Survive the Night: A Novel

Charlie and Robbie reach his Volvo as the fire swallows the lodge. She tells Robbie that they need to find and save Josh, but he says they need to leave. Charlie acknowledges this, and they enter the Volvo. Because Marge shot Robbie, Charlie must drive, something she has not done since her parents’ deaths.

Charlie drives but has trouble getting out, not knowing how. She then stops the car and opens the glove compartment to find a map. A small jewelry box falls out, and Robbie tries to catch it. Charlie grabs it first, thinking and hoping that it might be an engagement ring and that Robbie was going to propose to her. To her horror, she instead finds the missing teeth of the Campus Killer victims, including Maddy’s tooth. Heartbroken and enraged, she confronts Robbie and asks him why he killed Maddy and the other two women. He tells Charlie that Maddy and the other two women thought they were special but were not. Robbie then confesses he planned to kill Charlie after their first meeting, but then he saw she was special because of her obsession with movies and presumed disconnection from the real world.