Camille wants to use Fern’s key to investigate locked rooms, but Samuel refuses to do anything illegal, alluding to regrets. Maire worries Camille is “in on it” (290). Samuel wants to find Fern and “talk some sense into her” but Maire insists they “all stay together” (290), more concerned that Samuel will reveal secrets than about their safety. Maire worries about how her daughters will see her if the truth about her past with Samuel is revealed.

They try to open locked doors. The first doesn’t respond to Fern’s key card; the second, Cat’s office, does. While Camille enters to find Cat’s laptop, Maire posits to Samuel that “behind all this” (292) is someone who knew all five contestants. Samuel thinks this is impossible, as they were “so careful”; Maire counters that they “weren’t careful at all,” that they’re “already dead,” and that the mastermind “can only be one person” (292). Before she can explain her suspicion, Fern screams (because Ned has grabbed her).

The narrative flashes back to Maire and Samuel’s college days in a section titled “Then.”

Maire and Samuel flee from the man with the pipe, running to the middle of the lake, only to realize that their pursuer is their friend Damon.