Ethan drives to the stockyards. He wonders if Francis is lying to him or trying to show his control. However, he realizes that he has no choice but to check.

Ethan brings his gun from his glove compartment as he enters the warehouse. As he checks the perimeter, he spots a manila envelope taped to the wall. Inside, he finds a disposable cell phone.

The next morning, Ethan sits in his office, going over the case file. They found Callie’s phone on a dock along with the boat and some of Callie’s blood. They identified every call and message she made that summer except for one, which they traced back to a Samsung disposable phone. They even pulled the security footage from the day it was bought and saw Callie buying it. However, they were never able to identify who had it.

Ethan goes through the locations of Callie’s calls, tracking them by the cell phone towers that they pinged. One call was made in Chicago, two days before she disappeared. It was made by Callie’s phone to the Samsung phone.

Ethan calls Pete. He hesitates but decides not to tell Pete about the phone, as he does not want to explain how he got it. Instead, he asks Pete if Callie’s phone is still at the police station.

Ethan goes back to visit Christian and brings Callie’s phone. After Christian asks what he is doing, Ethan hesitates, then tells him about his past career with the DCI and the help he is giving on Callie’s case.

Ethan explains that Callie’s phone has none of the text messages that were sent to the disposable phone. The technology people at DCI can see that there are “threads” still, but the messages were likely erased by an application. He also asks if there is any way to tell the exact location of the call from Chicago. Christian is unsure, but he offers to help with both.

Christian manages to track the location of the call from Chicago, giving Ethan his best guess as to the address. When Ethan arrives there, he finds that it is a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Ethan asks the supervisor, Cheryl Stowe, about her records. He produces a search warrant signed by a judge (who is friends with Governor Jones) the night before. However, when Cheryl searches the records for Callie’s name, nothing is returned. She explains that in 2015, it was illegal to get an abortion in Wisconsin without parental consent; the same wasn’t true in Illinois. Callie likely used a fake name.

Ethan produces Callie’s file. When he shows the photo of Callie to Cheryl, she is shocked that she recognizes her.

Cheryl explains that she remembers Callie because of how unique their interaction was. She shared a quote with Cheryl, “The tragedy of life is not that man loses, but that he almost wins” (125), which Ethan recognizes from his conversation with Lindsay as a quote they used for motivation in volleyball. Sensing Callie’s hesitancy, Cheryl recommended that Callie wait to have the abortion. Callie left that day without getting one.

The next day, Callie returned and thanked Cheryl for the advice. She decided to keep the baby, and Cheryl could tell that she seemed much happier with that choice. Cheryl tells Ethan that the moment had a big impact on her own life.

The kidnapped woman hears a car door slam, and the unknown kidnapper comes down the stairs. This time, she thrusts a pair of handcuffs through the slot in the door. The kidnapper instructs her to handcuff herself to the bathroom door.

After the kidnapped woman complies, the kidnapper comes into the room. She throws a copy of today’s newspaper at her. When she holds it up, the kidnapper takes a photo. She then leaves the keys to the handcuffs and walks back out the door.

Back at home, Ethan goes over the case with Maddie. She points out the number of people who could have been unhappy with Callie’s decision to keep her baby, including her parents, her stepfather, and whoever the father was. Ethan assumes that she was communicating with him via the disposable phone.

In the end, Maddie advises him to give the information he has found to Pete and Governor Jones. However, Ethan decides to visit Francis the next day to try to get an explanation from him first.

That afternoon, Ethan goes with Lindsay, Pete, and another officer by boat to The Crest to review the spot where Callie was last seen. Lindsay explains that it used to be a restaurant, but it shut down after Callie’s disappearance. She shows them the volleyball courts where they played for most of the night. Around nine o’clock at night, Callie got a text message that she said was from her mother, so she had to leave. However, Pete confirms that the message actually came from the disposable phone.

As Callie waits to play volleyball, she gets a message from Blake. She tried to contact him all day about her decision to keep her baby. She tells him via text message. He responds by asking her to meet him at North Point Pier.

