Just Another Missing Person

Julia is sitting in a bar, crying over Matthew’s arrest. She thinks about the deal she’s made, putting Matthew in prison in exchange for her and Genevieve’s freedom. She tried to get her team to consider a murder charge, as the blackmailer wanted, but it makes no sense without a body. Her thoughts return to Olivia’s online persona, which doesn’t quite add up. People don’t wear eye masks in public or polish tables with Zoflora. After ordering another whiskey, she calls Olivia’s father.

Olivia’s Instagram posts include one about trying coconut conditioner and another about her horoscope. Two tweets talk about her boyfriend getting fit, and her fear of spontaneous combustion. Through email, she reaches out to a friend from college, who responds, wanting to talk on the phone.

“Fourth Day Missing”

The next morning, Poole tells Julia that Matthew isn’t talking. They charge him with kidnapping, and she watches a video feed of Matthew in his cell. She wishes she could ask him who would want to frame him and wonders again if it might be Olivia. Matthew’s lawyer wants the bodycam footage from the officers who examined Olivia’s room. She didn’t know they were wearing bodycams and hopes they didn’t look under the bed before she planted the glass.

A fire alarm goes off In the station, and while they are all standing outside in the rain, Patricia, the prosecutor assigned to Matthew’s case, approaches Julia. She says they don’t have enough to charge him with murder and may not have enough for a kidnapping charge. When they return inside, Julia goes to the bodycam docking station. The footage from Olivia’s house is already uploaded. In her office, she connects to the server and watches, dismayed, as the officer scanning Olivia’s bedroom bends down and looks under the bed, revealing no glass. She is sure she’ll be caught.

Lewis looks at his old laptop, which his daughter often used. (Again, readers might assume his daughter is Olivia rather than Sadie.) Her last search was for Andrew Zamos, and he immediately calls Poole, who promises to look into it. Unconvinced, Lewis goes to the station. He sees Julia outside, but she is distracted and brushes him off. Lewis decides to follow her. When she stops near where Sadie was last seen, he feels guilty for doubting her. Her daughter meets her there, and Lewis feels deeply envious.

That night, Lewis and Yolanda begin a new tradition: They light a candle at the hour Sadie disappeared. After Yolanda goes to bed, he goes online and skims Facebook. When Andrew Zamos is suggested as a friend, Lewis nearly friends him, then realizes that if he connected with him through a fake profile rather than as himself, he might be more likely to get answers.

Olivia posts on Instagram about a Diptyque candle and tweets about a strange knot in the wooden stairs of her new house.

“Fifth Day Missing”

At home, Julia receives the results of her private DNA test but it doesn’t reveal the blackmailer’s identity. She calls Erin to ask if she can run a DNA test, telling her it’s for a cold case. Erin is confused because Julia’s energies should be focused on Olivia’s case, but she agrees.

Julia thinks about Olivia’s use of the phrase “drug store,” notable because it is an American expression. She stares at her wedding photo, and wonders if Art thought about their vows before he cheated. Then she wonders if she thought about their vows when she repeatedly prioritized work over their relationship.

At the station, Erin tells Julia she found no matches for the DNA and asks Julia pointed questions. Julia avoids answering, and they both recognize she is being evasive. She goes to Olivia’s house to talk to her roommates again. While Annie, one of the roommates, is making coffee, Julia remembers Olivia’s post about the wooden stairs. She examines them, but there is no knot in the wood.

Annie admits that none of the roommates met Olivia in person. They lied because they wanted to make sure the police took action. She texted with Olivia and heard her move in late one night and take a shower. However, Olivia left early for her job interview the next morning before they could meet.

Julia returns to the station and tells her team the news. Jonathan points out that everything on Olivia’s phone is only a year old, the same age as her Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. They agree that there is something strange about Olivia. Jonathan leaves, and suddenly Julia has an idea of how to get rid of the bodycam footage. She can use Price.

Emma and Matthew meet with his lawyer. Matthew continues to insist he never went to Olivia’s house, but the lawyer is dubious because of the DNA evidence. Emma doubts Matthew’s innocence, especially when he tells the lawyer he didn’t know Olivia. Last year, even after the police cleared him, the newspapers latched onto him as a suspect, thanks in part to his girlfriend’s father insisting on his guilt. She wanted to leave Portishead, but Matthew insisted they stay. She quit her job, and they moved across town. He grew a beard and changed his name.

Later, Emma searches Matthew’s bedroom. She finds a slip of paper with a PIN, another scrap with a QR code, and a message reading, “Bitcoin transfer incoming—I have Prudence Jones for you” (183).

In the spare bedroom, Lewis pulls out a box of blank passports that he and Sadie accidentally ruined when she worked with him. They brought them home to avoid getting in trouble. He uses one to set up a Facebook account, then messages Andrew Zamos. Yolanda comes into the room to tell him that Julia didn’t attend Andrew’s interview, but before they can talk about it, Andrew messages back.

