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What Would You Do: The Last Thing He Told Me
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In another "What Would You Do" episode, Brook and Sarah discuss Laura Dave's The Last Thing He Told Me.
Discussed
The Last Thing He Told Me (2021) Laura Dave
Feedspot 40 Best Mystery Book Podcasts (2023)
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Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.com
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Transcript
Podcast Ranking Celebration
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Clued In Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke. And we both love mystery. Hi, Brooke. Hi, Sarah. How are you? I'm doing really well. How about you? I'm good. And I have some exciting news to share with our listeners today. We've been named by Feedspot as one of the best mystery podcasts. They created a top 40 list, and we're at number 11, which makes us very proud.
00:00:40
Speaker
So, you know, you might want to head over to Feed Spot and check us out and see if there are any other mystery shows on the list you might like. I know one of my favorites, She Done It, is very deservedly at the number one spot. So we'll link their list there in our show notes for you. Oh, thank you so much for sharing that, Brooke. I'm also excited because this is one of my favorite type of episodes,
Book Introduction: 'The Last Thing He Told Me'
00:01:05
Speaker
Sarah. We're doing a What Would You Do talk.
00:01:09
Speaker
I'm so excited. And today we're doing The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. The book was released in 2021 and earlier this year, a screen adaptation was released on Apple TV. As with our other What Would You Do episodes, we get into detail and there are definitely some spoilers, but we will discuss what we would do if we were in the main character's shoes. So I'll start us off with a brief overview.
Mysterious Note and Owen's Disappearance
00:01:34
Speaker
We meet Hannah Hall, an acclaimed woodturner, when she is in her early 40s and recently married to Owen Michaels, becoming stepmother to 16-year-old Bailey, with whom she is trying to build a relationship. One afternoon, a girl hands Hannah a note at the Sausalito home that she shares with Owen and Bailey. The note, in Owen's handwriting, simply reads, protect her.
00:01:55
Speaker
She tries to call her husband, but the call is unanswered. Later that day, a news story breaks out about The Shop, the technology firm where he is an executive. The Shop is being investigated for fraud, and the CEO is taken into custody. Unsettled, Hannah picks up Bailey from an after-school drama practice. Bailey has with her a duffel bag filled with cash that she found in her locker along with a note from her father telling her to trust Hannah.
00:02:21
Speaker
Shortly afterwards, Hannah learns from her good friend Jules, who is a reporter, that she warned Owen about the raid at the shop. Hannah still cannot reach her husband. The next morning, Grady Bradford, a deputy with the U.S. Marshal Service, advises Hannah to get a lawyer, saying, Owen is not who you think he is.
00:02:40
Speaker
Following Grady's advice, Hannah seeks out their friend and neighbor Carl, who is a lawyer. After hated words, Carl's wife reveals that Owen convinced them to invest in the shop and now they've lost their money. Hannah is certain that Owen would not do this to his friends. At home, Hannah searches Owen's computer.
00:02:58
Speaker
She's interrupted by the FBI, and during a conversation with them, she lies about the US Marshal. The FBI reveals that the wife of the shop's CEO bought tickets to Australia in an attempt to flee. Things are not looking good for Owen. After the FBI leaves, Hannah calls her former fiancé, Jake, who is also a lawyer.
Journey to Austin and Uncovering Owen's Past
00:03:19
Speaker
Jake promises to look into Owen's history, but he suggests Owen is on the run, echoing the US Marshal's comment.
00:03:26
Speaker
Hannah realizes that Grady is from the Austin office of the US Marshals, and Bailey remembers snippets of what she thinks might be Austin. Hannah recalls Owen being cagey when she suggested visiting the city, so without telling Jake or Grady, they board a plane.
00:03:41
Speaker
In Austin, Hannah and Bailey follow Bailey's faint memories, leading them to a church where Bailey thinks she attended a wedding. The church is a dead end, and Carl calls Hannah and admits he lied about investing because he'd spent the money on his mistress. Hannah and Bailey leave, disappointed and ready to return to California.
