Nate wakes at sunrise and is startled by the empty space beside him, then quickly feels relieved when he remembers that Eve is gone. He believes Eve is dead, that Addie either buried her body or was caught trying, and that Eve's phone and its incriminating photographs were deleted and buried with her. Convinced that the crisis is over, Nate thinks of himself as a free man.

As Nate gets up, he reflects on how Addie's late-night phone call changed everything. He checks his phone and sees multiple messages from Addie asking where he is, but he decides not to answer. Nate pities Addie only superficially; he also recognizes that abandoning her could protect him, and he reassures himself that if Addie talks, she has no proof tying him to her.

Nate continues rationalizing his safety. He tells himself that Eve was the only person who knew the truth, the evidence is gone, and Addie will be easy to discredit because she already has a history of unstable behavior and accusations against a teacher. This confidence lets Nate move through the morning calmly, even cheerfully, as he imagines resuming ordinary life.

In the bathroom, Nate finds an unsettling surprise: Eve's red pumps are sitting in the shower. He cannot explain why they are there, and the discovery briefly disturbs him, but he quickly dismisses it as another sign that Eve was irrational. He removes the shoes, thinking more about their resale value than about what their presence might mean.

As Nate handles the shoes, he hears what sounds like tapping outside the bathroom door. He opens the door and finds no one there, which momentarily unnerves him and evokes a line from Edgar Allan Poe. Still, Nate blames stress and poor sleep, puts the shoes away, and forces himself back into his routine.

By the end of the chapter, Nate takes a hot shower and calmly plans the day ahead: breakfast, grading papers, lunch, possibly grocery shopping, and then calling the police. His decision to contact the police shows that he is moving into the next phase of the cover-up, intending to control the narrative of Eve's disappearance before anyone else can.