Best Offer Wins

Margo sneaks into the house wearing latex gloves and an N-95 mask. At the showing, she overheard that Curtis and Jack are out of town this weekend, so she knows that no one is at home. She lugs a heavy suitcase inside and leaves it out, but places a lock on it. She doesn’t want Penny to see its contents if she is the one to discover it.

Margo hears from their agent Derrick that there has been an incident at the house. He doesn’t have all of the details, but Margo knows what happened. As she waits for her plan to unfold, she thinks about a DC home in which two grisly murders occurred. The case was highly publicized, and the house, which was gorgeous and located in a desirable area, did not sell once it was listed. It was the only home in that neighborhood that didn’t have multiple offers and sell immediately. Eventually a developer bought it, tore it down, and built three smaller places on the lot. Margo speculates that the developer himself was behind the murders.

She turns on the news. A body was discovered in a DC home in a quiet area. The house is on the market and just had a showing. Scores of people, the announcer says, would have had access to it this weekend.

Margo and Ian are at home watching the news. Margo learns from Derrick that some, but not all, of the potential buyers have pulled their offers. Margo is furious that anyone else still has interest in the house, but tries to sound somber. She hangs up and continues watching the news. The anchors reveal that there is already security footage from outside of the house and that they have exclusive access to it.

The news plays several grainy security videos. In one, a Volkswagen that looks strikingly like Natalie’s parks near the house. In the other, a woman wearing black, pleather leggings and a hoodie that Natalie often wears and an N-95 mask lugs a heavy suitcase. Ian comments on the car and, after the second video, appears stunned and asks Margo what is going on.

Margo would have preferred to kill Ian. She blames him for the affair. Alex, after all, is just out of college, idealistic, and impressionable. However, it would have been impossible to kill Ian without getting caught, so Alex it was. To prepare for the kill, she locked Ian out of their apartment and then recorded him asking to be let in. She rang Alex’s bell and then played the recording. Alex buzzed Margo up, and Margo hit her over the head with a wrench at her front door. She left a clump of Natalie’s hair as well as a pair of her underwear in Alex’s apartment: Natalie routinely hooks up with women she meets, and Margo thought she would be the perfect person to frame for the murder.

Margo calmly explains the murder to Ian. He is horrified and wants to contact the police, but she reminds him that he would actually be the prime suspect if he revealed his connection to Alex. She adds that she got rid of Alex’s burner phone and advises him to get rid of his. Those phones alone connect him to Alex, even though, as he admits, his DNA is all over her apartment.

Margo is irked that Ian does not want to cooperate and still argues that they need to call the police. Playing her one, final trump card, Margo produces her positive pregnancy test. She points out that neither of them should be in prison when their child is born, and she can see that he has finally come around.

The internet goes wild with speculation about the murder. Margo’s favorite theory links Curtis to the killing: Someone finds the Amazon review alleging his untrustworthiness and spins an entire story out of it. Margo revels in all of the online furor.

When Derrick calls to ask them if they too would like to rescind their offer, Ian tries to pull out of the sale. He is too uncomfortable with Margo’s actions to proceed. She reminds him about the baby, and he falls silent. Margo tells Derrick that they would still like to make an offer.

Margo loves living in the house, and so does Fritter. Without competition, they were able to get it for a reasonable price and had enough money to refinish the basement. Ian has busied himself with the project since they moved in, leaving Margo relatively alone to bask in the glow of their beautiful new home.

Margo was able to frame Natalie for Alex’s murder: She drugged her with Xanax, Ketamine, and vodka, and then drowned her in her bathtub to make it look like a death by suicide, knowing that the police would identify her car from the security footage. Their working theory was that Natalie had been obsessed with Alex and had killed her in a jealous rage. The wrench, which was obviously the murder weapon, was identified as part of a tool kit found in Natalie’s home. Natalie was also seen at the open house, which was where the police assumed she’d gotten the idea to leave the body. When the toxicology report revealed the number of drugs Natalie was on, public opinion quickly turned even further against her.

Margo enjoyed the media circus that unfolded in the wake of both deaths, but she is even happier to be settled in such a lovely home. One day, however, she hears a buzzing coming from somewhere she cannot identify. Then, she locates its source: Inside of Ian’s backpack she finds a familiar object and feels her rage mounting, again.