Bel comes home from school to find fewer news vans outside, which makes Rachel’s story feel like it is already becoming old news unless a bigger revelation emerges. Carter heads to dance, and Bel notices that both her father’s truck and Rachel’s car are gone. After calling through the house and receiving no answer, Bel realizes she is alone.

Bel first enjoys the chance to leave her belongings where Rachel cannot tidy them away, then understands that Rachel’s absence gives Bel a chance to search Rachel’s room. Because Rachel had snooped in Bel’s room the previous day, Bel frames the search as fair retaliation and hopes to find concrete evidence that Rachel is lying.

In the spare room, Bel checks under the bed, the dresser, and Rachel’s new and old clothes but finds nothing useful. Bel remains tense, listening for signs that Rachel might return, and relies uneasily on the reporters outside as a possible warning system.

At the nightstand, Bel finds Rachel’s to-do list, which includes ordinary tasks such as choosing a menu, booking medical appointments, insurance, and then Bel’s full name, Annabel. The unexplained listing unsettles Bel because it makes Bel feel like an item Rachel plans to handle or act upon.

Bel opens the nightstand drawer and finds an iPhone box, receipt, lip balm, tissues, and then a small pink baby sock hidden at the back. Bel concludes the sock must be hers from before Rachel disappeared, and because the drawer was empty when Rachel first returned, Bel reasons that Rachel must have brought or retrieved it and hidden it there.

Bel interprets the sock as proof that Rachel planned her original disappearance: if Rachel kept a souvenir from baby Bel, then Rachel must have known she was leaving for good. Combined with the North Conway clothing clue, the sock convinces Bel that Rachel planned both her disappearance and her reappearance. Feeling vindicated rather than wounded, Bel takes the sock and hides it in her own nightstand.