We Live Here Now

Joe expresses concern for his wife and takes her home. Meanwhile, Merrily Watkins tells Emily that she and Sally were once close friends. Merrily observes that Sally’s personality has changed dramatically, as she was once intensely jealous of any woman who looked at or spoke to Joe.

Years ago, Sally became convinced that Joe was having an affair with an art teacher named Georgina Usher. Georgina disappeared overnight after Sally warned her that she would kill her if she did not leave Joe alone. Immediately afterward, Joe and Sally got engaged, and Sally never showed a trace of her former jealousy. Nevertheless, Merrily states that she will forever think of her old friend as “crazy Sally Fremantle” (181). Emily recalls how the ghost spelled out the letters “FREEM” in the mirror. She suspects that Sally killed Georgina in the house, and Georgina’s spirit revealed the name of her murderer.

Emily asks Paul Carr about Georgina Usher’s disappearance. The vicar reveals that Georgina is now a famous artist who lives in the United States. Emily feels foolish, and Paul suggests her preoccupation with ghosts has become an unhealthy obsession.

Emily sneaks away from the party, leaving Cat dancing with a drunken Iso. Freddie soon joins her in bed and falls asleep immediately. Emily eventually hears her friends going to bed and writes down the day’s events in her notebook. Questioning her own sanity, she wonders if it would’ve been better if she had died in the accident.

After using the bathroom, Emily is surprised when the door opens a crack but refuses to budge further. Downstairs, she hears Cat and Mark whispering and laughing. Following the sound, Emily sees Mark and Cat having sex and videos them.

As their London friends depart in the morning, Freddie is surprised to receive a text from Paul. Freddie recalls talking to the vicar at the party but cannot remember what he said. Paul’s message refers to Freddie’s concern that Emily may have a mental illness and is possibly suicidal. Freddie renews Emily’s life insurance policy, noting that if she died, the sum would cover his debts. As he seals the envelope, he reflects that the house is pleasantly warm.

Spending the days with Bright Wing, the Raven always returns to the house at night. He wishes that Broken Wing’s body would disappear so he could be with Bright Wing permanently.

For the first time, Emily feels cold in Larkin Lodge. Still shocked by her discovery of Mark and Cat’s affair, she contacts Mark, sending him the video she recorded. When Mark begs Emily not to tell Iso about the affair, she demands £150,000 to keep quiet. Emily tells him to place the money in a high-interest account in her name.

After her initial elation fades, Emily feels uncomfortable with her actions, unable to understand why she chose to blackmail Mark instead of telling Iso the truth.

When Mrs. Tucker arrives, the cleaner reveals that her father was Fortuna Carmichael’s gardener. While her father was working, she often played in Larkin Lodge as a child. Mrs. Tucker describes a strange experience she once had while hiding in a cupboard with carved holes in the door. After falling asleep, she woke and heard Fortuna and her husband arguing. She then saw Fortuna dragging Gerald’s dead body into the primary suite. Mrs. Tucker asserts that she must have been dreaming, as she saw Gerald alive and well the next day. Emily resolves to use Mark’s money to leave Larkin Lodge and start anew with Freddie.

Freddie returns home in a bad mood because debt collectors have contacted him at work. Although Emily assures him they will get through the crisis together, he distrusts her, suspecting she plans to leave him if they sell Larkin Lodge. Freddie finds and reads Emily’s notebook. Viewing Emily’s descriptions of supernatural occurrences as “evidence” of mental instability, he photographs selected pages and sends them to Paul and Dr. Canning. One of the entries says, “Maybe it would have been better if I’d just died” (207).

The next morning, Freddie is overwhelmed by a rotten stench that seems to be coming from the primary suite, and he opens the window. He mails Emily’s renewed life insurance policy on the way to work, reflecting that his life would have been easier if she had died in the accident. Freddie thinks about Emily’s medication and the possibility that she could accidentally overdose.

The Raven watches Freddie drive away and sees the open window in the primary suite. Longing to leave with Bright Wing, he picks up Broken Wing’s body and drops it through the open window, which immediately slams shut. He resolves to return one more time to say goodbye.

Emily has not yet told Freddie that she blackmailed Mark. She decides to share this news once the money is in the account.

Emily hears the sound of another bird trapped in the house. Going to the primary suite, she is astonished to recognize the dead raven with a broken wing, now alive again. When she opens the window, the raven soars into the sky, cawing joyfully.

At work, Freddie leaves his office door open so his secretary will overhear his call to Dr. Canning. He tells the doctor Emily is depressed and paranoid.

Emily revisits Fortuna Carmichael, recounting Mrs. Tucker’s story of seeing Gerald dead and then miraculously revived. Fortuna says that she and Gerald “were happy after I killed him” (222). The elderly woman adds that she found a book but never used it.

Emily suspects that the primary suite of Larkin Lodge has the power to bring the dead back to life. However, the theory does not explain the house’s ghostly presence.

As he leaves for work, Freddie sees three ravens in the sky. One of the birds has a damaged wing but seems unimpaired by the injury. The male raven leaves his companion to fly away with her.

Receiving a message from Dr. Canning, Freddie realizes that he emailed the doctor earlier, claiming that Emily’s behavior is becoming dangerously unpredictable.

Emily finds a book hidden behind a skirting board on the top floor. It is the diary of the surgeon, Christopher Hopper.