Cassie goes to the library to distract herself from her emotional confusion by reading the serial killer interview binders Briggs left behind. The first transcript, from Thomas Friedman, disturbs her because she can almost hear his excitement and lack of remorse, but she also recognizes that part of her wants to understand him.

Lia joins Cassie and explains that Dean will not come because Dean read the interviews long ago. Lia says Briggs gives Lia audio recordings so Lia can identify lies. When Cassie asks about Lia and Dean, Lia jokingly claims to be in love with Dean, then clarifies that Dean is like a brother to her.

Lia shifts from teasing to warning Cassie that everyone in the house is deeply damaged, including Cassie, Dean, and Michael. Lia says Dean would want Cassie to stay away from him, while Lia personally wants to tell Cassie to stay away from Michael. Before leaving, Lia asks Cassie not to mention the interviews to Dean.

Over the next four days, while Briggs and Locke are away on the murder case, Cassie avoids Michael and Dean, helps Judd in the flower beds, and reads through about a thousand pages of interviews. Restless, Cassie takes a binder into town and reads by the Potomac River.

A friendly stranger approaches Cassie, recognizes that she lives at Judd's place, and claims to know Judd. Cassie tries to avoid conversation, and Michael arrives, jokingly rescuing Cassie from the awkward interaction. After the stranger leaves, Michael and Cassie talk tensely about whether Cassie has been avoiding him, but instead of pressing her, Michael settles beside her with a Jane Austen book.

Cassie and Michael read quietly together until Cassie begins interview twenty-eight: Daniel Redding, interviewed by Agent Briggs in a Virginia prison. The repeated name catches Cassie's attention, and when she skims ahead, she finds Daniel Redding asking Briggs about his son: Dean.