The Therapist

The therapist encourages the client to analyze the source of her unhappiness. However, she responds that she is not unhappy and loves her husband, Pierre. The therapist suggests relaxation therapy.

Debbie invites Alice to move in with her until the tenants of the Harlestone cottage move out. The next day, Thomas calls Alice to check on how she is. He says he has his son Louis with him, as he and his former wife have alternate care of their child at weekends. Alice suggests that Nina’s murderer could have had a long hair “fetish.” Thomas agrees this is possible, pointing out that cutting off women’s hair has historically been used as a method of condemning perceived immorality. For example, French women who slept with German soldiers during World War II were punished this way. Thomas ends the call, telling Alice he has to read six-year-old Louis a bedtime story.

Researching hair fetishism, Alice discovers several French newspaper articles about a murder in Paris. In 2017, 31-year-old Marion Cartaux’s long blond hair was cut off before she was strangled. Meeting Eve for lunch, Alice tells Eve about the times she has woken up in the night, convinced someone is in the room.