The Five Year Lie

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child sexual abuse, death by suicide, and sexual content.

The novel flashes back five years. Drew/Jay is furious after seeing the video that Amina was being blackmailed with. He visits Omar, who tells him that Amina was never the same after Ward threatened her with the video. Terrified, Amina did what Ward wanted, including performing oral sex on him, to prevent him from acting on his threat of sending the video to everyone in school if she didn’t comply. Jay is enraged that Ernie’s private home cameras gave Ward ammunition.

The narrative returns to the present. Ariel suspiciously wonders why Uncle Ray was looking at a photo of Drew/Jay as she prepares for a Chime Co. law enforcement support program. She is furious about Amina’s fate and Chime Co.’s role in her death. When Ray is busy in the meeting, Ariel goes into his office to find the name of the judge who issued the warrant for Ernie Miller’s camera footage. That judge, Judge Kerry, had a higher-than-average number of requests right until Drew/Jay disappeared.

Zain’s private investigator friend has managed to track Jay Marker to 2017, after which there is no trail.