On Monday, October 12, Hank sleeps in his office, and his assistant, Lila, brings him a clean suit to change into. Hank asks her to clear both his and Ben’s schedules and to arrange for a security guard during working hours. He also tells Lila to make sure no employees stay at the office after hours without the guard. Lila tells Hank that he can also take time off, but Hank refuses to do so. He asks her if she knew that Ben wanted to dissolve their partnership, and Lila says that Ben’s assistant, Tricia, told her about it. Lila helps Hank put on his knee brace and assures him that everyone at Bayliss and Landry likes Hank better, and half of the staff of 12 would’ve left with Hank.

Hank hosts a sad staff meeting before Camille’s father, Randall Everett, arrives and demands a private meeting with Hank. Randall is a powerful man; his great-grandfather, Otto, won a small farm in a poker game, but when the Prohibition era hit, he began bootlegging moonshine. As he earned more money, he bought more land, eventually owning most of Corbeau and owning the police and politicians, too. Randall still owns Corbeau and operates with dubious ethics.

Randall feigns sadness over Ben’s death and implies the firm needs a better leader than Hank, telling Hank he knows about Ben’s attempts to dissolve the partnership. Hank defends himself, and Randall implies that Hank should be a suspect in Ben’s murder. Hank doesn’t have a great alibi, as after he dropped Ben off after their trip he went home alone and worked on the Pontiac he’s repairing. Hank tells Randall that his suggestion is “abhorrent” (82).

Randall reminds Hank that Camille is entitled to a percentage of the firm’s income for the next decade, and Hank as executor has a hand in her financial well-being. If Hank doesn’t have Camille’s “best interests at heart,” Randall threatens to remove him from his leadership role (82). Randall leaves, and Camille texts Hank to belatedly warn him that Randall is coming and will probably act poorly. Hank knows that if Randall wants to, he’ll make sure everyone believes Hank killed Ben.

On Saturday, October 10, Aubrey drives to a boutique in St. Francisville and shops around before buying an expensive rosebud vase that she thinks her mother would’ve loved.

Deacon and Serenity arrive in a black SUV and park near Aubrey. Aubrey gives Serenity Camille’s phone and tells her to linger in the park at the center of town. Serenity can’t pass for Camille, so Aubrey keeps the credit card with her.

Aubrey imagines Camille was shocked to see Eddie and Shane arrive at her house. After Camille left Doug’s Tavern the night she met Aubrey, Eddie and Shane revealed that Ben brought them a 1970 Mustang to repair. When Ben dropped by to check on the car, he seemed more interested in their house and who lived there. Eddie and Shane plan to keep the act up with Ben until Aubrey and Deacon can find out more about Camille and Ben.

Deacon drives Aubrey to the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Aubrey prepares herself to face Paul Granger, the man convicted of killing her parents.

The narrative jumps back further, to Saturday, September 12. Ben and Camille attend a benefit ball, with Camille still reeling from meeting Aubrey. Ben steers them toward the table full of Camille’s family, and Camille dreads interacting with her father. She sits next to her sister-in-law, Margaret, and makes small talk before her brother, Silas, warns her that Randall plans to guilt Camille into attending a church festival in Corbeau. Randall immediately pressures Camille; she deflects by promising to talk to her mother about it. Randall also pressures Camille to have a child. Camille asks him about Paul Granger. Randall doesn’t understand why Camille would bring him up, then becomes distracted by other benefit attendees.

Camille remembers Paul Granger, who was a 30-year-old drug dealer from Corbeau when Camille and Ben were in college. Summers in Corbeau were slow and boring, and younger people often hung out with Paul at his house to party and do drugs. Randall always sent Camille and Silas away for the summers to avoid temptation. Ten years ago, during the summer after Camille and Ben’s sophomore year of college, Camille studied abroad in Spain and Ben stayed in Corbeau. Before that summer, Ben sided with Camille against Randall, but after Camille returned from Spain, Ben sided with Randall against her instead, and Camille was never sure why.

After Camille met Aubrey, Camille found out Aubrey’s parents were the people killed in a drunk driving accident, presumably by Paul and his truck. Paul always insisted he wasn’t driving the truck that killed the Prices, and Camille begins to wonder if that’s true.

