Chapter 4 Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes
⚠️ 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
The chapter opens the morning after Donna De Freitas and Bogdan's first date—Nando's followed by Laser Quest—and finds the two of them in bed together. Donna is flooded with a happiness she cannot immediately recall ever feeling before, and both she and Bogdan are moved to tears. Bogdan, in particular, is openly emotional, telling Donna he is happy she is there. When Donna asks if anyone has ever seen him cry, he jokes that only a dentist and his mother have.
They agree to go on another date, with Bogdan choosing the next activity, since Donna admits her own choices were not her strong point. Donna reflects on Bogdan's bedside table—a body-builder's hand-grip, a can of Lilt, and the plastic gold medal he won at Laser Quest—and wonders what she has found herself with.
The conversation turns to feeling different from other people. Donna says people make her feel different, and Bogdan observes that everyone wants to feel special but nobody wants to feel different. Donna finds herself thinking about his shoulders and wondering about Polish weddings.
Then Bogdan turns serious. He asks Donna, hypothetically, how she would murder someone and get away with it. Donna is briefly alarmed—wondering if this is Bogdan's downside, that he might be a serial murderer—but Bogdan explains it is homework from Elizabeth. Donna relaxes, joking that Elizabeth is the homicidal maniac instead.
Donna offers a detailed answer: poison that looks natural, driving a car at someone late at night, or a gun with a quick escape route away from security cameras. She emphasizes avoiding forensics, witnesses, and having to touch the body, and suggests leaving one's phone in a cab so it is miles away during the crime. She even mentions bribing a nurse for vials of blood from strangers to leave on the body. Bogdan looks at her, and Donna wonders if she has overshared.
Bogdan then explains what Elizabeth is investigating: someone was murdered in a car pushed off a cliff. Donna asks if there were marks on the body suggesting the victim was killed before the car went over. Bogdan says there was no body—only clothes and blood—and that the body was thrown from the car. Donna notes that is convenient for the killer, though spectacular if the killer wanted to send a message. Bogdan is skeptical, saying it is too complicated for a murder.
Donna offers that she and Chris could help investigate, and Bogdan recalls the name