Chapter 37: Lucy – Summary & Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Lucy texts Ben that the person Matt fought with after the wedding was Nina Garcia. She dismisses Matt’s advice to stop helping Ben and agrees to come to his hotel for an interview. There she recounts the late-night argument while carefully editing out any mention of Julia or the moment Matt kissed her—an omission she acknowledges as not how innocent people act.
After the recording, they order food and end up in bed. Lucy wakes at 3:38 a.m. to find Ben sitting by the sliding door, smoking a joint and nursing a whiskey. He admits he saw a text from Matt asking to talk and apologizing. Lucy refuses to answer the drunk message, and a raw off-the-record conversation unfolds. Ben presses gently about her marriage, but she deflects. As she reflects on how much Savvy had changed after high school, Savvy’s voice cuts in with a disturbing fragment: “I thought it would be more upsetting, being covered in blood.”
The mood shifts to flirtation. Ben shows her his own awkward prom photo, and they trade jabs about yearbook superlatives and the Reddit threads calling her a murderer. Their banter slides seamlessly into physical closeness: Lucy wraps her legs around him, kisses him, and leads him back to the bedroom.
Key Events
- Lucy texts Ben that Matt fought with Nina the night after the wedding.
- She records an interview at Ben’s hotel, deliberately concealing Matt’s kiss and the talk about Julia.
- Lucy wakes in Ben’s bed and joins him while he smokes and drinks in the early morning.
- Ben admits he saw a text from Matt asking to talk; Lucy refuses to engage.
- Savvy’s voice interrupts Lucy’s thoughts with a memory about being covered in blood.
- Ben shares his prom photo, and they discuss yearbook labels, Reddit threads, and his high school nerd persona.
- The chapter ends with Lucy climbing into Ben’s lap, kissing him, and suggesting they go back to the bedroom.
Character Development
Lucy continues to walk a tightrope between cooperation and self-preservation. She feeds Ben the Nina lead yet hides information that could implicate her further in Savvy’s death. The off-the-record intimacy with Ben reveals a hunger for connection, but Savvy’s unsolicited voice—delivering the flinching detail of being blood-soaked—shows that repressed memories are clawing their way to the surface. Her attraction to Ben is now complicated by the awareness that her guardedness is exactly what a guilty person would do.
Ben comes across as more relaxed and authentic in this chapter. High and barefoot, he smokes a joint without apology, looks at Lucy’s phone without pretense, and openly admits he finds her fascinating regardless of what the public thinks. His push for information about Matt is tempered by a tenderness that blurs the line between investigative podcaster and lover—a dynamic that continues to raise questions about his journalistic ethics.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Memory Suppression and Guilt — Savvy’s voice (“I thought it would be more upsetting, being covered in blood”) arrives exactly when Lucy admires Savvy’s ability to change. The juxtaposition suggests that the very trait Lucy envied—reinvention—is tangled with the moment of Savvy’s death, a night Lucy cannot or will not remember cleanly. The motif of the intrusive voice ties pleasure and horror together.
Intimacy and Secrets — The agreement that “just our underwear” means off the record underscores the story’s constant negotiation between private truth and public performance. Even in their most vulnerable moments, Lucy edits her past for Ben, just as Ben casually invades her privacy by reading her phone screen. Physical closeness does not erase the secrets between them.
Identity and Change — Lucy’s contrast between “Plumpton Lucy” and the woman people remember from her early twenties, alongside Ben’s high school photo, frames the chapter as a meditation on who we were and who we have become. The yearbook superlatives (Lucy labeled “Most Likely to Kill Her Best Friend”) hang over the scene, a reminder that the town’s narrative about her is now itself a form of identity.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 37 pushes the external investigation forward by naming Nina, but its real weight lies in what it reveals about Lucy’s interior world. Savvy’s blood memory breaks into the quiet, romantic setting, hinting at a truth that Lucy’s conscious mind has buried. Meanwhile, Lucy’s deliberate editing of her interview shows that she is not merely a victim of amnesia; she is actively managing what others know. The growing romance with Ben complicates the central mystery—if Lucy is a killer, she is also a woman seeking intimacy and understanding, making the question of her guilt harder to resolve or even want resolved.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does Lucy’s selective storytelling during the interview reflect her approach to the whole investigation?
Lucy gives Ben the Nina detail because it advances the case but withholds the confession about Matt’s kiss and the discussion about Julia. This mirrors her larger pattern: she engages with the investigation only on her own terms, offering just enough cooperation to seem helpful while protecting information that might link her directly to the crime. Her behavior demonstrates a deep ambivalence—she wants the truth but fears what that truth will cost her.
2. What role does the interruption of Savvy’s voice play in this chapter, and why is the timing significant?
Savvy’s voice returns at the moment Lucy admires Savvy’s ability to “change.” The fragment—“I thought it would be more upsetting, being covered in blood”—suggests a suppressed sensory memory of the killing. The juxtaposition highlights the gap between the persona Savvy built after leaving town and the violent reality of her death. The timing signals that Lucy’s nostalgia and attraction to change are directly linked to the trauma she cannot face.
3. In what ways does the off-the-record intimacy with Ben both deepen their connection and erode trust?
The scene strips away some of the professional barriers between them: Ben is high, in his underwear, and admits to snooping on her phone. Lucy is more candid about her marriage than she would be on mic. Yet that same closeness conceals fundamental deceptions—Lucy still hasn’t told Ben about the kiss with Matt or her own potential involvement. Their physical and emotional bonding happens on a foundation of partial truths, making the reader question whether real intimacy can survive the secrets each of them is keeping.