On the morning of Mallory’s last full day in Spring Brook, Adrian makes breakfast and insists on driving to Akron to meet Dolores Campbell, even though Mallory doubts the trip will help. Because she is expected at the Maxwells’ farewell pool party, Mallory stays behind. She spends the morning packing and thinking about how little she wants to leave, especially for Russell’s far less welcoming neighborhood.

At the Maxwells’ house, Ted and Caroline stage a cheerful send-off that treats Mallory’s firing as a mutual decision. Mallory swims and eats with the family, briefly wondering whether Caroline might change her mind, but Caroline’s comment about ending the summer on a high note makes it clear Mallory is truly leaving. Later, Mallory and Teddy play in the pool and talk about staying in touch, while Teddy repeats a strange story that he and his parents drove home from Barcelona through an underwater tunnel.

Adrian finally calls from Ohio with a major correction. He has met Dolores Campbell and her son Curtis, who explains that Annie Barrett was not murdered at all. Annie was an English woman who fell in love with Willie Campbell, a black man from the Corrigan neighborhood, became pregnant, and planned to run away with him to Ohio. To hide the scandal from Spring Brook, Annie’s cousin George staged a bloody crime scene at the cottage and let the town believe Annie had been killed, which means Mallory’s theory about Annie’s ghost has been built on a false story.

Shaken, Mallory returns to Teddy and helps him shower. While Teddy is inside the outdoor shower, Detective Briggs approaches from next door and confirms that Curtis’s version of Annie’s history matches what she already knew. Briggs then shares two new pieces of information: Mitzi’s phone contained a draft message to Mallory that read, We need to talk. I was wrong about before. Anya isn’t a name, it’s—, and Caroline reported hearing Mitzi arguing with someone Thursday night. During this conversation Teddy tricks Mallory into opening the shower door, then nervously asks whether the police officer is angry at them and whether they are going to be arrested, which unsettles Mallory.

Briggs also reveals that Mitzi most likely died from a heroin overdose, which fits what Mallory saw in Mitzi’s house. After Mallory gets Teddy settled and returns alone to the cottage, she is overwhelmed by the collapse of her Annie theory, Mitzi’s unfinished warning, Teddy’s fearful question, and the overdose news. Looking at all of it together, Mallory reaches a new conclusion: the Maxwells have been lying to her.