According to the file, Callie returned home at nine o’clock at night to get a sweatshirt. Her sister, Jaycee, saw her that night. Ethan and the others take the boat to Callie’s house. It takes them about 15 minutes. They then go to North Point Pier, where Callie’s boat and her blood were found the next morning.

After Pete shows Ethan the spot where her blood was, he speculates that the person who killed her must have texted her to meet them at the pier. Ethan knows it was probably the father of Callie’s baby. However, he again decides to keep the information from Pete.

Ethan returns to the prison to see Francis. He asks how Francis knew about the phone, and Francis insists that he knows much more, including the phone’s owner and where Callie is. Ethan struggles to figure out how Francis knows anything, as he went to prison in 1993, 22 years before Callie disappeared.

Francis offers to give Ethan the rest of the information but makes it clear that he wants something in return. However, Ethan refuses to negotiate. He believes that he has enough information to solve the case.

After Ethan refuses, Francis directs him to the footlocker in the rafters of the warehouse.

When Ethan gets to the footlocker, he finds a photo inside of a woman handcuffed to a door. She is holding a copy of yesterday’s newspaper. There is also another newspaper, opened to an article about a woman named Portia Vail who went missing a few weeks ago. An index card falls from the loft and onto the floor of the warehouse.

Ethan takes the newspaper and the photograph. He climbs down and retrieves the notecard. It reads, “Hurry, Special Agent Hall. Callie Jones is dead and buried, but the clock is tic tic ticking on this one…” (149).

Ethan reviews the article about Portia at his home. Very little information is given about her, except that she disappeared from her job as a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on July 4. He has the newspaper and the new photo of her in evidence bags. He takes them to show Maddie.

On the way to the police station, Ethan calls Pete and tells him everything. Pete ensures that the warehouse is put under surveillance.

Ethan shows the information to Maddie. She gets him all the information that they have on Portia. She also agrees to keep it a secret from the two detectives who are already on the case, as Ethan wants to continue to keep Francis’s involvement secret.

Ethan and Maddie go to interview Portia’s fiancé, Nicholas Brann. Nicholas tells them that he and Portia were not technically together. Three months ago, they disagreed over the wedding, so they broke up. However, they spent the night together on June 28. When he didn’t hear from her after that and couldn’t get a hold of her, he called the police to report her missing.

Maddie asks about their breakup, and Nicholas insists that it was nothing serious. However, while they were split up, Portia went on a few dates with another man: Blake Cordis.

That night, Ethan and Maddie review Portia’s file. Ethan explains that Blake was also Callie’s volleyball coach, but they can’t find any other connections. Portia made over 100 calls and texts to Blake over the three months after she broke up with Nicholas. About a week before she went missing, she stopped responding, but Blake kept calling her. They decide to talk with Blake.

Blake works for the Prescott family, a wealthy family that owns Prescott Lumber and a horse track and breeding farm. They live near Beaver Dam, where Blake is the head groundskeeper of their large estate.

Blake invites Ethan and Maddie back to his office. He asks if he can smoke, then pulls out a pack of Saratoga 120s, cigarettes that he has to order online because of their rarity. When they ask about Portia, he explains that they dated only briefly. When he was interested in something more serious, she stopped responding to him, and Blake eventually gave up. He is surprised when they tell him that Portia is missing.

Ethan then asks about Callie. However, Blake shuts down, insisting that he has already talked about all of this. He tells them that they will need to arrest him or talk to him with his lawyer present, then dismisses them.

Ethan asks Maddie’s opinion. She is unsure if she believes Blake but points out that he seemed genuinely surprised when he learned that Portia was missing. Ethan agrees. Unsure what to do next, he decides to visit Francis again.

Ethan demands that Francis tell him where Portia is, but Francis again insists that he wants something in exchange. He tells Ethan that Callie has been dead for a long time. There is no rush to find her, but Portia will die soon, too, if she is not found. He asks to be transferred out of the maximum-security prison and solitary confinement to the Columbia Correctional Institution, where he can be part of the general population. He gives Ethan one week to make it happen.

