Someone Else’s Husband by Kimberly McCreight | Characters, Summary, Spoilers

Anonymous Husband Journal

The climbing trip made him realize how much time he wasted he’s going to “seize this opportunity” and “use all the tools and disposal.” So we know that this journal belongs to either Richard, Scotty, Van or Brooks.

Frankie September 6

Frankie and Richard meet for coffee. Richard feels guilty about his friend’s death. He thinks he should’ve made him turn around. Frankie suggest he goes to see a therapist. Richard says that Gretchen isn’t very empathetic.

Frankie recalls having a conversation on the mountain with Richard asking about art. Richard gave up his dream to get a practical job.

Frankie tells Richard that some guy she knew keeps calling her. She thinks that it’s someone named Adam Foley who is supposedly running for president.

Police Interview Richard Falk September 12

He says Frankie was his friend. They went through something traumatic together and he’s upset.

The police ask where he was on September 10, and he says he was working late and then went to meet a client for a drink and then back to the office. He fell asleep in the office and got home around 2:45. He says it’s absolutely not true that he was leaving Frankie’s apartment at 2:30 AM.

Gretchen September 12

At her granddaughter’s school assembly Gretchen suffers a panic attack and has to run out.

Gretchen recalls Brooks telling her that her parents were not going to find Richard acceptable. He was the son of an alcoholic electrician and a nurse.

She finally has to tell her daughter that Richard was arrested.

Gretchen opens the safe in the bedroom. Inside she finds $10,000 in cash and a journal of Richard. It’s a journal of his trip to Africa.

Husband Journal: 

He’s about to get fired.

Frankie September 7

Frankie goes to her studio to work, where she gets another strange phone call. They leave a message with a photo of her and Richard and a vaguely threatening message.

She reports the stalking, but the police say that if she’s not an eminent danger, nothing will happen. Frankie thinks the stalker was Adam Foley, a guy who sexually assaulted her in college. His wife found out and she signed an NDA and took a payout.

Grand jury transcript: Testimony of Frederic Kostov November 30

He owns an East Village deli. At 2 AM then he saw a guy with paint on him or maybe it was blood. The police ask him to look at photos and he recognized Richard Falk.

Gretchen September 12

Gretchen calls her son Becks, a college student who suffers from an extreme anxiety. He’s very alarmed by the news. She then calls her daughter Elizabeth, who joined a cult.  Elizabeth wants their driver to come pick her up.

Finally, Gretchen goes to meet Deborah, Richard’s assistant.

As she’s waiting for Deborah, someone calls and says they need to meet.

Deborah is shocked but says that a disheveled woman showed up at Richard’s office the prior week. When Gretchen shows Deborah a picture of Frankie, Deborah said that was not the woman who showed up at the office.

Husband journal:

What happens if life doesn’t make you happy?

Frankie September 7

She’s meeting Scotty on the Upper West Side for legal advice. He tells her that Brooks gambled his trust fund on a risky stock purchase, lost the monty, and his wife will probably leave him.

Frankie says there’s someone harassing her a guy from her past. She was only 17 years old. He’s trying to blackmail her.  Scotty can’t be sure if that violates the NDA because she said she doesn’t have a copy of it and she didn’t have a lawyer.

Brooks knows Frankie‘s friend Noah’s father. Noah’s family was the one who recommended the climbing company.

Grand Jury Transcript Lita Fernandez November 27

Lita says that she saw Frankie in the Falk apartment on Wednesday, September 10 in the morning. Frankie was crying and ran out.

Gretchen September 13

Gretchen meets Hilary and tells her everything. She has often wondered if Hilary is cheating on Scotty.

They discuss the case against Richard, the witness, and the evidence found at the apartment. 

Hilary seems to be hinting that Richard acts like they have an open marriage. On the other hand, Hilary points out that Richard practically faints at the side of blood.

Hilary asks Gretchen if she ever met Frankie. Gretchen lies and says no. Hilary suggested that maybe she and Gretchen should investigate Frankie.

After that, Gretchen, Scotty, and her kids meet with and Richard’s new criminal defense lawyer, Mikey Pierce. 

After the arraignment, there will be a grand jury and if he’s indicted, there will be be a second arraignment and a trial.

Mikey asks the family if they’ve been any strange phone calls or visitors. Gretchen says no but we know that’s a lie.

Mikey asks what happened the night Frankie was murdered.

Gretchen doesn’t mention that at 11 PM, Richard‘s phone location was at his office. At 2 AM, he still wasn’t home and his location was turned off. He came in around 2:30 and was “rustling around.”

Mikey repeatedly says that he needs to know everything but Gretchen clearly has some sort of secret she’s keeping.

