Cleo McHugh, Katrina’s daughter and an English major at New York University (NYU), goes to her family’s brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Katrina insisted that Cleo come over because they needed to talk in person as soon as possible. As Cleo walks up to the front door, she gets a text from her boyfriend Will, asking if they could get together that evening. 

Cleo notices that the door is open and unlocked. She walks inside to find that her mother isn’t there. Dinner is burning, her mother’s work laptop is on the floor, and her mother’s bloody shoe is under the sofa. Cleo calls her father, Aidan, and tells him, “[S]omething’s happened to Mom” (4). He tells her that he just got off an airplane.

This chapter is an excerpt from a trade news story about a multidistrict litigation (MDL) lawsuit filed against Darden Pharmaceuticals. An anonymous plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe, is suing the company. She alleges that their seizure medication Xytek had side effects in pregnant patients that resulted in “adverse impacts” on their newborns, in some cases leading to death. The plaintiff is requesting millions of dollars in damages, and the pharmaceutical litigation “could be one of the costliest […] in history” (5). She claims that Darden knew about and ignored warnings about Xytek’s possible side effects.

Eight days before she disappears, Katrina wakes up in her date Doug Sinclair’s apartment. She has only recently started dating again after separating from her husband, Aidan, pending their divorce. Katrina met Doug at a work event, and they have been dating for three weeks. Doug is an executive at Darden Pharmaceuticals, and the law firm where Katrina works, Blair, Stevenson, represents Darden. Doug, a widower with a daughter named Ella, is the first person she has dated that she really likes.

Katrina has a message from her boss, Mark, asking her to get in touch with Vivienne Voxhall, the CEO of a social media company called Unow. Vivienne has a fiery temper, and as the firm’s “fixer,” it is Katrina’s job to make sure that the media does not become aware of Vivienne’s outbursts before the company’s initial public offering.

Doug tells Katrina that he just received an extortion message. Someone is threatening to reveal that he used a service called Advantage Consulting to bribe the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to admit his daughter. Doug tells Katrina that he never used the consulting service “for anything illegal” (11), but he is nevertheless concerned. Katrina gets a text message from Aidan insisting that she call him immediately, so she says goodbye to Doug and leaves.

Katrina calls Aidan, who tells her that he has news about Cleo. Katrina worries that it is something related to Cleo’s drug-dealing ex-boyfriend, Kyle Lynch. Aidan tells her that Cleo wants to borrow $2,000, and Katrina is convinced that the demand is somehow related to Kyle. Aidan tells Katrina that he will find out what Cleo wants the money for if Katrina agrees to loan him money from her savings to finance his documentary. Katrina agrees to the deal.

After discovering that her mother is missing, Cleo goes across the street to her neighbor Janine’s apartment. Janine’s daughter, Annie, is the same age as Cleo, and Annie and Cleo used to be friends. Janine is a “cool mom,” unlike Katrina. 

Cleo is in shock and is holding her mother’s shoe. She tells Janine that Katrina is missing and that her father is on his way. Annie seems angry that Cleo is there. They both attend NYU, but they have not been friends since high school when Annie spread false rumors about Cleo.

Aidan arrives at Janine’s apartment. The two comfort Cleo and tell her that whatever happened, it is not Cleo’s fault. Cleo knows that something terrible has happened to her mother.

The chapter is an excerpt from Katrina’s journal from when she was a teenager living in a group home called Haven House. She writes about how much she enjoys the new writing club. The tutor, Reed Harding, compliments her skill as a writer. She also complains about one of the staff, Silas, who has been harassing her. He “took all [her] underwear out and spread it across the bed” (21). This makes her feel “scared” and “small.”

Six days before she goes missing, Katrina waits to meet Doug at the bar. While she waits, she reflects on all the mistakes she made raising Cleo, like when she reacted badly when Cleo told her about having sex for the first time. Janine runs into Katrina at the bar and says hello. 

Katrina has always been jealous of Janine because she seems like such a competent stay-at-home mother. Katrina’s parents abandoned her at the age of four, and she never had a model to learn from. Katrina had Cleo when she was 26, and when Cleo was young, Aidan was often away working on his documentaries. Katrina took on the bulk of the parenting responsibilities (with the help of two nannies) while working long hours at the law firm.

Katrina tells Janine that she is waiting to meet a client, but Jannine doesn’t seem to believe her. Janine asks Katrina how Cleo is doing after the Kyle “situation.” Katrina wonders how Janine knows about it, but Janine reassures Katrina that she did the right thing. 

