Bel meets Ash in the garage and tells him Charlie is missing. Bel insists Charlie would not have left willingly and says Rachel must be involved, so Ash begins recording while Bel unlocks Rachel’s stolen phone using the passcode Carter provided.

Bel and Ash search Rachel’s texts and find a thread with Julian Tripp. The messages show Julian wanted something back from Rachel and had been pressing her about it, but the exchange is vague. Because texting might expose Bel once Rachel has the phone again, Ash suggests Bel call Julian while pretending to be Rachel, relying on Bel and Rachel having similar voices.

Bel calls Julian as Rachel and gets him to explain the secret. Julian says Rachel owes him three thousand dollars, which he gave her in cash after school on the Monday before she disappeared. Julian admits he never told the police because he feared the money would make him look suspicious, especially since he found Rachel’s car and Bel after Rachel vanished.

Julian adds that Rachel had seemed frightened, paranoid, and unwell for weeks before her disappearance, and that Rachel had described the money as an emergency because she could not access her own. Julian asks who Rachel was afraid of, guessing Charlie and then Jeff. Bel instinctively defends Charlie and nearly calls Jeff her uncle, exposing herself as Annabel, so Bel hangs up and deletes the call log entry.

Bel and Ash conclude that the cash strongly supports Bel’s theory that Rachel planned her own disappearance, though Ash notes it is not legal proof and that they still do not know why Rachel left or why Rachel returned. Bel goes back inside, returns Rachel’s phone to the kitchen table while Rachel is distracted, and tries to act normal with Carter and Rachel. Rachel then notices the phone’s position, rotates it, and smiles at Bel, suggesting Rachel may realize the phone was moved.