The Innocent

The narrative begins with Matt Hunter, a twenty-year-old college student who, during a fraternity party, gets involved in a fight to defend his friend. In the ensuing chaos, he accidentally causes the death of another student, Stephen McGrath, when they fall on an icy sidewalk and McGrath’s head hits the curb. Despite pleading self-defense, Matt is convicted of manslaughter and serves four years in a maximum-security prison. During his incarceration, his father dies of a heart attack. After his release, Matt’s older brother, Bernie, helps him rebuild his life. He reconnects with and marries Olivia Murray, a woman he met for one night in Las Vegas during college. Nine years after leaving prison, Matt is overjoyed to learn that Olivia is pregnant. To celebrate and stay connected, they purchase new camera phones.

The story then shifts to Reno, Nevada, where an aging stripper named Kimmy Dale is visited by a young woman claiming to be the adopted daughter of Candace Potter, Kimmy’s deceased friend and fellow stripper. The girl wants to find the man she believes killed her mother, Clyde Rangor. The narrative returns to Irvington, New Jersey, where Matt and Olivia are living. Olivia announces she is going on a business trip to Boston. While she is away, Matt receives two transmissions from her phone. The first is a photograph of an unknown man with dark hair and a mocking smirk. The second is a short video showing a woman who strongly resembles Olivia, but wearing a platinum-blond wig, in a hotel room with a man whose back is to the camera. Disturbed, Matt tries to call Olivia but only reaches her voicemail.

A parallel investigation begins when Essex County homicide investigator Loren Muse is assigned to the death of Sister Mary Rose at St. Margaret’s High School. The death initially appears natural, but the Mother Superior, Katherine, is suspicious because she discovered the nun had breast implants, which contradicts her known history as a lifelong, conservative nun. The medical examiner, Eldon Teak, confirms Mother Katherine’s suspicions, revealing that Sister Mary Rose was murdered by suffocation and tortured with a stun gun. A serial number on the implants leads Loren to the manufacturer, but her inquiry is stonewalled by a corporate lawyer, leading her to suspect FBI intervention in the case.

Matt, increasingly agitated, realizes the video was likely sent by the man in the hotel room, not Olivia. He soon notices he is being followed by a gray Ford Taurus. The same car nearly runs him down. He hires a private investigator, Cingle Shaker, to trace the license plate. He later learns from Cingle that the car was rented by Charles Talley, an ex-con. Cingle shows Matt Talley’s mug shot, and Matt recognizes him as the smirking man from the camera phone photograph. Soon after, Matt receives a taunting, whispered phone call from a man he confirms is Talley, who makes crude remarks about being with Olivia. When Olivia finally calls, she offers a weak explanation that the video was a prank. Matt, now in his hometown of Livingston for a house inspection, is also harassed by a local detective and old acquaintance, Lance Banner.

The two investigations begin to merge. Loren Muse discovers that fingerprints found in Sister Mary Rose’s room belong to Max Darrow, a retired Las Vegas detective who was recently found murdered in Newark. Phone records from the convent reveal a six-minute call was made from Sister Mary Rose’s phone to the home of Matt’s sister-in-law, Marsha Hunter. This leads Loren to Matt. Meanwhile, Matt, drunk and distraught, has a crucial realization when a weeks-long drought ends and it begins to rain. He meets with Cingle, and they analyze the images from his phone. They discover the photo of Talley shows raindrops on the window, while the video of Olivia shows bright sunshine, proving they were taken at different times. Cingle also finds that Talley is staying at a Howard Johnson’s near Newark Airport. Matt goes to Talley’s room to confront him but is brutally attacked with a stun gun and brass knuckles. Cingle, who was listening to the confrontation via an open cell phone line, rushes in to find Matt unconscious on the floor with Olivia kneeling beside him.

At the hospital, Cingle is arrested for brandishing her weapon at the hotel clerk in her rush to help Matt. Loren arrives at the hotel to find Charles Talley dead in the stairwell from two gunshots. After Matt is released from the hospital, Olivia takes him to Marsha’s house and confesses her hidden past. Her real name is Candace Potter, and she was a stripper in Las Vegas. Ten years prior, her abusive boss, Clyde Rangor, murdered another stripper, Cassandra Meadows. In the aftermath, Emma Lemay, who would later become Sister Mary Rose, killed Clyde. Olivia and Emma buried Clyde’s body, used Cassandra’s body to fake Candace Potter’s death, and made a pact of silence before fleeing. Olivia reveals she was drawn into a blackmail scheme run by Max Darrow after responding to an online post about her long-lost adopted daughter needing a kidney. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Joan Thurston holds a meeting with Loren, her boss, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam Yates. Yates reveals that Emma Lemay was a witness who was supposed to testify against a mobster before she and Clyde Rangor vanished. When Loren connects Matt to the fight and Talley’s murder, Thurston orders his arrest. Warned by a colleague, Matt escapes from Marsha’s house just as police arrive.

A fugitive, Matt uses skills he learned in prison to travel to Reno, Nevada, where he plans to meet Olivia at the Eager Beaver strip club, the address given by the blackmailers. Loren, suspicious of Yates’s behavior, also flies to Reno. She learns from a stripper aficionado that Clyde Rangor was rumored to have made blackmail tapes of clients with underage girls. At the club, Matt and Loren meet and share their findings. They realize Olivia has gone to Kimmy Dale’s trailer. There, Olivia watches the blackmail tape and sees that it features not only the underage Cassandra Meadows but also Adam Yates. FBI agent Cal Dollinger, Yates’s associate, bursts in and shoots Kimmy. Matt and Loren arrive just in time. Matt fights Dollinger, and Olivia, using Kimmy’s hidden gun, shoots and kills Dollinger. Back at the hospital, Olivia and the injured Kimmy decide to keep the midnight appointment at the Eager Beaver. There, Olivia confronts Kimmy, who confesses to orchestrating the entire revenge plot with Darrow and Talley out of a sense of betrayal and guilt. She admits to killing both men before she is killed in a shootout with police. Adam Yates calls Loren, confesses his role in the original cover-up, and commits suicide.

One year later, the narrative concludes. Matt confronts Clark McGrath, Stephen’s father, presenting phone records that prove Clark hired Max Darrow to get revenge on him. At Marsha’s house, the babysitter, Kyra, reveals she is Olivia’s biological daughter; Sister Mary Rose had found her and arranged for her to get close to Olivia. A year passes, and Matt and Olivia are living peacefully in Livingston with Kyra and their infant son, Benjamin. A letter from Emma Lemay takes full responsibility for Clyde Rangor’s death, clearing Olivia of any charges. Loren visits Matt, who, surrounded by his family, has finally found peace.