While out for a run, Jaxon sees Malcolm standing precariously at a cliff’s edge. Fearing that he’s attempting to die by suicide, Jaxon sprints to intervene. Malcolm turns, drops the papers he was clutching, and steps backward off the cliff, falling to the rocks below. Immediately after, Millie appears and asks, “What did you do?” (245).

Jaxon insists that he was trying to save Malcolm, and after he swears he didn’t push him, Millie says she believes him. As they talk, Jaxon notices a person-shaped shadow in the top window of the house. Suddenly, Millie bolts toward the house. Jaxon chases her, catching her in the foyer just as she’s about to sound the gong. He grabs her arm, and she screams, which summons the other writers: Priscilla, Cate, and Kenzo, who’s holding an antique ax.

Millie tearfully tells the group that Jaxon pushed Malcolm off the cliff. Jaxon denies the accusation, claiming that one of them was in the attic room and witnessed the truth. The group finds that the door to the room is locked. Concluding that Jaxon is a threat, they decide to lock him in his bedroom for their safety. Kenzo and Priscilla escort him to his room.