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Part 5-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 5: “The Truth”
Part 5, Chapter 42 Summary
Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of murder and suicide.
Kelsey makes a whispered phone call to Nate while Lauren and May sit on either side of her. She tells Nate that May is extremely annoying, but the judge told her to appreciate the opportunity to stay at May’s while she can. She lays out the story that she and May have concocted to lure Nate in. She tells Nate that some police officers have connected the murders of both Luke and David to Bill, and she claims to be worried that Bill will be convicted.
May and Lauren recognize the fact that as Kelsey voices her fears that her father orchestrated two murders for her benefit, she is speaking honestly about her real fears about Nate. In the past, Kelsey relied on Nate’s emotional support as she lamented the fact that her divorce from Luke would also mean the end of her chances to become a mother, since Luke would not agree to let her use the fertilized embryos. She also relied on Nate’s support after Dave broke up with her.
After their parents’ divorce, Kelsey made it clear to Nate that nothing sexual could happen between them, but they now have a very codependent (if platonic) relationship. May was Nate’s only serious girlfriend, and she now wonders if she was only an appealing option to Nate because of her close friendship with Kelsey.
The narrative reveals that on the night that Marnie died, Nate, Kelsey, and May had gotten extremely drunk and high. Nate and Kelsey then discussed their sexual history together, and Marnie overheard this. When Kelsey saw May and Marnie huddled together, she assumed that Marnie was telling May about the step-siblings’ sexual relationship. The next morning, when Kelsey learned that Marnie was dead, she felt almost relieved, knowing that Marnie would not be able to gossip about her.
With the benefit of hindsight, Kelsey and May have realized that Nate very likely murdered Marnie, believing that he was protecting Kelsey’s reputation. However, Kelsey has refused to let herself believe that her beloved stepbrother is a murderer.
Now, as Kelsey talks to Nate on the phone, she asks him to come over for drinks. He asks if Josh is there, and she tells him that Josh is on a business trip. Kelsey notices that May’s face falls and intuits that May must have been lying about Josh’s whereabouts. Nate agrees to come over in four hours. Kelsey is determined to spend the next four hours proving to her friends why Nate is innocent. Meanwhile, May calls Carter.
Part 5, Chapter 43 Summary
Kelsey is panicking and wants alcohol, but May tries to limit Kelsey’s drinking. Kelsey feels guilty about setting Nate up, but they all realize that proving his innocence would be just as important as proving his guilt. Lauren is impressed by how much effort May is putting into this plan. She realizes that by staying and witnessing whatever is about to happen, she will be obligated to testify, which might upset Thomas and her bosses. However, Lauren stays out of a sense of obligation to her friends.
Lauren decides to split one martini between three glasses to give Nate the impression that they have all drunk more already. Meanwhile, Carter has bugged the room with recording equipment, and the police are already waiting in the rooftop garden, listening in.
Part 5, Chapter 44 Summary
When Nate arrives, May shows him the 20th-floor terrace. Kelsey hugs Nate, covertly making sure that he is not holding a gun. May wonders if her plan is the right thing to do. She reflects on the moment when Nate brought in the laundry and wonders if he really was trying to distract her from the photographs; she also wonders if she is being paranoid. She also reflects on new information that she just learned from Bill: that he and Jeanie were initially pleased when Kelsey and Nate became so close but became furious when they walked in on the two teenage step-siblings having sex. At the time, Bill blamed Nate, while Jeanie blamed Kelsey.
Now, May tries to focus on the task at hand rather than thinking about Josh’s call that morning, in which he reminded her that the nonrefundable deposit for their wedding is due in a few days.
Kelsey, May, and Lauren hold a normal conversation with Nate as they wait for him to mention the investigation. When Nate says that the police are just trying to intimidate Kelsey, May pretends to have new information: that the same gun that killed David was also used to kill Luke. Nate says that this is impossible and that the police have likely fabricated this information. May claims that she also “thought” this and asked them to send her the “test results,” which show that the two guns were the same.
May pretends to believe that Kelsey is really the murderer, while Lauren pretends to believe that May staged the gathering in order to interrogate Kelsey. May claims to be furious that Kelsey tricked her into representing her, then calls upon her authentic, unvoiced resentment to deliver a convincingly angry diatribe. Kelsey breaks down, and Nate instantly tries to comfort her by telling her that the men were not killed by the same gun.
The narrative reveals that Carter has found Nate’s rental car reservation and determined his lack of alibi. May has tracked down a cashier at the Jersey City AutoZone, who has confirmed that Nate purchased a set of LED lights that resemble the ones on a police car.
