The Breakdown

Cass forgoes taking her pills for a while so that she’ll be able to drive to Heston, where Alex (Jane’s husband) lives. She secretly stockpiles the pills Matthew brings her each morning in a drawer. On a whim before leaving, she answers a call from him. The caller seems surprised but then whispers, “I’ve missed you” (200). Cass’s fear returns, but she also feels a sense of triumph for having forced a change in the dynamic.

In Heston, Cass visits Alex at home and tells him everything about the night Jane was killed. He tells her that she’s not to blame and says he doesn’t want Jane’s death to ruin her life too. When she gets home, she senses that someone has been in the house. She calls Matthew and convinces him to call the police. An officer searches the house but finds no evidence of any intrusion. Later, Cass is angry that Matthew doesn’t believe her about someone being there, and he says he won’t believe anything she says until he finds her with her throat slit. Matthew tells her she has dementia and is paranoid.

The next morning, Cass is deeply depressed. She takes her pills and falls back asleep. When she wakes up, she knows something is terribly wrong: She’s feverish and in excruciating pain. She manages to get downstairs and call emergency services before passing out. Paramedics take her to the hospital, where the doctor concludes that she overdosed on her pills. Tests reveal that she had about 12 pills’ worth in her system, not the two she remembers taking. Matthew apologizes for his harsh words the previous night, seeming to believe her overdose was an attempt to die by suicide. The pill bottles, which the paramedics brought from the house, have the correct amount left in them, but Cass recalls her secret stockpile and wonders if she took them in her despair without remembering.

Cass recounts the events after she was discharged from the hospital and returned home. She found that her stockpiled pills were gone. She was prescribed new pills but chose not to take them in an effort to get control of her life back. The Friday after her overdose, Rachel showed up for a planned girls’ night out and said she had no idea Cass was hospitalized. Despite Matthew’s objections, Cass insisted on going out to dinner with Rachel as planned. Over dinner, she told Rachel about the overdose but said it was an accident.

Today, Cass leaves the house before the silent calls start, knowing they might destabilize her. She visits Alex again and tells him about the calls and her suspicion that they’re from Jane’s killer. Alex says he thinks someone is harassing her but doesn’t think it logically could be the killer. She believes him, though she didn’t believe Matthew and Rachel when they made the same argument, because Alex has all the facts. He knows she saw Jane that night right before she was killed.

Convinced now that the caller isn’t Jane’s killer, Cass answers the phone the next day and asks who he is and then hangs up, letting him call back over and over for hours. She distracts herself by gardening, surrounding herself with tools from the shed for protection. She’s gardening out front when the new neighbor walks by. This time, they say hello to each other. Cass decides to ask Rachel for help in figuring out the caller’s identity and arranges to meet her at 6:30 pm in Castle Wells. When Cass arrives an hour early, she’s surprised to see Rachel already inside, sitting with John. Her first thought is that the two are secretly dating. Not wanting to confront them, she goes into the Baby Boutique. The clerk remembers her and reveals that her friend ordered the pram for her. Cass realizes that it must have been John. She saw him as she was on her way out last time. Now everything points to John being her silent caller. Then Cass remembers that he knew Jane, didn’t attend Connie’s party the night of Jane’s murder, and said his girlfriend was no longer on the scene.

When she meets Rachel, who lies about having arrived earlier, Cass pretends she wanted to meet to talk about surprising Matthew with a special Christmas gift. Soon after, Rachel goes to the restroom and then hastily says she needs to get going. After she leaves, a student from a group sitting nearby hands Cass a cell phone and says her friend stole it from Rachel’s bag on a dare. It isn’t Rachel’s iPhone, though; it’s a burner phone. Cass dials the only saved number and is shocked by who answers. She hides the phone in her glove compartment.

Back at home, Rachel calls and asks if anyone at the pub found a phone she was “looking after for a friend” (240). Cass says she saw the French students tossing one around but didn’t think anything of it. After Matthew leaves, saying he has last-minute plans to get drinks with a friend, Cass reads the text messages on the burner phone. They’re between Rachel and Matthew, detailing their affair and their efforts to gaslight Cass until she’s deemed insane so that they can get control of her money. They mention the silent calls, Cass’s supposed memory lapses, the forgery of her handwriting, and much more. Matthew even found her extra pills and poisoned her to make it look like an attempt to die by suicide. They only mention hearing about Jane’s death, making Cass realize that the murder is unrelated. She hides the phone again and goes to bed. When she hears Matthew’s car pull in, she realizes that she could be in danger if he and Rachel found out she has the phone.