Ben offers to send Camille to St. Francisville during the weekend of the church festival in Corbeau, so she can make content for her Instagram and drop by the festival without having to stay with her parents. Camille pushes back because she senses Ben’s ulterior motives, but she ultimately agrees and starts to plot.

On Monday, October 12, Lila assures Hank that the security guard is there and that the security company installed a panic button at the front desk. Sully visits Hank at the office and informs him the police are done searching the Bayliss house. Hank intuits that they found nothing that guides them toward a suspect.

Sully wants to question Camille, but Hank convinces him to wait, as Camille remains lost in her grief and is struggling with funerary preparations and the Rosary at their church. Sully agrees to wait but starts to question Hank. He starts recording the questioning and asks Hank about Ben’s life. Hank honestly tells Sully about Ben’s attempt to dissolve their partnership, though he maintains he and Ben weren’t having issues prior. Hank confesses he didn’t know that Ben was having a car restored.

Sully shows Hank a document from a FedEx package claiming a key to a gun safe was delivered to the Bayliss house, but Hank says he never knew of Ben owning a gun safe, and the key is missing. Hank shares his flimsy alibi, knowing that Sully might find it easy to pin the crime on him.

When Sully leaves, Hank starts perusing Ben’s files. He finds a file at the bottom with information about Aubrey from a private investigator, along with information about Paul Granger. A friend of Hank’s brought Paul’s case to Hank as a pro bono opportunity, and Hank thought it would be possible to overturn Paul’s conviction. When Hank told Ben, Ben shot him down. Hank plans to investigate Paul, Aubrey, and FP Restorations.

The narrative jumps back to Tuesday, September 15. Deacon comes to Aubrey’s room after midnight. He tells her that he looked into Ben: He’s a corrupt lawyer that has judges in his pocket and blackmails witnesses to recant their statements against his clients. Ben uses a private investigator named Vic, who has many gambling debts. Deacon says that his cousin, Chris, the bookie, bought Vic’s debts and offered to forgive the debt if Vic tells them what Ben is doing and why he’s interested in Aubrey. Vic told Chris that Ben found out Hank was looking into Paul’s case and shut it down, but he wanted Vic to find the new evidence that Paul claimed could exonerate him by any means. Ben also stalked Aubrey and brought the car to Eddie and Shane to gain access to the house. Vic promised to gain more information from Ben.

Aubrey apologizes to Deacon for involving him, but Deacon promises to help her. Aubrey remembers when her parents died when she was 16. The police told Aubrey that Paul was guilty, but when she looked into it when she turned 18, she found the case flimsy. No one seemed willing to reopen the case, and her aunt and uncle used all her parents’ money, leaving Aubrey with nothing. Aubrey worked to survive until the letters from Paul began to arrive and Camille visited her. Deacon thinks the new evidence will implicate Ben in the crime, and Aubrey needs to find the truth.

On Saturday, October 10, Camille watches the cameras as Ben watches the video of Aubrey on his computer. The video is of Aubrey asking a Corbeau detective named Walton about her parents’ deaths. Aubrey reveals that Paul wrote to her and told her that he has new evidence that implicates someone else in the crime. Walton dismisses Aubrey and treats her with such contempt that even Ben recoils watching the video.

Ben calls someone, presumably his PI Vic, and asks him when Aubrey spoke to the police in Corbeau and what new evidence has emerged. Vic asks Ben if Ben has been to the safe yet, and Ben opens a FedEx package with a key inside it. Ben asks the man if Kevin Foster’s house is empty, and Vic confirms it should be. Camille remembers that Foster is Randall’s “go-to guy” and wonders what is inside the safe that Ben wants (124).

The doorbell rings, and Ben ends the call. He opens the door to reveal Margaret, Camille’s sister-in-law.

The narrative jumps back to Monday, September 28. Deacon and Aubrey meet up with Camille. Vic the PI told them that Ben needs access to a giant, four-ton gun safe. Vic has arranged to lift the safe up to access the serial number and request a replacement key.

Deacon stays by the car, and Aubrey approaches Camille. Aubrey tells Camille that she knows that Paul is innocent and Ben is guilty in the death of her parents, but she needs Camille’s help to prove it. If Camille refuses, Aubrey threatens to contact a true crime podcast to bring attention to Paul’s case. Aubrey knows that Ben will be having someone over to the house and wants Camille to record it. Camille tells Aubrey that Ben tracks her, and Aubrey hatches a plan to impersonate Camille.