End of Story

Nicky talks to the cab driver about the Agatha Christie book she’s reading as they drive through San Francisco. He says the city is full of mystery, mystery writers, and killers, as they drive through dense fog. He references a famous unsolved case where a mystery writer is rumored to have killed his wife and child. He is startled when he drops Nicky off at the house where this writer lives. He asks if she’s frightened; Nicky says no.

Nicky is still surprised that the famous mystery writer Sebastian Trapp wrote back to her after she shared an error in his book. His house is a famous mansion, and Nicky is excited. Despite being a happy, soft-hearted person, she also feels she can take care of herself physically. When she rings the doorbell, a beautiful woman opens the door.

Answering the door is Diana Trapp, a middle-aged English woman. Nicky refers to a Sherlock Holmes story, and Diana confesses she’s not a mystery fan but enjoyed Nicky’s essays. Diana appreciates that Nicky teaches literary fiction but emphasizes detective novels. Nicky thanks Diana for the opportunity to stay and write Sebastian’s private biography before his impending passing from kidney failure. Nicky hears a loud voice echoing through the house: “Bring me the child!” (15).

Diana cautions Nicky that sound travels and takes her through the unusual house, past the portrait of the family before the first wife and child disappeared. Sebastian is in a beautiful library full of detective books, sitting behind a desk at a typewriter.

Nicky is nervous to meet Sebastian. He is tall, intimidating, and quotes Sherlock Holmes to her. Diana leaves them. He has Nicky’s letters on his desk, and he proceeds to tell her about herself based on her writing and correspondence details. She corrects Sebastian, revealing that she’s left-handed, which disrupts his theories. His desk is cluttered with relics from his detective character, Simon St. John, including a vintage pistol, a glass cube, and an old pocket watch. Sebastian then brings up his daughter, Madeleine, and his nephew, Freddy, suggesting that Nicky should interview them. He adds that he hopes they can solve an old mystery or two.

Nicky’s ex-boyfriend calls to check in. Everyone at home is worried about her staying with a reputed murderer. Freddy offers to give Nicky a ride into the city. Diana gives her the key to the attic, which is full of curiosities, including taxidermized versions of the family’s dogs, each named Watson. She notices glow-in-the-dark stars above the bed spelling out “Cole,” the name of the missing young boy. This is Cole Trapp’s bedroom.

Freddy drives Nicky into the city, where she eats and goes over reports of New Year’s Eve, 1999. Cole and Hope Trapp were discovered missing on New Year’s Day. Cole slept over at his cousin Freddy’s, and Hope was dropped off at a liquor store in the Presidio at 1:30 am by Dominic and Simone, Sebastian’s brother and sister-in-law. Madeleine Trapp came home from college at Berkeley on the morning of New Year’s Day, just as her father called his brother to ask where Hope and his son were. By that February, Sebastian was cleared. He left for England and didn’t write a book for 10 years. Fifteen years after the disappearances, he returned to San Francisco and remarried his wife’s former assistant, Diana.

Nicky finds Madeleine Trapp working on puzzles in a room painted like the streets of Victorian London, complete with figures of Jack the Ripper and Madeleine herself dressed as a sex worker. Madeleine cautions Nicky that her father never talks about his missing wife and son. She hopes Nicky is not one of the obsessed fans who call themselves Trapper Keepers. Madeleine carries the latest living version of Watson, the taxidermized dog. She reveals that she moved back home during law school, never finishing her degree and instead writing an embarrassingly bad book. She warns Nicky not to use the elevator and says she wishes Nicky weren’t there, even as she hugs her. Nicky looks at an earlier version of Madeleine in the family portrait. She wonders why it’s still hanging at the top of the stairs if Sebastian won’t talk about his family.

Madeleine sits at her desk wondering why she hugged Nicky. She tries to work on her screenplay, which is based on one of Sebastian’s novels. She goes to the kitchen, where Freddy is making food. They discuss Nicky seeming nice. Madeleine wants to talk about the past but can’t. She goes back to bed, remembering how her younger brother Cole used to call her Magdala when he was scared at night and wanted to snuggle with her.

Nicky thinks the Trapp house and its occupants are like characters in a book. She hears the typewriter in the study below her. Nicky’s Aunt Julia calls to check on her and warns her to be careful. Nicky pulls out postcards from her bag, which are addressed to Nicky from Cole Trapp in 1999. They were part of a school correspondence program for young people. Cole’s postcards stopped in December 1999.