Frankie September 8

Someone has vandalized Frankie’s studio. She worries it might be Adam.

Frankie tells Noah that Adam‘s been texting and watching her, and that she tried to go to the police.

On the mountaineering trip, everyone’s worried about Van because he’s having trouble breathing. Frankie doesn’t think he’s taking the altitude sickness medication. She thinks about the night that Adam sexually assaulted her.

After that, she hears Richard fighting with Van.

Back in the gallery, she assesses the damage. Paintings have been slashed and spray paint is all over the floor. She sees Richard outside and they decide to go get a drink.

Police Interview Richard Falk police September 12

Richard admits to texting Frankie on the night she was killed

Gretchen September 14

Gretchen and Hilary go to see Frankie‘s work at her gallery. All the paintings are of naked women.

Richard gets a text from Scotty. He’s trying to get in touch with Brooks to see if he knows anything.

Elizabeth asks Gretchen: “what if Dad actually killed her?” She also said Gretchen pretends things don’t happen such as that Elizabeth had a terrible drug problem and that Cassandra had an eating disorder.

Someone calls Gretchen and says: “ no games or this will end badly ask Frankie Callahan.”

Grand Jury Testimony Scotty Kaplan: November 27

Scotty says he met to give Frankie legal advice about someone who was harassing her. He thought Richard and Frankie were possibly having an affair.

Frankie September 8

Richard asks Frankie why she didn’t call the police about someone destroying her studio. He also asks if Scotty knew they were seeing each other.

In a flashback, Frankie overhears an argument about Van’s IPO. All the guys are investors. Brooks catches her eavesdropping and explained that Van is selling his restaurant chain and taking the company public.

Frankie and Richard go to a restaurant where one of her NYU friends is a chef. Thalia seems a bit disapproving of their relationship.

Frankie tells Richard that Adam texted her a picture of the two of them together suggesting he would show it to Gretchen.

Husband Journal

Today she left to go to a café. She’s so beautiful; he made mistakes but has to have her.

Gretchen September 15

There’s a crowd of reporters assembled outside the courthouse for Richard’s arraignment and bail hearing.

In the past, Brooks visited Gretchen at her house in the Hamptons. Brooks suggests that Richard “likes to wander.”

Finally, they get to hear the charges against Richard: He snuck his way into Frankie’s building and murdered her. He also confessed. Mikey says he was coerced and didn’t wave his rights. There was also a witness who saw Richard at the scene and they found bloody clothes at the apartment.

They learn that Frankie‘s body was dumped in the Hudson River and hasn’t been definitively identified. Why would Richard have moved her body?

Gretchen is also being blackmailed (or asked to pay $50,000) for something we don’t know anything about.

Police Interview Richard Falk September 12

Richard texted Frankie the night of her death, saying he needed to see her right away. He seemed agitated. He wanted to talk to her about being harassed by an ex-boyfriend.

Richard claims the witness is lying

Frankie September 8

When Frankie and Richard leave the bar, she’s drunk. Richard said he wished he’d seen what happened to Van because it’s hard to process. Frankie said she didn’t see it either. She was hiking in front of Van and behind Scotty.

Flash back to the climb. Van is feeling better. Tomorrow they are crossing the Western Breach. Frankie‘s pulse oxygen numbers are at evacuation level, but she lies about it.

Back at the bar, Richard offers to drop her off because his driver is around the corner. Frankie doesn’t want to be the other woman again and takes the subway.

Police Interview Richard Falk September 12

Richard continues to claim they never slept together, and he was not at the apartment at the time of the murder.

Gretchen September 15

Gretchen is at Cartier. She asks the price of the watch Richard gave her: $167,000.

The salesman remembers Richard and says that he wanted to watch to be a surprise because she was such a talented artist. She throws up on the street.

Gretchen takes the watch to a buyer in the Diamond District. He offers her $50,000 by certified check or $40,000 in cash.

Gretchen texts back the blackmailer that she’s ready to pay. She’s added the $10,000 from the safe and now has what he wants. He tells her to leave the cash on a bench in Central Park. A man grabs the cash and walks off before she can follow him.

Grethan is asleep when Beck comes home drunk and very confused. Mikey is coming over for a meeting.

Gretchen remembers the time two weeks ago and she peeked at Richard’s phone. Frankie texted: “hope you sleep well xo,” which shook Gretchen. She couldn’t see what Richard texted.

You can’t even make this up: Gretchen told her Pilates teacher about her situation and he suggested that he has some friends who could threaten someone for her.

In the present Gretchen is cheerfully making pancakes for her children. Elizabeth thinks that Richard might not be a murderer, but he’s definitely having affairs.

