Carter leads Birdy along a rocky cliff path to a secluded spot overlooking the bay. He explains that the beach is rumored to have been used by smugglers and that there are secret underground tunnels, one of which leads to Spyglass. Diana Harris is the person who discovered the body. She notes that the tide is going out, which wouldn’t normally wash something up on shore. Diana has moved the body, disturbing the possible crime scene, though she claims she was only trying to help. While Carter takes her statement, Birdy flips the body over and momentarily thinks it’s her dead mom, though she dismisses this as a hallucination. The woman will be difficult to identify because the fall destroyed her face. Carter vomits when he sees it. She has blonde hair and is wearing jeans. Diana swims often at this spot and never sees anyone, but today she spotted Carter.

Carter insists he never saw Diana on the beach. He tells Birdy he saw a man there but doesn’t tell her it was Harrison. Birdy asks him to confirm that the dead woman is Eden, but he won’t say, becoming nauseous again at the thought. Birdy says he must toughen up if he intends to do serious police work. Birdy leaves to find Harrison before word gets out about the body. Carter recalls Eden coming to see him earlier in the week, claiming she feared she was being followed. Carter had poured her a drink and kissed her.

Harrison uses the secret door to crawl through a tunnel, which leads out onto the beach where Eden’s body is washed ashore. He takes the cell phone, which contains a tracker he placed there. He doesn’t recognize Eden’s clothes, and the only thing identifying her is the presence of the phone. The task disgusts him, but he reminds himself that it’s all “for her.” He knows Carter saw him. After he crawls back through the tunnel, he burns his clothes and takes a shower. Exiting the shower, Harrison sees on the fogged-up mirror the word “LIAR.”

Birdy knows people in Hope Falls are lying. She texts Carter to meet her at the inn. Maddy closes, and Birdy is there alone. Carter arrives, letting himself in with his key, after having been to the coroner’s office to deliver the hairbrush. A team from London has arrived, and now they can only wait until the team identifies the body. Birdy tried to visit Harrison, but he wasn’t answering the door or his phone. Carter wants to interview Gabriella, but Birdy says no.

A wave of pain hits Birdy, as she has missed her medication. She asks Carter to get her pills, but instead, he carries her to her room. She lies, claiming she has migraines. Moved by his tenderness, Birdy kisses Carter. He reminds her she is now his boss, but Birdy doesn’t care. They have sex, and she breaks her rule and asks him to stay with her overnight.

Carter sneaks away from Birdy’s bed and goes to The Manor to find Gabriella. A nurse directs him toward her room, and he is disturbed to see that they keep her locked inside. The nurse explains that this policy is for everyone’s safety. Gabriella is painting Spyglass house, and the entire room is covered in her art. She has written “Home” on the canvas. The nurse isn’t her primary caregiver, though she explains that Gabriella is “making progress” with her specialist, Mary. Gabriella has selective mutism, which resulted from childhood trauma. The nurse notes that she has recently begun whispering when she’s with Mary. Carter attempts to speak with Gabriella, but she ignores him and continues painting. Mary arrives for her shift, but Carter is shocked to realize it’s Eden Fox.

Birdy awakens alone and feels the weight of her impending mortality more than usual. She attempts to call Carter, but he doesn’t answer. Birdy goes to a café whose customers are mostly fishers. The waitress, Cath, kindly offers her breakfast, though the café is closing soon. Cath doesn’t know much about Eden Fox, but she did see her the morning of her death and says that she looked resolute. Cath suggests that Birdy interview Stu, the local dog walker, but Birdy knows that Carter has already questioned him.

Birdy returns to the inn, and Maddy is there. Birdy worries that Maddy knows she and Carter spent the night together. She mentions not being able to reach him, and Maddy says, “That’s not like him […]” (203). Birdy asks whether Carter has a girlfriend, and Maddy replies that he has a wife.

Carter resists the urge to run downstairs and confront Eden. Instead, he calmly asks the nurse, Ingrid, why Gabriella must remain at The Manor, given that she appears healthy. Ingrid explains that though Gabriella looks 18, she has a “mental age of 8.” She is trapped in the age when her accident occurred. Ingrid says her mother and father both visit often, but never at the same time. Gabriella drops her paintbrush, and when Carter picks it up for her, he notices she has painted a fox and a wolf. Mary has only recently begun working at The Manor after the elderly lady she cared for passed away. When Gabriella began whispering, Mary started recording it on a Walkman. Mary walks into the room, and Carter confirms it’s Eden Fox. Gabriella whispers, “Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run” (208). Eden bolts at the sight of Carter.

