The Teacher

Nate parks when the road becomes impassable, and they carry two shovels and Eve’s body to a remote spot deeper into the underbrush. They begin to dig. Nate pushes Addie to move quickly so that they will be done before the sun comes up. When they have a hole about a foot deep, Nate tells Addie to lie in it so that they can see if it is the right size. Addie refuses, and Nate becomes annoyed. Addie asks Nate about the red marks on Eve’s neck, and Nate paints a scenario in which he strangled Eve to death. Nate then softens, reassuring Addie that he didn’t touch Eve. He tells her that she’s letting her imagination run wild. Then Nate tells Addie that he left Eve’s purse in the car and needs to go back for it. Addie watches him walk away.

Addie continues to dig while Nate is gone. She has deepened the hole by a foot when she realizes that he has been gone for an hour. She calls for him, wondering if he’s abandoned her. She can’t imagine that he would, but he’s been gone a long time. Addie pushes Eve into the grave and is heartbroken to realize that her purse was inside the sheet with her the whole time. Addie quickly fills the grave with dirt and fallen leaves. She starts walking back to the road, afraid she will get lost. However, when she sees tire tracks, she knows that she’s in the right area. She continues to walk and wonders how she’ll get home. She tries to contact Nate over Snapflash, but he doesn’t answer. She has no one else she can call. Finally, she calls Hudson, but he doesn’t answer. However, he then calls back and agrees to come get her.

Hudson wants to know what has happened, but Addie refuses to tell him. Hudson apologizes for what happened between them and tells Addie that his trauma over seeing her father at the bottom of the stairs made it hard to look at her. But he assures her that she is still his best friend. Addie makes Hudson promise that he won’t tell anyone he picked her up.

Nate wakes up refreshed, missing Eve’s body beside him. He reminds himself that Eve could have ruined his life and that he is now free. He checks his phone and sees Addie’s message. Nate is aware that Addie will likely confess what they did to someone, but he also knows that she has no credibility and that there is no proof of their relationship. He goes to the bathroom for a shower and is surprised to find a pair of Eve’s shoes in the shower. Nate hears a noise in the bedroom, but there is nothing there. He puts the shoes away, takes a shower, and gets on with his day.

Addie wakes up late in the day and finds a message on her phone from Hudson asking if she is okay. She messages Nate but discovers that his Snapflash account has been closed. Addie convinces herself that Nate has done this to protect them both in the event that the police become involved. She remembers his insistence that she deny everything.

Nate calls the police late in the afternoon. He tells Detective Sprague that Eve went to visit her parents but never arrived. Detective Sprague says that Eve’s train tickets were never used. She asks where Nate was the night before, and he tells her that he had dinner out at a local bar. He believes that the bartender will back up his statement. When Detective Sprague asks about his relationship with Eve, he claims that they were very happy and were trying to have a baby. Given the opportunity to name a person who might want to harm Eve, Nate is quick to name Addie. Nate tells Detective Sprague about Addie cheating on her midterm, and then he gives the detective the letter Addie wrote about the bullies who threw her clothes into the shower, claiming the letter was left for Eve in her mailbox at school. When the detective looks around the house, they are both surprised to find another pair of Eve’s shoes in the kitchen.

Detective Sprague inspects Eve’s shoes, surprised that someone would get such an expensive pair of shoes so dirty. Nate is confused because the shoes were not in the kitchen when he made breakfast that morning. When he returns to the kitchen after escorting the detective out, he discovers a bird pecking at the shoes. Someone has left the back door open. There is also rotten pumpkin on the shoe. Nate is confused because he knows that Eve wasn’t wearing shoes the night before. He wonders if Addie has done this. No one else could know to put the pumpkin on the shoes. However, Nate believes that he is safe because someone is clearly trying to frighten him but doesn’t have enough information to go to the police.

