The Stranger

The next morning, Adam watches Gabrielle’s house. She packs bags into the trunk of her car and helps her two children into the backseat. Adam tried contacting other people from the group photo after Andy identified them, but no one was willing to give him information.

Gabrielle drives away, and Adam makes the split-second decision to follow her out onto the interstate. Johanna calls and updates Adam that she’s flying back to Newark soon. Without revealing Kimberly’s secret, she explains that the stranger isn’t just targeting people who fake pregnancies, though she still doesn’t know how the murders and Corinne’s disappearance are connected. Adam watches Gabrielle drop her kids off at a house and continues following her as she pulls out of the driveway.

Adam follows Gabrielle for over an hour down wooded roads until they cross into Pennsylvania. Gabrielle pulls into a long driveway on a private property marked “Lake Charmaine,” and Adam parks a little way down the road. He grabs his phone and walks parallel to the driveway through the woods. He arrives at a clearing next to a still lake and takes in the peaceful scene, reminded of a happy vacation he took with Corinne.

He makes his way toward Gabrielle’s car, which is parked next to a log cabin, wishing he had a weapon with him. Adam sees Gabrielle in the clearing and stops. He shouts at her, asking about Corinne, but she stays silent. Suddenly, someone hits Adam in the head twice with a baseball bat, knocking him unconscious.

Johanna checks her phone when the plane lands, but she has no new messages from Adam. She thinks back to Kimberly’s story, which contextualizes Heidi’s distressed demeanor on the security footage. She curses the stranger for violating her friend’s privacy and leading to her death. She figured that the “sugar baby” website was the key connection, so she spoke with the website’s owner. She told everything to the county police, and they now have a task force looking into the stranger.

Johanna receives a call from the head of security at Red Lobster asking for the DVD surveillance footage. He claims that an NYPD officer, John Kuntz, took the other DVD copy before her, so he needs one of the copies back.

Adam slowly regains consciousness while lying on a concrete floor. He hears voices criticizing someone for hitting him, and then the stranger, Chris, asks Adam why he killed Ingrid.

Meanwhile, the principal calls Thomas to the office. Thomas imagines all kinds of bad news, as he sensed that something was wrong between his parents before Corinne left. He wishes that his father was honest with him since Adam’s attempt to shield Thomas from the truth is only making him more concerned. Thomas enters the office and sees Johanna. She asks if Thomas knows where Adam is, as he’s not at work and won’t answer his phone. Thomas pulls up the tracking app to find the last place Adam’s phone was active.

Chris repeats his question, but Adam focuses on getting his bearings. His hands are loosely chained behind his back, and he’s in a basement surrounded by Chris, Gabrielle, and two other men—one of whom has a gun. The man with the gun, Merton, yells at Adam; when Adam denies killing Ingrid, Merton kicks him in the stomach. Adam ignores Chris’s questions and asks about Corinne. Chris philosophizes about the righteousness of their work since people like Corinne try to take advantage of the internet’s anonymity without understanding that they will always leave evidence behind. Chris thinks Adam should be grateful.

Adam accuses the stranger of being responsible for not only Corinne’s disappearance but also Ingrid’s and Heidi’s murders. This revelation shocks the group, as they didn’t know Heidi was dead. They try to figure out what to do next, and Merton suggests killing Adam because he knows too much. Adam asks how they approached Corinne, but Chris denies ever speaking to her. They were hired by an investigation firm to dig up dirt on Corinne and reveal her secrets. Adam asks to be untied, but before anyone moves, someone shoots Merton in the head.

While Adam followed Gabrielle, Kuntz was already hiding out near Eduardo’s cabin, the location of which he learned from Ingrid before he killed her. He sees Merton and Gabrielle ambush Adam—though he doesn’t know who he is—and drag him inside. Minutes later, Chris drives up.

Kuntz watches the group in the basement from outside and easily enters the unlocked house through the front door. He eavesdrops on their conversation from the top of the stairs and is pleased that they know very little, though Adam has Ingrid’s and Heidi’s deaths connected. Kuntz thinks of his son and steels himself for what he needs to do. He shoots Merton, Eduardo, and Gabrielle in quick succession before going down the stairs.

Meanwhile, Johanna and Thomas find Adam’s location at Lake Charmaine, and Johanna speeds toward the coordinates. On the way, she calls the closest dispatcher and urges them to send an officer and go door to door if they have to.

Adam frees himself from the chain and crawls under the stairs for cover. The gunman, Kuntz, runs down the stairs and shoots at Chris, who escapes out the window, and shoots Gabrielle again to ensure she’s dead. Adam lunges for Merton’s gun, which lies on the floor a few feet away, but Kuntz kicks the weapon away. A second later, Chris kicks Kuntz through the window and knocks him off balance.

