The Soulmate: A Novel

Max is driving to his and Amanda’s home in Portsea, and the newspaper article about Gabe is on the seat beside him. Amanda wonders what he’s going to do.

Max was always security conscious, but Amanda never realized that he was actually concerned for their safety—she thought he liked the technology. Because their property is gated, she is surprised by a knock on the door one day. When she opens it, two men force their way inside. Max calls her phone at just that moment, and when she tells him that there are men with her, he asks to speak to them. After they hang up, the men leave the house. When Max comes home, he is so apologetic that she ends up comforting him. Amanda reflects on how this was, paradoxically, one of the best moments of their marriage.

After dinner, Pippa and her family walk home. Mr. Hagerty tells them that a man was asking which house is theirs. Mr. Hagerty didn’t tell him, but Gabe and Pippa both know from his description that it was Max. At home, Gabe gets a call and realizes that he missed the girls’ vaccination appointment. Pippa is suddenly enraged and shouts at him. The doorbell rings, and it is Detective Tamil.

When Pippa and Gabe first bring Asha home, she doesn’t smile or cry. One morning, Pippa hears a series of thuds and runs downstairs to find Gabe throwing himself on the floor while Asha, in her highchair, laughs hysterically. His eyes are full of tears at finally getting a reaction from Asha, and Pippa reflects on how much she loves him.

Amanda watches Max enter their Portsea house. Usually, they hire someone to prepare it for their arrival, and he struggles to find light switches and thermostats. He gets a phone call from the police, but not about Amanda. They want him to come in for questioning about a homicide connected to an investment company called A.S. Holdings.

After the men break into the house, Max increases their security. Max says that the men work for Arthur Spriggs. He tells Amanda that he will take care of it, and she realizes that there is a “hardness” to him that she hadn’t seen before.

Gabe tells Detective Tamil his story again. Tamil asks about a small, silver USB stick that Max reported missing from Amanda’s things. Pippa remembers the thing that Gabe dropped in the ocean the morning after Amanda’s death but doesn’t say anything.

Six months after the break-in, Max tells Amanda that his business with Arthur Spriggs is over. Max’s security man, Baz, returned Arthur’s money in person, leaving it with Arthur’s baby daughter. Max believes that this implied threat will be enough to sever the relationship. Amanda can’t believe that Max is capable of this.

Pippa goes to the Pantry to help Dev with his estate planning and is shocked when Max walks in.

Amanda watches Pippa as Max walks into the Pantry. Pippa’s shocked reaction is gratifying. Max doesn’t see Pippa, who goes out the side door.

After Max returns Arthur Spriggs’s money, Amanda and Max spend more time together, traveling. She wants to tell him that she loves him but is afraid to disrupt their relationship.

Pippa rushes home. She wants to call Gabe and tell him that Max is at the Pantry, but her mother is there. Her mother asks if everything is okay with Pippa and Gabe. Pippa tells her that the incident with The Drop is still bothering them and that they never should’ve moved into that house. Her mother points out that they’ve lived in several houses and that they’ve had drama in all of them, so maybe it isn’t the house. Before she can continue, the phone rings.

After Asha gets settled with the family, Gabe develops a shopping fixation, buying things for their house. One day, while trying to fix their porch light, he electrocutes himself. When Pippa finds him, he is on the ground laughing, and she is worried about his state of mind.

One night, Amanda hears Max in his home office, talking to Gabe and Mei. They are discussing a suspicious investor that Gabe found. Mei red-flagged the investor, but Max had signed off on it. After they leave, Max tells her that the investor Gabe found was A.S. Holdings, owned by Arthur Spriggs.

In Portsea, Max walks down to the beach. He destroys his secret laptop on the rocks. The police called that morning to ask if he knew Gabe, and he realized that Amanda’s death has given the police reason to look into Max’s business. Though he denies knowing Gabe, Amanda realizes that the investigation is getting close to the truth. After destroying the laptop, Max searches the beach for her USB stick.

When Gabe and the girls get home from school, Pippa tells him about seeing Max at the Pantry. Gabe reassures her that he, not she, lied to the police.

Max tells Amanda that Gabe didn’t realize that A.S. Holdings was a criminal enterprise when he accepted the investment. Max blames himself, as he approved it. One night, Amanda eavesdrops on Max’s phone call to Arthur Spriggs. Baz and his team are at Arthur’s house. Max tells Arthur that if he sells back his shares, he won’t be harmed. Arthur refuses. It sounds to Amanda like Max is going to tell Baz to hurt Arthur. Before he can do so, she hears a gunshot down the line.

Mei calls Pippa early in the morning. She saw Max in Portsea and wants to know what is happening. She also tells Pippa that Kat’s worry for her is making a difficult pregnancy worse. Mei says that Max knows “dangerous people” and tells Pippa to be careful. She also still doubts Gabe’s innocence, which makes Pippa angry.

Pippa and Gabe both go to the girls’ vaccination appointment. The nurse flirts with Gabe and ignores Pippa. After the nurse gives Freya her shot, Asha escapes Pippa’s arms and runs out of the office and down the street. When Pippa catches up with her, Max is standing there.

Max asks Pippa about Amanda’s death, and she responds by asking him about the video that Amanda claimed to have. He tells her that his office CCTV had captured the scene, but he’d asked security to cut the footage of himself and Pippa. Security emailed the footage to him, and Amanda found it on his laptop. He asks Pippa to have Gabe call him. Back at the doctor’s office, Pippa tells Gabe about the incident.

Gabe is stressed about finding an investor for Max’s online business. One Saturday night, he goes out to a meeting and comes home late. The next morning, Pippa finds what looks like blood on his shoes. She calls his psychologist and tells him about Gabe’s recent behavior. He agrees to see Gabe the next day.

Gabe calls Max. Max doesn’t believe that Amanda died by suicide and threatens to go to the police. When Max asks about the USB drive, Gabe tells him that Amanda had it and spoke of the footage on it. She was upset, and then she jumped. When Max asks where the USB stick is now, Gabe says that he has it. He is going to keep it to ensure that Max won’t talk to the police. They end the conversation by threatening each other. After he hangs up the phone, Max is furious and calls Baz.

Gabe tells Pippa that he told Max he has the USB stick, even though he doesn’t. He believes that Max will accept his terms, but Pippa doesn’t. She asks Gabe if there is anything he isn’t telling her. Although she can tell that he feels betrayed, she doesn’t quite believe him when he says no.

Upon hearing the gunshot, Max shouts, “No!” He didn’t intend for Baz to harm Arthur. After Max hangs up, he tells Amanda that there was a miscommunication and that Gabe shot Arthur.

Pippa sits on the beach, watching the girls play on the sand. Gabe is on the rocks, looking for the USB drive. Pippa gets the feeling that he hasn’t told her the whole story.