The Hunting Wives

An article in the local paper hints that Jamie and Sophie were having a sexual relationship; it also states that there is a new suspect in the case due to the presence of fingerprints on the murder weapon. The article alludes to an intense fixation between Margot and Sophie. Graham is furious because Sophie has concealed her relationship to Jamie even though he has questioned her repeatedly. He demands that she leave the house, even though he concedes that he doesn’t think she killed Abby.

Sophie packs up and moves into a local motel. She calls Erin and Tina, but both women say that they no longer want to be in contact with her.

When Sophie wakes up the next day, she is furious and determined to confront Margot.

Sophie goes to the lake house and finds Margot outside. Margot explains that, with the police preparing to access Brad’s phone records, she and her lawyers thought it was better for her to come clean about the relationship. She expresses some regret that this decision revealed Sophie to have been lying. Sophie becomes irate, accusing Margot of framing her for the crime. Callie appears and threatens Sophie with a gun, but Margot defuses the situation. They encourage Sophie to stay and drink with them, and she agrees because she hopes that Margot might reveal something incriminating if they all keep drinking together. However, Sophie quickly realizes that Callie has drugged her. She hurries into the house, hoping to find a way to sober up enough that she can drive home.

Margot follows Sophie into the house and explains that she didn’t kill Abby, and Sophie finds herself tempted to believe her. Margot genuinely thinks that Sophie killed Abby and is surprised when Sophie reveals that Callie came back to the lake house on the night that Abby died. Margot implies that she will help Sophie figure out who killed Abby. While Sophie is still dazed and drugged, she and Margot have sex, and Sophie then passes out.

Sophie awakens in the middle of the night to find Brad standing in the door of the bedroom. He claims that Margot texted him and invited him over several hours earlier, but he has been unable to find her since he arrived. Panicked, Sophie runs from the house and drives back to the motel.

The next morning, Sophie is somewhat surprised when Margot doesn’t respond to her texts. She calls Detective Flynn and explains that she now believes Callie (not Margot) is responsible for Abby’s murder. She explains that Callie was the one who took away the gun after she finished shooting. Flynn counters that Callie has already reached out to him about the events of the preceding day; according to her version of events, Sophie showed up at the lake house and threatened Margot, at which time Callie felt compelled to get a gun to protect herself and Margot. Sophie is frustrated because these claims make her look even worse.

Sophie spends the day drinking in the motel room, confused and angry about why Margot won’t respond to her calls. She desperately misses her son and is determined to clear her name and reunite with him.

The day passes without word from Margot. Sophie fears that Margot is no longer willing to help her prove that Callie was the one who killed Abby.

By Saturday, Sophie has decided to drive to Margot’s home. Before she can do so, Detective Flynn tells her to come to the station, where she is questioned about the events of Wednesday. Sophie explains that she drove out to the lake house at around 11 o’clock in the morning and left at around nine o’clock that night; she admits that she was passed out for some of that time. She explains that she and Margot discussed how Callie most likely killed Abby, and she also reveals that Brad was in the room when she regained consciousness.

Flynn reveals that Margot is dead; her body was found in the lake that morning. She never returned home after going to the lake house on Wednesday, and foul play is suspected; Sophie was the last person to see her alive. Sophie insists that either Callie or Brad could have killed Margot and hurries away from the police station.

Sophie wonders who could be responsible for Margot’s death. She decides to talk to Jamie to see if she can get more information.

Sophie goes to the local high school and slips Jamie a note, asking him to come to her motel. He presumes that she wants to meet to have sex and readily agrees to meet her.

When Jamie comes to Sophie’s hotel, she explains that she wants to talk about Abby’s murder. Jamie assures her that he doesn’t think she is responsible. Jamie reluctantly agrees to tell Sophie some additional information, but he insists that even though this information will make Brad look bad, Brad is not responsible for the murder. Jamie tells Sophie that Brad knew Abby was pregnant and was pressuring her to have an abortion. Jamie says that Abby was reluctant to do so; she went to an appointment at a clinic in Dallas but couldn’t go through with the procedure.

Jamie also reveals more information about Margot and Brad. Margot strongly wanted Abby to have an abortion, and on the night that Margot drowned, she and Brad were still romantically involved. Sophie decides that Margot has been lying to her, and she now believes that Margot likely was involved in Abby’s murder and may have been assisted by Callie.

