Tell Me What You Did

As Poe and her father sit in the living room, Gadecki calls to inform them that a welfare check found Kip’s apartment empty, with signs of a struggle in the bedroom, but no blood. Kip’s recording equipment is also missing from his office. Gadecki tells Poe that it’s imperative she participate and cooperate during tonight’s live stream, keeping Hindley online for as long as possible so that the police can trace his location.

With 12 hours left before the live stream, Poe’s father tells her to sleep rather than torture herself. He gives her an Ambien, revealing that he has relied on sleeping pills since Margaret’s murder.

Poe sleeps until noon. At one pm, Gadecki calls with the news that the state police have refused a detail. Poe forces herself to shower and eat. With an hour remaining before the live stream, Poe makes herself a drink and goes up to her office to prepare.

Ten minutes before the scheduled time, Poe joins the green room to wait. Kip lets her in and turns on video. He looks exhausted, but unharmed. Poe sees Hindley moving around in the background. She tries to ask Kip where he is being held, but he says he cannot answer.

Kip reads off a script prepared by Hindley. The stream has no time limit, and Poe is told not to move off camera unless Hindley allows it. Kip cautions Poe to be honest; If Hindley suspects her of lying, he will hurt Kip in “unimaginable ways” (344). If Hindley is satisfied with Poe’s confession, he will stop interfering in her life and turn himself into the police. Kip notes that there are already 70,000 viewers waiting for the stream to begin. He says goodbye to Poe, then begins the broadcast.

Hindley opens the stream by asking Poe her name and age. After completing her usual introduction, he says: “Tell me what you did” (348).

This chapter resumes an hour and thirty-seven minutes after the live stream starts, at the moment Hindley threatens to prove his identity by killing Kip.

Poe stands frozen in front of her computer. The webcam has been knocked over, pointing toward the floor of the room. In the corner of the frame, Poe can see a streetlight shining through a window. There is a smear of blood on the camera’s lens.

Moments earlier, Hindley held Kip up on camera and stabbed him in the stomach. As Poe watches the floor, the event disconnects.

Poe’s father runs into the room. Poe relays what she just saw, and he suggests they call the police, but Poe assures him that her listeners will have already called in droves. The problem is that the police have no location. Poe is sure that Hindley is heading to their home next, to kill her. Her father insists that they spend the night at a hotel. As he begins to pack, Poe returns to her computer and opens the Facebook group again. The first post she sees is a screenshot of Hindley’s mugshot.

The mugshot is attached to a news article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The article identifies its subject as John Worbly, a man who, at the time of the article, was serving twenty years to life in prison for killing a liquor store employee during a robbery gone wrong. Poe realizes that Worbly was in prison when her mother was murdered, confirming that Ian Hindley cannot be Leopold Hutchins.

Gadecki calls to inform Poe that Worbly was only released from prison a few months ago. If caught, he will return to prison for a long time, possibly life. Gadecki promises to send a patrol car to the house. Before hanging up, he asks if Poe’s confession about murdering Leonard Avery was true. Poe says she will not discuss that without an attorney.

After hanging up, Poe sits at her desk, feeling guilty and helpless. She has unwittingly drawn her loved ones into Hindley’s orbit, and now Kip might be dead. She recalls how she felt 17 years ago, when she blamed herself for having waited to confront her mother rather than stopping her before the meeting.

Feeling helpless, Poe stares out the window at the streetlight outside her office. Suddenly, she is struck by a realization.

Poe grabs a hatchet from her garage and leaves the house without telling her father.

As Poe walks, she recalls the empty wall behind Kip and the room revealed when the camera shifted. The streetlight she saw through the window was identical to the one outside of her office, leading her to realize that Hindley is holding Kip in the Stohls’ empty house. Poe was there at a barbecue the previous summer and knows that the main bedroom looks directly out onto the streetlight.

Outside the Stohls’ house, Poe spots a cluster of footprints in the snow. She follows the footprints to the garage door, finding it unlocked.

Poe hesitates at the garage door, weighing her options. She could leave and call the police, but Hindley might escape in the time it takes them to arrive. Even if he is jailed, she knows that he will come after her again if he ever escapes or is released. The only way to stop him permanently is to kill him.

Poe enters the garage and checks on Hindley’s van, but finds it empty. She thinks of her loved ones: her mother and father, Bailey and Kip. Gathering her resolve, she opens the door to the house.

Poe makes her way slowly up the stairs to the top floor. Only one room is lit, the one at the end of the hallway. Poe reaches the door and places a hand on the doorknob, her other hand holding the hatchet. She knows that this is the point of no return. Poe takes a deep breath and opens the door.

Kip is bound to a chair with a gag in his mouth. His stomach and hand are wrapped in bloody bandages. Hindley sits next to him, holding a gun. He demands Poe throw the hatchet into the hall and give him her phone. When she hands over the phone, Hindley stomps on it, destroying it.

