Unnerved by the magazine—and that it is in Bob's possession—Darcy finds a secret compartment behind the garage's baseboard and makes a more horrific discovery: a small box containing the ID cards of Marjorie Duvall, a victim of a serial killer called "Beadie".

He calmly explains his insanity to his horrified wife, recounting how he and a sadistic friend named Brian Delahanty—nicknamed "BD", from which "Beadie" was derived—planned a school shooting as teenagers.

After removing the evidence of murder, Darcy manages to convince the police and the children that Bob died in a drunken accident, and is not suspected of committing any foul play.

[1] In the afterword for Full Dark, No Stars, King stated that the character of Bob Anderson was inspired by Dennis Rader, the infamous "BTK Killer".

[4][5] Terrence Rafferty of The New York Times wrote, "King works the double motifs deftly and guides the narrative to a satisfyingly cathartic climax—after which he supplies a nifty denouement".

[6] Bill Sheehan of The Washington Post wrote, "Through his mastery of detail and his deceptively effortless narrative voice, King transforms this disquieting material into a disturbing, fascinating book.

[9] Carol Memmott of USA Today called it the best story of the collection and wrote, "It's a grim reminder that you can never really know the people you love, and it's a warning about how the little things in life can be the tipping point toward a living nightmare.

"[10] In the wake of the novella and its subsequent film, Kerri Rawson, the daughter of Dennis Rader, spoke publicly, claiming that King had exploited both her family and her father's victims with the story.