The Night Shift

Rusty Whitaker promises to tell Keller where to find Vince in return for a deal on the murder charge against him. Keller discusses this with the lead prosecutor and investigator, who seem likely to agree to a deal. However, she suddenly recalls something that Chris said about the last time he saw Vince. She wants to check her hunch before agreeing to Rusty’s deal.

Atticus has been looking through the evidence on Madison and Hannah Sawyer’s phones. He tells Keller that he hasn’t yet found any connection to Arpeggio, but that the sisters were fighting about something. They texted about it in code, and one of them threatened to tell their mom. Keller goes to interview someone that she doesn’t identify, except to say that he refused to talk to her earlier. She tells the man that Rusty is about to talk, so if he wants a deal, he has to talk first.

Ella and Chris head to Central Park once Mr. Nirvana’s live stream reveals his location. They use visual clues from the live stream to catch up to him. As they approach Mr. Nirvana, both are nervous about the prospect of confronting Vince.

When Chris and Ella are near enough to Mr. Nirvana, Chris calls out to him. When the man turns around, Chris realizes that Mr. Nirvana isn’t Vince.

Ella’s mother calls her in a panic and tells her to come home. Chris goes with her. When they arrive, they find police surrounding the mansion, executing a search warrant of the exterior property. While Ella talks alone with her mother, Phyllis’s lawyers tell Chris—who has introduced himself as Ella’s attorney—that the police are likely to find what they are looking for.

Phyllis explains that Ella’s father couldn’t handle Vince’s release from jail on a technicality. Katie’s father got him and Mandy’s father riled up, and the three men killed Vince. They buried Vince’s body in the garden, where the police are now searching. Later overcome by guilt, Ella’s father wanted to turn himself in. To protect Ella from learning of his crime, he died by suicide instead. Now, Keller enters with the news that they have found Vince’s body.

Because Mandy’s father led Keller to Vince’s body, Rusty will not get a deal from the prosecutor. Keller learned that the three fathers abducted Vince from his home on the night he was released from jail. Although Vince never confessed to the murders, they killed him, and they each shot him once so that they would all share the guilt equally. They also had to pay off Rusty, who knew that they had taken Vince.

Now, Keller confronts Arpeggio about his friendship with the McKenzie family. He insists that he was just a family friend who was trying to help a sweet kid who’d made a mistake. Keller believes him.

With Chris in the passenger seat, Ella drives around aimlessly, trying to process everything. She decides to see Mr. Steadman at his home. Chris waits in the car. When Mr. Steadman opens the door to Ella, a man staggers from behind him, covered in blood, and tells her to run. Mr. Steadman turns and stabs the man again, then grabs Ella and pulls her inside.

Atticus isn’t responding to Keller’s texts or calls. She looks through the evidence that he has left on his desk. Yearbooks from last year and from 1999 are both open to an advertisement page featuring an ad for “Steady As They Go Driving School.” She zooms in on a photo of the Blockbuster parking lot from 1999 and realizes that one of the cars has a bumper sticker from that driving school. Keller has Arpeggio call Madison and Hannah’s mother, who says that the sisters did attend that driving school. It is run by Mr. Steadman.

Keller finds Atticus’s car in Mr. Steadman’s driveway. She confronts Mr. Steadman in his garage, but he flees into the house. Keller sees Ella tied up in his trunk and frees her. Ella says that Chris and another man are inside, then follows Keller’s order to run.

Keller realizes that Mr. Steadman planted the knife in Vince’s locker, just as he planted the Creamery victim’s phone in Jesse’s hospital room. He probably also impregnated Katie and had a sexual relationship with Hannah. As soon as Keller enters the house, Mr. Steadman shoots an arrow into her chest, and the lights go out.

The narrative shifts back to December 31, 1999. Katie knows that the couple who adopted her baby has named the girl Jesse. They agreed to give Jesse a note from Katie once she turns 18. Katie is now talking to Mr. Steadman outside Blockbuster, though she calls him Dale. She notices that he is erratic, and he vacillates between penitent and aggressive moods. He is paranoid about Vince and pressures Katie to stay with him. Katie tells him to leave her alone. Candy and Mandy come outside and reiterate the message, threatening consequences if he doesn’t listen.

The narrative returns to the present moment. Mr. Steadman knocks Keller to the ground, and she feels Atticus’s stiff body in the dark. Mr. Steadman is about to stab her again when Chris tackles him. Mr. Steadman stabs Chris in the chest, then attacks Keller again. She pulls the arrow from her own chest and rams it into his head from beneath his chin. They are both bleeding heavily, but he still has the strength to choke her. When Ella stabs him from behind with a spear, he lets go of Keller and crumples to the floor. Reinforcements arrive and carry Keller out on a stretcher. She sees Atticus, Chris, and Ella, but they aren’t moving.

A year later, Keller and her twins are alive and well. She and Bob have given them the middle names Atticus and Attica in honor of Keller’s fallen partner.

Jesse has written a piece about the case; it was published in the New Yorker. Now, she is doing an interview on Good Morning America. She reveals that after her piece was published, other victims of Chad Parke came forward, and he was arrested and pled guilty. Jesse says that she doesn’t think Dale Steadman knew that she is his daughter.

A YouTube video from The Night Shift Travel Vlog shows two vloggers called Traveler 1 and Traveler 2 as they travel on the Amazon river. They are bringing supplies and toys to an orphanage. At the end of the video, they identify themselves as Chris and Ella. Chris signs off by saying, “Do justice today” (308).