Meg and Nath bring Ellen's body back. Meg demands the truth about the red house and who Jeannie is. Pete finally confesses that Ellen had been keeping the secret for him, about having had an affair with a married woman named Jeannie and what had happened to her and the husband. After the man discovered the affair, the couple decided to move away. Pete went to the red house to plead with Jeannie to choose between her husband and him. As they heard her husband returning, Jeannie began screaming. To stop her, Pete covered her mouth, but suffocated her. While Pete claims that he was just trying to keep her quiet and that her death was accidental, he admits that he subsequently killed the husband in cold blood. Pete buried the bodies in the basement of the ice house that sits next to the red house, and he lives in fear that they will be discovered. However, since Jeannie's husband told everyone they were leaving town, no one ever suspected they were murdered. The couple had a baby, Meg, and rather than abandon the infant, Pete and Ellen adopted her.