While cleaning her bungalow to move into Walter’s, Connie reflects that Paul has made her home feel completely unsafe. She thinks about her difficult relationship with Caz, recalling both a rare tender moment giving her a manicure and the brutal manner of her death. 

A man named Jon Brown arrives at her door. Connie recognizes him as the son of Fran, a woman she had tried to warn about Paul. Jon explains that he found her because she didn’t withhold her number when she called him. He tells a horrified Connie that two days ago, Paul tried to kill his mother.

Jon explains that Fran is in a coma with a head injury, which the police believe is from an accidental fall. However, he discovered that Paul married Fran just last week. As her new husband, Paul has instructed the hospital to turn off her life support, which is scheduled to happen in 48 hours. Connie realizes that Paul must have thought Fran was already dead when he called for help. 

She tells Jon everything she knows about Paul’s other victims, admitting her own failed attempt at blackmail. In exchange for his promise to keep her name out of it, Connie advises Jon to have his doctor friend run a toxicology report on Fran, specifically looking for a psychoactive drug called Omixinol. Jon apologizes for having dismissed her initial warning call.

At a job center, Connie is denied unemployment benefits because she hasn’t paid National Insurance in over a decade. The visit triggers a flashback to her teenage dream of becoming a beauty therapist, a plan that was destroyed when Caz manipulated her into hiding drugs and a gun. This led to Connie’s arrest and a four-year prison sentence. She later learned that Caz had informed on her to save herself and had also stolen all of Connie’s savings. 

Back in the present, a job center employee’s name badge reading “Meredith” reminds Connie of Gwen’s cousin. Recalling Gwen’s insistence that she find Meredith and tell her “I have Tom,” Connie uses Gwen’s old login information to search an ancestry website. She finds Gwen’s cousin’s full name, Meredith Sylvia Harper, and then locates her address in an online phone directory, resolving to visit her.

On her 43rd birthday, Connie travels by train to see Meredith. During the journey, she receives a call from Krisha, who informs her that Fran has died from her injuries, and Paul has been arrested in connection with her death. He has already been released on police bail. 

More importantly, Krisha reveals that the police received an anonymous email containing all the evidence Connie had stolen from Paul’s house. Connie denies sending it. Acknowledging Connie’s poor credibility as a witness, Krisha asks to speak with her off the record to gather facts for the investigation. Overjoyed that Paul may finally face justice, Connie agrees. She then texts Jon Brown, who confirms that the toxicology report was the key. Connie arrives at her destination, feeling that her quest for justice for Gwen is not yet over.

The narrative shifts to Meredith Harper’s perspective. When Connie arrives at her door, Meredith invites her in. Connie introduces herself as the former carer for Meredith’s cousin, Gwen, and breaks the news that Gwen passed away several months ago. Meredith is saddened, having lost touch decades prior. She learns that Gwen’s husband, Bill, also died and that Gwen had been diagnosed with dementia. Connie relays Gwen’s final, cryptic message: “Don’t forget to find Meredith and tell her I have Tom” (248). Meredith claims she doesn’t know anyone named Tom. Sensing there is more to the story, she asks Connie to continue.

Connie decides to tell Meredith the full story of Gwen’s death. She explains her belief that Gwen was murdered by Paul, who married Gwen to nullify her will and inherit her estate. She details Paul’s pattern of preying on vulnerable women, including his latest victim and the new police investigation. Connie gives Meredith a charred photograph of the she and Gwen as young women, the only one she could save from a fire Paul set. Moved, Meredith recalls the family holidays where the photo was taken. Connie also mentions that Gwen had left her entire estate to her in a rewritten will, which Paul’s marriage voided. As Connie prepares to leave, Meredith asks if she ever saw an old, jade-green ornamental cat. Connie confirms she saved it from the house and promises to send it to her.

