This Is Why We Lied

Faith quickly confirms Gabbie’s connection to Paul and tells Will. He and Kevin return to the compound and confront Gordon and Paul coming out of their cottage. Paul understands what’s happening and agrees to talk. He shows them the tattoo but remains argumentative and aggressive. He tells them that he gave a fake name because he wasn’t sure he wanted the family to know the connection.

Will is angry but tries to distance himself. Paul says he saw Mercy on the trail at 10:30 pm that night. When Will asks what they said, Paul says he told Mercy that he forgave her. He also tells them that he discovered the truth about the accident: He hired a private investigator who eventually bought the truth from Dave.

Paul says that when he forgave Mercy, she spit on him and told him to “go fuck” himself. He was so surprised that he and Gordon just sat in silence inside their cottage. Paul reflects that the saddest part was that Dave knew the truth the whole time but never told Mercy. That was what Paul and Gordon were arguing about when Will overheard them: Paul wanted to tell Mercy the truth, but Gordon didn’t want to get involved.

In addition, Paul tells them that after Mercy spit on him, before he went back inside, he thought he saw Cecil stand up from his wheelchair on the lodge’s porch and walk inside.

Sara and Jon walk toward the dining hall, where everyone is gathering for cocktail hour. She has told Jon that Dave was home and innocent but they have another suspect. She also reminds Jon that Will has some things to share with him when he’s ready.

Faith is waiting outside for Sara. Jon goes into the dining hall, while Faith and Sara catch up. Faith says that the road is being cleared and everyone will be able to leave soon. Down the trail, they run into Will, and he tells them that Paul didn’t kill Mercy.

Faith changes the subject, asking if Cecil can get out of his wheelchair. Sara doesn’t know the details of his injury but admits that many wheelchair users have some mobility. She reflects that he didn’t have a bedpan near his bed, possibly indicating that he could get to the bathroom. They connect several things that might indicate Cecil can walk, at least short distances, before Faith reveals Paul’s comment about Cecil walking inside. Will points out that even if Cecil couldn’t have managed the actual killing, Dave helped him before. Will makes a new plan to goad Dave into saying something revealing. Sara knows that this will put Will in danger but agrees.

When they walk into the dining hall, dinner is over but everyone is still there. Sara asks Jon to leave with her, but Dave and Bitty say no. Kevin stands in front of the entrance, Will is next to Dave, and Faith is at the other end of the table.

Faith tells everyone that Christopher is being arrested for his bootlegging operation. Dave laughs at first, but then Faith tells them that they need DNA because they found skin under Mercy’s fingernails. She also reveals that Mercy was pregnant, shocking everyone. Will tells Dave that she occasionally slept with guests and was sleeping with Alejandro. Finally, Will’s goading works, and Dave loses his temper.

Jon cries out and runs outside. Bitty is frozen in the act of reaching for Jon and says, “My precious boy” (411). Dave tears up but then becomes enraged. Will continues to goad him, and Dave screams that Mercy only cared about him. Will points out that her last words weren’t about Dave but Jon. Will tells Dave that Mercy’s last words were, “Forgive him,” which she repeated three times.

In saying this to Dave, Will has a realization and can see that Dave does too. Will tells Dave that Mercy’s last words were, “Tell Jon that I forgive him” (412). After a moment, Dave confesses to killing Mercy.

Everyone, including Will, leaves the room except Faith, Kevin, Sara, and Dave. Faith asks Dave what happened, and he walks her through what he says happened that night. Then she asks him to talk about Cecil.

Will runs to his and Sara’s cottage. Dave realized the truth just before he did: Mercy was asking Will, as a police officer, to forgive Jon for killing her. Will believes that Jon, not Dave, is Cecil’s accomplice.

When he enters the cottage, Jon is searching Sara’s luggage. He says he’s for his vape pen, but it’s in his back pocket. Will confronts him directly, asking how the murder happened. He thinks that after her initial scream, Jon ran back to the lodge. By the time she screamed again, he was already back at the lodge.

Jon tells Will that he begged Mercy to leave Dave, but she wouldn’t. He repeats every horrible thing about Mercy that the family or the town has said, and Will asks if he’s rationalizing stabbing her. Jon tells Will that Mercy didn’t protect him from Dave, but Bitty did. Will tells Jon Mercy’s final words about forgiving him.

To his surprise, Jon turns gray with shock, talking about “what she saw” (420). Will plays their conversation back in their head and realizes that Bitty is abusing Jon just like she abused Dave. He realizes that Mercy called Dave that night because she saw Bitty and Jon together.