00:04:00
Speaker
That night, Jake tells Hannah that his private investigator has been unable to dig up anything on Owen, that Owen Michaels doesn't exist before 2009 when he moved to Sausalito. Jake wonders again if Owen and Bailey were on the run for some nefarious reason, as he's confirmed that they weren't in witness protection. Hannah has some flashbacks of conversations that she had with her husband, and Bailey recounts a memory that supports the idea that Owen changed his identity and the details that he has shared about his life are untrue.
00:04:30
Speaker
Still in Austin, after Hannah has made a list of things that she believes to be true about her husband, Hannah and Bailey visit the university where they speak to Owen's former professor, leading them to search the archives for a class roster. The lady from the church calls to say that the church was open during the preseason scrimmages and provides the name of a couple whose wedding coincided with one of the games. The groom's surname matches a name on the class roster.
00:04:55
Speaker
Searching that name leads to a photograph of a woman who looks like Bailey in a bar called the Never Dry, which Bailey recognizes from a picture. Hannah enters the bar alone, instructing Bailey to wait outside, though eventually she does enter and the bartender calls her Kristen. Hannah and Bailey rush back to the hotel and pack their things. While Hannah is distracted, Bailey runs off. Grady shows up and takes Hannah to the U.S. Marshal's office, where Hannah learns the truth about Owen.
Negotiations with the Mob Family
00:05:23
Speaker
He married the daughter of a mob lawyer and performed work to help him. Owen's wife, Bailey's mother, was killed in a car accident and Owen, whose name was really Ethan, blamed his father-in-law and ran away with Bailey.
00:05:37
Speaker
Jules has opened a safe that Hannah asks her to look for and inside is Owen's final will that sets out Hannah and Charlie Smith, the bartender at the Never Dry, as Bailey's guardians. With this information, Hannah returns to the bar and Charlie takes her to see his dad. They have a tense conversation and Hannah agrees to letting Bailey decide whether she meets her grandfather if the grandfather ensures she is safe.
00:06:03
Speaker
The book ends with a scene several years later where Hannah and Bailey have a strong relationship and Owen bumps into Hannah to let her know that he's safe and still loves her.
Debating Reactions to Cryptic Instructions
00:06:13
Speaker
Brooke, at the beginning of the book, when Bailey shows up with this bag full of money that she found in her locker, what would you do?
00:06:23
Speaker
Oh, that's such a good question, Sarah. I mean, the whole setup for the fact that her husband is gone, he's left her the note, like you say, protect her. I think right from the beginning, I would be a lot more freaked out than Hannah appears to be. You know, I think I'd be calling his work, I'd be calling the cops, I'd be calling his friends and family, like, has anyone seen my husband? And so the same goes when
00:06:51
Speaker
the teenage daughter shows this huge bag of cash. I mean, I guess at that point, Hannah does get pretty upset, but I would be freaking out. I think Bailey bringing that bag of money really signals to Hannah that something is up and Owen is not coming home and he expected not to be coming home.
00:07:16
Speaker
I mean, I think immediately your whole idea of who your husband is would fall apart because why does he have a bag of almost $600,000? I mean, who has that? Unless you have something really clandestine happening. Exactly. There would be so many things running through my head at that moment. And as you say, I would be trying to figure out
00:07:43
Speaker
What do I do? Who can I talk to? And maybe that's why she doesn't phone the police is because, you know, the news has broken out about the shop. And so she's kind of got this question while he's got all this money, like maybe he is involved and he's on the run.
00:08:01
Speaker
Right. The fact that she doesn't initially call the police works into her favor because then shortly after this money services, the news breaks about the fraud that's happening at his tech firm. So thankfully she hasn't and she's able to then take steps with Bailey to start putting the pieces together.
00:08:23
Speaker
And when she does speak with law officials, whether it's the FBI or the US Marshall, she's pretty guarded in terms of what she says, because she's still trying to figure out is she, you know, is there a way that she can protect Owen? And, you know, potentially they can reunite, you know, at some point.
00:08:49
Speaker
And I was impressed by that because I was thinking about, you know, just a run of the mill girl like she is. I don't know that I would have been that smart to not be too emotional and, um, you know, divulge more than I should or.
