Chapter 61: Amelia
From Amelia Wright's perspective, the weekend unravels into a complete disaster. Haunted by a difficult childhood in foster care and consumed by guilt over her parents’ death, which she believes she caused, Amelia reveals she's already consulted a solicitor. She views this trip as a last-ditch effort to salvage her marriage with Adam Wright, fully prepared to file for divorce if it fails. She is also convinced that Robin is a "full-time psycho" responsible for the strange occurrences at the chapel, including the message on the mirror and the figure she spotted outside the window.
The tension hits a boiling point when Adam confesses to turning off the generator, hoping the power outage would force an early departure. As they argue, three loud knocks boom against the chapel's main doors. Fueled by anger and adrenaline, Amelia rushes downstairs, assuming Robin is outside. She and Adam struggle to move the heavy bench blocking the door. When she tries to unlock it, she finds the keyhole blocked from the outside. A shadow appears under the door, confirming someone's presence. After Amelia pounds and yells insults, an envelope addressed to Adam slides underneath.
Chapter 62: Adam
Adam picks up the envelope and reads the letter from Robin, his expression shifting to horror as he absorbs its contents. The letter reveals a devastating secret: Amelia orchestrated their meeting years ago because their paths had crossed when they were teenagers. It claims Amelia was the driver in the hit-and-run that killed Adam's mother. The theme of The Inescapable Past crashes into the present as Adam is forced to confront this hidden history.
He confronts Amelia, questioning her about her past, her connection to his old neighborhood, and whether she was arrested for death by dangerous driving. Amelia panics, her nervous tic of twisting her mother-in-law's ring giving her away. Gasping for air, her empty inhaler useless, she nods, confirming Robin's accusation. Disgusted, Adam calls their entire relationship a lie built on a foundation of Secrets and Deception. As Amelia struggles to breathe, she reaches not for help but for a knife from the kitchen block. Just as she lunges at Adam, another figure appears behind her—Robin, wielding a pair of sharp scissors.
Chapter 63: Scissors
This chapter is a letter from Robin to Adam, dated six months after the events in Scotland. She reveals that they are back together, living in their London home, which has been purged of all traces of Amelia. Robin explains that "nobody knows what happened in Scotland," confirming Amelia is dead. In a stunning twist related to the theme of Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling, Robin reveals she has written a novel titled Rock Paper Scissors under the name of her deceased father, Henry Winter. The screen rights have been sold with a clause ensuring Adam will be the sole screenwriter, fulfilling his lifelong dream.
Robin's letter is a chilling confession and a declaration of her unwavering, twisted love for Adam. She mentions that she tried to remove the sapphire engagement ring from Amelia’s "lifeless hand" but it wouldn't come off, a detail that bothered her immensely. She sees their renewed relationship as something real and worth fighting for, even if it is "bloodied and a little torn around the edges." She ends the letter by looking forward to their future, planning to wear a new wedding dress for Adam, framing her act of murder as the ultimate act of Revenge and Justice for the betrayal they both suffered.
Chapter 64: Adam
In the novel's final, shocking twist, Adam's perspective reveals the ultimate deception. He confirms he and Robin are happy and that his nightmares about his mother's death have stopped. Then, he confesses the truth he has hidden his entire life: he was the one driving the stolen car that killed his mother. As a thirteen-year-old, he was joyriding with a girl he'd just met—Amelia. Drunk for the first time, he lost control of the car, hit his mother, and froze. Amelia, thinking quickly, pushed him out of the driver's seat and drove away, taking the blame for the crime.
Adam admits he let her take the fall. Because of his prosopagnosia, he could genuinely claim he couldn't identify the girl to the police. He reveals that he knew exactly who Amelia was when he began an affair with her and married her. Their entire relationship was a lie he maintained to ensure her silence. He feels no guilt about what happened to her in Scotland, stating coldly, "Sadly, people die every day, even the good ones. And she wasn’t one of them." He concludes that he is finally happy, believing that "sometimes a lie is the kindest truth you can tell a person, including yourself."
Chapter 65: Sam
The final section is from the perspective of Samuel Smith, a private investigator hired by Henry Winter over a decade ago to keep an eye on Robin. Concerned after not hearing from his client for two years, Sam drives to Blackwater Chapel. A local shopkeeper tells him Henry hasn't been seen in years and that the place is considered cursed. Sam finds the chapel padlocked and deserted.
