Scott learns that Megan had been pregnant in a conversation with Rachel Watson, after a tabloid story about Megan’s supposed involvement in the death of a child has made the matter public. The disclosure changes the meaning of Megan’s past and brings a possible motive for her murder into view, but it does not establish who fathered the child or explain what happened to the pregnancy.

The News and Scott’s Imagined Future

Scott tells Rachel that Detective Sergeant Riley gave him the news that morning. His response shows how much he had wanted Megan to have a child: he describes having imagined what the moment would be like, including Megan’s shy smile and the prospect of her taking his hand. The pregnancy is therefore not merely new information about Megan; for Scott, it opens a future he had privately pictured and now cannot share with her.

Scott begins to cry. Rachel cries too, grieving for an infant she understands as never having existed and for the loss bound up with the news. Her reaction is marked by helplessness: she cannot speak or move, even as she recognizes the scale of Scott’s distress. When she hears Cathy coming up the steps, the interruption jolts her into action. Rachel takes Scott’s hand, and he looks up at her, alarmed. The small gesture does not resolve his grief, but it marks her shift from stunned witness to someone trying to comfort him.

A Private Revelation Becomes a Public Story

The revelation takes place against a tabloid account alleging Megan’s involvement in the death of a child. Rachel regards the story as speculative and as a smear against a dead woman. Scott likewise rejects its central allegation, but he recognizes how it can be used to construct a motive: if Megan had killed a child, the presumed father might supposedly have had a reason to kill her, even years later. The story thus turns a disputed account of Megan’s past into an explanation that readers and investigators might attach to her death.

Scott also understands that the story can redirect suspicion toward himself. He says people may think he invented it to make Megan appear bad and to shift attention from him onto an unknown man from her past. His response reveals the pressure created by the publicity: even a story he calls false can make him look as if he has something to gain from circulating it. The report’s source is disputed, with suspicion falling on the police, Kamal Abdic, and Scott; the evidence does not establish who leaked it.

Paternity and the Limits of What Is Known

Scott recounts that the police asked whether he knew Megan had had a child, what had happened, and who the father was. He says he denied that she had ever been pregnant and describes the story as false. He assumes Kamal Abdic was responsible for the information reaching the newspapers, but this remains Scott’s suspicion, not a confirmed account of the leak. His bewilderment at why Kamal would say such things about Megan is part of his reaction, rather than proof of Kamal’s involvement.

The police, Scott says, have assured him that they will not release information about the pregnancy until they know for sure. When Rachel asks whether they have tested DNA, Scott says they have not. Nevertheless, he insists that Kamal is not the father and that the baby was his. The distinction between certainty and evidence is central to the scene: Scott presents his paternity as something he knows, while the available account offers no test to verify it. His claim makes the pregnancy more personal and also raises the possibility that either man could be seen as having a motive, without proving that either acted on one.

Consequences for Rachel and the Inquiry

Rachel considers the implications of Scott’s claim. If Kamal believed the child was his, the pregnancy might be imagined as a motive for him; if Scott believed Megan was carrying another man’s child, it might likewise cast suspicion on Scott. Rachel does not treat either possibility as established. In particular, she reads Scott’s shock and grief as genuine, which makes a performance seem unlikely to her, but this is her judgment of him, not independent confirmation of the facts.

Scott eventually appears absorbed in his distress, his gaze fixed on the bedroom door. Rachel tells him to stay and try to sleep. The scene ends not with an answer about the pregnancy’s outcome, the child’s paternity, or the tabloid leak, but with Scott overwhelmed by what he has learned and Rachel attempting to steady him. Its decisive turn is the movement from a private longing to a publicly contested claim: the pregnancy gives the murder inquiry a new possible motive while leaving its most consequential questions open.