The Last Housewife

Shay and Jamie, posing as journalists, get into the party at Hilltop. Jamie plans to release the podcast and send evidence to the FBI as soon as Shay finds Laurel. Shay notes multiple Paters in the crowd, and she sneaks through the mansion to find Laurel, thinking she may be in a bedroom getting ready. Shay stops when she finds a painting of a man with skeletal hands circling a woman’s waist, and she hears Don’s voice behind her. She struggles to resist the magnetic effect Don has on her, and Don kisses her. She turns away, and Don acts hurt, telling her he is glad she came home. Shay reveals that she knows about his alternate identities and the Pater Society, and Don becomes anxious. Shay tells Don that he cannot hurt her without people finding out, but he lunges, strangling her in the hallway. A man passes, but he simply nods to Don and continues walking away. Don drags Shay to a stairwell and throws her down headfirst.

Shay wakes up buried under dirt, and she panics, clawing her way to the surface. When she emerges, she is in the garden of Hilltop where the other missing women are buried, and Don sits watching her and sipping a drink. When she tries to run, he jumps up and hits her in the head with his glass, knocking her unconscious. Shay reawakens in the same chair she was tied to by the Lieutenant previously, and Don pulls a Roman pugio from a drawer. He cuts Shay’s chest, tearing some of her clothing, and Shay berates him for being a predator. Laurel enters, and she is upset that Don is with Shay. Shay manages to pull out an axe from a drawer, telling Laurel that she needs to escape. Don hands Laurel the pugio and tells her to kill herself unless Shay drops the axe. Shay tells them that the Pater Society is about to be unveiled, and everyone will know who Don is and what the Paters have done. Laurel worries that people will find out that she killed Rachel, and Don tells her to kill herself. Shay drops the axe, and she begs Laurel to ignore Don and come with her. Don tells Laurel to kill herself anyway, and Shay sees that Laurel is torn, but she ultimately kills herself by slitting her throat.

Don is amazed that Laurel killed herself, and Shay is dismayed, holding Laurel’s body as she bleeds to death. They hear a commotion upstairs as people scream and run. Shay hopes that Jamie’s plan worked, and she tries to sprint away. Don catches her, insisting that she will not leave the basement alive, but Shay grabs a chair and smashes it over Don’s head. Injured, Don recoils, and Shay throws the remaining leg of the chair at his face before sprinting back toward the stairs. Don catches her again, slamming her face into the stairs, then he starts strangling her. Someone outside the door shouts, and Don pauses to look up as the door to the basement opens. Shay takes a chance and bites into Don’s cheek, causing him to release her and roll to his side. Shay runs back into the basement and grabs the axe, kicking Don in the stomach and genitals when he tries to pursue her. Straddling him on the floor, Shay holds the axe to Don’s neck and realizes that she can see fear in his eyes.

Jamie comes into the basement to find Shay on top of Don, and he urges her to put the axe down. He says the FBI are there, and Don will be arrested and go to jail. Shay doesn’t trust him, and she reflects on how rich and powerful men are rarely punished for their crimes. Memories of her childhood, her friends, and the Pater Society mix with her anger, and she tells Jamie that she cannot let Don leave, even with the FBI. FBI agents come into the basement with their weapons drawn, ordering Shay to drop the axe, and Jamie tells them that Don killed Laurel. In a flash of rage, Shay chops into Don’s neck with the axe, even as the FBI agents fire shots at her, one hitting her in the shoulder. When Don is dead, the agents rush Shay, handcuffing her, and Jamie asks her why she is smiling. Shay responds with a single word, “Free.”

This chapter is a transcript of Jamie’s podcast, Transgressions, episode 705, in which he introduces the episode and Shay. Jamie presents an overview of the Pater Society, detailing how the FBI raided Hilltop and arrested the prominent members of the society, including Alec Barry, who has since resigned; Adam Dorsey, whose entire department is under investigation; and Reginald Carruthers, whose removal from Whitney College prompted a total reorganization of the administration of the school. Multiple women who were kept as “daughters” by the society have come forward to reveal evidence, and the FBI have located the bodies of five missing women, including Laurel Hargrove. Jamie thanks the audience for their participation in the raid, and he asks them to help Shay, as well, now using her maiden name, Evans. Jamie says that he understands how listeners may be confused that he is asking them to help a murderer, but he says that people need to hear the whole story to understand why Shay is innocent. Jamie notes that Shay will co-host three episodes of Transgressions with him, including readings from her book, The Last Housewife, which tells the story of Shay’s life and involvement in the investigation. When Shay introduces herself, she begins by saying that she does not regret killing Don, and she begins to read from her book.

Shay addresses the women reading her book, urging them to live for themselves and to ignore the opinions of others. She encourages her “dear sisters” to share parts of themselves and their experiences, and she says she will tell them her story from the beginning, noting that this is the story she tells to save her life.