Summary

In “Branlow Cottage,” Susan next talked to Aiden. She described him as having fair hair and a light complexion. Cecily commented the circumstances were awful, but Aiden corrected her that what was awful was that his wife was missing and the police thought he was involved. He criticized the police for not working hard enough on the case because they still had no idea what happened to Cecily. Susan noticed that Aiden referred to Cecily in the present tense, indicating that he believed she was still alive.

Aiden admitted he had given Cecily the Atticus Pünd book to read. For that reason, he blamed himself for her disappearance. He said a guest had told him about its similarity to their hotel. Aiden admitted Cecily had talked to him only briefly about the book, that it had something in it...