Kit wakes to a glaring sunrise and realizes how badly Hope’s End tilts when she finds herself and the bedding slid toward the foot of the bed. The slant appears everywhere, from the shower to the sink, and it makes Kit wonder if the house itself drove Mary away. Before leaving her room, Kit checks on Lenora because of the creaking sounds she heard during the night, but Lenora is asleep and seemingly unable to have caused them.

On her way downstairs, Kit notices a long jagged crack in the wall that she does not remember seeing before, which heightens her fear that last night’s wind may have damaged the already unstable house. In the kitchen, Archie has prepared an elaborate breakfast and explains that Tuesdays are grocery delivery days. When Kit asks about Mary, Archie says Mary seemed good with Lenora and gave no sign of trouble, but he also criticizes her for leaving in the night and offers no support for Kit’s suspicion that something strange happened.

Kit then presses Archie about the Hope family murders and learns he worked at Hope’s End in 1929. Archie quickly says none of the staff were present that night and adds that Mrs. Baker had already left Mr. Hope’s employment earlier that day, a detail that conflicts with what Mrs. Baker implied before. Archie also reveals that he and Lenora were close as children, but he shuts down when Kit asks about their relationship now and refuses further conversation about Lenora.

Carrying Lenora’s breakfast upstairs, Kit encounters Mrs. Baker and asks about Mary’s abandoned belongings. Mrs. Baker says Mary would not be welcomed back and insists that if Mary wanted her things, she would have retrieved them already; she tells Kit to keep everything in the room for now. When Kit asks whether anyone entered Lenora’s room during the night, Mrs. Baker dismisses the idea, attributes the creaking to imagination or wind, and reminds Kit that she alone is supposed to be tending Lenora.

Back in Lenora’s room, Kit completes Lenora’s morning care and notices Lenora staring at the typewriter, clearly wanting to continue what began the night before. Kit wrestles with her doubts about why Lenora would wait so many years to tell her story, but she also considers that Lenora may have been ignored or disbelieved rather than guilty. After asking Lenora whether anyone was in the room last night and receiving a firm no, Kit decides the missing page is less important than Lenora’s need to speak, loads fresh paper into the typewriter, and commits to helping Lenora finally tell everything.