Look Closer

Jane contacts a friend at the FBI, who helps her find CSLI or cell phone data. She tells her the burner phones were only used in three places—Lauren’s house, the Chicago Trust & Title Building, and a corner in the Wicker Park area. Afterward, Jane tells Andy that she feels like the CSLI data is too convenient. Ordinary people might not know that phones do this, but Simon Dobias certainly does, and he is setting them up.

Simon talks to his class about a legal case involving CSLI data. Afterward, he sees an article online about Lauren’s murder. Jane calls him and asks to meet at his house, and he agrees to the interview.

The night of Halloween, Simon dons a Grim Reaper costume over his Obama one. He enters Lauren’s house and is surprised to see she is hanging rather than shot. He spends a few minutes texting back and forth on both burner phones, simulating a conversation between Lauren and Christian that ends with Lauren telling Christian he can come in if he will be calm.

Christian is back at his apartment, relieved to have gotten away with the murder. He drinks and tells himself that Lauren deserved what she got since she tried to get between him and the money that was his. Vicky shows up and he is worried but also relieved to see her. She tells him she was worried about him, and that Simon might suspect something. She urges Christian take a shower to try to relax and that she will help him figure everything out once he’s finished.

After the shower, they drink together and discuss how Vicky will need to act normal over the next few days. Christian begins to feel strange and woozy and realizes that Vicky has drugged him. She puts a gun under his chin and tells him goodbye.

Vicky cleans all traces of herself from the crime scene. She puts the Valium she used to drug Christian in his hand and then carefully leaves the garage. Outside, she is accosted by Gavin who holds her at gunpoint and tells her they are going to take a walk.

Gavin hauls Vicky into an alley and threatens her, telling her he knows that she murdered Nick (Christian’s real name is Nicholas “Nick” Caracci) and set up Simon. He did a background check on her name and discovered that Vicky Lanier’s body had been found, so he realized that she was using an alias. However, he never told Nick about her fake identity. He tells her that she needs to give him $10 million or he will kill her.

Inside Lauren’s house, Simon hurries to hide the pink phone, sliding it under the table. He also goes into the master bathroom and looks through the medicine cabinet. He feels panicky after he leaves, so he ducks behind an equipment shed and rests while composing the suicide text from the first chapter of the novel. Wearing his costume, he hails a cab and takes it to Christian’s neighborhood.

On the second day of the investigation, November 2, Jane schedules a meeting with Simon Dubois. She and Andy discuss their theories about the case, and Andy tells her he doesn’t think Simon is their suspect. Jane admits it would be strange for the two of them to be having an affair, but they know from the texts that it must be someone with a religious name. They also find some titanium grooming products in the master bathroom and know it is probably the owner of those. Jane receives a call from Chicago PD on the burner phone, who tells her is investigating a suspicious death and looking for someone named Lauren.

The Chicago PD show Christian’s apartment to Andy and Jane. It appears to be a suicide, though Jane is suspicious. Andy points out that Christian is a “religious name” and that his boots are the same brand and size as the prints at the house. They also find a business card for Christian’s office, which is in the former Chicago Title & Trust Building where the burner phone texts have been coming from. In the apartment they also find the rest of the titanium grooming kit and a Grim Reaper costume. Jane calls Simon to reschedule their meeting.

The Grace Village chief of police is elated about the find, but Jane remains suspicious. She has several concerns, including the fact that the pink burner phone seemed planted and that the cell phone data seems too conveniently perfect. She points out that Simon is an expert in surveillance data and could easily fake it. Finally, she thinks that Lauren was not actually lying about her husband being with her one night, but it was a mistake because Simon didn’t know that Conrad wasn’t there. The chief is doubtful about all these things and says that Jane needs to prove, at the very least, that Simon had a partner to help him fake the texts.

On Halloween night, Simon takes a cab to Wicker Park. He keeps his Grim Reaper costume on and fakes panic, whispering that he made a mistake. This attracts the attention of the cabbie, who will later remember him. He enters Christian’s apartment and leaves the burner phone there after sending the suicide note text that he typed earlier.