Detective Sprague comes to Addie’s home to speak to her about Eve. When the detective asks if Addie was outside the Bennett home the previous Thursday, Addie’s mother backs up her alibi, stating that she was home all night. However, when questioned, Addie’s mother admits that they weren’t in the same room together the entire night. When the detective shows Addie the letter Nate gave her, Addie denies writing it to Eve and tells the detective that it was for an assignment in English class. However, when she admits that she was the only one with that particular assignment, she can see that neither the detective nor her mother believes her. When asked if she was home all night before, Addie says that she was, but her mother admits to being at work and that Addie had access to her father’s car in the garage. Addie begins to wonder if Nate is trying to set her up.

When the detective leaves, Addie’s mother questions her. Addie insists that she never left the house and would never drive her father’s car. She even claims that the car likely no longer starts. However, when her mother goes to the garage to check the car, it starts immediately. As her mother begs her to tell the truth, Addie begins to think that Nate killed Eve and is trying to pin everything on Addie.

Nate receives a phone call from Detective Sprague. She says that she believes Addie is involved and that she will be speaking to her again. She also says that she is trying to get in touch with the school’s principal. Nate feels confident because the principal will tell the detective about Addie’s behavior with Art Tuttle that led to his resignation. He believes that between Addie’s history with Mr. Tuttle and the letter he gave the detective, Addie will look guilty. As Nate prepares for bed, someone rings the doorbell. He goes down and finds a package on the front stoop. It’s a pair of women’s shoes covered in dirt. Nate is unsettled, feeling as though someone is attempting to reenact “The Raven” to frighten him.

Nate doesn’t sleep well and is dragged out of bed by a visit from Detective Sprague. She tells him that she spoke with the school’s principal and wants to know why Nate didn’t tell her that Addie is in his English class. She also wonders if Nate or Eve ever had an extramarital affair. Nate denies any affair but wonders if Eve ever cheated on him. Detective Sprague leaves but promises to return.

Addie is worried that her mother knows she did something to Eve. She also believes that her mother is suspicious that Addie killed her father. Hudson texts Addie again, but she ignores it. She goes for a walk, and Detective Sprague finds her. They talk about Nate, and Detective Sprague asks if anything inappropriate ever happened between Addie and Nate. Addie continues to deny everything even as the detective promises that Addie can trust her. She also tells Addie that Nate is portraying her to be Eve’s stalker. The detective gives Addie her card before leaving.

Addie’s mother confronts her when she returns home, begging Addie to tell her what really happened. As they talk, someone knocks on the door. Addie is shocked to find Kenzie at the door.

Kenzie asks to talk to Addie alone. Addie doesn’t trust Kenzie, but it ends the conversation she was having with her mother, so she welcomes the interruption. Kenzie tells Addie that she knows that Addie and Nate have been seeing each other. Kenzie says that Nate wrote the same poem for Kenzie that he wrote for Addie.

Kenzie says that she was on the school newspaper her freshman year and that she was having a hard time because her brother was going through treatment for leukemia. She says that Nate seduced her and told her they were soulmates. Kenzie says that she was bullying Addie because she was angry; Nate had told Kenzie that they needed to cool their relationship to avoid scrutiny after what happened with Addie and Mr. Tuttle. Kenzie claims that she and Hudson never dated and were only friends. Kenzie tells Addie that she and Nate talked on Snapflash and that Kenzie has screenshots of the messages. She shows one to Addie. Kenzie asks Addie to go with her to the police.

Kenzie and Addie go to the police station and ask to speak to Detective Sprague. As the detective encourages Kenzie to tell her story, Kenzie begins to cry. Addie realizes how young Kenzie really is and that she was only 14 when Nate groomed her for his ongoing sexual abuse. Angry, Addie tells Detective Sprague everything.

Thinking about Eve, Nate goes on a long drive. When he returns home, he gets a call from Detective Sprague. She tells him that she sent a patrol car to pick him up, but he wasn’t home. He says that he’s home now and will wait for a car to come get him. He goes into the kitchen and finds a rotting pumpkin on the floor. Inside is a raven that escapes and flies around the room. The reference to Nate’s favorite poem freaks him out, and he decides to leave.

Nate believes that only Eve could have left the pumpkin in the house. He drives to the pumpkin patch to check the grave, convinced that she either is still alive or is haunting him from the afterlife. When he arrives at the place where he and Addie buried Eve, he discovers that the grave is empty. Someone hits him over the head.