Returning to her bungalow to collect her last few items, Connie notices that the porcelain cat has been moved to face the window. She panics, realizing Paul has been in her house. Fearing he was searching for Gwen’s will, she checks its hiding place in the hem of a curtain and finds it undisturbed. Connie then recalls Paul’s strange words about the cat, that it was always “staring at something it wants you to see” (256). Following its gaze, she realizes it is looking directly at Walter’s house. Underneath the cat, she finds a key and discovers that the key to Walter’s front door is missing from her keychain. Terrified, she runs toward Walter’s house.

Connie races to Walter’s house but realizes she left the key behind. She finds the front door unlocked, which is highly unusual for the security-conscious Walter. The house is dark and silent. As she tries to leave a frantic voicemail for Krisha, her phone battery dies. Walter’s dog appears with what looks like dried blood on his fur. 

Filled with dread, Connie goes upstairs to Walter’s bedroom. She finds him lying in bed and pulls back the sheet to discover his mouth is bloodied. Paul has cut out his tongue. As Connie grabs the dog and flees, she flings open the front door and finds someone waiting for her on the doorstep.

Running from the house, Connie collides with Krisha and tells her that Paul has murdered Walter. After confirming the scene, Krisha calls for backup, and the house is cordoned off. After giving an initial statement, Connie is taken to the police station. Later, back at her bungalow, Krisha reveals a destructive new piece of information: The anonymous email containing the evidence against Paul was traced to Walter’s computer. They deduce that Walter must have seen Connie hide the evidence, made copies, and sent them to the police. This act of heroism is why Paul targeted him, mutilating him as a message. Horrified and guilt-ridden, Connie is left alone in her bungalow, certain that Paul will come for her next.

Two weeks after Walter’s murder, a paranoid Connie visits Meredith Harper again. Meredith offers her a place to stay, but Connie refuses, unwilling to endanger anyone else. Connie gives Meredith the porcelain cat, which Meredith claims holds sentimental childhood memories. Citing her fear and unstable living situation, Connie asks if Meredith will keep Gwen’s will in a safe place. Meredith agrees and hides the sealed envelope in an alcove inside her chimney. After Connie leaves, Meredith places the cat on her fireplace mantel. She smiles and welcomes it home.

Riding the train home from Meredith’s house, Connie is consumed by anxiety. She sees on her phone that Paul is still a wanted man. The train then develops an alarm malfunction, forcing all passengers to disembark at Favrington, an unfamiliar and poorly lit station, to await a connecting service. Connie stands on the nearly deserted platform, trying to remain close to the few other passengers. As the next train arrives, she scans the carriage before boarding. Just as she is about to step on, an arm clamps around her neck from behind. It is Paul.

Paul chokes Connie and pulls her to the ground, out of sight of the passengers on the train. He then rolls them both off the platform and onto the tracks below, using the train as cover to hide from the guard’s final platform check. Once the train departs, Paul throws Connie back up onto the platform. He drags her to a dark corner of the station, ties her wrists behind her back, and taunts her with a reference to Walter’s murder, asking, “Cat got your tongue?” (275).

Paul marches Connie into a dark field, holding a knife to her throat. Knowing she is wearing a police-issued panic alarm pendant, Connie deliberately stumbles and falls chest-first into a fence post, hoping the impact will trigger it. Paul finds and discards her phone, and she is too weak to attempt another escape. He tells her he knows he will be caught eventually but is determined to finish with her first. They arrive at a bridge, where Paul breaks Connie’s nose with a punch. He pins her to the ground, forces her mouth open, and grips her tongue, preparing to cut it out.

Just as Paul begins to slice into Connie’s tongue, police sirens wail in the distance; her panic alarm was successful. When officers arrive, Paul takes Connie hostage at the edge of the bridge over the railroad tracks, holding the knife to her throat. He repeatedly glances at his watch during the tense standoff. As a train’s headlights appear on the tracks below, Paul grins and tells the police this is the only way their “story” can end. He drops the knife, hoists Connie over the bridge’s wall, and throws her directly into the path of the speeding train.