Ethan and Pete return to the Edgewater Hotel, where they have another meeting with Governor Jones. Ethan gives him an update on everything they have found. They also explain that they believe a woman named Eugenia, one of the only people to visit Francis, has given him much of the information he has. She is currently under surveillance. Ethan tells Governor Jones about Francis’s demand to be transferred.

Eugenia checks herself in the mirror. She sees her latest tattoo, a black heart. She prides herself on how well she did with placing the photographs and the envelope for Francis. She is hopeful that she can soon be with Francis more regularly. Checking the time, she logs into a computer for her therapy session.

Lindsay prepares for a session with her client, Eugenia. Eugenia has been diagnosed with hybristophilia, which is characterized by sexual attraction to criminals. She used to frequently visit a man in prison who tried to convince her to help him kidnap a girl. She managed to turn against him and reported it to the police and is now completing court-ordered therapy.

When Lindsay starts the session, she can see that something is wrong with Eugenia. After assuring her that she cannot share anything that is spoken about in their sessions, Eugenia admits to visiting Francis. Lindsay asks if Francis asked her to do anything illegal. Although Eugenia says that he didn’t, Lindsay can tell that she isn’t being completely honest.

After her session, Eugenia drives to Milwaukee. She goes into a gun shop and asks about purchasing a handgun. After checking her identification, the clerk lets her test the gun in the range out back. Eugenia is confident that the gun will be useful in the near future.

Next, Eugenia goes to Tactical Zone. She purchases a Kevlar vest and a Swiss Army knife. She flirts with the clerk, hoping that he will remember her when the police question him later. As she drives away from the store, she notes that Pete is following her in an unmarked car.

An unnamed woman climbs through the window of Blake’s cottage, which she unlocked the last time she visited him. He lives on the Prescott estate. She gets information off his computer, then leaves a 9-iron golf club in his closet. She takes a pack of his cigarettes on the way out.

Governor Jones visits Ari Cutlass, the warden of the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility. He explains the situation with Francis and requests a transfer for him, knowing that it will be difficult. Ari is hesitant, but Jones insists that it will be a personal favor for him. In the end, Cutlass agrees that if Francis can pass a psychological evaluation, he can be with the general population.

Out to dinner with Maddie, Ethan tries not to think about Governor Jones’s meeting with Cutlass. His phone rings. Lindsay tells him that she has something urgent that she needs him to see.

Half an hour later, Ethan arrives at Lindsay’s office. She pulls up a recording of a session that she had. She admits that showing Ethan is illegal but feels it’s too important not to share. She also explains that the client used their anonymous feature to disguise their face and voice.

A distorted figure comes onto the screen. Lindsay introduces herself. The client tells her that they “made a girl disappear” and need Lindsay “to help [them] forgive [themselves] for what [they] did to her” (189-90). The client tells Lindsay that the girl is Callie Jones.

Lindsay explains that she has no idea who the caller was and no way to figure it out because of their anonymous system. She is confident that with a few sessions, she can get them to give her more information. Ethan almost tells Lindsay about the new developments in the investigation but stops himself; instead, he insists that they don’t have time for the several sessions it would take Lindsay to get the information. He proposes that she allow his tech “friend” to try to get through the encryption that their company uses. After hesitating, Lindsay agrees, as long as the investigation is never made public, as it would ruin her reputation.

Ethan visits Christian. Christian explains that he cannot find most of the text messages from Callie’s phone, as she used an app that permanently deleted the threads from her phone once she manually deleted them. However, the process typically takes seven days. If Callie’s phone died before that could happen, he is hopeful that he can still recover the messages from the last few days, but he still needs more time.

Ethan explains the situation with The Anonymous Client. He wants Christian to hack into their third-party encryption company. Christian is confident he can do it, but he is worried about a lawsuit, even with Lindsay’s approval. Ethan assures him that he can get him immunity, then calls Governor Jones.

