In A Dark Dark Wood

Nina tells Nora that she found Flo, who had taken a large quantity of pills, in the bathroom of the bed and breakfast where they are staying. Nina blames herself and worries that Flo took an overdose of paracetamol, which can damage the liver. Nina details Flo’s note, which says she could not cope any longer. Nina explains that Flo blamed herself for what happened because she was the one holding the gun. Nora tells Nina that the police have given her a formal caution and that she is a suspect in what they consider a murder investigation. Nina, sharing the burden of responsibility, wearily says that they are all suspects.

Nora wakes up from Lamarr shaking her shoulder, as she had fallen asleep after speaking with Nina. As Detective Roberts glowers at Nora, Lamarr asks Nora to read a transcript of emails and texts taken from Nora and James’s phones over the last few days. Beginning on Friday evening, the texts show an exchange Nora initiated to James, telling him that she is at Clare’s hen weekend and needs to see him urgently. One message says, “Please. I’ve not asked you for anything but you owe me this. Tomorrow? Sunday is too late” (269). The next set of time-stamped exchanges Nora initiated are from Saturday morning and then Saturday afternoon. In his texts, James agrees to come that night.

When Nora finishes reading, Lamarr asks for an explanation, emphasizing that the police recovered the deleted messages from the server. Nora shakily says that she did not send the messages. Lamarr counters that the time-stamps correspond to when Nora went for her runs and during her trip to the shooting range. Nora protests that she did not take her phone on her runs, but Lamarr says the GPS evidence shows that she went up the hill to where she could get a signal.

Lamarr goes on to say that they have the analysis from Clare’s car and know what happened. Nora is afraid to learn the missing pieces her memory has concealed. Lamarr says that Nora grabbed the wheel and forced Clare’s car off the road and into a tree. Lamarr confirms that the investigators found Nora’s fingerprints on the steering wheel as well as physical evidence that Nora fought with Clare.

Although Nora denies this, she has a sudden flash of memory and sees Clare’s frightened face as their hands struggle for the wheel. Lamarr asks if Clare was right to worry about how Nora would react to the news of Clare and James’s impending nuptials. Lamarr concludes, “And so you lured him up to the cottage, and then you shot him” (271). Nora, unable to speak, can’t dispute Lamarr. When she finally finds her voice, Nora says that she wants to see a solicitor.

Nora considers the time stamp on the first text the police think she sent to James. When she went for that first run, Clare had not yet arrived. Nora can’t imagine who would want to destroy her as well Clare and James. Thinking like a crime fiction writer, Nora eliminates Melanie and Tom as suspects: Neither of them knew about her past with James, and neither had met her previously. Although Nina had the opportunity to send the texts and harbors contempt towards Clare, Nora rejects her as the culprit. Nina cruelly taunted Nora and Clare during the “Never Have I Ever” game, but Nora doesn’t believe Nina could have caused James’s death.

Nora next considers Flo, the overzealous weekend host who persistently insisted that Nora come to the hen do. Additionally, Flo held the gun that she falsely maintained contained blanks. Nora thinks about the strange obsession Flo has shown towards Clare and thinks: “She could have found out about James and me at any point” (276). Flo, unable to cope with James’s death, also attempted to end her own life.

Nora then notices the police guard stationed at her door and considers the “evidence” against her. She wonders what trauma might be preventing her mind from remembering the events clearly. Nora thinks to when she was first learning to write crime drama and received an interviewing policeman’s advice: “You listen for the lie” (278). Lamarr and Roberts think they’ve caught her in her lie, and Nora struggles with the possibility that she sent the texts and is blocking out the memory. Nora goes into the bathroom, and her worn appearance shocks her.

When she comes back to the bed, she realizes that the police guard has left his post. Without hesitating, Nora quickly dresses and takes the money Nina left. Nora walks out of the room, trying not to look suspicious. She sees a police officer talking into his radio, but he does not look at her. Just before she gets to the elevator, Nora sees Lamarr, so she ducks into an open room. Nora hears Lamarr’s footsteps go down the hall and turns to apologize to the room’s occupant: Clare, in an unconscious state. Nora whispers to Clare that she promises to find the truth. Nora hurries to the elevator and goes down to the lobby. At the reception desk, a woman answers the phone and says that she will keep an eye out, so Nora knows that the police are looking for her. Nervously, Nora moves to the doorway and exits the hospital, relieved to have escaped.