Cam sits in the restroom. She signed paperwork to sell the house yesterday, fighting to have Luke declared legally dead. She receives a text from an anonymous number with a string of digits and a time: 9:00 pm. She assumes it is spam, puts her phone away, and returns to the table.

Cam tries to reengage in conversation with Charlie. However, she receives an email with the same digits and time. She realizes that the numbers are coordinates. She becomes certain that the message is from Luke. She excuses herself from dinner, lying and saying that Polly is sick. She can tell Charlie knows she is lying, but she can’t bring herself to feel sympathy.

As Cam makes her way to the coordinates, she thinks of Luke. All this time, she has held onto hope that Luke is still alive somewhere and that there is a plausible explanation for everything.

Cam arrives at the location in the text. It is a nondescript spot in an alleyway between two houses. She waits until nine o’clock.

Cam waits for over half an hour and no one appears. Even though there was no reason to believe it was Luke, she finds herself growing angry at him. She returns to her home and begins reading a new manuscript. Over the years, she turned even more toward work and literature, using it to forget about what happened.

Later that night, Cam realizes how dangerous it had been to go to the alleyway. For the first time, she considers that the messages might have been from someone “sinister.”

Niall wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. He has the same dream in different variations regularly: He rushes into the building but is never able to get to the hostages in time. Each time, the sound of two gunshots wakes him up. In February, a few months before, someone believed they saw Luke near Cam’s apartment; however, they were never able to find the person. After that, the dreams increased in frequency even more.

After Luke escaped, they were not able to match the DNA or dental records of the hostages to anyone. They pleaded with the public, but no one ever came forward to identify them. After, Niall chose to stop being a negotiator, instead returning to work as a regular detective.

Niall goes to his therapist, Jess. After Niall discussed his dreams with his boss, Tim, he was forced to start seeing her. He normally just passes the time talking about regular work, refusing to discuss the incident with Luke or his marriage—the two things that bother him most.

This day, he brings up the dreams to Jess. She asks him how he feels in the dream or what he wants to do. She stresses the fact that he made a mistake—something that he is allowed to do and that is forgivable. However, Niall disagrees.

At work, Niall gets a notice from an app he’s using to track Cam’s phone and sees the message with coordinates. The app holds the message before delivering it to Cam, so Niall changes its contents, keeping the coordinates the same but changing the time from nine o’clock to eight so he can go in her place.

A little after eight, Niall finds an envelope. The inside is empty, but there is a phone number on the flap. He texts it, telling the person that he got the note. The person tries to call him, but Niall doesn’t answer, instead texting to say that he is too afraid. The person then blocks Niall’s number.

Cam’s form to have Luke declared legally deceased is returned to her. They ask for more information to prove he is missing. Frustrated, Cam calls the probate department, and they assign her an agent to deal specifically with her case.

Cam thinks back to the events after Luke disappeared. She visited the house listing that Luke had saved again, learning that a man named Harry owned it. He had never met Luke. She had followed the police investigation and the reporting closely, growing angry as they speculated about why her husband did what he did. She is most frustrated by the thought of Polly growing up and learning the truth about Luke. Deep down, though, she still believes he is innocent.

That evening, Cam receives a new book from one of her clients, Adam. It is his second book. She notes how the first one came just before Luke disappeared. She signed him to a two-book deal, and it took him the last seven years to write the second one.

The narration switches to a first-person point of view. The narrator meets with his brother in a laundry mat. He reports to his brother that he has been to the house three times but has seen no one visit or anything out of the ordinary.

After finding the note and texting the phone number, Niall waited for Cam. He saw her approach the spot and wait, then leave without finding anything. Based on how she was acting, he speculates that she has never heard from Luke apart from that text.

Now, Niall goes to Tim’s office to report the incident. Instead of going through the normal protocol, he tells Tim about the anonymous message and the note. He does not want to alert everyone to it by filing the paperwork. Tim agrees.

The number from the envelope has only ever been pinged in two locations: the tower near the spot in London and one near Dungeness. Tim tells Niall that he can lead the investigation. They agree to send a team to Dungeness.

Later, as Niall walks through London, he runs into Vivienne’s sister, Rosalind. Their interaction is awkward and uncomfortable for Niall. In frustration, Rosalind tells him that Viv broke up with her current boyfriend. She angrily tells Niall that Viv is still in love with him, but he is a “terrible” communicator. She then walks away.

In Dungeness, Niall and his team visit every home. Most are small beach huts and vacation homes. Niall thinks of how it would be a good place for someone to hide out. However, they find nothing related to Luke.

Cam goes to school to pick up Polly. She sees a man watching her across the street, but he darts away before she can get a good look at him.

The other mothers begin talking around her. One tells Cam that they’ve seen her house and they love it. However, it makes Cam uncomfortable, afraid that they will discover what happened with Luke. So far, she has managed to keep it a secret from everyone except the headmaster and Polly’s teacher. To avoid further conversation, Cam begins reading a new book on her phone.

When Polly comes out of the school, she begins telling Cam about her day. However, she stops midsentence, pointing out someone across the street. Cam turns and sees the same man walking away.

That night, Cam begins reading the manuscript from Adam. She is immediately hooked, knowing that it will be another bestseller.

Cam gets ready to go to a publishing event for one of her authors. Libby arrives to watch Polly. Cam notes that she’s moving strangely, which makes her wonder if Libby is finally pregnant—she’s been trying IVF for years. The thought makes her want to stay home and avoid the event, but she forces herself to go.

At the event, an editor she knows indirectly, Adrienne, comes up to her. They had worked together a few times, years ago, but never really spoke. Adrienne brings up Luke, telling Cam that they had met a few times to help each other with their books. She insists that Luke was a good person and that the events of the siege shocked her.

Cam thanks her, thinking of how difficult it still is to talk about it. Adrienne then mentions that Luke canceled their last meeting a few days before the siege because he had a funeral. However, Cam knew nothing about it. Adrienne tells her that it was at a church called Whitechapel, but she didn’t know who it was for. She looks back in her calendar to give Cam an exact date.

Feeling as though the information is vital, Cam leaves the event. On the way home, she searches the date and “Whitechapel” online, unable to wait until she gets home.

Niall goes to Cam’s house early in the morning. He does so often, watching the house after he is woken up by his nightmare. He spots a man, tall with dark hair, watching from an alley across the street. Niall goes into the alley, but the man disappears.

At work, there is a briefing about Luke’s case for the first time in years. After reviewing all the information, his superiors decide that they’ve done all they can. They will continue to monitor Cam’s phone and house, but they truly believe she is innocent—as does Niall. However, he argues briefly, insisting that there is more that can be done. He is dismissed.

At his session with Jess, Niall brings up his conversation with Rosalind. Jess points out that Viv may be hopeful that Niall can put her above his job—but Niall has never actually shown that he’s capable of doing so. Niall realizes he wants to talk more about it, but they run out of time.

Niall decides that he needs to be more assertive if he wants to find Luke. Ignoring all protocol, he uses a burner phone to message the number from the envelope. He writes, “If you want to see your wife again, I can help you” (169).