The Strangers

Finn wakes up in his bed, having fallen asleep in the office the previous two nights. He focuses on his morning routine to distract himself from his mother and the fact that they haven’t deciphered her letter. Emma and Chess are still asleep, and so, seeing Natalie going downstairs, Finn quietly follows her. After a grumpy exchange between Natalie and her mother, Ms. Morales asks her to take care of Rocket after school. She suggests they take the kids to dinner that night to take their minds off their mother who, she reports, is still vague about when she might be coming home. She also cautions Natalie about going back through the secret basement tunnel. When Natalie suddenly runs out of the kitchen, she crashes into Finn, who lies and says he just wandered downstairs. Everything about Ms. Morales’s cheery demeanor seems fake to him, so he decides to keep the secrets between himself and Natalie.

As he walks with Natalie to the bus stop, she confesses that her anger at her mother over her parents’ divorce is probably exaggerated. She also discovers that the mother of the kidnapped children is also named Kate. Using facial recognition software, Natalie determines that both Kates are the same person.