Two Nights in Lisbon

Ariel sees headlines about the likely new vice president and reflects that “today is not at all comfortable” (10). Ariel alerts the hotel staff to John’s absence. The third-person narrator comments cryptically that “the absence of clues is in itself, a clue” (13).

Ariel leaves the hotel, mentally fortifying herself for the inevitable burdens of existing in public as a woman, including sexual advances or violence. As she walks the city, Ariel reflects that her body always reminds her of her age and her recent conviction that “whatever she was going to do, ever, she needed to start doing it” (17).

Ariel takes in sweeping views from the city’s many hills. She dreads entering her destination—which the reader soon learns is a police station. Inside the station, Ariel uses a translation app to explain her plight. She meets two detectives, Antonio Moniz and Carolina Sanchez. They are dubious when they learn John has been missing for less than a day. Ariel reluctantly departs.

Alone, the two officers consider the matter. Santos tells Moniz that she thinks John is not telling Ariel the truth and comments, “This is true for all women. We are all lied to. All the time” (22). She dispatches an officer to track Ariel.

Ariel’s next stop is the US Embassy, where she meets a condescending consular official, Saxby Barnes, who flirts with her and assumes John, as a younger man, is swindling her. Ariel reflects that “maybe that’s what she’d assume too […] confronting a woman like her showing up in a situation like this” (30). Ariel becomes angry, asking Barnes about his family history and reminding him that his Georgia ancestors likely had enslaved people. Barnes gets the last word, asking if she or John have ever changed their legal names. This question will turn out to be key to the plot, as Ariel does in fact have a former identity.

Outside the embassy, Ariel gathers herself. A reporter named Pete Wagstaff offers his assistance. Ariel insists she cannot speak to him, piquing his curiosity. Ariel calls her son George, who is staying with her mother.

The narration shifts to follow the local CIA Chief of Station, Nicole Griffiths, who is unhappy to see Saxby Barnes, whom she dislikes, in her office. Barnes intrigues her with his report of Ariel’s visit, especially the couple’s change of names. Griffiths agrees to look for John’s phone. Ariel, meanwhile, checks area hospitals and finds no sign of John.

Griffiths tasks two subordinates, Guido Antonucci, a middle-aged white man, and Kayla Jefferson, a young Black woman, with tracking John’s phone.

Ariel returns to her hotel and asks about security camera tapes. Meanwhile, the CIA agents find John’s phone. The narrative moves back to Ariel, watching security footage with a hotel clerk. They find indications John exited the hotel and possibly entered a car. Ariel looks for more camera footage, reflecting that this eye for detail was part of her acting work and most recently a part of her hobby of reading mystery novels.

Ariel returns to the police station. Moniz reluctantly watches the footage but doesn’t see anything suspicious. The detectives ask for a photo of John and seem surprised Ariel has only one, a selfie of the two of them in Lisbon.

Ariel walks the city, reflecting that she is being written off due to her gender and presumed emotionality. Hot and tired, she stops for water and realizes a man may be following her.

Back at her hotel, Ariel thinks of her son’s premature birth and fragile health. George, the narrator says, is “one of the reasons Ariel felt like she’d been living on high alert, waiting for something bad to happen. Something else” (55).

Ariel’s bookshop employee Persephone calls. Like Ariel, Persephone changed her name—she loathes her birth name of “Ember.” She is a young, opinionated graduate student looking for an exit from academia. Ariel hired her out of sympathy.

Ariel recalls a notable day before her departure. A wealthy woman, Tory Wasserman, came into the bookshop and recognized her under her former name, Laurel Turner. She reminded Ariel of her previous life as the wife of a wealthy businessman. Ariel avoided conversation as much as possible, feeling like an outsider observing another species.

The narrative shifts back to the present, where Ariel asks Persephone to record any unusual calls or visits in her absence. Persephone is curious, but Ariel is used to evading her scrutiny.

Ariel recalls another event before her departure: seeing a neighbor with a pickup truck and a Blue Lives Matter bumper sticker. Her reflections imply she has a history with him.

Ariel calls the detectives about a note from John found by the hotel staff. She argues the note is proof something happened. Moniz asks if they met anyone else in Lisbon, and Ariel says that a woman came up to them. Ariel sensed that she may have had a past relationship with her husband. Ariel admits she and John have only been acquainted for a year, leading Moniz to ask if John may have held secrets from her.

Moniz asks Ariel if John uses recreational drugs since Lisbon has decriminalized virtually all substances. Ariel denies it but thinks to herself that no one can know another person since “pasts can be reinvented” (75). She privately admits that she thought she knew her first husband and turned out to be wrong.

Moniz is still dubious about John’s motives and interests. Ariel, increasingly upset, raises her voice and asks what it will take for him to act. Moniz tries to placate her, and Ariel reflects that his behavior is familiar to women the world over. She asks the police to search for John’s phone, but they point out that this is outside their jurisdiction. Ariel begins to cry, aware she is an object of scorn because “no one wants to deal with a hysterical woman” (79).

The narration turns back to Ariel’s memories of being doubted about sexual harassment and assault. Her mother refused to believe the son of a friend groped her and then disregarded a boy who attempted to rape her because he was the son of her father’s business partner. In adulthood, she was propositioned at an audition, prompting her to give up acting.

Moniz and Santos discuss the case. Santos admits something unusual is likely happening and suggests the resolution has “‘something to do with sex’” (87).

The narrative shifts back to Ariel, who is alone in an alley. She hears a motorcycle approaching. A rider with their face concealed passes her a cell phone, which is ringing.