The Last Thing He Told Me

Hannah and Bailey go to the UT library to search the yearbooks and try to match a photo to one of the names on the roster from Professor Cookman. While there, Jules calls. In response to Hannah’s texted request, Jules has gone to Bailey’s room on the houseboat and is looking at the piggy bank. ”And you were right,” Jules says. “It does say Lady Paul on the side” (188). Hannah suspects that the piggy bank, which Jules cannot open, contains a clue that will explain why Owen’s will includes the annotation “L. Paul” above his signature. Jules agrees to find a safecracker to open the safe housed inside the innocent-looking pig.

A short time later, Hannah receives a call from the parish administrator at the Episcopal Church, who tells Hannah she forgot to include scrimmages when she was thinking about the 2008 UT football schedule. One wedding took place on the same day as a scrimmage, the Reyes-Smith wedding. Hannah crosschecks that information with the class roster and finds a Katherine Smith who was at UT when Owen was. She and Bailey then search the UT yearbooks, and find several photos of Katherine Smith, one of which shows her with friends at her family’s bar, The Never Dry. When Bailey enlarges the photo, she and Hannah are dumbstruck by Bailey’s resemblance to Katherine Smith. They set out to visit The Never Dry.

Arriving at the bar, Hannah realizes the situation might be dangerous for Bailey and instructs her to stay at the coffee shop next door while Hannah visits the bar. Inside The Never Dry, Hannah sees several photos of Katherine Smith and meets her brother, Charlie Smith, the owner. To engage Charlie in conversation, Hannah pretends to be visiting to interview for a faculty appointment at UT. When Hannah why Charlie inherited the bar from his grandfather rather than his father inheriting it, Charlie’s whole demeanor becomes defensive. To put him at ease, Hannah concocts a story about having been at the bar before, and possibly having met Charlie.

Hannah asks Charlie about the woman in the photos and learns she is dead. She gambles on one final question. Hannah tells Charlie she is looking for a man whom her newly divorced friend once met years before and has not stopped thinking about; she wants to find the man as a favor to her friend. She shows Charlie the photo of Owen on her phone, and Charlie throws the phone to the floor, breaking the screen. Just as Charlie leans over the bar to scream at Hannah, Bailey appears. When Charlie sees Bailey, he is dumfounded and calls her “Kristin.” At that, Hannah grabs Bailey and the two run out of the bar away from Charlie.