Harlan Coben’s Run Away Recap ‘The Man I Knew’: The Kids

Run Away Episode 6

Trigger Warning: This article includes mention of rape and sexual assault, which some readers may find distressing. 

When Simon confessed to his sister in law and business partner Yvonne that he had the kids’ DNA tested, he also emphasised that they were his kids, no matter what the tests would say. Even as he navigated his own fears and insecurities over the wife he loved whom he also knew was out of his league, he remained first a good father. That made it even more heartbreaking that Paige did not come to him when she faced a nightmare at university. Yes, the two of them were not exactly getting along all that well at that time, and yes, Paige, like most teenagers, wanted to get away from home, but Simon would have done his best to be a father to her. And, when he found out, via Professor van de Beek, he went straight to the police.

He wanted to get justice for his daughter. He also may have unwittingly pointed their suspicion toward her.

We saw it in episode four, when Paige watched as a masked man attack a boy at the gym, an attack that left scars on his face. The boy was Doug Mulzer, and he was the same boy who watched Simon at the university, and told him that Professor van de Beek had a reputation of being inappropriate with students. Paige’s friend Katie later told Simon that she had a relationship with the professor, before Paige.

The truth, at least according to Professor van de Beek, whom Anya and Sam tracked down using a fake Instagram profile they made of Paige, was that Katie pursued him. He reported it to the university, and Katie was cautioned. Katie only got worse after that, which led him to go on sabbatical and start teaching at another university.

Paige was a driven student, so driven, in fact, that Professor van de Beek wondered if she was trying to escape something from home. He never pried, however, so he never knew what it was. Paige wanted to be a doctor like her mother; her spending so much time with the Family Tree Club was just him helping her out. But, one day, Paige came to him upset. She had gone to a party and suspected she was drugged. She woke up on a boy’s bed. The professor reported this to the university, but when Paige was questioned, she denied it. The university had strict rules about keeping incidents like this a secret, and since Paige did not want to complain, the matter had to be dropped. But, later on, the boy the Professor suspected (but was not certain) raped Paige was horribly attacked.

The rapist was Doug Mulzer. The person who attacked him was Aaron Corval. 

Simon headed to the police station and told DS Fagbenle (and later, DC Todd) that Doug raped Paige, and that he might have killed Aaron. He wanted the police to arrest Doug. They could not just do that, especially since Paige, who should have been the complainant, was missing. But, they assured Simon they were casting a wider net to look of Paige.

Indeed. For now Paige was a suspect in Aaron’s murder. As DC Todd pointed out, Paige was abused twice, first by Doug, then a second time by the boy she thought was helping her, Aaron. How would she react to that? 

Did Simon realise what he unwittingly did in his thirst for some measure of justice for his daughter? Cornelius came to see him, and told him that he had hoped the police would simply give up on Aaron’s case, since they did not even find the murder weapon, but it seemed they were not. Cornelius said that he saw Paige that night. When he went inside their flat, he saw Aaron dead. He instinctively took the knife and got rid of it. He was certain that Paige killed Aaron, and was trying to protect her. 

Even amongst the drug runners, Aaron’s reputation was not good. Luther, who was finally well enough for a police interview, did not like him because of how he treated Paige. Luther was so obviously hiding something, but DS Fagbenle and DC Todd could not get him to talk. When he was released on bail, DS Fagbenle worried that he would go after Cornelius, and warned him. Cornelius did not think Luther saw him, and was not overly concerned. 

Meanwhile, Elena got the password to Damien’s Discovered Ancestry account from his husband, and was able to confirm that Damien was biologically brothers with Kevin Gano (the first victim we saw Ash and Dee kill), Henry Thorpe, and Aaron Corval. Paige was clearly connected to them via Aaron, but she used a different DNA testing website, so her biological connection to them, if any, was not yet clear. Did I notice that neither Simon nor Elena reacted to the thought that Paige’s boyfriend could be her brother? Yes.

Elena was still pursuing Alison, the lady who arranged all these adoptions, and was able to find out where her girlfriend Stephanie lived. Elena drove to meet with Stephanie with a much lighter heart. Her husband Joel did not cheat on her after all. He had an acquaintance named Remy who really wanted a child, and he agreed to become a donor; Maria was that child. He did not tell Elena because he thought it would hurt her, since she could not have children. Maria had dropped the charges against Elena and wanted to have dinner with her and Lou. Elena agreed. With her and Lou back on good terms, before she got out of her car, she took a photo of the Audi’s license plate, the vehicle that ‘Stephanie’ drove. It wasn’t her, it was Dee Dee.

Dee insisted that Elena leave her phone in the glove compartment, and drove her to a remote house where she claimed Alison waited. Once Elena saw that she had stepped onto a tarp, she knew. She died with thoughts of her beloved husband, as Ash shot her from behind.

And here we stood with Ingrid’s secrets still with her in her coma. Jay still refused to reveal them to Simon, even when Simon came to him and apologised. Cornelius was convinced that Paige killed Aaron, and had told Simon. DS Fagbenle and DC Todd strongly suspected Paige as well. The one person who was close to piecing together the mystery of the murdered (and missing, in Henry’s case) half-brothers was now dead, killed by a contract killer and his childhood friend who happened to be a fanatical member of a cult. The red herring that was Professor van de Beek was already found and questioned, and judged to have nothing to do with Paige’s disappearance. On we go. 

Rating: B

Strays

🪷Alfred Enoch is a good actor, it would really have served the story better had his character DS Isaac Fagbenle been written better and more consistently from the start. The writers did much better with the writing of his character in these later episodes.

🪷Ash again expressed his concerns about Dee’s involvement with a cult. 

🪷Kevin Gano’s neighbour Mrs. Brady saw Ash and Dee parked outside his home, though she didn’t see Dee’s face.

🪷When Elena got Kevin Gano’s file, she suspected immediately that it was not a suicide.

🪷DC Todd warned DS Fagbenle that him verifying Cornelius’s alibi though he knew it was not true could land him in jail. She told him that would end everything, which I thought meant including their relationship. 

Episode Title: The Man I Knew

Episode Writer: Tom Farrelly

Episode Director: Usher Sahota

Original Release Date: January 1, 2026

You can view Recap Lab’s full coverage of Harlan Coben’s Run Away via this link.