Contents
Day 20
Overview
Liv’s hidden letter reveals she authored the red-envelope messages and orchestrated Luca’s torment with Viggo, asserting he will fail to save Telma. Luca and Joe travel to Copenhagen, break into the Madelsens’ house, and discover vandalized shrines to Telma, a hidden cellar with two decomposing adults, and a box containing a bloodstained red envelope.
The findings confirm Telma lived there and that the Madelsens are dead, escalating urgency and providing a new clue as Luca and Joe narrowly escape.
Summary
The chapter opens with a hidden letter from Liv, revealing she has been the author of the red-envelope messages from the start, writing them while pretending affection and coordinating drops with Viggo. She admits manipulating Luca, faking intimacy, and relishes his suffering, declaring he will not save Telma.
In France, Luca finds the letter while packing with Joe. Shaken but resolute, Luca and Joe finalize their plan. Luca sells his longtime necklace to fund travel. On the flight, Luca’s nightmares disturb passengers, and at dawn they land in Copenhagen, focused solely on finding Telma.
Guided by research, they locate the Madelsens’ house—recognizable as Liv’s phone screensaver. Seeing no signs of occupants, they break in through the back door. Inside, they find vandalized photographs of Telma throughout the home, including an entrance portrait defaced with crude marks and living-room photos smeared with red, deepening Luca’s anguish.
Upstairs, two bare, cell-like rooms include one with a bra and books Liv once referenced, suggesting Liv stayed there. The parents’ room holds neatly arranged clothes and books on spirits and alternative beliefs. A lavish, fairy-tale “princess” bedroom—clearly made for a child—is spectacularly trashed, yet filled with staged photos charting Telma’s growth, proving she lived there.
Back downstairs, uneven flooring in the kitchen hides a ladder to a hand-dug cellar. At a locked door, Luca and Joe pry it open with a crowbar, triggering a deafening alarm. Inside, beneath a sheet, lie two decomposing adult corpses. Grabbing a small box from the room, they flee, partially deafened, retrieve their bags, and escape to a nearby hotel.
As they regroup, Luca opens the box and sees a bloodstained red envelope with a name visible beneath the stains, signaling a new, urgent clue amid proof that the Madelsens are dead and Telma was held in the house.
Who Appears
- LucaProtagonist; reads Liv’s confession, travels to Copenhagen with Joe, breaks into the Madelsens’ house, discovers corpses and a red envelope.
- JoeLuca’s ally; plans logistics, supports Luca, helps force the cellar door, retrieves bags, and escapes with Luca.
- LivRevealed author of the letters; admits deception and cruelty, coordinated with Viggo, asserts Luca cannot save Telma.
- TelmaLuca’s missing sister; appears in numerous vandalized photos and a ruined princess room, confirming she lived there.
- The Madelsen parentsHomeowners; found as two decomposing adult corpses in the hidden cellar beneath their house.
- ViggoLiv’s accomplice; delivered letters in a mask, hates writing, aided the deception.
- JewelerAppraises and buys Luca’s necklace, enabling the trip to Copenhagen.
- Flight attendantChecks on Luca after his mid-flight nightmare and disturbance.