Content Warning: The source text contains a graphic description of murder, as well as instances of substance use disorder and sexuality.

The prologue starts in the first-person point of view and describes the slaying of a young woman in a kitchen by the unidentified narrator, whose murder weapon is a hammer. A dateline reads Friday, September 29. The nameless victim has brown hair and eyes, is described as “beautiful,” and seems confused and terrified by the attack.

The second part of the prologue, now in third-person, describes Aylesford, a picturesque city in New York’s Hudson Valley. The date is Monday, October 2, and a man named Robert Pierce reports his wife missing. He nervously wonders what he is expected to say. He last saw his missing wife, Amanda Pierce, on Friday morning as she was heading to work; she said she was leaving straight from work to go with a girlfriend for a shopping weekend in Manhattan. However, he called the girlfriend, and she had no such plans. Robert tried to call Amanda but got her voicemail. He tells the officer that he and Amanda have a happy marriage but no children.