Nate sleeps badly after finding Eve’s dirt-covered red shoes at his door. His nightmares fixate on Eve rising from the pumpkin patch where he and Addie buried her, which leaves him exhausted and unable to maintain the calm performance he managed the day before.

In the morning, Nate makes instant coffee and answers the door expecting another disturbing delivery. Instead, Detective Sprague arrives and asks to come in. Nate hopes she has news about Eve, but Sprague says she has none and immediately shifts the conversation to what she learned from Debra Higgins.

Sprague confronts Nate about omitting that Adeline Severson was not only Eve’s student but also Nate’s student in English and in the poetry magazine he supervises. Nate tries to minimize their connection by saying Addie was merely adequate and that he had no issues with her, but Sprague’s questions make clear that she sees his earlier account as incomplete and possibly deceptive.

Sprague then asks whether Nate or Eve ever had an extramarital affair. Nate denies his own infidelity too quickly, hesitates about Eve, and gives uncertain answers that expose his anxiety rather than reassure her. Trying to regain control, Nate blames his poor thinking on lack of sleep and worry.

Sprague backs off for the moment and says she will return later, either to the house or at the station. Nate refuses the idea of going to the police station and tells her to come back to him instead. After she leaves, Nate recognizes from her final look that Sprague now suspects he is hiding something, even if she still lacks proof.