This chapter is the transcript of Carter’s interview with Stu. Stu saw Eden Fox running toward the waterfall, but didn’t see her jump. He said she appeared “upset,” but then she “vanished.” He had spoken to her, but she didn’t respond because she had headphones in her ears. Aggravated with Carter’s questioning, Stu says he doesn’t know anything else and that Carter should interview the woman who was running after Eden.

Birdy can’t understand why Carter would lie to her and not tell her about the other woman in Stu’s account. She goes to Stu’s house to interview him herself. He reluctantly lets her inside, where he lives with several dogs. Birdy asks him to confirm that he saw two women on the cliff that day, but he insists that there was only one and that he never told Carter there were two. Birdy doesn’t know who is lying, Stu or Carter.

Carter chases Eden outside The Manor, but she drives away before he can catch her. He asks Ingrid to let him speak to Gabriella again, but she refuses, saying the incident has caused her too much stress. She shows Carter the file confirming that Mary Kendall is on staff, not Gabriella’s mother posing as a nurse. Carter’s mind is awash with confusion over seeing Eden again, a woman he thought loved him and who he assumed was dead. Although he chose not to tell Birdy what Stu said about the second woman because Stu “gets confused,” he now regrets that decision.

Harrison blames himself for what happened to Gabriella. He feels that he missed a “warning sign” that “Gabriella’s mother” wasn’t fit to watch her. Harrison also feels guilty about buying Gabriella the bike and agreeing to her request to remove the training wheels. He notes that, though he doesn’t regret calling the police when Gabriella went missing, they didn’t do their job properly in investigating. Harrison adds that after the accident, “Eden was inconsolable. Gabriella’s mother blamed herself for all of it, but it was my fault” (219).

Harrison receives a call from The Manor telling him about Carter’s visit. He is infuriated that The Manor ignored his strict instruction to leave Gabriella alone. Carter’s intrusion further erodes Harrison’s trust in law enforcement, and he vows to handle the matter himself.

This chapter contains the transcript of Birdy’s interview with Maddy. Maddy’s tone is curt; she doesn’t like Birdy, an outsider in Hope Falls, and she is bitter that Carter didn’t get promoted. She sees Eden’s death as a suicide and chalks up the inconsistencies in Stu’s account to his age.

Frustrated with Carter’s absence and the knowledge that he has lied to her, Birdy begins to regret her decision to come to Hope Falls. Harrison barges in, furious that Carter went to The Manor and attempted to interview Gabriella. Birdy validates his anger and asks him to calm down, but Harrison refuses. She counters that his behavior is “suspicious,” considering that he seems unconcerned that his wife is still missing and that authorities found a body that might be hers. Birdy asks whether Thanatos is a “real” company that can accurately predict death days. Before he can answer, Carter arrives, and Birdy tells him she’s removing him from the case and suspending him.

Carter phones the Cornwall headquarters and leaves a message for his supervisor about his suspension. Walking along the coast path near where Eden is reported to have jumped, he spots a keychain engraved with “Eden” and pockets it. He regrets not telling Birdy about his wife, Jane. He married Jane, a school acquaintance, after a one-night stand resulted in Jane’s pregnancy. Carter married Jane “because it was the right thing to do” (229). He doesn’t wear a wedding ring and doesn’t love Jane, but he does love their daughter, Steren. Carter goes home, where Jane announces that she has invited Birdy for dinner.

During dinner, while Jane steps out to check on the baby, Carter begs Birdy not to tell Jane about their affair or his suspension. Birdy scolds him for being reckless with his life, given how lovely his family is. Carter’s love for his daughter is what motivated him to marry Jane, even though he did not love her. Birdy tells Carter that she isn’t really suspending him; she only said it to placate Harrison.

Carter shows her the keychain and explains that at The Manor, he discovered that Mary and Eden Fox are the same person. He theorizes that Harrison has two wives. Mary is impersonating the real Eden, and, for unknown reasons, Mary and Harrison conspired to kill the real Eden. Birdy commends Carter for excellent detective work and says they must interview Harrison immediately.