Triptych

The narrative returns to the present, and John’s perspective reveals that he now has post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in prison; he flinches whenever he hears someone approaching him from behind. John spent a month in the hospital and was then transferred to the protective ward, where the serious sex offenders were incarcerated. He was placed in Ben Carver’s cell.

Now, John calls Ben’s mother and arranges to borrow her car. He knows that he must be careful so that Martha Lam doesn’t find out what he is doing. He doesn’t know how to drive an car with an automatic transmission, so he must quickly learn this skill. He has received two pieces of mail from Ben, both of which are in code. Eventually, he translates the code and realizes that Ben has sent him the address of the person he is looking for—Woody, the man who stole his identity.

John goes to the liquor store to look for Robin, and the other sex workers tell him that Robin is at the movie theater. He tells Robin that he cannot see her anymore because he is about to get involved in something bad.

The narrative shifts to the past to describe more details of John’s incarceration. When his mother visits him, she tells him that he will survive. She brings him textbooks, encourages him to earn his GED, and insists that he go to college someday. John keeps expecting Ben to approach him sexually, but instead, he finds that Ben is oddly protective of him. Ben discourages John from using drugs. The other sex offenders in the wing make offers for John, but they are all afraid of Ben.

Aunt Lydia continues to work on John’s case. She had discouraged him from taking the plea deal, which would have sentenced him to 15 years. John keeps his head down and learns to adapt to prison life. He studies hard. His father, Richard, visits him for the second and final time when John is up for parole. Richard tells John that Emily now has late-stage breast cancer. John tells the parole board that he killed Mary Alice and says that he wants to go home to see his mother. His parole is granted, but Emily dies two days before John is released.

The narrative returns to the present. By this point, John has been following Woody for almost two months. Woody is a creature of habit; he goes to work, comes home, and watches TV. Every Sunday night, when Woody’s wife leaves, Woody leaves too. John follows Woody and watches him solicit sex workers. However, one night, Woody alters his routine and goes to a neighborhood instead. John watches him get into his car with a young girl and realizes that Woody stole his identity to hide a series of crimes.

John’s sister, Joyce, calls him and asks to meet for coffee. When they meet, he asks her if she knows what Woody is doing. Joyce tells him not to get involved with Woody because he was always going to be bad news. Joyce knows that John confessed to Mary Alice’s murder in front of the parole board; she is heartbroken that he would say this. Now, she demands to know the truth. He gives her the credit report and tells her that he has become entangled in something ominous.

John heads to Woody’s neighborhood. As he cuts across a field, he sees Woody’s backyard. He watches as Woody hops over the fence and kisses Cynthia.

The narrative shifts to June 1985. The young John is waiting for Mary Alice to arrive at Woody’s party. She wants to drink alcohol. John is very attracted to her, and she tells him that her dad moved out. Woody flirts with Mary Alice, and the two start kissing, but when he rips a button off her shirt, she stops kissing Woody and asks John to take her home. Woody gives John some cocaine.

The narrative returns to the present. While cleaning out a car at the car wash, John’s attention is caught by a newspaper headline declaring that a “Snellville girl” has been kidnapped from a “local neighborhood.” John learns that the girl was 14 years old and was found the next day, hiding in a ditch. He realizes that Woody abducted the girl. That night, John follows Woody, who picks up a sex worker. As John follows them, he hears the woman screaming.

The next day, John waits until Woody has left for work and then breaks into Woody’s house. The chain-link fence is still broken, and John finds Woody’s collection of child pornography. He also finds a large folding knife that Woody carried as a teenager. Suddenly, Cynthia enters the house and demands to know who he is. When he claims that Woody told him that Cynthia lives next door, she genuinely does not know who “Woody” is.

Cynthia starts running to her house, and he follows her into the yard. She turns to look at him as she climbs over the fence and then falls, slamming her head against a large rock. She dies immediately. John thinks back to when he discovered Mary Alice’s body. He reflects on the fact that Woody, who now goes by the name of Michael Ormewood, killed Mary Alice. John picks up the knife and grabs Cynthia’s tongue.

The narrative shifts to June 1985. The young John tells Mary Alice that she is too drunk to go home to her mother. Mary Alice grabs the bag of drugs that Woody gave to John. She sneaks him into her house and then asks him to show her how to snort cocaine. They kiss, and John immediately passes out. Later, he wakes up with a headache and discovers Mary Alice’s dead body. She is naked and mutilated, and her tongue has been bitten off. Her mouth is full of blood. John’s hand is covered in her blood, and he leaves a handprint on the windowsill as he climbs out of her room and runs home.

The narrative inserts a newspaper article from June 1995. It focuses on a retrospective analysis of Mary Alice’s murder, which took place 10 years prior. Authorities decided that John must have experienced an acute mental health crisis to murder Mary Alice so brutally. Classmates testified that John’s personality had changed due to his addiction. A six-inch knife from the Shelleys’ kitchen was found in John’s room, covered in blood. Mary Alice’s parents got divorced during the trial. Later, at John’s first parole hearing, he maintained his innocence.