Exploring the grounds, he discovers the cemetery and a new headstone for Henry Winter, with the death date listed as 2018. Near it, he finds a freshly dug, unmarked grave with an inhaler sticking out of the dirt—Amelia's. On Henry's grave sits a glass box containing three items: a paper crane, a pair of vintage stork scissors, and a sapphire ring still attached to a severed human finger. Terrified, Sam hears his name whispered three times in the wind and flees, providing the reader with external, chilling confirmation of the murders that took place.
Key Events
The final chapters of Rock Paper Scissors deliver a series of shocking revelations that upend everything the reader thought they knew. The truth about Adam, Amelia, and Robin's intertwined pasts comes to light with deadly consequences.
- Robin locks Adam and Amelia inside the chapel and slides a letter under the door.
- The letter reveals that Amelia was the teenage girl responsible for the hit-and-run that killed Adam's mother.
- Adam confronts Amelia, who confesses just before having a severe asthma attack.
- As Amelia lunges at Adam with a knife, Robin appears and kills her with a pair of scissors.
- Six months later, Adam and Robin are back together, and Robin has written a successful novel under her dead father's name to secure Adam's career.
- The Final Twist: Adam reveals he was the one driving the car that killed his mother, and he let Amelia take the blame. He married Amelia solely to keep her silent.
- A private investigator hired by Henry Winter discovers Henry's grave, evidence of Amelia's unmarked grave, and a severed finger with a sapphire ring on it.
Character Development
The characters undergo dramatic transformations in these final chapters, revealing hidden depths and shocking truths.
Adam Wright:
- Adam is revealed as the novel's true villain, his entire persona a facade.
- He is a master manipulator, using his prosopagnosia as a shield.
- His final confession recasts him as a sociopathic antagonist with no remorse.
Amelia Wright:
- Amelia transforms from a manipulative homewrecker into a tragic, victimized figure.
- She took the blame for a crime Adam committed, reframing her motivations.
- She is ultimately murdered by those connected to her by that secret.
Robin:
- Robin solidifies her role as an avenging angel, albeit a deeply disturbed one.
- Her actions are driven by obsessive love and a warped sense of justice.
- She embodies the novel's exploration of moral ambiguity, both victim and perpetrator.
Themes & Symbols
The concluding chapters bring the novel's central themes into sharp focus, using potent symbols to underscore their significance.
Identity and Misperception: These chapters are the culmination of this theme, as the reader and the characters have fundamentally misjudged everyone. Adam's true identity as a killer is the novel's core secret, hidden behind his face blindness.
The Inescapable Past: The climax proves that no secret can stay buried forever. The events of a single night dictate the course of their lives, leading to betrayal, Marriage and Betrayal, and murder decades later.
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling: Robin literally rewrites her and Adam's story by penning the novel Rock Paper Scissors, blurring the line between reality and fiction. Adam's final confession reveals that he, too, has been the author of a false narrative his entire adult life.
Symbols:
- The Sapphire Ring: The ring symbolizes a stolen legacy and a tainted promise. Its journey represents the violent and unresolved trauma connecting the characters.
- Scissors: The titular object becomes the murder weapon, representing the final, violent severing of Amelia from Adam's life.
- Mirrors: The mirrors in the chapel foreshadow Adam's true nature, reflecting the hidden, monstrous self beneath the surface.
Key Quotes
"Sadly, people die every day, even the good ones. And she wasn’t one of them."
Adam's chilling statement reveals his complete lack of empathy and his sociopathic nature. He justifies Amelia's death without a hint of remorse, solidifying his role as the novel's true villain.
"Sometimes a lie is the kindest truth you can tell a person, including yourself."
This quote encapsulates Adam's twisted worldview. He believes that deception is justifiable if it leads to happiness, even if that happiness is built on a foundation of lies and manipulation.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These concluding chapters are the engine of the novel, delivering a series of breathtaking twists that re-contextualize the entire story. The narrative is meticulously constructed to lead the reader down a path of false assumptions, making the final reveal of Adam's guilt all the more impactful. The epilogue-style chapters from different perspectives serve to shatter the singular, unreliable narrative the reader has been following, exposing the complex and horrifying truth from multiple angles. This structure solidifies Rock Paper Scissors as a masterclass in psychological suspense, where the true horror lies not in supernatural events but in the depths of human deception.