Road Trip

Maeve and Therese head to the village and spot Esme walking by the road. They offer her a ride to the Willow Tree pub, where she needs to retrieve her truck and Reggie. In the car, Esme dismisses their investigation, insisting their portrait must be a fake. At the pub, they find Reggie still drunk from the night before. Since Reggie cannot drive, Maeve agrees to take Esme home while Therese follows in the truck with Reggie in the passenger seat.

During the drive, Esme tells Maeve that Reggie lives in her shed and that she is considering evicting him. She calls herself a widow and refers to the sisters as “spinsters.” After Maeve explains their mother’s recent death inspired their trip, they arrive at the cottage. Esme gives them a curt thank you before disappearing inside.

At the Rosebud Tea Shoppe, Maeve and Therese have tea and reminisce about their childhood. Therese presses Maeve for details about her evening with Liam. Maeve reveals that Liam’s cousin Maddie is married to the son of Starr McGahee. When Therese pushes for romantic details, Maeve becomes evasive and insists her evening was “perfectly innocent,” frustrating her sister.

Inside the Tarrymore village library, the sisters notice a portrait of Lady Delia Rossington. They persuade a volunteer to let them into the historical society room. There, Maeve discovers a self-published book on the Rossington family history by Geoffrey, Lord Rossington. The book details how the family acquired Tarrymore and that Lady Geraldine’s father was a diamond magnate. Maeve finds newspaper clippings about Lady Delia’s murder and quickly photographs them with her phone before the volunteer ushers them out.

The sisters examine the photos of the 1926 newspaper article. It reports that Lady Delia was stabbed to death during a robbery and names Kathleen as the prime suspect, possibly aided by a family servant named Clive Donovan. Therese remembers the name Donovan from one of Kathleen’s letters, in which she refutes the accusations and recalls the true events of her departure.

Realizing they need more information about the 1974 heist, Therese convinces Maeve to call Liam. Liam invites Maeve to a family gathering the next day where Maddie and her husband, Jamie, will probably be present. He warns that Jamie doesn’t usually like talking about his mother before agreeing to ask.

Liam takes Maeve to the Sunday gathering at his brother Luke’s farmhouse. Jamie agrees to discuss his mother and the 1974 Tarrymore art heist. He explains that his mother, born Margaret “Peggy” McGahee to a wealthy London family, was a chemistry student at Oxford when she was radicalized by her IRA boyfriend, Danny Dwyer. 

The gang’s original plan was to kidnap a wealthy person for ransom and secure the release of jailed comrades, but Starr was supposedly the one who suggested stealing the art collection instead. The gang was caught after Dwyer’s wife, angry about his affair with Starr, informed the police. Starr was given early release from prison in 1981 because she was pregnant with Jamie, whose father was a guard. Jamie was raised by his grandmother.

While driving Maeve back to the inn, Liam is uncharacteristically quiet. He finally accuses her of interrogating Jamie in front of the family. Stung by the criticism, Maeve suggests that because she is leaving soon, they should just part as friends. Liam reacts angrily, stating he wants more than friendship. The tense argument ends as they arrive at the inn. 

In their room, Maeve recounts the fight to Therese, who calls her foolish for pushing Liam away. Therese reveals she researched Liam online and found that he owns the distillery, though Maeve privately wonders whether his brother Luke put up the money. Shifting the focus back to their investigation, Maeve tells Therese what she learned from Jamie about Starr McGahee. The fact that she was a wealthy debutante offers a possible connection to the Rossingtons.

The next morning, Maeve and Therese discover all four tires of their rental car have been slashed. After filing a police report, they walk to the village library. They persuade the librarian to let them back into the historical society room to examine the book on the Rossington family. They find two debutante photographs, an individual portrait of Esme with her escort, captioned December 1967, and a separate group shot of 20 debutantes. They theorize that Starr, being from a similarly wealthy background, might be among the women in the group photo.

Next, they find a newspaper from 1974 containing a police booking photo of Starr from her arrest. Comparing the arrest photo with the group debutante picture, they cannot definitively identify Starr among the young women. Convinced there is a connection, Therese declares she will go visit Esme and show her the photos. Maeve thinks it is a dangerous idea and decides to stay behind to wait for the rental agency’s tire repair van.