Contents
March 2022
Overview
Josie is revealed to be alive and living under disguise, still haunted by the public retelling of her crimes through the Netflix version of The Birthday Twin. Overhearing strangers debate whether Josie, Roxy, and Erin were all lying triggers Josie’s unstable reconstruction of the past.
Josie’s memories suggest that Roxy killed Brooke Ripley and Walter helped hide the body, but the chapter preserves Josie’s unreliability by framing these memories as a knot of truths and untruths. Rather than accepting guilt, Josie ends by recasting herself as a protective mother who has “done nothing wrong,” leaving the final truth unresolved and deeply unsettling.
Summary
In March 2022, Josie is living in hiding in a small Midlands city, with dyed blonde hair and a face mask to avoid recognition. On an otherwise empty bus, two young women sit in front of her and begin discussing the Netflix version of The Birthday Twin.
The women talk about how disturbing the story was, including Josie’s treatment of her children and the kidnapping of Alix’s husband. Their conversation turns to whether Roxy and Erin were telling the truth, and one of them suggests that Josie may not have been the only person lying. Josie grows physically anxious as she listens, afraid of being noticed and unsettled by the public’s continuing fascination with the case.
After the women leave, Josie touches the golden bumble bee necklace and sinks into memories and self-justifications. Josie thinks about the lies she told, the mistakes she made, and the truths she withheld from Alix. In Josie’s mind, one memory stands out as possibly true: coming home to find Roxy kneeling over Brooke Ripley’s body, crying that she had not meant to do it, while Erin watched in shock.
Josie recalls Walter being called in Newcastle and carefully instructing the family on how to hide Brooke’s body, including using plastic sheeting, the bathroom window, and a garage key. In the days that followed, Josie remembers wanting to go to the police while carrying the key and waiting for consequences, until Roxy disappeared and threatened to blame Josie if Josie told anyone.
Josie then remembers the night of the dinner at Alix’s house, when Josie argued with Walter and said she was going to tell Alix everything about the body hidden in the boot of Walter’s father’s Morris Minor. Walter collapsed clutching his chest, and Josie watched him die. Josie’s memory becomes uncertain after that, though she believes Erin was there, hitting her repeatedly, before everything goes blank.
By the end of the bus ride, Josie convinces herself that this version of events is the truth. Josie casts herself not as guilty but as a mother who protected Roxy from the consequences of anger, and she extends that logic into a broader belief that she has only ever tried to help and take care of the people she loves.
Who Appears
- JosieLiving in disguise, overhears discussion of the case and reasserts her self-justifying version of events.
- RoxyRemembered by Josie as Brooke’s killer, then as threatening to blame Josie if exposed.
- WalterRemembered as directing Brooke’s cover-up and later collapsing during Josie’s confrontation.
- ErinRemembered as witnessing Brooke’s death scene and possibly attacking Josie after Walter collapsed.
- Brooke RipleyMurder victim whose death is revisited through Josie’s uncertain memory.
- AlixAbsent but central as the podcaster Josie considered confessing to and whose story became Netflix fame.
- Two young womenBus passengers whose conversation about the Netflix series triggers Josie’s memories and anxiety.