The Girl On The Train

Also picking up in the early morning of August 18th, Anna throws the phone over the fence. Tom comes out into the yard, saying the landline rang (Rachel calling), and notices Anna acting strangely. He kisses her and demands sex, saying he’s not taking no for an answer.

Continuing the narrative on August 18th, Rachel rings Tom and Anna’s doorbell. No one answers, so Rachel goes around the side of the house to the back patio. Anna is there with the baby, and says Tom has gone out with his army friends. Rachel says they need to leave, and Anna laughs.

Still focusing on the morning of August 18th, Rachel and Anna talk about Tom. Rachel explains that Tom lies about everything, including his army friends that he is supposedly with and his family—he never introduced either woman to his friends or family. Then, they talk about Tom’s affair with Megan. While Anna knows Tom slept with Megan, she doesn’t believe he killed Megan. Rachel tells Anna that Megan was pregnant, probably with Tom’s child. This further upsets Anna, but she continues to insist that Tom is not Megan’s killer.

This chapter covers July 12 and 13. On the morning of July 12, Megan is thinking about her pregnancy, and asks Kamal to come over while Scott is out of town for work. They talk about her being able to raise a child this time, and Kamal kisses Megan as Rachel’s train passes by. However, he refuses to run away with her, and believes she will make the right decision about Scott.

On July 13, Megan decides to confess her affair to Scott. She tells him that it is over—it ended several months prior—and he reacts violently. Scott throws a framed photograph at her, grabs her, slams her head against the wall, and chokes her. When she gets free, Megan runs to the bedroom and locks the door. She finds her old cell phone to call and texts her lover, who still remains unnamed, but is clearly Tom. Tom doesn’t answer. She packs and unpacks a bag, then intends to walk to Tom’s house. Megan tells Scott that if he follows her, she will leave him for good.

Megan walks past Tom’s house and through the underpass to the park. She leaves a message that if he doesn’t come to the park, she will come to his house. After walking around for a little while, she starts to head back. Tom meets her at the underpass, telling her to get in his car. Megan thinks she sees someone (who the reader knows is Rachel) in the underpass.

On August 18, Tom arrives home. Rachel tells him she saw Megan get into his car, and Tom tries to convince Anna that Rachel is an unreliable drunk. However, Anna confronts him about having an affair, and Tom admits to sleeping with Megan. Tom takes the baby and compares Anna and Rachel, calling them both weak. Rachel tries to convince Anna to distract Tom so she can call the police, but Anna sides with Tom. As Rachel is calling the cops, Tom comes up behind her and kicks her in the back, dragging her inside. Anna makes lunch for the baby and tea.

On July 13, Megan notices Tom has blood on him when she gets in his car. He says he was having problems with his ex. They drive to Corly Wood and walk a little ways. Megan says she’s pregnant and wants to keep the baby. Tom tells her to have an abortion if it’s his and calls her an unfit mother. She angrily insults him, pushes him, and tries to scratch him. Tom comes at her with something in his hand, and she is suddenly on the ground, bleeding, feeling nauseous, and seeing red.

On August 18, Anna, Rachel, and Tom sit in the living room. He holds the baby, only letting her go temporarily while Anna changes her diaper. Tom confesses to the affair with Megan, and then recounts the events of July 13. Anna saw Rachel with the red-haired man, Andy, and went home instead of out with friends, as Megan repeatedly called Tom. Tom found Rachel, hit her, and then got Megan into his car. He took her to Corly Wood, and she told him about the pregnancy. When she argued about the abortion, he picked up a rock and hit her with it, killing her. Tom buried her, intending to move the body later, but the rain kept him from being able to get to it again.

Tom offers Rachel a beer, and she refuses. While he’s in the kitchen, she tries to run for the door, but he hits her in the head with the bottle and drags her by the hair back into the living room. Anna asks Tom if she can take the baby, and he lets her, but threatens to harm the baby if Anna calls anyone. Tom drags Rachel into the kitchen and she feels something hit her temple and blacks out.

Anna goes upstairs and puts the baby in her crib. She thinks about how she wants Rachel out of their life, and if Tom kills her, she will be. Then, Anna realizes she and the baby would not be safe with Tom. She goes downstairs and sees Rachel bleeding, but alive, in the kitchen. Tom apologizes for Megan, promises they can move away from this house, and tells Anna to go back upstairs. Anna sits on the stairs, holding the phone, waiting to make a call and listening to Rachel cry.

On the evening of August 18, it starts to rain. Tom asks Rachel what he should do with her, blaming her for showing up the night Megan was heading to his house. This reminds Rachel of all the other times Tom blamed her for horrible things he did. He helps her stand, and she says she won’t tell anyone because she still loves him. He calls her a mistreated dog who always comes back to their owner and kisses her. She reaches in a drawer behind her for a corkscrew. As he pulls away, Rachel pushes him, stamps on his foot, grabs his hair, and knees him in the face. She runs outside as a train comes. Tom comes at her, and she puts the corkscrew in his neck, then walks away to look in the passing train as he bleeds.

The narrative turns to September 10, when Rachel notices the people on the train looking at number 15 and number 23. She recalls how Anna called an ambulance and the police on August 18. Rachel also recalls the police interrogation where Anna vouched that Rachel acted in self-defense, and Rachel vouched that Anna tried to save Tom’s life. Rachel learned about more of Tom’s lies, including that he was never in the army. However, she thinks she would have fallen in love with him, even if he hadn’t lied.

The afternoon of September 10, Rachel rents a car and drives to Holkham, to visit the adjacent graves of Megan and her baby. She emails Scott, apologizing, but he doesn’t reply.

That evening, she goes to a hotel on the Norfolk coast, planning to travel even further north. She has been addiction-free for 21 days. Cathy had given her a Jack Daniel’s after the police brought her home from the interrogation, Rachel threw it up, and hadn’t had anything to drink since. She walks along the harbor and the beach, getting spooked by noises on the deserted beach at night. In her hotel room, she recalls how Anna had turned the corkscrew deeper into Tom’s neck, making sure he was dead, rather than trying to save him. Rachel has nightmares, but plans to take the train early the next day.