Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

Erin is the person they find in the shed. Ernie recalls the infertility problems they had during their marriage. She and Ernie discuss Michael and his story about Alan Holton; Ernie is still skeptical that Michael is telling him the complete truth. Sofia joins them in discussing the body in front of them. Sofia believes that the man was suffocated with a bag that contained ash being placed over his head. They are interrupted by Officer Crawford.

Ernie is finally able to look inside the truck. It contains a casket. A mark on the casket lets Ernie know that it belongs to Alan Holton’s partner, the man who killed Ernie’s father.

Ernie opens the casket to discover that alongside the policeman’s corpse is that of a child. Suddenly, the truck begins to move, and Sofia and Erin shout at Ernie to jump out, as the parking brake has not been set. In the process of trying to exit, the casket slides, and Ernie’s hand becomes caught between it and the truck wall. The truck slides out onto the frozen lake and rests on top of it. Ernie waits until the front end begins to sink into the water, and then he swims out.

Ernie awakens briefly, surrounded by many family members, and then quickly passes out again. When he comes to, he is lying in a bed, and Marcelo is there. The two talk, Ernie wanting to know what Marcelo is willing to tell him about his father. Marcelo speaks of Robert (Ernie’s father) working undercover for the police. When he insists he has no more knowledge than this, Ernie pushes further, and Marcelo reveals his belief that Robert witnessed a murder. Ernie is certain this murder has something to do with the child’s corpse he found. Marcelo goes on to say that there was a botched ransom done by the Sabers (the criminal ring Robert was involved in) involving a child named Rebecca McAuley. Marcelo notes that the amount of the ransom was $300,000. Ernie, then, is certain that it was information about this child that Alan offered to sell to Michael (as a means for Holton to finally receive the unpaid ransom) and reveals to Marcelo that the child’s body is in the back of Michael’s truck. The two speculate that there must be other details that they are missing that link Robert to the cover-up of Rebecca McAuley’s death. Marcelo believes this cover-up might involve the cover-up of another murder.

Ernie learns that it was Erin who pulled him out of the lake. He recalls the letter detailing the results of her fertility test, revealing that Erin tried to hide the results from him by saying the letter had gotten lost in the mail. Ernie reveals how he dug through the trash to recover the letter, locating, too, a used packet of birth control pills, insinuating that the fertility results were positive but that Erin had continued to take measures to prevent pregnancy.

Ernie indirectly reveals that Michael is discovered dead in the Drying Room. He speaks overtly about the novel’s structure, reminding readers that there is a hole in the plot.

Ernie notices the scent of ash in the air in the Drying Room. Michael’s body is covered in ash, and his hands are bound. Ernie tries to resuscitate Michael, but it is no use. Juliette ushers him out. All of the other family members are there, instantly learning what has happened, except for Sofia. She soon arrives, instantly declaring that Michael was murdered by suffocation. Lucy quickly blames Erin, suggesting Michael had ended the relationship with her. Lucy asserts, too, that Ernie was involved. Audrey, however, points out that it was Lucy’s idea to padlock the Drying Room from the outside. Lucy is further upset by Audrey’s reaction and rushes out.

When Audrey asks Officer Crawford how he could have allowed Michael to die in the Drying Room while he was outside guarding it, Crawford admits that he was not there. He notes that the room had been left unlocked because he and Juliette were planning to move Michael to a guestroom but that he had checked on Michael earlier and discovered him asleep. Crawford cannot recall whether the window in the room was open at the time. The rest of the group points out that Ernie, then, was the last person to see Michael alive.

The family decides to stay, and everyone heads to bed, many now moving from their chalets to guest rooms in the main building. Ernie asks Katherine to dole out more of the pain pills to him, but she will only give him a single pill. Ernie briefly thinks of her sobriety—a result of a drunk driving car accident she caused. Ernie insinuates, but does not directly say, that a friend of Katherine’s was her passenger in the crash. The friend presumably died in the accident.

Erin asks to stay in Ernie’s chalet, not wanting to be alone overnight. They talk about the death of Michael, and then Ernie brings up the casket in the truck. Erin claims to not know what is inside of it, suspecting it must be something of value—such as diamonds—that Michael wanted. Erin notes that Alan Holton dealt in secondhand jewels. Ernie recalls seeing Erin take something from Michael’s pocket when the two arrived; presumably, it is the object that Michael wished to show Ernie earlier but could not find. Ernie asks Erin about it, and she tosses the item—a jeweler’s loupe—to him. Her thinking was that keeping this object from Michael would prevent him from inspecting the jewels without her, thus preventing him from excluding her from them. Erin reveals that she learned there were no jewels in the casket and thus proposes Michael wanted to check the serial numbers on the money in Ernie’s possession. They speculate that the loupe belonged to Alan Holton and that perhaps he brought it to their exchange to do the same with the money.

The conversation winds down, but suddenly Erin tells Ernie that she killed her mother.

Erin explains that, though she has always told people her mother died of cancer, her mother actually died in childbirth when Erin was born. Erin notes that her father blamed Erin for the death and she has blamed herself as well. She goes on to explain that this experience is why she did not wish to become pregnant.

Ernie checks the money with the loupe but does not discover anything unusual. As he and Erin make their way through the parking lot, Ernie throws an iron at Marcelo’s car window. The alarm sounds, but he is able to grab the GPS device from inside the car before Marcelo arrives.

Closer to the main building, the family is clustered around a large vehicle that has been called, it seems, to take them all down the hill in light of the snow. Ernie learns then that Lucy is missing. He offers to ride in the snow vehicle to search the grounds for her. As Ernie thinks through Michael’s death, he decides Lucy had motive to kill him.