The Last One at the Wedding

Frank stops by Tammy’s to pick her up to go to the wedding. They have a 300-mile drive ahead of them, and he wants to get an early start. Tammy does not have children of her own but is a foster mother through the state foster care system. She specializes in short-term fostering and typically takes on what Frank would characterize as tough cases. On the day of their journey, she is not supposed to have any children at her home, but she does. She explains that it was an emergency and that the girl, Abigail, will be accompanying them to the wedding. Frank is upset, but she reminds him of all the help that she gave him with Maggie, and he relents. The three set off for New Hampshire.

Abigail will not stop chattering on the drive. Tammy seems unfazed, but Frank is irritated. Abigail wants to know how the Gardners became so wealthy, and Tammy tells her that she can also be successful if she works hard in school.

Frank and Tammy stop to use a restroom in the town of Hopps Ferry, near to the Gardner family’s summer camp where the wedding will be held. Frank notices a flyer about Dawn Taggart tacked onto a local bulletin board. A man approaches him and introduces himself as Brody, Dawn’s uncle. When he finds out that Frank’s daughter is to marry Aidan Gardner, he becomes agitated. He accuses Aidan of Dawn’s murder, explaining that Aidan murdered her after she became pregnant with his child. He alleges that Aidan buried her on the grounds of his family’s summer camp. He also alleges that the police were involved in the cover up. A police officer interrupts him, chases him off, and tells Tammy and Frank that the Gardners had nothing to do with Dawn’s disappearance and that they are a lovely family. Frank is unconvinced.

Frank and Tammy make their way to the Osprey Cove, the Gardners’ family’s compound. It is a renovated summer camp that they now use as a kind of retreat center for friends and colleagues in the tech world. The property is at the end of a long, winding road through the woods. Upon arrival, Hugo, the caretaker, asks them to sign a 50-page privacy agreement. Frank objects, asking to read it first. Exasperated, Tammy calls Maggie to complain. Maggie insists that the document is no big deal and that Frank should sign it. Although he remains suspicious, he complies with her request. The camp is large and lavish, and Frank and Tammy are impressed. Maggie asks if Abigail can step in to the role of flower girl, explaining that the girl who was supposed to perform the role is sick. Aidan, standing nearby, seems bored and irritated with the entire conversation and barely greets Frank. Frank takes note of this behavior and feels increasingly suspicious of Aidan. Even more suspicious is that Aidan installs an app on Frank’s and Tammy’s phones, noting that it will allow them Bluetooth access to the camp’s buildings; the property uses this keyless system instead of traditional locks.

Frank reads over the wedding schedule, noting the way that each hour of the next few days is planned out. He looks over his speech, growing nervous that it is too cheesy. He decides to see if Vicky will give him her honest opinion and calls to ask if she’ll look over his writing. She happily agrees, and he feels relieved. Just then, Abigail begins screaming and Frank runs to investigate.

Frank and Tammy find Abigail in her room pointing toward the closet. Frank opens the door and finds what he first identifies as a wig but then realizes is a massive daddy long-legs nest. Tammy wants to call the Gardners and switch cottages, but Frank insists that he can kill the spiders himself. After he finishes, Tammy pulls him aside and tells him that because she and Abigail are both afraid of insects, he will have to switch rooms with Abigail. He is upset to give up his luxury suite but finally agrees. The incident leaves him confused as to how such a wealthy family could have overlooked this maintenance, and he feels unsettled.

Margaret had promised Frank that she would take him on a tour of the camp, but she phones and says that she is too busy with last-minute wedding preparations and tells him to explore on his own. She sounds frazzled, but Frank is hurt. Aidan, his parents, and Maggie have all ignored him since he arrived and he feels left out. Nevertheless, he is bored and decides to look around the property. He sees Aidan and a red-haired woman hastily take a path into the woods and decides to follow them. They end up at a small, shabby shed. Frank hears loud, angry voices and catches part of a conversation: The woman is threatening to “tell Maggie,” and Aidan is upset. The woman asks Aidan if he is threatening her, but Frank cannot hear his response. Just then, they become aware of his presence. Aidan says hello and explains that this is his studio. The three have a tense conversation after which Aidan explains that Gwendolyn, the woman, is a friend of his from school who is uncomfortable at the camp and dislikes wealth. Frank wonders how much more to this story there is, but his thoughts are interrupted by a phone call: Errol Gardner wants to meet for a drink.

Frank, Errol, Aidan, and the Gardners’ family friend and attorney, Gerry Levinson, meet for a drink. The topic of conversation ranges from Frank’s late wife to Mrs. Gardner’s chronic migraines, but then Errol and Gerry ask about the photograph that was delivered to Frank. Frank shows them the picture of Aidan and Dawn, and Errol and Gerry claim that it was photoshopped. Aidan denies ever having taken Dawn to the camp. He explains that he met Dawn one day when his car blew a tire. She helped him change it but wouldn’t take money, so he offered to buy her dinner. He claims that their meal was tedious and that they had very little to talk about. He also claims never to have seen her again after that night and to have been with Maggie on the night Dawn went missing. He explains that the two had spent the whole weekend at Maggie’s apartment.

At the group dinner that night, Frank thinks about Aidan’s story. Maggie hated her apartment, which was a tiny garden-level studio, and even went in to work on weekends to avoid being home. He doubts that the two spent an entire weekend holed up there without leaving. He decides to talk to Maggie and relates the story of his meeting with Brody Taggart, the argument between Aidan and Gwendolyn that he overheard, and his conversation with Errol, Aidan, and Gerry. He also brings up the fact that when Maggie herself told him the story of Dawn’s disappearance, she claimed that Aidan was just “in Boston” and not that he had been with her. Maggie becomes combative, denies Aidan’s involvement in Dawn’s disappearance, and angrily tells Frank that he should believe her over Dawn’s family members.

Frank, Tammy, and Abigail head to the buffet. Abigail tries to take too much food and ends up dropping a piece of chicken on the ground. Not wanting to waste it, Frank picks up the cutlet and places it on his own plate. They are seated not with Maggie, Aidan, and the Gardners but with Gerry and his much younger wife—Frank later suspects that she is an escort when Erroll offers to procure him a sex worker. Frank is frustrated with Abigail, Maggie, and the entire event.

Frank continues to feel uncomfortable at the dinner and wonders aloud to Tammy why none of Maggie’s old friends are in attendance. Tammy shrugs and explains that Maggie lost touch with a lot of her old crew. She encourages Frank to meet Maggie’s new friends. Frank tries to introduce himself to a few of the guests but feels out of place. When someone suggests that he go and say hello to Catherine Gardner, Aidan’s mother, he gladly leaves the party. Catherine refuses to come to the door, and he runs into Gwendolyn in the hallway. She cryptically tells him that Catherine is not going to come out and say hello, and Frank becomes frustrated and demands to know what Gwendolyn knows about the family. Gwendolyn tells him that she will relate the whole story tomorrow when everyone else is on the group hike.

Frank realizes that he has not seen Aidan all night. The party is getting more raucous, and Frank is uncomfortable because so many of the guests, Maggie and Aidan’s young friends, are taking THC gummies and skinny dipping. He decides to head inside but first asks both Maggie and Errol where Aidan is. Maggie is combative and tells him not to worry about it. Errol claims not to be monitoring his son. Gerry steps in and claims that Aidan is with his mother, but Frank has his doubts. On the way back to his cabin, Frank sees Catherine in the window again. Impulsively, he waves at her. He is surprised to notice that she waves back.