Greenwich Park

Helen now wonders if Rory is having an affair with Rachel. However, she’s scared to confront Rachel alone and wants to search Rachel’s suitcase for more clues before taking action, but she doesn’t get a chance.

Helen doesn’t tell Daniel about his laptop or the red envelopes. However, she tells him that he’s right: Rachel needs to leave soon. Rachel claims she’s found an apartment and will be moving into it in a few weeks.

Serena stops by to drop off a book for Helen. Rachel acts like this is the first time she’s meeting Serena, then winks at her. Serena brings up Rory’s birthday dinner and Rachel seems interested, so Serena invites her.

At the birthday dinner, Helen arrives early to help Serena set up. Helen is upset and reveals that it’s because of Rachel. Rory interrupts their conversation.

Earlier, Helen searched Rachel’s room again, but could no longer find the laptop or red envelope. She starts questioning if she imagined seeing the items before. At Rory’s party, Helen cries alone until Serena finds her.

At Rory’s party, Rachel drinks wine and wears a red dress that exposes her neck wounds. Katie thinks Rachel doesn’t actually look pregnant but as though something is wrong with her stomach. Rachel tells Katie that she thinks rapists should get the death penalty. Helen, Charlie, and Lisa—the secretary from the architecture firm—appear, and Lisa thinks she’s met Rachel before, probably at their office. Rachel says they’ve never met, then starts disparaging the new housing development until Lisa leaves.

Katie asks Helen if she’ll be hosting a party with fireworks and a bonfire for Guy Fawkes Day on November 5. Helen’s parents used to do this when they were all children. Helen says she’s not having the party. Rory enters the room holding champagne and glasses, which he drops, cutting his hand and scattering broken glass everywhere.

Serena recalls the first time she went with Rory to meet his parents. It was Charlie’s birthday, and Helen was also bringing her new boyfriend, Daniel. Serena was impressed by how nice Rory’s parents’ house was. Serena had been warned that Charlie was “difficult” because he played video games and smoked marijuana. However, Serena thought he was nice. It seemed like their parents were interested in impressing Serena, but especially Daniel. Serena thinks they considered Helen to be “damaged goods” and wanted to secure Daniel, the eligible, “interested buyer.”

Helen and Daniel have stopped talking as much. Helen still hasn’t told him about the laptop, notes, or other suspicions about Rachel because he already hates her enough. Helen thinks that if Rachel is having an affair with Rory, this would explain why she asks so many questions about Serena and why she sought Helen out as a friend in the first place. When Rory saw Rachel at his birthday party, he dropped the champagne as if he was shocked to see Rachel there. Lisa also thought she knew Rachel, which would make sense if Rory was having an affair with her and brought her to the office.

Rachel can’t believe Rory would cheat on his pregnant wife. She wonders if Daniel knows about the affair and if this is why he hates Rachel. Helen is also horrified at the idea that Rachel’s baby could be Rory’s, making the baby her own kin. She wonders what Rachel wants from Rory now. She wants to talk to Daniel about it, but she knows he won’t believe her unless she has proof, but she can no longer find the notes.

A woman meets a man in the Tube. They’re both afraid and need to make a plan, but they’re not sure what to do. It seems like whether they stay or go, it’s too late.

Helen locks her cat, Monty, in her bedroom for her Guy Fawkes Day fireworks/bonfire party, which she agreed to host after all, even though she’s dreading it. She’s allowed Charlie to invite his friends and suspects it will get out of hand. Daniel seemed interested in the party, though, so Helen agreed.

The builders recently laid cement in the cellar, so they said nobody can go down there during the party. Helen put a sign on the door.

Helen begins to feel strange and sleepy. She’s not sure if it’s the smoke from the fire, people’s cigarettes, or something else. Helen is annoyed because people have already spilled wine on her walls; she cleans it up.

Katie drinks mulled wine that Helen made, watching Rachel and Charlie talk privately. Rachel whispers something to Charlie, and Katie wonders if they’re flirting. Nobody else seems to be drinking the mulled wine, but Katie does because it pleases Helen. Katie knows people are doing drugs, but she doesn’t tell Helen.

