Geneva arrives at the Rosalie Inn on July 26 after only two hours of sleep and finds Lo waiting in the lobby. Lo embraces her and asks about Edie’s condition, but Geneva can’t determine whether Lo’s concern is genuine. Lo mentions hearing August leave his room at around two o’clock in the morning and not return until almost four o’clock. She warns Geneva against pursuing a relationship with him. She describes August as charming but narcissistic, someone who will only ever truly love himself. Geneva retorts by asking whether Lo is describing August or Landon, visibly catching Lo off guard for the first time. Lo recovers and claims that August approached her about writing the book, which Geneva knows contradicts August’s own account. When Lo attempts to offer motherly advice, Geneva sharply cuts her off. She apologizes, blaming exhaustion and stress, but notices Lo nervously twisting a silver ring—uncharacteristic behavior that suggests hidden anxiety.

In the office, Geneva discovers three guest cancellations citing the approaching storm. She pulls up weather maps and sees Tropical Storm Lizzie gathering strength over Central America. August appears looking haggard and reveals that he spent the night examining Ellen’s collection of clippings. He shows Geneva a photograph of a young woman who looks strikingly like her. August identifies the woman as Camile Fitzroy, Landon’s sister, and then asks Geneva whether she knew that Landon was her father.

Ellen Chambers recounts her first meeting with Landon Fitzroy in November 1980, when she was 15 years old. A group of men, including 26-year-old Landon, checked into the Rosalie Inn for a fishing trip as Tropical Storm Velma approached. At school, Ellen discussed the storm with her friends Lo and Frieda. The school dismissed students early due to the storm.

At home, Ellen’s mother directed her to fill the bathtubs with water. In Room 202, Ellen discovered Landon already filling the tub. She was immediately smitten with him, finding him handsome and approachable in a way the other men were not. They spent an hour together filling bathtubs and talking. Landon shared stories about seeing The Doors perform, his history degree from Alabama, and his dream of buying his own boat to sail the world. Ellen notes that he treated her like an equal, not a child, though she later realized that he mostly wanted an audience.

The following afternoon, as Velma made landfall, the household sheltered in the windowless kitchen. When the power failed, plunging everyone into darkness, Ellen panicked. Landon took her hand in the dark and reassured her, his voice gentle and certain. When Ellen’s father turned on a flashlight, Landon had already pulled away. Ellen later lied to Lo about when their relationship truly began, omitting this first connection.

On July 27, the inn begins emptying as guests check out due to the approaching hurricane. Geneva operates on autopilot, still reeling from August’s revelation that Landon may be her father. She recalls August calculating that she was conceived in late May or early June 1984, shortly before Landon’s death. The timeline aligned perfectly: Landon died by August 5, Ellen and Tim married in September, and Geneva was born the following March. Geneva spirals over the thought that August will put this secret in his book for strangers to judge.

Geneva visits Edie at the hospital, where her condition remains unchanged. A television in the waiting room announces that Tropical Storm Lizzie has been upgraded to a hurricane. At Hope House, Geneva sits with her unresponsive mother and asks aloud why Ellen never revealed the truth about Landon. A nurse named Opal reassures her that the facility has evacuation plans in place for the storm.

As Geneva prepares to leave, she straightens her mother’s cardigan sleeve, which has snagged on a silver bangle bracelet—an unusual piece of costume jewelry that she has rarely seen her mother wear. Examining it closely, Geneva notices an engraving on the central silver disk. She tilts the bracelet toward the light and sees a single letter etched into the metal: “L.”

In a letter dated May 12, 1984, from Landon to Ellen (“E”), he thanks her for her note about a bracelet he sent. He confesses that he found the piece at a roadside flea market between Foley and Daphne but felt it was destined for her. The delicate filigree and enamel flowers reminded him of Ellen, and he was amazed to discover an “L” already engraved on the silver disk at its center. He admits that he likes the idea of her wearing his initial. He declares that his relationship with Lo is finished and apologizes for the pain he caused, insisting that Lo never suspected his affair with Ellen. He invites Ellen to meet him on his boat in a secluded cove on the evening of May 28 to watch the sunset.

In another manuscript excerpt, August discusses the sensationalized media coverage of Lo’s trial, including two sensational paperbacks: Sweet Sixteen: Alabama’s Deadly Prom Queen, which falsely claims that Lo killed Landon for blackmail material, and Deadly Waters, Deadly Love, which blames Landon’s recklessness. August reflects on the considerable time and money he invested in researching the case, but he believes that his own book justifies the obsession. He writes that he uncovered something far deeper and stranger than expected. St. Medard’s Bay harbored multiple coiled mysteries, with the Rosalie Inn at their center. He identifies four women at the heart of these mysteries, women as blessed as the inn and as cursed as the town: the “Mother,” the “Loner,” the “Liar,” and the “Murderer” (204). He leaves open the question of which woman fits which role.

On the morning of July 28, Geneva knocks on August’s door to retrieve her mother’s box of clippings. He answers looking disheveled and annoyed at the interruption. He reluctantly returns the box, which Geneva notices is less full than before. As she walks away, she hears him immediately resume typing and realizes with unease that she has become the centerpiece of his book.

In the sweltering attic, Geneva reexamines the collection with new understanding. The clippings are not a record of Lo’s trial but a memorial that Ellen kept for Landon—articles about his family, his sister Camile’s engagement announcement, and photographs tracking his life. Every crease and saved page reflects her mother’s enduring love. A black-and-white photograph catches Geneva’s attention: Landon posing by a lake with mountains in the distance. She recognizes her own smile in his. The caption identifies the location as Geneva, Switzerland, where Landon studied in 1976. Geneva remembers asking her mother about her unusual name and being told that it came from a friend who said that Lake Geneva was the prettiest place he had ever seen. This detail provides the final, irrefutable proof of her parentage. After crying, she stores the box on a high shelf.

The hospital calls to report no change in Edie’s condition. August appears and casually suggests that when Edie wakes, she might remember Lo attacking her. Geneva insists that they don’t know what happened, but August presses, asking her who other than Lo might be the culprit. August’s question solidifies Geneva’s suspicion that if Edie’s fall was not an accident, then Lo is the obvious suspect. However, as she watches August retreat down the hallway, Geneva questions his trustworthiness for the first time.