Famous Last Words

Before doing anything else, Niall decides to go observe George’s home. He stays there late into the night until, a little before midnight, George and Isabella come out of the house.

Niall hears George talking on the phone. He calls her Janet—which is the name of Alexander Hale’s mother. Before hanging up, he calls her “sis.” Niall realizes that George and Janet must be siblings, connecting George to Alexander’s death. He then wonders if Luke was somehow involved in the deaths of Alexander and James.

The narrator texts his brother. He tells him that Luke has contacted Cam. He has “made up a reason” to stay with Cam and promises to “get hold of what [Luke] sent” (289). His brother replies, thanking “Charlie,” and the narrator writes back and calls him “George.”

In their living room, Cam tries to get Charlie to leave, but he insists that he should stay to at least finish his coffee after seeing the man outside. He then sips his coffee, realizing that he didn’t stir it. Cam offers to do so and goes into the kitchen.

When Cam returns, she sees that the book has moved slightly on the couch.

As Niall waits near George’s home, he sees George read a message on his phone. He then tells his wife that Luke has written to Cam in the form of a book. In it, he reveals that Alexander killed James—then Luke inadvertently killed Alexander. At the end of the book, Luke tells Cam that he is in Dungeness.

After George and Isabella are gone, Niall considers contacting Cam. However, he decides that she is safe. He then follows George’s car.

Cam asks Charlie about the book, but he pretends not to know what she is talking about. She thinks of how he is a good actor—but she can tell that something is slightly off. She tries to get him to leave, but he insists that he needs to stay.

Cam then sees Charlie’s phone light up. It is a message from George, informing him that they are going to Dungeness.

Realizing that Charlie won’t leave, Cam instead invites him up to bed. As she lies with Charlie, her back to him and his arms around her, she talks mundanely about work to try to get him to feel safe. Eventually, his body relaxes, as does his grip on her. Although she knows he isn’t sleeping, she at least feels like he is no longer afraid of her escaping.

Cam thinks about the book. She realizes that the entire thing must have been a message to her. She recalls one line that she thought was strange: “That, if anything… if anyone ever wanted to escape the family business, the weapon I always used was buried in the garden” (298). She realizes that “if anything” was the same line that was on the note he left the day of the siege.

Springing from bed, Cam flees out the door and into the garden. She can feel Charlie following her. She desperately searches the ground and sees loose dirt. She falls onto it, pulling out a pistol. She turns just as Charlie gets near her, aiming the pistol at him and stopping him in his tracks.

Charlie pleads with her. He insists that he was only doing what he was told to do. They only became concerned with her once Luke dropped off the book and tried to get in contact with her. The way that Charlie “coldly” says this is what makes her shoot, just as Charlie lunges at her.

Niall follows George’s car. He stops and picks up the Hales, then heads toward Dungeness.

As Niall drives, he realizes why he has to do this job. He thinks of Cam’s “I miss you I miss you I miss you” (302) message to Luke, as well as the fact that Luke is innocent—and that he deserves to be back with Cam.

After shooting Charlie in the thigh, Cam flees. She gets a taxi and goes directly to where Luke is staying. She knocks on the door of a shack, and Luke answers. They embrace, holding each other for several moments.

Luke tells Cam his entire story. He was out driving, trying to get Polly to fall asleep, when he saw Alexander kill James. He grabbed him and shoved him, and Alexander hit his head on the ground. Luke considered calling the police, but then a man showed up—George—and saw him, so Luke ran.

For weeks, Luke stressed over everything but resisted the urge to turn himself in. However, he had a dream one night that he went to hell, where the devil accused him of being a murderer. Racked with guilt, Luke went to the funeral then Alexander’s grave, where he was spotted by George. After the men broke into his house, they left him a note with a date and time to meet at the warehouse.

On the day of the siege, Luke watched outside the warehouse until the killer put his gun down. Luke then went in and held them at gunpoint, wanting to call the police. However, he then realized that everything was on CCTV; when he heard Niall talk to him, he realized that they thought he was the kidnapper. Before he could stop her, Isabella answered the phone. She then told Luke she could get him out if he let her go. Instead, she released both of the tied-up men, instructing them to attack Luke once she was gone. When they did so, Luke shot them both in self-defense.

As Luke finishes his story, Cam is relieved to know that Luke truly is a good person. Her heart aches at the thought of all the years he spent alone, thinking about her and trying to get back to her.

Niall arrives in Dungeness. He sees Isabella, George, and the Hales running toward a lighthouse. As George tries to break down the door to the lighthouse, Niall yells at him, ordering him to stop. George looks at him, then continues, yelling that Luke killed his son. George then shoots the lock off the lighthouse, so Niall yells to him again. George turns to him, gun raised. He yells to Niall that he wants “revenge,” then turns back, opening the lighthouse door with his gun drawn.

Niall shoots George, just as he enters the lighthouse. He then subdues the others, tying them up and making them his “hostages.” As he looks into the lighthouse, he realizes that there is no one inside; “he was protecting no one” by shooting George (313).

The rest of the line from Luke’s book about the garden reads, “That important items were in a lockup under my name” (314). Cam surmised that he meant St. Luke’s, so she went there instead of Dungeness.

After Luke got an alert that Cam was trying to have him declared legally dead, he started writing the book. He also sent the coordinates to St. Luke’s, but, because of Niall, she never came. He desperately wrote, wanting to tell her his story before she “moved on” from him. Luke then asks, “What is she like?” (315), and Cam knows he is asking about Polly.

In Bogota, Columbia, Niall works as a teacher, training recruits who want to be hostage negotiators. After he killed George, he asked Cam and Luke to come to Dungeness. Luke lied and told the police that they had been in the lighthouse and that Niall’s actions saved them. Isabella and the Hales went to prison. Niall lost his job for withholding information in the case.

After class, he walks with Vivienne through the streets. He thinks of how Viv will always come first in his life, “the natural order it has to be” (321).

As Polly, now almost 15 years old, gets ready for a dance recital, Cam spots a book on the shelf. It is Luke’s book that he wrote to her, which she had bound—a memoir just for them entitled Famous Last Words. She thinks of how she was not charged after shooting Charlie, as he told the police the truth about everything.

Polly comes into the room, asking Cam to braid her hair. She thinks of how Luke still does not quite fit in. He didn’t move into their home for a year, then Polly never called him “Dad” until a few years later. Luke is different in small ways now, but Cam realizes that is part of “the price you pay for happiness” (323).

Polly asks if Libby and Bobby are coming to the recital. Cam confirms that Libby is but that her son—born through a surrogate three years before—is still too young. As Polly does a little dance, Luke laughs, and Cam realizes they are happy—even if it is a little “complicated.”