Blake waits over an hour outside the yellow Cross family house, hungry and on edge. He eats some of the cinnamon cookies Krista made him and is overcome by the thought they might be the last thing she ever baked for him. He repeatedly checks his phone; Krista still has not responded to his earlier text.

Blake tries to reassure himself that the three severed fingers he found in his house could not be Krista’s given the tight timeline, but he cannot shake that the nail polish color resembles what she wore that morning. The silence from Krista intensifies his dread.

Near five o’clock, a Chevrolet pulls into the driveway. A woman in her sixties with dark blond hair, whom Blake assumes is Whitney’s mother, enters the house. Blake waits ten minutes to avoid seeming aggressive, then approaches the door and rings the bell, unsure which cover story to use.

Up close, the woman resembles Whitney less than he expected and appears older and haunted, which mirrors how Blake feels. Faced with her wary look, Blake abandons pretense and decides to tell the truth.

Blake introduces himself to Mrs. Cross and explains that five months earlier he rented a room to Whitney Cross, after which a cascade of disturbing events followed—rot in the kitchen, Krista leaving him, Herb Zimmerly’s murder, and the discovery of severed fingers. Overwhelmed, he questions whether coming here will help.

Seeing his distress, Mrs. Cross places a hand on his shoulder and says they need to talk, inviting him inside. The chapter ends with the two poised for a candid conversation about Whitney.