After Janine leaves, Katrina gets a text from her assistant, Jules Kovacis, asking if they can talk privately away from the office. Katrina doesn’t recognize the number, so she tests to see if it really is Jules by asking if they can meet the following afternoon, when Katrina knows that Jules is usually busy taking her daughter, who has developmental issues, to therapy. Jules asks if they can talk now.

Katrina calls Jules. She hears a crackle on the line, and Jules gets spooked and hangs up. Then, Katrina gets a text from an unknown number that reads, “It’s your past calling. Almost all the way caught up to you” (29). Katrina suddenly remembers washing her blood-stained hands in the group home bathroom.

The next morning, Katrina’s friend Lauren Pasternak calls to tell her that Doug died in a car accident the previous night.

This chapter is a transcript of Cleo’s appointment with her therapist, Dr. Bauer. Cleo tells Dr. Bauer that she dated Kyle knowing that he was a drug dealer because she liked that he broke the rules. She agreed to make deliveries for Kyle because she wanted to rebel against her mother. She tells Dr. Bauer that she hasn’t really cared for anyone since her boyfriend Charlie. In her freshman year of high school, Cleo told Katrina that she and Charlie had sex, and her mother’s critical response led to the end of their relationship.

Three hours after discovering that her mother is missing, Cleo reflects on the first time she stood up to Katrina. When Cleo was about 12 years old, she and her parents went to the beach for the day with Janine and Annie. Cleo was afraid of swimming in the ocean, but Katrina kept encouraging her to try. Cleo snapped at Katrina to stop trying to control her and stormed off.

Now, Cleo and Aidan meet with Detective Wilson, who is investigating Katrina’s disappearance. He says that there are signs of a struggle but that that doesn’t mean Katrina is dead. Aidan tells Wilson that he has just returned from a day trip to Boston for work. Cleo asks how they can help, and Wilson tells her that she should talk to anyone who might know where Katrina is.

After the detective leaves, Cleo searches her parents’ bedroom. She notices that her father’s clothing is missing from the dresser. She overhears her father telling someone on the phone downstairs, “You and I both […] have a fucking problem” (43). Cleo finds her mother’s personal laptop and logs in. She sees that her mother has been talking to men on a dating site.

Two days before Katrina goes missing, Janine texts Aidan and asks him to do something for her. Aidan says he will think about it.

Five days before she goes missing, Katrina waits for Aidan to meet her at Caffe Reggio. While she waits, Katrina thinks about Doug’s death. A contact at the NYPD told her that they felt his death was a suicide, but Katrina wonders if it really was.

She thinks about how she found Aidan’s confidence and entitlement charming when they first started dating. Aidan grew up in a wealthy family until his father lost their money. Katrina had a nest egg from her guardian, Gladys Greene, who adopted Katrina when she was 14. Even though Gladys had dementia, the Haven House director, Daitch, arranged for Katrina to be adopted after she murdered someone. When Gladys died, she left Katrina almost $4 million.

While she waits, Brian Carmichael, the president of Advantage Consulting, calls her. Katrina pretends to be a woman named Karen Thompson who is looking for help transferring her daughter from Columbia to Amherst. They arrange to meet. Katrina is hoping to learn more about the circumstances of Doug’s extortion.

Aidan finally arrives at Caffe Reggio. He and Katrina separated when she discovered that he was having an affair with his assistant, Bella. Aidan tells her that he needs a loan of $2.75 million to keep his documentary production company going. He tells her that he gave Cleo the $2,000 she asked for. Katrina tells Aidan that she won’t give him the loan until he finds out why Cleo wanted the money.

Katrina stakes out Cleo’s dorm at NYU. She gets another text from an unknown number threatening to reveal her past. She follows Cleo to a gym and watches her daughter drop off an envelope.

An excerpt from a court filing alleges that the defendant, Darden Pharmaceuticals, overlooked complaints about birth defects and infant deaths caused by the use of Xytek by pregnant patients.

Four hours after Katrina went missing, Cleo scrolls through her mother’s online dating profile. She is shocked to realize that her mother has been dating men other than her father. Her boyfriend Will texts her. Cleo tells him that she won’t be able to hang out that night because her mother is missing.

Cleo confronts Aidan about his missing clothing. He tells Cleo that he and Katrina have been separated for months and that they wanted to keep it a secret from her. He denies that he was having an affair. He tells her that he was arguing with someone about work on the phone when she overheard him earlier, but Cleo doesn’t believe him.

Cleo searches Katrina’s home office and finds Katrina’s journal from her time at Haven House. She also finds a copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass with the inscription, “Promise me you’ll be a writer, Katrina. G-d gives the gift to few. xx Reed” (72).