When Will There Be Good News?: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Summary & Analysis

At six o’clock that morning, Louise taps on the window of the Hunters’ house. Neil, asleep on the couch, jerks in terror, then calms and lets her in. Louise tells him they’ve figured out that Aunt Agnes is dead. She asks him if Joanna has been kidnapped, and he doesn’t respond. She then gives him an official warning that he’s being taken in for questioning. He bursts into tears.

Later that morning, the Hunters’ neighborhood is swarmed with police. Louise feels certain that Joanna and the baby are dead. Neil has claimed that she was gone when he got home on Wednesday, and he’d received a phone call warning him that if he told the police, he’d never see her again. He’d been told to find the money to pay Anderson or sign over everything. That was four days ago. Louise is dumbstruck that Neil was “trying to find the money” to pay off Anderson and didn’t sign over everything on the spot.

A cop comes out with a grin on his face. He tells Louise that Joanna, the baby, and a girl are back in the house. Louise comes in and finds Joanna on the couch, looking freshly scrubbed and neatly dressed. Reggie is sitting next to her. Joanna claims she has suffered some kind of temporary amnesia, perhaps brought on by previous trauma. Louise wonders how in the world to question a “consummate liar.” Just then Karen comes in with a grim expression on her face. Louise instantly guesses it has something to do with the Needlers and that someone is dead. “It’s Marcus,” Karen tells her.

Marcus is in surgery. Louise sits in the waiting room and tries to understand what happened. Marcus had been on his way to work and responded to a call from the Needlers. David Needler had returned and held his family at gunpoint all night. One of the kids had pressed the panic button, and the first responding officer—Marcus—had rung the doorbell and promptly been shot in the chest by David. Then David walked out the door and shot himself.

Marcus is on life support in the intensive care unit. His mother, widowed and with no other children, holds his hand. Louise feels she’s losing her “sweet boy,” too. Marcus’s girlfriend, Ellie, comes in. They all comment that Marcus looks as though he’s sleeping, but Louise knows he’s already left.