Part Five — Chapter Three

In reception, Julian McMahon tells Theo that Professor Diomedes has taken early retirement to avoid an inquiry, and the Grove will be shut down permanently. Despite the closure, Julian offers Theo the chance to run a forthcoming, cost‑effective psychiatric service on the site. Theo accepts, seeing it as a chance to practice therapy the way he believes in.

Theo reflects on moving with Kathy to his childhood home in Surrey after his mother relocated to care. The house remains half-finished, mirroring their stagnant marriage. Kathy withdraws into television and junk food; Theo notes her depression but discourages medication, urging therapy she refuses.

Attempting conversation, Theo mentions Alicia’s overdose and a colleague’s suspected involvement, but Kathy remains indifferent. Alone in the kitchen with vodka, Theo contemplates confessing to his former therapist Ruth but concludes he has become too compromised and dishonest to face her.

The doorbell rings: Chief Inspector Allen arrives, ostensibly by chance, to share developments. He mentions Jean‑Felix retrieving Alicia’s materials and planning a retrospective. Then Allen produces Alicia’s diary, discovered wedged in the frame of her latest painting after Elif’s defacement drew attention to it.

Allen reads aloud an entry describing how “he grabbed my wrist and stuck a needle in my vein,” directly implicating Theo in drugging Alicia. Theo’s anxiety spikes, then subsides into a strange calm as he realizes there is no way out. While Allen continues reading, snow begins to fall outside; Theo opens the window, catches a snowflake, and accepts that he has been caught.