Malcolm walks home and worries what Tess thinks of him. He looks at Brian’s new book, The Wild Air, which has birds on its cover art, but puts it down after reading just a few sentences. Malcolm logs into the swaps website with his new alias, Farley Walker, to find that someone responded to his latest message. His “old friend” (226), who won’t reveal their identity, admits they enjoyed killing Eric. Malcolm admits he didn’t enjoy killing Norman. His friend admits Malcolm led them to the other victims, like Nicholas Pruitt. Malcolm tries to convince his friend to turn himself in, even agreeing to turn himself in as well. However, his friend says he’s working on the killing based on the red house mystery.

This leads Malcolm to believe that Tess and Brian are in danger. Malcolm drives to Brian’s house, nearly getting into an accident in the snow. He wishes he brought a weapon as he rings the doorbell and knocks on the door, which Tess answers.

Tess pulls Malcolm inside and kisses him. She admits that she feels strange, and Malcolm thinks she has been drugged. After Tess falls asleep, Malcolm grabs a rolling pin and searches the house for Charlie.