One of Us Is Dead

Shannon and Karen help Jenny and Keisha clean up after the earlier incident. They discuss Crystal’s upcoming Halloween housewarming party, which Shannon will not be attending. Karen shares her concerns about the relationship between Mark and Olivia. Shannon suggests that they may be sleeping together and gives Karen the information of a private investigator that she used during Bryce’s affair.

Crystal goes to Olivia’s house. While Olivia ices her bruise from earlier, Crystal tries to speak to her about her concerns. She starts to talk about her own experience with abuse, and Olivia listens eagerly to Crystal’s secrets but shuts her down when she brings up Dean. Crystal agrees to have dinner with their husbands the next night, but she leaves feeling more distrustful of Olivia than ever. Like others, she notices that even Olivia’s kindnesses come with barbs.

Olivia hosts her dinner, where they discuss Crystal’s upcoming party. Bryce, Dean, and Olivia all make Crystal uncomfortable with their casual cruelty toward each other and the members of their circle who are not present, particularly Shannon.

During dinner, the men bring up life insurance policies. Both Dean and Bryce want their wives to sign new policies, and the ensuing conversation again unsettles Crystal.

Karen stresses about her relationships with Keisha and her husband. She spends a quiet evening watching television with Mark, and she wonders if both of them are having an affair. Mark brings up life insurance policies and the fact that Dean and Bryce are increasing their payouts. Karen observes that Mark is a very calm person but that there is a darkness to him.

Shannon and Karen are having hair treatments at Glow. Karen tells Shannon and Jenny that Mark has planned a vacation for the two of them. She believes he is likely cheating but hopes she is wrong, an internal conflict that visibly upsets her. Crystal enters the salon, to the frustration of Shannon. Even if she has decided to be civil to Crystal, she doesn’t want Bryce to be happy.

Karen brings up the insurance policy, and Crystal says that she and Olivia had the same conversation with their husbands last night. Shannon laughs and remarks that it sounds as if one of their husbands is planning to kill them. Crystal tells her that Bryce claimed to have had a similar policy with Shannon, and Shannon realizes that she signed many things without reading them during her marriage.

Present

Jenny tells Detective Sanford that she accepted the in-fighting of the women as part of the cost of doing business. He tells her that the murder weapon was a Glock, wondering if that makes her suspect anyone in particular. She reminds him that it’s easy to get weapons in Georgia.

Jenny prepares for a busy day at Glow. Keisha offers to cover for a few hours, allowing Jenny to take a much-needed nap.

Back in her apartment, she looks at pictures of her family and regrets her lack of a personal life. She pours a glass of wine and logs onto eHarmony. She created an account a year ago, briefly connecting with a man named Henry, but then she got busy and hasn’t been on the website since. She discovers an old message from Henry, but he has since become engaged to someone else.

Feeling empty, she lies down on the couch, wrapping herself in a cozy blanket. She feels that something needs to change.

In the treatment room, Keisha and Karen discuss their relationship. Keisha worries that Karen’s interest is a response to the social upheaval caused by Bryce’s leaving Shannon. Karen argues that the situation is complicated, and Keisha replies that it isn’t. Karen just needs to decide what she wants. The two women start to have sex only to be interrupted by Olivia who bursts into the room.

After discovering Karen and Keisha, Olivia savors the potential gossip and waits for Jenny, who is late. Jenny arrives and admits that she is still unsettled after the attack. Olivia insists that she come out for a night at a club and contacts the others. She hopes that it will pull Jenny from what she calls self-pity and believes it makes up for the “little strangulation incident” that she caused.

Crystal signs the life insurance policy and mentions Olivia’s plans to Bryce. She’s initially reluctant to attend, but he uses sex to persuade her.

Having decided that it’s time to get back out there, Shannon gets ready for her first date in 15 years. She met Jonathan online a couple of weeks ago and finally agreed to meet in real life. She double-checks his final email before heading out.

(She will later discover that there is no Jonathan. Olivia “catfished” Shannon, creating a fake profile to message her.)

Jenny prepares for Olivia’s night out, makeup concealing the bruises around her neck and eye. Olivia has arranged a limo for the group and insisted they dress “Clexy,” her word for a combination of classy and sexy. She and Keisha share their reservations about the upcoming evening. Jenny confides that she is questioning her life choices after the attack, and Keisha reassures her that it’s never too late to pursue more in life. She says, “It’s not over till you’re dead” (238), a reminder that one of the women will be killed by the end of the novel.

Karen is anxious about Olivia’s knowledge and uncertain about her relationship with Keisha. A limo pulls up with the other women except for Shannon. Olivia mentions that Shannon would be there, but she has a date.

They arrive at the exclusive cocktail bar Death & Company. During the limo ride, Crystal noticed the awkwardness between Karen and Keisha and Olivia’s double-edged comments. They head to a table with bottles of vodka and champagne waiting, and Olivia orders a round of tequila shots, overriding protests from Jenny and Crystal. She insists that she didn’t spring for the VIP experience so that people could have a low-key night. Olivia toasts her own generosity, and they all take the shots. Crystal notices Shannon sitting at a table alone and wonders if Olivia knew that Shannon was having her date here.

Shannon waits for her date who is late. She hears Olivia’s distinctive laugh and looks over to see the other women. Embarrassed, she hopes no one sees her. She receives an apologetic message from Jonathan and replies that he’d better be worth the wait. He assures her he is.

Olivia plies the others with alcohol, determined to get them drunk. She wonders why Karen would explore her sexuality when she has a child and a plastic surgeon for a husband. She cruelly teases the others and pulls them onto the dance floor. Spotting Shannon, the women persuade her to sit with them until her date arrives.

When Jonathan is 45 minutes late, Shannon emails. Olivia’s phone, abandoned while she goes to the bathroom, lights up with a message indicating that she has a new email from Shannon. Suspicious, Shannon sends a second email with an insulting description of Olivia to help her date locate her when he arrives. The phone again displays her name, and she realizes that Olivia has catfished her. She decides not to make a scene and bides her time.

Olivia laughs with private amusement at the trick she’s played on Shannon. She remembers a gala from four years ago when Shannon got drunk and told everyone about the money and legal troubles of Olivia’s family. Thereafter, people treated the Petrovs differently, and Buckhead women called Olivia “Nemo,” short for “new money.”

Ready to head home, she goes to settle the bill, tossing her credit card at their server without asking the total. The card is declined, as is the second one she hands over. Despite the waitress’s protests, she runs out the door and takes the limo home to confront Dean. He reassures her that he’s taking care of things, but she demands to know what is going on. He admits that money is tight after problems with a shipment and that they have no savings. She tells him that she’s never cared what he does for a living because the money was plentiful but she’ll leave him if he doesn’t tell her the truth now. He tries to deflect but ultimately confesses that he moves illegal goods in and out of Atlanta. She assumes he means drugs, which doesn’t trouble her, and she secretly intends to find out more so that she can fix their income problems.

The group wonders where Olivia has gone. The server then confronts Jenny with the almost $2,000 bill that Olivia ran out on. Jenny pays it and leaves a generous tip—in contrast with Olivia, who had planned to stiff the woman.

When they all step outside to find the limo missing, they realize Olivia has taken it, abandoning them without a word. The three wealthy women insist on reimbursing Jenny, and all bemoan the terrible night. Jenny invites the others to join her for a final drink at the salon.