her back to the country club. Confused, Luke drives to the country club.

Nellie admits to Luke that she killed her mother and shows him the floating body. She pleads with him to make it sink and threatens to reveal the money he got from Charleigh if he doesn’t cooperate. Reluctantly, Luke wades into the water. Nellie rushes to a payphone and calls 911. She gives her location and reports seeing an altercation between a woman and a man, implying that Luke was the one who killed Charleigh.

Nellie conceals her car and then hides in the woods, watching as the police arrive at the country club. She watches them confront Luke and then arrest him. Once the police are gone with Luke, Nellie begins thinking of other ideas about how to conceal her crime. She resolves that there’s “no way I’m going down for this” (453).