The Cutting Season

Caren struggles to wake up Morgan, who’s inexplicably fast asleep hours before her bedtime. She asks repeatedly where the blood on her sleeve came from, eventually yelling, and Morgan insists that she doesn’t know, even suggesting that it might not be her shirt. Caren realizes that she has no way of knowing whether Morgan is lying or not, but she suddenly fears that she’s been involved in something awful.

Caren stops by the event at the main house, which is revealed to be a pitch by Giles Schuyler on a new property development in the region, Douxville Estates. Patricia notices with alarm that an unknown man is picking at the hors d’oeuvres, but Caren recognizes with surprise that it’s Bobby Clancy, slugging back wine. She goes to talk to him, wondering why he's here, since he never comes by. He says he’s just dropping in. She wonders if he knows about the murder, finding his unexpected presence an odd coincidence—especially given that she saw him in town last week, for the first time in decades.

Caren recalls how their youthful affection bordered on romance. She was only 13 when Bobby went off to college, and she convinced herself that the age gap was what guaranteed it’d never work. In reality, though, it was Bobby’s growing up and adapting Raymond’s attitude that the Clancy men shouldn’t spend so much time with “the help.” Caren doesn’t feel bitter; she recognizes that people change. Bobby then reveals that he’s heard about the murder. He warns Caren to stay away from Raymond, who only thinks about money.

Caren goes upstairs to her office and calls Eric’s house. His partner Lela picks up, and Caren skips the usual pleasantries and asks bluntly for Eric. Eric takes the phone and Caren quickly explains the situation with Morgan’s shirt. Eric assumes she’s getting excited for no reason and tries to assure her that it’s nothing. She tells him to call Morgan himself and then call her back. When he calls again, he reasserts that nothing’s wrong and she must be getting overexcited.

Caren decides to dispose of the shirt. After weighing different options, however, she realizes that just washing it intensely with bleach inside her home is the safest option. She gets it sparklingly clean, and only a faint trace of the stain remains. As she lays down to sleep, she realizes that she’d seen the dead woman before.