You Deserve to Know

Sunday morning, Aimee confronts Scott about the coincidence of being at the same bar where Anton was killed. Detective Salazar arrives and questions Scott about the doorbell camera footage showing Anton at their house Friday night. Scott explains that he was heading to Villain & Saint for a drink when Anton appeared and that he walked Anton home before continuing to the bar. According to Scott, Anton was very drunk and was bleeding from his head (although Scott didn’t ask about his injury). He left Anton on the front step but didn’t see him enter his house; Scott speculates that Anton could have independently decided to go to the bar. Scott mentions meeting a friend there, which surprises Aimee; the friend is Jon Block, a man whom Scott knows from the gym.

Aimee decides not to mention the fight she overheard or Anton’s history of cheating, feeling it would betray Gwen. After Salazar leaves, Aimee questions Scott about Jon Block, but their daughter Noa interrupts. Aimee notices Scott’s relief at the distraction. When Scott leaves the room, she spots a text on his phone from Jon Block. Aimee reads the start of the message (“I’ve found something. Can you meet me…”) but cannot access the rest. She watches as Scott returns, reads the message, and then casually mentions going to the gym. Aimee is convinced that he is going to meet Jon and increasingly sure that he is hiding something.

Gwen dreads calling Anton’s father, Henri, in France to inform him of his son’s death. Anton and Henri had a strained relationship. Unable to make the call herself, Gwen phones her mother, Barb, who agrees to do it. When Gwen cannot find Henri’s contact information, she searches Anton’s office.

She discovers a manila folder addressed to Henri but never sent. Inside is a worn leather journal written in French with a sketch of a flower labeled Le dernier cyclamen on the last page—the title of Anton’s celebrated novel.

Gwen opens an unsent letter from Anton to Henri. The letter reveals that Henri had accused Anton of being a fraud and a thief for plagiarizing his deceased mother’s journal and publishing it as his own work. Using Google Translate, Gwen finds an underlined passage in the journal about a meeting at La Gondola restaurant. She locates the identical passage in a copy of The Last Cyclamen. Stunned, she realizes Anton stole his mother’s words and passed them off as his own. Gwen bitterly concludes that Anton was unable to write a second book because he had nothing original to say.

The narrative flashes back to the ski trip in Vermont six months before the murder. Lisa fakes an ankle injury to avoid the cold slopes. After the others leave for skiing, she is alone in the rental house and snoops through Gwen’s belongings. She is determined to find a way to hurt Gwen. That night, at dinner, Anton shows warmth and curiosity toward Lisa. Lisa decides that seducing Anton and taking him from Gwen will be her ultimate revenge.

Before Scott can leave for the gym, Aimee insists on talking further about the night of the murder. She asks if there was any reason Anton might have followed Scott to the bar and Scott denies that there would be. He admits that he was irritated by Anton’s drunkenness and wanted to get away as quickly as possible, though he now feels regret and guilt. Scott leaves, ostensibly to go to the gym, and Aimee asks Lisa to watch Noa because she intends to follow her husband.

Aimee heads to downtown Bethesda on foot but cannot locate Scott; unexpectedly, she catches sight of him in a café, sitting with someone outside of her line of sight. She waits until Scott leaves and then approaches the man still sitting at the table, asking if he is Jon Block. The man is evasive and suggests Aimee talk to her husband directly. As he leaves, he hands Aimee his card and she sees that Jon Block is a private investigator.

On Sunday afternoon, Gwen goes to visit Aimee and Lisa at the former’s home. Lisa quickly brings up doorbell camera footage, stating that while her home doesn’t have one, Aimee’s does. Aimee reluctantly admits that her camera captured footage of Anton coming to her house; Gwen is outraged that Aimee didn’t disclose this information sooner.

Aimee explains that Scott answered the door: Anton was drunk, so he walked him home. When Gwen presses, Aimee admits Scott was on his way to Villain & Saint. Gwen is stunned, and her mind races with suspicion about Scott’s potential involvement in Anton’s death. Lisa tries to smooth things over by mentioning that other neighbors were also at the bar that night. Aimee becomes defensive, perceiving that Gwen is suspicious of Scott.

The conversation is interrupted by Scott returning home with the children, and Gwen and Lisa prepare to leave. Aimee returns a pen to Lisa (which Noa had taken from Lisa’s house); Gwen sees the name Le Cannu printed on it. During Anton’s visit to Tampa, he paid for an expensive dinner at a restaurant called Le Cannu (Gwen was suspicious when she saw the bill). The presence of the pen in Lisa’s home, as well as details from the story Gwen read, lead her to realize that Anton was having an affair with Lisa.

On Sunday evening, Aimee reflects on Anton’s cryptic assertion from Friday night that she deserved to know something, and wonders if this statement connects to Scott’s secrets. She feels uneasy that she withheld the information about Jon Block from Gwen and Lisa, but she wants to talk with Scott first. She is also concerned that Gwen seemed willing to believe Scott could have been involved in the murder. After the children have gone to bed, Aimee asks Scott about Jon again. When he sticks with the story of a friend from the gym, she explains that she followed him and that she knows that Jon is a private investigator. Scott becomes angry and turns the conversation on her, revealing he knows she received the psychologist’s report about Noa and did not tell him.

She presses him again, asking if the private investigator is connected to Anton. Scott says Block is helping with a work-related intellectual property theft issue and that the matter is confidential. He swears he met Block at the bar on Friday and had no idea if or why Anton might have followed him there. Scott tells Aimee not to tell Gwen or Lisa about Block, since he claims the meetings relate to confidential work matters. Aimee outwardly accepts his explanation but does not believe her husband is telling the truth.

The narrative flashes back to the previous January, shortly after the ski trip and months before the murder. Lisa has been regularly visiting Anton on weekdays while their spouses are at work and their children are at school (since she is a life coach and he is a writer, they both have more flexible schedules and work primarily from home). They have been flirtatious and Lisa is eager to begin a sexual relationship (even though her attraction to Anton is primarily based on her desire to hurt Gwen). During one visit, she boldly strips off her clothing and the two of them begin having an affair. Like the woman described in Anton’s story, Lisa has a heart tattooed on her buttocks.

On Monday Barb returns with Gwen’s sons, and Gwen tells her children that their father is dead. The boys are devastated. After the children have gone upstairs, Barb notices that the previous night, enraged by the knowledge of Anton’s infidelity, Gwen had piled up most of his belongings to give away. She confides to Barb that Anton was cheating with Lisa. When Barb asks if she is absolutely sure, Gwen admits to a sliver of doubt but says her gut tells her it is true. Barb urges Gwen to let the secret die with Anton but Gwen is preoccupied. She is terrified that Anton told Lisa his other secrets during their post-coital conversations.

On Monday afternoon,. Michelle J., a neighborhood mom, corners Aimee at school pick up and asks for gossip about Anton’s murder, citing anxiety about her morning runs. Michelle J. mentions that she and other neighborhood moms—Michelle P. and Sara—plan to send Gwen a fruit basket. Aimee cheers Noa up by taking her to Cathy’s house to drop off a landscaping proposal, which means Noa can see the kittens. Cathy offers to let Noa stay for the afternoon, and Aimee gratefully accepts.

At home, Aimee opens a letter from their financial institution and discovers a withdrawal of $50,000. Checking their accounts online, she realizes there have been two separate withdrawals of that amount—one from their home equity and one from their mutual funds—totaling $100,000.

Panicking about their hard-earned savings, she calls Scott. When confronted, he first says he made a bad financial decision, then admits he was scammed. He tells her he hired Jon Block to help instead of going to the police. Scott promises to explain everything that night and insists she will have to trust him.