All the Dangerous Things

Isabelle shakes herself out of a daze, as someone tells her that it is almost time for her to give a keynote speech. She ruminates on her relationship with coffee and need for familiarity before she follows an assistant to a large auditorium. A man on stage introduces her to the attendees of TrueCrimeCon, and she walks to the podium. Isabelle looks at the crowd of mostly older white women and studies t-shirts that blend pop iconography with true crime references. Although disgusted at the enthusiasm she sees, she begins her speech.

Isabelle dozes in her seat as her plane prepares to depart. She asks the flight attendant for soda water as she surveys her fellow travelers, trying to guess where they are from. She reflects on her speech, which she engineered to be attractive to audiences while knowing she cannot be too honest about her pain. Isabelle begins to spike her soda water with vodka when her seatmate, a man with a tote bag from TrueCrimeCon, arrives. She despises people who invest their time in true crime but knows their capabilities when it comes to research and remembering cases. The man compliments her speech and invites her onto his true crime podcast, introducing himself as Waylon. Isabelle rejects his offer but accepts his business card.

Isabelle arrives home in Savannah, Georgia, at two o’clock in the morning and greets her dog, Roscoe. She takes him on a walk and thinks about her first meeting with Dr. Harris, the doctor she has been seeing for her insomnia. She catches sight of herself in the mirror and notes that she looks years older than she did before Mason’s disappearance, as both anxiety and insomnia have impacted her physical health.

Isabelle walks familiar streets and looks at the marsh at the edge of her neighborhood. When she returns home, she eats leftovers and looks at her dining room wall, which she has covered with information pertaining to Mason’s case.

In the past, Isabelle wakes up in bed with her younger sister Margaret, who followed her to her room after she awoke to Isabelle staring at her. Isabelle apologizes for sleepwalking, a tendency she developed over the last several months. The sleepwalking scares Margaret, and Isabelle wishes she could resolve it. As the sisters get out of bed, Isabelle notices muddy footprints on her carpet and realizes she must have walked outside the night before.

As Isabelle showers the next morning, she thinks about commonplace tortures and compares them to her insomnia. She gets a cup of coffee before opening the envelope that contains her “speaker’s fee,” a list of the conference’s attendees. She searches this list for clues, believing that an attendee could be linked to Mason’s disappearance. Isabelle’s separated husband, Ben, arrives. Isabelle is tense as he asks about her well-being. The conversation turns to her keynote speech; Ben argues that her obsession is unhealthy, as are her performances. Ben pushes Isabelle to realize that Mason is dead. He hugs her, and she is briefly comforted before he tells her that he is dating someone. Isabelle expresses joy for him, but when he leaves, she touches his signet ring that she wears on a chain.

Isabelle and Ben’s relationship deteriorated within six months of Mason’s disappearance. Ben came to terms with Mason’s likely death, but Isabelle’s insistence that he was alive drove them apart. In the past, Isabelle moved to Savannah after college to begin her job as a writer for The Grit, a southern-based magazine. She met Ben at an all-you-can-eat oyster bar after she spilled beer on him and pretended she needed help shucking oysters. When she kissed him, he did not reciprocate and left while she was in the bathroom.

Isabelle looks herself up on the internet and finds an article discussing her keynote speech. She reflects on Ben and his faded feelings for her before reading the comments on the article. Some people express support for her, but others call her a “baby killer” or imply she has a book deal in the works (43). These comments remind Isabelle of some neighbors who blame her for Mason’s disappearance, believing that something malicious occurred. Overwhelmed with memories of Mason, Isabelle leaves the house.

In the past, Isabelle and Margaret descend the stairs of their massive family home, the historic Hayworth Mansion; the house’s role during the Civil War has made it a tourist trap. Isabelle makes omelets for breakfast before the girls’ mother joins them. The girls’ mother tells them that she wishes they could remain children forever and then laughs when Margaret announces she has named her new doll Eloise.

Isabelle walks aimlessly prior to her and Ben’s vigil for Mason. She arrives at a cemetery where she can see her old office building. On her first day at The Grit, her mentor, Kasey, asked if she believed in ghosts, citing Savannah as a haunted city. Isabelle walks away from the cemetery, fighting her memories. She arrives at the vigil and speaks with Detective Dozier, who tells her that policemen are present to observe the crowd. He pressures her about her speeches, and she offers to give him the names of the people at the recent TrueCrimeCon.

Isabelle and Ben hug before making their way to the front of the crowd. Ben thanks people for coming and asks for a moment of prayer. While people are praying, Isabelle looks for anything unusual. Afterward, she runs into Kasey, who expresses her concern. Kasey invites Isabelle to drinks with other members of The Grit staff; Isabelle, having left the magazine two months into her employment, turns down the offer. Kasey reminds Isabelle that she can ask for help.

Isabelle goes into a cathedral for a moment of quiet. As she sits in the pew, she thinks back to her first day at The Grit, where she was introduced to her boss—Benjamin Drake, the same man she kissed at the oyster bar. Ben is wearing a wedding ring at the time. He asks for a moment alone with Isabelle. He compliments the article she submitted with her application, a piece about a mother dolphin grieving her dead calf. Isabelle is startled back to the present by a woman touching her shoulder because the cathedral is closing. The woman invites her to a grief counseling group. Isabelle follows, and the woman introduces herself as Valerie. Isabelle leaves the grief counseling meeting, deciding not to attend after all. As she reaches for her car keys, she finds Waylon’s business card. She begins to write an email.