How to Cheat Your Own Death

In the present, Annie leaves Laura’s house with Frances’s diary. She reflects on the fortune she received from Peony Lane—“But it will be your own heart, if left unguarded, that’s ripe for the knife” (310)—and realizes that it may refer to her emotional vulnerability with Crane rather than physical danger. Deciding to be bold, she recalls a phrase that Vera repeated in Frances’s diary: “I forgot who I was for a moment there” (262). Annie connects this to a passage where Frances suggested that Vera should get to her abusive husband “first.” 

Realizing the significance, Annie rushes to the cemetery where Vera’s body is being exhumed. She finds Crane and tells him that she has made two discoveries. First, she theorizes that the body in the coffin isn’t Vera’s but that of Marie Cavanaugh. Second, acting on her newfound resolve, she kisses him.

In 1968, on the drive back to Chelsea, Frances tells Ford about Max’s threat. Ford is enraged and assures her that they would win a lawsuit, though he worries that Max might proceed anyway just to cause her pain. When they arrive at Ford’s Chelsea home, they find a drunk and distraught Brian Folkestone on the steps. 

Overruling Ford’s protective instincts, Frances insists on speaking with Brian. He confesses that he has been receiving instructions to intimidate her into stopping her investigation into Vera’s death. However, he refuses to do so because Vera told him that she liked Frances. Brian won’t say who is giving him orders, only reiterating his deep love for Vera before he leaves.

In the present, Crane gently ends the kiss with Annie, stating that the timing is wrong but that they can talk later. Feeling rejected and embarrassed, Annie drives to the pathology lab, convincing herself that she has misinterpreted Crane’s past kindness. She arrives to find that Crane has been delayed by a problem involving both Elaine and Max, who had tried to disrupt the exhumation. 

Annie decides to share her theory with Kabir. She explains her belief that Vera killed Marie, used the body to fake her own death and frame her husband, and then disappeared by assuming Marie’s identity. Kabir is skeptical but agrees to check Marie’s dental records. As Annie is leaving, Kabir asks for her number to discuss the case and then asks her on a date. Still stung from Crane’s rejection, Annie agrees.

While driving from the hospital, Annie receives a call from Brian Folkestone. He claims that Laura is in danger at the Barbican Centre, where her new art exhibition is being set up. Brian says that he saw Elaine there with a canvas, unmistakably one of Vera’s that Laura had signed as her own. Annie concludes that Elaine plans to publicly expose her mother’s long-held secret. Brian urges Annie to hurry to the Barbican to stop her. Annie agrees and drives to the venue, unable to reach her mother by phone.

Annie arrives at the Barbican and calls Crane as she heads to her mother’s exhibition space, and he stays on the phone with her. Outside the gallery doors, she finds Laura’s art broker, Bobby, unconscious. Fearing that her mother is inside with her enemies, Annie enters the dark, unlocked gallery but finds it empty and the art untouched. Crane tells her that Brian never called him. At that moment, Brian emerges from the shadows, grabs Annie from behind, and holds a knife to her throat.

Brian reveals his plan to kill Annie to hurt Laura for profiting from Vera’s art; he’s the one who has been blackmailing Laura. He confesses that he, not Vera, murdered Marie with mercury poisoning. He reveals that Vera had wanted him to obtain a “Jane Doe” from the morgue to fake her death, but he decided on his own to kill Marie, both to frame Dr. Huntington and to punish her as his accomplice. 

As he speaks, another figure emerges from the shadows: Annie’s father, Sam. Brian’s surprise gives Annie a chance to break free, but he quickly tackles her and pins her to the floor, holding the knife over her heart and slightly cutting her chest. Sam intervenes, attacking Brian from behind. In the ensuing struggle, Annie is punched in the face and, dazed by the sight of her own blood, begins to lose consciousness. The last thing she sees is Sam stabbing Brian in the back.

Annie regains consciousness to find Sam tending to her. He explains that he didn’t kill Fliss but had threatened her after learning that she planned to expose Laura’s art fraud. He says that Fliss had contacted Brian about Vera’s remaining paintings, thinking that he represented the gallery. This implies that Brian lured her and murdered her. Sam also reveals that Laura had asked him to follow Annie to ensure her safety. When Annie asks where he has been all her life, he confesses that he was in prison for killing someone. As police sirens approach, Annie begs him to stay, insisting that he acted in self-defense. Sam refuses, stating that the police wouldn’t believe him and hinting that he fears an investigation would connect him to another, unrelated crime. He apologizes to Annie and flees.

Crane arrives at the gallery with other officers. Soon after, Vera Huntington appears, having eluded the police to come to the scene herself; she is no longer timid “Marie” but a poised and confident woman. Vera examines Laura’s art and tells Annie that Brian was likely responsible for leaving animal hearts on their doorstep. She confirms that Max knew of her plan to fake her death and that it was Brian who altered her appearance so that she wouldn’t be recognized. 

When a police officer at the scene asks for Annie’s statement, Crane watches her intently. To protect her father, Annie falsely confesses that she killed Brian in self-defense during their struggle.

In a diary entry dated 1969, Frances writes that Max dropped out of the university and disappeared following his father’s scandal. She and Ford are now happily engaged. While going through Vera’s stored belongings, Frances discovers a previously unnoticed note inside the box for Vera’s tiara. The note expresses Vera’s hope that Frances will wear the tiara on her wedding day. Ford reassures a conflicted Frances that wearing it would be a tribute to their friendship, not bad luck. Reflecting on her life with Ford, Frances feels a sense of safety and joy. She notes in her diary that she wore the tiara at their wedding and has come to see herself not just as a “collector of secrets” but as a “student of the human mind” (307).

In the present, Annie returns to the Chelsea house with Crane. He insists that they talk about their kiss at the cemetery. Annie confronts him, asking if she misinterpreted his comforting gestures as romantic interest. He admits that his feelings are real but says that he must keep her safe, “even if that means breaking [her] heart” (309). With concern, he questions why she’s still carrying fortunes from Peony Lane, fearing that she’ll become fixated on them like Frances was. In response, Annie throws the fortunes out the window. 

When Annie presses for the real reason why he’s pushing her away, Crane confesses that a killer from an old, unsolved case has been taunting him with notes for years. He reveals that the killer already knows about Annie, and he fears that if they become a couple, she will be targeted. He then leaves abruptly.

In the aftermath, Annie’s claim of self-defense in Brian’s death is accepted. Vera faces lesser charges for her role in Marie’s death and becomes a media curiosity. Sam sends Annie occasional postcards, which he has never done before. 

Inspired by the investigation into Dr. Huntington’s crimes against unhoused people, Annie creates an exhibit telling the victims’ stories, which opens at the Wellcome Trust in London. At the end of the night, Annie discovers one of the fortunes she threw out the window on a table. It bears Crane’s name. The fortune’s uncanny reappearance signals to her what her future holds, and she knows she must return to Castle Knoll.