Nicky and Sebastian are in his men-only club having lunch. He talks about his father, who was in the army and died by suicide. He said his brother and sister-in-law visited every day after Cole and Hope disappeared, and their son Freddy was Cole’s only friend. A hit-and-run driver killed his brother. When Nicky asks what he was doing during the years after Cole and Hope disappeared and before he resumed writing, Sebastian says that he was trying not to die by suicide.

Nicky notes that Sebastian doesn’t talk about Cole and Hope, except peripherally. He communicates his memories about his mother before she died of lupus. She was a librarian and a defender of anyone perceived as inferior by others or themselves. She introduced Sebastian to detective stories. He recounts his early jobs, meeting Hope at a New Year’s Eve party, and his first book becoming a bestseller. He says that he began to hate his detective and abruptly ends the conversation.

Nicky is approached by Lionel Lightfoot, a former family friend who wrote a tell-all book. He says Nicky should come visit him. Trapp makes Nicky drive the Jaguar, as he’s had too many beers. Nicky has never driven before. He asks her to describe herself in five words: She uses curious, empathetic, bibliophilic, adventurous, and happy. He admits to not talking about Hope and Cole and says that Nicky feels like a priest whom he can confess to. He says the past is a strange and poisonous place. Nicky counters that it’s gone, and he says it’s not: It’s waiting.

Nicky and Diana talk about Lionel Lightfoot publishing a tell-all novel about Sebastian and Hope. Diana says she feels her life is changing.

Madeleine returns from volunteering at the library and listens to Diana and Nicky. Nicky interjects that Lionel was cruel. Diana says Nicky should interview Isaac Murray, Sebastian’s old research assistant. Diana gives Nicky a family photo album. Madeleine glances into her mother’s room, which is now Diana’s room. She can’t bring herself to go in. She goes to her own suite and tries and fails to write.

Diana shows Nicky photos of Cole and Hope. She says mother and son had an inside joke about the phrase “Cherchez la Femme.” She reminds Nicky about their Midsummer party. Nicky finds it odd that Sebastian won’t talk about his wife and child but put together the photo album for her. Later that night, she hears the typewriter and feels a sensation in her body that she calls detective fever.

Madeleine thinks that despite her abandoning most things, she has never left her father. She wonders what she will do after he’s dead. She and Nicky talk about how Sebastian has dedicated multiple books to Madeleine and only one to Cole. Diana arrives to take Nicky to meet Simone, Sebastian’s sister-in-law, and Freddy, Sebastian’s nephew. They joke about Simone making the Midsummer party a masquerade despite the intention to introduce people to Diana. As they leave, Madeleine is unhappy that the dog Watson seems to like Nicky.

On the drive, Nicky confesses she doesn’t know how much to ask Sebastian about Hope and Cole. Nicky and Diana discuss the theory that Sebastian had his brother killed. They think his widow, Simone, has a big personality. At the entrance, they hear a gunshot and Nicky runs inside. She finds Simone getting angry at Freddy and his friend Jonathan: They set off a bottle rocket because Jonathan had never seen one before. When asked how Freddy knows Jonathan, Jonathan jokes that he could be anyone.

Nicky asks about what it was like when Cole and Hope disappeared. Freddy says the bullying Cole endured was horrific. It hurt Hope, who tried moving Cole’s school to no avail. Cole confused his father. He liked games and origami, and he had dyslexia. Freddy relates a story about a game of spin the bottle, where the kids made Cole kiss the dog. Despite Cole’s witty response, the kids bullied him. The weather starts to turn stormy, and Jonathan leaves. He gives Nicky his number. Nicky likes Freddy despite his goofiness. Simone brings in an armload of photographs for Nicky.

Madeleine sees Sebastian and Nicky go to the manor’s maze, with Watson following. The maze has no center: Sebastian once told her that’s what everyone fears most, a lack of center, and that learning to live with fear, failure, and the unknown is important. She goes into a secret room in the parlor hidden behind a bookshelf.

Madeleine can hear sounds from the courtyard through the air vent. Her father is recounting old stories. He relates how they found their first Watson during a storm. She gets up to stop the conversation when it turns to what she thinks will upset her father. She walks into Freddy, who gives her a small box, addressed to Sebastian, that was at the front door.

At dinner, Sebastian asks Nicky about herself. Madeleine considers asking if she thinks Sebastian killed Hope and Cole. Later, Madeleine goes to her father’s bedroom and gives him the box: Inside, there is a red origami butterfly with the words “Cherchez la Femme” on the wings. He crushes it and says it a bad joke.

In the attic, Nicky beings to write. Madeleine is downstairs listening to hail on the roof and her father typing. Her phone buzzes saying “Hi, Magdala,” and “It’s me, Magdala” (110). Magdala is a name only her brother Cole called her.