The Night She Disappeared

Pippa, Shaun’s ex-wife, brings over the twins, Lily and Jack. Pippa complains about the long drive, Jack thinks the house smells, and Lily thinks there might be lots of spiders in the house. After Pippa leaves, Shaun, Sophie, and kids watch TV.

Sophie looks at the picture of the spiral staircase on her phone, putting all the pieces together. Looking over the information she received from Jacinta Croft, she learns that many of the old houses with secret tunnels hid the entrances behind paintings, sliding walls, or architectural features—like spiral staircases. Sophie now understands that the painting’s staircase must go into the tunnel and that the tool is used to gain entrance.

After Shaun and Sophie put the twins to bed, Shaun asks Sophie if she’s managed to get any writing done. Sophie can’t bring herself to tell him the truth.

Driving to Scarlett’s, Tallulah realizes that Plan B—Tallulah telling Zach about being in love with Scarlett—isn’t happening.

At Scarlett’s, Scarlett drinks more, dances around, takes off her clothes, and dives into the pool. When Tallulah doesn’t want to join in, Zach orders her to get in the pool. Tallulah relents, but feels awful: “There is something in the atmosphere that is so sour and so swollen that Tallulah can barely breathe” (326). Tallulah yearns to be with Noah and not here.

Zach glares at Tallulah from the pool—a toxic stare, “like a shot of ice” (327). Tallulah changes into her dry clothes, feeling safe away from the toxic energy of the party. She wants to go home, but Zach furiously refuses. Grabbing her hard, he shows her the ring. When Tallulah shouts that she would have said no, Zach’s expression changes into “black rage” (329)—he demands to know whether Tallulah has been cheating on him with Scarlett. When she admits it, Zach threatens to take Noah away: “No court in the world would let a person like you raise a child” (330). Scarlett raises a heavy object in the air and hits him. Zach falls to the floor.

Sophie and Shaun have a great time with the twins. Shaun looks happy.

Kim texts Sophie that the police are searching Dark Place and asks Sophie to come over. Sophie tells Shaun the partial truth about who Kim is and takes off. When Sophie arrives, Kim is in bad shape. Kim thinks they are going to find her daughter in the tunnel. Hysterical, Kim cries that Tallulah was scared of spiders. A text comes in from Dom: They’ve found something.

When Sophie texts Shaun that the police found something at Dark Place, he understands and tells her to go. At the mansion, Dom reveals that they’ve found remains—the corpse of a man. They’ve also found something else: Tallulah’s phone.

Zach is dead. Tallulah is beside herself. Scarlett reminds her that she wanted Zack to disappear.

Scarlet’s mom Joss appears and immediately starts planning on how to cover it up. Scarlett insists that she was protecting Tallulah from her boyfriend who wanted to take Noah and never let Tallulah see her son. Joss doesn’t care about the details. Instead, she just wants to get the body out of there. When Tallulah asks if Joss is going to call the police, Joss says no—it would mean prison for both Scarlett and Tallulah. With a flippant, “Well, life is never dull with Scarlett around, that’s for sure” (341), Joss suggests they throw the murder weapon and Zach into the tunnel.

Kim and Sophie head back to Kim’s house. As Kim feeds Noah, Sophie looks at the pictures of Tallulah on the mantle. Sophie logs onto social media—Mimi’s YouTube post is gone. Sophie is amazed that Scarlett still wields power from a boat in the middle of the ocean.

They’ve put Zach in the tunnel and cleaned the mess. Tallulah asks to go home, but Joss says no. Joss makes hot chocolate and complains about the timing of this murder: right before they are supposed to leave for Majorca. She sighs as though the murder is just a travel inconvenience. As Tallulah drinks her hot chocolate, her eyes grow so heavy she blacks out.

When Tallulah opens her eyes, she can’t see anything because it’s so dark. She’s cold. She sees a candle and a large bottle of water, which she chugs thirstily. Her phone is there too but she can’t get a signal. Something runs over her bare legs—a spider. Terrified, she screams.

Near Maypole, Sophie runs into Lexie and tells her that the police found something. Lexie’s eyes open wide, and she asks if they found Zach—a slip. Sophie asks why Lexie didn’t ask about Tallulah also. Sophie tells Lexie she knows that Lexie has her book, the one with the “Dig Here” sign as part of the plot. She asks if Lexie wrote the “Dig Here” sign. Lexie quietly nods.

Tallulah has no idea how long she’s been in the tunnel. She knows Zach is dead. Though she can’t really remember how it happened, she is certain Scarlett did it. She assumes that since they’ve left some light, food, water, and a blanket, they won’t leave her there to die. But she isn’t sure of that.

Then a light appears over her head. It’s Scarlett. She tells Tallulah they are going to get her out of there in a couple days—right now, there are police everywhere. Tallulah begs to be let out. She wants to go home to Noah. Scarlett reassures her that Noah is fine, tells her to be quiet, and slips the stone back over the opening.