Victor tells Pip to stay home and revise while the family continues searching for Barney. Pip is relieved not to join because she believes Barney is not lost but has been taken by Andie Bell’s killer, and she focuses on getting him back rather than blaming herself for ignoring the threats.

At eleven, Pip receives a text ordering her to bring her laptop, charger, and all USBs containing her project to the tennis club car park, then walk one hundred paces into the trees alone. Terrified but desperate, Pip gathers her computer and memory sticks, drives there, checks for anyone watching, and follows the instructions into the woods.

Another text tells Pip to destroy everything, leave it there, stop asking questions about Andie, and tell no one what she knows. Believing the killer is watching, Pip smashes both memory sticks and violently destroys her laptop, crying as she breaks the machine that holds her investigation. After waiting more than half an hour for Barney or another message, she leaves with no sign of him.

Back home, Pip lies to Victor, claiming her laptop was stolen while she was revising in a café. Victor comforts her and says things can be replaced, while Pip asks whether there has been any sign of Barney. Pip concludes that she must give up the investigation to protect Barney, her family, and Ravi, even though abandoning the truth about Sal Singh feels unbearable.

Later, while Pip is studying, Victor comes to her room and tells her Barney has been found in the river and has drowned. Pip realizes the killer’s bargain was a lie and breaks down in grief and guilt, insisting Barney’s death is her fault. Victor, Leanne, and Josh gather around her, and the family mourns together on Pip’s bedroom floor.