Adam attacks quickly, using the chain like a whip. He hears police sirens and vows to keep Kuntz occupied until they arrive. Kuntz fights back, and they tussle to the ground. Adam pins the gun to the floor, but Kuntz lands two heavy blows on Adam’s kidney. In desperation, Adam bites Kuntz’s wrist, tears the skin, steals the gun, and points it at his opponent. He hits Kuntz with the gun and demands to know what happened to Corinne.

The local police arrive moments later, with Johanna not far behind. Adam answers their questions and learns about Kuntz’s motivation. Johanna offers to drive Adam home since the police need his car for evidence, and she plans to stay in New Jersey to help find Corinne. Adam lies and says that he thinks Corinne left on her own to deal with the life-altering revelation of her secret, so she’ll come back on her own.

Johanna drops Adam off, but instead of going inside, Adam gets in Corinne’s car and drives to Beth Lutheran Church. He has his phone, and while the police were searching Eduardo’s house, Adam secretly took Merton’s gun. He sends an email to Andy with a warning not to read it until the morning.

Adam waits for Bob at the church and punches him in the face. He pulls the gun and threatens to shoot if Bob doesn’t explain what happened to Corinne. To his surprise, Bob asks to be shot since he thinks being dead is better than the life he’s living with no job. Bob admits that he hired his cousin’s firm to investigate Corinne, and they hired a vigilante group. Tripp told Bob that Corinne was planning to pin the theft on him, so he wanted to scare her into silence.

Adam has an epiphany about why Corinne’s text has been bothering him: She calls her sons “the boys,” whereas Tripp calls his children “the kids” because he has both sons and daughters.

Adam drives to Tripp’s office and demands to know what happened to Corinne. Tripp lets him inside, and Adam notices how run-down the place is. Adam describes his understanding of the situation, as he’s certain that Tripp is the one who actually stole the money. Tripp muddied the books to point fingers at Corinne, and then he turned the board against her. Corinne called Tripp after her confrontation with Adam, thinking he was behind the secret’s exposure, and it was Tripp who asked for more time with the money, not Corinne. Adam thinks that Tripp killed Corinne to protect his secret and sent the text to throw Adam off.

Tripp denies everything and claims that no one will believe Adam anyway. He tries to get Adam to leave, but Adam pulls out the gun and threatens to shoot Tripp’s wife in retaliation. Tripp, suddenly acting cold, negotiates that he’ll reveal everything if they leave before Becky arrives. Adam follows Tripp with the gun in his pocket, and as Becky pulls up, Tripp lies to her to get her to leave. He and Adam drive to a nature reserve, and on the way, Tripp warns Adam not to threaten his family again.

Tripp parks on the side of the road and walks into a wooded area. He explains that his business hasn’t been successful and that there was a lot of money in the lacrosse account that wouldn’t be there without his work to secure donors. He feels no remorse for stealing because he was protecting his family. Tripp uncovers a shovel, indicating to Adam that Corinne is dead.

Tripp confirms most of Adam’s theory, though he didn’t know Bob hired investigators. After Corinne called him, Tripp persuaded her to meet, and he shot her in Adam’s garage. He threw her phone into the back of a mail truck and hid her car at the airport hotel. Adam forces Tripp to dig, and when he unearths Corinne’s body, Adam crumples to her side, sobbing.

To Adam’s surprise, Tripp says that they must rebury her and keep her death a secret. Tripp made sure to leave enough evidence for the police to suspect Adam if he ever came forward, so Adam should forget anything ever happened. Adam looks back at Corinne’s body and sees that Tripp took her anniversary earrings. Tripp threatens Adam again, and Adam shoots Tripp in the chest.

Six months later, Adam and Ryan watch Thomas’s lacrosse game, and Johanna joins them after coming into town for Kuntz’s sentencing. Adam updates her on the plan to stay in Cedarfield. The police still have no leads on Chris, though none of his victims will come forward and risk exposing their secrets. Adam won’t press charges either since the only person responsible for Corinne’s death is Tripp.

After Adam shot Tripp, he sat in silence and embraced his wife’s body. Johanna, who followed him and heard Tripp’s confession, revealed herself and helped make the scene look like self-defense. Adam was exonerated, but he’s still haunted by his actions. Tripp’s family got a huge insurance payout, which makes Adam wonder if that was Tripp’s plan all along.

Johanna laughs at the irony of being forced to keep a new secret after all the effort to reveal them. Thomas scores the game-winning goal, and all the boys smile. Johanna thinks that Corinne is smiling down at them too.