The Summer Guests

Maggie does not like Detective Alfond because of his arrogant, sexist behavior toward Jo. After Luther’s interview, Maggie tells the detective that she thinks Luther is innocent, but he does not believe her. He points out that Luther’s truck was seen on the security footage from the restaurant near the area where Zoe’s backpack was found; in addition, Luther’s cell phone was traced to Lewiston, past Augusta, meaning he lied in his interview. 

After Detective Alfond leaves, Maggie begs Jo for a few minutes alone with Luther. Jo agrees, and Maggie asks Luther why he went to Lewiston. He tells her he was thinking of killing a man there. However, Jo ends the interview before Maggie can find out more. Afterward, Maggie tells Jo to look for menstrual products in Zoe’s backpack. Maggie leaves determined to prove Luther is innocent.

Maggie spots Susan going to the local library. She follows and sees Susan printing out pages from the local newspaper archives. Maggie reintroduces herself to Susan and tells her she is assisting the local police investigation. Susan asks Maggie about Reuben Tarkin and his grudge against the Conover family. 

At the Marigold Café, Susan shows Maggie a newspaper article from July 1972 about Sam Tarkin’s “massacre on Main Street” (136). Maggie notices a newspaper report beneath the headline story; it references a 27-year-old missing woman named Vivian Stillwater who had been renting a cottage on Maiden Pond. Maggie wonders if Vivan is the woman whose skeleton was found in the pond.

Maggie’s friends come to her farm to discuss the case, and she tells them she thinks the blood in Luther’s truck is Zoe’s menstrual blood. Ingrid tells them she has not found any evidence of a Vivian Stillwater besides the one mention in the local newspaper, leading the group to wonder if Vivian’s records have been scrubbed.

Jo arrives and confirms that the blood in Luther’s truck was Zoe’s menstrual blood: Zoe presumably returned home and changed out of her dress because of the blood stain. She then likely went swimming in the pond. Maggie asks Jo about Reuben Tarkin as a suspect, and Jo reveals that Reuben has been caught harassing the Conovers, Arthur Fox, and Hannah Greene’s parents. Jo also tells them that there is no open missing person case for Vivian Stillwater. Just then, Jo gets a phone call: Investigators have just picked up a signal from Zoe’s cell phone.

The Martini Club follows Jo as she heads toward the location where Zoe’s phone was located, on Farley Wade’s property. It is a remote, dilapidated trailer in a remote area in the woods.

As Jo and her deputy Mike approach the trailer, they hear gunshots and a dog barking. Jo runs toward the gunfire and finds Farley Wade shooting at cans in his backyard. He is shocked to see them and says he doesn’t know anything about a missing girl. When Mike approaches to arrest Farley, he bolts into the woods, but Ben Diamond catches him. Lloyd gives Jo a sandwich to tame the angry dog. It works, and the dog runs to Ben.

Jo searches the trailer, finding items that were stolen from summer homes around Maiden Pond. Mike finds Zoe’s cell phone.

Jo asks Farley how he got the cell phone, and he tells them he found it in the bed of his pickup under some trash. He admits he was near Maiden Pond the day Zoe disappeared and that it was his Heineken bottle the Martini Club found. However, he claims he was there to fish and insists he had nothing to do with Zoe’s disappearance. Maggie and Jo believe him.

Jo goes to the Tarkin residence. Reuben has lived there alone with his sister, Abigail, since his mother passed the year before of old age. Jo asks Reuben why he went to Moonview to speak with Susan. He tells her he didn’t mean to scare Susan, but when Jo asks Reuben about the origins of his feud with the Conovers, he doesn’t answer. Jo wonders what the Conovers are hiding. Reuben tells Jo he wanted to warn Susan about the Conovers and insists he did not “stalk[]” Kit’s nanny, Anna; he only “tried to be kind” to her (166). Reuben and Abigail tell Jo that on Monday afternoon, they were at the hospital until 2:00 pm. They then went to the grocery store and Walgreens. Reuben’s alibi is easy to verify.

Reuben argues with Abigail about not revealing the source of their feud with the Conovers. She tells him that keeping the secret has “gotten us […] a roof over our heads and food on the table” (169), but he feels it is no longer worth it. Reuben was shocked to hear the Conovers have been claiming he harassed the nanny, Anna. He reflects on how Anna was kind to him and how he brought her flowers.

Jo goes to dinner at her father, Owen’s, house and asks him about the Tarkins. He tells her that Reuben and Abigail were ostracized after their father Sam’s rampage. Owen tells her that Sam was a dependable builder until one day he just “snapp[ed].” It was thought he had a “psychotic break.” Owen wonders if the source of Reuben’s feud with the Conovers involves their class differences. Jo tells her father she has released Luther Yount due to a lack of evidence.

Luther thanks Maggie for her assistance in proving his innocence. She asks him about the man he was thinking of killing in Lewiston. Luther reluctantly explains that Callie’s father, Jesse Bass, was recently released from prison. Jesse is a drug dealer, and Callie’s mother (Luther’s daughter), Daphne, died of a drug overdose. Luther does not want Jesse in Callie’s life, so he has agreed to pay him to keep him away. The day Zoe disappeared, Luther was in Lewiston to give Jesse the money. Maggie tells Luther she has an idea to keep Jesse away more permanently—without killing him.

Maggie and Declan go to Jesse’s house in Lewiston. Maggie poses as a DoorDash delivery person while Declan waits in the car. When Jesse leaves to do a drug deal in the nearby park, Maggie enters and searches his apartment, finding an illegal firearm and a pill press. While she is in the bedroom, she hears a man who is not Jesse enter the apartment; she hides in the closet. Jesse then returns and is about to go into the bedroom to change his shirt when the fire alarm starts. Declan pounds on the door of the apartment and warns Jesse and the other man that there is a fire. They leave, and Maggie escapes. She will send the photo evidence of Jesse’s contraband to the police so he can be arrested.

Ingrid calls to say Zoe Conover has been found.