“Sixth Day Missing”

Olivia posts an Instagram photo of Starbucks peach tea and a Facebook post asking friends to give her contact information, as she has a new phone. She tweets about being on day 32 of her cycle and wanting to binge eat. There is also an email to a retail site, wanting to return an order.

In the morning, Julia glimpses Art getting dressed through his open door and is sad about the distance between them. She cries, wishing she could tell him everything, and he sees her. Later, he sends her a text, hoping she is okay.

Julia has known Price for nearly 20 years and uses him as an informant frequently. She calls him and asks if he knows anyone who could hack into the police system and delete bodycam footage. She never sidestepped the law like this or asked Price for a favor. When he hesitates, she reminds him of everything she knows about him and the fate of snitches who go to prison. He agrees but tells her he knows what she is up to.

That night, Julia calls Olivia’s dad, but the connection is terrible, and she can barely hear him. When she asks about Olivia’s boyfriend, he seems interested, but when she explains the boy’s alibi, he hangs up. Just as she’s considering bringing dinner home to Art, Jonathan comes to her office and tells her a woman in the lobby claims to be Olivia Johnson.

Julia doesn’t believe it until she sees the woman, whose appearance matches her passport photo perfectly. She tells Julia she was never missing. Julia thinks of Matthew, who now cannot be charged, and wonders what will happen to Genevieve. Olivia says she was at a destination wedding for the past five days. She shows Julia her passport, and Julia wonders about the passport in the evidence room.

Emma thinks about the QR code and the name Prudence Jones. She is convinced Matthew is guilty. She looks up the name online, and finds no mention of a missing woman, but the Bitcoin reference seems to indicate trafficking. She goes to the police station and sees Julia in the lobby. She tells the officer that Matthew’s name used to be Andrew, and his girlfriend, Sadie, went missing last year.

Outside the police station, Lewis sees Julia talking to a man with a bandaged neck. Their body language is emotional and aggressive. After she goes into the station, he approaches the man. He asks what the man’s problem is with Julia and indicates that he has one as well. The man introduces himself as Zac and tells Lewis that Julia’s daughter injured his neck.

For the first time since Sadie disappeared, Lewis feels comfortable at home with Yolanda. They’ve begun to return to normal life, and he feels hope. He goes for a walk and thinks about what happened after he met Zac and then, after Zac died, meeting Zac’s brother, David, who offered to help him ruin Julia.

Lewis continues to update Olivia’s fake social media profile because it makes him feel closer to Sadie. One night, Olivia’s Facebook profile gets a message from Andrew, who apologizes for falling out of touch, saying he had regrets about his past. Lewis realizes that Andrew might be talking about Sadie.

Lewis understands Andrew’s comment as tantamount to a confession. Rather than take it to the police, he messages back as Olivia and arranges to meet Andrew, now known as Matthew. Lewis decides to get Matthew arrested so that the police have to reconsider Sadie’s case. He feels a rush of renewed purpose and realizes that the work he’s done to establish Olivia’s online persona is the key.

Lewis stages Olivia’s disappearance. He finds a landlord who agrees to rent to Olivia sight unseen and arranges to “move in” the following day. He goes to the mall, buys a burner phone, and texts Matthew with the number. Matthew texts back, and they arrange to meet in two days at a café. He also sets up five other fake Facebook accounts, using them to comment on Olivia’s posts. He sends fake emails and establishes Olivia’s boyfriend. The next day, he buys women’s clothing at the thrift store. He moves the recently purchased belongings into Olivia’s new apartment. He messes the bed up and pretends to take a shower.

At the appointed time, Lewis drives to the café, but instead of meeting Matthew he attempts to break into his trunk, planning to leave Olivia’s phone there. However, he can’t get it open. He sends Olivia’s roommates a text but fumbles and drops the phone into a sewer. His plan falls apart, and he hides as Matthew returns to his car. He overhears him planning to meet his mother at a nearby bar then texts David and asks for his help.

Lewis goes to the bar where Matthew and his mother are. After they leave, Lewis gathers Matthew’s cigarette and glass, planning to plant them at Olivia’s the next day while her roommates are at work. Meanwhile, David hacks into the local CCTV and superimposes the image of a blonde woman disappearing into a nearby alley.

The next morning, Lewis sees news reports of Olivia’s disappearance and the video that David manipulated. When he realizes the alley is a dead-end, he thinks they will be caught, but recommits to his plan to plant the cigarette and glass. When he gets to Olivia’s house, however, the police are everywhere. Driving by the station, he sees Julia walking to her car. He tears two holes in his knit hat, making a balaclava. He breaks into her car, and when she gets in, he tells her to drive.