Sophie drives to Dallas and checks into a hotel. She plans to visit the abortion clinics in the area, armed with photos of Abby, Callie, and Margot. She is determined to find out if Margot and Callie were the ones who took Abby to a clinic.

After visiting several clinics and claiming to be a journalist who is researching a story about Abby’s murder, Sophie locates the clinic where Abby had an appointment. The staff there recall seeing her and reveal that Abby came to her appointment with two older women, whom Sophie believes to be Margot and Callie. The staff were concerned because Abby was distressed, while the two women were very adamant that she go through with the procedure. Eventually, Abby fled the clinic.

Sophie shows photos of Margot and Callie to the staff; they are confident that Callie was one of the women accompanying Abby but are less sure about Margot. Sophie calls Detective Flynn, intending to ask him to get a warrant for footage from the clinic’s security cameras. This footage will prove that Margot and Callie were trying to force Abby to have an abortion, which incriminates them in her subsequent murder.

As Sophie drives home, she speaks with Detective Flynn. He explains that her neighbor has photo evidence of Sophie jogging on the trail near her home and that the photo is timestamped as 3:15 am on the night when Abby was killed. While this evidence doesn’t exonerate Sophie, it does support her account of the events of that night. In turn, Sophie explains that Jamie has now confirmed that Brad knew Abby was pregnant. She also tells him what she has uncovered about Abby visiting the abortion clinic with Callie and Margot. Flynn is very interested and promises to look into obtaining the camera footage.

After the conversation, Sophie calls Jill. She excitedly tells her that she has uncovered information that will likely exonerate Brad and asks to meet at Jill’s lake house to tell her more. Jill agrees to meet with Sophie that evening.

At the lake house, Sophie eagerly tells Jill that Brad and Margot were still romantically involved up until the night of Margot’s death. She also explains that Brad knew Abby was pregnant, that Margot and Brad were pressuring Abby to have an abortion, and that she believes Margot killed Abby with Callie’s help after Abby refused to terminate the pregnancy. Jill is overwhelmed and suggests that they take a boat ride to clear their heads. After Jill and Sophie have boarded the boat, Sophie receives a text from Detective Flynn. He has reviewed the camera footage and says that the two women who accompanied Abby to the clinic were Jill and Callie (not Margot and Callie, as Sophie assumed).

As the two women are alone on the middle of the lake, Jill reveals to Sophie that she killed Margot. Jill also explains what happened on the night that Abby died. That night, Jill left Margot’s lake house along with the other women and followed Brad as he dropped off Abby at her driveway. Jill had been stalking Abby and Brad because she was concerned about Abby’s refusal to terminate the pregnancy. Once Brad was gone, Jill picked Abby up and drove her back to Margot’s lake house. She went inside and grabbed a gun; she wanted to get the gun with Margot’s prints on it so that Margot would be framed for Abby’s death, but she accidentally grabbed the gun with Sophie’s prints. Jill used this gun to kill Abby because she did not want the girl to interfere with her son’s life and his plans to go to college. Jill became angry when she found out that Margot continued the relationship with Brad after Abby’s death. She drowned Margot in the lake.

While Jill has been recounting this story, Sophie has managed to send a text to Detective Flynn. Jill anchors the boat on Margot’s lakefront. Sophie realizes that Jill now intends to kill her as well. There is a gun on the boat, and when the two women struggle to seize it, the gun goes off. Sophie can hear sirens and knows that police are coming to help her. Before they can get there, Callie arrives with a shotgun and holds Jill at bay until the police arrive.

The narrative resumes two months later. Sophie has been cleared of all charges and has returned to living in her home with her son. However, Graham is living separately and has not yet decided if he wants to end their marriage. Via Detective Flynn, Sophie has learned that Callie regularly went to the lakefront near Margot’s house to grieve and reflect on her memories of Margot. She happened to be nearby when she heard a gunshot, so she grabbed a shotgun and went to investigate; this impulse led her to encounter Jill and Sophie’s deadly struggle. Callie had already been suspicious of Jill’s enmity toward Abby, and she overheard some of Jill’s confession, so she intervened to protect Sophie and avenge Margot.

Sophie doesn’t know what her future holds, but she is hopeful that she will be able to rebuild a better life for herself.