Now, May pushes Nate to tell them how he knows about the guns, and Nate claims to have seen the information on the internet. However, although Luke was killed with a .38, the police have not yet revealed that David was killed with a 9mm. The friends collectively “decide” that the police made a mistake or passed on incorrect evidence reports to May. They attempt to resume normal drinks conversation as they wait for Carter to obtain a warrant for Nate’s apartment.
As they wait, Kelsey can’t stop crying. She veers off-script and tells Nate that he ruined her life. She also tells him that she feels like a pariah and reveals the measures that she must take to conceal her identity. She accuses him of never wanting her to have a relationship with anyone but him. May tries to rein Kelsey in, but Kelsey tells Nate that they know about his Hertz rental. Kelsey then accuses him of killing Marnie. He says that he killed Marnie accidentally; he grabbed Marnie’s arm, and she tripped. Kelsey tells Nate that she hates him.
They hear a door slam. As Carter and the detectives push through the door, Nate runs to the terrace, tells the police that Kelsey didn’t know anything about his murderous activities, then throws himself over the 20th-floor balcony and plummets to his death.
Epilogue Summary
Thirteen months later, May, Lauren, and Kelsey are in St. Bart’s, and Kelsey is pregnant with twins. Lauren and Thomas are frequent guests in Anguilla. The narrative reveals that after Nate’s death, Josh and May decided to postpone their wedding, then broke off their relationship completely. Later, Carter asked May out on a date.
Luke’s murder case has finally closed, with Nate deemed to be the guilty party. David’s case was closed a few months ago. The narrative clarifies that Nate thought that he was protecting Kelsey. Now that the truth has come to light, May is glad that Marnie’s family can finally have closure. The friends raise their glasses in a toast to new beginnings.
Part 5-Epilogue Analysis
Even as the novel’s climax and resolution show that May and Kelsey have overcome the deception and guilt that tore apart their friendship, Kelsey must come to terms with the extent of Nate’s long-held obsession over her and accept the fact that his fixation has compelled him to lie, deceive, and commit murder on her behalf. In this light, Nate’s decision to die by suicide demonstrates The Impact of Personal History on Identity. Over the years, Kelsey and Nate have considered each other to be their closest family member. Nate’s mother’s diagnosis with dementia has left Nate without biological family members upon whom he can rely for emotional support, creating a sense of isolation that exacerbates his obsession with Kelsey. Once he realizes that he has been caught, Nate engages in one last, desperate act that is designed to prove his love for her. Thus, even as he gives up on life itself, he essentially declares that his life is not worth living if he cannot have Kelsey. Thus, unlike Kelsey and May, who grapple openly with their moral failings, Nate refuses to accept responsibility for his own murderous actions.
In the wake of these dramatic revelations, May and Kelsey are both forced to come to terms with their regrets as they reflect on the various ways in which their own past actions have fragmented their relationships. For example, Kelsey regrets the choices that led to her toxic entanglement with Nate, and she also feels overwhelming guilt for the lives that have been lost because of her stepbrother’s actions. She also acknowledges the ethical failing in her own past relief over Marnie’s death, given that the girl’s demise would prevent her quasi-incestuous relationship with Nate from coming to light. Faced with the true circumstances of Marnie’s demise, she now feels tremendous guilt over her past sneaking sense of relief, and as Kelsey engages in therapy, Burke makes it clear that even now, Kelsey has more work to do in order to contend with the long-term consequences involved in The Burden of Secrets.
Just as Kelsey must come to terms with her role in these events, May must also reconcile her sense of regret as she assesses her relationships—particularly her past fling with Nate. Faced with the full extent of Nate’s activities, May questions whether she was merely a surrogate for Kelsey or a way for Nate to maintain “normalcy” while getting even closer to his step-sister. Unsettled by these thoughts, she is forced to reevaluate her past and her own sense of self-worth, and this process is further complicated by her break-up with Josh, which was precipitated by the fallout from the infamous Hamptons weekend. Notably, Josh’s suggestion that May turn in her friends to save herself has made her realize that he does not possess her capacity for loyalty. As May begins to pursue a new relationship with Carter, Burke suggests that May needs a partner with a similar drive to uncover the truth, no matter what the costs are involved. Ultimately, the final scene shows that the three friends have reached a peaceful resolution of these tangled and interlocking conflicts, and Burke makes it clear that the psychological and moral complexities of guilt have deeply affected the life path of each character, forcing them to either recognize the consequences of their actions or to destroy themselves in the misguided attempt to avoid an inevitable reckoning.
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