Best Offer Wins

Margo still has not told Ian about her situation, and he suggests she go into work. She gets dressed and heads to a coffee shop instead. She searches through the press for Curtis’s book and finds that Erika wrote an article about it. She emails Erika to see if she has any dirt on Curtis and, also, if Erika will give Margo the name of her real estate agent.

Erika forwards her an anonymous email from someone who seems to be the same person who wrote the Amazon review. The account is not active, and Margo reaches out to see if the IT department at Erika’s paper can trace it. She also calls the hedge fund that Curtis’s father manages and asks for an interview, claiming to be a reporter working on a story for the Chronicle of Higher Education about Curtis’s new job. Surprisingly, he tells his assistant that he will not speak to Margo, specifying that he has nothing to say about his son.

Margo meets Natalie for drinks. She still hasn’t told Ian about her work situation and spent the day at the movies. Natalie arrives late, having had to travel across town from the apartment of the woman with whom she spent the previous night. Margo is irked that Natalie didn’t ask her to care for her dog Fritter and silently judges Natalie for being such an irresponsible pet parent. As a girl, Margo once found a stray dog and was crushed when their mother said that they couldn’t keep her. She adores dogs and is particularly attached to Fritter.

As Natalie babbles on about her latest hookup and rolls her eyes at Margo’s concern for Fritter, Margo recalls her mother telling her that they could keep the dog for a while and that she would tell Margo’s father that they were taking care of it for a friend. Irritated with Natalie and barely able to conceal her mounting rage over Natalie’s lifestyle and lack of concern for animals, Margo makes an excuse and leaves.

On the way home she stops by the house. She feels compelled to visit it. She is unsure if Curtis spots her from inside, and hurries away. On the way home she receives word from Erika: The IP address of her anonymous warning about Curtis came from a computer at Georgetown where Curtis works.

Margo heads to Georgetown to do some sleuthing. The anonymous email address had contained the number 97, and Margo has a hunch that it represents a birth year. She hopes to peruse the school’s yearbooks, searching for anyone who might be the sender. This age range fits with Margo’s assessment of the person who wrote the Amazon review and emailed Erika: Someone so emotional that they would write in all caps is likely young, a student. She retrieves the proper yearbook and begins with the economics majors.

She makes a list of them to further research later, and then heads outside for her scheduled call with Jordana. Jordana’s voice is hard-to-read, but just as she begins to express concern for Margo, Margo catches sight of Curtis. She is sure that he saw her, hastily ends the call with Jordana, and begins to walk quickly away.

Curtis calls out to Margo, and she decides to confront him rather than hide. He angrily tells her that he called the police after seeing her outside of his home the previous evening. He asks her what she is doing on his campus. Margo matches Curtis’s aggression, informing him that it is an open campus, and then adds that his father would probably be disappointed in his behavior. It was a shot in the dark, but Curtis reddens and grabs Margo by the wrist. She screams out, causing the professor in a nearby lecture to come outside and question Curtis. Margo takes the opportunity to flee.

She returns home and begins to go through her list of past economics majors. She doesn’t score any particularly juicy information, but the general consensus is that Curtis is arrogant and egotistical. After working through much of the list, she takes Fritter for a walk and brings him back to their apartment. Ian comes in, and Fritter goes crazy sniffing his arm. Margo finds this odd but is quickly distracted by the realization that she never called Jordana back.

Margo selects an outfit she thinks Jordana will like and heads into the office. Ian comments on her sleek appearance on the way out, and Margo lies about having a fancy lunch meeting. She is irked when Ian comments about how “cool” her job is, realizing he thinks that he is the serious one and she merely plans frivolous parties.

At the office, she marches boldly into Jordana’s office, apologizes for her behavior, and adds that she hopes to be able to keep her job. Since one of their most important clients wants her on their project, Jordana is willing to keep her on. Relieved, Margo heads back to her desk. There, she does more research. She talks to one former student, now employed at a hedge fund, who liked Curtis and for whom Curtis secured an internship at his own father’s hedge fund.

She speaks with another student whose roommate, Dorothy “Dottie” Ross, disappeared in 2019. She was apparently close to Curtis, and he had also secured her an internship with his father. Margo mulls this over. This means that Curtis and his father’s falling out is recent. She looks at the emails again and notices the ellipses the author uses. She feels sure that the “dot dot dot” is shorthand for Dottie.

Dottie proves impossible to find. Margo texts Erika to see if she wants to get lunch. Erika will have access to the kinds of national databases used by law enforcement and media to locate people. She and Erika complain about their spouses lightheartedly and enjoy their lunch. Erika is able to find a page of information on Dottie and gives it to Margo, although not without asking if that favor was the real reason Margo wanted to get lunch.

Back at her office, Margo pores over the information. Dottie has one misdemeanor on her record, driving without a license in a small town in West Virginia. She finds numbers that likely belong to Dottie’s mother and grandmother in Florida. She calls Dottie’s grandmother, pretending to be Dottie’s friend from school, and asks about her whereabouts. She learns that Dottie calls her grandmother once or twice a year to let her know that she’s okay, but other than that, she has no contact with her. She adds, as an afterthought, that she recently got a postcard from Dottie and thinks that she might be in West Virginia. At home later, she tells Ian that she has to travel to a winery in Virginia for work for the next few days.

Margo arrives in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, the town where Dottie got her misdemeanor ticket. She obtains the record from a county clerk and is thrilled to see that the violation write-up includes an address for Dottie. She drives there and finds a run-down antiques store. It is closed, and Dottie is not there.

Margo realizes that she is in the middle of nowhere and has no cell service. She cannot make her way back to town without an online map. Stuck in her car, she thinks about Ian and reflects on her dysfunctional childhood. Her father gambled and wasted the rest of his money on a series of failed business ventures that resulted in the foreclosure of their home. Her school friends turned on her when they found out about her family’s struggles, and eventually she was happy when her mother and father divorced, and she and her mother moved away.

Margo is in her car, still trying to find cell service when a woman knocks on her door. She explains that she owns the antique store and offers to let Margo inside so that she can get cell service and pull up a map.

Once inside, Margo asks her if she knows anyone named Dorothy or Dottie, and the woman says no. She seems genuine, and Margo’s irritation mounts. As Margo decides whether or not to press her further, the woman addresses her employee, a young woman apparently named Lily. Gears begin to turn in Margo’s head: Dorothy Ross’s middle name is Lilian. When Lily enters the room, Margo explains to both of them that she is looking for Dorothy Ross because of a possible connection to Curtis Bradshaw. She adds that he has victimized other people and that she is hoping to speak to Dottie off the record. She asks if she can leave her contact information, and Lily nervously replies that Margo can put her number in her phone.

Lily leads Margo outside, admits that she is Dottie, and asks who Margo is. Using the name of a real reporter from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Margo explains that she is writing a story about Curtis. Lily reveals that she wrote the entire first chapter of Curtis’s book. Stunned, Margo asks if the two can speak more. She is staying at a nearby Airbnb, and Dottie agrees to come see her the following day.