Poe tells Hindley that the police are on their way, but he is unconcerned. She realizes that he is “not planning to live long enough to go back to prison” (374). Hindley tells Poe to sit next to Kip. She complies, wanting him to see her as submissive and weak so that she can catch him off guard when she attacks. Poe asks Hindley not to harm Kip. Hindley assures her that he won’t be killing Kip—she will.

Poe refuses to harm Kip. When she asks Hindley what is motivating his torture, Hindley replies by asking Poe to describe how much his brother suffered when she poisoned him.

The meaning of Hindley’s words dawns on Poe. She describes Hutchins’ agonizing death in detail, and Hindley’s face briefly darkens. He says that his brother was the only person he truly loved. Poe replies that he isn’t capable of love.

Hindley moves to stand in front of Poe and holds his gun against her temple. He threatens to shoot her on the spot, but Poe knows that he has waited too long for this moment to let it pass by so quickly. Hindley behaves in a sexually aggressive manner throughout the confrontation, licking Poe’s neck and comparing their standoff to sex.

Hindley lowers the gun and sits down again. Poe realizes that she must play along with him to maximize her chances of survival. She asks him what his brother’s real name was. Hindley tells her that his brother was named Leonardo Worbly. The two of them shared a twisted bond, committing crimes together until the botched robbery that sent Leonardo to jail. Though Leonardo was the one who killed the liquor store clerk, Hindley took the fall for him.

Hindley reveals that Poe’s mother was not Leonardo’s only victim. He was a serial killer who killed a total of six women before Poe stopped him. The brothers corresponded regularly while Hindley was in prison, so Hindley knew about Leonardo’s plan to meet with Poe, the daughter of one of his victims. When Leonardo stopped calling shortly afterward, Hindley knew that Poe had killed him. Motivated by his desire for revenge, he became “a model prisoner” (383) and was released early for good behavior.

Hindley admits that he and his brother come from “a line of sick people” (383) but says that Leonardo did not deserve to die. He tells Poe and Kip that one of them will have to stab the other the death. He will then shoot the remaining person in the head. He allows Poe to remove Kip’s gag, and they exchange I love yous. Both agree not to hurt the other. Hindley interrupts to state that he will only spare the family of the person who agrees to kill the other. He will annihilate the family of the person who refuses. If they both refuse, he will kill both of their families. As Hindley approaches them, Poe prepares to rush at him.

Hindley asks who will be the first to die. A figure appears in the hallway behind him and says: “you.” Poe recognizes the figure as her father.

Poe’s father is holding a baseball bat. She recognizes the expression on his face. She has only seen it once before; on the day her mother was murdered. Hindley turns to Poe’s father and offers to tell the story of Margaret’s murder, but before he can start, Poe’s father attacks him.

Hindley fires his gun once before Poe’s father tackles him to the ground. Poe’s father manages to get back on his feet, grab the baseball bat, and position himself over Hindley. He kicks the gun out of Hindley’s hand, then strikes him in the chest and knee.

Poe watches the expression on her father’s face as he readies the bat over Hindley’s head. As he prepares to land the blow, she gently lowers his arm, asking him not to do it. Poe says that arguing self-defense will be more complicated if her father kills Hindley, and she offers to do it herself.

Poe sends Kip and her father downstairs to wait, leaving her alone with Hindley. She picks up his gun, considering the best angle at which to shoot him. A voice in her head warns her that she will regret this, but she recognizes it as belonging to “those ignorant viewers streaming popcorn thrillers on TV…shunning violent temptations…to achieve some brittle and thin-shelled redemption” (393). Poe has killed before and felt no guilt. She is prepared to bear the stigma with pride.

As Poe stands over Hindley, he tells her that there is a third Worbly brother, who will come after her if she kills him. Poe doesn’t believe him. She aims the gun at the back of his head and pulls the trigger.

Seven months later, Poe is a month into her stay at a women’s’ prison in Bedford. She attempts to interview an inmate named Tiger, who was convicted of setting her ex-boyfriend’s car on fire, but Tiger backs out at the last minute, claiming that she is innocent and committed no crime. Though this interview is a failure, Tell Me What You Did is thriving, having only grown in popularity since Poe’s incarceration a month prior.

Poe receives a visit from Alice, and they discuss her life in prison. Poe has made a few friends and receives regular visits from her father and from Kip, who survived Hindley’s stabbing. Alice remarks that Poe’s sentence “doesn’t sound so bad” (400), to which she agrees.

Poe recalls her criminal proceedings. At trial, the prosecution acquitted her of Hindley’s murder. Against her lawyer’s advice, Poe voluntarily confessed to killing Leonardo Worbly on the stand, an act she takes pride in. She was offered a plea deal; In exchange for leading authorities to Worbly’s body, Poe was sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison. Alice asks if Poe would like to join her victim advocacy group after her release, and Poe agrees.

As night falls, Poe is grateful that she quit drinking in November, which means that she has already made it through withdrawals. She thinks back to Alice’s advice on happiness and begins to dance alone in her cell to imagined music. When she’s exhausted herself, Poe lies down on her cot and falls asleep. She once again dreams of walking through a green field under a blue sky. She finds the old oak tree and sits down underneath it, realizing that “this is all [she needs]” (403).