On November 2, Vicky impatiently waits for closure. When police come to her workplace, she is jumpy until she hears that they are there to speak to a client about pressing charges against her abusive partner. She frets about Gavin knowing her name and wishes that the loose ends were all tied up.

Jane attends an emergency board meeting at Grace Village, where the room is packed with angry and concerned citizens. They ask questions about whether the murder is gang affiliated and complain that the police have had two days and haven’t solved it yet.

On November 3, Simon waits at home, perusing some online newspapers and wondering how the investigation is going. His doorbell rings and Gavin Finley is there waiting, posing as an FBI agent. Simon lets him inside.

Jane and Andy continue their investigation. They know that Christian was a con artist and that his real name was Nicholas “Nick” Caracci. They interview the cab driver who took Simon (in costume) to Nick’s apartment and see video footage of the Grim Reaper heading toward the condominium. Jane still feels that something is amiss. They re-examine Nick’s office and find the name of his assistant, Emily Fielding, and go to interview her.

Gavin interviews Simon, pretending to be an FBI agent. Simon enjoys playing cat and mouse with him, knowing that he is several steps ahead. He explains to Gavin that he is not married, has not seen Lauren in years, and doesn’t know Vicky Lanier. Gavin can barely conceal his shock, and Simon thinks, “It’s almost humorous. This guy’s a con artist himself, in cahoots with a fellow swindler. And yet the possibility that someone swindled them seems beyond his capacity at the moment” (398). Slowly, Gavin begins to realize how deep the scam went.

Simon thinks about how he and Vicky set up the revenge plot. They met only three years ago, after Monica’s suicide. He asked Vicky to marry him, but she couldn’t let go, so when he ran into Lauren they concocted an elaborate plan for a double murder. The diary was almost entirely fictional and written to trick Christian. Simon truly had not spoken to Lauren in years and had never had an affair with her.

Simon tells Gavin that he knows who he is, and that the Grace Village police are coming up the driveway to interview him. He cautions him to leave well enough alone and disappear or the police might be interested in Gavin’s involvement with Nick’s fraud. Gavin leaves, angry and frightened.

Simon lets Jane and Andy inside, recognizing Jane from high school. He didn’t know her well but remembers her as well-liked and smart. She questions him about his relationship to Lauren and to Nick, as well as asking for his shoe size. He remains calm under questioning and tells them that, like the St. Louis police, they are jumping to conclusions. Internally he is impressed that Jane knows he could have committed the murder, even after the trail of evidence leading to Christian.

He explains to him that he was home all Halloween, streaming a show on his phone and handing out candy. Jane points out that his phone was there, but he could have left it and gone without it. When he gives them nothing, she tells Andy that they should go interview Vicky.

Shocked, Simon can’t help his reaction to Vicky’s name, though he denies knowing her. He wonders where they got her information and how close they are to finding her. Watching him for a reaction, Jane explains her theory—Vicky was having an affair with Nick and teamed up with someone who wanted Lauren Betancourt dead. They got Nick to kill Lauren and then faked his suicide. Jane just isn’t sure how they did it or why. Simon tells them he knows nothing about it, but he is panicking that they have found him out. Andy and Jane leave, telling him they will be in touch.

In their car, Jane and Andy discuss the case. Andy agrees that Simon seems to know Vicky but doesn’t think Jane’s theory is wholly believable. They know about Vicky because they interviewed the receptionist, but she could have just been a random woman Christian is sleeping with. Jane thinks that their only hope is to find a fingerprint somewhere from one of the crime scenes since fingerprints are the one thing Simon can’t manipulate.

Jane interviews Al Lemoyne, Lauren’s father. He loved his daughter and justifies her actions, telling Jane that Ted Dobias gave her the money. He tells her that Lauren never worried about Simon Dobias but was afraid that Ted might be having her followed. She left for France to get away from him, only returning once for her parents’ wedding anniversary. Conrad brought her back to Grace Village, but she reassured her father that she would be safe now that Ted was dead.

