Contents
Four weeks later
Overview
Nathan’s funeral forces Alix to confront both the scale of his loss and her new understanding of his drinking as private pain rather than marital rejection. The narrative then jumps to a Netflix-style documentary frame, confirming that Josie remains missing while wanted for multiple crimes.
Alix later explains how grief, financial fear, and the pandemic pushed her back into the studio to turn Josie’s recordings into a viral true-crime podcast. The project expands as new witnesses come forward, ending with Katelyn Rand reaching out and opening another unresolved strand of the story.
Summary
Four weeks after Nathan Summer’s body is recovered from Lake Windermere, Alix Summer attends Nathan’s funeral at a packed crematorium near Nathan’s father’s home in Kensal Rise. Surrounded by nearly three hundred mourners, Alix recognizes how loved Nathan was and reassesses his drinking, understanding it as self-medication for old grief rather than a rejection of her.
The funeral wake, hosted by Nathan’s company at a canal-side bar in Paddington, feels bright, busy, and almost celebratory, which temporarily keeps Nathan’s absence from feeling final. In the days that follow, Alix keeps imagining Nathan might still come home, but ten days later the reality breaks through and Alix collapses in grief on her bed, the day before Eliza begins secondary school.
The chapter shifts into the Netflix documentary Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin!, showing BBC news footage from the funeral. The report states that police still have not found Josie Fair, who is accused of killing Nathan with a barbiturate overdose during a kidnapping, as well as being wanted in connection with Walter Fair’s murder, Brooke Ripley’s murder, and Erin Fair’s attempted murder.
In a January 2022 interview, Alix explains that she avoided her recording studio for months because it felt saturated with Josie’s presence. After Nathan’s death and the onset of the pandemic, Alix faces financial pressure as a widowed single parent with no life insurance payout or steady income, and she realizes she must turn the horrifying material she has gathered into work.
Alix returns to the studio during the first lockdown and begins building a true-crime podcast from her recordings with Josie, Roxy, Pat, the police calls, and news coverage. With help from producer Andrea Muse, the first episode is released in late May 2020 and goes viral, drawing new sources into the story; by midsummer, Katelyn Rand contacts Alix, prompting a frightening face-to-face meeting in Queen’s Park.
Who Appears
- Alix SummerGrieving widow who buries Nathan, later creates a viral podcast from Josie’s recordings.
- Nathan SummerAlix’s murdered husband, mourned by hundreds and newly understood through his hidden grief.
- Josie FairFugitive accused of Nathan’s killing and other crimes; still missing despite reported sightings.
- Eliza SummerAlix’s daughter, about to start secondary school without her father.
- Alix’s sonAlix’s grieving young child, whom Alix tries to comfort after Nathan’s death.
- Andrea MuseTrue-crime podcaster who helps Alix produce and edit the complex podcast series.
- Katelyn RandContacts Alix after the podcast gains momentum, prompting an anxious meeting.