The Only One Left
by Riley Sager
Contents
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Overview
Kit finally exposes Mrs. Baker as the real Lenora Hope, uncovering the book’s central identity fraud. Lenora admits that after the murders she bribed Dr. Walden to declare paralyzed Virginia dead, stole both the inheritance and Virginia’s identity, and remade herself as Mrs. Baker to escape suspicion and grief. Virginia’s typed testimony confirms the psychological cruelty of that swap and clarifies that her struggle is not just to tell the truth, but to survive her sister’s lifelong imprisonment of her.
Summary
Kit goes to the kitchen and confronts Mrs. Baker after discovering Virginia’s urn was empty. By producing Mary Milton’s supposed suicide note and pointing out that only Virginia typed that way, Kit forces Mrs. Baker to admit the truth: she is the real Lenora Hope. Kit accuses Lenora of killing Mary because Mary learned the deception, and Lenora begins explaining what happened after the 1929 murders.
Lenora says that on the night of the attacks she was hiding in her room, then came downstairs to find her mother dead on the stairs, her father dead in the billiard room, and Virginia hanging in the ballroom. Lenora called the police and insisted she was innocent, but her panic made her look guilty. Although everyone assumed Virginia was dead, the police discovered she was still alive, and Dr. Walden treated her at Hope’s End instead of sending her to a hospital.
Lenora reveals that Dr. Walden was wrong to call Virginia brain dead. Virginia’s mind survived, but the hanging damaged her larynx and spinal cord, leaving her unable to speak and mostly paralyzed. As Lenora faced police suspicion, social abandonment, the collapse of the family business, and the burden of running Hope’s End alone, she decided to escape the identity of accused heiress Lenora Hope.
Once six months passed without charges, Lenora bribed Dr. Walden with Packards to declare Virginia legally dead and to prescribe Lenora a restorative trip abroad. That let Lenora inherit both sisters’ money, leave for Europe, and return as Mrs. Baker, while the living Virginia was kept in bed and presented to the world as Lenora Hope. Lenora admits she deliberately created the false identities because she wanted a life of her own.
The chapter then shifts to Virginia’s typed account to Mary, which confirms Kit’s conclusion from the victim’s side. Virginia explains that after the murders Lenora repeatedly told her that she was Lenora Hope and that Lenora herself was Mrs. Baker, until doctors, nurses, and routine wore down Virginia’s resistance. Archie alone cared for Virginia out of devotion, Lenora once drunkenly apologized, and Virginia ends by revealing her long-term goal: to make sure her sister does not outlive her and keep the deception intact forever.
Who Appears
- Kit McDeereConfronts Mrs. Baker, exposes the forged note, and uncovers the sisters’ long-running identity fraud.
- Lenora HopeRevealed as the woman posing as Mrs. Baker; confesses the identity swap and inheritance scheme.
- Virginia HopeParalyzed survivor who confirms through her typed account that Lenora stole her name and life.
- Mary MiltonHer forged suicide note helps Kit prove Mary learned the truth before her death.
- Dr. WaldenCorrupt family physician bribed to declare Virginia dead and enable Lenora’s deception.
- ArchieLoyal caretaker devoted to Virginia, helping her during Lenora’s long absence.
- Detective VickReferenced as the detective who treated Mary’s note as suicide evidence.
- Peter WardLenora’s former lover, who abandoned her after the murders and deepened her isolation.