The novel flashes back to Mercy. She stares out the window, thinking about Paul’s forgiveness moments earlier. She doesn’t feel like she deserves it. Her throat hurts from Dave strangling her. She’s worried about how casual Chuck is starting to act about the bootlegging and doesn’t blame Christopher for wanting out of everything: She does too. She decides to vote to sell and use the money to move her and Jon away from her family.

Seeing the light on under Jon’s door, she decides to talk to him. When she opens the door, she finds Bitty and Jon in bed together. They both have clothes on, and Jon’s baby blanket is wrapped around his shoulders. Bitty is stroking his hair, her hand up under his shirt. When Mercy comes in, Bitty jumps to her feet, guilt written on her face.

Mercy stumbles to the bathroom and vomits. She sees everything in a different light, including Dave’s relationship with Bitty. She returns to Jon’s room and tells him to pack his clothes and meet her in the dining hall. As she packs, not forgetting her notebooks or her letters to Jon, she repeatedly tries to call Dave. She stops in Jon’s room to get him started packing and then leaves with her pack. When she gets to the dining hall, the lights are on. She thinks that Jon is there, but it’s Drew. He tells her that he knows about the bootlegging and urges her to stop before someone gets hurt. Mercy forces him to leave.

She goes to her office and takes $5,000 in petty cash, along with her diary and the second set of books for the lodge. She grabs the red-handled knife that she uses to open envelopes. As she waits, she realizes that Jon isn’t coming. She feels like she has failed him again. She calls Dave one more time and leaves a voicemail.

When she looks up, Bitty and Jon are standing in the doorway, holding hands. Mercy and Bitty argue, but Jon can’t meet her eyes. He kisses Bitty’s hand. Mercy threatens to reveal the second set of books that prove Bitty has been embezzling for years. She grabs her backpack and pulls Jon out the door.

At first, Jon follows her passively, but then he starts resisting, saying that Bitty needs him. Mercy promises to get help for him, but Jon doesn’t trust her, pointing out how many times he asked Mercy to leave Dave. From his perspective, no one looked out for him except Bitty.

When Mercy suggests that they take their problem to Will Trent, the GBI agent, Jon turns cold, saying she’s only interested in “winning.” He screams at her and suddenly resembles Dave. She realizes that despite her desire to protect him, he’s been in the “quicksand” with her. When Mercy says that Bitty is a manipulative predator, Jon lunges at her, wrapping his hands around her neck.

Jon’s voice turns quiet as he continues to strangle her. Mercy cuts his forearm to make him release her. Instead, he grabs the knife. Mercy swings her backpack, knocking him down, and then runs into the partially renovated cottage. Jon climbs through the studs, holding the knife. Mercy turns to run back out and feels Jon drive the knife into her back. She falls down the stairs toward the lake as Jon continues to stab her until the handle breaks off the knife.

He stops, and Mercy hears a sloshing noise. He stands over her, with the same blank look she has seen on all her family members’ faces. Then he lights a match and sets the cottage on fire. She hears Jon’s footsteps as he leaves to return to Bitty. She screams “Help!” and Please!” and begins crawling toward the lake.

Suddenly she hears her name and sees Will Trent. She tells him to forgive Jon. Will says he’ll tell Jon, and Mercy relaxes into the water, feeling safe and at peace.

In Amanda’s office, Will and Amanda watch a recording of Jon’s confession. He’s in a psychiatric hospital, and Delilah is paying for his defense. Jon says that he blacked out and doesn’t remember the crime. Faith, who is questioning him, walks him through that night. He tells Faith that he tried to frame Dave, who he claims abused him. Jon begins to cry, and Amanda stops the recording. She changes the subject to the bootlegging case, and Will is relieved.

Christopher is pleading negligent homicide for Chuck’s death. Bitty recently died by suicide, and her autopsy revealed terminal cancer. Christopher will testify against Cecil for Gabbie’s death. The only loose end is that Dave disappeared the day after Bitty died and can’t be found.

Faith yells to Will from her office. She read Mercy’s diary and letters to Jon. From them, she can see that Mercy saw Bitty’s abuse of Dave when she was younger but didn’t know how to articulate what she was seeing.

Will has a report to finish, and he and Sara decide to meet at home later. Just as he’s finishing up, he gets a call. A sheriff pulled over a man named Dave McAlpine, who said to call Will Trent. He asks if Will is available or if he should call the field office. Although Will previously might have gone, he looks at his wedding ring and tells the man to call the field office.