Fifteen

Exhausted and fixated on Maria Karras’s number, Pip finally calls. Maria believes Pip is responding to an old message and eagerly explains that Billy’s confession to the DT murders was coerced during a nine-hour interview. She promises to scan and send the transcript and notes that Billy recanted before pleading guilty on his public defender’s advice.

Maria details the evidence: Billy discovered Tara Yates’s body and contaminated the scene while trying to help; he knew victim Bethany Ingham (his supervisor); his work van was seen near Phillipa Brockfield’s dump site; and the duct tape matched supplies from his job. Maria also cites an unknown fingerprint on Melissa Denny and a possible, though unproven, alibi placing Billy at her home the night Bethany was killed.

While cross-checking, Pip discovers Billy worked for Green Scene Ltd—owned by Jason Bell—and realizes that every tie to Billy stems from his employment. She recalls that Daniel da Silva previously worked at Green Scene and may have overlapped with Billy, drawing the case uncomfortably close to Andie Bell and Pip’s own past.

After the call, Pip receives a No Caller ID phone call with only faint breathing, echoing reports of prank calls before a DT-adjacent disappearance. The possibility that Billy is innocent forces Pip to consider a “wrong man, right man” scenario, sharpening the stakes and suggesting the killer’s game may be entering its final stage.