In Wisconsin, Vicky hikes to a remote park where she has hidden a burner phone. She texted Simon earlier and told him about Gavin. He texts her that Gavin is no longer a problem, but the police know the name Vicky Lanier. Vicky worries that she accidentally left a stray fingerprint somewhere and knows that everything will come down to fingerprint evidence since the police have no other real evidence.

At the police station, Jane is frustrated to find that the coroner’s office ruled Nick Caracci’s death a suicide. Chief Carlyle also refuses to believe her theories about Simon’s involvement in the murder. He is under increasing pressure from Grace Village to solve the case, since people move to the suburb because they want to live somewhere safe from crime. He tells Jane that her case is purely circumstantial and says, “You couldn’t convict Simon Dobias in a million years” (425). Jane begs him to wait until they get the prints back from the champagne bottle and glasses that were at Ted Dobias’s house. She is hopeful that the prints belong to Vicky Lanier. They take a call, and the tech tells them that the prints from the crime scene matched a person in the database.

Vicky is spending time with her nieces in Wisconsin and returning to their home when she sees a police car outside. She silently panics and keeps driving, telling them that they will get a nice dinner and see their father afterward since he has a meeting. She knows she can’t run and feels trapped.

Jane shows up at Simon’s house, bringing a bottle of champagne and two plastic flutes. She tells him that an identical pair were found at his father’s murder scene. She had wondered why he held on to the flutes for so long and why he waited until 2010 to kill his father. However, she finally figured out the answer thanks to Lauren’s Facebook account. She fled to Paris but returned for her parents’ wedding anniversary. He committed the murder then so she could be framed with it. Jane tells him “Just so you know—I know. I know you did all of this. Your father, Lauren, and Nick Caracci. And you’re gonna walk from the whole damn thing” (431). As she leaves, Simon tells her that she is a smart detective, and she responds by saying that it would be a compliment coming from anyone but him.

Vicky returns to Adam’s house with the girls. On the way there, she rehearses lying about not knowing Simon—a difficult task since she loves him and owes him her life and sobriety. When they arrive, Adam takes Vicky into the yard and tells her that the police found the body of David Jenner, the man who caused Monica’s death. David is, of course, an alias for Nick Caracci. Adam tells Vicky he feels incredibly guilty over Monica’s death and wishes that he could have killed David himself.

Vicky remembers turning down Simon’s proposal and telling him that she would not be able to start a life until Nick was dead. He helped her move to Wisconsin so that she could be far away from Chicago where she planned to find and kill Nick that summer. However, Simon ran into Lauren in May and the plan evolved into the elaborate plot for a double revenge.

Simon’s financial advisor calls to discuss the trust. Simon confirms that he wants to split the trust evenly between donations to five groups: the American Stroke Association, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health, and the National Runaway Safeline. He also took out $1 million a few months ago but does not specify what he did with it. He tells Dennis he wants all the money to go to charity. He wants nothing to do with his father’s money.

Simon makes a speech to the law school faculty, explaining why he chose to become a lawyer. He tells them about being accused of his father’s murder (conveniently leaving out the fact that he did it) and says that this experience ignited his passion for the law. A woman raises her hand and asks if he is aware that a new suspect has been identified in the case. He says he is aware. Internally, he thinks about how he was unsure if Lauren’s fingerprints would ever be identified but is glad that it paid off and she has been accused of the murder. Aloud, he looks at the dean and says that he wants to put the past behind him.

Simon and Vicky meet in a remote forest preserve to say goodbye. Vicky thanks him for his donation to the shelter—$1 million in anonymous cash. Simon wistfully thinks about the intimacy and companionship of the past few months together but knows that Vicky’s life is with her nieces now. She expresses regret and doubt about what they have done, but he tells her that he is not regretful, and she shouldn’t be either. She kisses him goodbye, and he tries to concentrate on something else so as not to think about her.