Unmissing

On Tuesday evening, a waitress drives Lydia to the Coletto house with takeout, but the house is dark and empty. Lydia circles the property, seeing signs of a hasty departure. Fearing for Merritt and the children, and worried her fingerprints on the glass door could implicate her, she returns to The Blessed Alchemist and asks Delphine for a ride to the police station.

At the farmhouse, Merritt angrily contemplates their financial situation, resenting Lydia for extorting money from Luca. As she prepares cauliflower soup, a dish Luca dislikes, she reflects on how she underestimated Lydia: She, not Merritt or Luca, had the upper hand all along. Merritt regrets not poisoning Lydia on one of their lunch outings; she could have easily spiked Lydia’s drink, driven her to the forest, and slit her throat. She only resisted because it would implicate Luca.

Merritt meticulously shaped Luca into her ideal partner by making him believe she found him desirable. By the day of their wedding in Waikiki, he’d become her “masterpiece.” She picked Luca because he was the opposite of her wealthy, domineering father, and she didn’t want to end up divorced like her mother. Feeling her control return, Merritt resolves to decide his fate.