Becks comes downstairs and can’t even remember what happened the night before.

Gretchen goes to her husband‘s closet to look for Tylenol for Becks but instead finds a bag full of spray paint. Does she know about the vandalism? Did the police not think it was weird to have a bag of spray paint in your closet? These are the some of questions I have.

When she gets back to the kitchen, her son is reading a text off her phone that says “we need to meet again.”

Gretchen sneaks upstairs to text back and the person says “there is something you need to know.” And “we are not finished until I say we are.” Okay then!

Mikey shows up and says that the evidence the police collected from the house was a pair of Richard‘s pants with Frankie‘s blood type on them, found in the basement garbage in a bag with a receipt with Gretchen’s name on it.

In addition, Richard texted Frankie the night she died, saying he needed to see her and wouldn’t take no for an answer

On the positive side, 40% of the population has type of blood like Frankie.

Also it doesn’t seem like there was enough time for Richard to be at Frankie‘s apartment at 2:30 AM, kill her, dispose of the body, and get home by 2:53 AM. The police also know that Frankie was being harassed by the mysterious texter/vandal.

Becks pulls Gretchen aside and tells her he saw Frankie and Richard together downtown. (He thought his dad was asking weird so he followed him.) His dad and Frankie had a fight and Frankie stormed off.

Grand Jury Testimony Detective Raul Reyes November 27

One of Frankie’s neighbors heard an argument at 11 PM, then went back to sleep. At 3:30 AM, she peeked into the hallway to check and noticed Frankie’s door was ajar and there was blood on the floor.

The police arrived at 4 AM and agreed that there were some kind of altercation, including a lot of blood in the living room, some that have been cleaned up.

Frankie September 9

Frankie gets a phone call from a 508 number and asks the person to stop calling. Then she gets a text that says: “you can’t ignore me. I know where you live. Find someplace better to hide.” They include a photo of her and Richard.

Back at the Kilimanjaro climb, they’re ready to tackle the Western Breach, the steepest part of the ascent, six hours of vertical rock scramble.

As they prepare for the final hour of climbing to the summit. Frankie‘s pulse oxygenation numbers are low, so Brooks offers her a pill.

Back in the present, Frankie calls Noah in the middle of the night. He comes over and she shows him the texts.  He tells her to go to the police. 

She explains about the NDA and the payoff. (Also, its seemed like her sexual assault happened at Noah’s parents’ house.) Noah is hurt and angry that she lied and stalks out.

Grand Jury Testimony Noah King November 27

Noah claims Richard and Frankie had a romantic connection in Africa and they saw each other in New York, but no physical relationship. He’s asked about her showing up at Richard‘s apartment on September 10 in her pajamas.

Gretchen September 16

The news of the murder is in the newspapers, although Richard’s name isn’t announced.

She remembers that years ago, she found a receipt from the Crosby Street hotel in his pocket. She thought about confronting Richard, but she didn’t.

Gretchen is at the coffee shop where Becks saw Frankie and Richard.

She shows the barista a picture of Richard and Frankie who says that he has seen Frankie with her friend Thalia, who owns the restaurant around the corner. But not with Richard.

Gretchen goes to talk to Thalia, who says she had a “bad vibe” about Richard, as did Noah. She claims Richard had “stalker vibes.”

Gretchen‘s weird stalker/blackmailer announces he doesn’t want to be dragged into this murder situation. Apparently Gretchen hired them (I guess through the Pilates teacher) to scare Frankie!?!  He says if anyone finds out that he did anything to Frankie he will kill her children.

Husband Journal

She needs to know that he looooooves her. Sigh.

Frankie September 10

The Senator is still texting her and she wonders if she should warn Richard. She texts Noah to apologize.

In the past, they reach the summit and start back down. Suddenly Van just disappears off the edge.

Frankie is painting and someone breaks into the apartment. She runs out onto the street. She asks a random woman if she can borrow her phone. Thalia doesn’t pick up and she can’t call Noah. She calls Richard.

Police Interview Richard Falk September 12

The police suggest that Gretchen could be a suspect too. Richard continues to insist that he did not have an affair with Frankie. When they threaten Gretchen, he says, “Sure. I killed her, but please leave Gretchen alone.”

Gretchen September 16

Gretchen asks Hilary to track down Frankie‘s friend Noah.

After Gretchen found the hotel receipt, she considered getting a divorce. She confided in her mother, who said all men are terrible, so just stay married

Gretchen goes to Rikers Island. Richard said he misses her. She loses it and says she knows about everything. He admits to the affair in the Crosby Hotel, but he continues to insist he did not sleep with Frankie. Richard also thinks that Gretchen was the one who trashed Frankie’s studio.

