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Joe and Beck spend the next two weeks together in an intense flourish of intimacy. Joe is delighted, but, when Ethan reminds him that “the first few days of any relationship are intense” (222), he becomes anxious. He messages Beck, telling her that he loves her.

After Joe tells Beck he loves her, “something changes” (223) in their relationship. The intensity vanishes, and Beck seems emotionally distant. Joe is confused and hurt, especially when Beck seems to be writing an email that does not appear in her account. When she cancels her plans with him one evening, he cries.

When Beck suggests that they meet at Joe’s apartment rather than hers, Joe becomes scared for their relationship. She stops by the store and collects Joe’s keys to his apartment before leaving for a college class. However, Joe discovers that her college classes have been canceled. He panics while pacing inside the cage. In the store, he is surprised that a pretty young woman distracts him by flirting. The woman introduces herself as Amy Adam and pays with a stolen credit card. That afternoon, he tries to research Amy but struggles to find anything about her online. After not hearing from Beck all day, he returns to his apartment to find her cooking a romantic meal. Joe is happy but feels guilty for being distracted by Amy.

The next day, Beck returns Joe’s passion. He is delighted that the intense intimacy is back, and he impulsively invites her to live with him in his apartment. She politely declines his offer, but he is happy, nonetheless. At work, Joe thinks about applying for college and plans a celebratory dinner to mark six months since he and Beck met. Filled with excitement, Joe walks back to his apartment and makes a mental list of all the reasons he loves Beck. When he enters, however, she is waiting for him. Beck has found his stash of her stolen belongings.

In his mind, Joe blames Beck for snooping around in the hidden corners of his apartment. He assures her that the collection of stolen items in the “Box of Beck” (235) is perfectly fine, though Beck disagrees. Joe cannot understand why Beck is shouting at him and calling him a “sicko” (236) Frustrated, he tries to explain himself, but Beck finds the book containing printed copies of her private emails. When Beck shouts, Joe grabs her. If she screams, Joe says, he will kill her. Beck screams anyway, and Joe knows that “it’s over” (239). He clamps his hand over her mouth and pins her to the bed. When she makes one final effort to escape, Joe smashes Beck’s head against the wall. While she is unconscious, he packs a bag with supplies and carries her to the cage beneath the bookstore.

Joe locks Beck alone in the cage. He pities her and feels sorry that she is so angry. Closing the bookstore for a few days, Joe goes to Beck’s apartment. There, he finds evidence that Beck has been having an affair with Dr. Nicky. Nicky bought her a brand new computer and encouraged her to open a new email account as she was concerned that her boyfriend was reading her messages. Using Beck’s numerous email accounts, Joe writes to her friends, posing as Beck. He suggests that she is going on a writing retreat after “things got ugly with Nicky” (243).

Joe reads all the emails between Beck and Nicky. He creates an exam for her with true or false answers, each question involving her supposed affair. Beck shouts, screams, and tears at her hair but eventually answers Joe’s questions. She confesses to the affair, saying that she “fell hard for a married guy” (246) but then began having doubts. Her affair broke down when she had reservations about becoming a stepmother to Nicky’s children after he divorced his wife, causing him to leave her and call her selfish. Joe hates Nicky more than ever. Beck explains that she loves to be wanted and that she loves “new things” (248); her string of new relationships and hookups are her way to bounce from one new thing to the next. Joe decides that he and Beck “need to share an experience together to move forward” (248) so he takes two copies of The Da Vinci Code from the store and insists that they read them.

Joe and Beck read The Da Vinci Code in the basement of the bookstore. They pause occasionally to discuss their thoughts, and, after a night’s sleep, they resume their reading. Joe goes to get coffee, pleased with how Beck is “acing” (250) his test. Beck is very complimentary when Joe explains how he imprisoned Benji in the basement and tricked everyone into thinking Benji was still alive. She tells Joe everything he wants to hear, calling him a “genius” (252). They both finish the book, by which time Beck has been in the cage for almost four days.

Joe leaves the store to buy ice cream to celebrate. When he returns, Beck is naked inside the cage. She seduces him, and he enters the cage.

After having sex, Joe and Beck sleep in the cage. In the early hours of the morning, Joe wakes up and uses the store bathroom. He is excited about the future now that he and Beck are together. However, he hears her trying to escape through the locked front door of the store. Joe grabs Beck and wrestles her to the floor. He pins her down until she goes limp and cries. After hours of being held down, Beck promises that she will leave New York and never reveal what Joe did. Joe is annoyed by her suggestion. He begins to choke her. When Beck becomes limp and unresponsive, Joe panics. Just when he worries that Beck is dead, she rolls over and attacks him. Infuriated, Joe chokes her again and stuffs pages from The Da Vinci Code into her mouth. This time, he really kills her. He cries.

Joe drives out of the city to bury Beck’s body. He digs a grave at nighttime and can hear a wedding in the distance. Joe imagines what kind of wedding he and Beck might have planned and then remembers that she is dead.

Three months after Joe murders Beck, he is invited to Ethan’s and Blythe’s wedding in Texas. The invitation allows Joe to look to the future for the first time since he buried Beck. He is now obsessed with Chet and Rose, the couple whose wedding provided the soundtrack to Beck’s burial, and he finds comfort in their social media photographs. Dr. Nicky has been arrested and charged with Beck’s murder; the story appeared in the national press. With Ethan’s position now vacant, a “help wanted” sign hangs in the bookstore window. Amy Adam returns to the store and asks about the job. Joe is happy and already sees her as his next cashier and his next girlfriend.