Alice decides that the notebook is of no value to her and stops reading. Frustrated by the lack of answers provided by her trip into the attic, she takes all eight of the casseroles from her refrigerator and puts them in the trunk of her car, intending to take them to Marnie’s house. She hears a rustling in a hedge and sees that someone is clearly hiding inside it. She pops her trunk back open and takes out her shovel. She crosses to the hedge and demands that whomever is inside come out and show themselves. The man who has been following her emerges. He looks identical to Grant. He claims, however, to be “Brant,” Grant’s identical twin.

Alice tells the man that Grant was an only child, and the man says that Grant lied about this. Alice points out that a secret identical twin is a cheap and implausible plot device. Brant suggests that it is easier to believe than the idea that Grant has actually come back to life and more palatable than the idea that Alice herself is insane. Brant shows her a photo of himself and Grant as children. Alice realizes that, as identical as the man before her is to her late husband, there is one small difference between them: this man has a small mole in front of his right ear.

Alice realizes that Brant’s existence explains Marnie’s belief that she was married to Grant. Brant admits that he lied to Marnie about his identity because he was always jealous of Grant’s success in life and wanted to impress her. Alice asks why Marnie believes her “Grant” to be dead when he is obviously alive. Brant explains that, dissatisfied with his relationship, he took advantage of Grant’s death to leave Marnie, who would believe herself a widow and would not look for him. Brant explains that his relationship with Marnie broke down because Marnie does not agree with him that Nickelback is a great band.

Alice cannot believe what she is hearing, because she herself also loves Nickelback. She wonders what life might have been like with Brant instead of Grant as her husband. Brant apologizes for following her, explaining that he just wanted to make sure she was okay after his brother’s death. Alice invites Brant inside, hoping that she is not making a terrible mistake.

Alice puts on a Nickelback song and offers Brant some tea. He refuses, saying that he hates tea. She cannot believe how much they have in common. She and Brant both admit that, although they loved Grant and Marnie, respectively, they felt something missing in those relationships that they may have now found in one another. Brant lists off several more things he hates besides tea: Pulitzer-prize winning novels, Android phones, pennies, and dark chocolate are just a few of the things he lists that Alice realizes she also hates. She feels dizzy and deeply connected to Brant. She asks whether he will stay for dinner.

Brant says that he has some things to attend to, but he will pick up McDonald’s and be back at eight o’clock. Alice cannot believe that he also loves fast food—Grant always insisted on fancy food. When she walks Brant to the door, he pauses and kisses her. She feels the old passion that she once felt for Grant.

After Brant leaves, she considers his claim to have been following her in order to make sure she was okay. She realizes that this does not make sense, but she shrugs off her concerns. She decides to go over to Poppy’s house to tell her everything that has happened and get some advice. Thinking about how seldom she has actually been to Poppy’s house even though they are next-door neighbors, she heads over to Poppy’s. An elderly woman answers the door and claims that Poppy does not live there.

The elderly woman claims that someone named Poppy did once live in the house, but she died in a fire 30 years ago. Alice’s mouth goes dry and she feels as if the world has tilted. She stumbles home, trying to understand what she has just heard. She decides that the only answer is that Poppy must be a hallucination, a convenient but imaginary best friend who is always there just when she is needed. Alice feels alone and lost, but reminds herself that Brant will be back soon, bringing her comfort and McDonald’s.

When Brant returns, he brings both McDonald’s and a gift-wrapped box. As they sit down to eat, Alice reveals that she is pregnant. Brant is delighted. He says that he loves children and, since he and Grant are genetically identical, her baby already shares half of his DNA anyway. Brant mentions that he has been wearing the same clothes for two weeks and asks whether he can change into one of Grant’s clean outfits. She is slightly uncomfortable at the idea but agrees.

Alice is surprised when Brant comes back downstairs in one of Grant’s Armani suits; she thought Brant would choose something less formal, and now he looks very much like Grant. He asks her to open the gift he brought her. She is horrified when she sees that it is a blue-and-black dress.

Alice voices her fear that the man in front of her is actually Grant, and he asks how that could be possible: “Grant is dead, isn’t he? You killed him, didn’t you?” (107). He rubs at the side of his face, removing the small mole he had painted on there. Alice realizes that it really is Grant. He tells her that his twin, Brant, came to him a few weeks previously looking for a handout. Having already seen Alice cut the brakes on his Mercedes, Grant offered it to Brant. Alice realizes that the man she identified in the morgue and held a funeral for was Brant.

Grant orders Alice to put on the blue-and-black dress. He tells her that from now on she will do exactly as he tells her, or he will tell the police what she did to his car. Alice realizes that Grant is the source of the anonymous tip Detective Mancini received. Perhaps, Grant muses, it would be kinder to just kill Alice than let her spend the rest of her life in prison. He tells Alice that he has already killed one wife—Rebertha’s supposed accidental drowning was actually a murder at his hands. Grant strides toward Alice with the dress in his hands, threatening to strangle her with it. Just as he is about to reach her, however, Alice hears a loud thump, and Grant crumples to the floor. Poppy has hit him with Alice’s shovel.

Poppy explains that she heard shouting, grabbed the shovel from the yard, and came inside—but Alice is still puzzled. She asks how Poppy could hit Grant with the shovel when she is just a hallucination. Poppy is bewildered until Alice explains about the elderly woman next door. Poppy says that Alice clearly just went to the wrong house—she lives on the other side of Alice’s house, which Alice would know if she visited more often.

Grant begins to wake up. Alice grabs the shovel and hits him over and over, until there is blood everywhere. Poppy watches without a word until Grant is clearly dead. Then she points out that they should bury the body.

Alice and Poppy bury Grant’s body in Alice’s backyard. Poppy asks if she can take a shower before she goes home so that her husband does not see her covered in dirt and blood. Alice tells her of course and offers her a dress to wear home, intending to give Poppy the final blue-and-black dress still hanging in her closet.

While Poppy is showering, Alice picks up the jeans and T-shirt that Grant wore before changing into the Armani suit. His wallet falls out of the jeans, and she shoves it into a drawer. Poppy emerges from the bathroom, looking angry. She holds a test strip in her hand, and Alice realizes she must have taken it from the trash. She asks why Alice did not tell her about the positive test, and Alice reminds her that she did tell her about her pregnancy.

Poppy shows Alice that it is not a pregnancy test but a COVID test. Alice says that she was, in fact, puzzled about the directions to swab her nose, and this explains why she has a runny nose and sore throat. Concerned that Alice has infected her, Poppy complains that she has a wedding to attend soon.

Alice sees a news notification on her phone: Detective Mancini has been killed while responding to a robbery. Alice is relieved that this will end the investigation into Grant’s death. When she gives Poppy the dress from her closet, Poppy thanks her, saying that she loves white and gold.

Alice sleeps better than she has in years and wakes feeling that she is finally free. She decides that she will still give Marnie some money. Even though Grant was not actually Marnie’s husband, Alice does feel responsible for the death of Marnie’s actual husband, Brant.

She hears the shower running and is alarmed. She creeps into the bathroom and sees a man’s form through the steam fogging up the room. Feeling as if she is in a trance compelling her forward, she reaches for the shower door and opens it. Inside is a man who looks just like her husband. He says “Good morning,” and she stumbles out of the room (122). She finds the wallet she put in a drawer the night before and pulls out the photo that “Grant” showed her of himself and Brant as children. She notices for the first time that it is folded. When she spreads the entire photograph out, she realizes that it contains not two identical little boys, but three.