Watching Rachel and Charlie, Helen recalls years ago when she broke up with Charlie, and he got together with Maja, with whom he had his daughter, Ruby, although their relationship didn’t last long. Katie felt she’d made a mistake and wanted Charlie back. She wonders now if this was silly and if she should let Charlie go and find someone “ordinary,” more like Daniel. However, this idea also saddens her. Someone bumps into Katie and her wine spills on a rug. Katie feels like she’s too drunk already, so she goes outside to smoke.

Helen finds the stained rug, which was her mother’s. Her vision has become clouded with weird specks, which used to happen when she was on anxiety medication after her pregnancy losses. She tries to get the stain out of the rug, but it gets worse. Helen spots Rachel speaking to Charlie, wearing her mother’s velvet blue dress. She’s upset that Rachel would take that without asking, in addition to the other things.

Helen goes into Rachel’s room and notices that one corner of the bed is off kilter. The floorboard beneath it is loose. Helen lifts it up and discovers a stash of objects: Daniel’s laptop, the red envelope, a large stack of £50 bills, newspaper clippings about the Boathouse Rape, the photograph from the college play that was torn apart and glued back together, some plane tickets, and a passport with Helen’s name on it and the picture missing. Rachel enters the room.

Outside, Katie recalls how nice the Guy Fawkes parties were when they were kids. Helen’s parents were extra nice to Katie after her own parents got divorced. Now, the garden is littered, and Katie thinks Helen’s parents would be disappointed.

Helen asks Rachel why she’s wearing her mom’s blue dress. Rachel says she thought it would be okay because Helen previously said she could borrow something. Plus, she left the red dress out for her for Rory’s birthday party. Helen does not remember leaving a red dress out. Helen confronts Rachel about all the other objects she just found beneath the floorboards. Rachel says Helen has it wrong and that someone is up to something dubious, but it’s not her. Helen no longer trusts Rachel at all. She tells her to leave and never return.

Outside, Katie sees Rachel and someone else going into the cellar. She thinks it might be Charlie, but she can’t tell for sure. She’s very drunk and is having trouble remembering things, such as where she got a pack of cigarettes. Charlie appears, covered in dust. He says he went to the cellar to check out the remodeling, but he doesn’t mention Rachel. Katie says she saw Charlie talking to Rachel, but he doesn’t say what they were talking about.

Serena finds Helen in the kitchen, looking confused. Helen says she went to the garden because she thought she saw the cat near the fire. She also saw two people there, apparently having sex. Helen tells Serena that she buried her other babies in the garden and planted roses above their graves. Serena makes Helen some tea before bed.

Katie goes inside and helps Serena clean the kitchen. Helen’s already gone to bed.

A man tells a woman he will keep watch; then, she leaves. He goes outside and watches the bonfire. A raven appears near the garden and cellar.

An unidentified person wakes up in a strange place with something holding her wrists down. There are oars on the walls, and it’s cold. Then she sees a man’s face above her; he’s holding her down. There’s also another man behind him, laughing. She tries to protest but all she can say is “hey.”

Helen wakes up with a headache as if she drank the previous night, but she didn’t. Rachel is gone, along with all her stuff.

Helen wakes Daniel to tell him she found his laptop in Rachel’s room, argued with her, and told her to leave. Neither of them saw her leave, but Daniel thinks she is probably fine. Helen texts Rachel, who says she’s gone to her mother’s house.

Helen’s mother had a mental illness and purposely crashed her car while driving. Helen was surprised she did it while Helen’s dad was also in the car. Helen also experienced mental health concerns after her miscarriages and took medications. However, she stopped taking them because they numbed her emotionally, and she felt like her grief was the only thing left connecting her to her babies. After discontinuing the pills, she started crying when she saw babies in public. She also struggled with envy when Charlie and Maja accidentally got pregnant. She tried to visit Ruby but couldn’t bring herself to for months, which she now regrets. Helen is grateful for Daniel sticking by her through all the miscarriages; she feels like he’s the reason she’s still alive.

Helen wishes she hadn’t yelled at Rachel. She only remembers finding the laptop now and can’t remember what else she was mad about. Her whole memory of the previous night is fragmented, as if she’d been on drugs or alcohol.