The Family Game

Harriet meets with Samantha. Samantha is, at first, dodgy and nervous. She explains that she signed an non-disclosure agreement (NDA) so she can’t say much about the Holbecks. But when Harriet reveals that she’s engaged to be married into the Holbeck family and is pregnant, Samantha is more willing to help her. Samantha explains that she wasn’t there when Bobby died. She insists that Bobby chose to jump. She acknowledges that Bobby and Robert had conflict at the time. Harriet realizes that the blonde woman Robert confesses to murdering in his tape-recording can’t be Samantha. She asks Samantha if Robert had a blonde girlfriend at the time. The allusion to this girlfriend frightens Samantha, and she refuses to say more. Samantha warns Harriet to be very careful with the Holbecks.

Harriet needs to find out who Bobby’s ex-girlfriend is and if she is still alive. Harriet breaks into Edward’s security box and finds a photograph of Bobby and a young blonde woman named Lucy.

Harriet has a nightmare that she is Lucy on the day of Bobby’s death.

Harriet researches Lucy, presuming that she went to Columbia University as well. She immediately finds an article about a Columbia University student named Lucy Probus who went missing in the year of Bobby’s death, 2002. Lucy Probus was never found, which makes Harriet believe that Robert’s confession on the tape-recording is real. Harriet listens to the rest of Robert’s tape-recording.

Robert speaks directly to Harriet in his tape. He says he’s sure that Harriet is wondering why Robert is telling Harriet anything at all and explains he has chosen Harriet because she is intelligent and can sort through lies. He instructs Harriet not to tell Edward anything and to listen to the full tape before coming to talk to Robert about it.

Robert says that he killed another girl, Gianna, in 2004. He poisoned her. Robert says that while it’s true he watched Gianna die, he knows that it’s also true that Harriet has watched someone die and did nothing about it. Robert knows that Harriet and her parents were in a car accident. When Harriet was 11 years old, a man swerved his car into her parents’ car. Her parents died instantly. Harriet escape from the overturned car and saw the man who killed her parents in his car, still alive. Harriet lit the man’s car on fire and killed him. Though no one suspected Harriet of this, Robert knows that cars don’t easily blow up. He uncovered what Harriet did, and he doesn’t blame her. He says that he would have done the same thing. However, he reminds her that had she done something like that in today’s world, with all the technological advances at crime scenes, she would be imprisoned. He reminds her that there is no statute of limitations on a crime in England, and that she can be held criminally liable for what she did when she was 11. Robert tells Harriet that, given what he knows she’s capable of doing—which, again he emphasizes, he respects—he needs Harriet to do something for him.

Harriet oddly feels relieved that someone else knows her secret. She refuses to believe that she and Robert are similar, but she recognizes that he now has something over her but that he also respects her. She figures that Gianna is Edward’s ex-girlfriend from college; Harriet found a picture of a young woman in Edward’s things that matches Robert’s description of Gianna.

The man Harriet killed was named Laurence Fletcher. She killed him not to protect others from the same fate of her parents but because she genuinely wanted to see him suffer. She knows she can’t tell Edward about Robert’s tape-recording because Edward will never love her if he knows what she’s done.

When Edward returns from Hong Kong, he and Harriet dream up baby names: Iris if it’s a girl, George if it’s a boy. He tells Harriet that the company he met with in Hong Kong has offered to buy Edward’s company. The sale of his company would earn him a great deal of money, which Harriet sees as security from Robert. Edward likes the idea of selling his company and using the capital to start all over again. Edward tells Harriet that his family has invited them over to The Hydes for Christmas. Harriet agrees to go because she knows that Robert will use her secret against her if she doesn’t continue reuniting Edward and his family. Edward can tell that Harriet doesn’t really want to go. He assures her that they won’t play any games like Krampusnacht. Edward says they can tell the family that Harriet is pregnant, which will make them less likely to play tricks on her.

Harriet packs for Christmas. She knows that Christmas is the ultimate test after Thanksgiving and Krampusnacht. She goes to the gym so she can listen to the remainder of Robert’s tape-recording in the women’s locker room.

Robert gives Harriet a list of the women he’s killed: Lucy in 2002, Alison in 2003, Gianna in 2004, Aliza in 2020, and Melissa in 2021.

Harriet pauses the tape so she can write notes on her iPhone app. She names the women and the dates of their deaths. Harriet finds an article about Gianna’s death, which had been ruled as an overdose. The article reveals that Gianna had taken Alison’s death by suicide to heart, which had made her substance use disorder worse. Harriet researches Alison and discovers that Alison died, presumably by suicide, at MIT. Edward had been in attendance at MIT when Alison and Gianna died. Edward has never told Harriet about knowing people in college who had died, let alone having girlfriends who died.

Harriet researches Aliza, a Lebanese artist who disappeared in 2020. Harriet finds a picture of Aliza with Matilda that reveals that Matilda and Aliza had been dating. Harriet researches Melissa, and although she finds nothing about her death or disappearance, she discovers that Melissa had worked as Stuart’s personal assistant.

Harriet calls Melissa’s office pretending to be a dentist’s office trying to get in touch with her. Harriet is told that Melissa works remotely and should be contactable via email. Harriet is able to get Melissa’s address from her company.

Harriet goes to Melissa’s address and discovers that Melissa has been subletting her apartment to strangers. Harriet realizes that Robert has made it appear that Melissa is not dead. Harriet doesn’t know how to figure out the rest of what Robert is trying to tell her. Harriet calls Deonte again and gives him an update on her fictional story, which is what’s been happening recently between her and Robert. Deonte says that if the heroine of the story is going to try to figure out what the man blackmailing her wants, she’ll have to leave a trail and make sure that he knows there is a trail so she isn’t easy to dispose of. One option the heroine has, he explains, is to make a copy of the tape which she edits to remove her name and crime from, kill her blackmailer, and hand in the tape to the police, thus revealing the blackmailer’s crimes. The other option is to do whatever the blackmailer is asking her to do.

Harriet writes three letters. They are addressed to Deonte Hughley; her solicitor, Dermot Jones, in London; and her agent, Louisa. These letters contain clues and hints that would lead people to Robert Holbeck in the event of her death or disappearance. Then, Harriet writes an email to her publisher with an outline of changes she wants to make to her newest manuscript. The changes reflect Harriet’s real-life experience with Robert. Harriet packs a paperweight with her to use as a weapon. She researches how to use this weapon for maximum impact.

Edward signs the papers selling his company. He’s earned $2.8 billion. He gifts Harriet a new designer dress. Edward finds Harriet’s phone recording Robert’s tape recorder, but the tape recorder doesn’t say anything because Harriet has accidentally pressed “record,” which means that she’s erased the contents of the tape. It’s a relief that Edward doesn’t know what’s on the tape, but at the same time, Harriet has deleted the very evidence she was supposed to make a copy of. Harriet wonders why Edward was listening into her things in the first place. Now she wonders if it was Edward who had erased the Side B of the tape.

Harriet and Edward go to their doctor’s appointment and learn they are expecting a girl.

On the drive to The Hydes, Harriet is still unsure if Edward has heard any of the contents of the tape-recording. He chats amiably about The Hydes. He tells Harriet the history of the house and how excited he is for her to see it. When Harriet sees the estate, she is terrified that the house is so concealed and isolated. Harriet tells Edward that she’s scared, and he assures her that they can leave, but Harriet knows she has no choice but to face Robert and Christmas at The Hydes.