Eugenia puts on a wig and leaves her home, getting into a different car. She ensures that Pete isn’t following her and drives to Veteran’s Park. She sits on a bench overlooking Lake Michigan. Once she is certain that she is alone, she walks to a Little Free Library. She tapes an envelope to the inside ceiling.

Eugenia then puts a Lake Morikawa address into her GPS. She plans to arrive at the home of Hugh and Ruth Winchester that night, one of only eight homes on the lake.

Francis is in his cell when two guards visit him. They cuff him, then take him to see the prison psychologist. Francis knows that Ethan has begun the steps to ensure his transfer.

Eugenia arrives at the Winchester home. Ruth answers the door. Eugenia explains that she is lost, so Ruth goes to get her husband. When Hugh arrives, Eugenia cuts both their throats. After cleaning up the home, she returns to the car. She plans to drive to the Mexico border.

Ethan returns to the Edgewater Hotel. Governor Jones explains that Francis passed his psychological evaluation. Ethan then gives him a letter that he wrote to the parole board and the warden. In it, he requests that Francis be transferred. Governor Jones acknowledges how difficult it must have been for Ethan to write it. Secretly, Ethan still hopes that Christian can find the answers they need before the transfer goes through.

Ethan explains that he is going to see Francis on Monday. He agreed to provide the information they want as soon as the transfer officially began.

That evening, Eugenia arrives in Hachita, New Mexico, the most southern point before the Antelope Wells port of entry into Mexico. She pulls out an envelope that Francis sent to her. Inside is another envelope addressed to Ethan. She drops the key to the storage unit inside, then seals it.

Eugenia takes the envelope to the post office. She asks the clerk to wait and mail it on Thursday. He agrees, assuring her that it will arrive by next weekend.

Christian calls Ethan. He is certain that he won’t be able to hack The Anonymous Client’s encryption by Monday and apologizes. However, Ethan encourages him to keep working. Christian then tells Ethan that he recovered the last few text messages from Callie’s phone.

Ethan goes to Christian’s house. Christian shows him the messages, which discuss Callie’s decision to keep the baby. Although there are only a few, she calls Blake by his name in one of them.

Callie stops at home to get a sweatshirt before going to the pier. She is rude to her sister, which she knows might make Jaycee tell their mother that she went out. Callie realizes that she doesn’t care. For the first time, she feels like she is doing what she wants by having the baby and starting a relationship with Blake.

When Callie gets to North Point Pier, she docks the boat and walks down it. She doesn’t see Blake or his car. Suddenly, she is hit over the head three times before everything goes black.

After leaving Christian’s home, Ethan goes to Blake’s cottage. When he goes to knock on the door, he hears a shotgun cracking behind him. He turns and finds Blake pointing it at him. Realizing that it’s Ethan, Blake invites him inside.

Ethan tells Blake that they know about the disposable phone, Callie’s decision to keep the baby, and the messages that he sent to Callie the night she disappeared. In response, Blake insists that he wanted Callie to keep the baby. He knew the pressure that she was under to play volleyball and go to college, so he didn’t want to force her to do so, instead leaving it up to her. He is adamant that he loved Callie.

Blake goes on to explain that he did not have the phone at all on Saturday, as he lost it the day before. He didn’t want to risk messaging Callie from his own phone, so he planned to get a new one with her on Sunday. As Ethan watches Blake, he realizes that he believes his story.

In the car, Ethan considers what to do. His “gut” tells him that Blake’s story is true and that he’s missing something important. He realizes that his only choice is to get the information from Francis.

Just after midnight, Eugenia arrives back in Wisconsin. She hides her second vehicle in the brush along the highway and takes an Uber back to her home. She carries a bag of fast food, into which she has put sedatives. She drops it into the slot, noting the woman inside lying on the bed. She then goes to sleep herself, excited over the prospect of finally being with Francis.