Death in Her Hands

The chapter begins at night, with Vesta unable to sleep after drinking coffee. Charlie is also restless in the still cabin. Feeling unsafe, Vesta retrieves a butcher knife from the kitchen and hides it under her mattress, then imagines various escape routes from a potential attacker. She thinks about her investigation into Magda’s disappearance, her list of suspects, and her own lack of detective skills.

Her thoughts turn to her contentious marriage with her late husband, Walter. She recalls how their desires always conflicted; he preferred museums while she wanted to be outdoors. Walter often belittled her appearance and was disliked by the townspeople of Monlith, from whom he felt alienated. Vesta remembers their courthouse marriage and a honeymoon in Des Moines, where Walter worked on his dissertation. Since his death, she has kept his ashes in an urn. She imagines Walter critiquing her current investigation just as he used to spoil murder mysteries for her. To personify the killer, Vesta creates an abstract suspect, a black ghost she names Ghod. She cracks a window for air, causing Charlie to move from the bed to the top of the stairs. Vesta then dreams of Walter and his ashes turning to quicksand, with a hand reaching out for her.