After Detective Sprague leaves, Addie's mother is shaken and immediately demands to know what Addie has done. Addie follows the rule she has set for herself—deny everything—and claims she was home all night. When her mother pushes for the truth, Addie tries to redirect the situation by suggesting the unused car in the garage probably cannot start.

Addie's mother tests that claim at once. Addie watches in mounting panic because a dead battery would have supported her innocence, but the engine starts immediately. The result destroys Addie's hope that the car could not have been used and gives her mother another reason to doubt her.

Once the car is turned off, Addie's mother asks again what happened and whether Addie did something to Eve Bennett. Addie denies it aloud, but privately she admits the denial is false in part: she has done many terrible things, including going to the Bennett house and hitting Eve with a frying pan. Her uncertainty now is not about the attack itself, but about whether Eve actually died because of it.

Addie considers confessing everything, including her affair with Nathaniel and the violence at the Bennett house. In the end, fear stops her. Addie realizes that if she tells the truth, it will become her word against Nathaniel's, and she is certain Nathaniel will deny everything, leaving her vulnerable and likely framed.