The narrative returns to the defining moment in which Nic and Tyler stand in the living room of the Farrell house, after Tyler has just said he’s found a body in the field. Daniel has told her, over the phone, to run.

She asks Tyler if Annaleise is dead; he says he saw her lying in the field with a gunshot wound. They both wonder if it was Daniel that shot her. The public would think his motivations were related to his secret affair with Annaleise. They’d think that he’d kill her to save his marriage. But Nic realizes that version of the story doesn’t make sense: Daniel couldn’t have killed her because he lost her at the river on the night they’d all chased after her and the ring. 

In a moment of lucidity, Nic realizes Laura killed Annaleise. After running to the motel, Annaleise had called Daniel’s house to speak to Laura, as a last resort: “Her only way out. Tell Laura. Tell her about her dangerous husband, his dangerous family” (343). Laura, Nic thinks, must have gone to pick up Annaleise from the hotel, and then told the girl that they needed somewhere private to speak.