Haunting Adeline

Adeline brings Arch back to Parsons Manor, and she brings him to the sunroom in the back of the house facing a cliff. Arch is in awe of the view of the stars, but Adeline perceives a brief, sad look on his face. They begin to have sex, but Adeline notices a movement and remembers the stalker. They are interrupted by a bang at the door, and Arch jumps to investigate. As he opens the door, Arch reveals that he has a gun, which causes Adeline to panic, wondering both who Arch is and what might happen in a conflict between him and the stalker. After a period of silence, Adeline opens the door and finds a blood-covered rose.

Adeline calls the police, and Sheriff Walters, a family friend of Adeline’s, arrives. He explains that they suspect the murderer would have carried Arch on foot to a car, but he is not aware of the reports Adeline has made about her stalker. Adeline is upset that her reports were not filed, but Walters tells her that her stalker may have done her a favor: Arch and his family are known criminals, involved in dealing cocaine, and Arch, specifically, has been accused of domestic violence. The police leave, and Adeline worries if she will be killed by her stalker or by Arch’s family.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated September 10, 1944, in which Gigi notes that she has not seen Ronaldo in three days. In the meantime, she had a fight with John, and it seems that John has realized that Gigi is distancing herself from him. Gigi cannot say she loves John anymore, and she feels that her marriage is an affair, in which she is cheating on Ronaldo, not her husband.

Z says that he has committed homicide. He discusses how seeing Arch with Adeline made him upset, leading him to knock on the door, grab Arch, and stab him before knocking him unconscious. Z brings Arch back to his base of operations, which he notes is entirely secure. Next to the table onto which Z straps Arch, Josh lies dead. Before his death, Josh gave up his boss, a man in Ohio, and Z notes that another branch of his organization will take care of him. Though Z is aware of Arch’s family’s crime organization, he does not consider it serious, and he notes that he would not have any involvement in taking them down if not for Arch’s involvement with Adeline.

Z tortures Arch, who is confused that Z is upset about his intimacy with Adeline. Though Z does not explain his feelings to Arch, he thinks of Adeline as his possession and that he needs to kill any men who touch her. With Arch, this issue is conflated with Arch’s history of domestic abuse, which led to his ex-wife’s hospitalization for physical injuries and subsequent hospitalization for PTSD. Z asks Arch if he was going to hurt Adeline, and Arch admits that he planned to hurt her after making her more comfortable with him, which sparks Z to plan an extensive torture session prior to Arch’s death. Z also acknowledges that he will need to kill Arch’s family to avoid any attempts at revenge.

Daya offers to get Adeline a security system, and they arrange to meet and set up the system later in the day. When Adeline checks her mail, she finds a box containing Arch’s hands and a bloody note on her porch. Daya comes immediately, and the two investigate the note, which implies that the Shadow punished Adeline by killing Arch. Daya reveals that Arch’s entire family is dead, and the police found no evidence to connect the crime to anyone.

Later that day, Adeline is distracted from her writing by a thump in her bedroom. She grabs her knife to go investigate, but she does not find anyone. Instead, she finds one of Gigi’s diaries on the floor, when it had previously been left in her nightstand. The diary on the floor is the last of the three, and Adeline notes that the tone of the final entries is frantic; one page is also torn out of the binding. Daya comes over again, and the two look through the information that Daya finds in the police system regarding Gigi’s murder. They resolve that they need to either find out who Ronaldo is or find the missing page to continue their investigation.

That night, Adeline wakes up in a sweat, and she hears footsteps outside her door. The steps come to her bedroom door and stop, and Adeline grabs a screwdriver, moving to the door quietly. The footsteps pause, then they retreat until Adeline hears her front door close. She shifts to a window, staying hidden but looking out to see who was in her house. As Z walks away from the house, Adeline sees him, and he turns to smile at her before walking away.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated September 18, 1944, in which Gigi notes that Ronaldo was hurt when she saw him. The two have sex, and Gigi is ashamed, but she does not regret it.

Adeline investigates Gigi’s journals, looking for clues about her murder. Daya assists her by sending over documents from the original investigation. Adeline’s investigation is cut short by a thump in the kitchen, and she sees Z outside on her lawn. Adeline charges out of the house and confronts him, pushing him in the chest and demanding to know what he wants. He does not respond but licks his lips and walks away. Three days later, Z shows up on her lawn again, and Adeline grabs her phone to call the police. Z shakes his head, and Adeline pretends that there is another person in the house, first looking up at the sound of footsteps above her, then pretending to yell to someone else in the house. Z is confused, but he stays for 15 minutes, staring at Adeline while she stares back.

After another book signing event, Daya and Adeline return to Parsons Manor to find a single light on in the house. Adeline notes that she did not leave any lights on, and, feeling a little drunk, she charges into the house to confront Z again. He is not there, but Daya and Adeline find that the house is full of roses, with a whiskey glass sitting on the counter. They call the police to investigate, and Adeline agrees to spend the night at Daya’s home. Once Adeline settles in at Daya’s house, she is surprised to see a man outside the bedroom window. She turns to call Daya, but Z sends her a text asking if she liked his flowers.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated November 19, 1944, in which Gigi admits that she is enjoying her affair with Ronaldo. John is not suspicious yet, but Gigi worries that he will become suspicious soon. She notes that John makes her feel like a servant, while Ronaldo makes her feel special and feminine.

Z arrives at his headquarters with a new video from Jay. The video shows four men killing a teenage boy, marking themselves with his blood. This is not the first video of this kind he has encountered, and he suspects that there is a ring of prominent individuals performing this ritual regularly. Z comments on how challenging it is for him to watch videos of trafficking victims being tortured and murdered, maintaining that he is invested in ending trafficking altogether. The first video of the ritual that Z saw involved four senators, though Z suspects that they are just part of the overall scheme.

Later, Z is in Parsons Manor, and he notes that he has experienced some supernatural feelings and presences in the home. He rewatches the video on repeat in Adeline’s kitchen while she sleeps upstairs. Z remembers that he moved to Seattle specifically to end the trafficking ring involved in the ritual, and he is grateful that he met Adeline as a result.