Husband Journal

He followed a couple in the park, then saw the husband sneaking out to meet his girlfriend, blah blah blah. All the clues suggest must be Brooks.

Frankie September 10

Frankie shows up at Richard’s apartment building in her pajamas and bare feet.

Flashback to when they learned Van was dead. The guide gave them whiskey and they all passed out. Richard stayed in her tent to watch over her. When she wakes up, they start going at it, but are interrupted by the guide who wants to check her numbers.

We’re back to Frankie at Richard’s apartment in her pajamas.

Brooks’s wife left him and he has some financial problems. He’s a weird nerd and Richard doesn’t trust him. He’s up to no good; I’m sure of it! I also feel like that person who’s threatening her is actually Becks not the senator.

When Frankie is using the bathroom, she finds the cans of spray paint. I thought they were in the closet! Maybe Gretchen moved them.

Spoilers for Someone Else’s Husband by Kimberly McCreight

Grand Jury Testimony: Crime Scene Investigator Celia Leland November 27

There was blood, blood spatter and blood residue in Frankie’s apartment. The body found in the river matched Frankie’s description, but was NOT Frankie. WHAT?!?!?!?

Gretchen September 18

Mikey makes Gretchen sign a retainer agreement. The blood on Richard’s pants was Frankie’s. When Richard got to the apartment, Frankie was dead. 

Gretchen remembers a time when her father was berating her when the kids were young and Richard stood up to him. 

Richard thinks Gretchen vandalized Frankie’s studio. So when he found Frankie dead, he cleaned up to protect Gretchen. 

Gretchen thinks (like me) that it was Becks, so she tells Mikey that yes, she did it.

Deborah randomly shows up at Gretchen’s with lasagna and some papers for Richard to sign. Then Gretchen’s phone rings and Hilary’s photo pops up. Deborah says Hilary is the woman who came to se Richard at work.

Gretchen goes to see Hilary, who tells her that she found where Noah King lives. When Gretchen asks Hilary if she was having an affair with Richard, she says no, that she went to tell Richard off for cheating on Gretchen.

Grand Jury Testimony Noah King

Noah says there was no relationship between Frankie and Richard. He pleads the Fifth on all other questions.  Interesting! But he has no motive to kill Frankie!

Frankie September 10

Frankie calls the police to report the break-in but they don’t show up. She’s painting and then hears someone right behind her.

Grand Jury Testimony Richard Falk

Richard denies the affair. He says he went to in Frankie’s apartment to clear up a misunderstanding: she’d found spray paint in Richard’s apartment and he wanted to explain.

Gretchen September 19

Gretchen goes to see Noah. She tells him Richard didn’t do it, and he tells her to look into Senator Adam Foley. She tells Mikey, who says that they know all about Foley, but he has an alibi.

Gretchen asks Becks if he trashed Frankie’s studio. He admits that he and his friend Luke did.

The police show up and want to talk to Gretchen. It’s not about Frankie.

Someone’s Else’s Husband: The Ending Explained

Grand Jury Testimony Senator Adam Foley November 30

Adam Foley knew Frankie. Met her at a party hosted 20 years ago by Noah King. He admits to sleeping with her and says the $400,000 was because he wanted to save his marriage  He also says that he told Brooks Grace about his relationship with Frankie (they were colleagues at the same law firm.)

Frankie September 10

Frankie expects to see Adam behind her, but it’s Brooks.

Gretchen September 19

The police tell Gretchen that Brooks Grace is missing. He’d been hiding out at the Plaza after being removed from Grace Chemical as CEO.  He left  behind a journal. He was following Gretchen and obsessed with her.

Frankie September 10

Brooks tells Frankie his plan: he can be with Gretchen and Richard can be with Frankie. Brooks has been the one texting Frankie.  She asks him if he pushed Van off the mountain. There’s a struggle and she is holding a scraper knife. She swings it and it hits Brooks into the throat.

Grand Jury Testimony Raul Reyes: November 30

The blood in Frankie’s apartment was not hers. The body in the river was that of Carole Rybak, a cleaner. They had to release Richard. They finally matched the blood in Frankie’s apartment to Brooks.

Epilogue

Cassandra has a new baby. Gretchen is going to law school. Richard and Gretchen are separating and Richard was sentenced to eighteen months in jail for tampering with evidence (I guess cleaning blood in Frankie’s apartment ??? He thought Gretchen killed Frankie.

Frankie is hiding out in France, calling herself Thalia Noah.  Noah helped Frankie bury Brooks. She’s been painting anonymously. Brooks killed Van. Frankie believes what she did was self defense.