00:09:05
Speaker
She plays, actually through the whole book, she plays it really smart and makes good decisions considering she's not someone who, you know, this isn't just an average citizen. She hasn't been in law enforcement or the military, but I doubt that I would have made such wise choices if I was put in this position. And I would have been a lot more emotional, I'm sure.
00:09:30
Speaker
Oh, I agree. I think I would be fretting a lot more, but she does. She does have some pretty good lines in terms of, you know, um, there's one time when she's speaking to Grady, the US Marshall. Um, and he's really hinting that she needs to kind of let this go. And he's trying to figure out where she is. He still, he thinks she's still in California. And she says to him, where shouldn't I be?
00:09:57
Speaker
you know, while she's in Austin because he doesn't, I think he doesn't want her to be putting Bailey at risk. Yeah, right. Because at that point she hasn't figured out yet that it's actually this second life that Owen took Bailey away from. Yeah, potentially quite dangerous because her grandfather was involved with some very dangerous people.
00:10:21
Speaker
So Sarah, would you have been suspicious of the friend Jules? She's the reporter. She gives Owen the heads up because she works at a news operation of some sort. She gives him the heads up that this bust is going to happen. But do you think as Hannah, you would have been suspicious of what her involvement
Trust Issues and Jules' Role
00:10:45
Speaker
was?
00:10:46
Speaker
Um, I don't know. I'm, I'm pretty trusting. And, and I think for this character, she doesn't have a lot of people who are very close to her. And she seems to be to have a very close relationship with Jules. I think they were childhood friends. And so she knows Hannah's history. I will say as a reader, that didn't, that didn't cross my mind. Um, but it sounds like it did cross yours, Brooke.
00:11:13
Speaker
It did. And I think if I put myself in Hannah's shoes, then I'm with you. Like, you know, this is Jules, like the closest thing she has to a sister. Um, and really the only quote unquote family that she has left. But from an author standpoint, I thought there was a really good opportunity perhaps to throw a little bit of suspicion on her. Um, you know, did she know more about what was happening? Um, I mean, I think that it would have been a red herring in
00:11:43
Speaker
In the scope of the story i wouldn't have thought she should be a bad character but i just i thought i wonder if she's going to have some bit of information that maybe hannah doesn't know about and that causes a little friction between them.
00:11:59
Speaker
That's a, that's a really great point. Um, but you know, maybe there were so many people that Hannah was already mistrustful of that, um, you know, through, throughout the course of the book that, um, throwing in jewels, uh, into that group was maybe just a bit too much. So when Grady, this us Marshall appears, how much would you reveal to him?
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah, like I said earlier, I'm afraid that I would probably be
00:12:31
Speaker
too revealing just because of the emotions that I would probably be feeling. But I would hope that I could be more like Hannah and be very reserved and thoughtful about what I was saying. And I suppose the other part of that is, yes, the emotions would eventually come, but right there up front, she's in shock. So, you know, maybe the stoicism would just come because
00:12:56
Speaker
you're just literally reeling and trying to wrap your head around the fact that the life you thought you had didn't exist at all. Yeah, it's so hard to tell because I think she really does a good job of keeping her cards close to her chest. But I think she realizes that he's got some answers and so she needs to share a little bit of information with him and ultimately,
00:13:23
Speaker
I think she does tell him about the money, doesn't she? Yes, she does. A little bit has happened by that point. And she realizes that even though they want two different things, Grady wants a different outcome than she does. He is someone that she can by and large trust. And so she starts to provide him with a little more information and get some information from him.
00:13:51
Speaker
Whereas with the FBI, she doesn't tell them anything. They have an entirely different motivation because they think that he is guilty of this fraud that the other people at the shop are involved in. They want to see him
00:14:13
Speaker
prosecuted for that. And so, you know, she's certain that he's not involved in that and doesn't tell them anything.
00:14:24
Speaker
Right. Yeah, they really are the antagonists. Well, they are as well as Owen's ex-father-in-law are the actual antagonists to the story. So jumping ahead to when they are in Austin and she goes to this bar
00:14:45
Speaker
I was really impressed with that scene. Again, how she kind of figures out how to get some answers from the bartender who she thinks must know Owen from the past. But when she gets some answers, they are not what she was expecting.
