Haunting Adeline

Adeline characterizes her mother as pessimistic and mean, contrasting her mother with her grandmother, whom she says was positive and kind. On the phone with her mother, Adeline says she wants to live in Parsons Manor though her mother says she should have it torn down. When her mother calls her grandmother “worthless,” Adeline hangs up. Adeline makes plans to plant a garden and clean the house, noticing a quick movement in the attic. She notes that she is a successful writer with financial freedom, deciding that she will live in Parsons Manor regardless of her mother’s objections. Entering the house, Adeline checks to make sure the electricity works and turns up the thermostat.

At a book signing with her assistant, Marietta, Adeline explains that she is socially awkward, and events like the signing make her nervous. She signs some books, but she feels as though someone is staring at her. In the crowd, Adeline notices a man with differently colored eyes, one dark and one blue, and a scar on his face. After signing another book, the man disappears. Later, Adeline meets with her friend, Daya, who insists that Adeline needs to have sex. Adeline acknowledges the men around town, but she is not interested. Daya takes Adeline’s phone and texts sexually explicit messages to Greyson, Adeline’s former sexual partner. Greyson responds that he will be over later.

At home, Greyson tries to be intimate with Adeline, but she is uninterested, noting that Greyson is attractive but not skilled sexually. A loud knock at the door interrupts them, but Adeline does not find anyone on the front porch. Afterward, Greyson still wants to have sex, but Adeline rejects him. Greyson storms out, punching a hole in the wall on his way, and Adeline hopes whoever knocked on the door is outside to kill Greyson.

After the chapter, there is a diary entry dated April 4, 1944, in which the diary’s writer notes a man stalking her; she does not plan to tell John, presumably her partner. She is afraid of the man but also intrigued.

The chapter opens with “the Shadow” torturing a man for information. The man says that Josh runs the warehouse, and he implies that the warehouse is a base of operations for trafficking girls. The Shadow calls him a child rapist before killing him. The Shadow notes that he enjoys torturing people, but he does not derive satisfaction from the sounds of torture. After the torture, the Shadow goes to get a burger, but he stops when he notices Adeline’s picture advertising her book signing. He enters the store and finds a spot near the back to stare at her. The Shadow is in awe of Adeline, and he claims that he is instantly obsessed with her. He thinks about kidnapping her but decides to leave instead.

After the chapter, there is a diary entry dated April 10, 1944, in which the writer notes that her “visitor” is watching her write. Her partner, John, has started asking questions about her “distractions,” and the writer notes that she is still both afraid and intrigued.

Adeline investigates the hole in her wall left by Greyson. She sees a glint of light, and she finds a safe containing her great-grandmother’s diaries. Her great-grandmother was Genevieve Matilda Parsons, or Gigi, and she had a reputation for wit and wearing bright red lipstick. As Adeline reads the diaries, she is disturbed by her great-grandmother’s experiences, but she soon falls asleep. A loud bang wakes Adeline up, and she realizes it was the sound of her front door. After searching the house, Adeline finds a rose on her kitchen counter with the thorns removed. Her search culminates at her attic door, but she is not willing to go into the attic both out of fear and out of grief over her grandmother’s death. Her grandmother spent a lot of time in the attic, and she is not ready to revisit those memories.

The next day, Adeline tells Daya the situation, but she focuses on Greyson and the rose, omitting the diaries she found. Daya promises to come over and help Adeline clean that day. Adeline and Daya went to different colleges, only seeing each other on holidays. Daya has a degree in computer science, and she now works as an activist, hacking into government secrets, while Adeline left college after a year to explore writing.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated April 12, 1944, in which the writer is identified as Gigi. The entry notes that John, Gigi’s husband, left for work, and Serafina, her daughter and Adeline’s grandmother, left for school. Gigi’s stalker enters the house, caresses Gigi, then leaves, and Gigi is confident that he will return.

Daya helps Adeline clear out her grandparents’ things, making jokes and drinking as they work. Adeline goes to get drinks and finds another rose next to an extra glass and a bottle of her grandfather’s whiskey. Disturbed, Adeline grabs a knife and searches the house again, finding no one and ripping up the rose on the counter. After the work is done, Adeline tells Daya about the second rose, and Daya insists that either Adeline come to stay with her, or that she stay with Adeline. Adeline tells Daya that she will be safe in the house. Internally, Adeline is afraid of the person that seems to have unlimited access to her home, but she is unwilling to back down from these apparent threats.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated May 16, 1944, in which Gigi notes that John is increasingly suspicious of her behavior. Sera no longer needs help with schoolwork, and Gigi does not have much to do during the day. She has started offering the strange man sexual favors to get him to speak, but he still only caresses her face, smiles, and leaves.

Three weeks have passed, and Adeline is standing by the cliff outside the house. One of the construction workers working on her porch comes to tell her that the workers are leaving for the day, and Adeline can tell that he is worried that she might jump off the cliff. She thinks about it, but she worries that the fall would not kill her. The construction worker lets Adeline know that someone left a bouquet of roses for her, and Adeline thinks about the number of roses she has received in the last three weeks, around the house, in her car, and everywhere she goes. She investigates the bouquet and finds a note from her stalker saying that he will see her soon and using his name for her: “little mouse.”

Someone knocks on her door, and it is her mother, Sarina Reilly. Her mother is a real estate agent, and she has an open house in the area. She tries to convince Adeline to tear down Parsons Manor because Gigi was killed in the house. Adeline is shocked, noting that it was likely Gigi’s stalker that killed her, and realizing that she, like her grandmother, now lives in Gigi’s bedroom, where Gigi was killed. Adeline’s mother leaves, hoping that Adeline will consider tearing the house down, and Adeline becomes worried about the stalker’s note.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated May 25, 1944, in which Gigi says that her stalker, Ronaldo, spoke to her, telling her his name and that he loves her. They kiss, and Gigi is ashamed that she did not think of John during the interaction, noting that the kiss was better than she had imagined it would be.

The Shadow, called “Z” by his colleagues, is outside a warehouse, planning to raid the building alone to rescue kidnapped children. Jay, his coworker and friend, gives him information over a headset and unlocks the door for him. Z explains that he was a hacker, exposing government secrets, then started an underground organization to rescue victims of kidnapping and human trafficking, especially children, which now spans every state and multiple countries. Once inside the warehouse, Z kills all the men except Josh, the leader. Z is careful not to let any of the kidnapped girls get hurt, and he decides to punish himself if he fails. With the bodyguards dead, Z calls in Ruby, a friend of his deceased mother, to help get the girls out of the warehouse. Z takes specific responsibility for Sicily, a 15-year-old girl, who Z says reminds him of his “little mouse,” or Adeline. After saving the girls, Z gets ready to go back to stalking Adeline.