Ninth House

When Alex and Pamela arrive at the morgue, Alex pretends to be Tara’s cousin and compels the receptionist to let her in. Alex finds a way to make a dead body reveal the harm done to it. Alex relives the last minutes of Tara’s life and sees the face of Tara’s boyfriend Lance over her. The last thing he says is, “I’m sorry” (140).

On her way out, Alex runs into Detective Turner. He is upset at her tampering with the body, but eventually tells her that Tara and her boyfriend had been dealing drugs to Tripp Helmuth, one of the Bonesmen who had been at the prognostication ritual the night of the murder.

After leaving the morgue, Alex drops off Pamela on campus and drives back to Black Elm, Darlington’s home in Westville. As she gets close, she sees lights on in the house and is hopeful that he is back. However, the house is empty, so Alex concludes that Pamela must have come to take care of the mail earlier and left the lights on.

Alex sleeps in Darlington’s bed. She dreams that he is embracing her from behind.

The following morning, she writes a detailed report about the prognostication and her investigation into Tara’s murder before heading back to campus.