The Likeness

Sam and Frank extricate Cassie from the scene, and she is unhurt. They take her to Internal Affairs to walk through the protocol for when an officer fatally fires their weapon, and they remove her wire and clothing for evidence. Cassie texts Sam and Frank to warn them that someone should keep an eye on Whitethorn, but neither of them reply. When the officers sit her down to tell them the whole story of what happened, the first thing she says is Daniel’s name and then asks if he survived. The officer’s avoidance of her gaze tells her that he did not survive even before they tell her directly that he is dead.

A bureau tech named Gillian drives Cassie home, and she tries to take in her flat after being gone for so long. Staring out into the night from her windowsill, Cassie thinks of her family. She pulls out the only photos she has of her mother and father and summons the few memories of them she retains. In her memory her mother sings to her and her father holds her tightly.

Sam comes to Cassie’s flat to check on her. He delivers the news that John Naylor burned Whitethorn to the ground. Detectives have detained the roommates for questioning, but they are not saying much. Naylor is on the run again, but Sam is confident they will have no trouble apprehending him. Sam wants to repair their relationship but only if she is retiring from undercover work. He also wants confirmation she does not have feelings for Rob, which she assures him she does not and that it is really over between her and Rob. Cassie also assures him she is going back to domestic violence with hopes of returning to the Murder squad one day. Due to department rules stating people on the same squad cannot date each other, they would not be able to continue their relationship if she went back to the Murder squad, but Cassie feels like they could conceal their relationship without any trouble. However, Sam is not interested in hiding. He is bitter and angry toward Frank for the entire situation. Cassie flashes back to she and Sam coming together after Vestal. In her memories, she also reveals what ruined her relationship with Rob: They slept together, and it destroyed their friendship. Cassie must make peace with her loss of Rob before she can commit to Sam. Sam then produces a ring and proposes to Cassie. Cassie decides they can get special permission later when she decides she’s ready to go back to Murder or she’ll just deal with it if they can’t get permission, and she accepts Sam’s proposal. Later Cassie takes a walk near the ocean to process all that has occurred. She still hears echoes of Daniel in her head, and she knows Justin was the one who stabbed Lexie, but Daniel took the fall. Cassie wonders if she could have stopped it.

Frank is waiting when she returns. He assures her she will not lose her job, but she needs to get back to work soon. He wants to know who really stabbed Lexie and how soon Daniel knew she was an undercover. Cassie lies to Frank about both, and it is clear he knows she is being untruthful since she “didn’t even try to explain to him what [she] was seeing, the fine spreading web through which we had all tugged one another to this place, the multiple innocences that make up guilt” (450). He half-heartedly assures her that Daniel’s death was not her fault and hands over the tape of her wire mic for safe keeping since it would ruin her career, and Cassie stows it away with other items from her undercover life. Frank sees her engagement ring and is genuinely happy for the couple.

Cassie returns to her desk job and tries to avoid the other detectives’ questions about what happened. While she was waiting to be told whether she could move back to murder, Frank finds the missing pieces of Lexie’s story. Lexie’s real name was Grace Audrey Corrigan, and she was from Western Australia. Cassie speaks with Grace’s father Albert, who hadn’t seen Grace for 13 years, on the phone. Grace lost her mother at an early age and never recovered, so she began running away from home at age 10 and left for good when she was 16. Albert tells Cassie about all the places Grace lived and all the identities she assumed. She would often send her father postcards letting him know she was okay. Cassie reassures him Grace’s death was accidental and she did not suffer. Frank and Cassie attempt to track her movements over the globe and hit a dead end in Sydney. Calling the case closed, Cassie must make one final move for closure.

She visits Abby, who is living in student housing while she finishes school. Her room is spartan and depressing. “I thought of her room in Whitethorn House, that rich, ornate nest” (461). Abby does not want to see Cassie, but she allows her in briefly as Cassie gives her the details about Lexie’s other lives. Abby says she does not care who Lexie was before because Whitethorn was the real world. Rafe is now living in London working a job his father arranged for him, and Justin is a teacher. They are both quite miserable. Abby worries everyone will forget each other. Cassie leaves her with the photo of them at Christmas.

Cassie says she still dreams of Whitethorn, but it is empty. She does not dream of Lexie but hopes that, in her last moments in the cottage, Lexie was happy and free.