When Will There Be Good News?: The Prodigal Wife Summary & Analysis

Louise is getting ready to drive to Hawes with Marcus. She thinks about how innocent he looks. In her own youth, most of the men she’d been with had been older and, she now realizes, probably “pervy.” When she and Patrick were getting to know each other, Louise lied and said she’d only been with a few guys and had lost her virginity at 18. She reflects that she would have made a good con woman. She should have told the truth—that she has no idea how to love another person. Louise and Patrick had a small fight when Louise had told him she was taking a trip to England. She told him not to tell her how to do her job, and he told her that the “Scottish chip on [her] shoulder” was getting in the way of her better self.

During the trip, Louise makes fun of Marcus’s CD collection, telling him, “You’re too young to die yet.” When they see a newspaper headline about Andrew Decker (“Freed Killer Flees”), Marcus muses that Decker has paid his dues; “should he pay forever?” Louise says yes and promises Marcus that he, too, will be “hard and unfeeling” someday.

Louise gets several agitated messages from Reggie, including a license plate number and the contents of Joanna Hunter’s purse. Louise is beginning to suspect that Reggie might be right. Louise has the license number run, and the station reports back that it’s registered to a Glasgow chauffeur company. She also tells Marcus that the “Andrew Decker” in the hospital was an “ordinary guy.” Privately, she’d checked on Jackson’s whereabouts and was annoyed that “the bastard” had discharged himself without even saying goodbye to her. They reach Hawes, “a small market town with a big cheese thing going on.” Louise isn’t fond of it—she prefers the city. “[T]he countryside unsettled her because she didn’t know who the enemy was.” Meanwhile, being in Yorkshire keeps reminding Louise of Jackson.

Louise and Marcus knock at the address of Agnes Barker. The big, unattractive renter who answers the door has never heard of her, but gives Louise a phone number. The girl at the rental agency directs them to a nursing home. Meanwhile, the station has been unable to locate a car rental for Joanna Hunter. They did find one for Andrew Decker, with his “daughter.”

The nursing home is “everything Louise feared for herself.” It’s a “place to send people whom nobody wanted.” Louise decides she will kill herself before winding up helpless and set aside. The girl at the reception desk informs them that Agnes Barker can’t meet with them—she died a couple of weeks ago of a massive stroke, leaving only estranged family behind her. Louise doesn’t know what to do next. Did Joanna lie to everyone about the sick aunt, or did Neil lie about Joanna’s whereabouts? Louise suspects that Joanna can “dissemble with the best of them.” She can imagine Joanna pursuing vengeance on Decker 30 years later, because Louise would do the same herself.

Louise feels adrift. She and Marcus go to a café for afternoon tea. Reggie calls Louise, and she ignores the call, then reconsiders and calls her back. Jackson answers. Louise thinks, “Didn’t it make sense that two of the most provoking people she could think of would somehow be together.” The reception is lost before Louise can get an explanation. Then she gets a call from the station—Andrew Decker was stopped and taken to the hospital after some sort of accident. Louise also learns that Joanna Hunter had visited Decker a month before his release from prison. Louise wonders why Joanna had never mentioned this. A final call from the station tells Louise that Joanna’s calls have been traced, and that several of the received calls are registered to Jackson Brodie’s mobile.