Joyce looks ahead to the next stage of the investigation: she and Elizabeth will travel to Manchester the following day to question Jill Usher, the woman Holly Lewis last called. To gain access, Elizabeth has already told Jill that they are genealogical researchers with important family news, and Joyce has been asked to invent the details. Joyce also reflects on the strain of recent events, especially on Alan, and on the growing fear that Holly has been murdered and Nick Silver may have been killed too.

The group studies printouts of the texts supposedly sent by Nick to Paul, and the messages increasingly look fake. That evidence pushes Joyce toward an alarming conclusion: someone else has been using Nick's phone or identity, which makes Nick's disappearance seem even more dangerous. Paul and Joanna return to London, with Paul promising to stay in touch if there is any further contact from Nick. Joyce notices that Paul seems more visibly worried about Nick than devastated by Holly's death, which makes her wonder about the real shape of those relationships.

When Joyce walks Joanna and Paul to the car, Joanna kisses Joyce goodbye and tells her she loves her, and Joyce's awkward but affectionate response reveals their bond. Because Holly died in a car explosion, Joanna insists that Paul check beneath the car for a bomb before they leave. There is no bomb, and they arrive home safely, but the precaution shows how thoroughly fear and suspicion have entered everyone's lives.

The investigation then divides into separate lines of inquiry. Joyce and Elizabeth will go to Manchester to see Jill Usher, while Ron plans to track down Bill Benson. Ron asks Ibrahim to accompany him, but Ibrahim declines because he has someone else to meet. Jason is due to collect Kendrick in the morning, and Joyce expects Alan to be upset when Kendrick leaves because Alan has become deeply attached.

Meanwhile, Joyce and Elizabeth help Jasper clear away the many cats and other clutter in his home, leaving the boxes in Jasper's garage. Elizabeth seems to enjoy the tidying more than she lets on, and she and Jasper swap stories from the past as they work. On the train home, Elizabeth unexpectedly falls asleep with her head on Joyce's shoulder, a rare sign of tiredness and vulnerability that leaves Joyce thinking about how age makes all of them more childlike and dependent on one another.