The Hunting Wives

The next day, it is unclear if Graham knows how late Sophie came home, but he is distant and cold toward her. Eventually, he confronts her, telling her that he heard her come in at dawn. This prompted him to go through her phone and read her text conversations with Margot. He asks Sophie whether she is being unfaithful to him, and she denies it. She explains that Margot and some of the others do have sex with other men, but she asserts that she would never do something like that. She offers to stop socializing with Margot and the other women entirely. He is somewhat mollified but remains unhappy.

Later that night, Sophie is watching the local news when she hears that Abby has been reported missing and has not been seen since the previous evening. On that particular evening, Abby and Brad had dinner with her parents. Brad now claims that he drove Abby home after the dinner (separately from her parents) and dropped her off in the driveway; however, she was not in her room the following morning.

Sophie is extremely distressed as she recalls that Margot was angry at Brad and wanted Abby out of the picture.

The following day (Sunday), the women from Margot’s group send texts to Jill, expressing their concern about Abby’s disappearance. Callie suggests that they meet for lunch at her home on Monday.

On Monday, Sophie heads to Callie’s, anxious but desperate to believe that Margot and Brad have nothing to do with Abby’s disappearance.

At Callie’s home, the women try to comfort Jill, who explains what she has heard from Brad: On Friday evening, after the dinner with Abby’s parents, Abby and Brad went for a drive together. He tried to end the relationship, and she had an emotional crisis. Brad took Abby home, where she angrily insisted that he leave her at the driveway. Then, he drove off, and (according to Brad) spent the rest of the night with Jamie.

Jill is concerned for her son and is convinced that he had nothing to do with whatever happened to Abby. As the women leave, Sophie glimpses Margot making a phone call and suspects that she is calling Brad.

Shortly after Sophie gets home, Margot turns up at her house unannounced. In the event of questions from the authorities as to her whereabouts, Margot asks Sophie to lie and say that the two of them were together on Friday evening. Margot doesn’t want her relationship with Brad exposed, and she hints that she will reveal Sophie’s interactions with Jamie if Sophie doesn’t do as she says. Sophie feels increasingly trapped.

On Tuesday night, Sophie is unable to sleep. Graham is confused as to why the news about Abby is so distressing to her. Sophie fears that by withholding information, she is hindering the investigation and reducing the chances of Abby being found safely.

On Wednesday night, Sophie learns that Abby’s body has been found in the woods close to Margot’s lake house. Abby died of a shotgun wound. Immediately, Margot calls Sophie and urges her to stick to their story: that the two women were together on Friday evening and never saw Brad or Jamie. Sophie feels compelled to agree because she is terrified that Margot will tell Graham about her sexually charged interactions with Jamie. Later, Sophie calls Tina to get more details. She learns that a groundskeeper found Abby’s body and notified the police.

The next day, Sophie reads a newspaper article summarizing the information about Abby’s case. It reveals that Abby likely died within a few hours of the last time she was seen. Sophie wonders how Abby got from the driveway of her home (where Brad claims to have dropped her off) back to Margot’s property. She also feels relieved because if Abby died on the same night she went missing, it would never have made a difference if Sophie had revealed what she knew about Brad and Margot’s relationship and their conversation on the night Abby disappeared.

Two police officers come to Sophie’s home and question her about her whereabouts on the night that Abby disappeared (Friday, April 13). Sophie explains that she had dinner with her husband and son and then drove to Margot’s lake house. The police hint they have already spoken with the other women who participate in the shooting club, so Sophie explains that a group of them drank and shot skeet in the woods. She says that the other women stayed until about nine o’clock in the evening but that she stayed longer, drank too much, and passed out. She states that she got home at around three in the morning and that she wasn’t sure where Margot was when she left the lake house. The police explain that Brad left Abby in her driveway around 10:30 pm. They don’t know how or when Abby ended up back at Margot’s property or whether she was alive when she got there.

One of the police officers leaves, but the other, Detective Mike Flynn, lingers. He tells Sophie that he suspects she is holding back. He urges her to reach out to him directly if she remembers any more information.

After the police leave, Tina calls Sophie. Tina has also been questioned and is growing alarmed. Tina confides to Sophie that she wonders if Brad could have killed Abby, but she doesn’t want to express these concerns to Jill. Later, Sophie hears more from Tina, who has gotten information from Callie and Jill. Autopsy results have revealed that Abby was pregnant when she died.

Jill claims that neither she nor Brad ever knew that Abby was pregnant. Sophie doubts this and increasingly suspects that either Margot, Brad, or the two of them together killed Abby because she was pregnant. Because Jill is very distressed by the possibility that Brad might be viewed as a suspect, the women gather at Callie’s home to support her. Jill is very worried because despite the alibi stating that Brad was with Jamie all night, the police are becoming more suspicious and have filed a warrant to obtain his cell phone records. Sophie and Margot both know that this means the police will see the texts between Margot and Brad.

Sophie goes home, and Detective Flynn comes back to her house to question her. Flynn explains that the information about Abby’s pregnancy makes Brad the lead suspect. He also explains that since Sophie had the chance to see Brad and Abby together, he wonders about her perspective on them as a couple. Even when Flynn presses her, Sophie insists that Brad and Abby seemed like a normal, happy, teenaged couple. She feels increasingly worried about withholding what she knows about Margot and Brad’s relationship.

Detective Flynn comes back and presses Sophie yet again, saying, “I want to help you, but you need to tell me exactly what went on Friday night and you need to tell me now” (248). Sophie sticks to her story, and Flynn suddenly tells her that she needs to come with him to the police station. He reveals that an anonymous tip led to the police locating the murder weapon (the shotgun) close to where Abby’s body was found; the fingerprints on the gun were an exact match to Sophie’s.

Sophie is furious and becomes convinced that Margot framed her. She recalls that while the women were shooting, Margot insisted that Sophie use a particular gun. At the police station, Sophie tells Detective Flynn about this detail and reveals that Margot and Brad were having a sexual relationship. However, Sophie is shocked to learn that Margot has already confessed her relationship to the police. The police now know that Sophie has been lying to them.

Flynn continues to press Sophie about the time period between midnight and four o’clock in the morning since Abby likely died in that window. Sophie explains that she spent most of that time passed out in the lake house and then drove home at around three o’clock. For the first time, she reveals that she went for a run on the trail near her house before going inside. However, this timeline is incriminating because eyewitnesses saw Brad and Margot in an all-night diner during that same time frame. Sophie can’t explain the fact that she was the only person at the lake house property during the time period when Abby died.

Flynn explains his theory: that Sophie was obsessed with Margot and killed Abby in hopes of winning her favor. He doesn’t have enough information to arrest her, but he is actively pursuing his theory. Sophie reveals that when she was at the lake house, Callie arrived and knocked at the door, but Flynn doesn’t believe this. Callie previously claimed that she was home with her husband for the whole night after the gathering at the lake house ended.