The Silent Wife

The police call Jodi at her conference and ask her to return to Chicago. She drinks on the plane and braces herself to be arrested when she lands, but there are no police at the airport. She reads the newspaper, finding that the story of Todd’s death is bigger than she anticipated. She imagines the murder in some detail, which takes such a psychological toll that she goes to bed without washing the dishes or unpacking her suitcase.

Detective Sergeant John Skinner comes to the condo in the morning. He asks her about her and Todd’s relationship and seems interested in why she was, unusually, out of town at a conference. Jodi feels transparently guilty and snaps at Skinner.

Todd’s obituary comes out in the paper a few days later. Jodi assumes Natasha wrote it, as it does not mention Jodi at all. She debates whether to attend the funeral. She knows that Skinner has been questioning her friends and family, all of whom defend her character. Jodi did not tell Skinner about Alison and has not heard from her since she gave her the briefcase full of cash.

Cliff, Todd’s foreman, calls Jodi. He says he hopes she will attend the funeral, but he also wants to talk about business. He wants Jodi to help him find a way to finish the building he and Todd had been working on. Jodi tells him that he should talk to Natasha, but Cliff says that Todd had not changed his will yet.

Jodi attends the funeral and accepts the condolences of Todd’s business associates. Stephanie asks Jodi to look into more of Todd’s business affairs—for example, her own pay. Jodi agrees and is gratified by the display of respect towards her as Todd’s partner of 20 years.

However, Skinner continues to investigate Jodi and her anxiety mounts. Still, she calls Harry so that she can begin handling Todd’s affairs for his employees. They meet for lunch; Harry apologizes for the eviction notice and flatters Jodi. He says that there will likely be a legal battle with Natasha, but that Jodi can afford to be generous with a settlement.

Jodi waits for Skinner to visit her again, but another detective arrives. He asks her to confirm that Todd was in the process of evicting Jodi from the apartment, and points out how much Jodi has benefitted from the timing of Todd’s death. The detective appears to have decided on Jodi’s guilt, telling her, “You can’t inherit from the man you. Murdered” (346). Jodi says nothing. Depression and anxiety overtake Jodi as she waits to be arrested and sent to prison. Skinner returns to her apartment and apologizes for the distress they’ve put her through. He tells her that they’ve arrested Dean Kovacs for Todd’s murder. Jodi says that Dean didn’t kill Todd; Skinner tells her that he hired the men who did.

Worried that Dean will be punished for her crime, Jodi resolves to turn herself in. However, the night before she suffers from severe flu symptoms, including a fever and vomiting, that make it impossible for her to leave her bedroom. Klara finds Jodi five days later, weak from dehydration, and with her long hair messily chopped off, and calls an ambulance. When Jodi awakens in the hospital, she finds out that she almost died from dehydration. She doesn’t remember cutting her hair, but does remember a few disjointed conversations, including one with Todd’s doctor which revealed that Todd’s STI test results had been negative.

Harry visits her in the hospital and lays out the police’s case against Dean. The men he hired to kill Todd confirmed the arrangement but denied that they’d actually done the job. This leaves the situation ambiguous: it’s possible that it was Jodi’s hired men who killed Todd, but Jodi chooses to believe that it was Dean’s. She considers the situation resolved and abandons her plans to confess.

A couple of days after she gets home from the hospital, Jodi finds a message from Ryan on her answering machine. Jodi thinks of her freedom as “a gift beyond reckoning” and savors every day, every small pleasure (368). She sees herself as softer and more down to earth, especially with her patients, who are improving as well. Todd’s son remains an object of Jodi’s curiosity. She wonders if she would recognize him if she passed him on the street. She wonders how much of the truth Natasha will tell him about his origins and his father’s death; she thinks Natasha will insist on the truth, but Jodi thinks that there’s “no need to stare reality in the face if there’s a kinder, gentler way” (372).