The Only One Left
by Riley Sager
Contents
Chapter Twenty-Three
Overview
Carter reveals that the newly discovered photo of pregnant Lenora may connect her directly to his family's origins, making him a possible grandson of Lenora Hope. He also admits Mary died while helping him obtain Lenora's blood for a kinship test, creating a powerful inheritance motive and widening the field of suspects when he confesses he left the gate open that night. The chapter raises the stakes around Mary's death and ends with a cliff collapse that mirrors the growing instability at Hope's End.
Summary
Kit studies the 1929 photograph and realizes Lenora was pregnant, almost certainly with Ricky Mayhew's child. Carter then explains why the picture matters to him personally: his father was the abandoned baby left at the local Episcopal church on Christmas morning in 1929, and the timing of Lenora's pregnancy makes Carter suspect Lenora was his biological grandmother.
Carter says Tony found the photograph and pushed him to work at Hope's End because Carter wanted answers. Carter believes Ricky Mayhew was likely the father and thinks that possibility could explain why Lenora's family was killed and why Lenora was spared. Kit asks whether Carter tried to learn more from Mrs. Baker or Archie, but Carter says neither wants to discuss the past, so he turned to Mary after learning she and Lenora were secretly working together.
Carter reveals that he contacted a lab to arrange a blood test to see whether he and Lenora were related. He gave his own sample two weeks earlier, and Mary agreed to draw Lenora's blood and leave it for him to take to the lab the next morning. Mary disappeared before that could happen, but Kit connects this to the bruise she saw on Lenora's arm and concludes Mary likely did take the sample. That possibility deepens Carter's guilt, because it means Mary may have died while carrying both Lenora's writings and Lenora's blood.
Carter then explains why he thinks the danger may have spread beyond the household staff. If he is Lenora's grandson, he could inherit Hope's End, giving Mrs. Baker and Archie a motive to stop proof of his relationship from surfacing. But Carter also confesses that he left the front gate open on the night Mary died, meaning anyone could have entered the property. As Kit and Carter decide their best next move is to question Lenora directly, a violent tearing crash interrupts them. Outside, they discover that a section of cliff between the cottage and the terrace has collapsed into the sea, underscoring how unstable Hope's End has become.
Who Appears
- Kit McDeereQuestions Carter, connects Mary's death to the blood test, and decides Lenora must be confronted directly.
- CarterReveals he may be Lenora's grandson and that Mary was helping him obtain Lenora's blood.
- Lenora HopeSeen in a photo as pregnant; the possible grandmother at the center of Carter's inheritance theory.
- Mary MiltonHad agreed to draw Lenora's blood for Carter, which may have contributed to her death.
- Mrs. BakerLongtime Hope's End resident whom Kit suspects might lose out if Carter proves kinship.
- ArchieAnother longtime household member who may have an inheritance motive and witnesses the cliff collapse.
- TonyFound the pregnancy photo and encouraged Carter to work at Hope's End.
- JessieAppears outside after the collapse; Kit briefly wonders whether Mary confided in her.
- Ricardo MayhewBelieved by Kit and Carter to be Lenora's lover and the likely father of her baby.
- Detective VickMentioned as someone Kit and Carter doubt would believe their new theory without proof.