00:15:05
Speaker
Right. This is probably the scene that feels like the most like the amateur sleuth out there, you know, interviewing a suspect. Not that at this point, this man isn't a suspect, but it's that feel where she's like trying to figure out how to ask questions without seeming to be, you know, probing too deeply. And I really liked the scene too. And I thought,
00:15:29
Speaker
I don't think that, again, I must just be such a nervous Nellie because I thought there's no way I could do this. I would have given myself away. I'm not that great of an actress and I don't think I could have done as good of a job as Hannah.
00:15:43
Speaker
Oh, I'm with you, Brooke. He would be able to read it on my face that the things that I was saying were not the truth. For sure. And even some of Hannah's lines are a little bit contrived, and I'm cringing, thinking, oh, gosh, I hope this guy doesn't find her out. But she does learn what she needs to find out. She does learn at this point that it's revealed that Bailey's name was actually Kristen.
00:16:12
Speaker
And that's when the idea comes to her that they've taken on a completely different identity. Yeah, I think I think that's really when she realizes that, yes, Grady was right. They were on the run.
Reflecting on Owen's Love and Identity
00:16:30
Speaker
And now she needs to figure out from what? Mm hmm.
00:16:35
Speaker
Do you think when that settles in for her, what do you think Sarah? Would you suddenly start to wonder if you were part of the ruse? Because their romance was quite whirlwind. He's obviously good at, I don't know if conning is the right word, but he's been
00:16:56
Speaker
pretending to be someone he wasn't for years. Would you start to wonder like, was this just part of the plan? He knew that I would be somebody who would take on his daughter because of my wounding.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I'm sure that would have been running through my head, right? They'd spent about two years together, I think, from the time they met to the time that he disappears. And yeah, I would be kind of really replaying a bunch of moments. And we see that in the book, right? We see her replaying some key moments in their lives together.
00:17:35
Speaker
And she does question like how much of what he told me was true and ultimately realizes that a lot of it was made up. But I think she holds fast to the idea that his love for her and his love for Bailey were true.
00:17:54
Speaker
Yes, that's what the culmination is that that part was true. So she and Bailey have fled from the Never Dry, which is the name of the bar that Bailey's mother's family owned.
00:18:11
Speaker
And after learning the truth about Owen from Grady, Hannah returns to the bar to speak to Charlie because she's now decided that she needs to ensure that Bailey remains safe.
00:18:28
Speaker
And that Bailey remains Bailey. Yes, I think I thought that that was a very smart move because, you know, her love for Bailey comes through because it would be easier. Like you say, she's been in this person's life for two years and she could have walked away, right? She could have been like, Hey, this is your family. Uh, best of luck to you, kid. But she
00:18:53
Speaker
truly did love her and she wanted what was best for her and she didn't want her to have to change her identity again, which is what would have happened if Grady's scenario worked out, which is put them in witness protection. And so I thought that that was, I really admired
00:19:10
Speaker
Hannah at that point because by doing that she's also saying goodbye to Owen. Yeah, it's such a difficult decision. But I think she really holds on to the fact that he left her this note saying protect her and this is what she believes.
00:19:32
Speaker
Owen would have wanted. I mean, choosing between your husband and his child, that's a really tough decision. Yeah, I don't know what I would do.
00:19:46
Speaker
I agree. I went around with that in my mind. This is such a hard thing. Also, because they've only been together such a short period of time, they didn't have 10 years together. They had one.
00:20:01
Speaker
and terrible situation to be put into. But I think it
Protecting Bailey from Family Ties
00:20:07
Speaker
comes back to something you said at the beginning, which is she knew what it felt like to not have a mom that was there for her and sticking up for her. And she wanted to do better. And she did. Yeah. And so she goes to Owen's father-in-law's house. Charlie, the bartender, is
00:20:33
Speaker
Bailey's uncle, and he takes her to his father's house, and the grandfather, you know, explains the circumstance. And this is where they come to a conclusion that it will be Bailey's choice whether this family has any part in her life, but the grandfather will keep her safe. And I have to say, I really admired her negotiating this.
00:21:01
Speaker
Absolutely. It's another example of I don't know that I could have been that strong. No, it would be quite terrifying, I think. I'm not sure that the grandfather was necessarily behind any lives being lost, but certainly was involved in keeping his clients out of trouble.
00:21:24
Speaker
for activities that they were doing that were illegal. So Bailey's mom was killed in a car accident. And the reason Owen fled was because he believed it was the mob had killed her in response to, I think, one of her father's clients being found guilty. And so that's really what triggers Owen to leave.
00:21:47
Speaker
He feels that that's something he must do in order to keep Bailey safe because it's unknown to him if there are other members of the family who would also be targets. Right. Bailey's grandfather is adamant that it wasn't the mob who was behind his daughter's death, that there was someone else involved. But even if that was the case, you know, Owen could never have known if Bailey was at risk.
00:22:17
Speaker
That's right. So do you think that you would have been able to trust the grandfather's promise? Would you have left their feeling assured that you were safe? I don't know. Yeah, the outcome when she leaves and they've made this arrangement that they'll stay safe. And then the fact that she knows that that means she's saying goodbye to her husband.
Coping with Ongoing Uncertainty
00:22:41
Speaker
I mean, speaking of emotions earlier,
00:22:44
Speaker
What must those first few weeks have been like? I don't know how I would feel safe, like even moving around my city or sending my now teenage daughter to school. I think that would just be really, really stressful until you settled in and you realized, okay, he was being honest and I can trust his word.
00:23:06
Speaker
It would be very, very difficult because I think there would always be that question about, have I made the right decision? Should we just be calling Grady back up and saying, okay, we want a new life. We want to be protected. But clearly, Owen didn't feel like they were going to be safe under witness protection. And he kind of put them
00:23:31
Speaker
He put them into witness protection, but it wasn't a formal witness protection, right? Like he did it. It was his own version of it. Right. And that's what convinced Hannah to do the same thing because she thought, you know, that that's what he knew was best. But the book does end with a nice epilogue. We get to see Bailey and Hannah a few years down the road.
00:24:00
Speaker
Exactly. And they've clearly stayed in touch and their relationship has deepened. There's even a moment when Hannah calls her mom and that's really nice to see that Hannah has made the right decision for them. I loved that part when she was happy to see her and she said, mom, and ran to her and it just made me really happy.
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And, and I mean, I think the whole book kind of ended on, uh, what is rare for these kinds of books. It really ended on an uplifting note. Right. Right. I mean, we've talked about domestic thrillers before sometimes ending worse than they began. And, um, and this one had an uptick. So I liked
Conclusion: Bond and a Hint of Owen's Return
00:24:48
Speaker
that. She catches that glimpse of, of Owen and she knows it's him because he's, he's wearing the ring that she had made for, for him when they got married.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yes. So how hard would it have been for you, Sarah, not to talk with him, not to approach him? Oh, so difficult. But you know, maybe it opened the door to at some point them being able to reconnect, right? If he's
00:25:14
Speaker
he had changed his appearance. He'd gotten some tattoos, and I think his hair was longer than he used to wear it. And maybe he'd gained a little bit of weight or lost some weight. I can't remember which. But, you know, maybe him kind of
00:25:32
Speaker
Showing himself to her was the first step towards them potentially rebuilding a life. Maybe he wouldn't be Owen, maybe he would have a new name, but she could remain Hannah and Bailey could remain Bailey. I like that. I like imagining what was possibly happening next in that story. Brooke, I think this is really fun to break down what you would do if you were in the shoes of Hannah Hall.
00:26:00
Speaker
It was a lot of fun, Sarah. I love these episodes so much. And thanks for the great conversation today. And thank you all for listening to Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery.
00:26:15
Speaker
Clued in Mystery is produced by Brooke Peterson and Sarah M. Stephen. Music is by Shane Ivers at silvermansound.com. Visit us online at cluedinmystery.com or social media at Clued in Mystery. If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or telling your friends.